(En)
Artworker
MARIO SUGHI
When and where were you born?
1961, Cesena, Italy
Where do you currently live and work?
I live and work in Dublin. My studio is a small room of our house. Our house is 3 meters from the sea and 15 minutes from the city.
How long have you been practicing your craft?
I started drawing in my father’s studio as a child. My father Alberto Sughi was one of the major Italian artists of his time. For me, drawing was just a joke and a form of pleasure; for him, a serious, beautiful and at times difficult passion. It was still a kind of joke for me when I was working as a cartoonist in Rome in my early twenties, and it’s still something that I feel is light and pleasant these days.
What inspires you?
Photography, paintings, books, people walking the streets, Alex Katz, David Hockney, contemporary art, Rosso Fiorentino, Botticelli, Manet, Vollotton, Warhol, Siouxsie and the Banshees, swimmers, Milan Kundera, Francis Bacon, and the works of many other artists whose names are completely forgotten or even unknown.
How would you describe your style/approach?
It’s never easy for me to describe my work style. It’s almost as if someone is asking me to describe either my walking style or talking style. I wouldn’t know what to say. Most of the time your answer is to try to include your work in a group of works that you like, or where you feel your work might fit well: Pop Art, Realism or Figurative art. I think that my work is meaningless. I don’t know what I am doing in terms of meaning when I work. I am only interested in the color, form, composition and light. But if you create a nice image, that image probably will contain something interesting, some interesting meaning as well. That will emerge only later.
What has been a defining moment in your career?
At the end of the nineties I left university and history and I went to work as an illustrator for a group of archaeologists here in Dublin. It was there that I learned of drawing (mainly maps and archaeological artifacts) in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I felt I had found a medium that gave me a chance to paint and draw without anyone having a chance to correct my work.
What are your future plans?
In the first week of February 2016 I am flying to Aberdeen for the opening of a joint exhibition with Chris Wells at the Newave Gallery. Openings are not always exciting to me, but this one should be as it’s my duty to be there to “defend” my work.
Can you leave us with some parting words or advice?
Self-confidence is the most important thing to be successful in your work.
Artworker Gallery
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Artworker, Chicago 16 February 2016
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