Simo Arshara | Simona Cerri
Digital Artist | Books & Visual Projects
Simo Arshara
Martin Clunes Art Project
In 2021, during the suspended months of the pandemic, I came across Doc Martin almost by chance.
I was simply looking for something to watch. I had no idea that such an apparently insignificant choice would open a door.
From that moment, I began to follow my curiosity: first Martin Clunes, then the characters he had played, the films, the atmospheres, the places. And almost without realising it, I began creating images.
Looking back now, that first encounter feels like one of those moments that only reveal their meaning much later. A coincidence, perhaps. Or perhaps something simply waiting for the right moment to happen.
That spark arrived when something in me was ready to receive it. It was not only the beginning of the Martin Clunes Art Project; it became the beginning of a new creative path.
Through this work, I began exploring digital art on a much deeper level. I started studying, experimenting and searching for a visual language I had never truly explored before. That journey transformed the way I work with images, video and visual composition and, in ways I could never have imagined at the time, led me to what I do today.
The project is explored in greater depth on its dedicated website: martinclunesartproject.com
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WHY MARTIN CLUNES
There was no calculated choice. What struck me first was his talent as an actor. As a former filmmaker, I recognise immediately when a screen presence has something rare: not just technique, but density, measure, truth. Then everything else followed — the connection with nature, with animals, with a certain authentic way of being in the world. In some way he became a catalyst from a distance. Not so much the subject of the project, but the person who, without knowing it, sparked an important creative shift in my path.
A NOTE ON METHOD
All the works are built manually through digital compositing and post-production. No image is generated automatically: every element is searched for, chosen, cut out, assembled and reworked by hand.
PROCESS
I almost always start from a mental image, an intuition, or a scene that begins to take shape inside me. Then comes the search for materials — photographs, textures, details, visual fragments — and from there I build in layers. I add, remove, move, recompose, until the image finds its balance. It's not simple photo manipulation. It's construction. The final image doesn't exist anywhere before that process.
STILL EVOLVING
This project continues to grow. Every image is a step along the way — not a destination.