Marco Saracino on Being a Young Artist in Milan Today

In an interview with Artribune, artist Marco Saracino (b. 1999, Lecce) discusses his experience as a young artist in Milan. Saracino moved to Milan for university, initially drawn by friendships and the city's limitless feel. He studied at the Accademia di Brera, where he felt the academic environment pushed him to protect his work from commercial galleries. Instead, he gravitated toward experimental exhibition projects, such as Saìl, a collaborative project with photographer Francesco Paolo Gassi, which led to shows like 'The Desire of Form' at Pracownia Portretu in Łódź, Poland. Saracino also co-runs Radio Tosunian with Filippo Caniato, a participatory radio project that will soon celebrate its tenth anniversary. He reflects on his painting practice, which often involves a sense of absence or emptiness in figures, and discusses his current focus on working with canvas and exploring the reproducibility of the figure. When asked for an image to describe being a young artist in Milan, he cites Antonello da Messina's 'Ecce Homo' and Tommaso Landolfi's 'Milano non esiste'. The interview was conducted by Margherita Filippi.