The Paintings of Sandro Ramani

http://www.sandroramani.com/

If you wish to purchase any of these, contact him on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1073379602897&set=a.1073320801427.2013919.1478392029&type=1&theater#!/profile.php?id=1478392029&sk=info

Cinque artisti per superare i confini con il linguaggio universale dell'arte

Ancora una volta è l'arte la prima disciplina pronta a superare definitivamente i confini culturali, sociali e politici di un territorio. Tanto più se ci stiamo riferendo alle nostre terre, l'Italia e la Slovenia, e alle rigide barriere mentali - di entrambe le parti - rimaste intatte all'ufficiale caduta del confine del dicembre 2007 (con l’entrata della Slovenia in area Schengen). Jasna Merkù, Stefan Turk, Simon Kastelic, Sergio Pancaldi, Sandro Ramani, assieme all'organizzatrice Monica Zaulovic, hanno voluto scommettere ancora una volta sul potere della creatività, come strumento fondamentale per superare le resistenze e promuovere il dialogo. Con questo sogno hanno dato vita a “Rispecchi- Arti”, una mostra a dieci mani per cinque personalità del nostro territorio artisticamente molto differenti, unite dalla necessità di cancellare le ultime tracce di confine con il linguaggio universale dell'arte e un'affascinante “pluralità” del colore. Una mostra collettiva per ribadire l'incredibile potenziale di un popolo che porta con sé diverse lingue e diverse culture: ricchezza inestimabile e preziosa occasione di crescita individuale. Il percorso visivo proposto dagli artisti invita i visitatori a perdere l’orientamento autocentrato, per aprirsi alla scoperta di infinite possibilità di rappresentazione. La sensazione sarà quella di rispecchiarsi nelle tele, nelle tavole di legno vivo, nella semplice carta dipinta, nella sconfinata contrada dei colori e cogliere il proprio riflesso per, finalmente, vedere. La mostra inaugura venerdì 8 luglio, alle 18.30, presso al Castello di San Servolo, Capodistria (SLO), sede dell'esposizione.

Day 10- Trieste

We spent the morning sketching- and relaxing.  Then decided to walk downtown to the water- it was a gorgeous day, not too hot and perfect for walking.  I love Trieste, the way that it's layed out.  It's very hilly- so your legs are getting a constant work out and not to mention the gorgeous architecture.

Day 3- Slovenia

We decided to drive to Slovenia- only about 30 minutes to Komen, where we went to an old castle and village. The village is set among the castle ruins, little winding streets that were so lovely to walk through. Beautiful hydrangeas everywhere and stone lanes.

http://www.komen.si/slo/ 

Once we were done there, we went to Branik, another little village with castle ruins, and again just as breathtaking.  We climbed to the top on a spiral staircase with high steps- the view was definitely worth it!

Just look at this view!!!
You could see for miles!

Peek-a-Bo

We descended a narrow stone staircase and I decided to jump from the 4th last step, unfortunately I landed on my knees- tried to grab Sandro (in a not so great spot for a guy)- it could have been  bad situation- a broken kneecap and pain for him but it all turned out ok- a little scratch and something to laugh about.
We drove to an Osmiza- these are homes that open up to the public twice a year for lunch.You sit outside
and have a choice of a few dishes. We had some prosciutto, smoked bacon, roasted ham and salumi.  All great, however I was not fond of the smoked bacon, very different from North American bacon- almost raw and not crispy.  We took a short walk on the Carso, overlooking Barcola and Trieste.

Day 2- Trieste

Walked downtown Trieste and saw 3 weddings along the way; 2 in which the bride was driven in an old American car- The first wedding was at a castle/church, the bride was beautiful in a lovely flowing dress with ruffles at the bottom. We laughed at the Italian cowboys with their stetsons and wranglers. Seemed so out of place there!
It was a hot day and I wasn't used to the heat yet- quite humid. We stopped for some gelato at Grom- delicious! I loved my strawberry gelato!

http://www.grom.it/ita/

Sandro made a great dinner- pasta with peas and horse meat. We he first told me about horse meat, I thought he was joking. Who eats horse meat? We did and it was GREAT! The texture resembled grated cheese- and the combo of the meat and peas really complimented each other. Way to go Chef Sandro!

Italy!

June 17-

Arrived at Ronchi dei Legionari Airport around 10:30 am. The flight seemed like an eternity!
I saw Sandro before me, wearing a red t-shirt and shorts; looking like I have 'known' him forever! When I came out he quickly walked over to me, arms extended giving me a huge hug. It felt so natural to see him, after 22 years to finally meet. (Sandro and I became pen pals 22 years ago when letter writing was by post. No emails, texts or skype....)
We kept smiling,  blushing like a bunch of teenagers in the car, just looking at each other, taking it all in.
At this point, I had been awake for 23 hours, pretty exhausted, dehydrated and hungry- not a good combination. For some reason, I was served a muslim meal on the plane- because really my tats and the lack of headscarf really must have given off that I was muslim. The meal itself was not good- horrid really! It was some kind of rice/tofu or maybe chicken? I had a few bites of rice and some melon. Breakfast consisted of the same 'muslim' meal and I ended up with a muffin which was great. The excitement and exhaustion kicked and to add the lack of eating brought on nauseousness on the way to Sandro's home. We stopped along the way at some beautiful look out points- so beautiful to see Trieste in the background, the water glistening in the sun like glass and the view was just a gorgeous. At the second look out, I picked a flower which remained on the kitchen table for a week. A lovely little reminder to look at each morning.


Once at Sandro's, I looked around in wonder- I saw photos prior to arriving but it was not the same as being there. His paintings are everywhere, to be able to touch them finally turned surrealism into reality, and they are more beautiful in person.