The love story between the artist and Alfa Romeo starts from when he was a boy, he say’s “in my family since my ancestors there have always been Alfa Romeo’s.”

For him the cars of the snake have always had a spiritual content which cannot be found in any other car brand, “it is as if they are animated by an own life” he says, “choosing an Alfa is a choice of faith, not merely a choice between one car or another”, “It’s as if these cars are linked to our inner self and to the essence of the earth, I have never been able to explain this rationally and from there my research continues, but these mechanical sculptures transcend the simple notion of movement, they are something vital transmitting emotions and attracts us to them”, “Their lines are always original, the simplicity of certain details which are perfectly balanced.

And then there is the most perfect encounter between aesthetics and mechanics. The mechanical elements do not seem to result from an engineering exercise but have their roots in a work of art which rises above the limits of its body and its invisible aura”. This is exactly the starting point of the artist’s research: to capture le subtle connection between the object and its soul which makes its shapes vibrate.

The collection

The artist explains, “I started from this inspiration to create a collection of paintings which would transmit the characters of the cars and highlight their aesthetic elements. I wanted to transport the onlooker inside my paintings. For this intent I use a pictorial technique which I have developed as movie scene designer, painting with light, superimposing layers of light and shadow which complement each other. The result of this treatment is then elaborated with pictorial techniques to make stand out the smallest details of the painting.

The artist concludes, “the shapes which have inspired Alfa Romeo projects derive directly from the times of the knights of which they remain the last representatives, I refer to the aristocratic emblem which adorns their noses or the shape of their rims, and to the perforations which recall the rose windows of renaissance churches, and, also, the triangular decorations and the cross-sectional lines which clearly recall the emblems of knights tournaments, and, finally, the Alfa Romeo logo itself with the cross and the snake from which the collections draws its inspiration.

Painting with light

Federico B. Alliney, a passionate collector of automobiles, realizes his paintings with digital techniques applying his concept of “Painting with light”, in which matter is interpreted as a superimposition of layers of light and shadows, resulting into images inspired by pictorial and photographic tradition but incontrovertibly more vibrant of life due to the strong fluidity of the light.

The movie experiences have shaped Federico B. Alliney’s artistic style and knowledge of imaginary worlds. In his works he extrapolates the true nature and the spirit which animates the object of a painting by putting it into the context of its ideal world: the challenge lies into the interpretation of the profound meeting of shape and colours, extracting and valorising their aesthetic content which unconsciously attracts us to them. The artwork is completed by inserting the object into its world to amplify its real and most profound essence.

Federico B. Alliney for Official Alfa Romeo Art