Would you like to tell us something about your artistic as well as life background? What inspired you to be in this artistic point in your life when you are now?
I come from an artistic background, where my great grandfather, on my Mother's side worked as a painter, doing murals and stained glass windows, in Italy. I grew up in a large family and my Mother always encouraged us to pursue being artistic, by taking us to weekend art classes and buying us art materials. Creativity is boundless and I feel that painting, allows me to express myself in ways that can't be conveyed through words. I feel that being creative stems from your imagination and being a painter is definitely a great way to visually express yourself.
Whilst attending secondary school, I was very quiet and reserved. I found it difficult to step out of my shell and be myself, out of fear of being criticized. I used art as a way of expressing myself. Most days, I would sit, with my head in a sketch book, as it allowed me to block out everything that was going on around me. I spent most of my time at school in the art department, drawing, paintings and developing my technique. When I first started out as an artist, I would keep my work hidden and would not show anyone, as I couldn't bare the thought of someone criticizing it. I eventually got to the stage where friends and family had to encourage me to finally get my work out there for people to see and appreciate. I eventually realized that it's not about me, it's about the viewer and how they relate to the work. I think you really need to let go of your art work once its finished and then let the world decide. I much prefer if the viewer gets the opportunity to make their own interpretation.
I feel truly blessed that people have shown such interest and enthusiasm towards my work. I often receive positive feedback on social media, which is very encouraging and helps to motivate me, to work harder and produce more work. I have such a strong passion towards art and to create something with such detail takes a lot of time and effort. I always try to challenge myself by painting subject matter, that is out with comfort zone and into new territories. I feel that you must take risks in life, live without regret and push yourself to achieve greatness. I've had a lot of people question me throughout my life, as whether being creative is something your inherently born with, but I tend to disagree. It's taken me about seventeen years to get to where I am today. It consists of a lot of rigorous hard work and devotion to your craft. When reading about Daoism, I found a story about a devoted Buddhist named Daruma. The legend claims that he sat facing a wall in meditation for a period of nine years without moving, which caused his legs and arms to fall off from atrophy. This made me realise that the pursuit of a goal, could lead to something much greater. Someone who shows great passion and enthusiasm towards their craft, makes me feel inspired.
Art brings people together and allows them to share a mutual appreciation and participate in a community of like minded people. I feel that art should be subjective and open to interpretation. I have spoken to people in the past and they say that they don't understand art. I think that it's a sad thing if you feel so disconnected that you don't understand it. Art should be open to any kind of interpretation, not just the one put forth by the artist. Art definitely has the ability to trigger emotions in people and convey a much more powerful message. The reaction I get from people really inspires me to work harder and produce more work. I feel like I have only touched the surface of what I am capable of and I am really excited about my plans for the future.
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?
The most influential piece of artwork that has impacted my style and approach is the 'Metamorphosis of Narcissist' by Salvador Dali. The composition showed me that a striking image could have a narrative behind it. The progression from Narcissus withering away and then being resurrected by the gods as a daffodil, is one of the most striking images I've seen portrayed in a painting. This opened up a whole load of possibilities in my mind, not just with painting or drawing but everything. I could produce something that strikes emotion in the viewer and gives them a better understanding. To convey this with a single image is a powerful thing and all these things like technique, colour and composition are great tools to convey that message. If you look into the psychology of colour, it opens a broad spectrum of different emotions that can be felt by the viewer. If you think of composition, an image placed in a certain way can be more striking and dominant. The technique used can convey a sense of articulation, so it's important to consider all these factors and more, when approaching art.
I did not attend art school, but rather studied art history, in my own time. I would study the different styles and techniques, used by the artists and tried to incorporate them into my own composition. With the 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus', Salvador Dali incorporated the style used by artists of the renaissance period, with a more contemporary style of surrealism. The use of a traditional painting style, helped to portray a godlike or biblical connotation. It reminds me of the Vitruvian man by Leonardo Da Vinci, where the anatomy of a male, resembles a greek god. The story of Narcissus is a greek legend, but the use of style helped to convey that message. It gave it a more realistic feeling, so that you can really relate to Narcissus, as a real person. At the same time, it also causes you to reflect and acknowledge, that obsession can have a self-destructive impact on you. For me, as a man, it reflected contemporary society about how we live in an image based culture, that has reduced masculinity to a mere accessory. Where you can increase your manliness by buying into that market. The painting made me realize that it's possible to recreate yourself by changing your ideals and questioning logic. I have never seen this painting in real life but it's on my to do list, so hopefully I will get a chance to visit the Tate in London soon and see the painting in person.
mbodied emotions and the image of body and personal identity is part of this visual imagery, the emotional essence in my practice. Always present and always developing in different themes and projects.
Marina Abramovic stated: You see, what is my purpose of performance artist is to stage certain difficulties and stage the fear the primordial f
de-identify myself, by losing my roots, my culture, I would be very happy. Unfortunately the human being does'nt choose the place where he is born. He grows up in a society that automatically identifies, through education, culture, family... More than ever I think it's more important to go on a way of self-knowledge with the aim to meet “the other”.. This other without which we can not exist. It's the same for the artist. It is more important for me to be focused on my practice than to try to define it according to esthetic criteria of identification. It's probably the reason i like to remember the painter Matisse who said or wrote that an artist must never be prisoner of himself, prisoner of a style, prisoner of a reputation.
Would you like to tell us something about your background? Could you talk a little about experiences that has influence the way you currently relate yourself to your artworks?
All my way is influenced by encounterings.
It began by the meeting with my professor of literature at school. More than giving French or Literature classes, she brought us to discover texts, movies, plays, visual artworks and to think about on what we saw or read.. Thanks to her that I met Pierre Vincke, a theatredirector who was worjink in the tradition of Grotowski ... Both of them have led me to go to theater school. In this school I had meetings. Meetings with artists but also and especially human beings that made me discover. I always need o discover rather than to master a practice. It's probably the reason my encounter with Monica Klingler and Boris Nieslony was decisive for me and led me on the path of Performance Art which is a form still difficult to define. Each performance artist has a different definition of what it is...
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about race and ethnic identity in visual culture?
No I don't have a specific artwork that has influenced my artistic practise but many.
I'm influenced by some philsophers as well as poets or musicians or dancers or visual artists but also by some places or landscapes or atmospheres ... For some years, I was used for example to go to India where I was used to follow some traditionnal muscians or to learn bharatanatyam and practice vipassana meditation... Of course this experience has impacted my art work.... This brought me to think and work differently... My experience in India brought me to discover traditionnal strong art and paradoxally to the way of Performance Art. But there I see one common point: to make no separation between art and life and to be here and now, without projection on the future.
It's difficult for me to speak about race and ethnic identity. But I can say that today we miss more and more this notion of “to be here and now” which is more present in some cultures ... By practising Performance Art, it's my way to be connected to this way of thinking. And even in this field actually it's more and more difficult. The society and the art world brings us more and more to plan in advance, to define our work, more than to do. Just to do. To do what we deeply need.
And of course, my encountering with Black Market International and later the notion of Open Source or Open session via PAErsche have also a big impact on my work. When we go on that, each of us perform by sharing time and space but without trying to convince each other on some common way. This is for me a wonderfull way how we can meet each other, regardless of our origin, our race or our “identity”...
Many of your works carry an autobiographical message. Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
My memory is clearly a starting point to create. I don't have any autobiographical message. I use my personnal experience ( what I feel , what I see, what I learn, what I ear...) to work. It's a motor or a material. I'm not able to paint, so I can't do something with red or white or yellow or black colors. All I have is life, a body alive. And I need to do something with that...
My sensation about life sometimes is too intense then I need to transform this intensity in some action. Some artistic action... If people can take something from this action this is great... but I don't want to give them “a specific message” or to control the translation of my experience.