Light: this is the imperative of the works of the artist Tina Sgrò. Fascinating views, built by essential brushstrokes and pure colors that modulate, with extreme skill, real settings. However, what is most striking is not the design system, but the ability to reveal and transmit to the user a multiplicity of conflicting emotions and questions, that allow a personal reflection but that inevitably lead back to the artist. The illustrative intent is marginal and entering these works, because this is how it feels, we embark on an introspective journey where even the smallest details operate and are the voice of the story. The settings reveal and receive, but at the same time they are elusive and imbued with an unresolved and hidden aura. The artist, born in Reggio Calabria, is the winner and finalist of numerous awards. His artistic career, since the beginning, is marked by many collective and personal exhibitions.

For Juliet Art Magazine she answered some questions!

Claudia Pansera: Your expressive feature is evident and your works, although different and capable of telling multiple stories, are recognizable. How did you come to this kind of expressive research?
Tina Sgrò: I have always looked at the unrecognizableness of objects. Or the elusive environments that demanded attention in the gaze. At the beggining I looked a lot at the black and white moving photography. I liked to reflect where I didn’t understand.

Looking at your paintings it seems that you want to create a dialogue with the user. It is as if you wanted to reveal something to which you are intimately tied up and give a part of yourself. You let your reflection, because it is not a question but it seems something already defined, accompany the viewer. What do you want to tell?
Obviously, the user is an important part of this. He must see what he is able to take. In short, there is a very important participation. My stories reveal my points of view, without veils. In painting I am very honest and I certainly cannot help but be myself. My elusive and fast visions. I can’t dwell, I must always look for something that is not visible to the eyes but that is intuitive through a narrative structure that becomes graffiti, colatura, indomitable gesture. From here the dimension of presence/absence that is the heart of my paintings.

Your recognition does not elude your technical training: how important is it in your path? In your opinion, can one be a recognizable artist even without having attended the Academies of Art?
Technique is very important. But it is a medium. I am fast in my gaze, I am fast in chromatically transmitting this elusive dimension. The revelation of the moment is essential. Gestural painting is very complicated: it reveals a perfect knowledge of reality. A long observation of the social rules that form the becoming of our lives. The academy is a distant reality: I had a very bad experience.    

Women have always had a marginal role in the world of art; what has changed for artists today? How much has your gender influenced and does it affect your career?
Women have always had to strive for a “normality”. Catholic education, that is overwhelming and misogynistic for excellence, has limited women’s lives leading them to a dimension of frustration and emotional misery. Artemisia fought for all of us. Her intelligent indolence, her strongest professionalism, however, led her to history. Sure, she is a rare example. Personally I still hear funny things: I remember that a guy said to me: “Looking at your works I thought it was a man who painted them”. Honestly I didn’t apply much to the answer: I thought I was taking time away from painting. So smiling I walked away. In my career there are no limits for my being a woman: unfortunately many women offer external beauties and available flesh, but for those who have substance and planning there is no discrimination of any kind. And one can work without problems.

In recent months you have exhibited in different galleries and in an important museum such as Mart in Rovereto. What commitments does your agenda include in the next months?
The exhibition at Mart was a wonderful opportunity for collaboration and discussion. I had a great time, in that prestigious atmosphere. Many projects are scheduled in 2022: Milan, Turin, Monza at the forefront. Then the participation in some painting competitions. Always a beautiful showcase to make known your artistic / professional path.

Info:

www.instagram.com/tinasgro/