In this editorial series Artsted is offering a dive into the stories of artists, taking them on a weekly discovery sprint: learn about the practice, process, philosophy and conceptual research behind the platform’s best contemporary creators.
Hi Claudio! Great having you here, could you please tell the readers about yourself?
My name is Claudio Valerio and I am 30 years old. My hometown is Sulmona, a small town in the heart of Abruzzi, Italy. I currently live in Bologna. My main medium is painting.
At which point did you realise you wanted to be an artist?
I don’t know exactly when and how I realised I was an artist. Sometimes, I still wonder. I found myself pursuing the artist career, and time will give me more and more answers.
How do you create — what is your process?
The creative process is the core of my work. I seek a combination of process and will to explore new territories. The synthesis of these elements can bring the birth of the artwork or its failure. Failure is seen as an incentive, as a kind of search engine.
My work is a continuous research of meaning, causality is admitted exclusively from this perspective. I cannot bear unjustified and unfounded gesturalty.
I shy away from any attempt of definition.
My work takes place entirely in my studio, in deep solitude, so that I can converse with my materials in total freedom, without any restraint. I need much concentration and energy, so I always work early in the morning, when my mind is clear.
For me creating is a way of living. I try to discover something new every day, even in daily little things, that are valuable for me. I always hope something surprises me. Otherwise, I would be terribly bored.
I believe it is a necessity of life, therefore an artistic necessity.
And have you ever thought about defining a mission as to why you create?
If I had to define myself I would say “seeker”. I love the possibility of something happening. My artworks follow this paradigm, for me life represents the pleasure of being amazed, and is never separate from life.
I focus on the concept of Ineffable, all my artworks represent an attempt of investigation that pleased me, I do not have any particular preference.
In my work, I always face the dilemmas that trouble human beings. They are questions at the edge of existential perception.
I have no specific goal, but the goal of being capable of supporting my research thanks to collectionism. Of course future exhibitions and projects strongly depend on this factor.
What inspires you as an artist?
What inspires me is the concept of existence. I often wonder what being human means, and answers come living, of course. I see my artworks as something physiological since they embody this idea.
The world of art and anything that concerns it are obviously my bread and butter. But I think that joining something permanent is illusory on principle.
How has your creative process changed throughout 2020, did pandemic and the lockdown influence your practice?
Isolation due to pandemic caused a series of events that has conditioned my practice, of course. I think this happened to everyone, though.
I found myself working on exhibitions with artworks that I never imagined I could make. As I said, in a hard period like the one we are facing, failure can turn into an unique chance that we should be ready to grasp.
Moving forward with my poetics, I think I managed to expand the view of my research.
What could be your message you wanted your future collectors to know?
For me an artwork stands for a challenge. Who collects my work is the one taking up this challenge.
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