August 5, 2011
Armed with a brush, a sponge and a paint-smeared plastic plate, artist Tom Rossetti swiped bold brush strokes on a canvas in his gallery in South Florida as he explained a painting he created for a yacht.
Each megayacht is unique, and custom art guarantees it. Rossetti has left his colorful mark on motoryachts around the globe.
The 48-year-old Rossetti's first piece ended up on a yacht in the mid-2000s when his art was chosen by a designer who placed it on M/Y Mia Elisa. More recently, as director of Rossetti Fine Art in Pompano Beach, Rossetti's work had been noticed by designer Patrick Knowles.
Knowles often works with builders including Trinity Yachts and the two recently completed one of Rossetti's largest yacht projects.
Rossetti's excitement at the recollection of the project comes through with a grin that is framed by a moustache and the hint of a soul patch (a tuft of hair under the bottom lip).
That project grew to include several 16- by 17-foot paintings, "well, really, murals," he said. The end result was 10 large pieces that took about seven months to complete. They were shipped to Italy and installed through three decks of a spiral staircase onboard a 63m yacht.
It was hard to tell if Rossetti had a plan for the image he spread onto the canvas as he described how he and artist Donna Sallee innovated a system to paint the murals. They laid the material across the empty room, which is now his gallery, and rolled the 17-foot paintings up as they worked. Rossetti did the underwork painting and commissioned Sallee to do the final painting on the project.
"It took two to three months for the detail work," Rossetti said as he wiped his hands on a paint-smeared rag and adjusted his glasses.
Green, black, ochre, yellow, orange and blue feature prominently on the canvases hanging and stacked against the walls in the workspace of his gallery.
"Four- by five-foot is my standard size; I like to work big," he said as he tilted the piece to let drips dribble down the canvas.
He described his broad-stroked pieces with broad words like water, earth, air and fire. Many of the paintings are moody and stark, reminiscent of light over water at twilight, dusk or dawn.
But when working on commissioned pieces for yachts, whether for stateroom or stairwell, he said each one is made to yacht color, theme and size specifications.
"Maybe a yacht project will require an Old World Italian look or super contemporary,” he said. “They always vary.”
Yachts have unique requirements for art, Knowles said, and Rossetti is knowledgeable on these issues of scale, installation, presentation and security.
"The walls are typically wood panels and the movement of the vessel requires stability in the installation," Knowles said. “Also, it's important to use the correct UV, non-glare glass in the best interest of presentation and preservation of the art itself.”
But mostly, Rossetti said, yacht installations prefer not to use glass because of the reflections. And art needs a minimal profile. To save space they need to hang tightly to the walls and not jut out into walkways.
As he unscrewed jars and tubes of paint, Rossetti explained another yacht project. With canvases on the floor stacked four and five deep, it is apparent he rarely rests while in the gallery.
"There is one of a koi pond at the base of a stairwell on one yacht," he said with another grin. "It's recessed to look like a real pond."
As he switched from a three-inch brush to a one-inch brush, Rossetti said he uses an architectural-type program on his computer to present his ideas to the owner or designer. The customer gives him the specs, the color scheme and a price requirement.
"Then I present imagery," he said. "I give them options. They'll tell me about the wall in the stateroom and I'll show them what it will look like."
Another issue unique to yachts, Knowles said, is handling investment quality art. In some cases, Rossetti sources out the art but he also procures high-end investment pieces such as originals by Picasso, Monet or Modigliani.
"We are typically charged with the commission to fabricate museum-quality cases with secured locks," Knowles said. "These are used to store the art pieces in an environmentally secure location off the yacht while she is in service."
"Often a yacht will use decorative art for charters and have the originals on for the owners," Rossetti said.
"Tom is also very well connected," Knowles said about a project the two are working on locating investment pieces for another yacht using Rossetti's art contacts.
"That part is pretty simple," Rossetti said as he sprinkled a handful of crushed red garnets onto the canvas he is still working on. "However, the real art of it is all about taste, quality and a great eye for great art that only comes from knowledge and experience."
Finally setting down his brush, Rossetti walked toward a series of nearby canvases. He seemed to breathe in the images to explain the strong emotion he hopes the viewer will also feel. The thick paint of multiple colors on one canvas should evoke calm he said. And in the other, turbulence.
"He truly has a passion for art," Knowles said.
To see Rossetti's work visit Rossetti Fine Art at 132 SW 15th St., Pompano Beach, Fla. 33060.To contact him call 954-247-9580, e-mail to tom@tomrossetti.com or visit Tomrossetti.com.
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