Art Exhibition: Breathing Oils

About Michele Ritorni
In 1953, Michele was born into a family of bakers in Bari, Italy. His family moved to Australia in the 1960s like many other southern Italian families looking for a more comfortable life.

Breathing paint from a young age, Michele worked as a Spray Painter — a trade he had dabbled in back in Italy. This experience, combined with the genes inherited from his mother Carmela, who was talented at drawing, sparked his interest in oil painting as a young father in his late 20s.

Michele has since always made time to pursue his creative pastimes. Breathing Oils features some of the many works Michele has produced as a hobby artist over the last 40 odd years.

About his daughter
Carmela’s creative gene filtered through to Michele’s daughter Carmen, who regularly drew faces as a young girl. She went on to study Fashion and Textile Design at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) but never pursued a career in the industry. Life’s distractions got in the way of her creativity but she has recently picked up her pens again to exhibit a few sketches of what has kept her mind entertained during lockdown. Faces, fashion and her family are what inspire her most.