Marzia Migliora
Lo spettro di Malthus
2020
Disegno di progetto digitale
Courtesy: l’artista; Galleria Lia Rumma, Milano / Napoli

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 PAROLE CON MARZIA MIGLIORA

My work method can be compared to an attempt at excavation: progressively removing layers of history to reveal what is hidden or barely visible, and bringing to the surface what is submerged, connecting it to the present in an effort to spark new reflections.

Francesco Pedrini
Alrededor de un suspiro
2024
Assemblage: disegno 50×70 cm su carta cotone 220 gr, pigmenti, grafite, carboncino
Stampa su carta fotografica 21×29,7 cm
Courtesy: l’artista

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH FRANCESCO PEDRINI

Quetzalcōatl is venerated as the god of wind, merchants, the arts, crafts, and knowledge. He had a shell carved into his chest, highlighting its star-shaped outline and spiral interior, symbolizing the wind, the afterlife, and the earthly realm. Ehcātl (the name of Quetzalcōatl in his form as the wind god) fell in love with a woman, but the world lacked love. So, to be loved in return, he breathed his spirit onto the world: the rains, the sun, the stars, and everything we know came into motion. The universe of events shifted so that she would love him.

Louis De Belle
Chiuso per ferie
Agosto 2024
Dimensioni variabili
Courtesy the artist

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH LOUIS DE BELLE

I have always been fascinated by hidden doors, secondary exits, and secret passages. Perhaps because they lead to something yet unknown. More than crossing these thresholds, I am interested in the way they fit into their context and the paradoxical fact that they are designed to remain unseen. Photography might be their antagonist, precisely because it proves the existence of what it captures. This image is from a series I am creating in Florence and aligns with the Italian August theme: closed for holidays.

Anton Giulio Onofri
Lido di Pesaro
23 giugno 2024
iPhone 15 Pro
Photo credit Anton Giulio Onofri

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH ANTON GIULIO ONOFRI

Summer has arrived. In the photo, you can see the beach of a seaside resort in Pesaro, taken two days after the solstice. The sea is the Adriatic, so this photo captures a sunrise. I took it with my iPhone after an all-nighter spent chatting about the past and future with some friends from the International New Cinema Festival, which had wrapped up a few hours earlier with a big party on the rooftop terrace of the hotel where I was staying. The sunrise convinced us all that it was time to go to bed. As of now, this is my most recent photo.

Claudia Losi
Amuleti, 2020
Argilla, pigmenti e mani amiche
Courtesy l’artista e collezione privata
Photo credit Andrea Rossetti

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH CLAUDIA LOSI

So many words fit in a hand
A hand that grips to a choke

So many words gather in the wind
Wind that moves to emptiness

So many words die on the lips
Lips that kiss to whiteness

So many words flow through the teeth
Teeth that bite to rend

So many words we would like to repeat
Ever so slowly, a blow to the death

So many words we could repeat
Ever so slowly, a blow to the death

Elisa Montessori
Senza titolo
2022/2023
Tecnica mista su carta catramata
449 x 100 cm
Prospekt, 2023, a cura di Cecilia Canziani e Marta Roberti
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Cracovia e Varsavia

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH ELISA MONTESSORI

“…Venturing into the forest,
or rather getting lost.
Knows it from every side
and has winged flight,
unfolding while migrating
slowing down while returning.
Feels free on the hook of the branch
among its shadows and half-lights
the green twisted arches
in the enveloping descending silence
and shatters at every moment…”

Steve Piccolo
Order
2024
Spontaneous assemblage of miscellaneous waste produced by squatters of a building in Milan, photo and graphic intervention by artist
Photo Credit and Courtesy the Artist

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH STEVE PICCOLO

In this world of noses
to the ground
sky unseen

In this world
grinding to a halt
crawling on all fours
now makes more sense

In this world of
substitutes for love
how can I make decisions?

In this world of
artificial brains
nothing will change
the chains remain

Can this world of
bold assertive style
raise a smile?

In this world of
systems within systems
how do I know where I stand?

And in a world of
self-fulfilling lies
why should I tell the truth?

How will I know what you mean
if you won’t define your terms?

Janis Rafa
The Space Between Your Tongue & Teeth
2023
3-channel video, 9 min
Courtesy the Artist

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH JANIS RAFA

In a horse’s mouth there is an area where no teeth grow.
A vacuity of space exists along with the interdental space.
And in this break,
within the gap left in between the incisors and premolars,
there’s an artificial portal,
allowing tame,
imposing control,
forcing discipline.

The bit, this irresistible jewel,
is now hosted by the horse’s mouth,
beholding a system of expansion.

Your back left teeth grew like mountains.
Opened holes in the gums.
You couldn’t eat.
Your body wouldn’t listen.

Your teeth a sign of torture.
Your mouth a proof of resistance.

I betrayed your mouth endlessly.

[Ioanna Gerakidi and Janis Rafa]

Nabuurs&VanDoorn
Revelation 03
2022
Fine Art Print on baryta cotton rag paper mounted on dibond
120 cm x 180 cm

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH NABUURS&VANDOORN

Exactly at the moment we participated in the residency dedicated to Vincent van Gogh, climate activists from “Just Stop Oil” attacked his work Sunflowers at the National Gallery, London UK. In response, we performed 10 Geoseances in the natural environment around Van Gogh’s birthplace. The landscape where Vincent walked and about which he wrote beautiful letters on nature. In GeoSeances (2022), we present a comprehensive exploration of the significance of Vincent van Gogh’s signature. Through digital appropriation, we projected his signature from the painting Sunflowers (1888) onto the landscape, reviving a seemingly forgotten connection between his signature and nature.

Effe Minelli
These butterflies came back from hell to see you
2023
Mixed media 
Photo credit: Paolo Biava

THE BLANK CONTEMPORARY ART
99 WORDS WITH EFFE MINELLI

Things that scares me and things that scares me not.

I’m scared of admitting my fears.
I’m scared of getting rejected after sharing my feelings for someone.
I’m scared when all the love disappears or it mutates into hate and bitterness.
I’m scared of gossiping, of banal peoples and their sharp tongues.
I’m scared of misunderstanding, judgement, stigmatization and discrimination.
I’m scared of loneliness.

I’m not scared to embrace my fragilities.
I’m not scared of telling the true and always follow my hearth.
I’m not scared to receive and to give love.
I’m not scared of standing up for human and animal rights.
I’m not scared of change of mutation and regeneration.
I’m not scared of crying.