"Produce Life_03", pattern unit: 25x63cm-9,85x24,82 in

GV. In your early work a mainly Western aesthetic is clear: is your decision to dialogue with Eastern culture purely aesthetic, or is it a change in your philosophical approach?

CS. I can give you a clear answer to this: none of my artistic choices, past or present, have ever had aesthetics as a motive. I am not interested in something pretty but without sense, every part of all of my collages has a precise meaning: emotional, conceptual,  relational. I certainly do not design my work based on the fact that the result has to be “pretty.” In the case of Produce Life, apart from anything else, I can tell you that it’s in-depth research, ancestral, also concerning my roots. Not long ago I discovered that my  genes have a rare characteristic, traceable only back to the territory which corresponds to the ancient Silk Road, from Turkey to Mesopotamia, all the way to Japan.This characteristic is completely absent from the Untied States, and in Italy there are extremely rare cases only in those areas which had close trading connections with the Orient. Fascinating, isn’t it?

"Capriccio WALL", pattern unit: 25,5x29,5cm-10x11,5 in

G.V. Talking about doing research on yourself, tell me about your Portraits project?

CS.  The portraits were a truly decisive passage for me. You see, in the works done in the Desire cycle, which are all black and white,  essentially, I observe myself, I literally research myself. While in Portraits I exit myself, so to speak, I observe others and life outside myself...

GV. … and the way in which you see certain people.

CS. Exactly, in fact there are no elements which reproduce the person’s physical aspect. Maybe for this reason it is perhaps difficult at the beginning to understand why I define them as Portraits. In fact, in the titles I call them Tales. Let’s just say that I am not as interested in designing people’s faces, as much as I am, much more so, in recounting their fundamental characters in relation to my sensibility. In this sense, compared to previous works, my point of observation has radically changed. The change is striking also from the point of view of form: for the first time, with great naturalness I’ve introduced color; and these works are one-off pieces  because I work in layers, with prints, paper and pencil: in the end I am interested in creating, with paper, direct, I’d say literal, representation, of the vital electricity of the person I am narrating: this is the 3D effect you’ve been observing. 

GV.Besides you, could anyone else recognize the person?

CS.This is a habit which I enjoy a lot: I don’t name the person in the title, but I enjoy if he/she can be recognized. Then again, the first portraits are of people who have been an important part of my life, I won’t tell their names, but I’ve now started to do commissioned portraits.The latest one was quite a special experience because I was asked to do a portrait of Gianfranco Ferrè, who, clearly, was not a close friend of mine, but has surely had  a great influence on my life. Imagine, I moved from London to Milan exactly to work for  him.The main element of this collage is a shirt from the brilliant 1990s by Ferrè, which belonged to my mother. More than just a piece of clothing, it was more like a sculpture, which I turned into something different, and it became the central piece of this work.

"Racconto di GF", collage, mixed media: hand drawing and digital print on tracing paper applied on piezografia a pigmenti on cotton paper. Unique editions:57x40cm-22x15in, 2012

"Racconto di G_Secondo", collage, mixed media: hand drawing and digital print on tracing paper applied on piezografia a pigmenti on cotton paper. Unique editions:25x18cm-9x7in, 2011

"Racconto di G_Primo", collage, mixed media: hand drawing and digital print on tracing paper applied on piezografia a pigmenti on cotton paper. Unique editions:25x18cm-9x7in, 2011

G.V.In his Origin of the Work of Art Heidegger strongly connects the work with the artist. What do you think about it?

CS. In a way I think I’ve already answered that question. I feel so passionate about each of my projects, be they stories about people or less familiar worlds, such as Bedouin traditions, that I feel part of each one, I blend in with each one, narrated by each one, and this comes about naturally, the moment I start work. In fact, it seems that I can’t even think unless I feel a strong identifying emotion.

GV. Would you identify a common origin in all your works?

CS. Well, if, generally, I am the common denominator, each work deals with a very specific subject. Each Desire is an expression of a precise personal desire; each Portrait talks about what makes a person unique compared to all the others.Then, naturally, I follow the trajectories that generate a series of works. The progression of the research from work to work, within the same thread, is the most important nutrient for me.

GV. Do you conceive your whole being as a path?

CS. Yes, no doubt.

GV.Tell me a bit about Soft Art.

CS.I am fascinated by the idea that a work of art can be not only an object to collect and keep, but also an instrument of daily life, useful, perishable. In fact, this is a constant in my work: the application of patterns on wall paper and textiles came to me spontaneously exactly so my work can enter houses and people’s daily lives. In a certain sense, in this way too I present myself in a more fundamental way not just entering in the framed and hung work, because the pattern generates settings, worlds, and in a way aspects of my world, but somewhere else.There, this is probably an absolute domestic expression of Soft Art, but the project also includes practical objects of art, which you can keep or eat from.

G.V. Talking about eating, I’ve just remembered Fornasetti’s plates.

C.S. Very often they refer to this alikeness, maybe because of the black and white, I don’t know. Application on porcelain is something I’ve been experimenting with and I hope the project comes together pretty soon. Maybe when I see you next time I’ll tell you about it.Instead, I’ve already been creating the applications on textile, soon they will be unveiled,  although there have been sneak previews here and there.In the last few months I have put together a limited edition of black and white prints on canvas. The small difference between this and a canvas to hang is that if you don’t want to hang it, you can wear it, because I made it on a cook’s apron. Thus you can choose to be a collector, because obviously it’s a signed work.

G.V. So,in your opinion, if the work is not used it is no longer alive?

C.S. Well, it’s different. By life I always mean movement, and from my point of view as an artist, the work which remains closed within a frame suffers the physical limits of stillness: imagined worn it takes on a different form depending on whoever wears it. I am curious about this potential vitality of a work.You know, the idea to apply this collage to a cook’s apron came about from my friendship with Ambra Romani, a chef who loves my work and wears an overall made for her on really special occasions. 

G.V. What are you particularly proud of?

C.S. Hm, I don’t know. I don’t know because I generally measure every result only at the end, when I’ve ripped, printed, cut, glued… and at the end what I have in front of me is it.

G.V. Do you feel the same satisfaction for all your works?

C.S. I am hard on myself and I won’t show anything that does not absolutely  satisfy me 1000%.Then, obviously, with time a project which is convincing emerges and you feel it more, others less so. It also depends on how I change.Talking generally about a satisfaction a great one was the one in the Corriere della Sera. It was an enormous one and totally unexpected, thus even more special. 

G.V. Can you explain what is it about?

C.S. Every year, in January, the Corriere della Sera, maybe the most important daily newspaper in Italy, publishes a type of vade mecum which is basically a guide for investors in every field, from gold to stock markets, and it includes a chapter on investments in the art market.This year the title was something like “How to invest in difficult and tough times,” and, well, rather surprisingly for me, the contemporary art market is going in the opposite direction from the general crisis. 150 contemporary Italian artists “to keep an eye out for” and in whom to invest in 2012 were listed. I was included on this list: it’s an incredible satisfaction. 

"Soft Is The Sea" digital prints on cotton canvas, Edition of 250. Size of the work unfolded: 72x100cm-28x39 in, 2012

G.V. What’s your relationship with the market?

C.S. I don’t follow it closely, I’d say. I read the huge news about paintings sold for 40 million dollars, but everyone hears about this.

G.V.What do you think about artists who become famous?

C.S.Not much, because I don’t follow it. There are artists whom I admire and who have influenced me over the years, even before I completely dedicated myself to art. If they have become famous or not I don’t know, I am a bit out of the system.

G.V. Could you list the people who have influenced you the most?

C.S.Yayoi Kusama’s work was crucial: a deep influence that has endured for a long time, since my college days in London, when I couldn’t imagine being interviewed about my art.I admire her because she has dedicated her life to her art and only recently became famous, and only thanks to great retrospectives, like the brilliant one in London. She has never been a big star like some other personalities. 

G.V. “Other personalities” also in a pejorative sense?

C.S. Pejorative no, really I wouldn’t dare, for the simple reason that to get as far as to be pejorative I’d have to know both the works and intentions behind them in depth. As for contemporaries, I am particularly interested in the collage technique, and I respect a lot the work of Wangechi Mutu. Do you know her? She is of Kenyan origins but lives in New York...

G.V.Why collage?

C.S. I’ve been working with this technique for ages now, since I was at St. Martin’s and it was the means to present my projects: others chose illustrations or photos but I always chose collage. So, basically, as a means of expression and communication it has always been the most natural, most spontaneous for me. Of course before, in fashion and then in architecture it was completely subordinate to the presentation of a product of a project, now it is completely free. Now it’s my language, I can narrate.

G.V. And what do you narrate? Stories?

C.S. What do yo mean stories? I’ve already explained how once I narrated my desires, now I narrate my experience of Middle Eastern culture… basically, the tale changes with me, definitely.

G.V. Do you have any free time?

C.S. Not much, and I try to dedicate it all to dancing. It’s always been like that. Dancing has been a constant in my life, my survival, but also an element which has influenced my aesthetics a lot.

G.V. What kind of dance do you do?

C.S. Well, I studied ballet when I was little, for at least twelve years, then in London I got into jazz dance, modern and lyric style, passing through other contemporary and theatre dance techniques… now I try to take part in as many workshops as possible when I meet teachers who interest me. 

G.V. Repetition in dance and repetition in your art?

C.S. Endless repetition is fundamental in dancing: there is no level where you practice less pliets, you’ll do them from day one through to the day you become an étoile. Repetition is an attempt to reach perfection, and the same thing goes, in a way, for my collages. To repeat them in patters offers me a possibility to see them breathing outside of frames, adapting to the atmosphere and different volumes: all in all, to repeat them gives me the idea that I can support them on the path towards perfection.

G.V. Who are your heroes?

C.S.  I haven’t had many. There are people who fascinate me, such as the Marchesa Casati, who during my fashion years was a huge source of inspiration. Let’s say that I have had ideal worlds of reference that have nurtured me a lot. The world of masks in the Commedia dell’Arte, such as Pierrot and Harlequin, characters that, among other things, dance. They fascinate me because they are always moving, jumping, dancing, maintaining their enigma. This makes them eternal: you remember them for their image, you identify them with the mask. Many representations are a profound part of my development. I adore the fusion of harmony in choreography and individuality of the scenario because it generates an infinity of personalities in movement.

"Produce Life_05" pattern unit:25x60cm-9,85x24 in

G.V. You are on Saatchi online. In an interview they asked Charles Saatchi what remains of 20th century art in the 21st and he said art history books can be cruel in their judgment: what will be published in two hundred years’ time is going to leave out many of those considered fundamental today.I’d like your opinion about this.

C.S. I don’t know, it seems a little bit of a mix of what is said about laws of time and what one discusses about misunderstood artists: ignored today and then worth millions tomorrow. It is something that concerns art history. If you want my opinion, the history of art will surely record stages and changes, and so it will also record whoever has influenced these changes.

G.V. And anyway art isn’t just stages.

C.S. Indeed, but I think what is communicated to the public is very important. I enjoy this a lot in my work: it’s good to have references so that a work is understood from the formal point of view, but ordinary people, even those who don’t really know much about art, determine the reading of your work. The curiosity of personal readings is the key to everything. The rest is just the future.

G.V. What do you think of Saatchi online, of this experiment that puts ten thousand artists on an internet site?

C.S. The art world is experiencing massive evolution, new online contexts pop up every day aiming to sell and promote artists’ visibility. The downside is you have to accept potential chaos, given the power and persuasiveness of the means; from another point of view the web is highly meritocratic tool and competition is clear: there are 10 million artists, all there, and everyone has the possibility to see who is getting the most attention. And I would add, it also allows me to be physically in Milan yet I can reach anybody and show my work anywhere.

G.V. Don’t you find it contradictory the fact that Saatchi has always been someone who snubs art fairs (he has often said who he finds it unacceptable that the same space that hosted an art fair can be filled with agricultural machinery)?

C.S. I think that behind it lies a simple strategic motive: Saatchi, in reality, has never had the need to move around the world following art fairs, because his image, his fame, has been built another way, magnificently too. I think that everyone can learn for him and anyway Saatchi isn’t just a virtual vehicle.

"Produce Life_04" pattern unit:25x28cm-9,85x11,03 in

G.V. Art or design, where do you belong?

C.S. I don’t think there is a distinct division, I want to occupy the middle ground. I am really fascinated by the craft with which I come into contact, for example in the search for the support for a pattern. Meeting those who physically produce enriches me enormously, especially because in Italy there are such ancient traditions in ceramic works, silk, fabrics. I am learning more about fabrics now in my artistic research than I even did studying fashion. But this is because I search out truly unique contexts, where canvases from the 1500s are used or canvases designed by Leonardo da Vinci; artifacts in which, to produce half a meter of fabric, you need a whole day. These aspects of art move me a lot and the fact that it concerns Italy is one of the biggest reasons that makes me proud to be Italian.  

"Desiderio di vivere Il cabaret", collage, piezografia a pigmenti on cotton paper. Edition of 3. Dimensions 76x61cm-29x24in, 2010.