TURIN. From the first nocturnal blitzes to spread art and avoid complaints, to that same work which, appropriately redefined and designed, ends up in the living room, which is then always a wall. And if the vineyards creep between facades and walls, what to do? Giacomo Bisotto, alias Gec Art, one of the most popular street artists on the Turin scene – and beyond – is the winner of the European project Eti, promoted in Italy by the Bottari Lattes Foundation, with an idea of open-air public art entitled «Wine in progress “.
Gec, shall we start from the Langhe?
«And from the fact that it is difficult to make today’s tourism coexist with the nature of the places? We are happy to start from here ».
You want to bring that area back to the past, with an innovative work: why?
“Because if these are the places we know we owe it to the sweat and work of the older generations. We do not take those geometries for granted: then I call the boys, those of Instagram, and that they go and see the family albums. From those photos, playing between real and virtual, we will build the works to be installed ».
Little to do with his one-time night raids …
“Oh yes, sure. But this time I will have won when a grandson will post a photo of him on Instagram with the image of his grandfather behind him ».
By the way, but does he still go around at night?
«This you should find out in the morning …».
Do you remember your first time?
“Of course? In Cuneo, I started with the series of my posters with the subject of TV. I would stick them on garbage bins and empty shop windows. After a while I found myself besieged with complaints from unknown persons ».
Then?
«A collector came and told me ‘I’ll buy you a work, but you go to New York with that money.’ And I went ».
And the “television subjects” thus begin to appear on the walls of the Big Apple …
“A dream come true, I grew up with the myth of Keith Haring and Obey.”
Then?
«The return to Turin, with so many nights that I basically lived as an alternative to the disco. I drove the van around the city and put up a hundred posters a night. All illegal ».
What is left of those works?
“Almost nothing”.
Eternal dilemma: don’t you mind knowing that your work fades over time?
“No, on the contrary. I like to think that time will take them away, I often document these passages with photos. After all, that space wasn’t mine, it’s not mine. It belongs to others, so it is right that that wall makes its life, it is the dynamics of time, and the road is the road ».
Then he moved on to art as a participatory process.
«A great challenge, which began thanks to social. Which I still find incredible today: I ask for materials in exchange for a poster, then I turn them into works. And so it was with one hundred and older mice that I installed in Paris, the city with the most mice, then with over 12 thousand Scratch & Win that they sent me from all over Italy and allowed me to do more works and denounce gambling addiction, almost ten years ago, and still the handouts of the most difficult exams taken by students that allowed me to associate her with an icon like Marilyn, without make-up and in charge of a call centerr».
Many of these works from the street have passed into homes, haven’t they?
“Yes, often after installation they have been taken … but that’s okay.”
But are the road and the home wall two aspects of the same path?
«Yes, but I made a pact with myself: to tell in a painting what I did outside». —
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