Despite his young age, Giovanni has clear ideas about his future and would like to dedicate his life to art. His works reflect an energetic, multifaceted and passionate personality, which has already taken him around the world.
Giovanni, tell us about yourself and your relationship with art.
My relationship with art began when I was a child. My mother tells me that I used to come home from kindergarten all dirty because I was rolling around in paint on huge canvases. Even at home I was surrounded by art materials because my mother made (and still makes) beautiful papier-mâché frames; she is also an interior designer and it’s her habit to visit markets and bring home beautiful objects that have always been a source of inspiration for me. My father, on the other hand, paints with watercolours; his peculiarity is that he always paints the same subject, a seascape, perhaps because he is nostalgic for the times when he lived in the Caribbean. I always breathed art and continued to draw even as a teenager, but this passion started to take a definite shape when – at the age of 19 – I moved to Holland to study.
Did you move to Holland to study art?
No, industrial product design. Unfortunately I didn’t get on well: I didn’t like the city, the climate, it’s been three hard years during which I let off steam by drawing. Art, therefore, came as a way of salvation, as an outlet. The drawings of that period were very dark, very visceral. Even then there were references to the world of comics, because the other way I found to console myself was to read Hugo Pratt. Corto Maltese is a source of great inspiration for me: I dream of an adventurous life like his and that is why after graduating from university I went to live on an island on the other side of the world: in Key West.
Hemingway’s Island.
That’s right. It’s the southernmost point of the United States of America, in the state of Florida, opposite Cuba. I was a guest of a family friend who has an art gallery where she exhibits all the local artists. So I found myself surrounded by works of art overflowing with colour. It was a complete novelty for me, because at that time I only drew in black and white with an Indian ink pen. I stayed there for about a year. I supported myself by working as a bricklayer and meanwhile discovered watercolours, bringing colour into my drawings. My time in Key West was very lonely, because I was there at the time of the pandemic and only old people live on the island, but it was also very peaceful.
And after that?
I returned to Italy to do a master’s degree in sustainability, which I then finished in Holland. At that point, however, I decided to take art more seriously and started to carve out some time for myself. I drew and drew, and in my mind, the intention of ‘going big’ became clear. I then made the decision that once I finished my master’s degree, I would return home and start painting more assiduously, also to see if my works could appeal to someone. I think it is my path and I would like to follow it to the end. I would like to support myself with art and have an adventurous life, as I said.
How are your works created?
I begin to distinguish two processes: one is the instinctive one, whereby I draw without thinking; the second starts from an idea, from something I see around me, from a memory, an object, a reading. I also find that I have favourite colours that I use often: Venetian pink, yellow, lagoon green. Among my sources of inspiration is the director Wes Anderson and I realise I use a palette very similar to his.
How do you get on with Cinquerosso Arte?
Very good! I had a great time at the event on 5 May and was happy to meet the artists. Also, it was the first time I saw my works exhibited and I could see how people reacted when looking at them. I am learning a lot thanks to Cinquerosso Arte.
