Luigi Nappa has lived what many would consider, a remarkable life …

To sit and consider this with the man himself, he would no doubt argue the point and suggest he has achieved nothing remarkable so far. Like so many artistic people of his nature, he undoubtedly considers that his best is yet to come.

Born on the small island of Procida off the coast of Naples, Luigi grew up in post war conditions that saw most men of the island take on a life at sea. This is what Luigi’s friends and even his own father and grandfather had done before him, so it may not have seemed against the grain of what his natural calling would be.

Luigi eventually sailed the South Seas as a cruise ship Captain taking passengers on holidays to the various island ports. Eventually with the opportunity to take a senior shore side executive role with the cruise company he made his home in Australia. Throughout these times his interest in art never waned.

His passion for all around him ensured not only a colourful life, but one in which artistic desires would always be a part. He explains “I sketched and painted always, not only day by day, but minute after minute, continuously. On paper or canvas, while having a coffee at the bar, or sitting in a board meeting, or simply mid conversation on the phone. If not actually sketching or painting I was thinking about it; new forms, new media, new subject matter, abstract forms and colours always with me in my obsessed mind”

With all of the opportunities that such a busy, global management position were to offer, the natural desire, or what Luigi considers his ‘primitive instinct’ was to paint. Only when liberating himself from all full time business responsibilities in the early 1990s has he truly felt free to express himself with unlimited time to paint, draw and simply create.

He now comfortably spends equal time each year in Australia and Europe.

The passion of the artist is of course evident well beyond the art work. His deep interests in travel, people, cooking and cultures are apparent in his every expression and ambition.

His latest paintings with their imperfect borders, irrational textures, colours and patterns convey the many feelings of the man and his remarkable life.