When the pleasures of life come together to create tasty and delicious illustrations without the sin

Interview with Stefania Simeoni

Hi Stefania, thank you for talking to us. Could you introduce yourself to our readers? When and how did you decide to start making your artwork?

Hi Ilaria, thank you for the invitation. I am an artist and researcher working in the field of painting, investigating the depiction of every day and curious objects, revealing their ambivalent and symbolic nature. I was born in Trento, where I live and work; after graduating from the Art Institute, I obtained my master's degree in Management and Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of my city. From a very young age, I have cultivated a passion for painting, also supported by my grandmother, a painter, and my father, a professional musician. Art is at home!

Stefania Simeoni

When we first spoke, you told me that from a pictorial point of view, you work on the theme of desire through the realistic depiction of objects belonging to the world of food and eroticism. Would you like to explain more about your work to our readers?

My artistic research investigates desire as an innate human need. In this perspective, food and eroticism are vital drives and sources of pleasure that oscillate, today more than ever, between freedom and repression. They are instincts that, if harnessed by taboos and aesthetic models, can lead to dysfunctions in the individual's personal sphere. Sensuality and food are interpreted by me through the description of subjects that allude to culinary and erotic contexts. The works are the result of an investigation that suggests a vision of pleasure that is joyful but without sin.

Did you start out with figurative realisations or did you begin with abstract works?

Initially, my research started from a broad view of the world through abstract language. In more recent works, I have focused on the real form of things. My works tell stories of everyday objects that, apart from their harmless pleasantness, can arouse desire and stimulate the senses with subtle eroticism.

Tè rosa Bianca sensualità

What inspires you? What makes you start a new job? The spark to get in front

in front of the canvas?

I believe that my works are essentially evocative and symbolic. Following the example of some of the great masters of the 20th century, including Giorgio Morandi and Wayne Thiebaud, I direct my creative flair towards common objects that are, however, reworked, metabolised and returned to the surface in a new form, made up of colour, shapes and emotions.

What techniques, types of colour or media do you prefer to use? Do you use the support vertically or horizontally?

In recent years, I have specialised in the technique of soft pastel on paper and work mainly horizontally, on a flat surface. It is a fascinating technique that is not widely used compared to other painting forms. The feature I most appreciate about soft pastels is that it is a dry technique, so no thinners or water are added and the pigment remains pure. This allows me to characterise subjects with full, vibrant colours.

When the work is finished, I use copper enamel to make small dots scattered on the surface that constitute unexpected and risky moments. In contrast to the realistic representation, these random elements introduce a gestural and potentially dangerous element, an invitation to reflect on the balance between life's contradictions and pleasures.

Arance in corsetto Limone trasgressivo Ricco melograno

You are an established artist with several exhibitions to your credit. When did you feel

you were able to enter this world?

I started exhibiting continuously from 2014 onwards. The opportunity to present my work at MUSE (Science Museum) and to collaborate with the Trento History Museum Foundation was crucial. Subsequently, I also exhibited at the monastery of Santa Caterina in the historical centre of Palermo. Currently, some of my works are part of the artistic collections of starred chefs who appreciate my research on food.

Besides art, do you have any other particular interests? Or new projects you are working on?

My latest project involved the visual and rhythmic alternation of twenty pastel works belonging to two parallel research projects on the theme of desire.

Ten works depict unfinished everyday objects that invite the viewer to construct their own ending to the work. In some works, everyday objects sit naturally alongside erotic ones, triggering curious aesthetic and emotional short-circuits. The works are framed exclusively with glass in order to enhance the sense of freedom of these objects. The other ten works represent a series of mouth-watering sweets that seduce life and the palate and are characterised by a more realistic and defined depiction of the objects. The works are crowned by sumptuous fragmented antique frames that free the subject of desire from its static nature.

I am currently working on a series of oil paintings on canvas that start from a dialogue with the great masterpieces of late 16th-century art that initiated the still-life genre. A long and dense research that merges the past with the present. I chose works that struck me beyond the iconographic and cultural reading, and in which I found physical elements that drew me into the work, allowing me to initiate a dialogue with the painting beneath its surface. Some subjects in these works were taken out of their context through a process of analysis, deconstruction and interpretation, towards a conceptual work of reactivation of the image.

Food is a recurring theme in your works, would you like to tell us about this choice?

I choose to paint and show the viewer certain objects related to everyday life, particularly food and pastry; in doing so, I choose subjects that appear seductive to my eyes, imbued with sensuality, and femininity, but without any sense of excess or sinfulness. I consider food an atavistic symbol of desire and pleasure. Sweets, in particular, are timeless fantasies that stimulate desire and are characterised by aesthetic refinement taken to the highest level: a triumph of taste, a triumph of colours, and a delight for the eyes; sweets are one of the delicacies that are hardest to resist!

Minne di Vergine Peccato di gola

How did you get to know Il Mio Salotto?

My first contact with Il Mio Salotto came about this summer when I had the

pleasure of reading Ilaria Puddu's article on Vanessa Beecroft. Ilaria spoke

of the artist's work and her delicate themes with a descriptive style that

struck me with professionalism and sophistication. Subsequently, I

showed her my work and here we are! Talking about oneself and one's art is never easy,

or simple, but having the opportunity to confront myself with Ilaria, to put down on paper

and conceptual research was a very interesting experience!

It was an immense pleasure for me to be able to interview and listen to Stefania, discover more about her and her art, and show all readers, that without having preconceptions but an open mind to welcome and see things from another perspective, elements of our everyday sphere such as food and eroticism, can give life to wonderful works of art, like those of Stefania. Thanks again Stefania!

To see Stefania's page and follow her: @stefaniasimeoni