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 EDDart gallery

Founded in 2018, the EDDart gallery is located within the historic Palazzo Orsini Taverna in Rome. It specialises in Italian modern and contemporary art. The gallery has always had a special connection with Rome and its artists who have lived or worked in the city. Today, the gallery enjoys an excellent reputation thanks to its curation of some of the most well-established Italian and international art collections. Initially specialising in art advisory services, EDDart now manages some of the most important collections of Italian twentieth-century art, based in Rome, Milan, Paris and New York.  The gallery focuses on post-war Italian art in collaboration with the archives and foundations of the artists themselves.  EDDart gallery has recently begun working with young contemporary artists. and conducts intensive exhibition and editorial activities..

RAP: What is your definition of "art" today?

EDDart: Since its inception, art has not only been used to depict the most pleasant and external aspects of existence, but also to portray reality in all its forms, both good and bad. It has served religion, politics, love, psychoanalysis, madness and violence, giving form to ideas that would never have found expression without it. Marcel Duchamp firmly believed that art is whatever we imagine it to be. Is Fontana's cut a simple gesture or a masterpiece? It's a masterpiece because a work of art encompasses not only study, work, technique and effort, but also vision, action, emptiness and playfulness — all integral aspects of life. Art pushes us to reflect on, think about and meditate on our contemporary world.

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

EDDart: For better or worse, art depends on the historical moment in which it emerges. If 200 years ago, technique was essential to developing an idea, it is no longer the case today. This change is thanks to visionaries who have been challenging the concept of art since the early twentieth century. In 1917, Marcel Duchamp decided that a urinal could become art by turning it upside down, signing it with a fictitious name, dating it, at a time when visual art still meant drawing, painting, and sculpture.

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

EDDart: I can't pinpoint the exact moment, but with a painter father like Francesco del Drago, who would take me to museums for hours and let me into his studio, my love for art developed very early on, and came naturally. I later tried to escape an obvious destiny in the art world. For a few years, I stopped going to exhibitions and even attempted law school. But that didn't last long, and, unlike most families, everyone in my house breathed a sigh of relief!

RAP: What role does art play today?

EDDart: As Francesco Bonami says: "Contemporary art can provoke strong emotions, but also a lot of anger." Contemporary art doesn't have to be liked: in most cases, it doesn't. Contemporary art is us, as we see ourselves in the mirror of the present. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrible; the same applies to art. Neglecting it, neglecting what we have to say in our contemporary world, would create a void. Unfortunately, we've reached the point where everything seems to have already been done, and consequently, all contemporary art can seem like a revisitation of things that already existed. This is one of the limitations of art historians, who juxtapose something new with something that has already happened and been made 'historical". In recent years, there has certainly been a return to traditional media, such as canvas, paper, paints and pencils, sometimes with surprisingly new visions and research, sometimes not.

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

EDDart: The figure of the pure collector unfortunately has become very rare. Art collecting has always been associated with high culture, but in today's world of social media and superficial learning, it is difficult to find someone who can afford to collect art and be cultured in that sense. In the age of appearances and the nouveau riche, whose wealth no longer derives from study and culture, art collecting, too difficult to flaunt, is overshadowed by watches and luxury cars. Most people who buy art nowadays are very clear about how much they can resell it for at any time. However, there is still a small segment of collectors that we can define as 'pure'.

RAP: How have the new technologies and media culture changed art today, improving or worsening it?...challenges?

EDDart: As with everything else, when new technologies and media culture come between humanity and art, they somehow tarnish it rather than enrich it. Social media are certainly very effective channels for promoting art. They bridge the gap between artists and the outside world. However, art on social media is subject to parameters such as comments, likes and followers, creating rankings and hierarchies based on numbers that certainly don't reflect true artistic quality.

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

EDDart: I believe there's still so much to learn today, that beyond ideas, projects, and vision, artists must experiment with techniques such as engraving, sculpture, and so on. Then, of course, luck lies in meeting one of those enlightened teachers who can point the way, even without explaining much. Just think of a figure like Toti Scialoja, a beacon for a generation of artists who later became fundamental. Certainly, even today, there are role models.

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

EDDart: Even before they are places of culture, galleries and museums are places of gathering. However, they are places of culture during openings and public events. Outside of these moments, they struggle to gain the visibility they deserve, with the obvious exception of the 'leading museums'. In our opinion, they deserve.

RAP: …will art save us?

EDDart: It may not save us, but it will help us to understand complex things and to find beauty in everything.

@eddartrome