Gian Battista Aicardi (known as GB), is an engineer and manager. Father of two sons, he dedicates most of his free time to his passion: painting.
Born in 1968 from an Italian father and English mother, he was raised in Liguria, in the north west of Italy. He remains deeply attached to this Italian region and to its sea, the Ligurian sea.
At sixteen he moved to the Veneto region and then to the UK, where he graduated with a first class degree in mechanical engineering at Manchester University and where he met his future wife.He lives in Pescara, Italy, since 1995.
His passion for the sea is evident in his paintings, since this is a recurring subject. He is a self taught painter, and began painting in acrylics. One of his paintings, "The embrace of the Sleeping Beauty", was awarded 4th place at the annual exhibition "Art in the home of d'Annunzio" in Pescara, hometown of the famous Italian poet. He then concentrated mainly in oil painting although many of his works, built in layers, still contain an acrylic foundation layer.
About GB Aicardi
His main source of documentation and learning is the internet, and his prevalent focus has been the realistic reproduction of his subjects. His first cycle of paintings has been inspired by the works of the English painter Alan Kingwell.
He paints prevalently landscapes and seascapes ("Turquoise wave", "Almost home", "No man's land") but also portraits and reproductions of famous paintings ("La dama con l'ermellino" by Leonardo da Vinci, "Girl with a pearl earring" by Johannes Vermeer, "Madonna della Scala" by Correggio).
In all his works there is an evident attention for details. His inspiration usually comes from the sight of highly contrasted subjects.
In 2014 he has participated again to the "Arte in casa d'Annunzio" exhibition with the painting "In full sail" that was awarded 3rd prize.
Perhaps a defining trait of this artist-engineer is the speed of execution of his works that are carefully studied and planned in advance and performed using various techniques such as the "Flemish technique" where several layers of paint are overlapped to produce the final painting.
In some occasions he has paired his art with poems inspired by the painting.
"In full sail", 3rd place at the "Arte in casa d'Annunzio" art contest in 2014
