Matteo Boato, flying from New York to China – By Daniela Larentis

The well-known Italian artist has just returned from Hong Kong, a trip that follows the recent one in USA – English version

 
As we have repeatedly emphasized, Matteo Boato is a popular Italian artist, born in Trento, where he lives, very active both in Italy and abroad: in Europe, in Russia, in Japan (remember his recent experience in Russia, a first exhibition in the prestigious Museum of Art in Nizhny Novgorod, and later in Kirov, Vladimir, Yeroslavl, in the future in Moscow and St. Petersburg). Here in Trentino, between the various artistic experiences, he has participated in artistic / scientific conferences at MUSE, the Museum of Sciences of Trento, which owns and displays some of his work, educational activities at MART, the modern and contemporary Art Museum of Trento and Rovereto. He also participated some years ago to the Venice Biennale. He won some international competitions for public art works. Boato' paintings will be in Trento soon in a solo exhibition entitled Trentino - oils of places and landscapes of Trentino in the beautiful spaces of Torre Mirana (Palazzo Thun) - Via Belenzani 3, corner of Via Manci, 2, from June 9 to June 19, 2016 (opening hours: Mon / Sun 10-12; 16-19).
 
Eclectic artist, painter by profession, he has always shown its interests in many directions: he has a master degree in Civil Engineering, an another in classical guitar; he is now musician for passion in fact. Before moving to Trento he had lived in the cities of Florence, Brussels, London and Barcelona. A few weeks back from a business trip in New York, he went to the old British colony Hong Kong (till 1996), the Chinese metropolis that in the collective imagination is often identified by many with its picturesque port and its breathtaking skyline. His trip to the famous city, located on the southern coast of China, is the result of a project started a few years ago, now under realization.
We had the pleasure to interview him, in a very few days away from his return to Italy.
 
What is the impression you had of Hong Kong, just arrived?
«It is a metropolis in which you can breathe an atmosphere of internationality, where there is a perfect fusion between East and West. In some ways it is similar to New York, for the towering skyline: a city that has a vertical development. The curious thing, however, is that alongside these giants with a strong visual impact there are beautiful traditional buildings of modest size. A contrast that particularly struck me, forcing me to put my attention in the philosophical sense of that: it is important to appreciate not only big things in life, but also small ones. I was also impressed by the reduced living space in which the inhabitants are often used to. The same hotel room where I stayed was tiny. When I mentioned this to the gallery owner who invited me to Hong Kong, I mean the fact that people seemed to have no need for living space, he replied by citing a well-known Chinese proverb, which meaning should be: Why do you need a huge house? You need very little space to live, everything else is extra.»
 
How did this project start?
«I received an invitation of Cecilia Koo, owner of Galerie Koo situated in Hong Kong, who had  shown before some interest in my work and invited me to attend at AAFair in Hong Kong.
«Since 2014 we had often written each other, my works has been requested. The result is this first event together. My interest goes towards this direction, I would like to built a good commercial relation with the gallery. We are planning an exhibition in the next six months.»
 
How many, and which of his works, were exhibited and how did the public react?
«I've sent 12 large size works and some smaller ones, whose themes are the square, the city. This number is sufficient to organize a solo exhibition, although I think it will take twice as much for the next exhibition. The audience responded enthusiastically, I am very satisfied because my work was really appreciated.»
 
He anticipated that there will be soon a next exhibition in Hong Kong: will you send other works from Italy or will you paint on site as it happened in Russia, for example, on the occasion of the exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod?
«I will bring other pieces about the theme of urban landscape, and of course some works will bededicated to Hong Kong, a city that I percieve as spectacular. I still have to think about whether or not to carry out the works, at least in part. I do not exclude to prepare work there because the problem of transport over long distance and customs duties is not insignificant.»
 
Which idea has you got about this city, a city that offers a lot of contrasts, and how is the art scene?
«The art scene is very sparkling, extremely stimulating: I breathed a culture and an idea of society very different from ours. It 'a cosmopolitan city where I met many European people, of course British, American, Asian and Australian people, also some people from Japan, so from all over the world. During my experience I had contacts with people of good cultural level, people who live in the central area of the city. The feeling is that there is a good education level, where the two cultures, the English and Chinese, interlace harmoniously, allowing an enrichment of the city: we can say it was kept the best of the two cultures. Some areas of the city show a society very different from the European one. I met several people that, at the question what is your job?, replied simply recently I do..., this reflects a very different mentality from ours. They are people whom hardly you could meet in Trento, where people have a more linear career path. Hong Kong, as all the alive metropolis, is a city where there is much work flexibility, a city that offers many opportunities, and this is very nice. About contrasts, despite being a very modern city, Hong Kong and in general China is a place with an ancient herbal tradition, based on natural practices of the Chinese medical herbs.»
 
But do not forget that flexibility is a good thing when there is also a good job offer. Do you agree?
«Of course, I fully agree with that. I had the impression that there are a lot of available jobs, that is the idea that I had talking to people there.»

About the Hong Kong art scene, could we define it as "global"?
«Absolutely yes. The art world is very diverse, but despite being heterogeneous it is also similar to ours.»
 
Could you explain better this thought, Do you speak about themes andart concepts  or the techniques used?
«I would say both: the global world is really breathed through art. In the exhibition I was there were intimate works, I believe more in line with the Asian world, but in principle the very wide range of proposals would have exhibited in Milan, London or Paris as well.»
 
What were the artists presented in the fair by your gallery?
«There were art works of many important local artists, whose works were completely different from mine.»
 
What exactly does it mean the term "fair" in art?
«Generally the term fair reminds to the market and the sale of various products, related to housing, sport, agricolture and in general events dedicated to a wide audience. In art fair is basically an exclusive event. The galleries participating in the fair are carefully selected, not all can access it. They are perpetually in an international scene. There is never a local art fair, are events involve galleries and artists from all over the world. Not all art fairs have got the same level, of course. At the fair, however, any art fair it is, the best galleries are participating, the ones that are able to support themselves, to invest financially. The artists are then well selected.»
 
What is the type of audience, who go to art fairs?
«It is a paying audience, so motivated. People who go to art fairs go substantially to invest.»
 
Where was the exhibition, which you participated in, located?
In Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Exhibition and Congress Centre of the city): being a metropolis, Hong Kong has a huge and prestigious exhibition space. I walked for 10 minutes in the building for reaching the floor, where it was the fair, just to give an idea of the building's size.»
 
Have your works never been associated with the idea that you have of Italy, with recurring stereotypes, such as the brightness etc.? What jobs have attracted the most interest of the public?
«Yes, there were those who associated the use of certain colors, recurring in some of my works on display, to Italy. It is a fact curious for my point of view, because the use of those colors are in Italy directly associated to Spain. It is as if the joy of life could be identified as a quality that people do not know almost recognize in themselves or in the social sphere in which they live, but they were stereotypically attributed to someone else, such as peculiarities of some other people. Italy, moreover, is often associated to the good standard of living, the beauty of cities like Venice, Rome, Florence. The works that have attracted much public attention, however, are in particular those in black and white, the squares. Perhaps because they are works that refer to philosophical concepts.»
 
About squares: what do you think about Hong Kong squares?
«There are squares, but they are not the squares to which we are accustomed in Europe. Square there means an open meeting place, completely new, basically raised, a branching points.»
 
One last question that should answer briefly without much thought: what is the first impression about people who you met in the streets of Hong Kong?
«The people there seem to possess a surreal calm, they give the impression of being relaxed, to be always good. One thing that caught my attention is the fact that I've never seen anyone yawning. I do not like the yawn in general, it annoys me, and surprisingly no one there seems to need it...»
 
Daniela Larentis – d.larentis@ladigetto.it