268. Gelato

268. Gelato, 2026, Öl auf Leinwand, 40 × 30cm

This painting came from my trip to Rome. In between painting sessions with a life model, I had a gelato with a friend. Apparently, this gelato was made with natural ingredients and accordingly was quite natural in color and delicious. However, what I noticed in particular was that the scooping action of the attendant was very sophisticated. The gelato was really turned and twisted with uncommon grace in order for it to sit into the waffle cone almost like the sphere from Fritz Koenig, in its lost original form. Perhaps the sheer volume of customers forced the attendant to develop this expertise. In any case, it was like watching a complex Olympic dive. I think the flavor combination that Camilla chose which you see here was chocolate and pistachio. The photo was spontaneously taken and fortunately it balanced the hard afternoon light cutting sharply across the small shop quite well. In fact, in the early stage of this painting, I felt a bit like I was watching Fellini’s 8½. Was the geography, the sun, the shop design, and the fashion reflecting something from the eternal city?

You can see that there are occasionally tiny aberrations in my work like the droplet of orange paint in this painting. I think most painters agree that accidents are sometimes helpful in painting. You can’t coordinate them, they just appear, as in this case, of their own mysterious accord, and you either roll with it or fight against it. This drip of orange paint either was flicked over from my palette onto my canvas by me as I mixed a color or it was carried into my studio in the night and placed on the painting by elves. I think we both know the truth.