Can you introduce yourself in a few words…
I was born in Salerno in 1982. After graduating from Art School, I studied Anthropology, which changed my approach to art, my research, even my view of the world. I live in Milano now, where I spend my days researching and painting.
How would you describe your creative universe ?
Let’s say there are four corners in my universe. I would mark each corner like this: the divine, the human, the classic and the contemporary. Everything I do can be located somewhere on this four-axis-space. It can be close to heaven but still contain a strong relation to Italian folklore.
Then there is the next step, the censorship, the obscuring of certainty.
I am interested in the visual and intellectual consequences of a certainty going missing. I obstruct what we think we know, I hope to preserve doubt, to protect it, celebrate it.
Where does your inspiration come from ?
More than inspiration, they are like dreams and visions that can appear anywhere.
From junk food - like Mc Donald’s fries, or an avocado (the ultimate millennial emblem), to the ever-present religious portraits, especially in Italy, I can be struck by something that is rooted in tradition, then there’s digital culture, pop culture, everyday objects that become symbols and perhaps even sacred through their insistence. I also love going through historical imagery and collective memories.
In the end, most of the images I choose seem to come from within, even though they are inspired from what it outside. They are somehow chosen and selected inside me.
What is the project you dream of making happen ?
I would love to exhibit my work in a spectacular venue, something holy like a Church, not a conventional gallery location. A place where the visitor is immersed in a breathtaking experience. Dreams challenge us to reach higher and be more than we are right now. But then again, they are so fragile, they can shatter in an instant if we do not believe in them deeply.
What are you working on right now ?
Now I’m working on a big exhibition, pixel patterned oil paintings that cleverly hide symbols of contemporary society and human beliefs. Icons that come from outside, that we consume with our eyes open. Versus the icons that come from within, and that appear only when we close our eyes and look up.