Vittoria Chierici interviewed by Anna Hilbe

AH. Vittoria Chierici, you have been painting battles for a long time. From the 1992 Gulf War until your most recent work, Leonardo’s The Battle of Anghiari. Why battles?
VC. My generation often defended an idea of reality even when it conflicted with direct experience. I attended a school where Pop Art was considered the most influential trend in the 20th century. It was a given, therefore, that the most important world events would provide the frame of reference for my ideas for many years. In this sense, the Gulf War was the input for “my” battles. It wasn’t a matter of exposing the political issues or of emphasizing their journalistic, iconographic value. Rather, I was trying to provide many potential scenarios for abstract representation. As always happens in my more complete works, I would choose a topic that instinctually allowed interpretation on two levels –the present and the historical.

From Leggere Donna, a bimonthly journal of cultural information, March April 2002.

ITALIAN text by
EMANUELA ZANON