Italy artist displays mirror-effect installations at exhibition in Oman

Muscat: Italian artist and dancer Lucia Olivia displayed several mirror-effect installations at a recent exhibition held at Bait Al Zubair. At the exhibition, Olivia showcased 11 artworks, which were carved out of volcanic stone found in Italy and on marble from Oman and painted on them.
She paints on natural stones, often creating different set-ups with mirrors, in which she paints the image on a stone, and uses a mirror to complete the other half. Olivia also showcased a special piece for His Majesty the Sultan at the exhibition.
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“Stones perfectly embody the value of eternity and, also, because in my artworks I want to give a three dimensional life to values, ideas or feelings that, being abstract, do not have one, or give a different shape and essence to real objects, as I feel them in my soul,” she said. “This is my solo exhibition; I worked for a full year to create each piece, and during this period I came to Oman four times for about 15 days each. I made three pieces in Italy and got them shipped to Oman, most of the other pieces I created in Oman, buying the marble from factories here.”
Olivia often carried her heavy, volcanic rocks on a donkey’s back on the Island of Alicudi near Sicily to create her unique art. “I prefer imperfect stones, marked in their shape by time or accidents, characterised by grooves or rifts, which are the source of my inspiration,” she said. The remote volcanic island, she noted, has inspired many artists and poets in Italy.
Olivia and her husband Luca fell in love with Oman when they first came here on a holiday, and in the following years they kept coming back, “We are also dance performers and came to Oman after a great show in Bahrain. We came here on holiday and fell in love with the country, so during the following years we came many times. Later, I started thinking of creating an exhibition dedicated to this beautiful county and its lovely people.”
“Every time, we came here, we made many friends and now we feel at home.”
An artwork normally takes 10 to 12 days for Olivia to complete, but some pieces take longer. “The piece on His Majesty the Sultan took more than three weeks to complete, I was so happy to do this piece.”
Her artworks can weigh up to 70 kilograms. Her works have received appreciation in exhibitions in Europe, as well as India, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries.
The exhibition entitled “Oman in my soul” will run until April 6 at the Bait Al Zubair.