Works produced in Lago Maggiore @ Ten Haaf Projects:

Monte Verità was one of the first alternative communes founded in 1900 way before any hippie movement of the 60s or yoga workshops so popular and lucrative nowadays.  It was originated by high intellectuals, architects and Artists. Herman Hesse, Max Webber, Rudolf Steiner were some of it’s founders.  Isadora Duncan, Emmy Hennings and other Artists were later on involved when the commune became a holistic centre with Artistic practices and meditation at their core. Otto Gross, the pioneer of psychoanalysis alongside Freud and Jung, also experimented with some of his free love therapies as part of their retreats.

‘The Mountain of Truth’ was a place for freedom of thought and it became the symbol of an alternative and playful way of life. Vegetarianism, no alcohol usage, nudism, the rejection of industrial capitalism and the consumer society were everyday routines, alongside an attitude of reverence towards nature.

Ten Haaf Projects hosted me as their Artist in Residence in Ponte Verità, Cannero, not far from this mountain. Justin and Manolis Ten Haaf’s great grandad was also involved in the movement and  founded the artist residency where I was staying at. During my time in Lago Maggiore I was very inspired by the stories of Monte Verità and realised that the influence of these free thinkers and Artists was not any longer in what it was left at the actual location (tourists attractions, hotel, few tea shops and merchandise) but in the creative spirit and drive to change things towards better ways of living, I tried to capture this creative spirit within my paintings and watercolours. 

The paintings and drawings are explorations and abstractions from the books that contained the information and pictures of the Artists who lived in Monte Verita, the watercolors an illustration of my day to day life in Lago Maggiore.