ITALY
Luciano Caggianello is an Italian artist whose career has been shaped by diverse experiences and profound intellectual curiosity. From the start of his professional journey as a graphic designer, illustrator, and art director, to his current practice combining physical materials with digital technologies, Caggianello has continuously evolved. His artistic philosophy, which he defines as the "metallurgy of thought," focuses on a conceptual approach and intellectual experiments. In this interview, Caggianello takes us through his artistic journey, reveals his creative processes, and shares his views on the role of art in contemporary society.
Your artistic journey encompasses a wide range of styles, from figurative art to conceptualism. How has the evolution of your style influenced your current artistic practice and philosophy?
My artistic path has been very varied, as has my professional journey. I started in advertising as a graphic designer, illustrator, and then Art Director, before eventually shifting my interests to the fields of Architecture, Industrial Design, and Car Design. However, this path has probably been enriched, developed, and alternated because I have always wanted to indulge my most intimate and profound intellectual curiosity.
Obviously, the artist I once was, along with my practice and philosophy, has changed compared to the artist I am today. So much so that I now prefer to be defined by the term "Creative" rather than "Artist." Being a creative means having different processes sedimented, perhaps using alternative systems or tools, so that the idea, the concept, and the thought become the main and predominant symbols in dealing with and managing a framework within which there are aesthetic, visual, artistic, planning, social, and communicative elements.
What then becomes fundamental and takes on connotative value is achieved only through the ability to express these parameters and certainly not by how we prefer to be called or perhaps by how others label us.
I am convinced that personality, including the artistic and creative one, is expressed through intellectual and cognitive processes and methods. This is the synthesis of talent, after which you learn to use the tools that will serve as a means but without becoming the main objective. This is, in fact, the distinction between skill and talent, and those who obsessively focus on skill can only become good craftsmen, certainly not great artists.
To conclude the analysis of the concept of personality, I can say that when an individual reaches a saturation of knowledge (although no one will ever be saturated enough...), this intellectual capacity becomes useful or predominant, to be distilled, diverted, and integrated into other areas. In short, only by accumulating knowledge does one become capable and suitable for transmitting it. Conversely, by not accumulating anything, the conditions will not exist to transfer any competence, skill, information, or concept to anyone, even if they can address him or define him as an artist, a genius, or a superstar.
Your works often combine physical materials with digital technologies. Can you explain how this hybrid approach contributes to your artistic expression and what you aim to achieve with it?
In reality, I believe that it is not the approach (hybrid or otherwise) that contributes to my artistic expression but the opposite is true; expressiveness determines and probably validates the identification of a specific creation through one medium rather than another.
However, I am absolutely convinced that the medium, however interesting, pleasant, or aesthetic it may be, represents only a tool to direct a concept. What is significant is the thought that becomes the main protagonist, the essence of conceptualism, and it is precisely this different approach, as well as the perception in developing a profound communicative language, that leaves me thinking of it as a strong point, at least in conceptual terms. However, in visual terms, the most incisive support derives from the possibility of providing an image or an artifact which also has an aesthetic value and its own ability to present itself in a harmonious, elegant, and possibly innovative way, without becoming an obsession or an indisputable reason for choice.
One of your most recent projects was exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum 2020. Can you tell us more about this project, its concept, and the audience's reactions?
If we were to talk about recent exhibitions at museums, we should also mention, for temporality, the Chianciano Museum for the 2022 Biennale or others such as the Civic Museum of Anzio, the Textile Museum, the Open Art Museum, the Automobile Museum, MAVV, the Museum of the Arts, Museu De Arte Moderna Aloisio Magalhães, Museu Murillo La Greca, Fossil Museum, MIIT Museum, Waldensian Museum, Muspac, and many others, even if now I don't intend to make it a sterile list and an end in itself.
Each place determines the work or works inserted and contextualized within a specific project, and even that of 2020 coexisted with these assumptions and these frameworks, as well as with a certain "social geography" determined above all by the Covid period and its related implications.In fact, what I presented on the occasion of that exhibition fit precisely into the mood of a very delicate and particular historical and social moment. However, even if for many artists, critics, and curators, exhibiting in museums is an absolute sign of success, I believe that the place should not determine or validate a concept, especially if the concept itself is fragile or even non-existent. I say this without wanting to belittle museum sites, but only to point out that it is necessary to change a fairly generalized evaluation paradigm and therefore always favor the content rather than the container.
However, regarding the reactions of the public, I never worry much about such judgments, not because I am disinterested, cynical, or intolerant of other people's opinions, but simply because I don't cultivate the idea of having to or being able to please everyone.
Your artistic philosophy focuses on the "metaphysics of thought" and intellectual experiments. Can you explain what you mean by this and how you apply it in your work?
Since my creativity and my artistic process are influenced by everyday life as well as by other intellectual ideas such as philosophy or even history, I have defined the development of my research as the "Metallurgy of Thought."
This metallurgy, which also becomes metaphysical (precisely because it is associated with thought, therefore a sort of forging of the notion), leads to the elaboration of concepts of synthesis, of existential comfort, intellectual experiments, verbal innovations, visual alternatives of participatory tension, to then arrive, only after this long and complex interior wandering, at the awareness of a precise meaning. In fact, man, although given over to limitless experimentation on himself, always accesses the inevitability of a concrete behavioral reality and must therefore provide an interpretative key.
Furthermore, since I think that kindness without honesty becomes opportunism and honesty without kindness turns into severe cynicism, in applying my artistic philosophy and related communication, I always try to be honest and kind even at the cost of remaining misunderstood. Understanding appears as a profound act of trust that arises from dialogue, within which there is no identification with the achievement of a victory; in fact, the best is not always the one who wins but rather the one who has greater enthusiasm and joy for living.
Art therefore for dialogue and not for affirming unilateral tautologies. This is my current "truth," the one that allows me to monitor and pursue this path, even if, as the wise man says, the truth never triumphs but its adversaries always end up dying.
How do you approach the process of creating your installations and sculptures? Is there a specific method or ritual you follow when starting a new project?
Even though my approach is based on creative methodologies, I tend not to establish a precise and strategic work routine, especially behavioral or habitual. My mind has become accustomed to receiving stimuli in the most disparate contexts; my ideal environment is one close to perimeters of metamorphosis, stories, alternative visions, but also errors as well as concrete existential phenomenology. My internal background is not exhibited predominantly except in the expressive and contextual will of the concept. Obviously, after having grasped my intuitions, I process them and refine them in the studio, adapting them to a specific medium, in order to direct them towards their definitive argument. Being able to use digital media, sculpture, installation, painting (in all its forms), and also graphics or illustration if desired, I therefore interpret the work thinking about the support that is better than others able to synthesize, interpret, and enhance it.
Furthermore, since I have discovered that in life those who are unable to convince desperately try to amaze, my approach aligns with the theme of conviction in a possibly polite manner (sometimes even with a small ironic dose) without the need to shout, trying to propose my beliefs (which are not certainties, and I would like to clarify this further) in a perspective that achieves complete meaning.
How do you see the role of art in contemporary society? Do you believe that art can initiate social change, and if so, how?
Art, and consequently the artist, are ferrymen of concepts but also of intentions, of references, and of profound examples regarding society, obviously understanding it not as a vague abstract entity but as a vital audience of conscious individuals. Therefore, I try to obtain an ethical consensus rather than an aesthetic one, even if the word "ethics" is contained in the word "aesthetics," but now I want to overcome the etymological aspect of the lexical terms. In fact, the intent of art should go beyond the purpose of pure intellectual speculation or fetishistic artistic conception, directing itself towards the deeper conception of utility, of service. 'Serving' means not being in antithesis with the individual's search for balance, and proposing ethical concepts represents precisely serving, involving.
IIt is true that a criterion for defining acceptable degrees of dependence and sharing is determined only by the willingness of others to get involved, but it is necessary to understand that the learning process is expansion, dilation of consciousness, and this methodology is not integrated only with efforts but is supported through intelligence.
If the normal man seeks intelligence to demonstrate and flaunt it, the wise man instead seeks to conceal it, so much so that perhaps there is also a 'wise' art capable of avoiding any tangible affectation to demonstrate or show itself. True, profound art does not have to appear (and here the concept of convincing and surprising returns...), its Being is sufficient, and this leads the spectator to participation, inducing him to the dynamics of thought, imagination, and mental and internal openness. When art reveals its entire message to us, it becomes a sort of dogma and ceases to embody a tool for the growth or transformation of desires. As the foundation of its essence, art must possess, in addition to adequate messages, also ideals, dreams, utopias, and above all ethical concepts that lead to reflection, change, and evolution.
What are your plans for the future? Are you currently working on any new projects that you would like to share with our readers?
Obviously, I work hard to plan and follow some objectives, but at the same time, I am always open to the inevitable fluctuation of daily life that constantly changes and perhaps sometimes outlines new scenarios, events, and opportunities. Precisely by virtue of this variability, I let sharing only happen after it has been achieved.
The only "strategy" that I feel like sharing is the possibility of always feeling free to express my concepts without coercion, manipulation, or speculation. If any impediment were to arise, I think I would certainly abandon such a path. In fact, I believe that true freedom, as well as desirable social innovation, would consist in creating a serious "social educational project" that provides efficient cultural tools and is capable of informing or inducing reflection so that no one becomes, without their knowledge, the target of conquest. It would be desirable to curb and stem that widespread lack of critical thinking and at the same time the progressive weakening of everyone's individual ethical and social responsibility.
Forbearance should not be transformed into a virtue for anyone because any attitude of extreme subservience or total tolerance is still considered harmful. Sometimes it would be absolutely appropriate to refuse objects, comments, indications, products, advice, perhaps stating that we do not like them and that we do not intend to get involved. In short, forcefully declaring that we do not want to show any psychological subordination towards certain abuses (such as advertising, TV, or some social figures such as influencers...), proudly displaying true and profound critical thinking. Only through the help and irreproachable practice of truly rooted ethical and moral behavior could we induce a revolution, or rather a concrete and significant evolution.
© Luciano Caggianello
The interview with Luciano Caggianello reveals the complexity and depth of his artistic expression. His ability to combine various media and technologies, along with his dedication to conceptual art, makes him a unique voice in the art world. Caggianello's art philosophy, which relies on intellectual processes and deep reflection, inspires and provokes thought. His work is not only visually appealing but also intellectually stimulating, offering viewers the opportunity to engage in deeper contemplation about the world around them. Through this interview, Caggianello reminds us that art has the power to transform, inspire, and provoke change in society.
Photos: © Luciano Caggianello