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BIZARRE WORLDS AND AMAZING ART BY NICOLETTA CECCOLI

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BIZARRE WORLDS AND AMAZING ART BY NICOLETTA CECCOLI

Text: Maxim Nogotkov

Photo: Nicoletta Ceccoli

January 18 2024

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Text: Maxim Nogotkov

Photo: Nicoletta Ceccoli

January 18 2024

SHARE ARTICLE

Are you ready to immerse yourself in a world where dreams meet reality, innocence intertwines with darkness, and imagination knows no bounds?

Nicoletta Ceccoli is a contemporary artist from the Republic of San Marino, who, with her unique style and intricate details, captivates a wide range of audiences around the world, from young children who like playful characters and bright colors to adults who appreciate the deeper symbolism and layers of meaning hidden in her art. She awakens the childlike wonder in all of us, reminding us that even in the simplest moments you can find magic.

Each of Nicoletta Ceccoli’s works illustrates a story waiting to be discovered, her works evoke a sense of emotional depth and narrative ambiguity. Using symbolism and allegory, Nicoletta Ceccoli explores the complexities of human nature, shedding light on the duality of innocence and darkness that resides within all of us.

First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to learn more about you and your art! They say that we all come from childhood, and even when we grow up, we continue to be children at heart. Do you think your childhood influenced your creative destiny? If so, how?

Since I was a child, my mother, an elementary school teacher, always surrounded me with beautiful illustrated books and encouraged me to follow my dreams. My father, instead, was the creative force in the family, a highly inventive carpenter. I grew up in his workshop, filled with wood and tools, which I used to craft toys with my own hands.

The restlessness that emanates from my art began in my adolescence: the fear of growing up, the difficulties in relating to others, the struggle with self-acceptance, and the feeling of loneliness. I attempted to ease my anxieties by immersing myself in sugary worlds, which only led to a perpetual sense of never being fully satisfied, always craving more.

I allude to a conflicted relationship with food, a form of addiction, or suppression of appetites driven by a need for affection rather than sugar. The compulsion to control my world, and the fear of succumbing to someone else’s authority are recurring themes still today in my art.

You have managed to create very emotional art that leaves no one indifferent. Children's, at first glance, theme of the works is not childish at all. The works have the character of an adult's experiences, even if they are depicted as children's illustrations. What is it: an appeal to adult personalities or a dialogue with the inner child?

While my art may seem childish and innocent, it’s more than just that. It explores grown-up feelings like sadness, confusion, and fear. Life is a mix of good and bad, and my art shows that.

I really like telling stories in my art, especially because of my experience as a children’s books illustrator. Even when my art touches on serious topics, I want it to still look nice. I like to mix fun and serious parts, like blending a child’s imagination with adult concerns.

In my art, I express my feelings and worries, and add a bit of humor. It’s like a mix of childlike wonder and the challenges of being a grown-up. Life has its ups and downs, sweet and bitter and I try to cope with that through my art.

In 2008 you created the design for the 3D French animation movie "La Mécanique du Coeur". And in 2021 you designed the animations for the documentary “Phoenix Rising”. Please tell us about this experience. How does creating characters for animation differ significantly from conventional drawings and illustrations? What were the challenges and what did you like the most?

With Mathias Malzieu and Stéphane Berla, the directors of the 3d animation film ‘La Mechanique du Coeur’, I found an artistic and personal affinity. The work behind an animated film is immense. My contribution was to design the main characters and some environments, and to give a general direction to the film – small seeds that developed into a universe. I had to visually translate these ‘characters’. I had a blast playing the role of a designer, inventing their clothes, hairstyles, and physiognomies. Discussing the work directly with the project’s author, Mathias, was something that hadn’t happened to me before. The writers of the stories I illustrate usually remain strangers. There are fears and uncertainties that surface – the fear of not respecting their universe or being confined to their specific ideas. Instead, it was the opposite. Mathias, being an artist himself, knows how to create conditions for you to give your best. With respect for what you do and a great deal of freedom. This ‘artistic’ approach usually happens in smaller projects, but not always. This is how the passionate producer, Virginie Besson, wanted it.

The collaboration with Amy Berg, the director of ‘Phoenix Rising’ for some animated segments of her documentary was equally rewarding. I was encouraged to work with complete freedom and creative respect. It’s a privilege when clients treat you this way, as an artist rather than just a laborer.

Based on your images, a tarot has been created, which is called the Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot. It is very popular in the tarological community and the tarot readers working with it say that it is ideal for psychological readings and analyses of childhood traumas. Please tell us how this project came about and how did you choose the images for the arcana? Did you draw characters for each of the cards or did you use ready-made images? And, of course, I can't help asking this question: how do you feel about tarot and other tools of self-knowledge?

The idea to translate my art into a tarot deck came from my Italian publisher, ‘Lo Scarabeo’. I specifically created only a portion of the cards, while I adapted existing images for the majority of the others. We chose them together with the publisher through free associations, selecting subjects that we felt could better engage with the respective arcane. Tarots can serve as a symbolic key to explore existential and philosophical questions, inviting us to peer into the human soul and contemplate the infinite possibilities of life. I hope that my tarots, my art, would work as a mirror for people, a stimulus to decipher their own past, present, and to project themselves into a future through imagination.

When one looks at your paintings, the first thing that catches the eye is the innocent doll characters and gentle color palette. However, complex themes are raised in your paintings, they reflect absolutely not children's worries and fears, and an attentive viewer can easily notice that some paintings have a darker and more threatening tone. What message are you trying to convey to the public through your work? What themes are especially important for you to reflect through your art?

I aim to create artworks that are ‘beautiful’, yet conceal more beneath the surface. I seek to evoke contrasting emotions and suggest that beauty and happiness often coexist with sadness and even ugliness. Recurring themes in my work include both emotional and affectionate dependencies, the obsession for control, and the pursuit of autonomy.

I often challenge stereotypes in my pieces, with the seemingly vulnerable subjects triumphing (like Little Red Riding Hood outsmarting the wolf). These are my desires coming to life or nightmares I exorcise through my art.

Seduction is another prevalent theme. The girls may take on the role of seductresses or find themselves ensnared by malevolent entities. I depict the longing to possess the beloved, juxtaposed with the fear of surrendering control. Love and death are pervasive forces coexisting in some of my art, occasionally entwining pleasure and pain in a fateful dance.

The settings I favor for these narratives often resemble diverse versions of wonderlands. I aim for my work to evoke both amusement and a touch of macabre, featuring a juxtaposition of the adorable and the violent.

I integrate vibrant and captivating elements like toys and candies, as I believe they strike a harmonious balance with the weightier, darker themes that lie beneath the surface of my works.

Frequently, a sense of impending danger looms in the backdrop of my creations.

My girl witches inhabit worlds that appear to exist at the dawn of creation, where magical and transcendent revelations unfold.

Organic and inorganic, animal and plant, natural and artificial seamlessly merge and intertwine. Metamorphosis is another recurrent theme.

The main characters of your works are girls or young women. Why do female images come to the fore? Who are they, the incredible heroines of your paintings? What have they inherited from you and what makes them different from you?

My works serve as a reflection of my inner self, exposing my vulnerabilities, and at times, expressing the determination and strength I aspire to possess. Art is my vehicle to seek power, creativity, and spirituality.

The main characters of your works are girls or young women. Why do female images come to the fore? Who are they, the incredible heroines of your paintings? What have they inherited from you and what makes them different from you?

The girls within my art embody a fusion of witches, saints, and wielders of otherworldly powers. My young heroines endeavor to overcome their monsters and assert their independence, even in the face of approaching princes.

Yet, at times, the price of this independence is solitude.

Society prefers to gloss over the darker side of personality. Often girls are taught from childhood to be perfect, correct and good for everyone. Your heroines are very different. They harmoniously combine innocence and viciousness, beauty and cruelty, melancholy and hidden aggression. How do you manage to find the golden mean when you work on your characters?

I grew up with the ‘good girl’ complex, always striving to be perfect, trying to be the best in class. Girls are often expected to be pretty, kind, and obedient. The ‘good girl’ role compels us to conform, often at the cost of sacrificing important parts of ourselves.

We live in fear of judgment – the fear of not being enough, the fear of making mistakes, the fear of rejection. I conceived my artwork as a rebellion against the rigid model of perfection that society imposes on girls. We all have rough edges and shadows; we aren’t always flawless. It’s crucial to confront our darker sides to come to terms with them.

My dark fictions exude a certain feminine charm, even when the scenes depict violence or conflicts. Everything is presented with a seductively glossy surface and a touch of sweetness. I strive to achieve a delectable blend of the repulsive and the alluring in my images, which simultaneously exude beauty and menace, a touch of madness. This is me – a sweet but sometimes fierce, imperfect, and rebellious childlike person. I’ve learned to embrace it.

It seems that you choose the names for your paintings very carefully. They are always precise, sometimes even a little ironic. What comes first: the name or the image? And what is the difficult journey of your masterpieces from the creation of an idea to the final result?

In recent years, I have been paying more attention to the choice of titles because they can add a contradictory or ironic note to the image, becoming an important part of the drawing. The title comes later. I am often undecided about several possible titles; each drawing is like a little birth because it is often the result of many reconsiderations, corrections to the colors or composition that change the meaning of the drawing. Sometimes, during the process, I find myself no longer convinced of an idea. That’s why I try to prepare sketches long before I start coloring them, so I have time to evaluate them better and understand if they are good ideas or not. Then, I sometimes discuss with friends to see how they react to an idea, to understand if something resonates with others, it helps me better assess what I am trying to communicate.

Your unique images have taken shape. Now you can see them not only on paper, but even touch them with your hands. Your sculptures seem to have come off a sheet of paper and come to life. How did you come up with the idea to turn your characters into sculptures and how do you choose which characters will conquer the world in 3D format?

All my sculptures are subjects taken from my existing paintings. Two of them are the result of a collaboration with my husband, a 3D designer. They are completely homemade. We have a resin 3D printer at home, and we were able to personally produce our toys, from 3d model creation, through printing, to hand-painting by me. Among all my toys, my favorite is Katherine, a girl dressed as a cat holding ten mice by their tails. My husband particularly loved that piece and suggested turning it into a sculpture. It was a lengthy process, but now we are happy with our creation, somewhat like a child to us. The other two sculptures were produced by toy manufacturing companies, which chose subjects they preferred from my works.

Collaborations can be quite unexpected. For example, you designed the company's logo and wine labels, where you created a whole enchanted world. What other unusual projects have you ever participated in? Were there any unusual, perhaps even strange orders, and are there any paintings/characters with a "difficult" fate in your work?

I’ve experienced many different types of commissions as an illustrator, making it hard to choose one that was more challenging than the others. Each one was unique and brought forth new challenges. I’ve always been appreciated for the sweetness of my female subjects – children and girls – and that’s what I was often asked for. That’s why I’ve especially enjoyed opportunities where no human figures were involved, like in the case of these wine labels. It allowed me to focus solely on creating a world of fantastical creatures, a blend of plant and animal.

One project that initially posed a challenge was a series of 12 still life paintings, focusing solely on fruits. It was a challenge to create recognizable works that still felt ‘mine’ even without including human figures, which are typically the core of my pieces.

You are an incredibly talented illustrator who has received several prestigious awards in this field during your career. What is the main difference between painting and illustration? After all, drawing is complete freedom, while the personality of the author / work dictates certain points to the artist. Do you feel constrained within these limits? Or, on the contrary, do restrictions stimulate your imagination?

A commissioned work means following a specific artistic direction, theme, and target audience, which requires me to follow certain rules. When I work on a structured project like this, I miss the chaos that comes with working on ‘free’ drawings. However, when I am completely free, I miss those same rules because they provide reassurance.

In the case of illustrated books, I establish connections with the text I’m illustrating, trying not to fall into the trap of being too literal, or creating an illustration that simply repeats the written words. A good illustration isn’t meant to make the text visible, but to tell its story using a different language that emerges from the words.

As we grow and mature, we change ourselves and our creativity changes. What do you think has changed significantly since you started your artistic journey? And what do you think: the work of Nicoletta Ceccoli in 10-15 years... What is it like?

Even though I have grown quite a bit since I started this job, I don’t feel that much different. Some insecurities that I expressed in my early drawings still accompany me… I still feel very childlike and vulnerable in many aspects of my personality, even though the years of childhood are now distant.

My dream is to continue putting every effort I can into my work. Every artwork I create is the result of a struggle and a challenge. When I feel I have achieved something good, it gives me one of the greatest satisfactions I can imagine. It rewards me for all the failures and frustrations I’ve been through. I hope to continue to draw and create for my own pleasure, beside people’s reactions to my art. I am already very thankful to be where I am.

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