I think creating something every day for 100 days takes a lot of effort!! Have you noticed any changes in your work during this time?
 

 

Creating something every day for 100 days takes effort. But when you do it during a global pandemic it actually helps you stay present and it keeps you grounded. It becomes a ritual and rituals have always been coping mechanisms, a way to get answers collectively or in solitude, since the beginning of time.

 

Making a collage every day didn’t feel like a chore, but rather an achievement and it provided me with a sense of purpose during challenging days potentially filled with emptiness. A lot of learning came out of the experience, but my biggest achievement was reaching a point of total acceptance. Acceptance for my inadequacy, for my lack of consistency, for my childness. Making a different work every day inevitably brings to the surface the circumstance of the day, the mood, the time or paper available.  So all my insecurities about lack of cohesiveness and coherence had to go out the window. I stayed present and made a work that took into account me and how I was feeling on that particular day, aka being present. Some collages were more conceptual, other were funny or silly, some were simple, some superficial, other were elaborate or dark, or meaningless. But every one of them had a place on the sketchbook as a result of the ritual, and it was loved -or hated- as such.

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Do you have a favourite time period or art movement? How do you think that effected your practice? 

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I graduated in art history at the University of Milan, Italy over 10 years ago. Some references in my work come from that knowledge, and from my classical studies. And most of those references I’m probably not even aware of, but they were part of my learning and surely influence my aesthetic. You mentioned Joseph Cornell and I do look up to his work with admiration. I always found a profound connection to queer artists Derek Jarman and Robert Rauschenberg. I’m particularly obsessed with the mixed media works on canvas with a lot of rust and stains and discarded objects that Derek Jarman made in the late 80s, and also his sketchbooks. My work is also influenced by Kurt Schweitzers, George Herms, Hannelore Baron, On Kawara, Cy Twombly, Fred Otnes, Lee McKenna and about 75 more. But my references mainly come from the collective consciousness. My works explore memory and play, masculinity and gender norms, they take you back to a time of simplicity, of stories around the campfire, they speak of hidden identities and silenced voices, of love called friendship, of motherhood and abandonment, and they carry within a longing for silence.