For Nicola Carpinelli the paint brush is one of the ways he finds self-expression. An artist, musician, actor and poet, he is returning to his love affair with canvas and brushes after a ten-year hiatus to express his personal thoughts, feelings and experiences. However, this time, he is finding peace with a haunting topic and one that’s weighed heavily in his life… suicide.
“Sometimes painting your feelings can replace the act of ending your own life,” says Carpinelli, who battled his own addictions to drugs and self-destructive behaviors, and contemplated suicide himself as a “way out.”
Carpinelli empathizes with those battling suicide and what is now considered one of America’s newest epidemics.
“I once had a career as an artist. I was happily married, had a beautiful house on Bainbridge Island, Washington, five children and my own art gallery in the Art District of downtown Seattle.”
Later, Carpinelli became well-established in the rich and colorful art community of Santa Fe, New Mexico. His gallery there was prominently featured, and his work was even selected to support the Santa Fe Opera. Becoming known for his live painting, he was asked to paint for the opening night of Carnival in Santa Fe, where he was awarded The Honorable Decoration of the Mask by the Santa Fe Opera Guild.
And then life started to fall apart.
“For the first time in my life I found myself battling thoughts of suicide…and substance addiction and within 2 years, I had sunk my own world. “I lost my wife, my children, my gallery and was thinking of ending it all. I could no longer paint. That which had brought me such immense joy was now a reflection of my pain… it was like looking in a mirror every day and I despised my own reflection. I pondered day and night about killing myself…trying to dull the pain, to no avail.”
The “Dead Poets Art Exhibit and Suicide Thought-Leadership Discussion” is scheduled to open on World Suicide Awareness Day, September 10th at 7:00 pm at the Peterson Roth Gallery in downtown Bend, 206 NW Oregon Ave #1, Bend, Oregon. Admission is free.
The Dead Poets Art Exhibit and Suicide Thought-Leadership Program will be as follows:
7pm — Reception. Light hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served.
7:45 pm — Thought-Leadership Discussion
8:45 pm — Adjourn and Art Exhibit Tour
Carpinelli has organized a panel of community leaders, who include:
- Mariel Hemingway
- Michael Asher
- Nicola Carpinelli
Carpinelli will be revealing an intense collection of his first works following his 10-year hiatus, including:
- Anthony Bourdain
- Chris Cornell
- Margaux Hemingway
- Earnest Hemingway
- Kurt Cobain
- Robin Williams
- Vincent Van Gogh
- Kate Spade
- Alexander McQueen
Carpinelli concluded with, “I will be joined by a panel of experts in an attempt at answering questions, sharing experiences, and exploring solutions. Please join us in our efforts to move to a more open and positive place of discussion on one of the hardest and most sensitive subjects of our time. As for me, I am now sober and happy. I am humbled and now find strength in a power greater than my own. I could not do this alone. I was brought to my knees and once there, I prayed. Not for death this time, but for help. I am picking up the pieces of my life, one day at a time, and just so happy to be alive. Each day is a gift.”
RSVP to petersonroth.com
