“The most rewarding part of being an artist is the art, the process, the work. The space and time for thinking and making. The kind of awareness and freedom”
AT: Where are you from and how/why did you start engaging with art?
GC: I was born and grew up in Milan, with my mum and dad and my two sisters. I have no memory of going to art shows or museums before going to art school really, so I didn’t know what an artwork was until quite late in my life. But I remember being this kid with a strong drive towards self-expression. I always had the urge to express my identity, my feelings, thoughts and ideas through an external form. This made me discover the art making process. I believe this made me into an artist.
AT: When did it become serious?
GC: My interest in contemporary art become serious during my BA at NABA. I started to understand that I was mastering a specific knowledge and practice and that I wanted to become a professional in that specific e non specific thing that is visual art.
AT: Are there any person who has been significant in your breakthrough as an artist?
GC: I value every experience and encounter I had so far in my young career. I have learned so much through each one of them. Right now I’m looking forward to thank people that will support me and will give me new opportunities in the future. I feel like I have just started, I keep changing, my practice keeps changing, there is so much still I want to do.
AT: What is your first approach to the work? How would you describe your practice?
GC: My work usually comes from a detail of my everyday that becomes very loud. I live in a state of allertness exploring the personal and the popular in the peripheral and the superfluous. When this initial process translate into something visual I take it to the studio to investigate its potentiality for expression and communication and to amplify those potentiality into something new.
Love.You.Bye, 2017, Studiolo, Milan | Courtesy Artist and Studiolo | Photo Filippo Armellin.
AT: What do you aim to reach with your work?
GC: I like my work to be friendly, easy to talk to, with deep toughts about the world it lives in. I want the work to evokes a person more than an object. I also want the work to be fresh, young and energetic, to make people feel like being creative themself.
AT: What are your favourite tools and materials for working?
GC: My practice oscillates between sculpture and painting. I like colours and surfaces, fabrics and patterns, wood and furniture.
AT: What do you feel while you work? Do you usually think about the final outcome beforehand?
GC: On the one hand I feel all of my works are meticolously planned but on the other hand I feel like things are out of my control. I believe these mixed feelings come from the fact that I do know what I’m doing and how I want the work to be, but I also let the process guide me.
AT: How do you understand that a work is finished?
GC: I think a work is finished when it reach the point where I cannot go further and I can only restart from the beginning. I usually dont like to restart so then the work is finished.
“A white van in the parking lot”, wood, wood burning tool, highlighters, acrylic colours, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter white van 1:18 scale, metal legs, fabrics. H: 80 cm x W: 120 cm x D: 100 cm, 2019
“Get well soon”, wooden Table, tablecloth, birthday cards, glass top, broken mug, graphite on paper. H: 70 cm x W: 90 cm D: 90 cm, 2019
AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from?
GC: The inspiration for the work comes from the experience of my surrounding and the emotional processes attached to it. I’m inspired by the concept of culture and life, and by things and moments that make you sense a separation between the two. I’m also inspired by craftsmanship and materials.
AT: Are there any artists who influenced your works? Why?
GC: Yes, there are many. At the moment I feel very connected to the work of Gaetano Pesce, Lilly Van Der Stokker, Rober Gober, Marc camille Chaimowicz, Rob pruitt, Anthea Hamilton. I like their use of immagination to transform everyday objects and images. I like their work because very deep and conceptual but also pop and fun. I like their design aesthetic, their personality. I think they are very charming.
AT: How important is the role of social media for you?
GC: It’s part of our contemporary reality. It’s very important to aknowlege its presence and the impact is having on society. As artist and creative it allow you to share your work with everyone, everywhere and to see what other artists around the world are doing. The amount of infomation about humans, their lifestyle, culture and society you can access through social media its interesting to me.
“Cindy”, acrylic colours on canvas, tawel fabric, fabric flower decoration, H: 55 cm x W: 50 cm x D: 4 cm, 2019
“Betty”, acrylic colors on canvas, tawel fabric, ribbon, H: 57 cm x W: 40 cm x D: 4 cm, 2019
AT: As an artist, what is your point of view about the contemporary art system?
GC: I don’t have a clear point of view, It really demotivates me to think about it, it gave me strong axiety so I try to stay in the studio and think about the work.
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?
GC: The most challenging thing about pursuing art is being able to provide for yourself in a sustainable way with what you do. Also to find your voice, to say what you really want and need to say, something you really believe in. The most rewarding part of being an artist is the art, the process, the work. The space and time for thinking and making. The kind of awareness and freedom.
AT: What do you do besides art?
GC: At the moment I work as artist decorator.
AT: What are your goals and expectations for the future?
GC: I wish for myself to keep doing what I do, to be motivated, ambitious and healty. To get closer to myself, my thoughts and my story. I also would like to embrace my interest for interdisciplinarity and to expand my practice to other creative fields.
“Marigolds”, 2019
Guendalina Cerruti (b. 1992) is an Italian visual artist currently living and working in London, UK.
"I believe my work has a strong ability to communicate its transparency and expressiveness brings people close, and its presence evokes a person more than an object. The work is friendly,easy to talk to, and has deep toughts about the world it lives in. This quality is not coincidental but a conscious statement:I believe the purpose of my practice is to make the viewer experience a connection with their time, to create a moment in which they feel they understand, and are understood".
