Rudy Cremonini and an Artistc Legacy
Artist, Rudy Cremonini, shares his works and creative process from Italy. Cremonini explores his reality through paint.
Visit here for Italian translation of his interview.
Out of the studio, what things bring you inspiration in your life and work? What makes you feel alive?
Outside of the studio, I can grasp thoughts and new impulses in live art, in nature and in psychotherapy. Sometimes in my thoughts and other times talking to friends.
In social networks, I can only find some images or video frames that can be useful for my research by taking them out of context. They are images that emerge as in a dream and I stop them.
But it's not really a real inspiration.
On the other hand, when discovering many works and many authors, even very good ones, I cannot fully appreciate something. Nothing then manages to make me develop something new in the studio.
Perhaps it is due to the size of the screen and my interest in painting and not so much in the composition of the image.
Dogs
oil on linen
2020
Have you always been creative growing up? Did you have anyone in your family creative that helped nurture your own talents?
I started painting at 16, I don't think I'm creative in the usual sense of the term. I think I have found a way to improve myself and express myself without words.
It was completely random. Only later I discovered that there had been another artist in the family. He was very good: Leonardo Cremonini.
Was there a turning point in your life that helped you make the decision to create artwork as a career? Or a moment in your life that you were not connected with yourself creatively?
I am often disconnected from this language. It is a language that always needs to be cultivated, cared for and respected even when it is latent. Like nature and its seasons.
Flower From Heaven
oil on linen
2020
What is the greatest duty of an artist? For yourself and for your viewers?
Without any doubt, sincerity.
When you are working in your studio, what is your process like? Do you have a specific schedule or routine that helps you produce and connect creatively?
I am very habitual, but I have no rituals. I smoke a lot of cigarettes! I attach the canvas to the wall and paint.
Away
oil on linen
2020
Who are your creative mentors? Are there any artists in your life that you have grown to respect for their work?
There are artists who help to continue the research, one for every moment of life.
At the moment I am very fond of Alex Katz, Markus Lüpertz and Miriam Kahn. Then I go back for a walk among the many Morandi present at Mambo in Bologna, which is my city.
How has the art community supported you as an artist? Does that support look different in Italy? Other areas?
I can't stand communities or groups. I never manage to be part of them. The group scares me and I automatically feel excluded. I prefer to relate to individuals.
Because of the language I can get to more important depths with Italian friends. Furthermore, there is a lot of solidarity between us.
Holiday
oil on linen
2020
Your paintings have a narrative behind them regarding your figures and environmental spaces. A sensitivity and at the same time, a strong intensity behind the application. How do you decide what to paint? Or, what concept to explore for a piece?
The decision to paint a subject often occurs by chance. There is no conscious or linear reasoning.
In fact, only a few years later I can find the true meaning of my latest work. Each work is an intuition that is confirmed and explained constantly but only later.
What advice would you give working artists that are struggling with creative block? What habits have helped you stay productive?
I would advise them to accept that they have run out of what they had to say. The reaction is the answer.
As we have seen recently with the current state of pandemic and how things have drastically shifted, where do you see your artwork going in the future? With or without galleries and events, how do you hope to share your work with the public?
As I said, especially for painting, the use of live works is strictly necessary.
We should all be patient, artists, collectors, gallery owners, enthusiasts. The doses, at least at this time, are sipped. So we must enjoy as much as possible of what we can achieve today.
What are some ways that your community members can best support you as an artist?
In Italy, it is not clear that contemporary culture is a wealth and a form of social evolution, with effects on economic development.
Understandable, given the historical riches present in the area. I would suggest not to settle and invest in the future.
Rudy Cremonini in studio
Represented by Galerie Thomas Fuchs