Travelling is the only thing you can buy that can make you richer
thinks italian artist Fabio Zanino.
Fabio Zanino practises narrative art and design. Travelling is the main inspiration of his creations and the transformation of the things is the cornerstone of his art.
Fabio’s works are various: abstraction, landscape, works of the garbage, recycling and street art.
Most of his childhood he spent in Spain where he took his first steps in art. In Spain, Fabio especially liked Andalusia with its distinctive christian and muslim worlds, the sense of cultural differences and mutual influence of cultures. The artist believes that the connection between different cultures contributes to the development of a particular culture.
My artworks begin with travelling, but tourism doesn’t have any relation to it
says Fabio smiling.
You find yourself in a place where you might be far from your everyday comfort, but in the heart you find another comfort. With travelling the connection of time gets changed. Now I want to get acquainted with the architecture and culture of Armenia.
Fabio came to Armenia in the framework of the “Europe Day” project and will deliver lectures and hold master classes. Before coming here he got acquainted with the sightseeing of our country on the internet, along with it he read Mandelstam’s “Journey to Armenia” book.
Heritage – this is what influences on the present. With its help the past gets back and has an impact on the present. The abstract art is also often inspired by what people see in nature.
says Fabio explaining the importance of travel for his artwork.
When you create something new in the innovative art, then the inspiration can come from the past. During the visits the painter gets the opportunity to meet different people, to get acquainted with different cultures, to walk in the footsteps of the history and inspired by all these to create innovative artworks.
For Fabio travelling is a means of immersing in the history, an opportunity to explore the heritage inherited from our ancestors. He likes to go deep in the essence of the things, to explain the phenomenon, to understand the influence of time on the human thinking and perception of the world. The study of history allows you to notice the transformation of the things and the phenomena. And the idea of transformation becomes the basis of creating an artwork.
For instance, the artwork that outwardly seems the combination of yellow and green, he made using a torn ball. In this case, the ball represents both the memory of the childhood and the retrospective glance on the past, and at the same time is a transformation of the artwork. For creating his artworks Fabio uses old useless objects, which always give him new ideas.
For the transformation is very important aesthetics. Part of my aesthetics is the process. The creation can be good or bad but without process you can not understand it. History gives us the idea of process.
says Fabio.
Transformation allows him to connect past with present, only for artist it is hard to imagine what the future will be in many years. According to Fabio, nowadays reigns the power of money and the world is not getting better. But history shows that the person remains the same: for centuries he is crying and laughing, he is sad and happy in the same situations.
We destroy our planet. Now the youth is informed more than before, but I do not know whether it can contribute to the politics change. However, the desire to see and change makes us continue to live each day and try to enjoy the life
says Fabio.
Thanks to Larissa Mkrtchyan for translation. Original interview here.