A Powerful Conversation with Enrico Cecotto

Photo Credit: Doklejda Ferataj

Enrico Cecotto is an Italian Visual Artist. He graduated with full marks and honors in Visual Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.  Enrico also graduated with full marks in the two-year specialization program in Visual Arts at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts.  He studied in the Department of Arts and Anthropology coordinated by the art historian Andrea B. Del Guercio. Enrico’s art has also been exhibited internationally in art spaces such as the Daville Baillie Gallery, the 508 Gallery, and elsewhere. He has exhibited in the Church of Sant'Ambrogio Della Vittoria in Parabiago. In 2012, on the occasion of the Passio 2012 project, he was invited to exhibit at the Church of Sant'Antonio in Novara, Assab ONE, the Maimeri Foundation, the Grafton Building of the Bocconi University,  and at the Ducal Castle of Ceglie Messapica (BR). Enrico’s art is held in private collections internationally. I had the pleasure of asking Enrico about what makes art special and unique to him, what is he currently working on, and if there was ever a hard time in his life creating art.

UZOMAH: How can a color choice change how you create or do not create the original image you had in your head?

ENRICO: Colors emit vibrations. It can happen sometimes, and our mood can be more oriented to color rather than another. That’s how it happens that what can be in my mind can turn to be a different color in the progress of work. Therefore an artwork acquires another energy.
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“BUBBLE SHARK,” mixed media on canvas,50x120 cm, 2020 private collection in SOUTH AFRICA

U:  What do you consider to be the biggest impact art has had on the world?

E: I deeply believe that art beyond its communication can also have a strong educational impact, I mean in particular the kind of art that takes a look also at environmental sustainability. I hope art can reach people’s moral sense and make all of us being more respectable and loving for nature and our planet.

“HEROES SHARK,” mixed media on canvas, 50x120 cm, 2019, private collection in MIAMI

U:  How important do you think art can be for children as it was for you to enjoy and do so young?

E:  I guess art is essential for kids; it’s fundamental to open their minds to a more open vision. It helps them to express their emotions through color language.

Kids are generally really attracted by colors, so I was in my childhood. I was such a lively kid, but drawing and using colors could cool me down, and so far, nothing has changed in my growth. I’ve become a father, and my daughter is five months and. I’ve noticed how colors, especially bright ones, really capture her.

U:  What was it like to exhibit your art in the Church of Sant'Antonio in Novara?

E: It was such an important experience because I exhibited one of my artworks in a Holy place. A Sacred site deserves great attention, and artwork should be placed in the context without disturbance and become an integral part of the place. The work would consist of a sculpture: Tablets of the Law that the Lord gave Moses, and the Parish really appreciated it, so I decided to donate it.

“RICHIE RICH SHARK,” mixed media on canvas,50x120 cm, 2021, Courtesy:Daville   Baillie Gallery SOUTH AFRICA

U:  How do you find the right combination of materials for each project? Do you find any difficulties when looking for materials?

E: The research of materials is always so fascinating to me. My work doesn’t consist of just painting, but I define it as painting sculpture.  I use different types of tissues, buttons, pieces of wood, Murano’s frames of art glass, and so on. I love using recycled materials; in my works, I wanna give a second life to what is considered discarded.   There are also some materials I buy, and they choose me; it seems they talk to me. It can happen where some materials may last in my studio for months till I’m illumined for new work.

“LUNA ROSSA SHARK,” tribute to Luna Rossa, mixed media on canvas,50x120 cm,2021, private collection in ITALY

U:   What is something that has been the hardest you have had to face on your road to becoming a working artist?

E: Yes, of course, there have been hard times. It’s known that an artist’s life is not always so easy.  In my way, I’ve had some wrong encounters, but they have taught me to consider in a better way future situations. I prefer to learn from all. My path has not always been rising, but I have never given up, so big satisfactions have come in my life, and I feel others will come soon. I am proud of my reacting way; that’s also a message I try to give through sharks, we shouldn’t wait for an event to happen, but we must act.

U:  Has there ever been a time in your life where you found it hard to create art?

E: There was a period where I took a brief pause for reflection just cause I desired to create, to produce something different. That period was marked by the reading of many books. After that, it was exactly when I was inspired by a particular book, so afterward, I started the creation of sharks artworks

Photo Credit: Doklejda Ferataj

U: How important was your schooling in the development of your talent?

E: Sometimes art is an innate gift. What I think is that schooling and education can help in giving the right tools to learn better and enhance one’s own talents, any way to go over is necessary to become active in catching all opportunities that life can give to us.

U: What are you currently working on?

E:   Actually, I am working on themes of environmental sustainability; in particular, I am concentrating on safeguarding our seas and oceans. I love nature, life and what I guess is that also art is responsible for the communication of the right values; in this case, art can be really sensitive to sustainability. I also realized in Sicily great murals include this message.

“MARILYN MONROE SHARK”, mixed media on canvas, 50x120 cm, 2021, private collection in ITALY

U: What makes art something special to you? What things make a piece of art remarkable and unique to you?

 E:   It’s art itself that makes me special. When I’m realizing my artworks, it seems to me time disappears, hours fly by, and I let myself flow by my creation. Instant becomes eternity. For sure, an artwork to be considered “unic” should have a big capacity to excite and to give energy every time we have a look at it. Best works should never stop giving meaning.

For more information and updates about Enrico’s artwork please visit his site, his Facebook and follow him on Instagram.