How would you define your very personal way of making art?
«Defining one's art is one of the most difficult things an artist can do. Beyond the most obvious aspects such as the medium used, it is necessary to consider the historical period, the personal situation and how the artist filters the reality around him at that precise moment. These three aspects are obviously linked to each other and ensure that the work of art can be born.
Since I was a child, I had a great imagination combined with an excellent manual ability: in short, I started creating very early. During my training (first at the CSIA Scholastic Center for Artistic Industries in Lugano and then at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan) I experimented with many expressive means that I still use with pleasure today. I started exhibiting in the 90s, at that time I was attracted to videoart, photography and performance, in those years my first installations were also born. Accumulation and seriality have always been present since the beginning and many of my works are composed of objects that I started collecting thirty years ago.
I mainly have two methods of approach: one of "head" and one of "belly". That of "head" leads me to imagine the work I want to do, the theme, the title and why. Then, after the preparatory sketches, the choice of the most suitable medium for the lens arrives: whether it is drawing, painting, watercolor, sculpture, ceramics, readymade or photography, it doesn't matter. The important thing is to reach the idea through the expressive medium. The "belly" method, on the other hand, is the one most linked to my obsession with accumulation and collection. In fact, I have collected, mainly in flea markets, thousands of small objects that from the very first moment sent me a thought, a reflection and that sooner or later I transformed into a work of art. I call this "belly" modus operandi because the concept is born after having conversed with the object and not vice versa.
My way of making art has undergone a radical change after my definitive move to the United States in 2013, where I still reside. I left with nothing, without the immense collection of objects that has accompanied my whole life and I started over from a blank sheet of paper. This important change inevitably led to a return to the origins, to the essentiality of nothing. This is how my new works were born, which are mainly watercolors, small oils and assemblages. The watercolors are accompanied by a phrase: the spark from which the idea came and to which I combined the image, the figuration. Each work is a small universe, a still image of an unrepeatable moment ».
What does your mission statement "My art is a tragicomic vision of life" mean?
«I certainly have a strong predilection for the tragicomic, for the absurd and the paradoxical. I think that the game must continue to be present in adult life as well; moreover, not taking yourself too seriously and knowing how to laugh at yourself is fundamental for me. This vision of reality leads me to pay particular attention to the small details that often go unnoticed by most. It's the little things that make the difference and paying attention to them is for me a wonderful way of making everyday life a well of inspiration (as well as being able to enjoy its beauty) ».
What is a kitsch object for you and through what process can it become a work of art?
«Kitsch is certainly an expression of popular culture and fascinates me as a phenomenon linked to non-awareness. Unfortunately, I who know it and use it (being aware of it) immediately stop being it. In short, kitsch is unawareness, whoever is does not know of its existence. It just is.
I have always had an interest in popular culture in all its forms and the redundant aspect that kitsch objects often have is a source of attraction for me. In my collections of objects I have always given a lot of space to this type of trappings which, even if considered by the most tasteless, in their formal uselessness have a soul that leads back to the essence, to the primordial and paradoxically to simplicity.
Never take for granted or worse, snub a certain type of taste if this is directly attributable to our roots, even if over time it has undergone a transformation that has led it to become something purely decorative. There is no ugliness except in our perception (which is subjective) we can choose to live with the objects we like most and whatever they are, if they serve to make us feel good, they will never be ugly or useless ».
What are the main themes around which your artistic research revolves?
«Certainly the source I draw on most frequently is the current one, everything that surrounds me personally and everything that happens in the rest of the world. The here and now. I often rework, analyze and investigate issues such as politically correct, money, the condition of women. The little big tragedies of everyday life, banality and repetitiveness, beauty and poetry in general. Daydreaming with open and closed eyes, the little pleasures that make life wonderful. All this is inevitably filtered through my eyes, my past experience and my current state of mind.
It's a bit like inserting an element into a database and then waiting for it to be analyzed, something different will come out, but with the same root and energy. We change, we grow and evolve, our filters are constantly changing: but of course the root remains and it is this that makes creation possible, always and in any case ».
What are the most recent exhibitions? What programs will you see engaged in the coming months?
"I exhibited in Ticino last year all my recent and older works related to the theme of flowers, the largest works were a series of oils on canvas depicting bouquets of fake flowers, taken from images I collected over time by photographing the tombs of people who died in Ticino. The paintings are very colorful and joyful, and therefore express what is furthest away from the concept of death, of gloomy and dark. The flowers were left by loved ones as a sign of love that goes beyond time and space, this was the fundamental aspect for me. I also exhibited some small oils from the ikebana series where I interpret my personal vision of beauty linked to this ancient Japanese tradition.
Another exhibition that recently saw me as a protagonist was at the Carzaniga Gallery in Basel, with which I continue my collaboration and is still my reference gallery in Switzerland. I was able to exhibit a great overview of my two-dimensional and sculptural works, assemblages and ceramics.
My future projects are linked to my travels and constant movements that have led me to travel everywhere in the United States, Canada and South America, northern Europe and Asia. I am collecting material that I slowly process and transform into watercolors, drawings or small objects. My works are now almost to be considered pocket-sized, easy to carry anywhere and witnesses of a cosmopolitan experience. My base is New York where I have been living for almost four years and from which I draw a lot of my vital energy, it is a fantastic city that lives in a thousand different realities, a world in the world, where people of all backgrounds, ethnicities or backgrounds, live side by side next to".
Ticino and cosmopolitan. How do you reconcile your attachment to your roots with a vision of the world and life on an international scale?
«Starting to live in another country is an experience that certainly does not leave you indifferent. You have to reset your self and revise your priorities.
I am a citizen of the world and this is not a simple way of saying for me. Fortunately they are of a very adaptable nature, I focus on the essential without losing the pleasure of uselessness, of lightness.
I return to Ticino at least a couple of times a year, where I have my family and lifelong friends that I always see with great pleasure. I have no great difficulty in reconciling my being from Ticino with an international vision of the world, I have always been used to traveling and I have never felt that I am not part of this wonderful world that hosts us. visited and knowing how to balance one's roots with all that still awaits us to live is a great exercise in life! ».
