Artist Ray Piscopo, who has been active on the local art scene since the 1970s, has just announced a new exhibition. The majority of the paintings on display at the Cavalieri Art Hotel explore Piscopo’s emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic had a significant impact on my life, much like it did with everyone else’s,” says Piscopo, whose art has been exhibited in countries as far afield as the USA and Italy. “Like many others, I isolated for safety, but because I was grappling with a whole range of feelings, I spent most of the past 17 months painting from dawn till dusk.”

Among the paintings on display are The Four Seasons, which looks at how so many have been denied the chance to shape their own futures; and Back to the Roots, which explores how such times can make one question past mistakes and missed opportunities. But the artist also has moments of hope, with paintings like I Will Survive showing that redemption for humankind is possible, and On the Mount looking at how the divine offered solace to so many during these difficult times.

One thing that most of Piscopo’s followers will notice is that the artist has dropped his signature colour palette, with its use of vivid and bold colours, in this exhibition. Instead, he uses beiges to set the mood and adds small pops of colour to show that even in the bleakest of moments, hope still has an important role to play.