Current exhibitions: Gallery Paul - 12A Metropole - Corner Fitzroy St & Canterbury Rd - St Kilda - Victoria - Australia - www.gallerypaul.com Art Outlook online gallery - www.artoutlook.com Caffe Figaro - 93 Smith St - Collingwood - Victoria - Australia Iguana Luna - Rue de Fersen - Antibes - France
	Laurent Filippini started painting in 1989 after a long trip to South America, where he discovered that photography couldn't always recreate the feelings and the passion he brought back with him. His first paintings were mostly figurative and colourful but he had already a need for a deeper spiritual input. Later on with his series called "Symbols" he focused more on a way to express his inner wisdom and spiritual research, using acrylics, oils, gold leaves, exotic fabrics and glass panels. When Laurent moved to Australia with his family in 1994, he was overwhelmed by its beauty and strength. The colours of the landscapes gave him a new inspiration and his series "Golden Men" shows how this country can arouse one's spirituality. The dark terracotta and yellow are directly inspired by Australia's soil, with messages similar to Aboriginal ones. Slowly Laurent evolved to a softer vision of his Golden Men and started painting from "The Other Side of the World" and this is of course what Australia represents for him but also what can be found inside our minds and souls. His latest series "Senses of Oz" combines his visions of the country with his profound love for nature. Full of joy and still reflecting issues with environment, Laurent's new paintings make us appreciate the perfect beauty of this land he calls "his sanctuary", the place where all is possible and where we can live freely our spirituality. Laurent uses acrylics to create multi-layered rich and deep colours: dark reds for passion and strength, vibrant blues for calm and peace, yellows for joy and touches of gold as a universal symbol of spiritual consciousness. "I believe it is up to all of us to create the world we live in and by understanding the beauty within ourselves we will understand the beauty that surrounds us". Laurent wishes everyone could travel into his paintings, feel the desert burning and the bushes drying, celebrate the rain, fly over immaculate skies, walk on the immense beaches, taste the wilderness of the sea and, above all, sense the incredible power of the land itself.

	All images are copyrighted material of Laurent Filippini and can't be used without written permission. © Laurent Filippini 2002