e n r i c o

art may not be for everyone

Art may not be for everyone. I don’t think there necessarily has to be understanding, but I do think there has to be respect. I don’t expect anything from those who aren’t interested, because all I’d get would be pity. Unfortunately, for good or for ill, there are no compromises in art. Either one puts oneself into it, honestly and with heart and soul, or one must give up. The market never tells the truth and when it does it’s too late. That’s why I think it’s right to ‘live’ one’s talent; sacrifices help one to be oneself, they don’t destroy the dream or the hope. Everyone has some creative ability, but we don’t all make the most of our gifts. To succeed in expressing what we are we must first learn to know ourselves, to judge our limits and learn how to overcome them. That is the battle the artist must face. To be true to oneself is to be true to those around us. Sometimes we need to understand that forgiveness is a fine thing but it isn’t due; that being good to everyone may mean being false to oneself first. It’s important to appreciate the good in everyone, and to bring that out; because it’s important to do things from the heart and not from the mind. Only then can others know you for what you are, only then can they be sure they will not be disappointed if you show them your “other face”. My search [for my art] began a long way off, with my failures and my hopes. What hurts most is when one discovers, late, that one has fought, albeit in good faith, for something useless. It happens often to me. The history of art is nourished by the thousands of human variables, and the only way to pass on information is through the code of language, with the risk of losing much of the meaning in the effort. The key is to be aware of that, to see ideas for what they are without focusing too greatly on the way they are expressed, but with the ability to retrace one’s steps along the trail left by the words. On the road I travel in my search, the important features are the affinities between art and love. Every time I think about it I’m fascinated by the meeting between the two; the confrontation always presents me with answers that are strange but surprisingly unsurprising. So often the question is: is it enough to love? Is it enough to be loved? Or are both necessary? Similarly, I ask myself: is it enough to create Art? Or does it also have to be appreciated? The answer should spring to one’s lips as quickly as the previous one... but in a world where everything has a price and a reason why... You, how much are you worth? Why (How much are you worth because) you paint? Well, it’s hard to go on being oneself, because people need security, they need to see a reason for everything. So I could say that I paint because it’s my work. But it’s not work. I paint because painting allows me to express myself. That’s true but it’s not everything. I paint to fulfil myself. I paint because it helps me understand things and to understand myself. And that way I understand many other people. Many people have no idea what triggers their creativity and often that’s frustrating for beginners, so I help people to understand themselves and many want to know the reasons. And those reasons make sense of my search. It’s not altruism, it’s human nature. Sooner or later, at some time in their lives everyone feels that inner emptiness caused, above all, by the existential vacuum, by the failure to fulfil oneself. In times gone by, old people helped the young not to be afraid of death, they tried to explain the core of all those ambitions and desires that go to make up an individual. Sometimes society produces certain people who are much more ambitious than others. It’s not a sickness. But often adults now are dissatisfied, so we use Art as medicine, therapy even. Of course, because art is the desire to take revenge for all the failures, all the repressed aggression, all the cases of unexpressed sexuality, all the unfair deprivations. Our young people have their dreams reduced to wanting a playstation. Young people want Art, because they want to play a leading role, because they want to live. The environment won’t be able to survive the excesses of the masses much longer but modern art is only the tip of an immense iceberg, an unexpressed world, able to withstand the expressive collision with future generations, to provide new kinds of impetus, and give free rein to creativity. Even if Art does not produce children, it’s a way to understand and to fulfil oneself.