Curated show at Monitor Gallery in Rome. Sogni di Otello : sogni di Isis, curated by Tracy Kinnally, Chiostro dei Frari, Venice in 2015
THE CATLOVER ARTIST
The first work by Braida that I ever saw, which struck me immediately, was his “I tappi” series. It was in 2010 in Venice, during the selections for the 94th Giovani Artisti group show put on by the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, and that first impression has remained with me ever since. The series penetrated my brain and, shortly after, my own home, where I can face it whenever I please. Made up of monstrous creatures generated by Braida’s imagination, the different elements of the series are swirled together by heavily laden brushstrokes evocative of the great masters, cartoons, films or pop culture in general. It is rare for me to be taken so viscerally by an artist’s work on first sight and to remain obsessed by it. The last time it happened was in 2002 with Nathalie Djurberg, but that’s another story… Let’s talk about Thomas Braida now or, to be more precise, with Thomas Braida, even though this can be a little hard because he is by no means loquacious. By contrast he paints and draws practically all the time, as if driven by an irrepressible urge. If such a thing as a painting demon exists, I can vouch that Thomas is possessed by it. My first question to him, therefore, is this:
CC – What would you do if you were to stop painting?
TB – So many beautiful things, I’m creative. I amuse myself with all kinds of activities – cooking, eating, moulding clay, planting plants, making (and tasting) grappa teas, bricolage, looking after cats. I think I would live in the country, read and paint beautiful landscapes, so you see in the end I wouldn’t stop painting.