We visited Ilaria Fasoli’s studio in Marghera, a little town just outside of Venice. Her work is particularly focused on fabrics and on everything that the artist decides not to show.
She graduated from Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice with a major in Painting and then completed her Master’s Degree in Visual Art at IAUV.
Painting is her primary medium even though she is fascinated by others. The details in her paintings are, for the most part, concentrating on the primary rule of seduction: never reveal too much to your audience.
Walk us through your academic experience. How do you think your education shaped your career?
I studied art since high school, at the Accademia of Venice I learnt the basics of painting. This was crucial for me – I started to see the work of the artist as proper work. This happened also thanks to Carlo di Raco who educated most of the painters from Venice. He gave us the possibility to work all year around giving us a great opportunity to learn and concentrate everyday on my work. Di Raco made me develop my personality as an artist.
I never dreamt to become an artist in only one way – my interest towards art was always multifaceted.
Other courses, in fact, enlarged my interests in other mediums. Arti plastiche and Decorazione were crucial in my development as an artist. In this instance, I started to work with fabrics.
When I started my Master’s Degree at IUAV where I finally merged all my interests in terms of creativity. Alberto Garutti and Angela Vettese, two of my professors, became a huge influence in my work.
What is indispensable while working in your studio?
In my Studio space and light are essential like any artist would tell you. For what concerns some personal aspects my priority is to be calm and concentrated. It is also essential, for me, to have everything that I need to create from my instruments to the fabrics that I use, including the sewing machine. I always need to be comfortable and to feel at ease in my space – having my Studio in my home is also a great perk.
Who are your favorite artists and who are the ones that built your creative imaginery?
The artists that influenced me the most were the ones that focused on light and colour. Ettore Spalletti, Franco Piavoli – a film director – and James Turrell. I am fascinated by Sofia Coppola’s work, and her way of not disclosing everything continues to influence my art. Ambiguity is key for me.
Other artist that I love are Vanessa Beecroft, Félix González-Torres and Dana Lok – her images are very clean and detailed. Details, in fact, are very important for me.
How do you use social media? Do you think that social media can help the new generation of emerging artists?
I believe that social media are essentially for leisure and I use them in this way. Looking at them from a functional point of view it is very easy to show artist’s work in a slightly superficial way. Social media need to find a way to help emerging artists in building their career since it is becoming increasingly difficult for artist to sell art.
What are your projects for the future?
I want to do some kind of experience abroad – I always studied and worked in Venice and now I feel like I need a change of scenery. The venetian environment is my home but this system is really hard to deal with and is in conflict with what I want.
Therefore, I want to include performance in my art including also photography and video.
I would love to participate more in the realm of fashion as a individual contributor as I already work with fabrics.
