Subscribe to download
Paolo Girardi - Devil Monster

Paolo Girardi was born in Ascoli Piceno (middle Italy) in April 23, 1974.
He begun to draw even before being able to talk, but he was forced to classic humanistic studies then. At the same time he was forced by his parents to attend "Liceo Classico", a high school based mostly on ancient greek, latin and italian languages, literature, philosophies. There he begun to listen to heavy and epic metal, that he won't never quit.
After this "infernal" school he was 19. He went to live in Naples for a year where he was regularly called-up in navy seals. At the age of 20 he finally begin to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. There he understood that institution couldn't give him right notions and motivations to be a real painter. His passion was stronger than that ambience, built mostly for people that wanted to work teaching art in schools, or for "waste of time" people. He never attended the degree then, after 5 years he returned in his town totally disappointed by society and what institutions had chosen for him.
He begun to paint still lives and landscapes in a room, forcing himself all days to make good copies of european 1600-1700 paintings, mostly still lives (from Ruoppolo, Porpora, Melendez to Claesz, Claesz-Heda, De Heem still lives). Landscapes, portraits, and more personal paintings based on wrestling, his other great passion. He sold paintings in his town but he had to do other occasional works to survive, even hard physical works . For some years he also grew plants in his garden to survive. Aside his painting work (that since early 2000's begun to include a first outlay for Blasphemophagher) he used to train hardly everyday in wrestling gym with his club, beginning one of first wrestlers in Italy later.

He decided to use "technology" opening an account on facebook in 2010, putting an end to his primitive , isolate, "out-of-time" life without contacts with people. He shared his numerous paintings on this social network. After 2010/2011 there was a slow crescendo of commissions for labels and metal bands from all over the world, in 2012 he finally was able to live only by painting thanks to bands that noticed his work They commissioned to him their releases' covers, posters, shirts. Now he still lives and works in Ascoli Piceno, more and more busy by painting album artwork for metal bands.

Source: http://www.graphic-noise.com/paolo-girardi