How important is drawing as an element to your artwork? Drawing is the basis of my practice, as it allows me to find the stories I’m intending to tell. However, whenever I am done with that drawing I am also done with that particular image; I am never interested in making it a painting, after. It’s done, finished. I never was a fan of reproducing, not even my own work… Why tell again the same identical story … For a painting, however, I draw on the canvas directly, exploring the story, the composition, the lines … once happy with this initial drawing, I stop and enjoy the result. It is at this stage that I always wonder if to go ahead with layers of paint or leave it as is instead… Drawing allows the creation of a unique and expressive artwork. I find that by ‘finishing’ a painting we too often stiffen the
story and lose its initial spontaneity, and that’s why there are paintings of mine that are left seemingly unfinished … these have been pushed just a little further than their initial drawing state.
What inspires your work / creations? People inspire me, their stories, my stories… I paint almost exclusively figurative subjects. Just looking at
people passing by gives me ideas, continuously. I may run out of paint, or canvas, but never of ideas.
Page 50: Born On A Moon Night, Oil on marine board, H122 x W169cm., Sandro Nocentini © 2017. Issue 31 - May 2019
51