is no stranger to Thailand, but this time she's not in the Land of Smiles for a vacation.
The New York-based Italian artist will be showing her latest creations at Central department store's Chidlom branch from October 19 to 23 as part of the chain's 60th anniversary celebrations. She'll also be taking part in a live painting show from October 19 to 21, inviting shoppers to watch her canvases come alive with colour.
The Orvieto-born Caroli, who divides her time between New York and Florida, has always been fascinated by the spirit and the art of the East, attracted by its elegance, exoticism, sensuality and mysticism. Long sojourns in Thailand, Bali, Laos, Burma, Cambodia and India, along with periods spent in Europe and the US, have made her a citizen of the world. Her paintings combine eastern mysticism with western expression.
Her work is represented in the public collection of Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts and the Museum of XXI Century Art in St Petersburg, Florida, as well as in private collections of prominent people like Ronald Lauder, Summer Redstone and Ralph Lauren.
But Caroli has worked hard for her success.
"I've been painting since I was 13. I had to fight to make it my career because when I told my family I wanted to be an artist, they said okay … that's a hobby. How can you earn a living?" she recalls.
Caroli compromised, graduated from the University of Rome with a doctorate in Ancient Literature and Archaeology, before completing her art studies at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London, the New York Studio School, the Art Students League of New York and with master iconographer Vladislav Andrejev.
"Everything I've studied has proved to be very important. It makes me to look at things with different eyes.
"Recently, I launched my first book about my life and work entitled 'On the Way - In Cammio'. The book is dedicated to my family and friends. I thought they were making my life difficult, but in fact they forced me to learn about faith, determination and courage and perseverance. I have to thank them."
Though many of Caroli's paintings feature angels, offering movement, colour, light and beauty, it's her depiction of flowers that hold the viewer's attention.
"The reason I paint flowers is because they are between human creations and divine work. They come out of the darkness of the earth and go toward the light. They are nourished by the sun and the earth. It's like black and white, yin and yang.
"A flower itself is a work of art and it's a big challenge to paint one. I also believe that a flower has healing power and amazing energy. So, I try to share and give back that energy through my paintings."
Caroli enjoys sharing her inspiration and imagination with people, especially underprivileged children. Her luggage is always overweight when she travels, as she stuffs her suitcases with canvases, colours and papers, "the materials children need for their imaginations to travel", she explains.
She spends a few months each year on the road and is particularly attracted to the Buddhist nations of Southeast and East Asia. She learned about Buddhism as a 20-year-old while practising yoga.
"The Eastern philosophy opened up a different world to me. As a Catholic, I was raised to think that life is about suffering and you have to be punished. Then you come to the other side of the world and they say life is joy; life is here and now.
"I learned that the past didn't exist anymore, nor did the future. The only thing we have is the here and now ... that nothing is sure and nothing is forever. Everything changes," says Caroli, who has taken to wearing a Jatukam Ramathep amulet that she was given during a Songkran visit to Nakhon Si Thammarat.
She says she was unaware at the time of the supernatural powers associated with the amulet, but later read that a man had credited his survival in an accident to the talisman. She also wears a smaller Somdej Wat Rakhang amulet.
"I believe the amulets will protect me," she smiles.
Tanaporn Tangcharoenmankong
The Nation
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