“It is exceptional when the public reads nuances to which I had not thought rationally. It’s almost like getting naked”

AT: Where are you from and how/why you start engaging to art?

GDG: I’m Italian, my hometown is Pescara, but now I’m living in Los Angeles. Since I was a child my family introduced me to art in all its forms, taking me to museums, theaters and concerts. Beyond this I immediately developed a strong passion for drawing. Passion that has never abandoned me, leading me to undertake artistic study path.

AT: When did it become serious?

GDG: It became increasingly serious growing up. The work experience at the Cesare Manzo Gallery in Pescara was decisive. I had the opportunity to get in touch with great artists who came there to take part in the various events organized by the gallery. Including the famous art event called FUORI USO.

AT: Are there any person that have been significant in your progression as an artist?

GDG: Definitely, different people. Like a told you my first supporters was my grandfather with all my amazing family and my other half Massimiliano, them all be so important in all of that.  But beyond them I need to tell a big thanks to the Ultrastudio’s Family, the guys from Like a Little Disaster, Giuseppe Pinto e Paolo Modugno, Andrea Lacarpia that believed in me and invited me to realize my first solo show and at last but not least Catarina Vaz, an amazing woman and a special human being.

AT: What’s your first approach to the work? Where does your process start?

GDG: The approaches is really different each time. I do not follow the same ritual every time. Often I start from a vision and after that I try to to give it life through the best materials suitable for it. 

AT: What are your favourite tools and materials for working?

GDG: The truth is that I like to change and experiment, so far I use many different materials. The choice of material is consequential to the concept of work. Beyond painting, usually I use fabric, glue, soap, clay and different synthetic materials. Besides that, as you know, I also do video.

AT: Do you leave your work open to interpretation? Or do you think the viewer should engage with your work in a specific way?

GDG: This does not particularly interest me, I express myself with my language. The thing that I really care is that when the viewer is in front of a work can feel a strong and engaging emotion. I want to give him something to take away with him. I must say, however, that the message arrives very often. It is exceptional when them read nuances to which I had not thought rationally. It’s almost like getting naked.

AT: How do you feel while you are working? You think of the final result?

GDG: In the practical act of carrying out the work I am very concentrated. Perhaps because I try to capture the emotion I want to tell, the one I have already experienced in my head or stomach. A final idea I always have it, but along the way I let myself be transported. In the past I had a much stiffer way at work’s approach, this made me feel bad. By the time I’m trying to learn to be softer and leave the job free to breathe.

AT: How do you understand when a work is finished?

GDG: He tells me, sometimes we do not agree very much.

AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from? Do you find inspiration outside or it’s all inside you?

GDG: There are many sources of inspiration. Yes, it’s my emotions, emotions arising from music, nature, internet, body, smells, stories, history, tradition, memories. All elements that are filtered through the vision of the human being. Emotions that I try again to generate in my own way, giving it a new shape, my form.

AT: Do you think art can be learned or it is something innate?

GDG: I believe it is innate, there are artists who have made very different paths from each other. Who made great schools, who none. Of course I can not deny that studying helps you in the knowledge of the technique and can facilitate you in the realization of the job. It is however very subjective.

AT: There are any artists that influenced your works? Why?

GDG: There are several artists that I respect, from different arts. I can just give you some examples, like the composers that I listen while I work, like William Basinski, the How Disappear Complitly, a Polish group, or Joanna Brouk . I love the poems of Mariangela Gualtieri and the novels of Beckett. While as for visual artists among my contemporaries, I would like to mention Marguerite Humeau and Pamela Rosenkranz, but there are many others.

AT: How important is for you the role of social media?

GDG: A lot, first of all is a great source of inspiration. Social media is now an integral part of our lives, it is very linked to my research. Beyond this, it has now become a good showcase and contributes to the cultivation of new working relationships.

AT: What’s your opinion about the contemporary art system nowadays from your point of view as an artist?

GDG: What I can tell you from the artist’s point of view is that sometimes you can run the risk of conforming to the demands of the market, becoming increasingly all the same or losing yourself. You can risk losing interest in the poetry of the piece itself and perceiving it as a mere market product. This can be very demeaning and demotivating, going so far as to lose the desire to create and consequently lose the value of the work itself.

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?

GDG: The greatest challenge is to find oneself and succeed in freely expressing our own uniqueness through our work. I think the most gratifying part is to succeed in this challenge and to be able to use it for communication with others.

AT: What are your goals and expectations for the future?

GDG: My goal is win the challenge that we told about before. For me the research is the engine to move forward, the journey is the better part, without struggle would be impossible to work. I wish to myself that long this path I will live to many experiences and share my work as more is possible.

ASSISTED SERVICE FOR MIRACLE REACTIONS, Exhibition view at Dimora Artica, Milan (2018).