ART, WHATEVER IT TAKES

Since the early pandemic in 2020, Rome Art Program has conducted a series of interviews, “Art, Whatever It Takes.”
Artists, Art Critics, and Art Historians living in Italy, the U.S., and U.K., share their insights during these powerful times.

Interview with Duccio Budassi

Duccio Budassi is an Art Historian graduated in Italian Literature and History of Art, with a focus on VI – VII Century Art and Architecture. He works in Rome as a Tourist Guide and since 2010 is part of the faculty of R.A.P.

RAP: What is your definition of “art” today?

Duccio Budassi: My personal approach is probably old style: I believe art is made of idea, technique and form. Its finality is the pleasing, a well done artwork mixes different elements where balance and technical knowledge is the mile stone. Art does not have to shock but has to create pleasant feelings for the observer.

RAP: Art is dynamic and regenerates itself… how does it change, and how did it change us?

Duccio: Art is the best “litmus test” of the times we live in. In contemporary Art we often have the perception of an emptying of ideas and of a loss of technique. I see artworks without real message or substrate. Often a piece of Art will seem to be searching for its meaning through critic’s interpretation. This is not Art though but design.

RAP: When (and how) did you understand that art was becoming very important in your life?

Duccio: My father was a proper Artist, he graduated from the Art Academy of Urbino. He was Painter, Engraver, Illustrator. He had mastered a lot of minor forms of artistic expression that in the past were usual for an artist to be skillful in. I’ve spent many afternoons after school in his studio, on a rooftop of “Rione Monti”, breathing dust and ink, watching Art in progress and learning the mile stones of European Art: Piero Della Francesca, Giotto, Raffaello etc. It is not a coincidence that my name is Duccio…

RAP: What role does art play today? What are the “great figures” who have recently changed it? Do you feel close to any of these figures?

Duccio: Being an Art Historian who focused on the Renaissance and Baroque era I’m not so “in” the contemporary scene. Sometimes I have the feeling of an empty Art who lives on the border between graphics and design. I’m in the same line of thought of Benjamin Olivennes who wrote “Nobody dares to criticize contemporary Art anymore for fear of being seen as an idiot”.

RAP: Are there still traditional figures such as collectors, muses, mecenate and patrons, in today’s art and society interaction model?

Duccio: I believe not much has changed from the past in order for an artist to emerge: patrons, mecenates, critics, galleries and exhibitions are the bricks to build fame on. The net can help enlarge the stage and make life easier but a face to face approach is still the foundation of success. An artist needs to be the first seller of himself not just a name on a catalog.

RAP: How have the new technologies and media culture changed art today, improving or worsening it…? What do you feel are your biggest challenges?

Duccio: Social networks and the net in general are a good stage to reach a wider audience, in order to accomplish the second step of the life of an artwork: the sale! But it is essential for an artist to maintain the concreteness of his work and exhibitions. The right balance needs to be maintained.

RAP: Art as a mirror of man, in this moment of emergency seems to be shattered …what do these fragments reflect now?… Shadow or light of the moment?

Duccio: We are in a crucial state defined by multiple crises. There is art that considers that fact and art that ignores it… We have to wait, and even art will find a new “renaissance”.

RAP: Understanding, interpreting, and then possibly judging the work of art; which is the right path when we are in front of a piece of art?

Duccio: My personal way to judge an artwork is to first place it in its historical background. This also means putting it in relation to different Art forms as Literature, Costume, Architecture, in order to contextualize it. I also feel the need to compare it with its previous models and how other artists approached the same subject, with its archetype. Knowing the background is essential for a deep understanding. The last analysis that remains is the technical judgment and it largely depends on the ability and the culture of the Art Historian.

RAP: Which is the real role of Academies and Art schools today? What can artists learn from these institutions today?

Duccio: I believe Academies and Art Schools have the same role today that they had yesterday. Talent doesn’t grow if it isn’t fed, it must be helped to emerge. Studying and understanding the Cassics is still essential, in order to absorb archetypes. Different techniques must be known in order to discover the must congenial one to the artist. Talent is a muscle that needs exercise and relationships with people who have more experience and knowledge is the main way.

RAP: Art too has undergone a complex process of globalization; can having an authentic and genuine style be an advantage or a drag for an artist?

Duccio: I consider globalization the worst possible evil. Every type of Art is strongly connected to the land. An artist is made by his background, his roots are made by his life experiences and personal sensibility but deeply belonging to a place is undeniable. Globalization creates hybrids and kills the original print erasing centuries of culture. Often artists have considered tradition as a limit to overcome, my opinion is that a mature artist will find balance between existing archetypes and innovation.

RAP: How do Art Galleries and Museums position themselves today, and, in your opinion, how should they?

Duccio: I’m not able to answer this question, I’m not an artist, I study art history and facts. I’m outside the art business and museum management industry.

RAP: “Figuration” vs “Abstraction”. Which of the two is better descriptive of the period we live in? Which one will have a better future?

Duccio: I’m partial to the figurative, I believe that before mastering abstraction an artist needs to be able to sketch an hand or a bird… Abstraction is an upgrade or a preference not a starting point. I sometimes have the impression that some artists consider it the easiest way to paint and carve, being later able to wait for a critic or an observer to attribute sense to the artwork. In this case abstraction can hide the incompleteness or immaturity of an artist; results in this scenario can land on interior design and decoration, when it goes well.

RAP: Today we often speak of “emerging artists”; what advice based on your experience do you feel you can give to young artists?

Duccio: If you ask me a name of an emergent Artist whom I really appreciate I would say Chiara Gaggiotti, an Italian Painter and Engraver based in Paris, an artist who is proudly and bravely figurative. I value an Artist able to represent a gentle and pure realism.

RAP: Art as a lens for reading the present, can it modify the space and time we pass through? …will art save us?

Duccio: Maybe art will save us… Let’s hope so!