DANIELE FORTUNA | AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DANIELE FORTUNA
BY LEILA ANTAKLY

“I want my work to evoke the love that I feel in creating these sculptures, and I especially want to convey feelings of joy and happiness because I am inspired by positivity as a person and as an artist”.
-Daniele Fortuna

Daniele Fortuna is an artist ( b. 1981) from Milan known for his unique sculptures composed of individual woodcut art pieces by hand, assembled like a puzzle and hand-painted in bright colors juxtaposing antiquity and contemporary pop-art expression.
In this interview, we take the opportunity to focus on his inspirations and unique creative identity.
The artist graduated from the European Institute of Design in Milan.
Fortuna spent a few years studying/working abroad in Ireland at a lighting studio where he started working with wood. Eventually, he moved back to Italy attempted to work at a design studio, as we will find out later in this interview, but instead founded his own studio in Piacenza, where he has been working on sculptures ever since. Fortuna’s sculptures have a fun element of surprise, display delicate attention to detail, and are designed to appear pixelated in the third dimension.

AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DANIELE FORTUNA
BY LEILA ANTAKLY

Leila Antakly: Thank you, Daniele; your art is unique and fascinating. Let’s start with your passion for art. Where did the passion come from, what led you to be interested in art, and what journey did you take for becoming a professional artist?

Daniele Fortuna: Thank you, It’s a pleasure having this interview. Growing up, I was very fortunate that my parents exposed me to art from a very young age. My parents were avid art collectors, so I grew up with a lot of work from famous Italian painters at home. I was always creative, and from a young age,
I was fascinated by how artists interpreted their realities in their own unique ways. I was always fascinated by the elements in paintings by Giorgio De Chirico, Aligi Sassu, and Lucio Fontana, and I liked to imagine the story behind their works.
In my 20’s, I studied at the European Institute of Design in Milan, which is not only an incredibly creative place; here, as a student, we were taught to take a limitless approach to art. Our teachers encouraged us to create anything our imagination would come up with. I realized that even everyday objects have a story. After living some time outside of Dublin, where I worked for a lighting studio, I returned to Italy and, believe it or not, lasted only four days at a Design Studio. I had such a hard time accepting limitations to my creativity that were being imposed. It was the opposite of everything I was encouraged to do, and I had to quickly take action on what path I wanted to take regarding my future. Thanks to my parents, who instilled a personal ethos of always following what feels right for me, this is how I got to where I am today.

Leila Antakly: What inspires you and your creativity?

Daniele Fortuna: My cultural heritage. I am so proud of my history and charmed by the gods and heroes of Greek and Roman Antiquity. Each of them has a unique personality dictated by what they represent, and, in some ways, I feel like each trait they represent is part of my personality as well. I am inspired by past and contemporary artists, such as the ethereal feeling of viewing a Magritte up close and in person, the bright colors of Murakami, Kaws, and Kusama, the Yves Klein blue pigment. Perhaps you noticed an ode to another artist I am greatly influenced by, Ugo Rondinone, which inspired many of my stacked-up sculptures, such as “Life Is One Love Emoji .”Of course, music is also a strong inspiration for me; in fact, many songs are the titles of many of my works.

When it comes to mythology, the Colormination series is about a form of expression that comes from deep within and is then turned outward like a cave. Typically, Greco/ Roman sculptures were made of white marble because they were valuable. However, as I picture it, those marble sculptures are full of color on the inside. Aphrodite Colormination, 2021, for example, is painted on a white exterior. Still, a section of this sculpture is supposed to be spliced open and expose the surprise of colorful gradients on the inside.
I love this element of surprise. I want my work to evoke the love that I feel in creating these sculptures, and I especially want to convey feelings of joy and happiness because I, myself, am inspired by positivity as a person and artist.

“Wood was a material that I already felt was mine. I find it a ‘warm’ material because, when you touch it, you feel that it has that kind of porosity even though I paint it. And this being ‘warm’ represents me because I am a very convivial person, a person of companionship. Wood, then, is also alive because it expands and shrinks; it really has a life of its own.”
-Daniele Fortuna

Leila Antakly: I would love to know about your creative process. I think it’s so interesting to understand how artists work and how their work takes shape from the moment an idea comes to mind to the final production. Can you share with us what that process is like for you?

Daniele Fortuna: Usually, my ideas happen at night when I am in bed, so “bedtime” is when my work begins.
I have no distractions at night, and the silence and darkness help me think, imagine and create. I see and visualize the concept and proportions in my mind; I don’t need to draw them up immediately. In the morning, when I wake up, I begin by creating outlines of the different layers that make up the sculpture. I then transfer this to plywood boards and start cutting. Finally, I stack these pieces together like a puzzle forming the sculpture and then paint it. This process did not happen overnight; it’s been a long time in the making and is part of my own visual identity/artistic language.

When I first started, I would take my art to galleries, but I was often compared to the artist Ugo Nespolo, so I began to focus more and more of my time on research, and I think my first sculpture was a little pig; I knew it was unusual but it was through this form I began to learn how to put the pieces together, and this was a very emotional moment for me. Eventually, galleries began to notice my work. Creating a strong identity and artistic language has taken me 12 years or so to get right. I will explore other forms in the future but always in my style.
I can change the language, even the materials I use because they are the instruments I use to express my vision, the ones I think of at night almost every day.
I really never stop.

Leila Antakly: How do you feel about the way artists are using technology and your opinion on the NFT hype and its effect on the art world?

Daniele Fortuna: Like many people, I enjoy tangible art because I am pretty old school. I love to experience art up close and from different angles; the way I got to enjoy art when I was young visiting art fairs and museums. However, I see the positive impact NFT’s are making on the art world, and if my gallery asked me to create something, I would want to do something really different and cool that is entirely in line with my language and style. Also, it would have to be something that evokes emotions because artists need and should use technology to create something exceptional.

Daniele Fortuna’s art is available for inquiries at Deodato Art Gallery.

Deodato Art is the leading brand in Italy (a worldwide reference point) for Pop and Street Art.
The gallery offers the audience and collectors the works of the most famous international artists such as Banksy,
Mr. Brainwash, Jeff Koons, Romero Britto, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol, and many others, including many represented exclusively in Italy and worldwide.

From the opening of the first gallery in 2010, Deodato Art has invested in digital technology and offers as advanced as possible to “modernize” the art world. For this reason, in addition to physical locations (Galleries in Milan, Porto Cervo, Pietrasanta, Switzerland, Brussels, and in Courmayeur), you can count on the social channels (Facebook and Instagram) and website, the first Italian art e-commerce, in three languages and with worldwide shipments.
The growing success has led Deodato Art Gallery to expand in Europe and worldwide in recent years.

www.deodato.art
Instagram: @deodatoartegallery

Read the full interview article in Art Market Magazine Issue #67