ArtNoble Gallery

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Via Ponte di Legno 9,
20134 Milano

Exhibition extended until January 23, 2026
MON-TUE CLOSED
WED-VEN 14.30-18.30
SAT 11.00-16.00
SUN CLOSED
(Check for any holiday closures on the website: artnoble.it)

ARTISTS: 
Pietro Fachini
Renato Guttuso (Collezione Ramo)

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Pietro Fachini answers questions from
Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, curator of Collezione Ramo

What does drawing mean to you?
From my point of view, drawing is an exploratory and learning tool linked to observation—a means of education and inner discipline, a gesture that puts me in direct contact with reality in order to find its synthesis.
Drawing can materialize a vision, allowing a concrete analysis of harmonious balances because it enables us to understand how the environment around us is structured through an eye–mind–hand system that records information very deeply; consequently, it is also an index of sincerity in one’s attitude toward the surrounding world.
Through this medium, marks emerge that can surprise me; forms and tensions are amplified. If the gaze, gesture, and thought are sincere—that is, they do not try to dominate reality in order to assert one’s own point of view, but rather investigate it—drawing becomes a way to create a relationship between inner life and the outer world.
In conclusion, drawing is both a practical exercise and a form of training, a sort of meditation in concentration and intellectual silence.

What materials, techniques, and creative processes do you use when working on paper?
Lately, I have almost exclusively favored one type of pencil, the soft red chalk (sanguine), because it allows me to modulate line and detail to a wide degree and to create a mark that flows with ease. Sanguine enables me to develop a very instinctive, repetitive research if necessary, and it is also very practical for drawing outdoors. The type of paper I prefer is spolvero paper because it is humble.
If I intend to depict a subject I am not yet familiar with, I try to study it from life in the most natural environment possible, to understand not only aesthetic characteristics but also essential traits, such as behavior, through long drawing sessions where I try to minimize my presence to allow spontaneity to manifest.
In this series dedicated to roosters, my approach is clearly visible: the rooster is an animal I had never seriously studied, and to determine the type of work I would create, I had to study them in depth—visiting farms, markets, and fighting arenas, integrating drawing into their life rhythms. With my folding camping chair, I spent hours in front of these animals.
The investigation is also evident in the marks, which best express certain characteristics. For me, it becomes necessary to collect marks, and from the multitude of drawings, I select those that, to be finalized, often require a few days of waiting to “clean the gaze” and understand whether the drawings captured what I felt while observing the chosen subject. Sometimes I discover what I am looking for, determine whether I need to continue drawing, or realize that it is complete. This process can take a long time (for example, I had to study Sardinian cork oaks for years). When I feel a good degree of confidence and believe I understand the subject, I identify the final form the work will take: whether it will be a painting, a print, something more experimental, autonomous, or part of a larger discourse.
Drawing, for me, is the preliminary, meditative study that allows me to create all my works. I used to draw solely to create drawings; now I consider them a concrete transposition, notes of the creative process, often filled with annotations to preserve as much information as possible.

Why did you choose this work from Collezione Ramo?
For two reasons. First, I feel a deep sympathy for Guttuso’s relationship with his subjects: he went to markets, always worked from life, and this practice allowed him to forge sincere connections with his surroundings. When I saw the drawing of the hanging chickens, I thought it was a delightful coincidence that I had just worked on these animals during an artistic residency in Mexico (with my friend and painter Kevin Niggeler). The method of study aligned closely with Guttuso’s practice, and this is what we exhibited: research as a reflection of the thought process.
The second reason is the frankness with which Guttuso lived and represented his experiences; his works carry a tone that makes them inherently political acts. For me, visiting cockfights and sharing that experience inevitably leads to a reflection on social relations, analyzing the interactions between humans and other animals in society. Unlike Guttuso, however, I do not intend to take a stance or express my own opinion, but rather act as a spokesperson for the theme and generate dialogue.

What value does dialogue with the Masters of the 20th century have for you?
It represents the desire to continue a discourse that has persisted for centuries, with the artists of the 20th century as its latest witnesses (I would like to mention a few of great importance to me: Braque, Michaux, Arp, Ernst, Burri, Brancusi, Kupka, Siqueiros, Freud, Topor).
During the past century, there were remarkable insights that stimulated me and consequently led to significant evolutions in my thinking regarding practice, the nature of what we do, and the value of sharing with the public, which I consider a real responsibility.
This dialogue teaches that, even if everything has been said, the nature of the gaze observing it all remains inexhaustible.