Kelowna-based artist Alberto Azzi’s paintings are characterized by an intersection of realism and fantasy. Azzi is a self-taught artist with no formal art education who developed his unique and recognizable style of extreme details, brilliant colours and precise technique throughout the years. After retiring from a forty-year-long career as a dentist, Azzi was able to deepen his engagement with art-making; most often working with oils and acrylics both on canvas and masonite. His interests lie in the nature around him and is often referenced in his artistic practice. Azzi creates detailed, complex pieces that draw from the natural, oftentimes fantastical, beauty of the world.
In Eternal Love for Nature, Azzi takes inspiration from the work of the masters and depicts a variety of subject matter such as landscapes, people, fauna and flora. His love for the mountains and nature has stayed in his heart, as noticeable in this exhibition. He finds pleasure in painting and thus the never-ending search for chromatic and formal harmonies, a privilege and gift from the Creator.
Alberto Azzi was born in Cles in 1926, a small mountain town in the Italian Alps. He relocated to Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada in 1993, where he frequented the Senior Centre Painting Club guided by the late painter, Tim White. Since 2003 he has lived in Kelowna, BC, where he regularly participated in the Painting Club of the Water Front Senior Center. In 2012 he became a Supportive Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. That same year he was accepted as an Active Member of FCA, and in 2014 he became a member of the FCA - Central Okanagan Chapter. Alberto has been a long-time member and supporter of the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art. He has exhibited in the Members’ Gallery on several occasions and will be the last artist to have a Members’ exhibition in the current space.
Eternal Love for Nature will be on view in both the Members’ Gallery and Window Gallery from December 3, 2021, to January 3, 2022. Please note the Gallery will be closed between December 19, 2021 to January 3, 2022. Visitors will still have the opportunity to view some of Alberto’s works in the Window Gallery as the Rotary Centre for the Arts will remain open until December 24th, 2021.
