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“I am stuck with this. With the psychology of the artist – the driven part. Which has agony and ecstasy, and its good parts and bad parts. So when someone says, ‘Why not just relax?’ Because I can’t – that’s why! Because I can’t, and I don’t want to.” — Carmen Cicero
Carmen Cicero is 93 years old and still paints nearly every day. Born in 1926 in Newark, NJ, Cicero has lived since 1971 in a loft on the Bowery in New York with his wife Mary. In 2016, filmmaker Codi Barbini happened into the life of this wholly unique – and distinctly New York – artist. This beautiful mini-documentary by Barbini finds Cicero reflecting on his life as an artist and how he has maintained his inspiringly positive attitude for so long.
Supported by WeTransfer’s WePresent platform for sharing “unexpected stories about creativity,” Eternity’s Sunrise: The Life of Carmen Cicero presents an intimate glimpse into the life of Cicero, a painter, musician, and poet – a bohemian downtown artist’s lifestyle that is now all but extinct.
From Barbini:
When painter Carmen Cicero walks down the street in New York and sees the sunlight glinting off the windows of a building, or hears a busker playing beautiful music, he’ll think about that moment for the rest of the day. At 93 years of age, you might not expect him to have such a romantic outlook but, an eternal optimist, this has always been his way. In 1971, a traumatic fire burned his studio and home to the ground, and it was this optimism that helped him get back on track and continue his journey to becoming the acclaimed artist that he is today.
Since meeting him three years ago, director Codi Barbini has been fascinated by his story, and an unlikely friendship has blossomed between the two. In Eternity’s Sunrise Codi captures Carmen reflecting on life, and here she and his wife Mary provide insight into his personality and his near-century of artistry.
