The Duomo Box - an Original Oil Painting by Matthew Holden Bates

"Duomo Box" oil paint on prepared wood (Box) © 2018, Matthew Holden Bates, Firenze, All Rights Reserved

This is a bit of a throwback piece, I had a show in Sesto Fiorentino, it was a pretty big deal. Sesto is a suburb of Firenze, and there is a large artist community. At the time there was an activist named Giulia Gozzini, who asked local artists to paint wooden boxes to be put up for auction. Her cause was very dear because when I met her, she had stage 4 cancer, and she wanted to raise awareness, and bring the community together around the very real dire realities that surrounded her and her friends. I was more than happy to participate in her program that was called: “Le scatole del mondo, il mondo in scatola" which translates to The boxes of the world, the world in a box".

"Duomo Box" inside view

We were asked to make a theme that was "Reflections". I thought, I got this, why would an artist have a box, well to keep their art supplies. Also, I tend to attach photos to objects in my studio, things I might want to paint, just to remind me, so using the theme I added a photo, taped it to the box, well at least figuratively, because it is just paint.

Not too long after I made this box, Giulia Gozzini passed away. It was a brief but very intense experience to work with her. She had a spirit which was incredible. She brought together a community of people around an idea that was so simple and so obvious. We should all care about people in need. I was really happy to participate, I miss you Giulia.