Fabio Napoleoni
Language of the Heart: What the heart wants and the heart needs can be found in a Fabio Napoleoni painting. Nostalgia, sorrow and elation; all are there for the world to see and experience. His vivid use of color and the captivating characters he has created welcome you to an emotional experience that affects not only your mind but deeply touches your heart. Although Napoleoni has been influenced by some of the world’s great artists, he has taken that influence and imbued his work with its essence, creating masterpieces that are uniquely his. Napoleoni’s simple landscapes set the stage for dramatic emotional revelations that speak to our common humanity.
Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1972, Napoleoni suffered from an extreme form of asthma that all but left him bed-ridden for most of his childhood. Many days and weeks were spent on the family sofa surrounded by art supplies given to him by his mother. An artist herself, she noticed that creating art came easily to her son, his imagination his escape from his illness. So, during the times that asthma overwhelmed him, she supplied his creative side with the tools to create.
Many events influenced Fabio’s artwork but none more than the traumatic events that followed the birth of his second child. His daughter, born with severe heart abnormalities, had to face several surgeries to correct issues that could have prevented her from having a future. Overwhelmed with his daughter’s poor health and surrounded by an emotional sea of sorrow from other parents in the same situation, Fabio grew. While his wife and daughter slept, Fabio wandered the halls of the Children’s Care Unit looking for a spot where he could sketch out his personal thoughts. From these thoughts a new form of creativity was born. The doors to Fabio Napoleoni’s Heart were now opened for the world to experience.
With his vibrant, bold use of color along with the child-like characters he has created, Fabio has managed to imbue his canvases with an emotional value that had been missing before his revelation at his daughter’s bedside. His paintings could have a thousand titles and every one would be fitting of the image he has created; but one thing is for sure, you will always find a beautiful Heart in every piece of his work. A symbol of his love for his daughter . . . she lives today and will forever in his work.
