Artist Simone Giaiacopi paints rich, detailed still lifes and landscapes inspired by his home in Italy. While my paintings can look almost photographic at first sight, a closer observation reveals the density of texture, layers, and the myriad of brushstrokes, says Simone. I paint my subjects with a very small brush and small, precise strokes in order to enhance all the details, almost as if the piece was made of individually painted pixels. Simone was born in Viareggio, Tuscany and enjoyed drawing as a child. In school, he followed a different path, earning a PHD in Industrial Chemistry and later worked as a chemist at the University of Pisa. In 2007, Simone visited a photorealist painting exhibition in Milan that deeply impacted him. For the first time, he picked up oil paints and began teaching himself to paint. Over the next few years, he developed his own precise style. Today, he paints in a small, clean studio space located in a medieval building with a view of a typical Tuscan back alley. When he's not creating art, Simone works part-time as a hairdresser and loves reading and watching movies. His paintings are held in private and public collections, including the Fondazione Civica dei Musei di Venezia.