Interview: Emanuela Del Vescovo
Luca Curci talks with Emanuela Del Vescovo during FUTURE LANDSCAPES, third appointment of BORDERS Art Fair 2020, at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

Emanuela Del Vescovo was born in Latina, Italy, in 1976. She graduated from the artistic high school of Latina and the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. At the Academy she attended the course of master Antonio D’Achille and the study of master Bruno D’Arcevia, founders of the “Neo-manierism”, theorized by the art critic Giuseppe Gatt. In that period she learnt the technique of oil painting and deepened the study of the works of the masters of the Italian Renaissance. Emanuela Del Vescovo exhibits her works in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country, participates in and has been awarded in various art competitions. The classical language acquired in the formative years becomes a tool for reworking intimate and dreamlike visions in original and expressive pictorial compositions. Her figurative painting goes beyond the classic academic figuration. Figures that express a feeling, the voids of the soul, the harmony of the psyche are represented. In Del Vescovo’s paintings art becomes poetry; unlike the quatrains and triplets, the artist uses the pictorial language where the composition of the design and color repeats the unity of cosmic dynamism. The human becomes the point of union between heaven and earth.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Emanuela Del Vescovo – Art is the human spirit’s need to reorganize visible forms, and light, in a limited space, to imitate the vastness of the universal spirit and rediscover harmony in the multitude of its contrasting energies. Each historical moment does it through a different language, a different dress, but the essence does not change; it is also a way to block moments of our life that time inexorably consumes and pushes into oblivion. It makes feel good those who make it and those who enjoy it.

LC – What’s your background?
EDV – I attended the artistic high school in Latina and the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In those years I studied Ancient, Renaissance and Baroque art whose forms I have always been attracted to since I was a child. In particular, the Greco-Roman sculpture, Michelangelo, Pontormo and Caravaggio were my first loves, then over time I appreciated the symbolism of Previati, the metaphysics of De Chirico and understood the research of the avant-garde of the ‘900. So the study of painting through the masters’ opus is certainly the basis on which I built my pictorial personality. I believe that we do not invent anything from nothing but we can add (if we can) our own nuance compared to those who preceded us.

LC – What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
EDV – There is not one in particular. The experience of life as a whole, from whom I meet and from the relationships I establish on a professional and human profile, influence my work. Perhaps the experience of pain which comes from the fact that we all live in different ways was the push to look for another dimension made of “beauty” in painting.

LC – What is the most challenging part about creating your artworks?
EDV – My works are born from a deep feeling or an emotion that I feel whilst observing and listening to the life around me; the most difficult moment of their creation is when I try to make them visible in the linear composition (sketch), it is the most troubled and sometimes distressing moment: only when the sketch satisfies me I can feel relaxed. All the other phases, from reviewing the naturalness of the figures to the composition of the light, are also challenging but more pleasant.

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
EDV – In general I can say that in all my works you can feel the search for the divine part of the human being, for his eternal side, for what does not end and love is the theme that often summarizes them. In the last period, the theme of the relationship between man and nature is the dominant one.

LC – Did your style change over the years? In which way?
EDV – The search for a personal pictorial language even if with traditional materials (oil on canvas) is continuous in my work, so change is inevitable. Initially the space in which my figures moved was more metaphysical, now it is more naturalistic, even if there is always a sort of symbolism and a dream component. I was able to manage the light better and this defines more clearly what I want to express.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the festival?
EDV – Yes, art is a great tool for breaking down borders. The theme of the festival that reflects on our way of living physical and mental spaces is perfectly congruent with the particular social conditions that created this pandemic.

LC – In which way the artwork presented in our exhibition is connected with the festival’s theme?
EDV – I think that the theme presented in the works “Sphinx” and “Fugue in E minor” is in full harmony with the theme of the “Future Landscapes” festival because it deals with the urgent need to find a balance with nature, the need to reintegrate it into our spaces. Some scientists say that the last nine pandemics arose from mankind’s nefarious environmental policy and above all from deforestation. At the origin of pandemics there are animals whose habitat has been put in a state of stress by the disruption of the environment at the hands of man. In my pictorial compositions the figure merges with the natural element, reminding the observer that he is part of it and that he cannot separate from this condition if he wants to continue living on this planet. Lyrically they celebrate a future vision in which man can return to synchronize himself with his vital rhythms, escaping the artificial rhythms that this standardized society imposes on him, alienating him and breaking his bond with the environment around him.

LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us? What do you think about our services?
EDV – Basing myself on the themes proposed and on the locations of the exhibitions, yes. You offer professional services aimed at collective communication.

LC – Do you think ITSLIQUID GROUP can represent an opportunity for artists?
EDV – It is definitely an opportunity to interact with artists from all over the world and the comparison is always a positive and stimulating experience.

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
EDV – In general, yes, even if the distance and this specific period, that does not permit travels, did not allow
me to fully live and understand the experience.