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ant to see colorful paintings of random objects, with bright colors overlaying bold outlines?

Then look no further than Italian painter, director and sculptor Ugo Nespolo, who has produced 88 playful and creative paintings currently on display at the National Museum until June 5 in an exhibition titled “Beau Geste” or beautiful gesture.

As many as 400 people, including Portugalese President Anibal Antonio Cavaco Silva, attended the opening night to support the artist’s first exhibition in Indonesia.

As if the colors he uses aren’t diverse enough, Nespolo paints an array of different objects, for he claims to be inspired by just about anything and everything.

In some paintings, there are carrots, rabbits and milk cartons. In others he features numbers, alphabets, and in a piece titled Omaggio a Marilyn, he paints the famous icon Marilyn Monroe.

A contemporary artist, Nespolo challenges the norms that orthodox romantic painters follow. In other words, he avoids mainstream trends in the art world.

Aside from his signature use of acrylics, Nespolo also utilizes alternative techniques such as embroidery and inlaying, and, for materials, alabaster, ebony and mother-of-pearl, among others.

With an arts degree from the University of Turin in Italy, Nespolo has been painting for over four decades, and one can say his work is a reinvention of Andy Warhol’s famous pop art that flourished in the 1960s.

While the 1970s marks an important part of Nespolo’s journey as an artist, expressing his artistry through experimental cinema, the man spent the 1980s in the US, shifting from cinema to applied arts. It was then that Nespolo stayed true to the historic avant-garde perception that art should embrace and be inspired by life itself.

With all his experiences, the artist has created vibrant paintings and posters of real objects for Indonesians to enjoy. Enough of solitary, grungy, dark paintings; brighten your day with Nespolo’s cheerful works, full of the artist’s definition of fun.