Marco Corsini
I recently had the pleasure of seeing the artwork of Marco Corsini at his art studio in creative spaces. I had only browsed his work on the internet but seeing it up close and personal with my wife, was a special treat. I was particularly struck by his recent work on the topic of creativity which I would like to share in this blog.
Marco completed his Bachelor of Education – Visual Arts in 1997 and his Masters of Creative Art in 2002 and he has done of 23 exhibitions. He is the most experienced Artist that I have spoken to on the topic of inspiration.
Looking at his work over the years I can see a broad variety of technique and mediums. He has worked with Ceramic to Oil and Acrylic and has depicted bush scenes, to portraits, to landscapes and buildings.
What first caught my eye was his bush scenes. I noticed at first there was something different about them and that drew me into the scene. I realise now it was a method of painting different perspectives in the one picture as if combining a looking down angle and a straight ahead angle. But there is a seamless blend between the angles. The feeling I got was like I was standing in the painting admiring the view. I really liked that because of that experience, everyone loves nature and to feel like one is in nature looking at the painting is a really cool effect. There is detail everywhere so it leaves the viewer open to explore all the different parts equally and just get lost in the painting.
Another painting that inspired me was a portrait of a violinist. 
It was so big and quite confronting but there was such power and life in it, it demanded attention. Though I realise it isn’t quite flattering, since it accentuates the wrinkles and grey hairs it really inspires me. Firstly that this violinist is an Australian and she has mastered her art but even in her old age she is exploring different forms of expression in art by being Marco’s student. To me that says this person has drive, passion, and appreciation for hard work for her skill. Although it doesn’t depict the softness and beauty of femininity and I wouldn’t be swooned by this image, I do feel a lot of respect for this person which I think is more flattering than blurring wrinkles which is what I normally do with photographs of brides.
The final painting I wanted to talk about is one that I am most excited about. 
It wasn’t yet finished but I love the concept and what the painting is already bringing up for me. Marco has a close affinity with the River in Wangaratta but he only realised this after a family camping trip. Sitting in the waters he:
“began to reflect on the King River as a source.It’s river stone beds and shallow streams, sometimes bubbling around arrangements of boulders, sometimes disappearing into deep, dark, still waters, which had never been beautiful to me when growing up and I had never thought of its significance in our lives beyond its supply of water. The river as a source which had branded a primordial sense of dependancy and intimacy within me over my half life time. The river that constantly flowed, had always flowed, will always flow. The river that bound us around itself and preserved us. I slowly connected to the idea of source and slowly felt that my own dependancy on this source was being revealed. That I had felt a need for years now, to constantly return to this source. I began to connect with the notion of origin and that just as I sat on the banks of this river or swam or drank from it, all I could ever do was draw close to it, to be within in, return to it. I had to return to this river. I have always returned to the King River.”
you can read the full blog here:
He recently was looking for some inspiration for his work, but instead of running around collecting things and thinking of things he decided to put all that aside and make a space. To his surprise what came up for him was deeply creative. He writes this about returning to source:
“If the town in which I grew up in is culture, mixing and clashing, negotiating meaning within encounters and reimagining; if Wangaratta is everyday life with all its distractions and tensions, then it sits, unbeknown to itself as a beneficiary of the river that gives it life, a beneficiary from a source that is far more magnificent in scope and complexity than the physical town itself, and yet mostly unrecognised or unnoticed until the floods come.”
From this I realise that this painting powerfully depicts the call to stop and make space for true being. Having studied a lot in coaching people I was reminded of Eckhart Tolle and his call to the world to not get carried away with your thinking but to just observe the observing and be present to the now! Wow I had never seen someone depict that in a painting, but here Marco was exploring ways to do just that. He goes on to state that he uses “Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages,whereby you write three uncensored pages every morning, first thing.” This has helped him to be “able to imagine and see” and he has noticed how thin the veil is between our everyday selves and the inner creative self.
I think Marco’s painting invites us to also return to our source and from that place allow what ever comes up to just let it be, then we will know what to put into action. I think his work is so important and if it helps us to be more spiritual and creative and inspired as I have been then it is worth sharing. So please share. I look forward to seeing what else comes from Marco’s studio, in the mean time check out more of his work at:
Marco also runs art classes on Tuesday evenings through his business “Melbourne Art Class”