Archive for the 'RetRome' Category

We, at RetRome, are no different from all those art lovers who seek to embellish their space with a nice piece of art, except for the fact that we’ll strive for art with a retro flavor. One of our flavor masters is long time friend and collaborator Andrea Bonaventura (Roma 1967-).

Andrea Bonaventura started his carreer with a degree in statistics at the University of Rome, was active as a painter and poet before he in 1994 decided to take his artistic carreer one step further; he would devote his time to create digital art with a special focus on digital portraits. Andrea’s prints carry the stamp of their master and have the ability to add color and flavor to a room. One can say that they possess a certain vintage quality, although the prints are made with modern day techniques.
To expose his art and to get acquainted with the man behind Arte 21, his digital art laboratory, we asked him some questions:

Why did you exchange your degree in statistics for a career in art?

Actually, I have always loved art, I passed hours drawing when I was a child and then  I started painting with oils when I was twenty. Statistics was a “youth mistake”, but every experience you have gives you something to say when you have learnt how to say it, so I don’t regret my statistics degree.

What is your aim, what do you want to achieve with your art?

I just do it because I like it, because I need to and because I can do it. I don’t have a special aim or project as motivation for my work. It’s all in the print.

Who is buying your art, what kind of people?

Actually one thing that makes me happy is the fact that I can reach all kinds of people with my art. Two of my last customers were an almost illiterate waitress here in Rome and a high functionary of the European Community in Brussels (they had a different budgets to spend of course, but that’s not the question).

Do you have a nice anecdote or story to tell about your work or customers that could be exemplary for the way you work?

Well, I once sold a portrait of Fidel Castro to a very religious man who thought it was Padre Pio. The idea that he has a Fidel Castro print hanging in his living room and perhaps prays beneath it, makes me think that in the end we always see what we want to see in a picture.

Do you have a favorite print?

I like almost all the pictures I’ve done. Usually the ones I like more are the last I did, so if you ask me this question next year probably you’ll have a different answer. The one on top of the blog is one of my favorites.

Andrea Bonaventura
ARTE 21
Via dei Cappellari 120
00186 Roma
Tel. ++39 06 6878419
SKYPE: infoarte21
www.arte21.it

Rome is not a city for one day, a weekend nor a week. Rome is more than the sum of it’s parts, but without the parts you’ll be missing a lot. Try a different approach to exploring Rome. Every time you visit the city choose an accommodation in a different neighbourhood and emerge yourself in it’s ‘colour locale’. That’s exactly what the Dutch Magazine ‘De smaak van Italia / the taste of Italy’ did in their Rome Special. RetRome is mentioned as a vintage styled accommodation in the section about the Monti and Navona neighbourhoods.

Who does not want to go to Rome? For the Dutch audience writer Willemijn van Dijk and editor Saskia Balmaekers created a new guide – De smaak van Rome – The taste of Rome- which you can interpret in a literal and figurative way. This book will help you to avoid the many tourist traps and gives you a sense of the real Rome. In – Slapen met Smaak – RetRome is mentioned as a comfortable and special – meaning retro style -accommodation to spend your nights in Rome. Highly recommended!

Let’s go back in time.  Ever seen the video  “ti do di me” of  Marco Conidi? For those of  you who already visited RetRome and know something about our design concept it won’t be difficult to find images of RetRome in this video of Marco Conidi.  See for yourself.

Roman Marco Conidi, born in 1969, started off  his career splitting time between rugby and music. In the end music won. His debut album,  “August ’66″, is full of autobiographical stories and observations from daily life. Just listen his opening track “”Quanti come noi / How much like us” and you will understand why. In 2006, Marco organized a series of charity events that culminated in several shows and his 2007 album “Miracoli non se ne fanno / Miracles are not made”. The single “ti do di me / I’ll give you me” came from this album. The proceeds of his charity project were donated to senior resident centers in the city of Rome. On 26 July the same year, he performed at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome for the celebration of 80 years AS Roma singing “Never Alone”, a love song dedicated to Rome. In 2009 he won the  Prize Lunezia at San Remo Festival.

He currently works with the group AesseRoma Artists, which includes artists such as: Elio Germano, Luca Barbarossa, Francesco Montanari, Alessandro Roja, Vinicio Marchioni, Roberto Angelini, Pino Marino, Roberto Infascelli, Diego Bianchi. In light of this collaboration, Marco made his debut  in 2010 as an actor participating in the second series of the highly acclaimed television drama Romanzo Criminale (very much the mood of Rome in the seventies)  in the role of Botola.

Take a look at the latest publication about RetRome : Zeitreise in die Fifties (time travel back into the fifties), in the Austrian magazine Für Mich. See for yourself…