A musician and all-round creative artist, Giulio recalls the imaginary friends of his childhood in his works to have them always at his side. His is a spontaneous and ardent art, joyful but also profound.
Tell us about your artistic training.
I have an innate talent for drawing, which came out at a very young age. It often happened that, in primary school, the teachers thought my drawings were actually done by an adult. However, I had no real education because my parents preferred other paths for me. I attended accountancy instead of art school, but to compensate and nurture my creative side I studied trumpet at the conservatory. I am also a musician, therefore, and I still play. With covid I started painting again more assiduously, changing style radically. Before, mine was a realistic drawing and my subjects were women’s bodies or faces. At some point I started to feel that the rules of portraiture and realism in general were too restrictive. So I went back to my roots, to what I loved doing as a child.
Your bizarre creatures…
Already as a child I used to combine human and animal bodies to create anthropomorphic figures, and I have been doing something similar again. As a friend of mine says, they are the imaginary friends from childhood that used to live under the bed, and now I have brought them out. I call them ‘little drawings’ or ‘little monsters’, and on the surface they just look like funny creatures. In reality there is something deeper behind them: they are the invisible spectators of my life, silently and amusedly observing what I do and what happens to me. I have just gone through a very difficult experience in my family, an experience that made me feel a lot of fear and led me to reflect on what is really important in life. There is also this in my works.
What techniques do you use?
Different techniques, I like to change and I have a good manual dexterity, so I can do many things, whether it’s cooking or sculpting wood or crocheting. At first it was just watercolours, then I switched to a mixed technique. I use very thick sheets of watercolour paper, on which I prepare a base by mixing watercolours, inks, markers, pens, pencils. I usually start from an idea, a concept (for example, the feeling of never having enough time, which is something we all experience), at which point figures come to mind and I let themselves be guided by their shapes.
If you had to associate your art with a musical genre, what would it be?
I play in a street band, and I think it reflects my art perfectly. Inside there is a bit of abstractionism, a bit of cubism, there is the style of murals… Something vital and communicative.
What do you think of Cinquerosso Arte?
I joined immediately with great enthusiasm because I think it has a lot of potential. I really enjoyed meeting the other artists, also because it’s something that doesn’t happen very often. As a musician there are many more opportunities to meet and exchange ideas, whereas the art world is a bit more closed and there are fewer opportunities for contact. In Cinquerosso Arte, I have seen a close-knit and well-set group, and I really hope that this project will bring good things to everyone. They are special people.
