Tommaso Sandri

BIO

Tommaso Sandri (1992) grew up in North-Eastern Italy. As soon as he graduated from high-school he undertook a volunteering experience in the rural Brazil where he got aware of the socially active function that art could have. In 2012 he founded the art collective Menti Libere, an association who promotes social and environmental sustainability through art, from street art interventions to collective performances. From that year he has been realizing dozens of participatory decoration projects where he has involved hundreds of youngsters from all over the world, from Nepal to Mali. The travels he undertakes along troubled countries and situations deeply influences his artistic research. Art helps him to investigate around human intimate nature and his typical irony approach makes his works lighter even when dealing with delicate themes. His art always tries to involve people no matter the media, from performance to video and public interventions art is a way to enlighten obscure issues.

STATEMENT

Art is like a thorny cactus in the middle of the desert, a water source despite its dangerous shape. Art helps me to enlighten obscure issues, to break down cultural prejudices and walls, no matter the media I choose to use for each work. Irony allows me to overturn the classic points of view on thorny themes as migration, neo-colonialism and the pollution of the earth and of the human nature.

Interview with Tommaso Sandri

Written by Andreana Donahue

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you became interested in becoming an artist? What were some early influences?

Actually I've been attracted by drawing since I was a child. Drawing and wondering adventurous journey were my hobby! But due to some non-supporting teacher I quit drawing at 12 y-o and retake it only when I was 18.

After my high school degree I left Italy for some months trip around South America and thanks to some volunteering creative experiences I realized that I should use art as a media to communicate and to act for a social change.

That's how I started to spend all my winters by traveling and doing art participatory projects where I involve local communities in a little social and urban change.

Thanks to these strong experiences I started to use art as a media to act even in an emergency situation such as refugee centers and slums where I've been collecting drawings, fears and dreams of people on many 30 meters paper rolls that I'm still keeping on collecting and exhibiting.

Where are you currently based and what initially attracted you to working in this community? Are there any aspects of this specific place that have surfaced in your work?

I'm based in the city where I’ve been raised and I love it even if it's a touristic city which is frenetically alive in the summer and ghostly dead in the winter. This is the schizophrenic reality that make me decide to stay in order to do something out of its strange balance.

Can you tell us about your studio space? What are some of the most crucial aspects of a studio that make it workable for you?

My studio is tiny but bright and warm enough to work and it's the place I start my day in with some physical training and meditation. That's how my typical day starts.

What is a typical day like?

It's a good tip for beginning the day with the right attitude. Then my day keeps on with working in studio or in my little outdoor atelier.

What criteria do you follow for selecting materials? Do you prefer to maintain a narrow focus or work across diverse media? How do you navigate the limitations and possibilities that result from this path? What gets you in a creative groove? What puts a damper on your groove?

I don't have materials or media preferences, I space from drawing to writing, from performance to making video, collage and graffiti.

This enables me to feel completely free about the creation groove, I never get bored and I'm always on the creative wave.

Can you walk us through your overall process? How would you describe your approach to manipulating materials? What about decision-making and editing?

The only fil rouge that I follow is the continuous research for the right media that enable me to interact with people around some thorny issues. The goal is to stimulate a reflection trying to depict and represent the issue under a new light, using an ironic and often iconoclastic point of view.

Art is a magic way to change, no matter the media.

Can you talk about some of the ongoing interests, imagery, and concepts that have informed your process and body of work over time? How do you anticipate your work progressing in the future?

My aesthetic view take inspiration mostly from the journeys I still undertake in the winter months around places that western society consider only as poor countries like Nepal, Mali, Balkans and so on. 

My imagery focuses on the contradictions of our society.

Do you pursue any collaborations, projects, or careers in addition to your studio practice? If so, can you tell us more about those projects, and are there connections between your studio practice and these endeavors?

In addition to my art career, I funded an art collective in 2012, Menti Libere, that realizes art participatory urban decoration projects involving people with disabilities and outcasts in many Italian and foreign cities.

I have also run a Food Truck (Fast Mood) in the summer season in my seaside hometown, Lignano Sabbiadoro since 2017. Is the way I make a living for the whole year, even if it is overwhelming. That's why I lose deadlines unluckily.

As a result of the pandemic, many artists have experienced limited access to their studios or loss of exhibitions, income, or other opportunities. Has your way of working (or not working) shifted significantly during this time? Are there unexpected insights or particular challenges you’ve experienced?

The pandemic issue made me focus on works that I had been forgetting and let me work a lot on new things, but unlikely almost all the residencies and exhibitions, besides many school decoration projects, were canceled but likely postponed. So never mind!

In a time that seems to be marked by uncertainty, collective anxiety, and increasing social unrest, why do you think the perspectives and contributions of artists remain meaningful? Do you feel a natural relationship exists between your work (or the role artists play more broadly) and confronting established systems—of power, cultural institutions, or otherwise?

I firmly think that society needs artists, any kind of. Not only for the advertisings video or posters!

Can you share some of your recent influences? Are there specific works—from visual art, literature, film, or music—that are important to you?

The last great show I visited was Marina Abramovic in Florence, amazing! She's one of the Mecca of the artist I admire, with Beuys, Pistoletto, Kaprow, and many other performers and social artists.

Do you have any tips or advice that someone has shared with you that you have found particularly helpful?

The best tip that anyone can receive is to firmly dream and to be patient.

Anything else you would like to share?

As I told you before, in summer season I don't have time to work on my artworks, except some brief action and performances. But that's how I can freely live on the winter.

To find out more about Tommaso Sandri check out his Instagram and website.