Zazzart Has an Alter Ego: Olympic Silver Medalist Lorenzo Zazzeri

“Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life”. (Henry Miller)

The same could be said for sport. Every one of us knows that, because we know what it means to dedicate our lives to a specific goal, a result.

Art, like sport, is a universe that seems to belong just to those who make a profession out of it, but instead it inevitably affects everyone’s life, adults as well as children. Art and Sport are aspects of everyone’s existence, which may seem superfluous but then prove to be essential, because they both touch the most emotional part of society’s soul.

Italian polymath Lorenzo Zazzeri has made his life a touchpoint between these two worlds.

Coutesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

“As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward”. (Vincent van Gogh)

Practices, workouts, the perseverance, and the passion needed to give the right attention to every single detail: this is what Lorenzo, known to the world as Zazza or ZazzArt, has been doing for years.

He does it in the pool, trained by Paolo Palchetti in Italy, where he works looking for the maximum speed, to find the gesture that can get the best out of his 6’3″ body. And he does it in the studio, with pencils and brushes, where those same 6’3″ are bent over a sheet or canvas, and move with incredible precision.

Courtesy of Lorenzo Zazzeri

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” (Émile Zola)

This is a rule that every swimmer knows pretty well. Talent helps but certainly isn’t enough. But the same is true in reverse – all Olympic medalists have some natural talent.

When you are looking for excellence you have to work hard to make sure that your talent can truly arise. Hoping that bad luck, injury, or a “bad day” won’t throw everything under the bus at the wrong moment. Like in 2019, when Lorenzo missed making the team for the World Championships in Gwangju, the meet where the Italian 400 free relay journey to Tokyo 2020 started.

“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.” (Robert Schumann)

In such a difficult period, like the one that all humanity has faced and still is facing, Zazzart’s mind has settled on the category of people who more than others supported the fight against our invisible enemy, the COVID-19 virus, and, armed with crayons, he painted the tired eyes of a nurse which stares at the viewer. “To the workers at the front, armed only with science and altruism”, was the dedication of the Italian artist.

Pastel on Paper, Courtesy of Lorenzo Zazzeri

“Art is a lie that makes us understand the truth.” (Pablo Picasso)

Not only doctors and nurses, through the years, Zazzart’s works are also aimed at all those categories who were looking for a way to make their voices heard, to create debate, that is the origin of any conflict’s resolution. From the Black Lives Matter movement to the attention towards the seas, choked by tons of plastic. The 27-year-old dedicates “Bon Appétit”, one of his first works on this topic, exhibited Biennale 2017 in Florence.

“Bon Appetit” di Lorenzo Zazzeri – Courtesy of Lorenzo Zazzeri – fonte Instagram

“Every good painter paints what he is.” (Jackson Pollock)

And so will do Zazzart. He has promised to paint his own alter ego, Lorenzo Zazzeri, on the Olympic podium with the silver medal around his neck, next to his teammates, Thomas, Alessandro, and Manuel, and he said he will gift them a copy. It will be done with the hyperrealism technique, which he loves, to be able to immortalize, forever and uniquely, a dream come true.

Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Follow Lorenzo Zazzeri on instagram @zazzart