GIADA GAIOTTO

Giada Gaiotto was born in Ciriè, in the province of Turin, in 1987.
Since very young, she has always felt an artistic vocation. Giada studied at 'Passoni Art Institute' and at Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, getting a Major degree in painting under Radu Dragumirescu and, after two years, the specialization in painting under Marco Cingolani. Alongside a more specific 'Animalier' painting devoted to the Arabian Horse, wolves, and insects, she has become passionate about 'Portraits' whereby she strives to combine classical painting that she loves so much with the use of technology.
Since 2009 Giada has participated in collective and personal exhibitions in Turin and its surroundings, Vercelli and Cuneo, Trentino, and Tuscany. Her most recent "Animalier" exhibition is on display at Fogola Gallery in Turin. One of her works, representing an Arabian horse named Oroc, is permanently exhibited at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada.
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1. Hello Giada. Welcome on board! Will you please introduce yourself to our readers?
1. You can breathe science and art in every corner of my house! I have two older brothers into physics and information technology, while I chose art right from the start. I just loved drawing. My parents would take me to exhibitions and museums, but, at the same time, I had a great passion for nature. I would spend the summer in the hills and at the seaside. So, all the little creatures, from insects to hermit crabs, became the main focus of my attention and drawings. It may sound weird, I know it. But I have been breeding stick insects, leaf insects, and other phasmids for several years! In 2020, I should have participated in the Messer Tulipano Event at the Pralormo Castle as a contemporary emulator of Maria Sibylla Merian, a female painter, and entomologist of the 1600s. I ought to have exhibited live insects and themed painting artworks. The pandemic vetoed all that, but I hope things will get better this year! 2. Have you always dreamt about becoming an artist? Or did you have other ambitions as a child?
2. Luckily enough, my family was very much pleased with my choice. I only put my natural aptitude to good use. You must possess a particular visual conformation to capture the features of a living thing and then transpose it onto the canvas in a way that it looks three-dimensional and decipherable, but that was easy for me, I have to say. As I progressed in my studies, I could realize that my choice was right. I felt privileged and happy at the Academy!

3. Giada, what's your relationship with your territory? Do you enjoy living there, or are you more of a traveller person? 3.I have an excellent relationship with my territory. Piedmont has such a varied and rich nature. I love the mountains for sports, the countryside to observe, photograph, and walk, but I am also quite comfy in my studio in the city. The only important thing is that there is enough material to work on: at least one pencil and a few sheets of paper. 
 4.Where do you find the inspiration for your artworks? 4. There is a project that I have been working on for some years. I called it FaceWorld, the World in the Face. These are portraits on top of which I superimpose other images that convey the dreams, the inner world of the person portrayed - and the result is a particular, psycho-analytical portrait. In reality, this idea was born from portraits of Arabian horses to which I dedicated myself during my first three years at the Fine Arts Academy. Their bodies are crossed by flowery fields where they run or the seawater as if nature were part of them. Rebecca Russo's VideoInsight Foundation is interested in this kind of work precisely to make it art therapy. It is a project that I hope I can complete. As for horses, I have always wanted to attend Fieracavalli Verona since I was only a child to see these champions of beauty up close, to photograph them, and draw inspiration from them, but I also attend the riding schools in the area.

5.When did you become a member of Ossimoro Art & Technology? What's the purpose of it?
5. For some years, I have been part of Ossimoro, a cultural association that aims to promote artistic, culturally and conceptually opposite activities: painting and theatre, sculpture and singing, design and dance, hence the name Ossimoro. I participated in some group exhibitions, and it was a good moment for artistic growth. 6. How many exhibitions have you done so far? Which is/was the most important one?
6. I have participated in competitions and group exhibitions since 2009. I have been invited to many National Parks in Piedmont, Trentino, and Tuscany for an exhibition of paintings having the Wolf at its core. It is the wild animal par excellence of our lands, another passion of mine. I have had positive critical reports for Portraiture and Animalier painting in "Disegna la Natura" (Draw the Nature) and especially for my solo "Il Bestiario di Giada" (Giada's Bestiary) at the Dantean Fogola Gallery in Turin. 7. Our Magazine is one of the best specialist publications in the industry of the Arabian Horse, a matter very dear to the heart of our readers. Have you ever met one? Why is the horse such a central theme in your artworks? What is your approach to horses in general? 
7. In a book devoted to the Arabian horse in the history of painting, I wrote that it is difficult to understand how this passion for the Arabian horse came about. No family passion has ignited the spell in me. My brothers used to attend a riding school many years ago while, at age 2, I got on the back of Pepe, the oldest Anglo-Arab in the riding school, for a photograph.
Since that time, my favourite game was soft pink and blue ponies that I used to catch the attention of my peers and, when I got a bit older, the legendary American Breyer collectable horses. My weekly pocket money got used up in purchasing magazines specialized in horses, and horse riding became the best moment of my summer holidays. On the first day of my painting course, professor Radu Dragumirescu asked us to draw what we wanted, and, of course, I drew a horse.
For three years, I was not allowed to change the subject, so I could do more anatomical research and experiment with new painting techniques, ending up with a dissertation on three of the Arabian horses I had painted. In a 2010 competition in Turin, work required that I spoke of the East-West bond. In my opinion, only beauty can merge two different civilizations, and who better than an Arabian horse can represent beauty? Still today, I never stop looking for it on a canvas and paper! 8. Giada, your technique involves oil painting in combination with technology. Why did you choose this specific mixed technique? 8. Now, I also like using pastel and watercolour. But oil on canvas is perfect for these works with glazes, and I use the computer to create the overlapped images that often seem to be collaborating with me. When the image responds to the idea I got from talking to the person, I start by painting traditionally.

9. Which one is your favourite piece? 9. All my artworks are dear to me. I get pleased when people collect their portraits and realize how much of their dreamed or forgotten world there is in them, even though the final piece looks so different from the photographic portrait! Lately, with this technique, I have also created portraits of famous people who have left us for some time, but what I love the most is the one devoted to Klimt and the female universe he loved surrounding himself. In these portraits. I use graphite for the face and colour for the overlays. 10. What effect do you think the Internet will have on art in the future? Has it affected yours?
10. The Internet allows you to get to know new people very quickly and acquire more visibility, although it may also bring on some degree of uniformity. But the taste could also return to the "beautiful" rather than the "sensational" that today's art system proposes.

11. What is the best way for a potential client to reach you?
11. I have a Facebook page, and I am on Instagram, Twitter, and other socials. My email is: jade.g8@gmail.com

12. Giada, what are your hopes and dreams or future goals? Where do you see yourself in the next five years? 12. The pandemic has unexpectedly made me work harder, maybe because people have had more time to chase their dreams! In five years? Like many young people, I hope to become financially independent soon, and, of course, I still see myself standing behind an easel to paint!

Thank you very much, Giada. The Artworld is anxiously awaiting your future creations. It was a pure pleasure speaking with you!