Anna Capolupo and her daily worlds collide with Wood’d.
Every story in design follows a pattern, or a thread. In this case, discussing Anna Capolupo’s own body of work, the thread becomes evident, and it’s a soul effort brought to life. Enter a magic and suspended world made of unpredictable nuances, intimate feelings and sweet contradictions. Or just visit its parallel, and make sure to be ready to sense the unseen, and feel the unspoken. We could keep on this track for a long shot, but it’s finally time to let the signs speak, as we are glad to introduce you to a new subtle yet exciting collaboration and chapter of Wood’d own Design Stories. Ladies and gents, let’s welcome to Anna Capolupo and her art.
Ciao Anna, please introduce yourself to our friends. Who are you, where you from, what you do?
My name is Anna Capolupo, I was born and raised in Calabria’s countryside. I am 33, and I’ve spent the last 13 years of my life mainly in Tuscany, but a period in Berlin and several other Italian cities. I am a painter. I think I started drawing as a child, at least my first attempts. I have some memories of me being very young trying to illustrate what was around me. Then I started my artistic path, first in high school and then in Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence. And I think this was my real start, the first important encounters that made me conscious of what could be considered art and what not. I’ve learnt about the opportunities, about the bad and the good side of living as an artist.
And how would you describe your art?
I’ve always considered my art as my travel companion, it has always been with me everywhere. I need it to question my daily life, the places I go, my past, my future. I need it to make visible my mind spaces and experiences. I’ve studied the architectures I’ve lived as well as the urban spaces I’ve encountered. The same way I studied the faces of the people near me, my experience and, lately, my roots. I need my art to feel free. My work is about putting all this happenings, encounters, places, on paper.
We’re just curious, how your perfect day looks like?
My perfect day, if it exists, when it exists, it’s in my studio. I am by nature and vocation one of those people who stay in the studio, all alone with my dog. It’s all about waking up and having a coffee, then picking up materials I want to work on and start sketching rough layouts. Days spent looking at pictures of places I’ve been to, and of which I would like to do something. Days spent over books, studying, looking for new subjects, trying to understand what I want to say and how I mean it, to give myself a theme, so it is said…
Could you describe your studio, then? How’s your workplace?
My space resembles me, while I work is apparently (and perhaps not only) a big chaos with an order that I only recognize. I memorize every tiny object, pencil or chalk abandoned somewhere, I always know where it is. Finally, I clean up the mess and put everything back in place so I can start over and over again. So papers will be all over, scraps of tempered pencils will hide everywhere, and so on…it’s like my microsystem in a five square meters room.
I work mainly on paper, so I use acrylic or hardened colors, chines and pigments all based on water. I rather prefer the mixed technique, spray, pencils, crayons, pencils and sewing, cotton, wool and synthetic material.
What inspires you for your job?
As I’ve told you, my sources of inspiration are related to the chosen subject. At this time, for example, I’m digging back in my past, finding inspiration in the art of sewing, an ancient art, the fiber art, and this kind of research gives me lots suggestions for painting, too. I reproached childhood scenes, for example, as painting gives me the chance to astray. I look at the naturalistic landscape today more than the urban one, which still fascinates me, but changes and research are important. What I want to do is perhaps overcoming the subject, landing into something that is formless.
What have you thought for Wood’d?
For Wood’d, I’ve thought of a of small work in which drawing and painting combine with sewing. There is a dialogue between the two techniques and what is represented. There are situations and faces drawn, and the extra sewing it highlights the unseen, the soul itself of the subject, whether it be people or landscapes. Think of an inner garden, the fiber depicts the peculiarities of the person portrayed. This is a very intimate work that concerns my life closely. It’s the game between the sign of the drawing and the one left by the thread. It’s life.
