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"Grappa Bottles"
Sunflower Fine Art
(see more by this artist)
Joseph Michetti hand: signed, numbered & embellished (over-painted), limited (350 worldwide) edition archival giclee on artist grade canvas.
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The challenge is to get people's attention by presenting these familiar subjects in an unusual and interesting way. For Michetti, that means bringing viewers up-close-and-personal in his hyper- photorealistic landscapes and still lifes to show them the appeal in objects they might ordinarily ignore. A lot of people don't realize how fascinating everday objects can be when you get really close up to them. He says: "They have a beauty of their own."
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Sometimes Michetti takes three rolls of film of one subject and still finds nothing he can use once he gets back to the studio. At other times he'll take one shot of something interesting, almost as an afterthought, and that will be the one he develops into a painting. Such was the case with the reference photo for Memories, a single shot of a classic car he spotted sitting outside Mel's Diner at Universal Studios theme park in Florida.
Once he has chosen the photo that best captures his subject, Michetti transfers the 3x5 or 4x6 image onto his canvas with an opaque projector. Using a graphite pencil, he draws all of the rough shapes and basic elements directly onto his painting surface. To add the subject''s intricate details, he has the same photo enlarged to an 8x12 size and refers to that image when copying those finer elements to the drawing.
At this stage, Michetti also makes adjustments to his composition, adding or editing out detail. For example, the reference photo for Saturday Morning showed the marbles spilling out of a small canvas bag. But to make the design of the painting more interesting, he eliminated the sack, added a couple of marbles in the upper right corner for balance and even rearranged the story boxes in the comic strip.
After he's completed the drawing, Michetti washes the entire canvas with mineral spirits so he won't pick up any graphite when he's painting. Then he begins to add color to the background areas. In "Memories", he wanted to focus interest on the car so he used subdued colors in a limited value range for the restaurant's windows and outside walls.
Working methodically from dark to light, background to foreground, Michetti typically completes each element of his painting before moving on. It necessary, he may go back and alter colors or modify elements to keep the overall piece balanced. For instance, after painting the ''56 Ford Crown Victoria in Memories, he had to make the background colors even darker so the car would really stand out.
Fascinated by creating the illusion of reflective surfaces, Michetti always saves those areas of the painting for last. In Memories, he created the appearance of shiny surfaces by simply painting mirror images of the surrounding objects onto the windows and car. "Painting glass and chrome is like adding the finishing cream to my paintings," he says.
Since he begins with a completed drawing of the image, Michetti knows he's finished when the entire canvas has been painted. Once he has added color to the last element, he puts away his brushes to avoid overworking the piece.
In the end, Michetti hopes he has created something people will enjoy looking at-something that may inspire them to take another look at objects they see every day. "I used to paint a lot of elaborate Manhattan street scenes, but now I like to stop and take a closer look at my surroundings," he says. "Like my life, I want to make my art more simple now."
Joseph Michetti was born and raised in New York City. He married and settled in East Meadow, Long Island. Joe is a graduate of the School of Industrial Arts in Manhattan. Although he studied advertising art, he is a self-taught oil painter. Joe considers himself a photorealist, using small brushes and a lot of patience, sometimes taking four months to create his contemporary scenes or still lifes. His work usually includes sunlight and shadows, vibrant colors against dark and reflections. He enjoys painting gleaming chrome, crystal and glass.
Joe uses the best canvasses and the finest oils, creating paintings to last hundreds of years. Perhaps his ancestor, Francesco Paolo Michetti (1851-1929), a famous Italian painter, inspired his passion for Art.<
Joe and his paintings have appeared on L.I. News 12 Television and Manhattan's Cable 16. His work has been featured on the cover of "Sunshine Artist Magazine", a national publication, and has been praised in the "NY Times Art Review" and "Newsday".
His paintings have been reproduced by SUNFLOWER FINE ART PUBLISHING, USA as limited editions and posters, receiving many prestigious awards in shows and gallery exhibitions throughout New York and Long Island.
Joe has exhibited at the Heckscher Museum, the Nassau County Museum of Art, the Vanderbilt Museum, Sands Point Reserve and the Salmagundi Club.
| Item |
Price |
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| Michetti giclee on canvas 40" x 30" |
$1,600.00 |
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| Michetti giclee on canvas 26"x 20" |
$750.00 |
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| Michetti giclee on canvas 14" x 11" |
$250.00 |
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| Michetti giclee on canvas 38" x50" |
$2,000.00 |
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