ABOUT ME
AN INNATE AND LASTING CONNECTION WITH SCULPTURE
“Sculpture is an escape from reality, from a world ruled by time and deadlines: when I create, I feel free, I am in my world, within a dream, in a dimension that is just mine.”
Nicola Giacomello, Mirano (VE), born in 1989. I always had a talent for artistic disciplines. I started studying sculpture in the laboratories of the “Pietro Selvatico Art Institute”, in Padua, where I obtained a high school diploma in “Sculpture “.
First in school, then in my free time, I felt the need to express myself through this wonderful form of art. Mine was a sort of urgency: I wanted to experiment and further investigate some techniques on my own to see if I was able to create something interesting.
Parents do not always support children in their decisions, but mostly because they want the best for them. If, on the one hand, I did not have my father’s approval, on the other, I learned a lot from him too, by observing him while he was restoring furniture and using his tools and spaces.
After school, I missed exchanging views with more experienced people a lot, so I asked my Professor (a sculptor) the permission to go to his shop to observe him and may be help him. I was afraid I could bother him, or make him jealous: when it comes to “your own art” you may not want to disclose your secrets to others.
Hopefully that was not the case: perhaps he saw a curiosity in me that few other students showed, and he welcomed me very willingly. Thanks to him, I expanded my knowledge: by helping him, I learned a lot and became more and more passionate about sculpture.
At the time, to support myself, I had jobs that had nothing to do with art, so I dedicated body and soul to this discipline in the evenings and at weekends only. I experimented with the matter, I put it together and disassembled it, and I often threw my works away because they still did not fully reflect what was in my head.
When I started to get closer to the desired result, I did not look for art critics, but I looked for my teacher, since his opinion mattered to me. Before him, under his critical eye, I got the first confirmations: he was proud of me and I started to believe that I had found my way.
THE BEGINNINGS
Time had come to see the reaction of the public to my works. I started exhibiting at art-themed events in small towns. People started to get to know me thanks to the word of mouth. I took part into exhibitions and competitions where I won prizes and awards. “Arte Padova” was my first important exhibition and also my first significant sale: a bronze cast.
I continued to exhibit my first works at trade fairs and exhibitions becoming more and more aware, economically speaking too, that people liked my art.
Living on sculpture requires tenacity and determination
Sculpturing lays on shaky grounds. It may happen that you do not have a free moment for months, then suddenly you find yourself without orders, or you run out of creativity. Maybe that’s what my parents were trying to protect me from, but if I had listened to their thoughts, I wouldn’t have even started: I persisted and carried on.
When people ask me what it takes to be a sculptor, my answer is that, beside passion and manual skills, the urge to express yourself and unconditional love for challenges, it takes such a strong philosophy that you feel the urge to express it.
Moreover, it takes tenacity to face technical difficulties or the harsh criticism of an audience ready to judge you.
It takes psychological determination, a resolute mind to face the challenges because when you win them, no greater satisfaction compares to making a living out of what you love the most.
