Our Q&A with Gianfranco about his Brazil-based studio:

We are so excited to get the “behind the scenes” of your São Paolo studio. What was your main source of inspiration for designing your studio?

When I rented my studio space I didn't have anything planned, I just needed a space because it was getting very difficult to work in my home, so I realized that there was a lot of sun and light during the day in the new studio, I decided to make everything white and clean, that way the pieces, paintings, sculptures, and images I created would be the center of attraction.

What does a day in your studio look like?

In the morning I arrive with a big cup of coffee and check if there are any pieces made the day before that I need to finish, and I sit down at the computer to answer emails, get in touch with a supplier or something like that. After lunch, I go back and get my hands dirty (literally), by molding a vase or glazing it, and I'll go on like this until the end of the day, usually at night I draw designs that I intend to use in my pieces.

We are so intrigued by your method to create your textured, layered, and unique ceramic pieces. How did you originally gain inspiration for your pieces beginning with a sketch and leading to a large ceramic piece? And how have you seen beginning this way make a difference in your work?

When I was a child in Peru, the school always made trips to excavations and museums in cities of Pre Inca culture, this was part of my childhood and adolescence, so I was fascinated by the pieces found underground, the vases full of textures; oxidized by time, so since I started working with clay I wasn't attracted to making perfect and smooth pieces, I was always attracted to texture, to this idea of ​​an object having been found after many years with marks of time.

So in the first pieces I did lots and lots of tests, I made countless small plates with different types of texture combinations, chamotte, oxides, underglazes, glazes, etc. until I reached results that came close to what I intended to do. We live in a time of perfect images, perfect skins, velvety textures, I wanted noise, I like my vases to have imperfections, grooves, cracks, not only as if they had come from the bottom of the earth but as if other elements had adhered to them over the years.

Do you have any studio must haves? A podcast? Playlist? Snacks?

I listen to a lot of podcasts while I'm modeling vases, but this ranges from podcasts about greek mythology to astrology, I love having a bunch of grapes on the side too, I eat grapes like popcorn.

Many artists and creators consider the place where they create as important as the final artwork. Do you find that your Brazilian studio is a haven that inspires you to produce your best work? Why or why not?

For me, my studio is like my sanctuary, my safe space, obviously I like to go out and travel to get inspired; but I love going into my studio to put on some good music, light a scented candle and just start producing.

How would you describe your artistic style in a few words?

Queer Contemporary Artwork.

We know you take inspiration from Ancient Greek and pre-Inca culture. Are there any techniques or elements from studying Ancient Greek mythology that have helped you as a professional sculptor? And how does it continue to inspire you on a daily basis?

Yes, in both cultures they work with Coiling, I tend to mix techniques, I generally make the bases with slabs and continue working on the rest of the piece with coils, for me it is very therapeutic and I can see the shape of my pieces develop slower.

We love your dedication to exploring sexuality and gender in your work. What has been the most revealing part of this and how has it affected not only your work, but the presentation of it?

in Greek, Roman and Peruvian culture, stories, legends, battles and everyday life were drawn on vases, this way they recorded what happened in their lives, so I wanted to bring that to my work, I could make a beautiful vase full of textures just, but I also want to bring a story, a naked body, a contemporary figure, these are scenes that are part of my day, each vase is like a photograph of an erotic scene, I think that's bold.

Your talents range from ceramicist to sculptor to painter and photographer. Do you identify with any of these roles more so than the others? And how has your array of artistic talents had an influence on one another?

I've asked myself this question a lot until I understand that this is all part of the construction of my work as a whole. Of course, ceramics consume a lot of my time due to the fact that it is a process with several very time-consuming steps, but every day I am making drawings or sketches of the male figures that I place in the pieces, and when everything is ready I think of a concept. how everything will be photographed; So as they say in Brazil: "everything is together and mixed".

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