Meet Daniele Puppi | Multimedia Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniele Puppi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniele, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It’s a complex question because my work brings together various elements, and in the end what is produced, especially in large, site-specific sound and video installations, is an immersive experience – a sensation. For me, almost all the works I’ve created have a playful, simultaneously punk and poetic spirit. I’ve always tried to impose a new way of using the eyes, the ears and the entire body; a reconfiguration of sensory commands; a new control and new interconnections. I remember that during the opening of Zero, my solo exhibition at Benedetta Spalletti’s Vistamare Gallery in Pescara, Italy, the children were the ones who had the most fun. They slunk fearlessly through the gallery’s 12 rooms while automated electrical devices abruptly opened and closed the doors and windows, slamming violently against the walls. For them, it was a new experience. Their parents, on the other hand, didn’t seem inclined to be led into the game. What I can tell you is that my work begins when I enter the space with the tools of the trade, including video cameras, video projectors, microphones, lights, speakers, technicians, etc., and almost always ends shortly before the inauguration. When I finally have the opportunity to see the work in its entirety and power for the first time in the architectural space. If the vision of the work evokes in me a particular joy mixed with a feeling of indefinable wonder, like when I was a child, there’s no doubt that something good has been born.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an Italian multimedia artist. I’ve never been interested in occupying space, filling it with things; I’ve always preferred to “explore” it and then “explode” it. To explode its perception. The technologies I use—video projectors, LED screens, synchronizers, amplifiers, subwoofers, speakers, microphones—function to activate the viewer’s perceptive, visual, and auditory faculties, as an integral part of the work itself. The viewer is invited to enter a new and alienating spatial-sensorial dimension. I have no particular methods or habits; I like to take risks and trust in intuition, which, on the other hand, leaves me with a taste of the unexpected and a great curiosity to verify the final results. Let me give an example that helps understand the genesis of the very first work I made that was entirely site-specific, “FATICA N.1.” It was 1996, and I was in my final year at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. I remember wanting to do a group exhibition involving a few other fourth-year students who were eager to exhibit. Once the group had consolidated, we began searching for spaces until we met Simone Carella, one of the founders of Beat72, who at the time managed the former Theater of the Artists, an experimental space not far from Rome’s Regina Coeli Prison. Simone gave us the space free of charge (we were all young and broke) with the sole commitment of knocking down a wall dividing two rooms. I immediately accepted the offer because I sensed that knocking down that wall could become the central hub around which to develop the work. I filmed the action with two video cameras that simultaneously filmed me from both sides of the wall, as I broke through and invaded the space. Once the two areas that were previously separated were connected, I projected the footage onto the two opposing back walls, in full-scale, with a faithful recording of the sounds that marked the blows under which the wall gradually gave way, fracturing into pieces and falling to the floor. The work was greatly appreciated and enjoyed great success with the public and critics, becoming the launch pad for my artistic career.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
For lunch, I’d take them to Grand Central Market in DTLA, a vibrant, always cheerful, and friendly place where you can eat and drink excellently for a low price. For meditation and reading, also in Downtown, I’d take them to “The Last Bookshop,” a truly cool old bookstore spread over two floors where you can relax while reading, wandering through labyrinths of shelves filled with antique and contemporary books, listening to music, or enjoying a drink. For a movie, I’d definitely take them to the Vista Theater in Los Feliz, the iconic movie theater on Sunset Drive that Tarantino masterfully re-imagined. Watching a movie at the Vista Theater means enjoying a complete, vibrant, and passionate aesthetic experience, just like it was in the ’60s and ’70s. Pure Cinematic Spectacle. For the beach, I’d take them to Santa Barbara, and before taking a nice swim in the ocean, I’d offer them a couple of Shoreline Margaritas at Shoreline Cafe, one of the few bars located directly on the beach along the California coast. For experimental art, I’d force them to check out the always interesting and entertaining offerings of CATHODE CINEMA. I recently saw XXXMAS IN AUGVSST, a fantastic performance by Paul McCarthy and Lilith Stangenberg that was thrilling. For art in general, I’d suggest visiting artists’ studios rather than the usual museums and countless commercial galleries.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this Shoutout to an artist, a painter I met years ago in Rome and still frequent today. Her name is Monica Lundy. I met her at the American Academy in Rome, during an open studio event and was captivated by her work. The paintings she exhibited were intense, layered, and original, and I remember spending a long time talking to her about her work, enthralled by the extraordinary quality of her painting. Over time, we’ve become friends, and when we find ourselves discussing art, philosophy, or simply life, Monica is a source of inspiration and admiration for me. One thing she always tells me and that makes me reflect on the complexity of painting is this: “Painting might seem easy when you don’t know how, but it’s very complex when you know how to paint.” I know she’s preparing a solo show in San Francisco in November. I recently glimpsed at some of the pieces she was finishing in the studio for the show, and they were truly amazing!

Website: https://www.danielepuppi.com

Instagram: @danielepuppi

Other: https://vimeo.com/danielepuppi

Image Credits
Andrea Veneri
Mario Di Paolo
Davide Franceschini
Noah Stone