He draws, paints, writes, photographs, listens to jazz and only drinks
red wine. A portrait of an eclectic artist who communicates, through art, the beauty of the things he sees, tastes, imagines and creates.
Wine, besides being his favourite drink, has become a
working tool with which he paints and communicates his vision of the different realities around him.
He participated in important events such as Vittorio Sgarbi's Venice Biennale, the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, and Achille Bonito Oliva's Rome Triennale.
Since 2005, one of his permanent installations has been present
at the Alexander Museum in Pesaro. Some of his works are
published in Mondadori catalogues.
A well-rounded artist seeking, perhaps, the most
beautiful!
When Miky Degni was born and when he discovered his vocation and the his art?
I was born exactly in 1961 and my art was a discovery
precocious: in fact, from a very early age, in primary school,
I manifested manual skills and was particularly inclined towards drawing. With this talent of mine, I already knew in middle school exactly what I wanted to do with my life, so I pursued my studies in this direction. I started working at a very young age in the 1980s and with a decade of
I honed various techniques and deepened my knowledge. In the 1990s, I opened 'Segnidegni', a creative boutique that works in the world of advertising but with a very strong artistic connotation because everything I do I try to translate into the language of art.
When did your idea of painting with wine come about?
The idea of painting with wine was born in 2007 following a collaboration with a winery in Valtellina that
asked me to do a rather lively, different, alternative communication campaign and hence the intuition to paint directly with the product to promote the product.
You have therefore brought art into the cellar....
Art in the cellar has become the natural evolution of these products that I have made with wine to promote
wineries through the language of art, be it my performances, rather than blind tastings or painting masterclasses with wine in the winery with tasting, as well as actual exhibitions within the wineries.
Paint with different and excellent red wines: which is your favourite for painting and what is your favourite drink?
For painting, there is no favourite in the sense that almost all wines are fine as long as they are very full-bodied, and this depends on the polyphenolic substances present on the skins and the anthocyanins, which are responsible for the hue and intensity of colour in red wines. I have painted with different wines from Valtellina to Sicily. The ones I prefer to drink are definitely the great structured wines such as Nero d'Avola, Amarone, Nebbiolo this type of very full-bodied grape variety that makes a lot of red wine!
Your latest effort was 'Drunken Aphorisms', a book that you written with a preface by Chef Sadler. With what aim is born this book?
It was not my goal to become a writer because it is definitely not in my creative vein. They are a series of aphorisms that I have collected over time because I like to write very concise things that can hit you, have a very quick communication, a bit like it is in my nature as an advertiser. The concepts have to pass in a few seconds like in a commercial. They are fun and goliardic. A lucky intersection then led me to Claudio Sadler, who very kindly agreed to write the preface because he was amused by this somewhat irreverent book.
Where did the inspiration for these aphorisms come from?
My aphorisms arise from the need to communicate the malaise of our society in an ironic way and make Italians reflect
on their lifestyles. Being among people, listening to the
their chat at the bar over a cappuccino, was the
my inspiration, simply by listening.
You are part of the Cibiartist movement. Can you explain what it consists of and what is it?
Cibartisti is an association that brings together a number of Italian artists working on the theme of food in general, ranging from food to wine. The mood of the movement is to work with the language of art on the theme of food, of food. This association, with which I collaborate, has existed for several years.
Is there a secret to painting with wine?
No absolutely not, and then secrets are not revealed (laughs)! Of course the wine must be very full-bodied, but more or less all red wines lend themselves, as long as they are red. The secret is in the Amalfi paper I use, a very fine quality of paper, which is still made with artisan techniques as in the Middle Ages.
What characterises this paper is precisely the non-use of wood pulp in the production process, which is based, instead, on macerating in water inside majolica vats, cloths previously beaten with wooden hammers to break up their fibres. The rags, in this way, disintegrate to form a fluid substance in which an iron frame with a fine-mesh net is immersed, filtering the solid component of the mixture and separating it from the liquid. The resulting pulp is crushed with a press and placed to dry, resulting in the precious sheets of Amalfi paper.
What does wine represent for Miky Degni?
Wine is art because it is the result of a lot of work, great craftsmanship and love. I have always used art as a vehicle of communication and being also an admirer of good wine, I wanted to experiment with this new technique to delight palate and sight.
From glass to paper through music: how your
wine painting performance?
My performances are almost all accompanied by the
jazz music and naturally improvise with the musicians for A Veil of Beauty Four October then find their own way during the performance itself. On the precious Amalfi paper, different subjects come to life, thanks to the wine, in total freedom of expression, just as happens in jazz. Improvisation is the key word that denotes the originality of these events. Translating the inspiration I receive from the surrounding reality at that moment into images is my goal to bring the product to life and communicate through it.
Of all the exhibitions you have done, such as the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Technical Science in Milan, the Rome Triennale, an endless and important list, which was the one that gave you the most satisfaction from an artistic point of view?
All experiences are always meaningful and formative. The thing that continues to amuse me the most is definitely that of continuing to experiment with this mix of art and advertising that is in my heart because, having been born as an advertising man, I continue to use art to communicate, as my master Andy Warhol taught me. I therefore continue to pursue that path, that is, I continue to dialogue and communicate with art and advertising, and that is what gives me the greatest satisfaction. I have worked for important and well-known car, cosmetics and sports companies and it has given me great satisfaction.
Maybe the most beautiful experience is yet to come, I don't know, let's see, we'll talk again in a while and I'll tell you....
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