Antonietta Sanfilippo
1. What part of the process of creating art do you like
best?
I especially enjoy those
moments when I’m just beginning an
abstract painting. The canvas is blank, the
paints are in front of me. Anything is possible in
this moment. It’s exciting. I’ve
chosen the colour schemes, and they fit in with what
I’m going through at the time. I also enjoy
those moments when I’ve realized the painting is
finished. It’s a gratifying and truthful moment
for me because I make the final decision that
‘I’m happy with this’ and other
people’s perceptions are irrelevant in this moment.
It gives me a sense of real freedom.
2.
What is your working environment like?
I paint in my home, on the floor of my lounge room, which
looks out onto the forest, in the Dandenong Mountains. I
don’t have a studio, although I dream of the day I
will. I have taken my materials out into the desert, beach
and forest. I love creating in these environments.
3.
What kind of (formal & informal) art training have you
had?
I have had one
lesson in painting.
I remember the teacher commented I had a very free style,
and that’s the way I like to keep it. I’m
not sure if I will ever undergo any formal training in art
in the future, since I am deeply involved in my field of
psychology, counselling and hypnotherapy currently. I
am interested in art as a form of therapy, so perhaps I
will pursue studying experiential therapy with a focus on
art at some stage in the future.
4. How
has your art training affected the kind of art you
produce?
My lack of training means that my style is minimally
influenced by other artists and genres of art. I
paint because it gives me a sense of advancement in my
personal and spiritual life. I create to express
myself via the symbols, patterns, colours and abstract
themes that evolve naturally. I hold a very Jungian
perspective with my art.
5.
Name some important influences and inspirations in your art
career.
The philosophies of Carl Jung have really inspired me to
create, as has the perspective of artists like
Kandinsky. Both of these men took the view that art
can allow you to not always be trapped in your intellect,
but reach deeper into the soul. I like to think my
artwork is born from my inner soul, in a mysterious,
enigmatic and mystic way, and then it acquires an
autonomous life; it becomes an independent subject animated
by a spiritual breath.
6.
What has been the most difficult thing you have encountered
in your work?
The hardest thing has been to keep it
‘real’. What I mean by that is to paint
according to what I want to achieve and experience, and not
by what galleries and the market wants. I have made the
decision to never ever compromise myself, and I will always
stick to this. I once had a gallery tell me I should do it
more ‘this way and that way’, and that
didn’t feel right to my soul, and thus I rejected
that path.
7.
Have there been major turning points in your art
career?
My art career is continually evolving and there is no
one turning point that is more significant than the other.
To be honest, I think I have a lot more to achieve with my
art to come, and I really look forward to that. I am
interested in philosophical conceptual art. I will be
extremely pleased with myself when I eventually generate an
exhibition that can express, via conceptual art, some of
the major political, ethical, metaphysical, epistemological
and psychological philosophies of the past and present.
It will be fun to engage my intellect more in the
artistic process.
8.
What has been the highlight of your art
career?
Getting an award from Rick Amor a few years ago was a very
happy event for me. I am also pleased to have held a
few of my own exhibitions outside of the activities of
CAS. Also, once I received a phone call from a man
who bought one of my paintings. He wanted to know more
about my processes of creating and he praised the artwork,
and I found this very flattering. He said to me
“please keep painting”.
Caption:
Evergreen by Antonietta Sanfilippo
(Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 50 cm)