One of the most beloved pieces in Sing for Hope’s 2010 Street Piano Installation was The Winged Piano by New York City-based Sing for Hope Donor Artist Ruggero Vanni. Ruggero’s creation — and his photograph of his son, Filippo, coaxing a tune out of it against the New York Harbor and Statue of Liberty backdrop — became a symbol of the harmony that Sing for Hope’s pianos brought to our urban streets this summer.
Recently, Ruggero took time away from his art studio in Umbria to answer some questions from Sing for Hope Co-Founding Director Camille Zamora.
What is your first memory of experiencing art?
Experiencing art was a part of my upbringing. My father is a painter and I grew up in his studio. Ever since I was born, art was just there, as “real” as nature, or music, and I experienced all of them in the same way. That created an interesting phenomenon: abstractions made (and make) total sense to me. I don’t find that the visual message of Malevich’s white square makes more or less sense than a sunset. Or that the sound of the flowing water of a creek is understandable because it is “natural” whereas Beethoven’s Hammerklavier should be understood “intellectually”. All these experiences stimulate our senses and our intellect, without any difference between them.
I firmly believe that it is the artist‘s duty is to present his/her art unpretentiously. Art should be accessible to everybody on its own value: no one should feel intimidated. I object when artists write about what people should see in their art. Similarly, I hate contemporary art that purposely creates arcane works to replace the lack of substance. This artificial intellectual barrier implies that we, the public, are stupid if we do not get the meaning. Too often people tell me that they don’t feel entitled to an opinion about my work because “I don’t understand anything about art”. I reply that they should not to worry about that. They should just think if experiencing my paintings creates any sort of thought, feeling, reaction, emotion. If this happens, I know that I succeeded in communicating with them, and that what I created made some sense not only to me, but also to another fellow human being.
What one thing would you like everyone to understand about your work?
It is not important that they understand something specific, but that their experience has been enriched in a way that would have not been possible without that artwork.
Ruggero Vanni's "Winged Piano" at Gantry State Park Plaza with Mayor Bloomberg, NYC Culture Commissioner Kate Levin, Make Music New York President Aaron Friedman, and Sing for Hope Co-Founding Director Camille Zamora
Why do you think art has such power in our lives?
This experience was originated by something that had not existed before I created it. And obviously I created it as a more or less direct response to something that I encountered. My purpose as an artist is to amplify this experience, bringing to light what was less evident. Some artists believe that this is better achieved by a direct reference to the subject, especially through an expressionistic exaggeration of its positive/negative qualities. I find that representation limits the universality of the reach. Naturally, the past is full of artworks that are both representational and loaded with meaning: from Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, to Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son, to Picasso’s Guernica. But I believe that the drama in these artworks does not reside in “what” is painted, but in “how” it is painted. The same subject, depicting the same drama, represented by a lesser artist would have been only an illustration of a dramatic situation. I believe that removing a specific illustrative reference liberates the full strength of art to express the original message. Independently from the path that is chosen to reach the final expression, transcending the specific reference and reaching a universal meaning is what gives real power to art. Whenever this happens, the artwork becomes a part of our collective knowledge and has the power to enrich the experience of whoever comes in contact with it.
What are you proudest of and why?
I believe that foregoing direct representation, and unleashing the power of expression of color and form creates a direct link between the person creating the art and the one exposed to it. Whenever I manage to create that direct link with the person on the other side of the canvas, I feel that I have succeeded.
What inspires you?
I believe that inspiration does not exist as a stand-alone illumination. Inspiration is the result of a process. At the base of any creation, there is experience: emotional, visual, acoustic, intellectual, physical. Then there is the endless practice that makes the artist capable technically, manually and intellectually of mastering his art. When both elements are there, a conscious and subconscious brewing of recent and past stimuli takes place. When this pondering reaches the maturity, then the creation of the work is almost necessary to liberate the mental energy.
Tempesta Borealis. A recent painting by Ruggero Vanni.
What art / artists inspire you and why?
I do not find direct inspiration from one specific artwork or movement. I am continuously interested in many artists, studying the color palette of one, or the composition of another. I do this to compare it to what I am doing and to study if I am achieving all I can in my work. There have been times when I realized that I had been inspired by some art-related experience only when I had completed my work.
What or who has had the most influence on your path?
Looking back, I certainly owe a lot to growing up in an artist’s studio. My everyday experience was populated with painters, sculptors, architects, and also writers, performers, composers. Experiencing their rapport with creativity made me grow up with the idea that artistic expression is the natural outlet of a fulfilled life.
Later the influence branched in two parts: direct and indirect. The latter was mostly made of literature, music and architecture. I found these arts essential to learn the basics of composition. I still find that the experience I get from a musical piece, a temple, or a novel, is often more influential than a painting exhibit. If I was obliged to put down some names there would be certainly Bach, Beethoven, Bernini, Stendhal, Dostoyevsky, Proust.
Among the experiences that influenced my growing as an artist, but not my painting directly, I would put all the Classical Greek art, the Renaissance, and theorists of modern abstraction such as Klee or Kandinsky.
All the art that has left a tangible mark in my painting relates to what I call the spirit of the Baroque. I mean by that the capacity of the artist to unleash boundless energy. It is peculiar that while on one hand I have a deep intellectual admiration for the analytical rigor of Raphael, I am emotionally drawn to the tumultuous fervor of Tintoretto. Throughout my study of Art History, I am always interested and I continuously learn from all art that emphasizes movement, light, and is theatrical. Art movements that particularly inspire me include Hellenism in ancient times, then Baroque art, the Luminists, and more recently the Abstract Expressionists; specific artists include Lysippos, Bernini, Veronese, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Delacroix, Bierstadt, and Monet.
What is a typical day in the life of Ruggero?
I know that my best painting time is afternoon, so I spend the morning studying and working on my photographs of art and architecture. This gives me a great opportunity to enrich my knowledge, both visual and intellectual, about art. I spend the rest of the day in my studio working on my paintings, very often into the night. A couple of times a week I enjoy having my friends over, and cooking dinners that become the ground for animated discussions about art, politics, life.
What is dreamed-of day in the life of Ruggero?
Right now, I could not dream of anything better.
What have you not yet done professionally or creatively that you would like to do?
I have always been interested in creating artworks for large architectural environments. I believe that this will have a positive effect creatively by giving me the opportunity to relate the interior space of my painting to the actual space before it. Also, I think that creating an artwork for a public space expose it to many people that are generally less prone to approach art. If they were to benefit from being in contact with my art, then I would feel that I were also contributing to something that is socially beneficial, which I think is a primary duty for an artist.
Why do you believe in “arts activism in action,” and/or how do you think that art can be a vehicle for positive societal change?
For the above-mentioned reason, I think “arts activism in action” can make an essential contribution to society. Art is a vital part of the human experience and its presence in society is essential to its progress at any level.
Could you tell us about your artistic process of creating your Sing for Hope Street Piano?
Painting a piano has been for me a very exciting challenge. From the very beginning I thought about how I could “paint music”. I wanted my composition to recreate visually the acoustical creation of music coming out of the piano into the air.
Listening to piano concertos helped me in breaking down the experience in two components: the continuous stream of the music and the individual notes that sometimes would follow the main theme, and other times twirl around against the current. This for me took the form of wings with swirling brushstrokes rising beyond the surface to fly off along with the stream of notes dispersing in the air.
Later, when the work was finished, I realized that I unconsciously owed a lot to one of my favorite works of art: the Nike of Samothrace, where the solemnity of the body has a counterpoint in the levity of the wings. I hope to have achieved something in the same direction, intertwining gravity and lightness, that is for me one of the great qualities of music.
Click on the video below to see Sing for Hope Donor Artist Lauren Ambrose performing with her band The Leisure Class on Ruggero’s Winged Piano.
To read more PROFILES IN ARTS ACTIVISM, click here.
