Qu. Black and white, informal brushstrokes, large format: where does all this energy come from?

A. From suffering and from a continuous desire for nourishment.

Qu. Why did you never take the final step towards informal art?

A. That’s like asking a jazz musician why he has never moved into classical music or a motorcyclist why he doesn’t drive a car. The final transition is what remains at the end of the work; the final form is my maximum expression for remembering and in order to be able to be silent.

Qu. There are Italian painters with vigorous brushwork who seek to maintain the recognizability of the subject and use a technique to conceal this effort. You on the other hand do not seem at all worried about showing things as they are: your painted faces are disordered.

A. My technique is based on speed and action. The final result is a sequence of broad slaps that and they will need to arrive at the complete sobriety between me and a subject I have painted. Understanding is not my business.

Qu. It seems almost impossible not to speak of rhythm, of music and blues for your works…

A. A dear friend of mine sometime ago wrote a whole text on with them, jazz and my work. PPP, Una Pittura da 118a. He defined my painting as a jam session through images, precise blows that cannot be modified, and even compared me to a shrill sound in a manner of Charlie Parker or an a moderate note by Telonious Monk. Quite honestly, I don’t know how I can answer your question, but I do believe that the time spent producing a good painting is similar to that of a musical tempo. I dedicate my last notes to him.

Qu. Your forthcoming exhibition, "Koi and Trinacria", together with Filippo Sciascia at the Indonesian National Gallery, offers many canvases in which the iconography of South-east Asia appears. Why the influence of this culture now?

A. Because I find their creativity, of the ancient sort, quite extraordinary. The definition of action for them represents slowness and wisdom. The need for union arises from the will to seek an aesthetic that goes beyond the enormous cultural and social differences that still create a huge void today.
To be clear, I began studying Koi carp. They have always been a symbol of great virility. The carp is the most courageous of fish and can even swim upstream over rapids. When it is caught and placed on a table to be cut up, Japanese legend declares that the carp does not tremble.
These are the qualities that embody the Yamato Daimashi, the Japanese spirit. Today my research is on China and Indonesia. Beyond there is always and only the face. The fundamental symbol for my existence. Perhaps, wisdom.
 


7 February 2008