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| Benito Fabricati received a degree in fine art from the Academy of Sienna in 1972 and has appeared in such international exhibitions as the Prague Biennial, ART ART ?, Demented 7, and Leona Pictoria. In 1995 he was the recipient of the Malo Gialano prize. His works are in many private, corporate and museum collections throughout Europe and North America. The Museum of Civil Form recently acquired his work titled Cheese Dance #5. |
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Ducan Shaw III: You were trained as a classical figurative painter with a strong baroque influence. Yet at the same time, it is the very tradition you seek to transform.
Benito Fabricati: Yes, it is true. My background is very much classic but i think more baroque. As a student at academy I was very much interested in the spontaneity of Caravaggio not the methodical thought of Poussin. I must make the art move me and the people who see it. I do not mean Poussin does not move, he does. It is the difference of dirt and mud. I feel a deep devotion to my classical training. But I must add my little piece to the collage of art. My hands are different than those before me. And so I change the collage. Shaw: So many critics site your 1979 series Rats In Our Hearts as the pivotal time of transformation in your career. Do you see these works as a significant moment or shift? |
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| Fabricati: Yes, yes I do. After academy, like most young artist, I struggled with the art. Some of this and some of that. And then one day while on a walk I heard the sound of rats making that horrible sound they make when being killed by gatos. This reminded me of when I was child. And then I began Rats In Our Hearts. Shaw: You are of course talking about your childhood association with the rats on your fathers ship. Fabricati: Yes, my father was a ship captain. His ship carried many things and especially the cheese. It was when there was cheese that the rats would come. My father warned me to stay away from the rats because they could bite. But I did not put his words in my heart. One day I went down into the belly of my fathers ship. This is where most of the rats tried to hide. I took a tiny piece of cheese with me. I hoped it would help me catch a rat. I waited and waited for one to come. It did not take long. He was the size of my shoe and his hair was thin and brown. He slowly came for my cheese. I reached it out towards him with my weak hand and kept my good hand free so I could catch him. I will never forget the way my heart felt and how my hands were so wet. In the moment of my breath he took the cheese from my hand. He also took a piece of my finger. I hid my wound from my father for many days. He found out after the infection had set in. I lost that finger. I struggle with that loss today. |
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| Shaw: You also seem to struggle with the rat and its relationship to cheese. Your latest series Cheese Dance seems to focus on the triangular relationship between cheese, man and rat. Is this a relationship of affection. Fabricati: No, no I very much dislike the rat. It is a very nasty and unimaginative creature. The Hellonese call it “pallo eta eta” or little creature of many many bad things. The rat has brought much pain and loss to my life. I have not had an encounter with a rat since my fathers ship. I am haunted by the memory of that encounter and I live with the consequence, the loss of my finger. Shaw: Some critics have said, I believe you know who they are, that the rat in some way symbolizes your disobedience. Do you agree with this interpretation? Fabricati: Yes, I must confess that on one level this is very true. When I disobeyed my father that day the consequence was the loss of my finger. Shaw: What part did the cheese play in this act of defiance? Fabricati: I use the cheese to show my weakness as a man. It is the symbol of my very weak human being. Shaw: Do you like cheese? |
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| Fabricati: I do like a piece of Gouda cheese on occasion. Shaw: Is this the dance? Fabricati: Ahhh, the dance. Rats do love cheese. Shaw: The eminent art historian and critic Barbara Creole said this about your work,”Fabricati creates works that transcend the pedestrian so often found in the pictorial language of the late 20th century. He depicts the human condition with a brush made from the hair of lepers. There is honesty in the hands placed upon these canvases.” Are you an honest artist? Fabricati: I try to be....... Duncan Shaw III is the Director of the Museum of Civil Form |
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| If you would like to comment about this interview or any other interview with Duncan Shaw III you may do so at: | |||||||||
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