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Maison Valentio has worked with 5 painters from around the world, asking for their unique artistry of a Valentino Garavani accessory of their choosing.

Each of the painters is an emerging talent in their area and on the global art scene.

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Louise Giovanelli (UK)

“I approached this project with Valentino in much the same way I do my day-to-day practice. This includes, as one method among many, responding to, re-imagining and re-configuring details of pre-existing art works.

My process for ‘Dominion' was to zoom in, isolate, crop and re-contextualise — elements of the Valentino bag that I found most visually interesting and that I considered to have further painterly potential.

I focussed on the sculptural volume of the bag, rotating and formally adjusting the indentation lines, connecting them corner-to-corner — delineating space.

The gold stud repeated motif divides and grids the canvas — suggesting something classical, ornamental and fetishistic.

The painting is built up in multiple transparent layers of single pigment colours, much like a printing process, arriving at a deep, rich, chromatic black.

Filtering the language of digital tools (cropping, rotating, zooming-in) through the analogue process of painting is an attempt to hone in my investigation of the bag, whilst also complicating the legibility of the source image. In this way narratives are suggested and the painting remains ultimately, in a way necessarily, undefined.

What I want this painting to relay, and my concern for painting more broadly, is to foreground ways of looking and perceiving, to encourage the possibility that the act of looking itself is content.

It was a privilege to be chosen by Valentino for this project and to participate in such a high profile campaign - to explore further and foreground the affect that fashion can have upon painting and vice-versa.”

See more of Louise’s work here

Alexis Ralaivao (France)

“This project was a fantastic surprise! I always wanted to do this kind of project, doing it with one of the best Maison de Couture, I couldn’t be happier.

In my body of work you can see that I love painting clothes, specially shoes, moccasin. I’ve been wanting to paint a bag for a long time and this was the perfect opportunity !

Right away I had an idea about how the painting should look like. I was picturing it outside, in the deep countryside, with this woman reaching in her bag as she walks. I wanted the bag kind of stuck, pressed between her arms.

Not sure why I had this scenario in my head but I like the fact that it is full of mystery. You can easily make your own assumptions about what is happening here.

Where is she, what is she reaching in her bag, where does that path go?”

See more of Alexis work here

Zhang Zihao (China)

“Speaking of VALENTINO, I think of the color red, and naturally black comes in as the perfect pairing. The faces, they are people I have actually met before, I gave them each an outfit from my imagination that suits their temperament. As a large part of the painting is monochrome, you can easily sense tranquility and a flow of vitality, in turns bringing out the texture of crochet sneakers – they remind me of a sense of comfort. I give no storyline to my characters, the major part is open to interpretation. The paintings are both personal and public. Vitality is a flow, don't force it, and the rest will fall into place.“

See more of Zhang’s work here

Nahum Kim (Korea).

“Recently, I've been very into nature. I live in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, which is located far from Seoul, and is full of natural elements that inspire me, such as trees, forests, seas, and lakes.

What I particularly like the most about living here is that I can always look at the stars at night. Looking at the stars makes me imagine the mystical universe and its infinite possibilities. In addition, each of those twinkling stars gives a feeling of neatness.

When I first saw the Valentino Garavani Roman Stud Bag, I thought the stud details evoked a variety of emotions as if I was staring at the stars. I wanted to express the mysterious, neat, but fancy stud detail as a star.”

See more of Nahum’s work here

Iori Nagashima (Japan)

“The handbag was the main motif, I wanted to draw it in a sense of reality, and tried to express it naturally in the scene. I wanted to give a story to the drawing like a novel or movie, trying to capture a singular moment.

The color of the handbag is in beautiful ivory, it quite stands out in the dark.“

See more of Iori’s here