A conversation with Vincenzo Zancana

I hate going to Milan. It’s gray and it smells bad. But today I have a good reason to make my way through the haziness of a polluted sky. Artist Vincenzo Zancana is waiting for me in his studio at Via Farini Work to discuss how he incorporates photography into his practice. Spoiler: very powerfully.

Through a cross-disciplinary approach, he creates works that are both seductive and repulsive at the same time. The Sicilian Baroque-inspired objects appeal to me, but the cold materials and sharp edges are intimidating. His images are always intriguing but ambiguous, I don’t trust them and they don’t help me understand what I look at. Vincenzo’s works feed me with a compulsive lust to leave the limbo they forced me in. A desire to be satisfied fills my day.

The first time we met was at the World Culture Museum in Genova in 2021. You were showing Soutien (dormiente), which explores the relationship between humans and the environment. How has your practice developed since then?

I’m still investigating the dynamics between humans-objects-environment, this is something I’m really drawn to. At the same time, I am trying to develop more how I use the image per se, giving it more attention. In Soutien (dormiente) it played more of a decorative role.

I actually find the legs of the structure decorative, rather than the image.

Maybe not decorative, but it complemented the work. It wasn’t central. I would like to incorporate more prints in my pieces and play more with the potential photography has in building a narrative.

Really? What I love in your works is that your images reject any form of narrative.

Haha ok, maybe then I should stick to it? It’s tough. This past year, I’ve been doing a lot more thinking than making and I have been collecting feedback from different people. It takes time to process what people see in your work and figure out what to do with that.

Oh yes. But your images are so manipulated, enlarged and grainy that the more I look at them, the less I understand what I am looking at. And this makes it exciting!

I’m glad you say that because I like that too and want to keep it. But now I would like to take more care of the printing process, like maybe by making an artist book. I also have an exhibition in April next year where I plan to include more images, probably with a stronger narrative.

What do you mean when you say “images”?

I don’t just mean photography, it could be patterns or other graphic elements too.

I feel like you have a certain interest in photography, but you don’t care too much about it. You rather use it as a transactional tool to move somewhere else.

Yeah, it interests me because I can use it both as a starting and ending point. It can be a way to tell a story, or it can be stripped down to just a silhouette or pattern.

It’s indeed a very flexible tool.

I can start with a photograph, but then it transforms into something else. Having studied graphic design, I work a lot with zooming in on particular details, and I also try to extend my spatial exploration into other media. But when I use images, I am more interested in the printing process.

Would you be comfortable if I called you a printmaker?

Definitely, I studied printmaking in Antwerp. But I feel like in Italy it has a weird connotation, almost like a mystical technician able to work with inks in a laboratory to print hundreds of images daily. When I was studying in Antwerp, I instead realized that it can be conceived more broadly, as a technical tool and knowledge to get to somewhere else.

You often produce your images through the Gum Print process. What fascinates you about it?

You start with a photograph, and it can turn into a thousand different things. That’s what intrigues me. It’s like a digital print that involves the materiality of the ink, which makes it a very fascinating and easy technique to use.

When I look closer at your gum prints I can see they are not precise, I like that.

Exactly. If it were a perfect print, it would feel impersonal, and my works already have a bit of a cold vibe.

Also because you use materials that are actually cold, like plastic and metal.

That’s also true. I try to give them some warmth through the ink.

And have you ever printed in the darkroom?

Yes, I did it in art school and even for an exhibition a few years back, but since I don’t have a darkroom I didn’t continue, even though I would like to. However, it didn’t strike me as much as other printing techniques because I find the darkroom a bit more rigid.

Future projects?

Next year, I’ll be part of an exhibition at an underground space called Stazione degli Artisti in Gambettola, near Cesena. In February, I will exhibit at Palazzo Cicogna in Busto Arsizio, where I will present a reinterpretation of some of my works. Then, I’m planning to have a solo show at MUTA, a hybrid space in Turin with a jewelry design shop and a project space for exhibitions. Recently, I had an exhibition in Milan at Spazio Bidet where I created an installation and also small wearable objects. I would like to develop this idea further by collaborating with MUTA for the upcoming show, creating contemporary jewelry together.

Exciting! What do you know about the contemporary Swedish art scene?

Too little, unfortunately. Just what you publish through SWIT Platform. 

That’s why SWIT exists;)

Vincenzo Zancana (1991, Salemi, IT) is a Milan-based artist. He holds an MA in Graphic Art from Brera Fine Arts Academy, Milan, and a BA in Graphic Art from Palermo Fine Arts Academy. Recent exhibitions include Spazio Lampo (Chiasso, CH, 2023), Spazio Bidet (Milano 2023), Giudecca Art District (Venezia 2022), World Culture Museum (Genova, 2021).

www.vinzancana.com

• Instagram

Interview by Stefano Conti
Images by Vincenzo Zancana
Portrait by feederico_studio e insite_milano