My name is Alex Righetto and I am a fine arts painter. I spent all my childhood in Italy and I was fortunate enough to breathe that culture. I didn’t know at the time that it would shape my vision and inspire my future work as a contemporary artist.

I want to thank the Daily Bongo-news for giving me this opportunity.

My mission and my dream are to cause a new renaissance in the art industry.

As an Italian and as an artist I feel the duty to know my past, my roots and use them to help create a better future for myself and for the people I aim to inspire.

Is art even able to cause all this? Think again.

Actually, It already happened, many times in the past. 400 years ago, a new philosophy came to life in the center of the Mediterranean.

Nowadays, It’s almost forgotten but It caused a golden age in the art fields and it revolutionized the entire world.

The modern world as we know it happened because of it. I am not even exaggerating.

Imagine a world without books, without the internet, where real knowledge belongs only to experts and the majority of the population is illiterate without any hope.

That was the middle age. Then the Renaissance happened. A ray of light opened up and enlighted one of the darkest moments of mankind.

Art and Science started thriving, as well as literacy because of the easy access to knowledge.

This is the time when the press machine was born, giving the general public the ability to read.

Instantly the knowledge was available for all, furthering the expansion of humanity.

The humanism philosophy emphasized the individual and the human capacity for fulfillment through reason.

How can I help carry on this mission with my artwork and trigger off another Renaissance-like period of time?

I’m only a David against so many Golias. In an ultra-competitive market where few giants dominate over everyone, it seems a pretty farfetched desire.

I do not come from a blue blood family nor do I have infinite resources but I have the burning desire to reach this goal.

“There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”.

— Napoleon Hill.

My journey started a long time ago. I was born in Verona, which is a pretty old town in northeast Italy.

Since I was very young my parents noticed my curiosity and fed me with music and art. I will always be thankful.

I went to an art-oriented high school and then to the Fine arts academy in Verona. Since the age of 16, I was used to drawing nude models almost every day in my class.

Living and studying in Italy gave me so much information about my culture. The classic studies, the history of my country…

One thing I didn’t know at that time was that the formal training I was doing was holding some poisonous ideas.

If you ever took a class in art you can relate. As soon as you say, I’m an artist, people will tell you: it’s hard to be an artist, keep it as a hobby, being an artist won’t pay your bills…

My teachers shared their failures as artists with their students, creating a dangerous and contagious mindset: you can’t be a successful artist.

At the age of twenty, despite being fully trained and very skilled, despite being a selling artist, I quit.

I felt lost and betrayed. I could not put my finger on it but I knew something was wrong. It was a fight but without an opponent.

I started looking around for jobs and I ended up being a photographer, being published in magazines like Vogue Uk.

Sure, I might say it was good, but I knew that I wasn’t really doing what I was born for.

Like a small boat in the ocean, I quickly lost direction. Still, inside me, that artist was there.

Time quickly went by. A long time after my studies at the fine art academy I was living in London and I met the love of my life Stacy.

I was blessed also to know Anastacia, her daughter. Stacy is an amazing singer, from being a leading lady on Broadway, she was also known for being one of the x factor finalists in the USA.

We decided to move to Florida during Covid.

One day, a crucial day of my life changed me forever. While Stacy, Anastacia, and I were at the beach for a walk I felt so inspired that I decided to do a portrait of Anastacia.

It took me a few days but the result was magnificent. We were both amazed by the result. I was in awe of what I just created.

After 20 years of not picking up a single pen, I was able to do this masterpiece. While I was working everything started to fall in the right place.

I felt once again the feeling of that joy when someone can freely jump from a cliff without being scared.

Stacy and I quickly realized that it was time for a change. I suddenly identified the spell that held me back for so long.

I was back. Somehow I was reborn from my own ashes.

But now the challenges were even bigger. I was living in a country that speaks a different language, dealing with a different culture, and with no connections in this industry.

I was again starting from ground zero and without insights from this industry. July 2021 marked my first exhibition in the US.

I sold at the first exhibition for more than 10K dollars in artwork. I felt over the top. I couldn’t sleep that night.

In September 2021 I received a letter from the organizers of one of the largest art exhibitions in North America: I was accepted to Art Basel Miami 2022.

I panicked the first few days. What if I don’t have anything appealing to show? What if I was just lucky on my first show?

I tried for days to work on something. Nothing seemed “so important” to be presented at such an important show.

After a long conversation, Stacy and I come to the conclusion that the best idea was to Introduce myself to the American market with something that would represent me.

We came up with something extremely intriguing. It would be a brand new exhibition based on the immortal play “Romeo and Juliet”.

The original story was staged in Verona, and the plot of the play was actually from an old Italian novel.

Best of all Shakespeare was part of the Renaissance as he was one of the first playwrights to bring the Renaissance’s core values to the theater.

It was the perfect story. Except to me, it was a toxic one.

This exhibition would feature a new narrative with an imagined scenario: What would happen if Romeo and Juliet had not died?

I believed that Romeo and Juliet could have new meanings in today’s society.

With this new perspective, it would not be about the love between two doomed lovers, but rather a reflection on what we each go through in our own personal changes in order to maintain a relationship.

Finally, I started working on this new exhibition with this exciting new perspective.

I was very inspired. Everything was perfect. On the day of the opening, I was traveling with my family to the venue in Miami and one of the glasses broke.

I hit a bump on the road and I heard that horrible sound, only a few hours away from the opening.

Stacy looked at me and she told me: “Ï got this! You take care of the rest, I will find a framer”.

The exhibition started and I was extremely worried. A few people started stopping by my booth, asking a few questions.

I was nervously looking at the watch and the empty spot on the wall. My phone died of course so I had no way to contact her.

People start to flock when finally I saw Stacy with the painting reframed in her hands.

I ran, kissed her, got the painting, and went back to my booth.

I was exhausted. After months of trials and errors, finally, everything was falling in the right place.

That painting sold only two hours after the opening. I was so happy to put a red dot on the label.

A few months later that spectacular moment in my career, I got accepted as a resident artist in a brand new Facility in Tampa: Priano. A 10-million-dollar building, a modern design center where the Romeo and Juliet collection is displayed.

Only one year away from my new rebirth as an artist I was contacted by House and Gardens Uk and Vanity Fair and recently I signed with a new art agent in Dubai and London.

This transformation means a lot to me. Yes, it’s scary to start over. Yes, it is hard. But I found out that working with true passion makes things easier.