A STUDIO VISIT WITH MAGGIE SIMONELLI

A STUDIO VISIT with the artist Maggie Simonelli
Directed by Billy Gerard Frank
Edited by Patrick McCarthy

Take a tour with Maggie Simonelli in her art studio in New York City. Come see the new encaustic paintings, hear about the artist’s inspirations. Indigo from Kyoto, Japan, Chinese cinnabar, pale gold leaf, Arabian malachite, lapis lazuli, bee pollen and cosmetics, Chanel Passion lipstick and Pat McGrath Labs Rose Decadence eye shadows, come explore all the materials making up the paintings.

Beauty awakens the soul to act

-  Dante

Maggie Simonelli :  ARTIST in the Studio   filmed and photographed by Nousha Salimi   

Maggie Simonelli  in her studio                                    &n…

Maggie Simonelli  in her studio                                                                                                                                                           * Photograph by Nousha Salimi

Maggie Simonelli invokes passion, beauty, and nature in her paintings.  Simonelli says "I am a Seeker of Beauty and  Spirituality in Nature.  Painting is a meditation on  Nature, a reflection of  the Garden of our inner world and the surrounding beauty of Earth, the Garden of Eden."   

Simonelli refers to her  paintings as "Lipstick Paintings" creating the handmade paints with cosmetic grade beeswax in encaustic technique, including  elements like lipstick and eyeshadow as well as historical pigments.  It is this pursuit of playfulness and joy along with sensuality of the materials that is Simonelli's passion.  "I  love including elements like real seawater, bee pollen, essential oils like lotus and sandalwood, and creating colors made out of precious materials like lapis lazuli, cinnabar and malachite."    

A "slow-tech" process combining hand-drawn + carved metal leaf (including 24 kt. gold leaf , oxidizing copper leaf + aluminum leaf) within the many layers of wax, the paintings are constructed interlacing details by carving into the surface of the wax using carving tools. 

"I am an  Archeologist discovering and uncovering  the many layers carving  back to reveal a layer below, an inner world."  Her painting process is a devotional contemplation, a  communication of beauty of the human spirit through the hand.  "I see color and pattern as symbolic elements  and painting as nature, as a living communication transcending time."  

"And if it  sparkles" Simonelli says "that is even better.”