Massimo Degano
was born in San Benedetto del Tronto in 1951, and graduated in Economics at the University of Rome with full marks. After having attended military service as an officer in the Italian Air Force, and with a passion for Finance, he started working at the largest Italian Telecommunications Company, soon being appointed Manager covering several positions of high responsibility in the fields of Corporate Domestic and Internacional Finance and as a member of the Board of Directors of several companies abroad .
In the last ten years of his career, from 2000 until 2011, he lived in La Habana (Cuba) having been appointed as Operational First Vice President of the Cuban Telecommunications Company having the opportunity, in the “very limited and rare free time”, to learn about customs and traditions of the Caribbean surroundings. In 2008 he was awarded by the President of the Republic, the honors of Knight of the Italian Republic for his professional work abroad.
Although passionate about his work of manager, to which he devoted more than 35 years of his life, in June 2015 he decided to devote himself to his “innate passion for colors and art” and buy a workshop in Casperia, a little beautiful medioeval village in central Italy, creating a laboratory of “painting on wood” (aimed only at hobby and personal purpose) to express, through colors, all his real and emotional experiences had during his travels and throught the knowledge of people, belonging to different cultures met and known in different countries, especially related to the South America.
The Project: Art on Wood
It has origin from the desire to bring the “color”, as an element of light and joy, in the different environments through an “original” support not only horizontally and vertically but also in three dimension.
The works, painted with acrylics, are done on a “half-round” of shaped wood, mounted on a rectangular base. The wood used is the Paulownia, a compact and very light Asian wood, imported to Europe only early 1800s but, used in China for over 3000 years.
The works, painted with acrylic water colors on wood, are performed on the schedules of two dimensions:
- Painting of half-round shaped 50 cm. of length; 5,3cm. wide and 2.5 cm. of installed thickness on a 66 cm frame. of length; 10 cm. wide and 8 mm. thick;
- Painting of half-round 70 cm shaped. of length; 5,3cm. wide and 2.5 cm. of installed thickness on a 86 cm frame. of length; 10 cm. wide and 8 mm. thick;
The works can be affixed to the wall horizontally or vertically according to a “placement game” that best suits your way of seeing colors. The project involves the simultaneous composition of several pieces grouped so as to form “spots” of color on the walls. The easy anchor system allows an easy possibility of interchangeability between the different works and being able to modify the design and the image of colors polychromy allowing a dynamic work.
The Wood: Paulownia
The Paulownia is an oriental wood (China) imported into Europe in early 1800. It takes his name by Anna Pavlovna Princess, daughter of Tsar Paul I (1818).
The Paulownia is a tree with a fast growth (in 3 years can reach 15 meters high) excellent for the wood production.
Having a lighter texture than 30% of similar woods, it is a compact wood with no knots and is very resistant at twisting and contraction and is considered as an A Category wood. Paulownia is used in fine finishing works with a broad-spectrum of use.
From the Ecological point of view its leaves have a very high carbon dioxide absorption capacity being considered “plan for the future of humanity”: each hectare of trees absorbs, in one year, about 1,200 tons. of carbon dioxide.
Casperia
Casperia (ancient name: “Aspra”) is a small town located in the Sabina region, in the Rieti province (Italy), with a population of about 1,250 inhabitants.
The origins are very old dating back, probably, to the first settlements of “Romans”, but is in the AD 1189 which was constituted as a “free municipality (commune)”.
In 1592 Aspra returned to be part of the Papal States until the unification of Italy in 1860.
With the ancient name of Aspra, in 1947 the Municipality changed its name into the actual name of Casperia.
The Old Town, protected by two lines of fortified walls, dated on the late eleventh century, develops according to a “spiral” structure of fortified houses, narrow streets, arcades and flights of steps (non l’avevo mai sentito ma è perfetto) up to the top of the town where the church is located.