Italian artist Vincenzo Reda spills wine on canvas to understand human fantasies. The Guide soaks up his art

If creativity doesn't stun, it isn't worth the hullabaloo. For Italian artist Vincenzo Reda, however, hype comes easy. He paints the world in wine, and art, to him, is a sip of Armagnac.

Stroking the spirit
Vincenzo has put 15 paintings up for view, each with a theme as remarkable as his palette. "Way back in 1993, when I was sitting in a restaurant, a few drops of wine fell on a business card. When I looked at it after two-three months, I noticed that some interesting motifs had been formed. It was a pretty pattern. That's where the idea of wine painting originated. Now, when I leave my wine glass half empty, I spill the remaining drink systematically on paper", says the artist. That's not where the work ends. "I wait for several days, weeks and months to allow the fluid to settle. The colour depends on the colour of wine and paper used. When I decide on a particular wine, I try finding out its maker, and the vineyards where it was been produced. " Though regular watercolour sheets are used as canvas, the painter studies the history of each wine before using it. The selected wines are stored at different temperatures to intensify or shrink the colour densities. The abstract works are recreation of his own psychological perceptions, he explains.