Sassone never planned on being an artist. He studied architectural drafting for several years and knew he had a knack for drawing and painting, but not until he studied with Loffredo did he “fall into art.”

“I evolved in Florence, where I painted on plywood in the countryside,” says Sassone. “As the paintings got larger, the canvases got larger, with Macchiaioli help. They always painted with visions of colors, braking down the spectrum. [Hence], my work always has an individualistic effect that divides the colors.”

Unlike other artists of his genre, Sassone tends to paint unique points of view and chooses subjects and perspectives that are not usually explored, such as “Emilia,” a dusk setting with train tracks leading to a faint Toronto skyline. Sassone named the painting after his wife, who was instrumental in his move to Toronto. “It’s a personal thing in many ways. The train tracks are very faint at the end and you see the skyline of Toronto. It’s a personal struggle of the artist to reach a new space; that struggle reflects the journey of life.”

When choosing viewpoints and vanishing points for his work, Sassone finds that he obsesses over them. “I’ve always been fascinated with perspectives,” he says. “It’s a very personal, never-ending battle within the artist: who they are and where they are going in life.”

Where is Marco going next? It’s hard to say, as Sassone is not a planned traveler. “My moving has always been an instinctual reaction to the circumstances in which I was living at the time. Toronto is my current last arrival. It feels [like] the right place in many ways, but one never knows.”