Gritty City: Dark Oils Capture Essence of Bustling Urbanity

gritty city aerial view

Busy shipyards, city streets, rain-streaked skyscrapers and other iconic staples of cities come alive in this portfolio of shadowy oil paintings.

gritty moving cars towers

gritty sidewalk intersection

gritty city shipyard

Valerio D’Ospina captures movement in the strokes of his brush, but the blurred results also take on that uncanny real-yet-indistinct character of a dream or memory, a little like the work of Alexandra Pacura.

gritty multi way roads

gritty city curve

Born in Italy, Valerio studied in Florence, painted in Paris and eventually moved to Pennsylvania – his range of industrial subjects reflects studies of historic Europe as well as the infrastructure of the United States.

gritty city skyscrapers

gritty city street

gritty narrow alley

He was trained to teach, but has since turned toward full-time creation. From his bio: “After this teaching experience he decided to focus exclusively on painting, receiving positive feedback from private collectors and galleries from around the world.”