My artistic approach is rooted in the expressionist movement, highlighting the emotional and textural power of the material. My medium of choice is lime on canvas, a technique I have developed over the years and which constitutes a unique approach within the contemporary art landscape. As an heir to the craftsmanship of fresco painters—a profession I have practiced for more than thirty years—I have reinterpreted this ancestral method to situate it within a modern practice where tradition meets innovation. Lime, with its mineral texture and matte finish, offers me an infinite field of exploration. This material naturally interacts with pigments, allowing them to vibrate, transform, and reveal their depth through layering. Through these processes, my works come to life, blending raw energy with sensitivity, creating a living tension between the mineral and the organic. My work focuses on universal themes such as memory, nature, and the spiritual quest. I particularly explore a mystical connection between figures that evolve within a universe inspired by Thelemic thought. This philosophy, which celebrates individual will and embraces magical forces, nourishes my creative approach. My characters, often enigmatic, embody timeless archetypes, straddling the sacred and the occult. Through their gazes and presence, they evoke transcendent energies and paths of inner transformation while raising questions about the human condition and its finiteness. My canvases invite introspective contemplation. The nuances and subtle variations offered by lime become gateways to silent narratives and personal resonances. Through this dialogue between material and spectator, I aim to provoke an encounter, a balance between immediate emotion and deeper reflection. My artistic approach is a constant dialogue between the legacy of the past and the necessity of exploring new paths. By incorporating lime—a material deeply rooted in history and endowed with eternal cyclicality—into contemporary practice, I strive to push the boundaries of what this medium can offer. It is not merely a support; it becomes a living element within my works, charged with symbolism and emotion. Each painting represents a journey, a process of exploration where material, light, and color intertwine to give birth to singular universes. I seek to offer everyone the opportunity to enter these worlds, to be touched by echoes of memory, spiritual questions, and fragments of raw emotions. My goal is to open spaces where the eye and the mind can freely wander and connect.
Born in Nice in 1976, Greg Ponzanelli has been a fresco painter for over thirty years. Among his achievements are the creation of the decorations for Place Garibaldi in Nice and numerous restorations of churches and historical monuments in the region. His work follows a secular Ligurian tradition that dates back to his ancestor, Jacopo Antonio Ponzanelli, Master Sculptor of Carrara. Today, his painting transcends his material of choice: lime, which he applies to canvas using a unique technique. “My portraits are eternities of moments engraved in my life by a living lime…”
With these words, he invites us on a journey, moving from his inner world to the external expression of his works.
Art, in its essence, bears the imprint of the creator’s subjectivity. It is a reflection of the artist’s imagination, fantasies, and desires.
For Greg Ponzanelli, a portrait emerges from his hands within an irreplaceable space and time, shaped from a material he deeply admires: lime. Unique and cyclical, this material becomes more than a medium; it becomes a body, imbued with life by the artist’s touch.
Calcic Lime, derived from limestone heated to white heat and transformed into quicklime and then slaked lime, has long been Greg Ponzanelli’s chosen medium. He applies it to walls, ceilings, and churches. Yet, while he sees walls as obstacles to his life, for us, as spectators of his work, they evoke the emergence of pure beauty.
His creations reveal the unexpected, moving us with the truth of the artist they express. “I exist only through the work, and yet I am more than that.”
As Freud observed, “the artist possesses the mysterious power to shape materials into the faithful image of the representation that exists in his imagination.”
Greg Ponzanelli’s paintings bring his reflections on time to life. By capturing the living on canvas, he defies the concept of time’s passage and the inevitability of a countdown, driven by a longing for a living eternity. Like in a dream, time halts, allowing for the eternal contemplation of the artwork. In this delicate game with time, he declares, “their flesh must live.”
Christel Llorca
Clinical Psychologist