September 29, 2014
ARTIST FILIPPO MINELLI
Italian artist Filippo Minelli, who was raised by a deaf aunt while his parents worked, has spent his brief yet extensive career exploring the idea of language, and its opposite, silence. Through his art he tries to express ideas in simple ways, such as his Silence/Shapes series, which gives physical shape to silence through the use of smoke bombs in natural landscapes. Filippo was born in 1983 and by the end of the 1990s was already creating art installations in public spaces. He studied art in Milan and spends much of his time travelling to create new works in places such as South East Asia, Africa, Mongolia, as well as in Europe.
Which five words best describe you? Curious, impulsive, generous, sensitive, wilful.
How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? I'm not sure that I started my career, things come and go in life and I don't like to know what happens next. I like to work hard on what I like, that's the path I've taken since the beginning.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Trust yourself and keep energy-vampires far from you.
What’s your proudest career achievement? Many nice people and institutions contact me without being introduced by anybody. This means that my works speak for themselves.
What’s been your best decision? Leave everything I had and to keep leaving everything I have from time to time.
Who inspires you? Literally everybody I have met. I'm quite a good observer sometimes, and meeting people for years or for seconds is always a huge source. Decisions and taking action are probably what I'm mostly interested in: that short moment in which people decide what to do and for which reason. And what remains unrealised as well.
What are you passionate about? I'm passionate about things I don't know, which often coincides with places. Traveling has always been a huge source of joy and inspiration for me; I have always looked at traveling as a way to expose myself to the unexpected, and when I'm not traveling I usually hike up on the Alps, as nature is always the most unexpected and transitory thing.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? I don't wish to meet anybody in particular, but if I do meet somebody really cool or totally shit I hope to be ready for that.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? Having a family in a place I can call home.
What are you reading? I have no time for reading at the moment but the last thing I read four months ago was Beyond good and evil by Nietzsche.
images courtesy of filippo minelli