Modernity Meets Mythology in Carlito Dalceggio's Studio
Studio Visit
Photos: Alex Merrell
Entering Carlito Dalceggio’s studio on the lowest floor of the Mana Contemporary arts center in New Jersey is a bit like stepping through a portal into another dimension. As you near the end of a long hallway covered from ceiling to floor in black and white paintings, a pulsing instrumental beat welcomes you from past a door left ajar. You pass through a massive collaged archway that serves as a reminder, according to the artist, that you are leaving the world outside. The studio is expansive, filled mostly with new works: paintings, sculptures, video installations, neon signs, a painted chair, a $20 coin he designed as part of the first group of contemporary artists to work with the Royal Canadian Mint, a mini recording studio. Words begin to appear over the music, a beautiful feminine voice reciting Dalceggio’s poetry, words that are echoed throughout the paintings on the walls.
It feels less as though you’ve entered Dalceggio’s mind, and more that you’ve stepped into a metaphysical world that willed itself into existence with the artist as architect. Perhaps the reason for this is the complete absence of ego. Carlito is warm, welcoming, and ever smiling, whether discussing the impact his work has on children, “they touch everything, I love it,” or the Maasai house he painted on a recent trip to Kenya. Several others in the Kenyan village now want him to paint their homes too so, naturally, he’s planning a trip back.
The perspective of an individual who could shape these surroundings feels vital and timely when modern challenges, from the commercialization of art to the loss of primal connectivity with both our environment and each other, require a depth of soulfulness as necessary resistance.
Welcome to the world of Carlito Dalceggio. You’ll like it here.
What is your earliest memory of making art?
I traced magic symbols on the sand or in the snow with my fingers… I was almost born with a brush in my hand.
As far back as I can recall, I drew an imaginary kingdom because I never felt I was part of this world. I dreamed of a new world then, and I’m still dreaming of the new world now.
Your work bridges a gap between mythology and modernity. What fascinates you about exploring the collision of old and new, and what is eternal in both?
We live in a world where the real revolution is to save the traditions, where originality is to return to the origin, where rebellion is to embrace the cycle of the universe. Universal myths carry the essence of our journey on planet earth through time. The artist is a bridge to carry these myths from the ancestors to the new generations. By transforming and recreating them, the artist transmits this invisible knowledge, seeking to answer universal questions. Where do we come from? Where are we? Where are we going?
How has travel influenced your work? How important is changing your environment as a source of new energy AND stimulation?
I must remain in a constant state of excitement and euphoria, always searching for thrills, for the unknown, to provoke myself and trigger a higher state of creation. The profound uniqueness of every culture fascinates me, and to discover them is key for my creation. I must venture out from the privacy of the studio where I create my big paintings, create my films and sculptures, like the alchemist devoted day and night to mix the substances and find the philosophers’ stone. Most of the great discoveries for the artist are made alone, but it’s also vital for me to leave the comfort of the studio and spin around the globe, to paint with tribes, in nature, connected with the universe, with very limited tools.
After great, searching journeys to the edge of our world, I must return to the studio and channel all this energy, transform these visions into art.
What is currently your greatest influence?
My eternal influence comes from music; that is my guide through all my art sessions. I play a variety of sounds from classical to tribal chants, to electronic dub, to Sufi trance, to experimental jazz, everything that induces trance and eliminates other noises around and in my head.
These days, I feel close to the First Nations tribes of North America and their way of being one with the universe. I remain the most accessible outside the physical world. For my visions to remain pure, I must reduce the most possible influences.
You created both a soundtrack and a scent for your last exhibition. What is your process for creating a full sensory experience and why is that important to you?
My exhibitions are life experiences, a visual legend that I create which goes beyond the limits of visual art; a door to penetrate the unknown, where reality is left behind and the guest is invited into my imaginary kingdom. The soundtrack of my exhibitions is a kind of abstract non-linear guide: a sound that carries the viewer into this world. This soundtrack also creates the silence, removes all noises, voices around and inside. Every time I set foot in a museum, I wear my headphones and choose a playlist to cut the voices around me and dive freely into the art I experience. My art is seeking to dissolve all boundaries, to blend all mediums. Art is not the architecture of reality, art is the architecture of the invisible, and I use every sense to amplify the experience.
I invited smell alchemist Tansy Kaschak to create the scent for Mythologia Libre, and as guests walked in they felt transported before they even saw the art. The smell she created carried the viewer to the heart of this myth and helped them return to the origin, to abandon their reason, to penetrate this vision without resistance.
Working with multiple mediums so prolifically requires a huge amount of inspiration. What does the concept of “inspiration” mean to you and how do you keep that channel open?
I’m constantly bombarded by ideas, images, concepts, colors, stories, visions, and I’m here to transmit them to the world as purely as I can.
I channel art, and it requires a great deal of devotion and energy, of deep passion and discipline. Inspiration is the key: I have a way to see the universe, a deep desire to change this world, and my brushes are my tools to create this movement. My art is created from love and rage, from resistance and compassion, to erase all boundaries, to inspire peace.
I see Inspiration as a pact you make with the universe: to always seek, always explore, always embrace and search, always learn, always be awake, never surrender, never follow, never let go of this dream… and then, the universe will offer to you this world of images and stories. Inspiration lies deep in ourselves. Facing our fragility and fears guides us there, risking who we are to search for new ways.
I feel I risk myself with every painting. I dive in naked and free, totally present. Inspiration is how the artist magically transforms all his surroundings into art, at every moment. I have my big black sketchbook with me everywhere I go, sketching and writing as I cross this world.
How do you know when to stop working on a piece? What is it about the concept of leaving a work unfinished that you find conducive to drawing a viewer in?
My paintings must remain uncompleted, unfinished, so the viewer feels welcome to dive in and be part of it. I try to leave the door open for the viewer to create their own story. The real meaning of a painting comes over time. Every time someone exchanges a moment with it, it transforms and amplifies its story, which will someday, perhaps, become universal.
My paintings are very gestural - created by hands, by a passionate human screaming his passion. The traces and fossils of the creation are still visible and present. It is not about perfection. In there is still the energy of the creation, the ritual of liberation.
How do you define creative fulfillment?
Fulfillment comes to me when I succeed in fully transmitting a vision into a piece of art, when there is no translation, no reduction in the process.
The act of painting is very intense and not only made of joy but also of difficult gates you have to pass through to complete a piece. I create art with intuition, so sometimes it brings me to uncertain roads before the way is found. There is no guide, no map or mentor to take your hand; you rely on yourself to break through. And when it happens, that you transcend and reach this point, it’s pure excitement that fills the soul and heart.
What do you believe to be the greatest challenge of an artistic life?
The greatest challenge of an artistic life is to create a mythology that will survive long after your death and that will inspire generations to come, that will feed the universal light and contribute to the evolution of humanity.
I do not create with the desire to reach instant recognition, but to manifest this mythology. It’s kind of a quest for immortality.
What do you believe to be the greatest redeeming factor of an artistic life?
My art is a manifesto for the liberation of the spirit, and when I witness people truly touched and transformed by my art, it gives me wings to push deeper and reach a higher level of creation…
Painting and creating is to me the ultimate experience on earth. Being in the studio, in this magic world where there are no rules, no limits or witnesses, and being completely free to create is the ultimate kick.
