‘Supernatural force tells me when to paint,’ says artist who works with human ashes

A Texas-based artist who paints memorial artworks incorporating the ashes of loved ones said he believes he has ‘seen apparitions’ and is guided by a ‘force that decides when I can and can’t paint’.Federico Portalupi, 38, never believed in things that go bump in the night until he started creating his memorial art during a lockdown in the coronavirus pandemic.Portalupi, who is single and who lives with his brother Rodrigo, 32, and nephew Ramiro in Austin, has made a name for himself on TikTok where his 2020 reveal of his first-ever ashes memorial ocean artwork went viral with more than 2.5 million views.And while the self-taught artist, who was born in New York but who grew up in Argentina, said he never believed in the afterlife or anything spiritual before he started this work, too many spooky things have happened for him to ignore.’I remember one night recently when I had finished painting I caught sight of a very tall man standing over one of the paintings I was working on in my studio as I passed by the open door,’ he said.’I freaked out and went around checking all the window and door locks, but I knew there was nobody else in the house.’He added: ‘The man was very tall, about 6ft 3in and was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and a blue flannel shirt over that.’I spoke to one of my clients the next morning and asked if her dad, whose ashes I had worked with, had been tall.’I described the man I had seen, and she told me that was exactly what her dad had been wearing when he passed.’Portalupi never had any intention of working as an artist when he left school but was working in his early 20s in the family gelato store in Florida which just happened to be next to an art supplies shop.One day he bumped into a local well-known artist who asked, since he was always popping into the art shop, why he did not just start painting.’I remember taking 40 dollars from the cash register to buy a 12in x 16in canvas and four different paint colours and then I just started painting in the store,’ he said.Astonishingly, by the end of his very first week of painting, Portalupi, then 21, had sold a landscape autumnal painting of a country road to two customers who had walked into the ice cream store, liked the artwork and paid him 300 dollars on the spot to finish it so they could take it home.However, a period followed which saw him leave his painting days behind him while he worked in sales for a mattress company.After the breakdown of a relationship, Portalupi spent a few months living in his friend’s spare room, before getting his own apartment, a dog, and picking up his art supplies again, painting when he was not at work and showing his art in local coffee shops and at small art shows.By 2020, he had about 2,000 followers on TikTok but decided to erase the account and start again to make a proper commitment and to be consistent to his new art account, which he called artbyfed.In the coronavirus pandemic, with the restrictions of a national lockdown, he received an unusual request from one of his followers, who explained her husband’s brother had died by suicide and that the couple had his ashes but since they could not go anywhere, they could not scatter them.The woman asked if he could create one of his ocean paintings and incorporate the ashes in some way.He said: ‘I told the woman I would like to know more about the man who had died and so she wrote me a letter all about him and posted me his ashes.’I remember the responsibility I felt knowing I was working with someone’s loved one and I made sure I did all my research so I could work respectfully and take care of those ashes the proper way.’The ashes are sterile and since I work with resin, I mix them into the paint and then use them usually to create a textured beach foreground. That means someone can safely touch the ashes if they want to.’When Portalupi had finished the painting, he did a TikTok reveal which, to his astonishment, earned 2.5 million views.He shares his artwork with his 600,000 followers on the video-sharing website, including emotional reveal clips in which his customers see their loved ones as artworks for the first time.In one video typical on his page, a customer opens a package containing art from Portalupi, saying through tears ‘She’s beautiful.’Since going viral, he has been inundated by requests to make memorial art, incorporating ashes or a lock of hair, and dirt from burial sites into his artworks.He is also disappointed by other artists who have copied his style to offer similar works to the bereaved without being credited or tagged, and said people need to be careful to ensure they are working with an artist who will be respectful with the ashes they have been sent.’I’ve even heard stories of some people sending off their ashes and then being told they’ve been lost,’ he said.Until he started working with the dead, Portalupi, who has now painted more than 200 memorial pieces, said although he always respected other people’s religious and spiritual beliefs, he had none himself – but now he is not so sure.’There have been so many unexplained things that have happened, things that can’t just be coincidental,’ he said.’I’ve seen apparitions and been aware of a physical presence that I’ve seen with my own eyes, so I know I am not imagining it.’There’s also some sort of force that decides when I can and can’t paint. I thought, when I started, I’d be making 20 paintings a week, but that’s not how it works.’He added: ‘There are days when it is made very clear to me I am not to paint that day.’Federico’s favourite painting topics are either the ocean or the nebulous, such as clouds and space, while he hopes his non-memorial pieces will attract as much attention as his memorial ashes art.He currently has 600,000 TikTok followers, posts every day, and said: ‘I would like to get my non-memorial art into some bigger galleries now and also I am planning to teach an online masterclass which will show other people how to work with resin.’But to me, the most important thing of all, if you work with cremated remains, is to make sure you work in a way that keeps people’s loved ones safe and respected.’