marco vecchiato (*1974 Italy) lives and works near Venice.
I was born in 1974 but I started using pencils and brushes in 2015, rather late yes, when something inside me, or maybe outside, who knows, called me, then I overcame my fears and took courage, because making art is a matter of resistance and it takes courage.
A bit late, yes maybe, but in 1999 I would never have been able to do the works I do today, I had tried, because the vein was there, only then it seemed to me that it was not worth it, I just wasn't ready.
I've never been interested in drawing even as a child, I've never had the precocious talent, on the contrary, and even today I'm not interested in doodling over the world.
I don't like decorative painting, or photographic painting, that tells too much, I'm not interested in copying the painting of history, what has already been done, reality is enough by itself.
It's not easy, I know, it's not just a problem of originality (bye bye avant-garde!) I can't do it, a painting must have a mystery to work.
What did I do until 2015? I kept my creativity under control with writing, especially poetry, art was a despotic discipline so I preferred to study and research, back then for me there was only art history, history of others (other eras, currents, artists), I did research (as an independent) seemed more interesting the history of German art (of Austria and Germany) between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth (including National Socialism) and so I did.
All that work finally got me here.
In 2016 I started exhibiting my work in the street, under the critical eye of ordinary people (sincere), my ego has "educated" itself and the forms have also improved.
The line took on a more decisive character, the sign reached its autonomy, and the white became a living space.
Without knowing it I was not only gaining confidence, from paper I switched to increasingly large canvases, but my distinctive brand was taking shape.
Since then it has been a continuous process.
In my paintings there is the present: man in his space of time; and in this present (2024) there isn't much to joke about, even irony is absent.
I'd like to do an exhibition about happiness, even if now is not the time.
The re-interpretation of reality through art must be shared with others because, if genuine, it concerns everyone, even if in these moments it can only be dark and complex.
I'm interested in philosophy, philosophical thinking is a way to understand the present, existentialism, for example, is never over, although I realize that this way of thinking may seem a bit old.
In my recent works harmony is achieved through subtraction or simplification. Bodies, for example, seek balance even if they don't have it, sign, color tone, even the stain under the erasure, make up a narrative that is not lost in chaos.
But the present is often chaos!
Making art is a political commitment that is nourished by the experience of life, political commitment means playing one's part within society, so art cannot be an end in itself (it is never even when it is prey to the market), Perhaps art must be a message, even if it is disguised or even hidden, an image-thought that does not offer solutions or ways out, like reality.
(updated feb./2024)
A bit late, yes maybe, but in 1999 I would never have been able to do the works I do today, I had tried, because the vein was there, only then it seemed to me that it was not worth it, I just wasn't ready.
I've never been interested in drawing even as a child, I've never had the precocious talent, on the contrary, and even today I'm not interested in doodling over the world.
I don't like decorative painting, or photographic painting, that tells too much, I'm not interested in copying the painting of history, what has already been done, reality is enough by itself.
It's not easy, I know, it's not just a problem of originality (bye bye avant-garde!) I can't do it, a painting must have a mystery to work.
What did I do until 2015? I kept my creativity under control with writing, especially poetry, art was a despotic discipline so I preferred to study and research, back then for me there was only art history, history of others (other eras, currents, artists), I did research (as an independent) seemed more interesting the history of German art (of Austria and Germany) between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth (including National Socialism) and so I did.
All that work finally got me here.
In 2016 I started exhibiting my work in the street, under the critical eye of ordinary people (sincere), my ego has "educated" itself and the forms have also improved.
The line took on a more decisive character, the sign reached its autonomy, and the white became a living space.
Without knowing it I was not only gaining confidence, from paper I switched to increasingly large canvases, but my distinctive brand was taking shape.
Since then it has been a continuous process.
In my paintings there is the present: man in his space of time; and in this present (2024) there isn't much to joke about, even irony is absent.
I'd like to do an exhibition about happiness, even if now is not the time.
The re-interpretation of reality through art must be shared with others because, if genuine, it concerns everyone, even if in these moments it can only be dark and complex.
I'm interested in philosophy, philosophical thinking is a way to understand the present, existentialism, for example, is never over, although I realize that this way of thinking may seem a bit old.
In my recent works harmony is achieved through subtraction or simplification. Bodies, for example, seek balance even if they don't have it, sign, color tone, even the stain under the erasure, make up a narrative that is not lost in chaos.
But the present is often chaos!
Making art is a political commitment that is nourished by the experience of life, political commitment means playing one's part within society, so art cannot be an end in itself (it is never even when it is prey to the market), Perhaps art must be a message, even if it is disguised or even hidden, an image-thought that does not offer solutions or ways out, like reality.
(updated feb./2024)
As a writer he has published two poetry books:
In 2022 he has write a book of short stories:
