Every decision you make creates a windowless room that you will inhabit, and a plot of decisions builds a rooms maze that can become a prison for your mind and art. However, you can build, instead of closed rooms, an open observatory from where you can observe as many things as your eyes can reach.
Vincent Desiderio will expose those intellectual jails you live in, and he will show you the way in which you can build your own observatory.
Who is Vincent Desiderio?
Vincent Desiderio has a solid knowledge of two different matters: concept and technique. They usually operate in completely different ways, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Desiderio has the superpower of merging thought and painting to such an extent that you would say they are the same thing.
Itâs not necessary to explain all his merits here, if you are reading this itâs because you already know that he is one of the great artists of our time. And, lucky us, he is an open guy with a remarkable vocation as an instructor.
However, in no way should you should take him for a usual teacher. It would be fairer to talk about him as a mentor, rather than as a teacher. He is an artist who talks about his experience from the field, not from a topic written by a bureaucrat just to fill a file. His intention is light years away from pretending to teach you.
You see, Vincent Desiderio wants to renew the pedagogical agenda of art âespecially paintingâ in order to endow it with a purpose that goes beyond the mere acquisition of skills. His ambition is that you can express yourself with your own voice, and prevent yourself from the siren songs you will hear on your trip.
Itâs clear that if you are interested in this anti-workshop itâs because youâre fed up with schools giving you the hateful blue pill while patting on your shoulder. You need someone with very clear ideas and his feet on the ground to open your eyes to what you really need, and how to get it for yourself, your way.
Well, Desiderio offers you the red pill: it will not be easy or comfortable, but it will be real.
Table of contents
0:35 Who is Vincent Desiderio?
1:42 What is the “act of painting”?
3:05 Can art be taught?
5:20 Is it necessary to first learn the rules of art in order the break those rules afterwards?
7:35 Comment on your words “We have to learn how to learn”.
9:05 What do your favourite artists have in common?
16:04 What do you think about drawing?
24:00 Is academic training a safety net for artistic creation?
26:20 What effect does the internet have on contemporary artists?
30:53 Comment on “history of art is a history of exceptions”.
36:02 How spontaneous is painting compared to e.g. poetry?
40:14 How important is an empathetic connection between an artwork and a viewer in painting, especially compared to illustration?
42:00 Do you suffer when creating?
44:18 The best artworks are ones which seem “about to fall or fail”.
48:35 When talking about the master of painting it always goes down to Velazquez.
49:23 Are artistic rules shortcuts and therefore can be considered traps?
54:07 Can holding the rules of art in too high a regard might kill the essence of art?
59:13 Do you have some rigidly stated rules to follow at work and what do you keep in mind while working?
1:01:59 The empathy for the society, family and ordinary life permeates through artworks and makes them worthwhile.
1:03:39 What has your experience been in Menorca?