Andrea Cislaghi

the sculptor laborer in search of the iron soul

interview by Roberto Sironi

We reach Andrea Cislaghi in his laboratory, an old chicken coop transformed into a warehouse where he welds and folds his artifacts. He comes to meet us welcoming with enthusiasm, we recognize in him a quiet man in harmony with his surroundings.

Who is Andrea Cislaghi?

I was born 50 years ago in Boffalora, a small town in the western province of Milan along the banks of the Ticino. I am very attached to my land and my origins, to my family, to my grandmother’s snack, to the fireplace in the kitchen, to the table in the evening sitting around the set table, to simple games, to the huts built in the woods. I had a simple and happy childhood. It all comes from here: a fertile ground to express my innate artistic vein.

Is it right to call yourself a sculptor laborer?

In my job as a laborer I discovered iron, in all its forms and peculiarities, an immense world. Thanks to the manual labor of a worker, I am artistically completed; so yes, that’s right. I am a sculptor laborer

Are you self-taught?

Yes, my training derives from experimentation in the field, from my work but above all from my curiosity towards materials and shapes.

What is the relationship between you and iron?

A relationship of love and ecstasy, an intimate search for myself.

Briefly tell us about the creation of your work.

A continuous research in the scraps and in the ferrous wrecks, rusty materials, cut and badly bent, discarded to be melted, and then a curious shape happens that attracts me, the work, the fold, the balance, I give it love and passion, all the my manual ability and my experience, so the scrap iron relives.

How do you choose the material you work and how do you work it?

I choose it based on my instincts, on what I feel at that moment. Maybe the previous day I don’t even see him and the next day he calls me, he wants to relive in a new form.

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I work the iron with different and all manual techniques, I use plasma sometimes, but most of the time I fold manually and tighten it flush. For the finishes I try to keep the details that the iron has acquired over time. The beauty of her, I try to enhance her like an old man with her wrinkles.

What is sculpture for you?

Initially I was very fond of freehand drawing, but I have always had a vocation towards research of the form moving gradually towards the sculpture. I find that it completes me fully, it is a continuous search for new forms.

Were there any masters in your artistic life?

I’m still in the middle of my artistic life! I read a lot and study, Marinetti, Giacometti, Jago. I am also lucky enough to know and have made friends with you, Roberto Sironi, who are a multifaceted artist. Confronting myself with these characters greatly affects my work.

How do you imagine your future?

I will try to remain myself, happy as now. Maybe with more time to devote to my passion.

What would you recommend to a young person who wants to take the same path as you?

Be the architect of your own success, never settle and learn from mistakes. Humility, a lot of humility towards oneself, this is a virtue that is lacking, but it is necessary, indeed, indispensable.

One last question: how do you see the world of art and artists today?

My feeling is that we are experiencing a moment of transition, a non-time. A search for a new artistic current. I believe that we will move towards a future to be lived with greater awareness, to breathe, to savor, a rebellion from this forced imprisonment. A new world, a new time in which art will have a new life, independent of consumerism and autonomous. It will have lymph from love and from passion for its creation, from the dexterity and virtue of man. A new warmth detached from as of now, there will no longer be bananas stuck on a canvas with adhesive tape, but there will be the return to true beauty, the inner beauty that opens your eyes, that shows you hidden, real aspects. I am optimistic, the artist will once again have his rightful place in society. Without art and culture there is no future and the artist will be the centripetal force.