Chiara is a citizen of the world, she is
cosmopolitan as one would say nowadays, as she speaks multiple languages. Her
artwork has showcased in several exhibitions between Europe and the United
States. She is a rising star of the visual arts.
Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi defines her paintings
as “Material Puns”, i.e. wordplay through mixed media, and besides the visual arts she is also
engaged in other creative fields. In this regard we could define Chiara as a
Renaissance Woman or a Phenomenologist of Contemporary Art. Or referencing a
philosopher and economist of our times, the French Serge Latouche, Chiara is an
artist who possesses an eco-friendly artistic touch.
It cannot be summed up in one definition
alone. It is much easier to gaze at her works, listen to her descriptions in
this beguiling one-on-one conversation, after a brief introduction to the
artist’s background.
Chiara, as well as being a talented young
Artist, is also a polyglot writer and thus does not suffer from idiomatic
illiteracy. Her cultural and academic education is diversified. After attending
a British school in Milan, she graduated in Political Science, and took a
Masters in Screenwriting and Film Production. During these studies she further
attended some courses in New York and Los Angeles at the “Lee Strasberg Theatre
and Film Institute,” a school that celebrates 45 years of training actors and
artists of the seventh art. Today Chiara expresses her artistic soul through
different creative and intellectual perspectives: film critic, screenwriter,
journalist and columnist for various European and American online and print
outlets, as well as radio and television networks. Chiara is also Professor at
I.E.D. University in Milan, where she teaches “Phenomenology of Contemporary
Arts”.
Her paintings known as “Material Puns,” have
the ability to seduce those who are fond of experimental and innovative art,
through the play-on-words that come to life on canvas.
Hello Chiara, welcome and thank you for
taking the time to chat with me about your art and work. My first question is
to introduce yourself to our readers: Who is the Woman-Chiara?
Thank you Andrea for your interest in the
latest news about my artwork. I had the privilege to be born in the land of
beauty, Italy, and to test myself abroad, keeping in mind Simone de Beauvoir’s
femme indépendante, who through her work and self-fulfillment has the
possibility of liberating her artistic expression. I’m a woman who is
constantly exploring her complexity, as Oriana Fallaci once said “It's so
fascinating to be a woman, it's an adventure that takes such courage, a
challenge that never ends.”
Who is the Chiara-Artist instead?
Curious with a childlike spirit. Peter Pan’s
syndrome and Lewis Carroll’s soul never abandon me and they are my approach to
scrutinise, and sometimes mock, some aspects of our society. I’m guided by a
sense of wonder and I try to channel it in my art.
Chiara, you spent several years in New York
for your work as artist and journalist. What triggered you to go to the heart
of Contemporary Art? What are your memories of your American stay that you
would like to share with our readers?
I started to travel from a very young age and
this allowed me to avoid a reverential approach towards foreign countries.
Hence America, particularly New York, has been a destination to put myself to
the test professionally and away from my home country. Undoubtably the Big
Apple is the hub of new artistic trends and I was overwhelmed to showcase my
paintings multiple times in Manhattan and get excellent feedback, both from the
public and the press. Living in America fortifies you and allows you to see
Italy with new eyes. Our country is exceptional and needs to work on its
self-esteem and also help younger generations to express their professional
skills.
How old were you when you began to learn the
techniques to express your artistry?
I’m self-taught. Since high school I would
sketch still lifes on paper using pencils, charcoals or oil painting. But my
greatest joy would come when I experimented with mixed media. I eventually
began expressing my creativity on canvas during college attending a my faculty
had nothing to do with the arts, I was studying Political Science. During the
course of the years the production of paintings kept increasing and I was
encouraged by friends and family to have my first exhibition. Ever since, my
style has defined itself through wordplay and mixed media in the paintings I call
“Material Puns.”
Chiara, as you know to be an artist you must
have the tools to express your talent. During the Italian Renaissance, the Art
Masters would bequeath the techniques and use of instruments to create and
shape reality into different forms, and transform the old into new. Who were
your Art Masters?
I did not have a
specific mentor who introduced me to the art world or the desire of developing
it as a means of expression. I was guided by some artistic movements such as Pop-Art,
Ready Made, Arte Povera and Dada. Alberto Burri is the artist who inspired me
to play with materials, even though my first painting experiments followed
Jackson Pollock’s action painting and dripping. The Italian Renaissance always
enthralled me for the masterpieces it produced and the artists it promoted. At
the time patronage was a matter of civic virtue, whereas nowadays there are few
individuals who are engaged in promoting artists. A Renaissance figure that has
always charmed me is that of the “polymath,” an artist who excels in different
fields. Leonardo Da Vinci epitomises this role, but we also have more modern examples such as the beautiful and talented
Hedy Lamarr: versatile actress who endorsed female nude in cinema of the
nineteen-thirties, a politically engaged woman who left her first pro-Nazi
husband and an ingenious inventor to whom we owe the existence of Wi-Fi.
Any profession that is fully accomplished
requires to “pay your dues.” What do you recall of your first years of artistic
activity, when at the beginning you earn very little and you work your way up?
What were the major difficulties that you had to overcome?
As the Neapolitan playwright Eduardo De
Filippo would say “exams never end,” hence I keep paying my dues. The research
I do for my work as an artist, journalist and professor requires a continuous
study. As regards the difficulties related to earning a living in the creative
field, the upside is that you handle more projects simultaneously and this has
the advantage of developing multitasking skills and expanding your creative
range.
As you will know, Chiara, in the Art world
there are many young talents who do not manage to establish themselves. Often
they are hired and framed by unscrupulous artists who use them as their “Niggers,”
a slang term that defines their role as people who are exploited to create
hundreds of pieces, replicating the style of the artist that commissioned them.
But they do not get any recognition for their work, except a meagre
retribution. This phenomenon began in Anglo-Saxon countries (U.S.A., U.K., Australia), but is now
expanding all over Europe and also Italy. Did you experience this at the
beginning of your career? What is your opinion on this wide-spread issue?
The phenomenon can find a liaison with the
fact of being a woman artist, if you think of the 1972 song by John Lennon and
the Plastic Ono Band “Woman is the Nigger of the World,” that denounced the
condition of women's subservience. Luckily I never lived this situation neither
as a fledgeling artist, nor as a woman. This brings to my mind a play written
by Dacia Maraini that was performed in New York, and narrated the story of a
young artist. As soon as the paintress became famous she was crushed by the
cynical cultural industry that demanded her to reproduce always the same works.
Indeed in the art market requires artists to be recognisable, I have found a
common thread amongst my paintings, by using language as a distinctive trait of
my diversified style.
Chiara, if for some reason you had to abandon
Art, what would you like to do? What other talents do you think you have?
I’m a storyteller and I try to narrate my
tales through different means of communication, whether it is critique,
creative writing or visual art. I couldn’t do anything but this. In the past I
made a short film that was inspired by my paintings. In the future I would be
delighted to create more connections between the various disciplines I work in.
Or I could refer to beautiful dialogue from Truffaut’s film “Jules et Jim,” where
the protagonists discuss what profession to pick and one of them replies “Curious,”
and he is told it is not a line of work, but he explains: “That’s not a
profession, not yet. Travel, write, translate, learn to live everywhere. Begin
at once. The future belongs to the curious.”
Recently Chiara, you exhibited in Bologna at
Galleria Farini, in a beautiful group show, with many famous artists and with
the attendance of an illustrious Art Critic. Tells about this experience, how
was it?
The Group Exhibition I was part of was “Arte
a Palazzo － In Mostra con I Grandi
Maestri” (Art at the Palace － An Exhibition With The Great Masters) that
marked the IV Anniversary of The Galleria Farini Concept. One of my paintings
was exhibited along with the works by Warhol, Festa, Angeli, Schifano and other
contemporary artists. Great praise goes to the Curator Roberto Dudine, for his
extraordinary organisation in the majestic setting of the fifteen-hundred
building Palazzo Fantuzzi, and to his collaborators Monica Tanaglia, Grazia
Galdenzi, Camilla Faccini and Azzurra Immediato. The catalogue of the
exhibition will be part of the collection of the prestigious Library of the
Urbino University: Biblioteca di Storia dell’Arte ed Estetica dell’Università Carlo
Bo di Urbino. The opening had TV Capodistria taping a special segment on the
event, and Italian Art Critic, Professor Vittorio Sgarbi, who observed all the
art on display with great dedication and who reacted with a genuine smile to my
“Pop-Porn.”
Chiara, could you describe ‘Pop-Porn’, to our
readers who can look at the photos of the artwork as they read this interview?
“Pop-Porn” mocks the way cookery is being
worshiped nowadays, as the protagonist of television shows and the virtual
world. The spectacularistation of what is known as Food Porn － i.e. the obsession for food through the
proliferation of images on social media － in pop culture, has surpassed the interest
for the portrayal of erotic subject matter. This is a new form of voyeurism
that belongs to the generation of Millennials, consequently breasts covered in
popcorns become the emblem of contemporary pornography.
This is very fascinating Chiara. I like the
message conveyed by your painting and how you explain it, I find it is
philosophically stimulating, even more than artistically. After all art needs
to return to this mission, the noble goal of reflection, just as in Ancient
Greece when Aristotle in his Protrepticus or Exhortations to Philosophy of 350
B.C. said: «If one must philosophise, one must philosophise, and if one
believes it unnecessary to philosophise, one must equally philosophise to prove
there is no need to philosophise; we must therefore philosophise or say
farewell to life and depart, since all other things seem to be great nonsense
and frivolous.» Or as Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) majestically theorised, the
philosophical function of the seventh art has the aim to provide ethics and
public morality. In short, Chiara, to put in Serge Latouche’s words, I believe
that Art needs to reprise its noble cultural and moral function and abandon the
commercial programmed and obsolete “cage,” that you so vividly described, where
cynical art dealers have entrapped it. Besides your description of Pop-Porn I
read the beautiful critique that I would like to share with our readers, the
thorough analysis by Azzurra Immediato, critic of Galleria Farini in Bologna:
«Pop-Porn is the
irreverent title of the work presented by the young artist Chiara Isabella
Spagnoli Gabardi on the occasion of the XIX International Collective of
Painting, Sculpture and Photography of the Arte a Palazzo project, at its
fourth anniversary.
Taking a step back in
time, the title of the work recalls a 2008 song by a duo from the city of Lecce
who, thanks to the semantic provocation of the text and the concept associated
with that publication reached the top of the music charts, becoming what today
is called a “media phenomenon.” If we have no further news regarding the pop
duo Il Genio, we can’t say the same about Chiara Isabella Spagnoli Gabardi, an
artist considered “fresh” and fond of experimentation.
The artist, in spite of
her young age, plays close attention to the lesson of the avant-garde masters,
some of whom are exhibited in the Fantuzzi Palace. They seem to be the artist’s
main inspiration: she has fully understood their innovative push and their
break-up with the academics and is ready to take her own artistic path. A
fundamental role is the one she assigned to the material subject, not merely
pigmentation, but three-dimensional that physically help the artist shape her
works through the use of the collage and assemblage techniques and allows her
to play with the contemporary world. The analysis carried out by Spagnoli
Gabardi is, in fact, made with synergies that take inspiration from raw
materials and the real world together with ideal images that reflects the
artist’s cultural background.
It’s the reality that
emerges from this artistic dimension which gets its inspiration from the artist’s
experience and also from the academic background of the artist who has a degree
in Political Science. This dimension is enriched and nourished by irony and
sarcasm, probably one of the best ways to deal with the contemporary artistic
scene. An artwork like Pop-Porn is conceptually close to Poverism and Dada and
contains the wonder of the artist.
The assemblage of those
that seem “mere” popcorns, however, takes on the appearance of a feminine
breast, treated, not according to the ranks of the classic nude and even
according to the style of the avant-garde. It is the concept of pop which is in
this case taking the value of culture － also in its literal
meaning － and it refers to the popular and ironic
ready made, especially the one involving food, symbol of a reality which should
be always available here and now. Nudity, however refers to the voyeuristic
world of porn, obviously without any sort of vulgarity. Millennials will
immediately think about that social photographic phenomenon called #foodporn,
which refers to a sort of obsession with the idea of “eating with the eyes” that
has become the protagonist of some social media trends. In this way, our artist
deeply understands what is happening in our time: always running, somewhere we
can’t forecast, with the result of bulimically devouring everything, without
realising its true and deep meaning.
This irony, which is the
most important feature of the Spagnoli Gabardi’s art is the same underlined by
Massimo Bontempelli in his analysis of the Twentieth Century: a salvific
sarcasm, which allows mankind to remain close to reason and at the same time to
dream; an irony that comes out of the ranks of the tout court banality, which
sometimes represents a safe place for someone. The artist, on the contrary, has
the courage to break the rules to go further, to provoke through her works and
is also able to show it.
Pop-Porn represents,
therefore, a narrative and dialogue, a sardonic art piece, capable of telling a
story that is contemporary but also timeless, that asks something to the public
without disturbing it, but also with the aim of seeking a companion to smile
together about this life, in which each element allows everyone to open serious
reflections.»
Wonderful! Congratulations Chiara. What would
you add or comment about the stimulating observations made by Immediato?
I think that what she wrote is incredibly
flattering, and captures all the nuances of my style and the ideas that were
present in the making of this painting. The playful approach of ‘Pop-Porn’ contains
an attentive observation of our contemporary world and I very much appreciated
she mentioned the musical reference to the pop-duo from Lecce, Il Genio. I love
when senses and art forms mingle, I’m fascinated by how phenomenologist
Merleau-Ponty explored synaesthesia, and the way body and mind are unified in perceiving.
Even Walt Whitman in his poetry explained that we do not have a body, we Are a
body and when you injure a person’s body you slay their soul. I find it
incredibly inspiring when there is some sort of synaesthesia or fusion between
different creative disciplines, what Wagner defined as Gesamtkunstwerk and that
today is defined as cross-pollination o cross-fertilisation.
Where can we see more of your Artwork? And
what are you upcoming exhibits?
My paintings, exhibitions, and press reviews
can be viewed on the website www.chiaraspagnoliart.com. So far I haven’t planned
any other exhibits, yet. Just before the opening of the group show in Bologna,
I was at the Venice Film Festival as a jury member for the films in the
selection Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days). I was there to give some Awards
on behalf of an organisation I’m part of, Fedeora (Federation of Film Critics
from Europe and the Mediterranean). Therefore I had very little time to paint.
Finally I can dedicate myself to the creation of new Material Puns.
Chiara, tell us about your
Artistic “Poiesis” in terms of what you create in line with the significance
given by Aristotle, who used the term in 330 B.C. when he analysed art in all
its expressive forms distinguishing it from Ethics and Morals, and introducing
two fundamental concepts: the “Mimesis” and “Catharsis”, a concept that was
later developed in the 1800s by Freud in his study on Psychoanalysis.
Aristotle believed that art
is essentially imitation, but contrarily to Plato he did not condemn it, but
rather glorified art as a representation of nature. When I create my paintings
I do not follow this concept of harmony and symmetry, influenced by Pythagorean
rationalism. Especially because I’m not that dexterous in mathematics and I
would surely go wrong on the calculation of the golden ratio! But my tribute to
nature lies in adopting a sustainable approach. I use waste materials that I
upcycle, to give them a new expression and function. As regards the idea of
Catharsis seen as purification of emotions, my mind wanders to the
considerations made by Edmund Burke on the Beautiful and the Sublime. The
life-generating force confronts a disruptive one, that provokes in us a feeling
of awe and horror. Along these lines, I believe that art should trigger
disturbance and introspection. My Poiesis is to sweeten, in form, that Sublime
that terrifies us, to give rise to a moment of reflection and also comic
relief.
During my adolescence I
had a great passion for Russian literature, in particular for Fyodor
Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), I read all of his books and I consider
him the true father of psychology and inspirer of Sigmund Freud’s
psychoanalysis. In one of my favourite novels by Dostoyevsky, “Crime and
Punishment” (1886), there is a very powerful quote: «If one waits for everyone
to get wiser it will take too long…Afterwards I understood that this moment
would never come to pass, that men won’t change and that nobody can transform
them and that it's not worth wasting effort in trying to improve them». On the
other side of Europe, on the facade of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, that
opened to the public in 1897, there is an Epigraph that says: «Art renews
people and reveals their life. Vain is the scene of delight where you do not
aim to prepare for the future». What comes to your mind when you read these two
compelling sentences?
Dostoyevsky also told us
that, “Beauty will save the world.” I believe that Art plays an important role
in this context, even more than philosophy, because it doesn’t tickle only our
intellect but also our physical reaction, when we interact with a piece of art
through our senses. I’m not referring only to sight, hearing, smell, taste and
touch; but also to all the other ones that have been discovered later, such as
the perception of pain, temperature, balance, movement, time, itch, direction
and body awareness. Each one, influences our art experience.
Going back to Sigmund
Freud, another great literary passion of mine also for his psychodynamic
clinical studies, I’m sure you will be aware of his publications about art. The
concept that prevails is always the same: «Art is the most powerful expression
of the depths of the human soul.» This is not the exact quote, but a sum up of
my Freudian readings. Years later, Jackson Pollock
(1912-1956), said: «We’re
all influenced by Freud, I guess. I’ve been a Jungian for a long time. Painting
is a state of being. Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what
he is.» What is your artistic experience and perspective in connection to these
words?
Art can be found between what
is real and what is possible. The artist’s imagination finds a concrete form,
where the artwork becomes a vehicle of truth that allows us to ponder and
confront our ideas. Art matters to us for the way it helps us gather the
meaning of things, as Paul Klee outlined “Art can make the visible invisible.”
What you mention quoting
Paul Klee is very true. Someway it echoes the Freudian concept of bringing out
in consciousness what would otherwise remain submerged in the depths of the
human soul, which generates a disruptive creative force in the artist. If you
were asked to explain what Art is to some children, using simple words, what
would you tell them?
You experience art.
And if you had to explain
what Culture is and its purpose in relation to art?
Culture is a treasure trove
of knowledge that has developed through the course of time, no wonder the word
originates from the latin verb “colere” that means “to cultivate.” Nowadays it
can pertain to all those things that have become a “cult” and in the art world
it strongly influences the people’s Weltanschauung. In a way this shapes the
fruition of a work of art according to Heidegger’s Hermeneutic Circle: works of
art are not merely representations of the way things are, but actually produce
a community’s shared understanding. Each time a new artwork is added to any
culture, the meaning of what it is, to exist, is inherently changed.
If you had to choose a
colour between red and blue, what would you pick and why?
I love them both. Warm and
cool colours are complementary. You can’t choose either, it would be like
picking between light and darkness, sound and silence, movement and stillness.
If you had to pick a
favourite flower? Actually, if an admirer wanted to homage you with flowers
after one of your performances, what would you like to receive?
My favourite flower is the
orchid. I love its essential elegance and gentleness.
Chiara, to conclude our
chat, I would like you to share your secret wish that you have since childhood?
As Shakespeare I believe
that, “we are such stuff as dreams are made on,” intertwining thoughts and
sensations, in a twilight sleep between ethereal and matter. We entwine our
aspirations and when they manifest themselves in reality, they inevitably
unravel and tangle in an unpredicted manner. My loom has expanded in ways I had
never foreseen. I keep working on my life canvas, redrafting it as I go along,
observing how my Bayeux Tapestry develops.
Thank you Chiara for
chatting with me about your work and life as an artist. I wish you all the best
and I hope to meet again for another conversation or attend one of your
beautiful exhibitions. Bye for now and until next time…
Thank you Andrea for this
wonderful Pindaric flight betwixt art and philosophy.
Links for Chiara Spagnoli
Gabardi:
http://www.azzurraimmediato.it/
ANDREA GIOSTRA
