This month, Bohème features the art of Mauro de Martino, an Italian visual artist.

Mauro's work recalls the primitive art of early and tribal humanity: this primitive air is exuded by the raw, primeval nature of the subjects as well as by the media and supports used by the artist. As with much tribal art, Mauro frequently uses wood as a support, and like a tribal wooden sculpture, Mauro's paintings are earthy in their composition. This primitive quality begins with the elementary condition Mauro says he seeks to re-create. He writes: "I am generally attracted by the painting of those who do not know how to paint. I am interested not so much in the result or style of their work but in their inexperience, the fact of not having the least idea of how to go about their work. Therefore, every time I start a painting I try and re-create this condition."

Again, the material itself is elementary: "I do not use valuable colours, my materials are reduced to a minimum and my painting tools are often improvised in order to be forced to continually find new solutions with which to continue the work... The wooden tablet on which I apply my colours is an integral part of the painting and it is often scratched, engraved, grazed."