By David Jarvis and Elizabeth Rosselle (Originally published on The Bukit List Magazine, a Three Word Agency publication)
Federico sits in his Bali studio overlooking a rice paddy while sipping on an espresso, surrounded by larger-than-life paintings of legends. He tells us where it all began…
“I’ve been painting since childhood, but I remember the first time I painted as a true artist, Federico says. “There was no other reason for me to paint—I just had feelings inside that I needed to put down. And that’s when I understood what it meant to be a real artist.” —Federico
Born in Stockholm to an Italian father and a Swedish mother, painter Federico Tomasi—who goes by Fede—has felt the creative tug since he was a kid. His dad, architect Mauro Tomasi, was in the art community and Fede recalls living in a very Bohemian environment with artists and creatives always hanging around the house.
When he was young, he and his family left Sweden for Italy and that’s where Fede feels like he really came into his own. “We moved to Italy when I was 13 and I always say I became Italian that day. I felt immediately attracted to the country, the culture—everything.”
Fede’s artistic talents were recognized by his teachers early on. He was encouraged to attend art school, and he went on to study at the Institute of the Arts in Riccione, Italy. After graduating, he headed to Singapore where his father was working. Once he got there, it wasn’t long before Fede’s art career started to take off.
While working in fashion briefly in his early twenties, Fede started painting for himself in his spare time and his work was soon discovered by a gallerist. Showing in galleries meant that he could go freelance which enabled him to move to Bali, a place he’d always wanted to live. Federico will always feel fortunate that he was good enough to end up in galleries quite quickly, but when he reflects back on his early years as a painter, he can see that he made many mistakes.
“I was very naive. I didn’t think about becoming a painter,” Fede says. “You develop this idea based on something and then you realize it actually isn’t working.”
Reflecting back on a time when he was invited to exhibit in New York as a young artist, he remembers being so enamored with the idea of showing there that he lost sight of his vision. He’d accepted an opportunity where the commission was based on some of his old work, and it was a style he’d put to rest.
“Why am I this disconnected from the work—why do I feel like this? I realized it was a closed chapter,” Fede says. “It’s a little bit like suddenly your ex of ten years ago comes back and you think, ‘just because she’s an ex, it’s going to be the love of your life.’ But it’s just an old story. There is no more love. I was excited to have the opportunity to have a show in New York and I was too insecure to say, ‘I’m not painting this anymore, I’m doing this instead.’ But I compromised. It was like a double-edged sword.”
Federico leans into experiences like these—they help him to recognize how important it is for him to remain true to himself so that he can keep creating good art.
Now, I try to be honest—I do what I feel,” Fede says. “And then, obviously, where there is a commission, I’ll get the feeling that the collector is going to have expectations and I have to please the client. But I have to also be strong enough to say, ‘hey, listen, I have a little bit of free will here.’”
While working in fashion briefly in his early twenties, Fede started painting for himself in his spare time and his work was soon discovered by a gallerist. Showing in galleries meant that he could go freelance which enabled him to move to Bali, a place he’d always wanted to live. Federico will always feel fortunate that he was good enough to end up in galleries quite quickly, but when he reflects back on his early years as a painter, he can see that he made many mistakes.
“I was very naive. I didn’t think about becoming a painter,” Fede says. “You develop this idea based on something and then you realize it actually isn’t working.”
Reflecting back on a time when he was invited to exhibit in New York as a young artist, he remembers being so enamored with the idea of showing there that he lost sight of his vision. He’d accepted an opportunity where the commission was based on some of his old work, and it was a style he’d put to rest.
“Why am I this disconnected from the work—why do I feel like this? I realized it was a closed chapter,” Fede says. “It’s a little bit like suddenly your ex of ten years ago comes back and you think, ‘just because she’s an ex, it’s going to be the love of your life.’ But it’s just an old story. There is no more love. I was excited to have the opportunity to have a show in New York and I was too insecure to say, ‘I’m not painting this anymore, I’m doing this instead.’ But I compromised. It was like a double-edged sword.”
Federico leans into experiences like these—they help him to recognize how important it is for him to remain true to himself so that he can keep creating good art.
Now, I try to be honest—I do what I feel,” Fede says. “And then, obviously, where there is a commission, I’ll get the feeling that the collector is going to have expectations and I have to please the client. But I have to also be strong enough to say, ‘hey, listen, I have a little bit of free will here.’”
When a personal tragedy in the midst of his career suddenly changed the course of Federico’s life, he was forced to look inward in a way he’d never done before. He’d gone to visit his grandmother who was struggling with her mental health—the two were very close. On returning to her apartment after running an errand one day, Fede found her naked, dead body lying in the snow. She’d jumped off the balcony and he was the first to discover her. It was a very significant moment in his life—aside from being traumatized after witnessing something so horrific, he also blamed himself for what happened.
“I started trying to escape in destructive ways after that because I felt guilty for leaving the apartment,” Fede says. “I abandoned myself because I thought that was the only solution. And I would bring harm to all the people that surrounded me because I didn’t love myself. If you don’t love yourself, you’re not able to love anything.”
A few years later in 2019, Fede was diagnosed with Guillain Barré syndrome, a rare disorder where your body attacks your nerves. It left him in a hospital bed completely paralyzed from the neck down for several months, not knowing if or when he’d ever recover. It definitely forced him to do some soul-searching.
“I think after my grandmother’s suicide, I wanted to die—I wanted to end my life. And then it seemed like God gave me a taste of it and said, ‘do you really want to do that? Okay, I’m gonna knock you to the ground and then you can make up your mind.’ I was paralyzed and I couldn’t move a single finger. And then there was an awakening. Suddenly, I became really grateful for the small things in life.”
Fede’s recovery ended up defying expectations. While the doctors told him he’d only get 80% of his capabilities back and would probably struggle to paint like he once had, he’s now stronger than ever. He was given a second chance at life.
“Sometimes when I start getting angry about stupid things, I have to stop and go, ‘hey, remember how you were? You were fucking paralyzed—you couldn’t even stand up, take a walk, or go to the bathroom,” Fede says. “And now you’re complaining because you dropped something in the kitchen or broke a glass? Come on, man, be grateful for the life you have.”
These says, Fede runs 7 kilometers per day, eats healthy, and lives well. He’s also started turning inward, facing his shadows, and learning about himself which fuels his work and infiltrates all other areas of his life. Mostly, he tries to keep things simple.
“The most important thing for me is to stay true to myself, and that’s the advice I’d give to anyone with the desire to be an artist. To stay true to themselves, and to not do anything for the wrong reasons. If you have the urge to be creative because you think it’s cool to be an artist, forget about it,” Fede says. “People think it’s a cool thing to be an artist, but it’s not cool at all. It’s a pain in the ass. It’s very hard to succeed and it’s very hard to sell your work. But if you want to do it because you have the urge to create, then you should do it regardless.”
Fede’s work is taking on a new direction right now. Recently, in pure Fede style, he went from doing massive portraits to painting postcard-sized landscapes that he produced on a plein air expedition that he took around Bali. These tiny paintings were selected to represent Italian artists in Bali for a special exhibition at the Museum Pasifika in Nusa Dua back in July 2023.
“Let’s see how I develop my new ideas,” Fede says. “The landscape is attracting me a lot, especially in an environment like Bali which is beautiful from every corner. It’s really paradise, and it’s full of nature.”
We’ll see where he goes next. Last we heard, he was stepping away from portraits for the time being while taking the landscape concept and working big again.
To learn more about Fede’s body of portrait work, check out the Bukit List film, “Portraits of Legends | Painter Federico Tomasi on his Latest Body of Work.”
* Federico’s work is currently exhibited at Nyaman Gallery in Seminyak, Bali | website: www.nyamangallery.com, Instagram: @nyamangallery