Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

Nico Vascellari, young Italian artist living between NYC and Vittorio Veneto (TV), seems to have found his own way to keep “his” images with him.

Our time is so overloaded with images. Inspiration surrounds us non stop, everywhere! How many things do catch our attention, even just during a single day? But...how many stay with us for more than few seconds? Nico Vascellari, young Italian artist living between NYC and Vittorio Veneto (TV), seems to have found his own way to keep “his” images with him. His latest project is simple but effective. An archive of images, conceived both as an artwork and a book. What’s so relevant for him to set up such a huge collection? B L O N D E. That’s not new, “Gentlemen prefer Blondes”: this book is a collection of more than 200 images of blonde models, ripped off mainly from fashion magazines, collected by the artist himself during the last 10 years. And this is not the only collection he’s done: he has also the famous Kate Moss archive or another one completely dedicated to "Interiors”, that collects interior designs, but also caves and animal entrails. Let’s talk with him and see what’s behind this peculiar passion/obsession (or shall I say fetish?) for Blondes,  and archives in general. 

G. Why do you have this passion for this kind of obsessive collections?

N.V. None of my archives, except a few of them, is born to become a proper archive. I rip the images and I let them leave their sediments,without knowing the reason. Only time can give things the possibility to be admired and understood for what they really are...

G. And why this particular fetish for Blondes? Why not brunettes like me?:-)

N.V. I have several archives about hair. Aside from the color, I have to say that haircut and length are relevant too. Certainly my fetish is son of unknown parents. Said that, I like brunettes  too and I also love peroxided hair, preferably with dark eye brows.

G. The pages of "Blonde" derive for the most part from fashion magazines. Are you interested in fashion only form an aestethic point of view? Or there's something more that catches you attention?

N.V. Definitely fashion aesthetics fascinates and intrigues me. I'm thinking of dresses, but also of the concept of "cropping" and of the idea of beauty.  The methodic and constant accumulation of images lets me analyze the transformations and the evolutions of our times, even though I do it ocasionally.

 G. You've made a quite a methodical archive of images of blonde girls, but they've been put together without a logical sequence. Why? 

N.V. “Blonde” replicates perfectly my own archive. The typology and of the size of the paper, the box that collects the pages and the total absence of binding have been chosen with this aim.

G. I saw your blonde-installation at MACRO, where your Blondes "steal the show" to the architecture of the museum. They look like billboards of an upcoming independent movie. How have you interacted with space for this special project?

N.V. My idea is really close to your interpretation. MACRO Museum commissioned me a work that was very similar to a classic billboard, in terms of space, dimensions and technique. Blonde book was coming out soon and many pages of it are advertising: I decided to select some of them and turn them into a sort of promotional campaign for my book! Hope it will work!

G. You're a world-famous artist, surely one of the most important artists of your generation. You've won several awards, in 2010 you' ve been artist-in-residence at the Marina Abramovic Institute, and you took part at the Venice Biennale in 2007. How do you conciliate this sort of star-status with your being “a punk that lives at the feet of the mountains”?

N.V. I’m not a star and i don’t feel like this! Rarely I thought of my self as a punk, but when I did it I’ve always associated it to an idea of OPPOSITION, and nature, above all the mountains, coincide perfectly with my idea of opposition.

G. What are your upcoming projects?

N.V. I’m developing some new projects for the MAK in Vienna, the PInchuk Art Centre in Kiev, Galleria Monitor di Roma.  Next week there will be the opening of my exhibition at Fondazione Remotti in Camogli, and seven days after my studio in Vittorio Veneto hosts the fouth edition of the festival Three Days Of Struggle. (www.codalunga.org).

Find more about BLONDE (published in 500 copies by Nero Magazine) here

Nico’s special project at MACRO in Rome, until the 22nd of May, here.

P.S. Thanks to Moleskine and Tratto pen.

(I’m a nostalgic, handwriting enthusiast) 

Written by Gilda Manfring

Credits: Scandalosa Gilda 

TAGS: dolce&gabbana dolce & gabbana d&g d & g online luxury magazine swide scandalosa gilda gilda blonde blondes macro vittorio veneto three days of struggle fondazione remotti camogli art artist biennale marina abramovic gentlemen prefer blondes nico vascellari kate moss interiors interior typology venice june 2010 2011 codalunga coda lunga struggle kiev galleria monitor rome mak manfring