text Teresa Favi
photo Ottavia Poli
Artist’s choices
Born in Florence in 1970, Giovambattista Giannangeli, pen name Giambaccio, leaves a bright career in law to dedicate his life to art
How did you first approach the art world?
Like Saint Paul on his way to Damascus.
Decisive encounters that contributed to your transformation from lawyer to artist?
Every decisive encounter entails a transformation.
When painting, what details first strike you about the subject before you?
I work with emotion, and it only lasts a short while.
A figure you painted that you’ve never forgotten?
All of them, since from the moment I paint them they become unforgettable.
Is it usually you that chooses your subjects or the other way around?
It’s a synchronous phenomenon, it just happens, no one chooses or is chosen, it happens and that’s all.
What is the central theme of your latest exhibit at the Galleria del Palazzo Coveri?
It’s called Humans 100% and presents the idea of the world we live in and our origins, us, sons of those fathers, founders of Rome, fugitives from a bloody clash of civilizations, whose only excuse was a story of betrayal.
Which of Florence’s historical figures would you want to meet to paint his portrait in your piazza del Carmine studio?
Dante.
