Inside the Studio

Andrea de Ranieri

What are the major themes you pursue in your work?

I’m very keen on minimalism, tidiness and experimentation. I consider purity as a sort of complexity – given by the interaction of different materials – and straightforwardness as well. I feel like I have to find my own way, that is through the use of wax, concrete, pitch, enamel, iron and, by mixing them, or coupling them, to create contrast or harmony, lightness or clumsiness, to change their mutual consistency, according to what other material they are matched with. As an example, coupling wax with concrete and colouring them can create different outcomes depending on the distance from which one looks at the work. My academic formation in architecture has shaped my interest and intending of a work’s structure; I want to lend my creations consistency and endurance.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?

It was not literal advice, it was something more: I was asked whether I feel turmoil, need, or urge when I am at work. That meant, I guess: you only can be an artist if creating takes your breath, twists your guts, makes you scream or cry, something like that. Or, maybe, instead, the person that asked me that question didn’t mean to express such a message, but that’s what I got, and it was good.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?

I’m a rock boy. It makes me high, and my passion bursts. I usually listen to a rock station, or to any station whose signal the old rusty radio in my studio can receive.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

It would be a piece of land art by Alberto Burri which commemorates the destruction of the town of Gibellina in 1968, due to an earthquake. Or maybe, as a single piece of art, I would like to have in my life the silence of snow.

Who are your favourite writers?

Bukowski, Hemingway. The former was a maniac and a drunkard and his poems and novels transmit – to me – a delicate and passionate and dreaming idea of lightness, whereas the latter caresses me with his amazing rhythm.