Mazzetti’s California landscapes
Alan Mazzetti worked as an illustrator and graphic designer before deciding to become a full time artist about 10 years ago. His past profession is reflected in his current body of work where lines take center stage - horizontal with a few strategically placed diagonals. These works have a strong foreground and an atmospheric background.
The bright colour palette is quaint-essentially Northern Californian, something you might encounter from your window on a road trip, where the details are hard to discern. The golden yellows of the hills reminds one of the parched and sun-dried grass in the height of summer. The golden-orange is perhaps from a field of California poppies in spring time.
Fig 1: Cultivated fields, 2023. Dimension 60 x 60 x 1.5 in. Acrylic on panel *
This new series of highly textured abstract paintings on wood panels are inspired by Mazzetti’s love for the urban cityscapes (he is well known for painting iconic San Francisco buildings) and the landscape around him. Mazzetti explained his process when I visited his San Francisco studio. His starting point for each work are his panoramic photographs of the city taken from a high vantage point, typically twin peaks. He then works to obscure the image by applying multiple layers, abstracting it from its original form. When he is satisfied with the background, he seal it using a fixative. Mazzetti paints varying widths of horizontal lines, an homage to Barnett Newman’s zip paintings. These ‘zips’ enhance the composition and add dynamism, moving the eye around the entire canvas.
In ‘Cultivated fields’ (fig 1), Mazzetti has cleverly created an abstract landscape with primarily horizontal lines, but the composition does not seem monotonous. Since there is no focal point, Mazzetti has used strategically placed diagonal lines in order for the eye to move around the painting. Looking above the horizon line, there is some suggestion of hills peeking out from the layer of paint beneath but the luminous clouds obscure any recognisable form. The cultivated fields, which gives the painting its title, are planted and manicured in perfect horizontal lines…perhaps a vineyard or one of the many produce farms that line the roads. The repetition of the yellow-blue patchy line that horizontally intersects the canvas into one-thirds, makes for an interesting work.
Mazzetti likes working in the square format but for this series, he has made a few triptychs (fig 2).
Fig 2 - Flipped fields triptych, 2023. Dimensions - 30 x 60 x 1.5 in. Acrylic on board *
Recently, I had the privilege of visiting Mazzetti’s studio at the Hunter’s point shipyard. I love visiting the artist’s studio since it gives me an insight into their process - what their inspirations are and the tools of the trade. I also gain a greater appreciation for their work since there is so much that goes on behind the scenes, the invisible work, before the viewer sees the end result in front of them.
His studio is located in a gated area which used to be a US Naval shipyard during world war II and has now been decommissioned and converted to artist studios. It comprises of 3 large rooms with lots of gallery lightening to showcase his paintings. What I found interesting were the painters blue tapes on the walls (fig 3, right side). These are the tapes that he uses to section off parts and are reused over and over. Over time, interesting patterns emerge on the tape and Mazzetti has incorporates this layered pattern in his paintings, as seen in fig 1, the blue-yellow patterned strip that sections the paintings into one-thirds. Inspiration comes from so many places, you just have to open your eyes to it.
Fig 3 - Mazzetti’s studio located at Hunter’s point shipyard.
About the artist
Alan Mazzetti is a California native and studied graphic design and illustration at the San Francisco Academy of Art College. He lives and works in San Francisco, CA. He has exhibited extensively and has earned “Best of Show” and placed in the top three in several juried exhibitions.
* Mazzetti is represented by the studio shop gallery in Burlingame and the images are courtesy of the gallery.