I roll up at Saverio Lucci’s villa in Jumeirah, Dubai, at noon. The Italian is in ‘generous host’ mood as he shuffles up to greet me. Introductions quickly dispensed with, a quick gaze around the walls reveals a rather disparate array of works. One assumes he is an eclectic collector. No, he assures me, insisting that he has friends who are artists, but has never thought to collect himself. Instead, he reveals that each work is by his own hand before quickly leading me into the lounge. I follow, nonplussed.
It’s been a funny day: just a few hours ago we received a call explaining that someone was planning on exhibiting a single-day exhibition at Emirate’s Palace. Our curiosity piqued, we hightail it to Dubai with a zest for knowledge as a guide, along with some rough directions regarding petrol stations.
Now, stood in the cold surrounds of a front room, Lucci makes his opening proclamation: ‘I need to present myself,’ he announces. The diminutive Italian stands shoulder height (and I’m only 1.8m); a head of short grey hair and a stuttering Italian accent lend him a debonair-enough appearance. However, it is not his presentation, but his (professional) standing that is the issue.
Lucci is better recognised as an interior designer than as an artist.In fact, he has never exhibited in a gallery in the UAE. A few neutral venues and several in his native Italy are what he has to show for 30-years of painting in the Emirates. So why not a gallery? ‘I am not doing commercial art,’ he counters. ‘The galleries are very commercial; there are only a few that are very good in Dubai.’ This is changing, he is quick to add: ‘Especially in Abu Dhabi, with the Guggenheim and the Louvre both coming.’ Nevertheless, using the surrounds of the Emirates Palace (for which he once designed a dome) as a launching pad is a bold gambit.
As an artist, Lucci is an everything man, although he confesses that he enjoys portraiture over other disciplines. His exhibition largely comprises a dazzling array of female portraits. A glance around the various nymphs that adorn his lounge walls confirms this easily enough. A picture of the actress Monica Bellucci hangs on one wall. Did she sit for him? I wonder. ‘No, but I’m planning to do an exhibition in Italy and invite her,’ he says. Lucci thinks big; he has called his exhibition, The Art Of Kings.
Glancing around the room, it is obvious that the styles change from portrait to portrait. Pointing out various works, he explains: ‘That was inspired by the designer Galliano; that one uses the old Renaissance techniques of oil paint on wood.’ He lands on a portrait entitled ‘Blue’: ‘It’s very impressionistic’, he says (it’s also very blue). One of the more dramatic pieces is a picture of Dubai from above – a sweeping dark landscape imagined from a bird’s-eye view, neon lights marking out the streets and landmarks. It is as different as everything else in his house. One can’t help but wonder, is it creativity or a lack of discipline that leads him down such varied paths?
One picture in particular lends an insight. It is a mood board for a hotel design, which looks like the front cover of a brochure. He explains it at some length, inadvertently revealing another side of his life: ‘I also did some work for the Pirates Of The Caribbean film,’ he lets slip. ‘Myself and some of my team did some set design – everything is fake – but for shooting you need a real design.’ He has also done backscreens for the Theatre of Venice’s production of Aida and La Traviata.
‘Initially, artists do other things, not just cultural works,’ he explains. ‘So many artists in Italy work for theatre, cinema, interior design or for the municipality. They do work for themselves as well as custom-made pieces. From the beginning, if you think about Michelangelo, whatever he did was commissioned by Vatican City. Very few of his works belonged to him.’
Michelangelo? Like we said, Lucci is a man who thinks big. He talks in a businesslike drawl, but he certainly cuts an ambitious figure. When his exhibition arrives at Emirates Palace’s ballroom, it will rival its major summer exhibition for an audience. The question is: will this be his big introduction? For now, the priviledge shall be ours. Let us present Saverio Lucci: artist, designer, Michelangelo… everything man.
The Art Of Kings is shown at Emirates Palace on September 28 in the Ballroom
