Giovanni Mancini was born in Italy and moved to New York when he was 25 to study at Columbia University. The striking California landscape beckoned him to the San Francisco bay area where he currently resides.

The Tuscan hills undulate and the fields roll into one another. Stone buildings dot the land with ancient architecture. Old roads meander like streams. Earth breathes colors: burnt sienna, raw umber. Trees sculpted by unseen forces hug the land.

These are the paintings of Giovanni Mancini, so richly made in their simplicity that they defy the course of nature and the usual over-execution of painting. The images enhance what you already sense about his native land; Italy is magnificent in every detail and teaches the rest of the world what is beauty, elegance and divinity.

Mancini’s emphasis on geometry, coupled with the starkness of his landscapes, is reminiscent of de Chirico’s and Hopper’s style of scene making, while retaining his own unique identity. His love of the earth is painted in tones that create a sea of calmness.