“You will find more in woods than in books. Trees and rocks will teach you what no teacher will ever tell you”: this motto by San Bernardo di Chiaravalle unveils all the wisdom and the artistic life of Sebastiano Antonio De Laurentiis, known as Capobianco (1938-2018). Born in Roccascalegna, the prophet of “Art Nature” made the Val di Sangro landscapes around the Maiella massif his source of inspiration and chosen gallery. Capobianco exhibited his works in Rome, Milan, Naples, Venice, Berlin, New York, Basilea, Cologne, and is generally and broadly appreciated on the international scenario for his diversified artistic creativity which goes from drawing and painting, to sculpture and metals forging. Since 1996 he has avoided the spotlights and retired into the stimulating solitude of his mansion in Capriglia where he could keep into direct contact with the holiness of organic materials and earth products.

In the name of his artistic liberty, Capobianco takes items from reality and nature by which he is enchanted for its daily exhibitions, its times and gifts that he transfers in his works, where he places, especially in the latest stages, even real natural elements, such as leaves, fruit, seed. De Laurentiis loves so much the land surrounding his museum-house with fields of olive trees and cultivated plots, that his works show as a priority his connection with “art nature”: spikes, leaves, trunks, rocks and clumps make part of his paintings as pieces of a beautiful and evocative natural mosaic.

Among the several performances by Capobianco the following are worth to be mentioned. “Quadri d’autore” (Fine art paintings): a number of iron frames settled on the territory from where to admire the spots of landscapes selected by the artist. The “Collina degli alberi morti” (Hill of dead trees) in the natural oasis of the Lake of Serranella where the only voice is the babbling of water interspersed by birds’ singing; “L’incendio del lago di Pennadomo” (fire at the lake of Pennadomo) with organic wax boats which turn into fish food once off and, lastly, the “Canti della terra” (Songs of Earth) in his Roccascalegna, where the guest may enjoy the natural space in a pleasant plateau framed by a luxuriant vegetation.

[Credits | Text: Ottavio Di Renzo De Laurentis | Translation: Mirella Rapa | Voice and music: Studio Qreate | Photo: Laura Di Biase]