'The complex texture of the different layers of paint, his bold brush technique, the absence of detail and the determinate use of light and dark are proof of his modern artistry.'

Mysterious and fierce, bouncing between exuberant and meditative.

Armand Campi takes the act of creation as it comes and works in an ongoing dialog with himself and the material. His faithful companion is the idea that our subconscious minds are unfathomable. His oil paintings are suggestive and evoke all kinds of associations. Apocalyptic scenes announce themselves repeatedly and in other work meditative forces dominate or a divine light shines through. But always present is his drive and genuine passion for painting.

Campi is indifferent to one stylistic approach . He can't and doesn't want to choose. His way of painting jumps easily from baroque characteristics to an impressionistic touch, from meditation and mystification to abstract-expressionistic imagery. The human figures are universal and timeless and want to be judged solely on their human condition. He puts these figures in an environment that influences them decisively.

Campi demands the artistic freedom that he deems indispensable. In his layered oil paintings he seeks the core of human existence and investigates the powers that influence the human mind coming from outside and within. The human and angelic-like figures bounce between different moods. Strong gestures, modest images and exuberant explosions of color take turns rapidly. The intensity with which Campi paints doesn't always leads to esthetic results. Next to the oil paintings with a poetic emanation and a lyrical eloquence, there are also paintings where you sense the dark side.These silent witnesses of death can exist in the midst of paintings that are light and exuberant and sometimes theatrical and fierce. His oeuvre as a whole forms proof of mature and dynamic artistry by an independent mind.

Wim van der Beek - art critic

The oil paintings of Armand Campi.

“In his oil paintings one often encounters enigmatic feelings, stillness and turbulence weaved together in an almost mystical experience. The themes are worked out in a restrained fashion in his compositions, while his choice of color accentuates their intensity.

Sometimes one finds references to the old masters or Latin influences. Yet Campi is a contemporary painter even though his themes are classical. The complex texture of the different layers of paint, his bold brush technique, the absence of detail and the determinate use of light and dark are proof of his modern artistry.”

2003 Bernard de Wolf, Dutch Painter

Permanent exhibition at the 'Tatiana de la Fuente / Art Gallery' on the Prinsengracht 308a, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.