About Me.

A brief introduction

Born on a giant Nazi blimp in flight over the Atlantic in the mid-30s, I carelessly lost my parents at a country fair at an early age. Tossed about among more or less mentally unstable relatives, I ended up in Montreal, where I finished my studies, graduating in Psychiatric Astronomy. I always had the urge to write, from an early age, and I tried to reconcile my passion for science with my love for literature. I also dreamed of becoming a visual artist and a screenwriter, but my incipient dementia precog prevented me from going full Hollywood (until now).

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Q & A with Alessandro Neckels (excerpt)
Alice Shay (curator) in conversation with Alessandro Neckels

AS: Where do you find your ideas for your pieces?
AN: In my mind
AS: How much of an influence do you think society has on your work?
AN: Society influences my work because I live in this society, and I want to represent and criticize all the wrong aspects of our "civilization", in this sense my work is a political work. It's a struggle against a  predatory and self-destructing society. I try to show what is being done against nature; and with "nature" I mean not only our natural environment but also our bodies and souls, which are also going to be polluted.
AS: How do you think society has influenced your identity?
AN: Society has tried to influence my identity but has not completely succeeded. Again, society in our world is an exploiting system (not defined by ideology, but by its squalid objects), which tends to uniform and flat out all differences between human beings, which are so important in order to be free and intellectually active. 
AS: Do you illustrate any dichotomies of identity in your work? If so, how?
AN: My work is a continuous paradox. It's difficult to differentiate between the two sides.
AS: Do you illustrate the influences of society in your work? If so, how?
AN: See above.
AS: Do you believe inspiration occurs consciously, subconsciously, or both?  By "¨this I mean, do you think artists are always aware of what influences them?
AN: Inspiration is always in the subconscious.
AS: What is the purpose of art?
AN: Art has no direct purpose, but may help build a better world. 
AS: Do art need to communicate to be worthwhile/good?
AN: Art is art, and communications are intrinsic.
AS: What is your opinion of the aesthetic vs. ethical values of art?
AN: Well, as I first heard of this, it was I think in an interview to some "very important" art critic during the last Venice Exposition, I almost threw up. What the hell are you talking about, I thought, art has no boundaries, art is a weapon. If used correctly, art can change the world, but you cannot limit art in such a way, using concepts like ethics and aesthetics. "More ethics, less aesthetics" was the slogan of the moment: I think in the art world there is a lot of very sick people.
AS: How much attention do you pay to famous artists?  How much influence have they had on you as an artist, your work, or your style of art?
AN: If they had some sort of influence on me, I'm completely unaware of it.
AS: Is art a form of catharsis for you?
AN: Catharsis is a strong word. I would rather define it as some sort of "outing", enhancing my relationship with the world, the people.
AS: Do you plan out your pieces or just create them?
AN: Sometime I plan, sometime they pop out like flowers in the garden.
AS: How has your creative process developed over time?
AN: My creative process has gone through different stages. I would say, the first, more conventional, died a couple of years ago. Now I'm searching for new ways to express my feelings, video and photography may be the next one, and computer graphics, live performances...Hollywood!
AS: What is art?
AN: The final question no one will ever be able to answer.