Fabio Ceccarelli: An Italian artist drawn to the Philippines

Even as a child, Fabio Ceccarelli was intrigued by the culture of different societies. Born in the Chinese Year of the Monkey, our bachelor lived in Florence until he moved out of his parents’ beachfront home to study architecture. As he became more independent, Fabio decided to pursue his interests. His fascination for Asia attracted him to move to the Philippines, where he set himself up with a boutique to showcase his work. In the midst of developing his art, Fabio taught himself how to speak English. He also speaks Spanish, Italian and French.

Gentle, attractive and a man with firm convictions, Fabio continues to add on to his skills. He is a feng shui enthusiast, keen numerologist and considers his parents to be the most important people because they are very kind and sweet.

I moved to the Philippines in 2004. In the beginning, I designed a jewelry boutique, then I got to like this place because many are really nice people and if you balance everything, it is a place where you can live and be comfortable. I don’t like the cold and I feel like it is my second home. I really like to know your culture, to understand and try to be more and more Filipino. It is not a competition between Italian and Filipino. For me, it is okay. I even speak a bit of Tagalog.

The sport I do the most is squash in Rockwell. I like to run every day.

How I got started… with my love for accessories. When I was a child I was in love with everything shiny. I was really attracted to see the light and the colors; when the light would shine, I was happy. Jewelry is something that you do not really need. Not even accessories. It is something to make you happy. Then I developed my own style. Instead to give some designer this work, I chose to do it myself.

My action and passion now is everything about art. Design is still my passion but I want to discard everything I like — architecture and design — to focus on my paintings. It’s absolutely my work. I stopped being an art director so I can focus only on my acrylic on canvas paintings. I am even a photographer, researcher and from a picture I got, I will paint in digital with my computer; with this kind of work I published in the Biennale di Venezia 2011 catalogue.

I’ve been working on my art since about 20 years. It became a serious work from 1998. At that time I got my style. I got really exactly what I want to do. Before that time it was just a practice to understand my direction.

What we do for others in simple words is to paint dreams. People can see a story, a colorful story that makes people happy.

My personal style signifier is my lucky charms. I have so much more in Florence, maybe about 500. I like all charms that immediately give me happiness. It’s a feeling that I get in a few seconds. Like this collection of cards I bought yesterday. When I saw this, I was in love.

I get inspired… I cannot really be precise because sometimes it is just something that I see or a song or the color of the sky but absolutely the most that inspires me are faces. Even if my way of painting faces is tribal and minimal. Faces are the most fascinating things.

I work best during the night when it is really quiet and I can concentrate.  

What helped me to conquer fear… I like to think a lot and don’t want to do things that give me trouble. I am disciplined and I like to live with discipline. I was a racecar driver so I learned discipline. You cannot just improve if you did not practice, or eat properly and sleep — it’s already part of my lifestyle.

A few weeks ago I was with friends and one asked me if I want to smoke. Another friend said that he thinks Fabio has never seen a cigarette.

A good quality about me… I am very altruista. It is not a big deal for me to think of others before myself. No one needs to tell me that I am altruistic. Its something I understand. It’s like having one candy and you give it to someone else, then you are. If all I have is P10 and I give it to someone, then I am. It’s easy to understand it if you are. And I am like this from young age. Always when I was a child, I never fought with friends. I did not want to possess things. You share whatever you have and that makes you happy.

If I had to limit my travels to one city… a small city in Tuscany, Voltaire. It is where ancient Etruscans developed generations of genius people. Their engineering skills are obvious even today with the cuniculus irrigation system; I am always amazed whenever I go there. It is a gorgeous city. In one museum there is one of my favorite paintings, “La Resurreccion” by Rosso Fiorentino.

In my fridge you’ll always find water. In my house I always have water and coffee.

Beside my bed is the rosary.

In school… I learned a lot. I used to teach in the university so I experienced to be a student and an assistant to a teacher for five different courses.

The books I am reading now are two new books that I bought in Italy … architecture and feng shui. I like to read about art, I have a big passion also for philosophy.

Good advice I have given… Do something good and forget about it; when you do something bad, remember it for all your life.

Good advice I have received is I like always to remember that my father told me: “Never love whatever cannot give you love back.”

Whose advice do I follow? I always trust my friends. Good for me, they are very kind and make me meet people nice like them, so I build up a community and many people that make me happy and not alone. This is something I enjoy in the Philippines.