Lorenzo MariniWith a strong sense of order and structure, Lorenzo Marini's artworks are based on letters and types. Marked by the Manifesto for Liberation of Letters, Type Art liberates the alphabet from the logic of everyday communication and makes it an independent aesthetic object, exploring its structural and intrinsic beauty. His multi-disciplinary artistic achievements spanning sculpture, painting, and installations. From body art to the exploration of Chinese calligraphy, from interactive installations to QR codes made up of letters, fully demonstrate his view that “an artist should not always repeat himself”, and that he is always creating, striving, and changing. He is always creating, striving and changing.
Author Credit: Liu Xinyi, Ashly Yan, Kelly Wang, Zhang Haobo
The series of art interview was completed by the students of the ICCI course "Digital Curatorial Management", and is a practical part of the ICCI ART VALLEY Program.
“Of course, starting from architecture, I was in love with geometric lines. And once you can master them, you can then let them go and create a new form of calligraphy, a new wave or harmony, a new trend in art.”
WANG: We observed that your works have a strong sense of order and structure, we would like to know how does your previous architectural studies influence and guide you in your current artistic creation?
MARINI: Starting from architecture, I was in love with geometric lines. And once you can master them, you can then let them go and create a new form of writing, a new wave or harmony, a new trend in art. We know about the square and the circle, but we need to combine them. Some artists prefer more natural and are attracted to the shadow of the circle or such shapes, while others focus their attention on geometric forms. If you look at “yin” and “yang”, they are black and white. We need both black and white because it represents night and day. And there are warm colors like red and cold colors like blue, we need to combine them all in harmony. Everything has relationships. In the West, we consider black and white as separate. In this regard, China are more advanced because you combine “yin” and “yang”.
“What we call photograms are present in your calligraphy, meaning you combine illustration and calligraphy.”
WANG: What brought you to the East, to China? Have you noticed any big difference in the concept of art creation between the East and the West?
MARINI: In our Western art, we paint landscapes, religious scenes, and use art to demonstrate the power of the king, etc. Everything was visually presented, we hardly focused on writing. Calligraphy in our context is different, it's mainly for writing and reading.
My art involves calligraphy, typography, letters, and words. The difference between the East and the West is that our Western letters are abstract symbols that don't imply specific meanings. What we call photograms are present in Chinese calligraphy, meaning you combine illustration and calligraphy. If you look at brands, they are close to this philosophy because the mind combines images and words. That's why I'm very interested in Chinese calligraphy because in Italy, I'm doing something similar to what you have been doing for centuries. Chinese have elevated calligraphy to a level that is much more beautiful and poetic than just writing a note or conveying information.
Lorenzo Marini “TypeArt Beijing”
“Nature doesn't like to repeat themselves, nature makes every creation in a unique way. So in a certain way, we are unique.”
LIU: That’s so clear. We know that you have proposed the manifesto for deliberation of letters, and can you explain it details again to us and our audience.
MARINI: The manifesto helps me to write down my points, my philosophy, and my objectives. The reason I wrote the manifesto isn't new. In religions, like when God gave information to humans, he created the Ten Commandments. All religions have something similar, and so does society. We know what's good and what's bad. So I prefer to write down my ten points to have a clear philosophy for communication.
Why every time we travel to a different country, we’ll be ask us for fingerprints? Actually, the main reason is that everybody has a different fingerprint, so means that every human/everybody is different, and the nature never repeat itself. So about that, we can do the same with letters. take a moment to look every flower, every rose, every cloud is different. Nature doesn't like to repeat themselves, nature makes every creation in a unique way, so in a certain way, we are unique. So I want to make the same with the letters, it is the main goal. So that's why I call the liberation of letter because we are different.
“Dentists go inside and then discover something that nobody can see, right? I did the same. I'm an artist dentist.”
LIU: So why did you choose letters as the media for your creation? Is there anything particularly appealing or special about this character for you?
MARINI: Are you familiar with the necklace? When the necklace was broken and I get all the pearls on my hands. The silk line is invisible, the meaning is the function. With that function, letters are free. I did the same with the alphabet. So the second example is do you take pictures? If you take pictures, we have two or three options. The reality as it is, the wide angles is fantastical landscape which can see the lake, the sea, the ocean, the sky or the close-up. When you use the closeup, you can go inside the flower, you can see the bees,and everything detailed that you never saw in reality or with the wide angle. So I did the same. You use the micro and you go inside. Dentists go inside and then discover something that nobody see, right? I did the same. I'm an artist dentist.
“I want you to be part of my art, and I want my art to be part of your experience.”
WANG: Now we may want to go back to your artworks. From some of your works, we can see that you have emphasized the importance of audience participation, just like the mirror-type and rain-type, you. So, how do you understand the relationship between the multi-sensory experience of the audience and your artistic expression?
MARINI: As you know, everything is moving. To me, art is no longer two-dimensional, no longer just horizontal and vertical. The idea is that I want the audience to enter into it.
Because of this, I created the “Alpha Cube”. It was the first installation I made in Los Angeles. The cube is not just in front of the audience but surrounds them on all sides - left, right, top, and bottom, so the audience can walk into the cube. This artwork had five surfaces. One was in front of the audience and four were around them. People realized there was a way to get inside. People like to go inside because they want to take pictures. This was very strange, but at the same time, the manager of the art venue in Los Angeles realized that it was one of the most popular installations. I want the audiences to be part of my art, and I want my art to be part of the audiences’ experience, new technology makes this possible. We human have highly integrated perception. What happens when you see paintings and listen to music at the same time? We might cry because two senses are involved. Television is so powerful because it involves two senses. That's why advertising is more powerful than billboards or print ads. Because people can engage more senses to imagine smells, music and so on to make it immersive.
Mirror-Type
Rain-Type
Alpha Cube
“You can eat chocolate but don’t let chocolate eats you.”
WANG: AI is developing continuously. I'm curious Will you will use AI in your artworks.
MARINI: I use artificial intelligence as an agent, consider it as a tool after the creative process. AI can help in science and medicine, but for artists, I don't think it's suitable for creating new things. The power of AI is its memory. There are so many books but no one can read and remember all of them, so AI is powerful in repeating and organizing what we already have, but not in creating new content. I may use AI only for resources or inspiration. You can eat chocolate but don’t let chocolate eats you.
“Artists who always repeat the same things are quite boring to me.”
YAN: Regarding the exhibition in Shanghai, in terms of ICCI Art Valley in Shanghai, do you have a theme or something in mind for what you will be showcasing there?
MARINI: There are three pieces. An artist shouldn't repeat himself all the time, you must keep going, keep creating, keep making an effort and keep changing. Artists who always repeat the same things are quite boring to me. So each of the three works planned for exhibition has its own characteristics. One is bodytype, I use male and female models to create the shape of the lights, like body types. One is a classic alphabet, and the other one is a QR code which is made with letters. The QR code is a symbol known worldwide, and it's a familiar material as a code. I use letters to create a QR code which is just looks like a QR code when you see it in a distance. But it's not. It's a different kind of composition of letters.
The Twin Stars of Artistic Creation: Inspiration and Intuition
“Remember, we said before that intuition is the key.”
YAN: In previous interviews, you have mentioned that you have always maintained a healthy lifestyle, no smoking and like drinking carrot juice, do you think this helps or inspires your artistic creation?
MARINI: (laugh heartily) Well, at this point, there are two different philosophies. The romantic and old - fashioned one to me is that an artist can be free to drink a lot of alcohol. But for me, I do yoga and meditate. I prefer a clear mind. You know why? Because of the mood of intuition. Remember, we said before that intuition is the key. It's a quality of the soul. And intuition helps us perceive something behind reality. If you just paint reality, you'll stay there forever. You can paint the same land, the same ocean. But if you see behind and create something new... The moon of intuition can be reflected on the lake of our mind only when there's no disturbance. You have to be quiet and calm, and then you get ideas. Of course, people can use any method you like, but it's not my style, I prefer to be inside.
Based on this viewpoint and his innovative interpretation of new things, this time in ICCI Art Valley, he plans to show three very different works: Body Type artworks, a classic alphabet with his representative style and QR codes composed different letters.
He compares each person to a diamond with many facets and does his best to use his aesthetic narrative to show the viewer that each facet shines with a colorful and shining light. We interviewed him before the exhibition. Here, we have selected some of the best points from the lengthy interview.