Via Vincenzo Gioberti 1,
20123 Milano
Breakfast — Saturday, November 22, 11:00 am
MON-SUN 12.00-19.00
ARTISTS:
Francesco De Bernardi
Mirella Bentivoglio (Collezione Ramo)
3_Francesco De Bernardi : Mirella Bentivoglio
2_Francesco De Bernardi : Mirella Bentivoglio
1_Francesco De Bernardi : Mirella Bentivoglio
3-Francesco_De_Bernardi_2624©carlottatornaghi
2-1734_bentivoglio_timbri-sbuffi per le ore di ufficio_1971
Francesco De Bernardi answers questions from
Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, curator of Collezione Ramo
What does drawing mean to you?
Drawing, for me, is an instinctive gesture. I believe it is the gesture I have practiced the longest, if I think about it. I am 30 years old: I have been playing music (sporadically) since I was seven, I do sports poorly and intermittently, and I learned to whistle around the age of ten. Drawing, however, has always accompanied me. It is a refuge when my mind is full and a companion when my schedule is empty (increasingly rare, unfortunately). What I have always loved about drawing is that it is as generative as it is analytical: the possibility of translating sensations into marks, while simultaneously structuring ideas, is something that still amazes me.
What materials, techniques, and creative processes do you use when working on paper?
I tend to be lazy. For a long time, I favored simple and direct approaches: pencil and pen, monochrome drawings on paper. Lately, however, I have set aside some of that laziness and have been experimenting more: I have introduced India ink, watercolors, and colored pencils, exploring different formats and layering materials.
Why did you choose this work from Collezione Ramo?
Among the many available works, I chose Mirella Bentivoglio’s “Timbri sbuffi per le ore di ufficio” for two reasons. First, I too spend many hours sighing in the office. Second, I noticed a resonance with one of my own works titled “Stroll” (2022). It is an installation composed of four pairs of shoes, each acting as a stamp; the prints form a text that, among other things, contains “sighs” as a graphic and narrative element.
What value does dialogue with the Masters of the 20th century have for you?
Dialogue with other artists’ works is part of my creative process. I generally engage with novels and songs, extracting details or characters and recontextualizing them within my installations. The work Stroll, mentioned earlier, is an homage to the Swiss writer Robert Walser.
Dialogue with the Masters of the 20th century is more “formal”: I tend to treat them with respect. I observe, analyze, and study their techniques carefully. Naturally, there are figures who inspire me more broadly and deeply, such as Dieter Roth.
FRANCESCO DE BERNARDI (Vimercate, 1995) lives and works in Milan. At the center of his research are narrative systems that intertwine everyday experiences and fictional stories, creating multimedia installations that combine sculpture, text, audio, and drawing. Through these devices, the artist explores themes of insecurity and duality, particularly as they emerge in contemporary literature. His poetics often adopt a melancholic tone, always infused with an irony that moves between reality and imagination.