Mimmo Catania

Has your work change a lot over the years?
During the eighties I painted exclusively in an abstract style, whereas during the nineties I turned towards environmental art and worked more with space and figure. I can't say if this step was somehow influenced by the new reality created by the fall of the wall. This event in any case was embraced with a great euphoria, Something unique, without precedents, had happened which created as much...

Has your work change a lot over the years?
During the eighties I painted exclusively in an abstract style, whereas during the nineties I turned towards environmental art and worked more with space and figure. I can't say if this step was somehow influenced by the new reality created by the fall of the wall. This event in any case was embraced with a great euphoria, Something unique, without precedents, had happened which created as much uncertainty as it did new opportunities. Berlin was the open city per excellence. At that time I felt the necessity to go beyond painting and to face a change of artistic direction. I understand my current work as a kind of synthesis in which all the experiences that I have accumulated over the years come together: the monochrome, related to the abstract art, the space-orientation of the environmental art and, last but not least, the figurative element of the last years. In my paintings I assemble realities which belong to different levels of time and action, in which the internal state of mind and the external reality are so interbred that they become indistinguishable like in the painting 'School bus' (2005) where the bus makes its lonesome way during the night or in the painting 'Footlights' (2002) where the reflexes of light disorientate more than illuminate the surrounding space. The colour claims in this context its own value, borrowed from the abstract art. Most often the motives show a moment of suspense in which the expectance of an unknown imminent event prevails. The paintings embrace moments of extreme repulsion and lostness.

How do you see the future of Berlin?
I'm convinced that the city could easily cope with double the inhabitants which would however create a completely different reality. At the moment Berlin is far from catching up with the population of London or New York, but the space exists and in the future it could well become a metropolis like the others.

How do you value the possibilities offered by the city to work artistically?
Positively. Berlin still offers something which is very rare in Europe- the possibility to express oneself and to find room to exert oneself. This was already the case in the Eighties when artists like me came to Berlin in search of new opportunities for independent work. In a certain way the following generations could take advantage from our spadework, which proves that the work we carried out hasn't been done in vain.


e-artnow. Interview extract from the exhibition Catalog "Shouting all life long", 2009: Interview with Mimmo Catania at his studio in Berlin.