#TheInterview

#TheInterview – Pasqualino Fracasso

1. Pasqualino Fracasso is a watercolor painter, and what else?

An engineer, a teacher, and now an artist. In the sense that I no longer feel like a simple watercolourist, that is, one who paints in watercolor, but someone who creates, invents, communicates and evolves (my concept of the artist). In these years I made a journey that led me to understand many things about myself, about art and the world of watercolor and I realized that I did not want to be a simple watercolorist.

2. How did you approach the art world?

I have always drawn since I was a child, while I was studying at the Polytechnic, in the lunch breaks during my work as an engineer, always. I played in a rock band and when we broke up I started painting and in the watercolor I found the technique that allowed me to paint according to times (night) and spaces (home) that I had. From there I became passionate and I began to study on American books and magazines studying the great modern and contemporary watercolorists.

3. What does the art of watercolor represent for you?

  • The world through which to create, communicate, have fun, relax
  • the world through which to know other people and experience out of the ordinary
  • a source of income

 

I specify that I wrote “the world” because the watercolor is a world in which I entered and which has opened several doors to me and it is also a parallel world compared to my daily life in which I do anything other than art.

 

Watercolor is magic.  The magic of playing with water, of taming it but also of letting yourself be led by it, the magic of managing the unpredictable. I love the materiality of the oil but the watercolor is more fun and intriguing.

 

The art of watercolor, however, is for me to be able to combine together :

  • the gestures with which to create a shape with a single touch of the brush
  • the wisdom to manage the density of color and the humidity of the paper
  • the eye and the head to create an optimal composition “at the first”
  • the fun of playing with water

 

 

4. You were the first Italian artist to be selected and awarded (in both) at the International Annual Exhibition of the prestigious National Watercolor Society and the America Watercolor Society. Tell us what you felt.

It was my dream so when the evening I received (the first time) notification I did not sleep all night from excitement. It was a great achievement to see that your work was appreciated by the real insiders, being selected from thousands of artists along with those that I considered masters. The AWS is still one of the 3-4 most successful international competitions where the great international masters participate and where the level of work is really very high. Especially in recent years where competitions have multiplied exponentially but are often medium-low level and where the big ones do not participate, these are still the reference because being there is really difficult.

5. How long has it been before you master the technique and be satisfied with the results?

Mastering the technique (or rather the techniques because there are so many watercolor techniques) requires many hours of practice but even more analysis and study to understand. I always say that the technique is made by the hand, that you practice thousands of times, but everything else from the head, that you have to learn to see, think and abstract in the right way. My times don’t make text because I paint about 6 hours a week and so it took me a long time (I started in 2004). But the time for the “head” depends from person to person, on your ambition, your experiences, how much you study and dare…

I am not yet satisfied with the results or better my paintings. Of the paintings I make I like 1 out of 7 (in the sense that the other 6 I just don’t like!) and to be satisfied I would like to get to 4 out of 7, so the road is still long.

 

 

 

 

6. Was there ever a time when you thought it wasn’t worth it?

Never. As I said before, it was worth it for me, because when I paint I feel good, alive and having fun. And then it was worth it for all the people I knew, all the trips I had and all the experiences I had. I was lucky to get it.

7. The person who most proud you and made you believe in yourself as an artist

I state that now that I see my old works (that people bought and for which they made me many compliments) I consider them really ugly and low level but despite this 10 years ago I got in touch with some great artists who gave me many tips on how to improve and what path to take. I had written letters to him (by hand and sent in the mail) and they answered me several times and with great availability and this helped me to move forward because they saw in me something special, still raw but special. Thank you so much to Robert Wade, Jeannie Mcguire and Stan Miller.

 

 

 

 

8. To follow your passion you happened to neglect your family?

Never. The family first of all indeed every time I can also bring them with me (China, USA, France, Sweden, etc.) because I want to share with them the opportunity to see the world and meet other people and other cultures. And at home, I try to paint at night or when there’s no one there, just because I think it’s best to spend as much time as I can with them.

9. In your family, who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Not yet, but who knows The problem is that my children see me as too good and so the comparison takes place, which instead of being a stimulus becomes a kind of obstacle. But life is strange and I am the proof. So we will see …

10. Is it possible to be a full-time artist in Italy today?

Depends on a lot of things. It depends on where you live (big cities and maybe tourism provide more opportunities for courses and sales), your knowledge, whether you have a family or not, the lifestyle you have, how much you hate the work you are doing, etc…

I made a prudent choice in the sense that, with a family, mortgage, car, children, etc… I did not feel like leaving everything for a job (however beautiful) that has no security and economic continuity and in such a strange and unpredictable historical period. I still believe that one day I will succeed but now I can not make this choice, because deep inside I am still a computer engineer!

 

 

11. What are the different phases that follow Pasqualino Fracasso to paint a painting, from the beginning to the end?

10% search for images

60% composition and design: the study of colors, composition sketches, search for variants, cut, etc…

25% execution: pencil track, the hand of dark or intense colors, the hand of intermediate tones, erases, details

5% analysis, retouching and possible upheaval

12. Which colors are essential in your palette?

3 primary (Indian yellow, permanent pink, ultramarine blue), ftal blue, titanium white

Then there are some colors that I particularly love that are: cobalt turquoise, lunar black, aquarius green, yellow Naples and works roses

 

 

 

 

13. Which paper do you prefer?

Winsor & Newton satin-finished

14. What’s the brush you never part with?

It goes to periods. Lately the Pure squirrel RESTAUROHOUSE of SZMAL : a very soft natural brush with a fantastic tip

15. Tonality, composition, brightness, which one do you think is most important for your works?

first: Composition, second: Tonality, third: brightness.

 

 

16. Do you have a painting that you haven’t finished in years?

I have about twenty… some, after a few years I cut them and leave only 60%

17. Tell us about the work of which you feel most proud.

The work “Urban Abstract I” which was awarded this year at the American Watercolor Society international exhibition. This work, a semi-abstract glimpse of the arcades of Turin, I like a lot because it required so much study and is an excellent synthesis of shapes, colors, defined and indefinite elements; it is a work that I consider of high level and that if he had done some other artist I would have said to myself “I hope one day I’ll get to do something like that!”

18. The place that thanks to the art you have known and surprised you.

China. Thanks to the watercolor I was in China 3 times and I discovered places, a culture and people that I never expected and on an artistic level, I discovered really remarkable artists.

19. Answer a (the) question that no one has asked you so far, but you always wanted to answer.

Question of the interviewer: “you like few watercolor artists: what strikes you about a watercolor artwork”

Answer: “Technically I am struck by the sense of composition, the gestures with which they create a shape, the chromatic and tonal complexity of the whole. But all these things are linked by visionary research, by a “dare”, by a suggestion that makes you go beyond the real. The great artists manage to combine both in the brushstrokes and in the visual impact a balance between abstract and real, defined and indefinite, instinctive and delicate that makes me dream. I hope I made myself clear because I know I’m a little twisted in words

20. The next person I interview is your choice. Who’s it gonna be?

You choose the next person I will interview. Who will he or she be?

Does it depend if it should be Italian, Spanish or international? There are many very good watercolorists, even Italians. But I have very special tastes and therefore I love very few artists so I would recommend people I esteem, which are not the usual names overcast and I would be curious to read an interview.

International : Eugene Chisnicean

Spanish : Francisco Castro

Italian: Roberto Zangarelli

 

 

 

 

in #The Interview / #TheInterview / watercolor / web-news

#theInterview – Pasqualino Fracasso

1. Pasqualino Fracasso is a watercolor painter, and what else?

An engineer, a teacher, and now an artist. In the sense that I no longer feel like a simple watercolourist, that is, one who paints in watercolor, but someone who creates, invents, communicates and evolves (my concept of the artist). In these years I made a journey that led me to understand many things about myself, about art and the world of watercolor and I realized that I did not want to be a simple watercolorist.

2. How did you approach the art world?

I have always drawn since I was a child, while I was studying at the Polytechnic, in the lunch breaks during my work as an engineer, always. I played in a rock band and when we broke up I started painting and in the watercolor I found the technique that allowed me to paint according to times (night) and spaces (home) that I had. From there I became passionate and I began to study on American books and magazines studying the great modern and contemporary watercolorists.

3. What does the art of watercolor represent for you?

  • The world through which to create, communicate, have fun, relax
  • the world through which to know other people and experience out of the ordinary
  • a source of income

 

I specify that I wrote “the world” because the watercolor is a world in which I entered and which has opened several doors to me and it is also a parallel world compared to my daily life in which I do anything other than art.

 

Watercolor is magic.  The magic of playing with water, of taming it but also of letting yourself be led by it, the magic of managing the unpredictable. I love the materiality of the oil but the watercolor is more fun and intriguing.

 

The art of watercolor, however, is for me to be able to combine together :

  • the gestures with which to create a shape with a single touch of the brush
  • the wisdom to manage the density of color and the humidity of the paper
  • the eye and the head to create an optimal composition “at the first”
  • the fun of playing with water

 

 

4. You were the first Italian artist to be selected and awarded (in both) at the International Annual Exhibition of the prestigious National Watercolor Society and the America Watercolor Society. Tell us what you felt.

It was my dream so when the evening I received (the first time) notification I did not sleep all night from excitement. It was a great achievement to see that your work was appreciated by the real insiders, being selected from thousands of artists along with those that I considered masters. The AWS is still one of the 3-4 most successful international competitions where the great international masters participate and where the level of work is really very high. Especially in recent years where competitions have multiplied exponentially but are often medium-low level and where the big ones do not participate, these are still the reference because being there is really difficult.

5. How long has it been before you master the technique and be satisfied with the results?

Mastering the technique (or rather the techniques because there are so many watercolor techniques) requires many hours of practice but even more analysis and study to understand. I always say that the technique is made by the hand, that you practice thousands of times, but everything else from the head, that you have to learn to see, think and abstract in the right way. My times don’t make text because I paint about 6 hours a week and so it took me a long time (I started in 2004). But the time for the “head” depends from person to person, on your ambition, your experiences, how much you study and dare…

I am not yet satisfied with the results or better my paintings. Of the paintings I make I like 1 out of 7 (in the sense that the other 6 I just don’t like!) and to be satisfied I would like to get to 4 out of 7, so the road is still long.

 

 

 

 

6. Was there ever a time when you thought it wasn’t worth it?

Never. As I said before, it was worth it for me, because when I paint I feel good, alive and having fun. And then it was worth it for all the people I knew, all the trips I had and all the experiences I had. I was lucky to get it.

7. The person who most proud you and made you believe in yourself as an artist

I state that now that I see my old works (that people bought and for which they made me many compliments) I consider them really ugly and low level but despite this 10 years ago I got in touch with some great artists who gave me many tips on how to improve and what path to take. I had written letters to him (by hand and sent in the mail) and they answered me several times and with great availability and this helped me to move forward because they saw in me something special, still raw but special. Thank you so much to Robert Wade, Jeannie Mcguire and Stan Miller.

 

 

 

 

8. To follow your passion you happened to neglect your family?

Never. The family first of all indeed every time I can also bring them with me (China, USA, France, Sweden, etc.) because I want to share with them the opportunity to see the world and meet other people and other cultures. And at home, I try to paint at night or when there’s no one there, just because I think it’s best to spend as much time as I can with them.

9. In your family, who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Not yet, but who knows The problem is that my children see me as too good and so the comparison takes place, which instead of being a stimulus becomes a kind of obstacle. But life is strange and I am the proof. So we will see …

10. Is it possible to be a full-time artist in Italy today?

Depends on a lot of things. It depends on where you live (big cities and maybe tourism provide more opportunities for courses and sales), your knowledge, whether you have a family or not, the lifestyle you have, how much you hate the work you are doing, etc…

I made a prudent choice in the sense that, with a family, mortgage, car, children, etc… I did not feel like leaving everything for a job (however beautiful) that has no security and economic continuity and in such a strange and unpredictable historical period. I still believe that one day I will succeed but now I can not make this choice, because deep inside I am still a computer engineer!

 

 

11. What are the different phases that follow Pasqualino Fracasso to paint a painting, from the beginning to the end?

10% search for images

60% composition and design: the study of colors, composition sketches, search for variants, cut, etc…

25% execution: pencil track, the hand of dark or intense colors, the hand of intermediate tones, erases, details

5% analysis, retouching and possible upheaval

12. Which colors are essential in your palette?

3 primary (Indian yellow, permanent pink, ultramarine blue), ftal blue, titanium white

Then there are some colors that I particularly love that are: cobalt turquoise, lunar black, aquarius green, yellow Naples and works roses

 

 

 

 

13. Which paper do you prefer?

Winsor & Newton satin-finished

14. What’s the brush you never part with?

It goes to periods. Lately the Pure squirrel RESTAUROHOUSE of SZMAL : a very soft natural brush with a fantastic tip

15. Tonality, composition, brightness, which one do you think is most important for your works?

first: Composition, second: Tonality, third: brightness.

 

 

16. Do you have a painting that you haven’t finished in years?

I have about twenty… some, after a few years I cut them and leave only 60%

17. Tell us about the work of which you feel most proud.

The work “Urban Abstract I” which was awarded this year at the American Watercolor Society international exhibition. This work, a semi-abstract glimpse of the arcades of Turin, I like a lot because it required so much study and is an excellent synthesis of shapes, colors, defined and indefinite elements; it is a work that I consider of high level and that if he had done some other artist I would have said to myself “I hope one day I’ll get to do something like that!”

18. The place that thanks to the art you have known and surprised you.

China. Thanks to the watercolor I was in China 3 times and I discovered places, a culture and people that I never expected and on an artistic level, I discovered really remarkable artists.

19. Answer a (the) question that no one has asked you so far, but you always wanted to answer.

Question of the interviewer: “you like few watercolor artists: what strikes you about a watercolor artwork”

Answer: “Technically I am struck by the sense of composition, the gestures with which they create a shape, the chromatic and tonal complexity of the whole. But all these things are linked by visionary research, by a “dare”, by a suggestion that makes you go beyond the real. The great artists manage to combine both in the brushstrokes and in the visual impact a balance between abstract and real, defined and indefinite, instinctive and delicate that makes me dream. I hope I made myself clear because I know I’m a little twisted in words

20. The next person I interview is your choice. Who’s it gonna be?

You choose the next person I will interview. Who will he or she be?

Does it depend if it should be Italian, Spanish or international? There are many very good watercolorists, even Italians. But I have very special tastes and therefore I love very few artists so I would recommend people I esteem, which are not the usual names overcast and I would be curious to read an interview.

International : Eugene Chisnicean

Spanish : Francisco Castro

Italian: Roberto Zangarelli

 

 

 

 

in #The Interview / #TheInterview

#TheInterview – Anna Massinissa

1. You are president of the InArte Association, curator of FabrianoInAcquarello, artist and creative. What did I forget? And which of them are you most linked to or has given you the most satisfaction? 

To none more than the others, they all necessarily coexist together, since each of us is made up of many experiences lived one by one, but all linked together. The link between all the matters you mention, and many others to be true, is the artistic expression, or if we want to define it more precisely, it is the expression of the human beeing through the Arts applied in the many cultures of the world.
Two things in my life have fascinated, motivated and made me unconditionally happy every time I could experience them in any form: they are Art and world cultures, both are expressions of mankind, in past and present time, in his physical and emotional form.

2. How and when did you approach the world of art?

I believe that the education I received played an important role that brought me closer to Art: the teachers, my family, but above all the many casual meetings with friends or with peculiar people: those were the starting point for learning and stimulating curiosity.

If I think about it now, even if I traveled and studied as much as I could, it was not necessary to go so far away: the most simple situations around us, nature and life itself: are a continuous wealth of interesting things to observe and a starting point to learn from – and I mean in both good or bad situations. Every moment of life gives emotions and provides encounters that are base of precious experiencing because there is not “a world of art”, but the whole world is the world of art.

3. What feelings do you remember, related to your first exhibition? 

Strange, but since the participation to exhibition was gradual, I don’t remember which was the very first.
Still I very well I remember an important step in my art life, like the achievement of awareness, or the metamorphosis of self identity: that was the moment when I felt I had to admit that making Art was as important to myself as one of the other vital functions. For years I had probabily wanted it, but I didn’t feel I deserved – until I realized it was just one of the many things worth spending and working hard for; in a fair balance though: without taking yourself too seriously, but working seriously – even in spirit of service.

I tell about it because I feel this same pressing conflict is present in many people, as if Art was a status that can be granted or not, only to some elected people. Art is mankind and belongs to everyone. Then some artist will be technically better, others will be more creative, but we can all apply it and give Art out tribute and admire it.

4. What difficulties have you encountered as a woman?

None honestly – I think I have already expressed this concept: the boundaries are where we personally grow them.
In this vision boundaries are not built by gender, rather they are material: like for those people who have no possibility of training, or have no freedom of expression, or live in difficult social conditions where the priorities are other than the artistic expression. No, no difficulty as a woman: I think I have been privileged in my career as beeing Italian and as beeing a woman belonging to our era; for sure I was determined, tireless, but also privileged: for that typical feminine characteristic that allow you to be able to focus many things on same time, to have a developed collateral thought, to look farther.

5. In 2018 you did a personal exhibition “NOMADE inter homines” in Sperlonga in central Italy. How long time did you spend preparing it?

Very long, because I started the collection around 2014, when the first immigration reports brought to our eyes the humiliating photos of migrant men that I could not (still unfortunately, can not) accept. For 4 years I painted almost exclusively them, or in any case for them – which to be realistic is not an help, but for a while I hoped that Art could at least pay homage to these men. I have sent those same works, several times, to a number of international events. It has been a time that seemed me very long because Art, applied as a complaint, costs very much in terms of emotions, of visibility and of “good” public relations.

That exhibition is now in Thessaloniki, it has been locked by the Covid, but I hope it will continue to communicate.

6. Is there an artwork from the many you did, that you are particularly fond of? If yes, can you tell us why?

Yes of course, it is the portrait of Virgina Woolf, it is an interpretation done in payne gray and gold – if I remember right it was also in one of the FabrianoInAcquarello catalogs. It was exhposed in Fabriano, then in Indonesia and it is now at my sister’s house, next to my granddaughter’s harp and I like to think it is the evidence of contamination by the arts: from literature, to painting, to music.

7. Have you ever been inspired by someone? If yes, who did you follow as a artist mentor?

I like the work of Modigliani and Klimt and the many symbolist artists of all ages. I believe that each of them hase been inspiration and source of teaching for me; same as the many contemporary artists I meet every day: each of them brings examples and stimulus. I love those who are brave, who are not afraid to change and innovate and experiment.

8. How was FabrianoinAcquarello born?

It was first born because of the paper, because I was born and live in Fabriano, it is the city where the paper has been produced and exported to the world since the Middle Ages – the paper can be painted with any technique, but Watercolor is the one that most gives it value, since it is composed by the pictorial beauty of transparent pigments and also by the beauty of the paper that houses the pigment.

It was also born for the desire to make an event where the vision of “the Art that belongs to everyone”could have been base for the union of many different cultures of the world – and Watercolor, which is an ancient technique, is really perfect to work for this goal. Today there are more than 80 countries present in the large community of FabranoInAcquarello, we feel like “Artists citizens of the world”.

9. Why a festival on the watercolor technique?

Because a technique so widespread in the world, with so many different kind of application, needed a conference. FabrianoInAcquarello is kind of scientific meeting where every competition is forbidden and we only meet to share knowledge. We took as an example the medicine ans science conference meetings where researchers discuss and mutually stimulate the evolution of their work. This I felt we needed – a sharing conference is very rare in the artistic world, where events are usually based on competitions, prizes, economic activities.
So FabrianoInAcquarello is not a festival, it is a conference, where each artist and each curator brings his own knowledge and returns home with the wealth of knowledge of all. Because Art belongs to everyone, do you remember?

FabrianoInAcquarello
   

10. After many years and a lot of work, FabrianoinAcquarello has expanded in other cities starting with SperlongainAcquarello then UrbinoinAcquarello, and many more. When did this project start and how many Italian cities are involved for now? And where would you like to go next?

Yes, many cities in Italy and many in the world, those who have asked to join and those that will ask. But this is not the goal. The goal is that Art can be practiced by all those who want to, without barriers or competitions and without prejudices – by collaborating we can increase our work and grow exponentially all together. I don’t know if I have been clear enough in spreading this vision, I often have the feelinf that not all cities following our step have received this message and probabily we will have to communicate it better, with more streght from now on. Not an infinite number of cities is needed, but an infinite number of cities and artists who feel the beauty and the joy of reciprocity, sharing, discovery, being able to respect each other, feel the need to work together. A condition that, through the relationship with other artists, multiplies the energies and the personal potential of each artist.

11. How long does it take to organize an event like Fabrianoin Acquarello?

We need 1 year of work, but we are a small staff, in a particular logistical situation, beeing Fabriano a small and unorganized city, not used to welcome many people all together. Maybe in other contexts it can be done faster.

12. What did world paralysis, due to coronavirus, entail for the organization of the convention? And will this situation bring changes for the next editions of the festival?

We hope no paralysis for the next editions, but certainly for this year the online virtual conference is all we can do. Maybe new ideas will arise from the online conference … Let’s see.

13. Apart from FabrianoinAcquarello, what are the other events that InArte organizes and in which area does it usually operate?

Exhibitions of contemporary art and drawing. But also school of theater reading, creative writing. Contamination with Music, with dance … whenever possible. Cooperation and exchange with other organizations. Research and joy of making art.

   

14. Behind InArte, Fabrianoin Watercolor, inWatercolor, International Watercolor Museum is present your name. Any new plans for the future?

The museum is still a startup and it absolutely needs to be consolidated. Consolidation is a long journey that we cannot do alone, we must cooperate with local institutions. We hope to have the ability to be convincing and to be able to start it soon.

I also think that all events must evolve over time, in relation with the evolution of the world and with the involvement of the new generations, because they are the ones who will have to welcome them and then continue. These are main plans for the future.

15. Would you like to collaborate with me on a project in the Canary Islands?

If I remember right a year ago I threw a stone … (that translated from italian, mens I proposed it)

16. Give advice to a young artist

Be curious, be confident. Use intelligence, emotion and a good dose of pragmatism in your game. Keep in mind that you can make mistakes and fail, but also start again. Don’t give up.

This is good to be applies to all things in life, doesn’t it?

17. Give me advice too

Don’t give up, it seems to me that you don’t need the others.

18. Answer a question that no one has asked you so far, but you always wanted to answer.

This is complicated. Maybe you can ask me if Art has always made me happy.
I would answer you: absolutely not. It would not be normal and it would not be of no use.

19. You choose the next person I will interview. Who will he or her be? 

Since you are close to her, I think you must interview Isabel Alosete, a personage in Spain and well known all over the world: courageous, innovative and generous. Such a beautiful character.

 

 

 

Thanks for your time.

You too Luciano!

in #TheInterview