Riccardo Chiodini known as Not my Favorite Artist, was born in Magenta, in the province of Milan, and is called a romantic dreamer. Creative multidisciplinary between art, fashion, design and music, in recent years has built its own path following an intuition that has brought it far from Italy to New York.
You arrived in New York from Italy at a time when many creatives still saw the city as a sort of point of arrival. What did he really represent for you?
New York has always been a milestone for me. I always felt like I belonged to this city, even before I lived it. I grew up with the myth of New York: my mother, who has never been there, always dreamed of her. At some point I said I had to get there too. When I closed my last showroom in Italy I realized it was time. I left without knowing anyone, with little money and with a precise goal: build connections. I stopped people on the street, went to events, talked to anyone. Today I am here often and willingly, I have a study, my projects and a network of people I consider family. The thing I love about New York is that it forces you to look higher and higher. I like being surrounded by things I can’t afford yet, because they remind me of what is possible. This city doesn’t make me feel small. It makes me feel alive.
Is there a precise moment when you felt that Italy was becoming close to you?
More than Italy, at some point I was close to the life I had around. Since I was a kid, I felt like looking at things differently. I grew up in a context where there was an already written path: studying, finding a stable job, following a definite path. I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to feel wrong because I had different ideas. In time I realized that you cannot expect others to understand your vision. In fact, often the most personal ideas are understood only long after. When I stopped looking for approval and started following my path, I started to feel better. Today I know that my place is not tied to a precise geography, but to the possibility of continuing to grow and experiment.
Many Italian artists who move to New York say they have discovered a different freedom here, but also a much stronger precariousness. How did you experience this balance between enthusiasm and instability?
Freedom came to me when I stopped being afraid of judgment. New York teaches you something very simple: do what you have to do and move on. Everything runs fast. Today you make an event, no one talks about it anymore. And this is a liberation. Even instability never frightened me. When I got here, I was willing to do everything. During my first trip I even lived a week in the car to save money and continue pursuing my goals. I do not consider it a sacrifice, but part of the experience. I think many people are afraid to get out of their comfort zone. I always thought that if a dream is really important, you must be willing to face even the most uncomfortable situations. Life is made of points of view: what for someone is a difficulty, for someone else is an opportunity.
Are there artists who feel particularly close to your way of building images?
My favorite artist is Salvador Dalí. I love surrealism and I love those who can take reality and turn it into something completely personal. I don’t care about fine technical perfection in itself: I care about the ability to build a world. Among contemporary artists, however, I feel very close to Alec Monopoly. I was lucky to meet him here in New York and getting his autographed work was a huge emotion. Among the Italians I follow with affection Gioele Corradegno, known as Sex Dreams, because we shared a part of our growth path. In the fashion world, however, the figure I feel closer to my vision is Jerry Lorenzo di Fear of God: a person who has built a strong language while maintaining solid values and great consistency.
Your work often seems to be born from very immediate, almost instinctive images. How does your creative process really work? Start more from a personal emotion, from a precise idea or the meaning emerges while you work?
There’s hardly any planning. The ideas come when they want them. Many people think that creativity is something to chase, but in my opinion it is the opposite: it is the creativity that finds you. I can have an intuition while on the couch, on the street or on a trip. When he comes, I have to be ready to pick it up. Sometimes I make a collection in forty minutes, sometimes an idea remains there for months before taking shape. Even my recurring character, the alien, was born like this. I always had the feeling of observing the world from a different perspective. Not because I felt better than others, but because often my ideas seemed to come from another planet. At some point, that alien appeared in my work and no longer left. With time it became a symbol. It allows me to speak to a varied audience, from children to adults, and to tell a message that is fundamental to me: even when you feel out of place, you can turn that diversity into a force.
What do you wish for the near future and what goals do you hope to achieve shortly?
The first thing I want is to go back to Italy and enjoy my family. My parents and grandmothers are a fundamental part of my life and I feel the need to devote time to them. Then there are creative projects. This summer I will collaborate with artists in Belgium and Greece. I would like to be able to play in Ibiza, which for me represents a personal challenge more than professional. I don’t care about the prestige of the stage: I care to bring my energy and my ideas to a place I love. In autumn I will present new works related to fashion and I will continue to develop a project that combines three places that today I feel deeply my: Italy, New York and Seoul. After three years in New York, the next step will be South Korea. I want to build a creative dialogue between these three cultures through my brand. My goal is not to run behind trends. I want to build something that lasts over time. Today I consider my brand, my paintings and my projects as children: they must not grow quickly, they must grow well. And the thing that makes me more curious is this: see where I will take the path that I am building day after day.
L’articolo Not my Favorite Artist: “I’ve always heard of another planet” comes from IlNewyorkese.
