Alessandra Carloni is an emerging Italian painter from Rome whose love for comics and illustration as a kid inspired her to create her own imaginative and dreamlike paintings. On canvases and walls, Carloni transports the viewer into new worlds through deep colors, rigid lines, and curious characters. Her acrylic and oil paintings range from figuration to surrealism, each scene rich in narrative and emotion. Carloni’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows throughout Italy and abroad, winning several prizes and competitions. In this interview, discover Carloni’s various influences and her upcoming projects.
Ciao Alessandra! When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
The decision to become an artist was very clear and conscious already during adolescence. That’s why I started the whole process of academic study, feeling the need to find tools that would give me the opportunity to express myself, as I do now in my works on canvas and on walls.
Your work draws inspiration from literature, comics, and fantasy. Can you talk about these influences and other artists you are most inspired by?
My design language is very close to the world of literature. The narrative and the reinterpretation of some famous novels, like Melville’s Moby Dick, The Baron in the Trees by Calvino and Collodi’s Pinocchio, have indeed influenced the maturation of my style.
Since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by Japanese Manga and devoured these images in illustrated books and comics. This rich world from my childhood gradually came into my art research in adulthood, thus contributing to the birth of that dream-like illustration that characterizes my style. In my paintings, I discover suspended worlds, mechanical ships, natural fairytale universes, and an eternal sense of travel where my characters are dreamers and travelers just like the landscapes themselves. These worlds are autobiographical of my childhood universe, with the hope of expressing current and contemporary messages.
In painting, I take inspiration from contemporaries including Sergio Padovani, Alessandro Sicioldr, Giampaolo Talani, Mighty, and Freud. In illustration, I follow the work of Lorenzo Mattotti, Ferenc Pinter, Shaoun Tan, Rebecca Dautremer and Gipi. These are just a few names among a vast panorama of contemporary stylistic influences that I receive daily and that evolve based on phases or different searches.
Do you prefer to work alone or collaborate with others?
Before working autonomously, I shared my studio with other artists. This experience of being in close contact with other art forms and languages was crucial to my research. It allowed me to look at other styles in a different and more open way, as well as giving me contacts with galleries and other artistic communities. Today, however, I realize how important it is for an artist to start an independent research path- in their own studio, with their needs and the space to fully express themselves without the inevitable dynamic of “community” and dependency “on the other.”
For this reason, I think it is necessary for an artist to live both realities at different times. But the real road to awareness of “self” in art is achievable only in the “refuge” within one’s study, in front of the blank canvas that is a mirror of our inner life.
Can you tell us about a project you’re currently working on?
I have just completed my series of works on Pinocchio, which started as an editorial board for a picture book for the publishing house Scripta Maneant and ended with a beautiful exhibition in a gallery in Como.
Currently, I’m planning a project with the metaphysical artist Ciro Palumbo. Our idea is a two-person exhibition on the theme of the heart- not simply the organ, but the machine button and mechanical life, and the classical linguistic universe of Ciro Palumbo. The idea is to create a traveling exhibition, starting from the city of Palermo.
What do you think you would you be doing if you weren’t an artist?
I cannot imagine a life that is not currently this, but if I had to think of one, I still imagine working in a similar field, like graphics and 3D animation.
Have you found any other artists on Singulart whose work you admire?
Among the artists on Singulart, I really like the work of Ciro Palumbo, Giulia Spernazza, Andrea Marchesini, Kristina Milakovic and Fabio Imperiale.
What advice could you give to young artists starting out?
The only advice I can give is to not stop- to paint every day, to take a pencil and draw a sign, a gesture, an idea on paper. It may seem difficult, as the road of painting and art is a continuous operation. Art is a wall, a canvas, a sheet, a utility, a subject; it is the basis to go forth and get results.
