5 questions to Andrea Chiesi
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Qu. The worlds you paint spring from direct observation but then they become something different from a study of reality. How does this transformation come about? A. First of all the places are photographed. It is necessary for me to live there for a long time and in living there a transformation comes about, which takes place in two directions: a transformation of the head and of the guts. In other words, there is a cerebral and a pas-sionate analysis, and it is in this way that they become my places. When it comes to the moment of painting, the transformation sometimes takes place by subtraction and at times by complication.
Qu. In your works, there is a considerable tension between discipline and abandonment. The very technique that you use must require considerable control. But how do you live the creative act? Is it more a case of letting yourself go or of putting in order architectural and musical suggestions? A. It’s both things. Abandonment, as I mentioned, concerns letting myself be seduced at a profound, emotional level, as well as on a cerebral one. And this happens during the encounter/clash with the subject of the picture. The discipline instead concerns the practice of painting. Qu. How did you arrive at synthesising the few colours you use in your palette? A. They are my colours. In his development, in the end an artist finds his own way of seeing the world. The colours I used represent the way I have always been.
Qu. Where are the people who have created the buildings in the pictures? A. Sometimes I have explored important architectural subjects, such as Marcello Piacentini’s Palazzo di Giustizia. But it is true that often I’m inspired by anonymous structures. They might be structures linked to specific manufacturing sectors and I record them at the moment in which they cease to be productive. I work with buildings designed by en-gineers that remain totally anonymous.
Qu. “Reconverting the places” is the title of the catalogue for your latest exhibition, “Kryptoi” at the Corsoveneziaotto Gallery of Milan opening on 14 February 2008. Have you decided to investigate the transformations after the industrial infrastructure has been abandoned? A. Well, you know, true research into industrial archaeology is the job of architects and town planners. Even though my story has taken me to some extent in that direction, my intention is not to draw a map of industrial relics. I am and remain a painter, and I have the eyes of a painter, indeed with a bit of a romantic touch. The sociological and urban as-pects remain external elements. I choose places of the soul because I’m interested in a spiritual striving for redemption. So new subjects respond to the need for a broader inves-tigation than industrial archaeology alone. And indeed, I am now starting to paint domestic settings too.4 February 2008 |
Andrea Chiesi paints over canvases pinned to the wall. He then fixes them on the frame
 Only four colours are to be found on Andrea's palette. Which one? Well, that would be telling... |
