Marianna Canu is an Italian painter, jewelry designer and writer. She was born on the island of Sardinia, Italy into a family of painters, metal smiths and architects. She grew up living and breathing art. At the age of 5, she started handcrafting jewelry and experimenting with colors and paintings. Roman architecture and geometric forms inspired her, resulting in some of the most stunning and unique jewelry designs and patterns.
In 1990 she began her career as a jewelry designer, but she never abandoned her true passion…painting. Her designs provoked the attention and enthusiasm of a very involved audience and soon she found herself designing and producing jewelry for several upscale Boutiques and jewelry stores in the elite tourist resorts of Sardinia. “Designing jewelry is an art form, it is a perfect marriage of emotional expression and craftmanship”.
Marianna’s experience extends beyond the canvas and jewelry. She has worked on TV as a show host for a Sardinian channel and she has also been in several commercials and even held a minor role in the American movie “Baretta’s Island”.
In 1999 after spending three years in New York city Marianna made the decision to move to New Orleans to establish her jewelry company and her jewelry galleries. It was shortly after introducing her designs to the American market that she was noted for her collections such as Galaxy, Aphrodite, Connectivity and libellula,with the last one being inspired by her son Riccardo. Her work was carried in more than 200 stores allover the country and was purchased by several TV Stars, politicians and several Hollywood celebrities including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jane Seymour, Nicolas Cage, Blake Lively, Claire Danes, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sharon Stone.
She also designed the jewelry for the Krewe of Excalibur for two years and for a few local clothing designers. In 2005 Marianna received an award nomination for best jewelry design at the Alpha Awards in Las Vegas. Her work was considered to be unique, dramatic and edgy. Between 2002 and 2010, Marianna opened four jewelry stores. Her paintings were incorporated in the décor of each gallery. Her creative streak kept leading her focus on her paintings
In 2011 she started dedicating her time to painting and writing. She has worked on mixed media and acrylic, but her focus is oil on canvas. She is a modern impressionist painter with an edgy twist, as her paintings are colorful and dynamic. She is best known for her trees and skylines and her work has been represented in several New Orleans galleries and has been commissioned by art collectors in both Europe and the United States to bring their vision to life.
In 2018 Marianna Canu was commissioned by Louis Vuitton to paint unique custom artwork for their special Mother’s Day Event. Her colors have a unique intensity and warmth, every color used in her paintings is altered several times to achieve that purpose and her painting process goes through six or seven layers of paint using the brush. “I like to add some texture to my paintings, I see harmony in it. Colors give me comfort. Everything I transfer into my paintings is what I am and what I see. I leave a part of me in each of my paintings. I have used everything from paint brushes, pallet knives, my hands and even at times dipping the ends of my hair for a personal touch. I feel one with the canvas”.
Marianna believes art is the way to express her inner emotions. “I communicate with my canvas, I consider the canvas as a whole and I don’t stop painting until I have nothing else to say. I take a few steps back and I immediately know if I have fully expressed myself or not. I don’t like to copy from nature because I feel that it interferes with my imagination process. Everything I paint is a feeling or a product of my imagination. I am very passionateI believe passion is the key to everything. I don’t believe in imperfections, when I’m painting, see only beauty. I can’t imagine my life without a canvas. Art is my oxygen”. Marianna still resides in New Orleans with her two children.
Dee Dee Martin Gallery: Steve Martin Fine Art
Personal Art Showings: Creason’s Fine Art
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My wish as an artist is to inspire others. To make them escape their everyday reality. To forget about their problems and their chaos. I want them to see hope, happiness and perfection. I want them to enter into my world and envision everything that they want to see or to be. To feel at the same intensity that I feel when I am creating my paintings. I want them to let their imagination lead their thoughts and let them feel a connection to what I put on my canvas.I want my art to be the vessel to their desired destination. I want them to imagine themselves walking into my paintings and imagining that they have just created their own reality
I’m an impressionist painter, I love colors and texture and I have an obsession with symmetry bubbles and straight lines. I consider the canvas as a whole. Color, texture, shape, aesthetic and space are my main values. My focus is on oil on canvas and paint brush technique. My brush is my other obsession,I get really attached to my brush as I consider it to be my vessel of communication with my canvas. I use the same brush until it falls apart. I only use acrylic paint for my Bubble Land Series, only the last coat in this series is completed with oils. I create my own color palette by altering each color several times to achieve that purpose. All my paintings are completed with at least six or seven coats of paint and then signed at the bottom right corner and varnished. All my work has the written details on the back of the canvas and my thumb print as my final trademark.
