Natsumi Di Vito Chirico

Born in Tokyo from Italian father and Belgian mother.
Lived in Italy (Milano – Sicily – Rome – Tuscany) – London – Bruxelles – Seychelles – Spain – Tunis – Shenzhen, China.
Now based and working in Milan, Italy.

STUDIES AND TRAINING IN THE ARTS:

1992/1996 – Accademia Di Belle Arti di Brera – Milano – Italy (graduated in Academy of Fine Arts – Decoration faculty)
1985/1989 – III ° Liceo Artistico Statale Boccioni – Milano – Italy (graduated in Fine Art High school)

TEACHING & LECTURES:

2013 April / July – CHINA, Shenzen University, College of Arts & Design : ”AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF WESTERN VISUAL ARTS”

EXHIBITIONS:

2018 “Ulisse” Malpensa Airport – Milan – Italy
2018 ” Dalla Cina con Passione” – Ciasmo – Milan – Italy
2013 “Mapping Souls”- Rue de Rivoli – Paris – France
2012-2013 “New Era 2012″ F518 Art Base – Shenzhen – China
2012 “Shenzhen Energy” Shenzhen International Art Fair – Shenzhen – China
2012 “Do You understand? changing views on the other side”- (solo exhibition) – Spot Art Gallery – Guangzhou – China
2012 “Look up to Utopia” Art Base – F518 Idea Land – Shenzhen – China
2012 “Art in box” Czech Cultural Institute– Milano -Italy
2011 “L’ordre des mots déchiré”- (solo exhibition) – Belgian Consulate in Milan-Italy
2011 “Art in box” Galleria La Porta Blu – Rome – Italy
2010 “Art in box” House of Arts – Brno – Czech Republic
2009 “Tout va bien” – Exhibition space:La Ruine – Paris -France
2005 “Flash art show” – Patrick Heide contemporary art – Bologna –Italy
2001 “Erotica – mente”- Galleria Aquifante – Busto Arsizio- Italy
2001 “Art Wave”- Art Fair – Galleria Artestudio – Rimini – Italy
2000 “Oggetti in – utili” Galleria Aquifante – Busto Arsizio- Italy
2000 “Oggettopera” – Galleria Artestudio – Milano- Italy

ABOUT MY LATEST WORK AND NEW PROJECTS:

The work I have done in China some time ago, was the development of the work that I started in Rome, where I had almost completely abandoned the use of color by brush and I used sheets, strips, scraps of paper to realize projects like “art in box” and “l’ordre des mots dechire”. I always felt the need to keep in touch with the material even when working on canvas, wood or any other bidimensional surface. I need to use my hands in the same way I like to eat pizza without cutlery (Italian best way to do it). I need to feel the materials, as when I am working with irons, woods, ropes and fabrics. I’m comfortable with heavy tools in hand like drill, welding machines, pliers, cutters and hammers … To paint, I often prefer to use rollers ( like the one to paint the walls) instead of brushes, faster and more unpredictable. I feel a special attraction for everything that naturally creates layered, flaky, peeling, forgotten or unwanted buildups, cracks, signs, maps, routes , footsteps, rust and all that is worn, lived, smooth. I take pictures of them, and often I start working from those images.The whole work is impulsive, without default planning. I have my materials, my mess, everything scattered on the ground, and then I work until I am satisfied with the outcome.
My colors, now, are mostly neutral, the soils, the mosses, the sands. I hardly use bright colors, not my stuff, even if in China I had constants stimulus: the reds, yellows, purples … I do not know if sooner or later I will give in to temptation. There I found some new materials, the inks, the local papers, the special brushes…I tried to learn and I experimented Chinese traditional paintings, including calligraphy to see how much they could contaminate my work. I found new images, new scenarios, new “layers”. I’ve been testing the thickness, the resistance, the possibility of interaction with my research.
In Shenzhen I’ve been working with the images I have taken all around the country, from Bejin, to Shanghay, from Shenzhen and Guandong to the rice fields at Ping’an in Guangxi and the Lee River. Of Course Hong Kong and the beautiful Sanya Island had impressed me much.
I can not tell how important is the fact that I never had a permanent living place in my life, which means that I am constantly moving, both physically, geographically and mentally. I am constantly changing roads, however I seek for stability and a sort of order but they are not in my nature. There must be a common thread, but I think I still have not found it, the same in my work often taking unpredictable paths. We’ll see what will happened now, here in Milan, again.

Natsumi Di Vito Chirico