Stefania GrossoAndrea Caisutti is an Italian wood sculptor, he was born in Udine in 1967, and for many years, he only worked as a mechanic surveyor. Until around 2010, when he rediscovered a passion that he has since he was a little child. Since then he participated in many symposiums and held personal exhibitions receiving positive critiques.
How did this passion come to you?
I started to carve little statues for the Christmas nativity scene since I was 10, following the steps of one of my father’s friend, a sculptor. My parents gave to me my first tools for carving, chisels and gouges which I still treasure with the little Christmas statues.
And why did you choose wood?
The material’s choice is never fortuitous in the creative process of the artist. Wood has always had a role of protagonist in our culture (i.e. Friuli), and it has been fundamental for the developing of the region, for example, my first job was in a sawmill. Wood, with its natural characteristic, has already inside the images that I want to carve. The contact with this material is something lively, friendly, wood never dies. Wood gives a warmly and peaceful feeling. It has always inspired artists, architects, musicians who created and still create sculptures, instruments, furniture and so on.
Andrea Caisutti | Work
At the beginning, was it difficult to be recognized as a sculptor?
I can’t say it was difficult, because I met people who, from the start, believed in my work. Accuracy and commitment, and also humility, help to find a way. Of course, you have to believe in what you do and you have to carry it on with dedication without losing hope. Sometimes you are not esteemed but that is part of the game and part of the artist’s life.
After so many symposiums and exhibitions, which is your favourite memory?
Certainly, I appreciate working with people from all over the world, from China to South America, and I spend entire weeks with them. That was not only an artistic experience but also, and especially, a life’s experience. Then, the warm welcoming of many places and people that I met is something really special, as the artists that I am honoured to know.
Are you always searching for new forms and experiments?
Always. If you lose the will of searching and experiencing everything, you’ll become simply a creator of soulless objects. I always search for inspiration, in objects and people. I combine different geometric shapes, which are quite detached, with the soft lines of the feminine body, creating something harmonious and balanced which captures the gaze of the observer. I tried also to inspect life’s situations, which sometimes can be harmonious, and sometimes you can feel a detachment. The idea becomes a sketch on the paper and then, after a long time of observation, I start to carve the wood.
Andrea Caisutti | Geometrica
If you lose the will of searching and experiencing everything, you’ll become simply a creator of soulless objects
Many works are more conceptual than realistic, why?
I think that, and I am quite certain, it depends on my work as mechanic surveyor; it has been a kind of contamination. I use every day lines, circles, cubes, spheres, cylinders and they become part of the feminine bodies that I have always carved.
Have you planned upcoming exhibitions?
It is not an exhibition, it is a symposium. Next week I will be in Erto (PN), which is a little town in the mountains where, in the alleys and streets of the town, with others sculptors I will carve from a Swiss Pine trunk and the theme is “The continuity of life and solidarity”.