 |
Just to
start introducing you to our public, who is Carlo Tosin?
I would say I am an eclectic researcher in creativity. Creativity can be
worked out in many fields, what is important is that you always put your
own identity, your unique mark in everything you do. |
|
How did you start being involved with
art, did you look for it or was it art to find you actually?
I believe in fate. I was probably destined to art. |
|
What was your training process, did
you attend art schools and did you have teachers whom you consider your
mentors?
School gave me some general information and training, then by studying
art in the following years I could deepen my knowledge about themes and
situations I loved. The starting point was my interest in all the
artistic movements of the Sixites which influenced my art in the
beginnning: spacialism, minimal art and "arte povera".
|
|
Are there photographers and other
artists inspiring you?
I am an abstractist with a constructivist character. Starting from an
initial project I am seeking for always new combinations of materials
and colors to combine on the space I am using. |
|
Some say mastering drawing is the most
important part of the painting technique. What is your opinion about?
The mastering of drawing is very important because it teaches you how to
deal with simmetry and proportions.
Nowadays we see that international avant-garde movements appreciate a
kind of art which I call a very conceptual way to take many images from
our society whose meaning are then completely changed in a provocative
way. I like that approach but my style is something different, I want to
make works that cannot be fixed into a specific movement. |
|
When was the first time you were
really satisfied with the result of your work? I mean, is there any of
your paintings you consider the best you ever made?
In 1993 I made a painting - now belonging to a private collection, that
really was a change in my research. Its new approach introduced some
bas-relief elements on canvas and was the first example of the "Totem"
series. |
|
Is there a subject or technique you
would like to try in the future, as a personal challenge?
I would like to work on much larger spaces, and create gallery or
outdoor installations. |
|
Do you have a favorite subject
(humans, nature, abstract)?
In my case the subject is not important since I don't use figurative
codes. |
|
Please tell us about the significance
of your "Totem" series.
Totems are a timeless image with a strong mystical and magical
significance. The magic consists in its capability to capture the
observer and let him enter its world where everything is possible. |
|
You work for leading companies as
interiors and industrial designer. How do this job and your painting
career match?
Design is different from art because it depends on functionality and
ergonomy. Chairs are made for sitting, beds for sleeping and so on...
Art is totally free and I would say it needs drama to be born because it
starts from a deeper necessity to find out our most intimate values. I
believe design can express existential and behavioral meanings when it
contributes to create the identity of the spaces we live in. It is often
the objects that mark the invironment with the designer's special
character. |
|
Your approach to design is very
minimal and elegant, with a special sensitivity for shape. How do you
think you can preserve beauty and functionality at the same time?
The fundamental contribution to design in terms of modernity in the last
century was that of the Bauhaus Dessau school. Nowadays we just want to
move further from what was already done there via the experimentation of
new technologies and solutions. |
|
What made you change from traditional
bidimensional painting to your last multi-dimensional dinamic works?
I wanted to give more fisicity to the painting, using various layers to
express the vitality of matter where borders between painting and
sculpture would be removed. I truly believe you cannot create theory in
art without manuality. |
|
What are your future projects?
I will continue in my research by experimenting new materials and
techniques. |
|
Which is the prize or recognition you
consider the most important you received in your career?
Two of the most important recognitions were to be selected for the
Sharja Museum in the Arab Emirates and my exhibition in Dusseldorf for
the Stuttgard University. |
|
What do you want to communicate with
your works?
I think art, like music, poetry, literature, science and culture in
general is a discipline that has much to do with society and its
amelioration and progress. I don't agree with those who say art is dead,
I am against this kind of nihilism, because art will never day as long
as it is a means to read social history. |
|
Do you believe artists when they say
"they didn't necessarily put any hidden message into their works"?
I believe we artists always manage to irradiate some energy through our
works which creates a magic bond between the object and the observer. |
|
To live just on his work is never easy
for an artist, you have to deal with the most trivial sides of business
and sometimes an artist feels he needs to sell his soul to success. How
did you manage to remain pure in the art business world?
You have to deal with the business side of art because we live in
business times. Art claims a lot of resources, either human and
financial, time, moving and use of expensive materials. For all that you
need money like in any other professional activity. |
|
How do you see the future in art? Will
there be new movements, new means of exchanging experience among artists
or the general materialism has already affected the art world?
In the past decades artistic groups were peculiar of avant-garde
movements. Now that many ideologies have fallen art and artists do tend
to operate as individuals more than groups. |
|
What is your biggest fear these days?
And what makes you happy anyway?
My worst fear is this kind of cinism we find everywhere. We seem to be
able to communicate only if we turn down our cultural level... Our
society puts the economic value on top and human integrity and respect
seem to be less important. |
|
If you were not an artist, who would
you like to be?
To be an artist has to do with fate and predisposition. I am just
someone who works eclectically inside the creative universe of our
times' images. |
