A l e s s a n d r o M a z z o n i
Short Biography
My name is Alessandro Mazzoni and I was born in Locarno in 1987.
I work and live between Canton Ticino (Switzerland) and Milan.
I attended the CSIA (Centre for Artistic Industries) in Lugano (2002-2007) specializing in textile decoration.
As a result I obtained the artistic high-school diploma.
In 2012 I graduated with a Bachelor degree in “Painting” at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan.
Between August 2011 and April 2014 I worked for the Lisson Gallery Milan as gallery assistant.
Artistic Research
“It all starts as an unknown adventure, into a world never seen before. It is only at the time of completion of this adventure that we understand, like in a sudden illumination, that what has been materialized on the canvas is exactly what needs to be materialized.”
Mark Rothko, The Romantics Were Prompted, published in the review Possibilities, 1948.
“When I start a painting I do not follow a particular system. Each painting has its own way of progressing: one can start with a few scattered areas of colour on the canvas, another by a myriad of lines, another by a profusion of colour. Each start suggests something. Once I have taken the initial suggestion, I paint by intuition; the initial suggestion becomes a ghost to catch and make real. The subject reveals itself while I paint, or when the picture is finished.”
William Baziotes, text published in the review Possibilities 1948.
My artistic research is focused on an imaginary and mysterious world beyond the edges of reality, with a special attention to the atmosphere and the emotional, fantastic and romantic aspects of art. I use personal sensations and dreams as instruments to investigate my identity. I try to turn the unknown material of my unconscious into something real like a painting (or a video or an installation), starting from spots of color which generate abstract shapes freely interpretable and in constant change.
For me it is crucial to produce an open art: in other words an art not fully defined that evoke and suggest reflections and feelings. The mystery moves interest toward the artwork, both for the artist and the spectator: for the first it generates the will to continue the research and for the second it gives the opportunity to complete the artwork with its own perception and experience. Understanding completely the meanings of the work would signify the death of the work itself: like a fairytale it’s important to let the story work on us without revealing pragmatically all the symbols. When I start a new artwork I begin a journey but I am not sure where it will end and which paths I will undertake. There is an evolution during the process, like a conversation between me and the artwork.
"What I am trying to do it is not advertising. Advertising tells you exactly what it is. What art does is ambiguity, it leaves you to discover, it has a possibility and it is multidimensional. I want to see an art that ambiguity and makes me think about the evolution of the world and my personal evolution in the world that I live and my place in space and time of this universe. So when people give you fact and advertising they actually kill your imagination."
Shirazeh Houshiary, excerpt from the interview TateShots: Studio Visit, 2014
I intend to create something deep, contemplative and transcendental. I remember, when I was a child, I was often fascinated by natural events such as the full moon in a special night, a thunderstorm in summer, the twilight or the wind in an autumn day. In those moments I felt strong sensations and the consciousness to be somehow connected to the nature and the universe. I clearly recall the huge excitement and the desire to grab those feelings - which usually lasted few seconds - but also the disappointment caused by the awareness of the impossibility to really keep them. It was like beholding Neverland in the distance and being unable to reach it.
Growing I have understood there was a way to this other world: that is art. Art is a possible way the human being possesses to make real and visible the intangible world of sensations. Since I started to paint, all my works are focused on this: finding a way to express the vibrations of the world in relation to my sensitivity and intuition, materializing the macrocosmos onto the microcosmos of the artwork.
The constant vibration of nature, which we possess in our body, it’s composed of energies in balance. At the same time colors and shapes must be balanced in the painting, so that it will emanate the same vibration.
Unknow painter
Alessandro Mazzoni
03.01.2017
