Rogai combines both passions in her paintings, which are large portraits of women in dark red tones that are painted using wine.
Rogai’s wine paintings were on display on Wednesday night at the opening of her new exhibition at Art Supermarket in Mid-Levels. Art lovers and epicureans enjoyed an extensive Italian spread and sipped wine while they perused the artwork, stopping now and again to sniff them and comment on a painting’s singular bouquet.
Painting with wine is no easy task and Rogai has developed a secret recipe for wine-based paint that stays on the canvas and doesn’t fade.
It may seem excessive to jealously guard such a formula, but Swiss collector Michael Manzardo – curator and director of Art Supermarket – said artists around the world had been searching for a way to paint with wine. He has turned away one insistent artist who was hounding him for Rogai’s recipe.
Rogai couldn’t be at the show but sent a video of her at work, painting confidently and quickly, pausing to dip her brush in one of the many wine glasses by her side.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Côtes of paint from Italian artist Elisabetta Rogai