Carlo Albucci is a Florentine painter of very curious happenings, He paints the ironic, iconic, surreal poignant and comic events. Sometimes all together too.

In all ways they are fun to look at and even more fun to figure out. These events, all oil paintings on masonite panels, are inventions of his rather elaborate  and curious imagination, or maybe not. Only the viewer can decide. Anyway you look at them they will leave you wondering, smiling, perhaps laughing at this crazy world he has painted.

Carlo, born in 1947, turns 70 on the opening day of his exhibit at Gold/Smith Gallery, June 1. He is a very famous antique dealer who frequents the open air antique fairs throughout Tuscany on the weekends. During the week, Carlo paints. It’s what he loves to do and he’s wonderful at it. He won a scholarship to the Academia at the school of San Marco when he was in his early 40’s. There he fine tuned his natural talents and gained the confidence to paint from his heart, and that he does.

His scenes are rich in the fables and fantasies of Italian culture. Growing up in Firenze it would have been nearly impossible to not absorb the magnificent heritage of it’s art, The Church and the eccentricities within daily life. He takes the ordinary and steps out of the box to show the other side of dogma, tradition and fantasy. His paintings are ironic and lyrical. The resonate with joy and his ability to laugh at oneself - and everyone else too.

Gold/Smith Gallery will be featuring Carlo Albucci’s oils on board, his third exhibit in three years, at their gallery June 1 - 28. The gallery is located at 8 McKown Street, Boothbay Harbor.

The gallery will have a reception for Carlo Albucci, via WhatsApp, from 3 to 5 p.m. First Friday, June 2. The public is invited to see Carlo’s newest paintings and “meet” him via the Internet, a first for the artist!

For more information, call the gallery: 633-6252. Gold/Smith Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. and is usually closed on Mondays in June.