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

LL: I am from Milan. I enjoyed drawing as a child. My parents, despite doing jobs not connected to the arts, would always bring me along to exhibitions. My drawings, however, reproduced monsters I saw in cartoons. I went to an Artistic High school, started studying art history, and tried to branch out on my drawing with poor results. With the introduction to contemporary art my real passion was awakened and I have to thank my painting professor Gianluca Canesi for that.

AT: When did it become serious?

LL: When I received my B.A. at the end of my education at the Brera Academy it became clear to me that I was going to get serious. Between 2014 and 2017 I organized exhibitions mainly by other artists. It is thanks to this experience that I was able to get a better understanding of how the art environment works and how a job like this can be developed. In 2016 I started doing exhibitions as an artist and was finally able to be satisfied with what I was doing.

AT: Are there any person who has been significant in your breakthrough as an artist?

LL: Lots. Surely all the teachers I got to meet while at the Academy. Maurizio Arcangeli and Marco Casentini are among them, both taught me a lot. In 2016 I did an exhibition at t-space in Milan with Alberta Romano, Alessandro Moroni, and Lorenzo Kamerlengo. The relationship that was established between me and Alberta is one of the most significant stages of my career. For both of us it was one of the first times where we focused to work hard only in our respective roles; as a curator and as an artist. I personally have learned a lot and with Alberta there is still a lot to look up to. Having said that over the years I have built friendly relationships with those who value my work, or with artists whose work I value and with whom I have daily comparisons.

AT: What is your first approach to the work? How would you describe your practice?

LL: There is the technical matter of material for example that captivates me and leads me to always try to work with it. Then there are some things that interest me from a social point of view, things that I learn, things that I think of conveying to my audience, and that I’m going to work on. I rarely work on not well-defined projects as I prefer to do research before starting one.

AT: What do you aim to reach with your work?

LL: I believe that working as an artist can be compared to the act of putting oneself on a stage. I try to tell my vision of the things around me.

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

LL: I am fond of iron, but I would say that my top three are metal, wood, and stone. I think I also like working on the idea of “painting” or on the idea of “sculpture” as it gives me more freedom. I look forward to branch out and work on the idea of “Performance”.

AT: What do you feel while you work? Do you usually think about the final outcome beforehand?

LL: I think I feel like someone who trains in the gym. It sucks but you know it will be worth it.

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

LL: When I start a job I tend to already know how it will end.

AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from?

LL: I watch a lot of television and a good number of Netflix series.

AT: Are there any artists who influenced your works? Why?

LL: Many, and all for very different reasons… I would tell you some names, but there are a lot of artists I don’t like, or on whom I change my mind over time. This applies for both important and famous artists as well as for my peers. There are artists who have become friends as I had the pleasure and opportunity to do an exhibition with them. Today there is a wonderful relationship of comparison between them and me, and I hope to be able to do another project together soon.

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

LL: That is a very complex conversation. I am an Instagram user and use it to showcase my work. It works better than a site and then the hope that some famous gallery owner comes knocking on the door of my studio. Nevertheless, I don’t really like Instagram and particularly dislike the effect it has on my generation. Having said that, I also get to interact with other people about my work or theirs, so it also holds positive sides. I’m actually looking for a Social Media Manager. Are you interested?

AT: As an artist, what is your point of view about the contemporary art system?

LL: Lack of audience. Lack of money. Lack of values, but I am also in it so let’s try to roll up our sleeves and see what happens.

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?

LL: I think the most daunting issue is the lack of money. It is a condition under which my whole generation suffers. To be fair I chose a job that was not considered particularly profitable even in the last century. There isn’t much work around and it is often poorly paid. It strengthens me to think that this is more a mission than a real job. It is what I chose to do and I must and want to pursue it. I feel satisfied when I create a beautiful exhibition or a beautiful artwork.

AT: What do you do besides art?

LL: Many little different jobs. My passion would be to teach one day. But even that is a low-paying job.

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

LL: Create even more beautiful artworks and exhibitions.

Luca Loreti (1990) is an Italian painter currently living and working in Milan, Italy.

Loreti concentrates much of his artistic research on sexuality and its public and private fruition. In his series of "paintings" #HOLES, the subjects are tiny anatomical details taken from erotic comics and later exaggerated. In this way, the artist confronts the viewer with something unexpected, made to amaze and above all to play with the observer's perception. The "canvases" are, in fact, iron sheets painted and then fired, with the exception of the subject which is instead left raw and rusted over time. The works are therefore paintings whose formalization ignores intentionally the elements proper to the pictorial discipline and that are configured as a
reflection on the painting itself.

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