Suggested soundtrack: Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
Piercarlo Carella is a painter, illustrator and graffiti artist based in Sardinia, Italy. For those who don’t know, Sardinia is an Island in the middle of the Mediterranean, with a very ancient history and its own language, incomprehensible to other Italians. A true paradise with a population very proud of its own culture.
I met Piercarlo over 20 years ago. I was working for the Contemporary Art Biennial in Ferrara, Italy, and I was blown away by his drawings. A large part were A3 sheets drawn in pencil with strange deformed beings, symbolic objects, magic, violence, nihilism and anger.
Undoubtedly, those drawings stood out on the ancient walls of the Estense castle, they were a wild scream in an elegant silent hall.
We stayed in touch, and I continued to follow his artistic evolution. Social networks came soon after to make things easier.
First of all, I think to better understand your work we have to start with geography. Does the place where you live and its culture influence your work in any way?
In part, yes, but I travel so much with my mind that I don't know exactly where I am, if we are talking about geography. I am quite disconnected from the typical modern-day social life. I'm always somewhere else.
In your works there is always a strong component of social criticism, mixed with pessimism and decadence. Your worldview, I guess.
It is what my peers convey to me. I see, through my personal filter, a humanity suspended in a kind of insecure leap between what has been and what will be. Afraid of an uncertain future. I feel the need for a revolution, however, which I do not see even in embryonic form. Not yet at least. I see so much confusion on the one hand and well-organized thirst for profit and exploitation on the other. I find the whole thing extremely fascinating and somewhat epic. The human story I think is.
Part of what you do is very reminiscent of comic art and illustration, it's impossible not to see a little bit of Andrea Pazienza in some of your artwork. What are your influences?
So many, I mention in no particular order of importance: Manga and comics of all kinds, illustration of all kinds, botanical and zoological manuals, anatomical and comparative anatomy atlases, Paleolithic and ancient art, esoteric symbology, cinema especially the classic science fiction cinema from the 1920s to the 1970s, and then so many authors, Pazienza precisely, Liberatore, all the stuff from Frigidaire and Il male, Giger, Moebius, and the list could be endless. As Newton said “we stand on the shoulders of giants.” Thanks to them I can see a little further.
Tell us about your creative process, does the idea come first or does it develop as you go along?
I generally start from purely geometric shapes. I look for a spatial arrangement that somehow follows the mood of the moment, I can't explain it in words. I use a technique similar to the automatic writing practiced by mediums. Sometimes a concept, a sentence said by someone, a proverb, a past present or even future historical event can attract me. I always think of a human body, as if it were a landscape. And I try to be cryptic and didactic at the same time.
What catches your attention in daily life?
Too many things. Not in order of importance: Politics, relationships between individuals, technological developments. Books. Everything that concerns us as human beings. Puzzles of all kinds. The sky, especially the night through the telescope. Nature. Disparities. Thinking that there are those who have everything and those who have nothing, and will never have anything. Death. The future that I will never see. The wonderful innocence of the children I cross. The uncurious people.
What music do you listen to? What is your relationship with music in general?
Music is an essential and omnipresent companion in my days, especially while I work. I range from classical music to electronic, through classic and modern jazz to avant-garde rock, progressive and jazz-core. I also like a lot of pop stuff and love soundtracks, and occasionally ethnic music from all over the world. Estradasphere, Secret chiefs 3, Area, Therapy?, Henry Mancini, Primus, John Barry, Diamanda Galas, Tori Amos, Björk, Radiohead, Lucio Dalla, Fantômas, Mr. Bungle, Niels Peter Molvær, False Prophets, Gronge, John Zorn, Masada, Ennio Morricone, Vangelis, David Bowie, Skiantos, Fluxus, Holy Nothing, Gwar, The Almighty, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Kyuss, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Saturday Night Fever, Angelo Branduardi, Tomahawk, Faith No More, Wasp, Presidents of United States of America, The Doors, Frank Zappa, Elio e le Storie Tese, Iggy Pop, Beach boys, Danzig, Zu, Ugly kid Joe, Ornette Coleman, Brian Setzer... to name the most listened to.
What do you think are the main obstacles an artist faces in the globalized and technological world we live in?
I don't know, everyone has their own particular vision of “success” and personal fulfillment. I don't see obstacles, rather so many paths that can be taken and of which, however, so many lead nowhere. There is much dissipation of energy. So many traps disguised as opportunities. Perhaps the market itself, which tends to make everything it touches a fetish. Alienation is an obstacle. The need to perform at all costs. Or maybe not.
What is your Gold Egg? the most precious thing in life.
Hard to say. Maybe discovering new things every day. Trying to understand the incomprehensible. Curiosity.
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