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

“I, RoddAlt, was born in an unspecified date in the Spring of 2019 when my Alter Ego decided to free his creativity and let his visions to materialize in artworks. The mask representing the Greek letter Rho is the tool to switch between the two personalities and to protect RoddAlt from the polluting influence of his Alter Ego. I consider myself the founder of the CryptoPop Art Movement where the products of creativity are immediate (and therefore “popular”) but at the same time inconsistent, illogical, and difficult to interpret (and therefore “cryptical”). I paint visions, I try to catch a flash from my subconscious and fix it in a large canvas with acrylic colours plus sometimes sand and stones. Some of my artworks are currently exposed at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in the context of the Fair BORDERS – FUTURE LANDSCAPES. I am also participating to the Aesthetica Art Prize and to the Laguna Art Prize. I have been interviewed by the international art magazine Al-tiba9 and I have been reviewed in the magazine Aesthetica (issue 95, June/July 2020). My target for 2021 is to prepare an exhibition called “CryptoPop: from interaction to fusion”. I cannot say more as there are some contacts ongoing but probably will take place outside Italy”.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
RoddAlt – Our lives and our daily behaviours are constantly affected and limited by social conventions that unconsciously impregnate our personality as adult individuals. Making art as a masked artist is my way to regain my freedom and to freely express the messages coming from my inner real world.

LC – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
RA – I am Italian. This means that the history, the architecture, the visual artworks that surround us all through our life leaves indelible traces on us, no matter if we want it or not. I let these ‘memories’ flow into myself freely but I want to produce something new and unique. And this is the CryptoPop.

LC – Which is the role the artist plays in society? And contemporary art?
RA – Art is freedom. Artists should not be put into the cages of ideologies, religions or political movements. Let the artists be free to express their inner world.. No matter which kind of demons or angels are coming out because they are also part of us. So, to me, art was and will always be mean to free our individual creativity against the chains that societies try to put on us continuously.

LC – Which art themes do you pursue? What is your preferred subject, if there is any?
RA – I need to express myself on big surfaces as my visions want to ‘explode’ out of myself. Big images, apparently direct and clear, but in reality difficult to interpret. Usually, my pictures have a central image that represents the main theme of a particular vision.

LC – What is your creative process like?
RA – When I have visions and I feel a thrill. I realize that the vision is worth to be captured in a painting. I create a sketch before I forget the vision. The final result is always the product of the interaction between the colours, my (limited) painting capacity and a good dose of entropy.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this festival? How did it inspire you?
RA – It gives the opportunity to many artists from all over the world to expose their artworks done with multiple techniques. But what was more exciting and inspiring for my side was the wonderful contrast between most of the artworks, abstract and “radically” modern, and the classicistic rooms of Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this exhibition? How is it connected to the theme of the entire festival?
RA – Each artist must fight against different borders, some physical, some geographical, some psychological. Personally, my ‘Rho’ mask allows me to press back my alter ego and to allow my inner world to go beyond the borders of social rules and conventions.

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
RA – Definitely! It was exciting and productive cooperation.

LC – What are your suggestions about our services? Is there something more we can provide to artists?
RA – I think it depends on the type of artwork you are presenting. Personally, I paint on large surfaces, so the logistic aspects related to participation in a fair are quite challenging. Additional help on this aspect would be helpful, at least for artworks of significant dimensions.

LC – What is your idea about ITSLIQUID GROUP?
RA – A company that worked hard in this difficult pandemic period to keep the real physical art world and to carry on with exciting and inspiring fairs and exhibitions.