This interview was published some time ago on signoradeifiltri.overblog.com on this occasion I am in the company of a friend of mine writer and poet Laurent Vercken de Vreuschmen together with another group of good writers we are part of a beautiful publishing reality libereria2017.com I involved this poet friend of mine in this crazy interview we hope to have entertained you too and that you enjoyed this way of talking about art. Welcome back to my appointment with art This must be an unfortunate period, because I have to go get the artist I will interview today. Unfortunately my means of locomotion are still broken down, we had to return the 600 bus to the pacifist nuns, we could not take advantage of their generosity, so today I just have to take the old 500, which starts only if it is pushed and, in these cases, who do you ask for help? But yes, you ask for help from a friend, wait a moment for me to call him.

- Hello Laurent.

- Hi Walter.

- I have a problem, you have to help me.

- What should we do?

- There is a 500 to be started, the starter does not go.

- Wait for me, I'm coming.

Dear readers, I am sorry for this setback, I realize that we are in 2080, in full science fiction, in full modern and super evolved era, but to us poor artists, if we want to move, all that remains is to push this small car miserably by hand. Luckily a friend of mine is coming: the poet Laurent.

- Here I am, what do we do?

- We push, come on, I get in the car and you push. I turn on, the engine starts, with the right hand I open the door and you, with a jump, enter.

- I begin to catch the catch: is that why you called me?

- Come on, it's a little help. And then, afterwards, I introduce you to a friend artist, we interview Giacomo Balla.

- Is he your friend?

- Laurent, I have a lot of high-ranking friends with fantasy. Come on, let's hurry up.

And with a snap of your fingers, the two @libereria artists start the 500 and go to meet Giacomo Balla.

- Laurent, with the famous artist from Turin we will make a return to the past, we will go back in time to talk about the present which is then the future. I know that this is a confused concept but, through fantasy, we will explain what will happen in 60 years. Here he is, in the company of his dog on a leash.

- Giacomo, welcome on board, I introduce you to a friend of mine, Laurent Vercken de Vreushmen.

- Hallo!

- Boy, just call me Giacomo. In short, Walter we are in the post futurist era, why did you come with this prehistoric car?

- Giacomo, that's what's available.

- Ah, I understand! That's why you went to Dalì with the nuns' minibus.

- Giacomo, that's another story. But you're right, we are in 2080 and technology is part of our life, it has facilitated our daily lives. What cinema had always anticipated as stage fiction has now become reality. Fortunately, in 2080, before we ran the risk of becoming slaves, we had time to take a few steps back. Virtuality, automation cannot replace us, this planet was born to be the home of every form of natural existence with a human dimension, technology must remain only a tool. Giacomo, are we talking about the Futurist movement?

- Walter, we were first of all men with a head, a heart, two arms and two hands to forge and shape the material. The myth of speed was the application of our theories, art has always been the forerunner of new languages, breaking the patterns of the past was our strength, our illusion. Futurism, like all artistic avant-gardes, had limited time to make way for new trends. See how everything turns? There never remains a situation of stainless static, it is the dynamic energy of our existence that moves together with the terrestrial globe, in an infinite vortex, at such a speed as to make everything seem invisible, in the almost loss of time cognition. There is only one thing that compacts us and harmonizes us with nature: color, an infinite range of shades, an intrinsic part of our DNA. Color is the heart of everything. Do you know that Italy is the most colorful country in the world? It is by its natural conformation, it is by its history, naturally by its art, there is no country in the world more colorful than ours.


Giacomo Balla, in 1895, left Turin for Rome and to experience the new Italian Divisionism of which, together with a group of young artists, his students, was an important promoter.
The early 1900s were years of great modernization, despite the belligerent period, art was very active.
Giacomo Balla, an unstoppable personality never tamed, laid the foundations of the Futurist movement. In those years, through an exceptional creative liveliness, he also created theatrical sets, furnishings, various accessories for daily use. All this with the new Futurist language, a dynamism above all, and more "colorful", to affirm a 360 ° universe projected towards the future. Giacomo Balla in this was one of the major protagonists.
Unfortunately, during those years, if on the one hand living tasted of modernity and relative well-being, on the other hand war drums were rolling. The artist could not help but get involved. Power has always used art and printing as communication tools. In 1937 G.B. felt the feeling that society was taking another route and that art was no longer a human feeling, but something excessively led to presumption, something that made color, the soul of our existence, a mere patina facade. He therefore decided to estrange himself from the change of his ideals, he pursued the matter with courageous intellectual honesty, undergoing, on the part of the official culture, the removal as a leading figure of Italian art.
After the war years, Giacomo Balla's work was deservedly re-evaluated worldwide. He had been a true master, creator of an artistic uniqueness, leaving a fundamental mark on the international cultural scene. In the following years he continued his artistic production, remaining a serious and passionate artisan of the art, he disappeared  at eighty-six on March 1, 1958.


- Giacomo, now I would like to talk to you about a work, an important and revolutionary one-color for those times, "Dynamism of a dog on a leash".

- Dear guys, I had the awareness inside me of feeling a strong attraction for photography, which I thought was great news. I have always been an experimenter, I felt like a navigator discovering new lands and I could not remain indifferent.

- Giacomo, why the format of the work is almost square, with the dog in the foreground and the figure of the woman cut at the height of the legs? -

- It's easy, for a matter of freedom. I wanted to free the dog from the leash, ideally snatching it from the woman, tight, oppressed in her ankle-length ancient dress, which held her captive. A dress that accentuated, but at the same time concealed, the beautiful feminine and natural forms, while the animal, with the speed of its steps, hovering the leash wanted to speed up the legs and all the woman's personality towards a modernization of its customs and traditions.
As you can see the protagonist is the dog, which I have depicted in an oblique line upwards, seeing a distant horizon. My own signature is placed in the lower right corner, as author and man of this new epoch I follow with my graphic authentication that direction. I, transforming myself into an invisible being, crossing the time barrier, project myself, like a series of frames of a film in use to the camera together with the images imprinted on the cellulose, towards the future.
About the future. Oh yes, my boys, in 2080 we went too far, we carried humanity too far, dampening a beating heart, a universe of feelings, the fantasy that makes you happy with simple and genuine things, the joy of existing, and we fell in love with progress, with science superior to the human dimension, leading men and women to become unhappy automata and this was a serious mistake.

- Giacomo in 2080 did we become unhappy automata?

- Well yes, luckily we stopped in time, we were on the edge of the abyss, then the power of art magically aroused, through all humanistic expressions, that power that allowed us to separate technology from the true essence of humanity, an essence made of the five primordial senses that make us unique and happy. We managed to get the best out of the tools of science by simply remaining human. Like this car ancient outside but modern and hyper-equipped inside, which rises in flight, does not smoke and does not pollute, beautiful to live it humanly with the most pleasant and spontaneous of smiles.

- Laurent, what do you say?

- This futuristic discussion was delightful, to stay on topic can I delight you with a poem of mine?

- Laurent, I will listen to you with pleasure



The title is A little background genius.


Se ne sta immobile,
passeggiando Tra i discorsi
Con un nubifragio appeso di traverso
Nel nugolo dei pensieri
E delle battute di controcanto
In risposta alle affermazioni forti
Delle affettuose personalità
Inermi eppure gigantesche,
Esse, le compagnie amiche nemiche,
Si stagliano contro un cielo
Di stonati risvolti
Nella vita di Qualcuno
Così che quando si affermano gli scherzi
In compagnia del piccolo genio di sottofondo
Ogni cosa aggiunge il valore
Ch’egli le toglie via
Con un perturbante e deciso gesto
Di chi dagli albori
Si trova a riscoprirsi
I segni delle represse voglie
A mo’ di scusa chiede
Per rubare carezze
Costantemente trasportate al centro
Rivelatore della mancanza di
Un contrappeso alle vertigini
Di fronte la manifestazione del proprio aspetto
Un triste biglietto da visita
Per resistere alla gravità di ogni cosa.


- Hey boy, but this is a futurist poem!



- Thank you, said by an artist like you is a great compliment, even in my book Someone inadequate, under a mask of drama I built a heart that pulsates with optimistic enthusiasm, a dynamic action to awaken the torpor of a life now spent, the energy that turns on the light in my mind, my light that wants to illuminate the path of those who have lost hope.

- Laurent, you were born in the wrong period, if you had been in my time you would have had extraordinary success, but I wish you to get it anyway in this modern era, you are young and time is on your side.



- Giacomo, I promise you that I will try.



- But Walter, Jackson Pollock told me that on this futurist toy car you have a nice assortment of chocolates.



- Of course Giacomo, you can find them in the drawer of the mini bar.



- I don't seem to see them, but what is this? A jar? Why do you keep a jar?



- A jar?



- Yes, it is really a jar and above it is written "Artist shit"



- Ah, yes it is the work of Piero Manzoni.



- And you want to confront it with the chocolates you gave Pollock? Do you now know what I can do with this jar?



- But Giacomo it wasn't my fault if Pollock got all the chocolates. And then the jar is by Piero Manzoni for the next interview.



- Even if it is artist shit, now I throw it in your head so  you learn for the next time.



- Giacomo, please don't, that jar is worth more than two hundred thousand euros!



-But Walter couldn't they have given him Cattelan's banana?



- Banana? Laurent, but what can I do if the artists are crazy?



- So let's go get some coffee, that's better.



- Giacomo, we can't, Salvador Dalì left the bill to pay.



- Guys, don't worry, we drink and then you have Piero Manzoni pay the bill. With what his work is worth you can afford to pay us a coffee, wow!



And so, friends, while I, Laurent Vercken de Vreushmen, Giacomo Balla and his dog on a leash, go and have a coffee, which we will then charge Piero for, we greet you and look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. I think you understand who we will interview. #artist #art #abstract #abstractart #futurismo #giacomoballa #dog #future #fantasia #interview #intervieuw 

Interview with the artist: tribute to Giacomo Balla