Today we’d like to introduce you to visually impaired artist Adam Macciocchi-Lancia.
Hi Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Art has always been a part of my life. It began at the age of two when my parents gave me art supplies to keep me occupied. I can vividly remember at four years old drawing all types of 2D dinosaurs and Looney Tunes as they were my favorite things. I was then accepted to the Art Gallery of Ontario’s “Young Artists Incubator” program at age seven to develop my skills and more recently graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from Ontario College of Art & Design University.
My art style has incorporated all of the painting and illustration skills I have been taught and practiced throughout my life. A blend of portrait, pop art, figurative, abstract, and pattern design. Throughout the years of creating a unique aesthetic for my hand-painted pieces, this has led to consistently selling original paintings to my many new and returning clients, exhibiting at Art Basel Week in Miami, and receiving international representation at commercial gallery ArtLabbe in Coral Gables, Miami.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
So I would describe myself as a “visual artist with bad vision”. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with severe visual impairments caused by a rare eye injury that occurred in 2007. Optometrists determined that I had suffered a rare case of cracked and detached retinas in both eyes, causing me to go blind. For many years I underwent procedures and major laser surgeries to try and repair my sight. In 2015, the numerous surgeries finally took hold and my retinas were fully reattached.
Though my sight had been restored, there were difficult side effects that have stayed with me to this day. The stress put on my retinas though from all the procedures caused little cracks to form in my eyes. These tiny holes allow more light to pass through my retinas at a faster rate, causing a strobe light effect that is constantly seen. So while I create my art or go about my day, I constantly see white strobe lights that partially blind my vision. Further procedures have yet to fix this problem.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Through my work, I like to explore multiple themes of the online world. One is the theme of human connection that we can have with one another. Also with human emotion, how someone else’s body or facial pose can evoke strong emotion. I combine my love for Renaissance, art nouveau and pop art. I primarily paint women as I believe their figures, facial poses, and sensualness embody the essence of art. I also share what real life means today and how social media dictates others’ interpretation of what we curate as our “real lives”.
My hand-painted artworks reinterpret this using washes of diluted acrylic paints and intricate line work/imagery. These create compositions that reveal the layers of messaging we are exposed to. The constant influx of information we are processing from all sides every day and how so much of it can weigh on us. Through this process, I attempt to reveal a manufactured reality. And as overwhelming as it is to create these pieces and with my visual impairments, I also ironically find calm in closely immersing myself fully into my work.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
There are no rules to art. So the possibilities are endless. But I also truly believe it is undeniable what a beautiful piece of art/painting can do to transform a space into a complete room.
With globalization and social media, we’re able to see all different types of artists and art from all over the world.
Everyone has different tastes and ideas for their home aesthetics, so I believe all genres of art can thrive these days.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adamlancia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamlancia.art/
