Let’s get to know our artists
Elena Guzzinati, Manuele Chan, Tommaso Fontana, NP and Icaro were the first five young artists to be recruited by Cinquerosso Arte. We interviewed them to get a sneak peek at the behind the scenes of their work and to find out what feeds their imagination. Let the questions begin!
If you could choose one single adjective to describe your art, which one would it be?
Elena: Mysterious. Manuele: Colourful. Tommaso: Joyful. NP: Lively. Icaro: Evocative.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when thinking about colour?
Elena: The first thing that comes to my mind is “reality”. Reality is in colour. Which is maybe why my photographs are in black and white: they are not meant to represent reality but to reflect upon it. Manuele: Sci-fi. I think of Blade Runner, of neon lights on dark backgrounds. It’s the kind of atmosphere that I put into my works.
Tommaso: To me colour is a safe place, a familiar situation. And it makes me think of my second passion after photography: the theatre.
NP: To me it’s the expression of pure happiness.
Icaro: I immediately think of Kandinsky, because his art is truly a symphony of colours. He composed shapes and colours as if in an actual music score.
What about black-and-white?
Elena: I think of impression. Photography used to be the impression of a photographic plate. I like to think that black-and-white photographs have a similar, mirror-like effect on the beholders, making an “impression” upon them.
Manuele: I must admit that classic black-and-white photography scares me a bit. It makes me think of something gloomy.
Tommaso: To me, black-and-white is simplicity. Not because it’s simpler than colour (far from it) but because it’s more essential. Of course there are many shades of grey, but it’s not as “loud”.
NP: Nostalgia. Black-and-white images make me feel nostalgic.
Icaro: Home. I work a lot with black-and-white. It’s my dimension.
If you could take a picture of yourself at work, what would it look like?
Elena: I’d be sitting at my computer, working on graphic design projects or on my photographs. Some of them require a certain degree of processing, especially the pictures from my Whitechromo series.
Manuele: I’d be sitting at my computer since I mostly work with digital art, where you need to spend hours on end looking at a monitor.
Tommaso: I also picture myself at my computer, because I’m studying portrait photography and I’m currently looking for inspiration.
NP: Walking around the city, paying attention to every detail.
Icaro: I see myself lost in my thoughts, staring into emptiness.
What are you working on at the moment? What’s the last picture you’ve taken or saved on your computer?
Elena: I’m preparing new photographs for my Whitechromo series and also working on a new series. The last picture I’ve taken and saved is an interior of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Manuele: I’m still working on tremor and the last pictures I’ve saved are of men and women’s faces.
Tommaso: As I mentioned I’m studying portrait photography, so the last picture I’ve taken was a self-portrait.
NP: I’m working on something different, ideally telescopic photography but always in a street-art style. My last picture is a photograph of a rainbow-coloured zebra crossing against the wet black asphalt in Paris.
Icaro: My last photograph is actually a picture of me and my friends in a bar in Milan. I am working on an idea but I’d rather not talk about it at this stage.
What would you like to do later? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Elena: I see myself doing what I love, doing my job, with the same enthusiasm as today and, most importantly, happy with what I’ve accomplished.
Manuele: I see myself doing a completely different kind of art, maybe still in the field of digital art but no longer glitch because to me it’s a “young people’s” art form that wouldn’t suit an older Manuele.
Tommaso: That’s a difficult question! I would love working with portraits and staying involved in the theatre. We shall see how it works out.
NP: 10 years from now, I hope I will have found the answer to the kind of person I want to be on a personal and professional level. Right now I’m just enjoying the present.
Icaro: I would love to open a Jazz Bar where I could bring all my passions together, including art of course.
Discover the artworks by Elena Guzzinati, Manuele Chan, NP and Icaro.
