Interview with nature- and sea-loving artist: Elisa Baldissera

1- Hi Elisa, tell us who you are, how your art was born, and what inspires you:

I am someone who likes to travel with my imagination, experiment with techniques and materials, get my hands dirty and create chaos. I love to observe and experience nature immensely; she is my greatest source of inspiration. I don't really like having to describe myself: expressing myself with words is extremely difficult for me.

2- I notice that there is the recurring figure of the woman in your works with always something on her nipple: shells, corals...would you like to tell us about it?

The female figure is exclusively present in the 'daughter of the sea' series. These are small works, self-portraits, where my body merges with marine fragments. I invite you to read Luca Gamberini's poem, which succeeds in capturing the essence of these collages.

"I need you to emerge

like a daughter of the sea

a seaweed your vulva rose

the pearly embrace of

abysses fragments of echoes

of shell nipples

directed to a distant sea

moonlike surly wave

this shaping of the pencil

on your body that is mine".

3- Your 'Petroleum' series is visually striking, especially the glossy black look. What techniques do you use for this effect?

Epoxy resin is the material with which I create the glossy/wet effect. It is a two-component chemical that also allows me to assemble different materials together and in its appearance is identical to water, the primordial element and matrix of life.

4- Can the 'Petroleum' works be seen as raising awareness of marine pollution?

Of course. I started the series in 2015 to coincide with the repeal referendum on oil platforms in Italy. Environmental pollution and resource exploitation are the issues that concern me the most.

5- You used many different materials in this series: metal tubes, plastic, and parts that look like shells. Can you explain the choice of these objects?

Initially, Petroleum was a series of intaglio monotypes depicting oil platforms that I "framed" inside small tuna cans painted black.

Imaginary horizons of an uncertain future where the power of the sea collides with the darkness of mankind and its actions. Over the years I imagined oil expanding, moving, and leaking and so I began to create 'sculptures' of assembled objects where the blackness spreads, encompassing everything it touches. This is how I introduced PVC pipes, binoculars, magnifying glasses, stones, marine fragments and anything that helped me communicate the fear of something that is coming and we cannot stop.

6- We see that you range from 'classic' paintings to three-dimensional realisations, reliefs and modelling of objects, sometimes integrating everything, as in the work 'the gap' that we liked a lot. In this sense, do you set limits for yourself when using objects? Or do you have 'genres' of objects that give you good inspiration?

I don't set myself any limits, I think art should never do that. So far, I have always been attracted to old objects such as binoculars, portholes, lanterns, old picture frames, broken mirrors and any object that already has its own experience. Like dada-surrealism, I am fascinated by the objet trouvé: whether it is an industrial artefact or a naturalistic find, once removed from its function or natural environment, it opens new windows onto the seas of the psyche.

I also like collecting discarded materials such as tuna or legume cans, barrels of petrol, and lately tea and herbal tea bags. For years I have also dreamed of finding an Art Nouveau radiator in my path for a project I cannot get out of my head.

7- As mentioned above, you often use marine elements such as seashells or similar, brilliant the use of the sea urchin as an iris in 'the eye of the sea'. Your strong connection with this element is clear. Would you like to tell us something about it?

Quoting Baudelaire:

...free man you will always love the sea,

The sea is your mirror:

you contemplate your soul

in the infinite unfolding of its wave.

And your spirit is not an abyss less bitter...

8- Do you have any future projects you are working on, inspirations, or new challenges you would like to share with the readers of Il Mio Salotto?

From May to September, I took a long break, the longest ever. I am slowly finding the right energy to start again.

I am currently in an experimental phase: I try to put together photographs, herbal tea bags and resin but I still don't know if anything good will come out of it. I am only at the beginning.

To see more of the artist's work, follow her Instagram page: @elisa_baldissera