“I try to stay focused and be brave, but never too much or I will regret it”
AT: Where are you from and how/why did you start engaging with art?
GM: I come from a small tuscan village, where I met the people who brain-washed me.
AT: When did it become serious?
GM: When I started thinking about its usefulness.
AT: Are there any person who has been significant in your breakthrough as an artist?
GM: Yes, there are friends like you.
AT: What is your first approach to the work? How would you describe your practice?
GM: I have an “ideal” approach, I almost never hazard a move. I look for the simple and complex image that every time amazes me, for its ability to simultaneously be on multiple dimensions and to create a network of relations that is my structure of thought.
Essere accompagnati, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 120×70 cm.
AT: What do you aim to reach with your work?
GM: A vision of reality that tells us something about ourselves.
AT: What are your favourite tools and materials for working?
GM: Luckily, I don’t prefer anything in particular. I like discovering new possibilities without experimenting too much: it’s a slower process. My work today is composed mainly by paintings.
AT: What do you feel while you work? Do you usually think about the final outcome beforehand?
GM: I try to stay focused and be brave, but never too much or I will regret it. I try to stay on track, but then I realize I didn’t actually succeed. But sometimes this is a positive thing.
AT: How do you understand that a work is finished?
GM: When I finally feel that the work fulfills my view, expectations, amazement, thoughts, and I don’t feel like going on with it.
Welcome…Goodbye, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 120×70 cm | courtesy the artist and Cantieri Aperti | ph. Carlo Favero.
AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from?
GM: From anything that happens around me and from history of the art and things.
AT: Are there any artists who influenced your works? Why?
GM: All of those who preceded me, hence influencing my way to observe.
AT: How important is the role of social media for you?
GM: I’m interested in it as a narrative device, just like a Renaissance predella, a great comic book, or a storyboard.
Dexter, Grande pericolo, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 82×46 cm | courtesy the artist and (Aosta publishing) Toast Project Space – Manifattura Tabacchi | 3D view Andrea Cappelli.
Dexter, Grafico a torta, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 40×70 cm | courtesy the artist and (Aosta publishing) Toast Project Space – Manifattura Tabacchi | 3D view Andrea Cappelli.
AT: As an artist, what is your point of view about the contemporary art system?
GM: Many of the systems I know are nice and I enjoy them. Unfortunately, like every system it has its own injustices.
AT: What do you find to be the most challenging or daunting thing about pursuing art? What is the most rewarding part of working as an artist?
GM: I really like to pursue the mystery of creation, to look for high targets, to be surprised by the unpredictable, to travel across times and dimensions, to spend time with the masters who preceded us and to imagine the future by trying to write it.
AT: What do you do besides art?
GM: Not much, it’s really everything for me.
AT: What are your goals and expectations for the future?
GM: To discover new potentials in my work and show it to people.
Rimpiattino, Installation view | courtesy the artist and Cantieri Aperti | ph. Carlo Favero.
Giacomo Montanelli (b. 1996) is an Italian visual artist currently living and working between San Miniato and Milan, Italy. His work is made up for the most part by paintings, but also by sculptures and installations which allow him to create interactions between people and ideas. The artworks develop a network of temporal, spatial, formal, conceptual, and emotional connections that pertain his everyday life and yet open on new unexpected discoveries.
