Interview: Gabriella Mazza
Gabriella Mazza is an Italian-born artist, art writer, and linguist based in New York City. Her work explores the mysteries of the spirit world through a contemporary feminine lens. She creates fantastical landscapes inhabited by deities, angels, and mythical beings that represent highly evolved astral realms and transcend the space and time barriers of the material plane. To convey heightened realities, she creates maximalist compositions with a highly saturated palette of bright and fluorescent colors, using a blend of acrylic paint, gouache, colored pencils, crayons, and collaged paper. She is currently learning how to weave and tuft to make beautiful tapestries of her paintings.
Although she has taken classes at the New York Academy of Art, SVA, Cooper Union, and the New York School of the Arts, she is mostly self-taught. Solo shows include Ode to the Goddess and Beyond Beauty at the School of Visual Arts’ ContinuED Project Space. She has also exhibited with Satellite Art Show in Miami as well as in New York with Paradice Palase, Chashama, The Factory, Local Project Art Space, Departure Studios, and the Greenpoint Gallery. Her work appeared in The Los Angeles Press and The Orenda Arts Journal and is present in private collections in Europe and the United States.
Read our interview with Gabriella below!
Regina Caeli, acrylic, gouache, colored pencils and crayons on paper, 11 x 8.5 inches, 2023
PP: Walk us through a typical day in your studio or generally through your process to make new work.
GM: As many artists will tell you, I don’t have a typical studio day, and as many New York artists will tell you, I don’t have a studio! My studio is the desk in whatever apartment I am in. I have been a bit of a nomad lately, so the particular shape and size of that desk have changed, but despite the vagaries I make it work.
The process is more consistent and meticulous. I generally start by working on the composition. I look for inspiration in medieval and Renaissance paintings, Romantic visionary art, or images I saved on Instagram. For patterns, I research contemporary fashion, especially Anna Sui, one of my favorite designers. I take animals, landscapes, and figures I like and collage them together. Then I transfer the composition to a larger surface and start painting. Recently, I began to weave and tuft and I am working on a series of altarpiece rugs.
The Taming of the Blue Tiger, acrylic, gouache, and colored pencils on paper, 18 x 24 inches, 2023
Clairaudience in the Company of an Ermine, acrylic, gouache, and colored pencils on paper, 18 x 24 inches, 2023
PP: What motivates you to make art?
GM: To me, art is a spiritual practice. They are inseparable. The art that we make does not belong to us. We act as channels for divine creativity to flow through. My goal is to elevate the consciousness of whoever comes in contact with my work, to show them a world beyond the confines of the material, to activate their divine potential, to crush the illusive barriers of separation amongst human beings. Through my art I want to awaken from the Cosmic Dream and merge into infinity, bringing everyone with me.
PP: What challenges have you faced as an artist and how do you overcome them?
GM: I suffer from mental illness, which has made my journey as an artist very difficult at times. But through it, I have discovered an indomitable spirit and unbreakable willpower which has sustained me over the years. I have painted under very strenuous circumstances. The healing process is never really complete, but there is a sort of beauty in pain, there is a depth and compassion we could not have otherwise discovered. I believe the most powerful works of art are awakening in nature. They take unspeakable sorrow and turn it into breathtaking radiance.
What is interesting to me is that despite my inner turmoil, my work is glowing and incredibly joyful. I believe this speaks to my inherent hopeful nature. There is a bright light shining within me, no matter how bad I feel at a particular moment. I cannot bring myself to paint darkness. The light always comes through.
Angeli Caeli, acrylic, gouache, and colored pencils on paper, 30 x 40 inches, 2022
PP: Who is a current muse for your practice? Could be anyone fictional or real, dead or alive!
GM: My number one muse is the one and only Divine Mother in all of her glistening glory. She can be a bit of a tough cookie, but it’s for our own good. Painting helps me make sense of the mystery that the divinely created Universe is. God’s silence can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you are clutching at straws. The worlds I paint seek to recreate the splendor of God’s Creation, but at the same time, there is a certain enigmatic quality about the subjects I depict. We don’t have all the answers and all the answers are not given to us, which is part of the drama of being a human being in a physical body.
PP: What would a dream project look like for you as an artist?
GM: I see my art becoming more and more immersive. So for me, this means working on a much larger scale. I am thinking murals or massive tapestries. Ultimately, I would love to have an exhibition recreating the astral world as I see it, with 2D work, sound, video, and sculptures. I want the viewer to be mesmerized and shocked back into divine consciousness. If you attain nirvana at my show, I’ll consider myself satisfied!
To learn more about Gabriella Mazza’s work, see her Instagram and Website