ALICE PASQUINI
IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME
IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS
by Paulo von Vacano
The Coronavirus in Italy has led to a total Lockdown and a human disaster on a global scale that has made us reflect on life and the quo vadis of the streets and its people. Having followed street culture for decades, I am intrigued to know how its protagonists are doing. With the DRAGO trend-bureau we created “our” Questionnaire to understand how artists are reflecting on their ‘memento mori’ and how they are battling the invisible enemy. We present the first in a series of responses to the DRAGO Questionnaire as answered by Alice Pasquini, a world-renowned Street Artist and author of our latest book Crossroads.
What is your present state of mind? Hopeful.
Fight the Power or Power the fight? Possibly both.
If not yourself, who would you be? Always true to myself.
What inspires you? Reality.
What is time? Growth.
Do you have faith? Always.
Where are you now? In Rome.
What are your favorite qualities in people? Frankness
Your sliding doors? It happens but without regrets.
Your butterfly effect? Yes
How is culture “infected”? By rhetoric.
What art do you have in your living room? Several presents from international Street Artists.
Your favorite heroine? Sprayliz
3 books that changed your life? “Concerning the Spiritual in Art” by Wassily Kandinsky, “I Ching”, “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke.
What would like to toast to? To life.
Your greatest accomplishment? Believed in myself.
In which restaurant would you want to eat your last supper and what would you order? I don’t know in which restaurant, but I would order Parmigiana di melanzane.
Looking at yourself in the mirror what do you see? Myself today.
Your best quality? React.
Your biggest regret? I don’t have regrets.
Ideal view? Infinite horizon. Looking at the sea.
Who is your favorite artist that nobody has heard of? Paolo Veronese
Which artist should everyone know before the age of 18? Duchamp
You are organizing a dinner party, which 3 people would you invite (dead or alive)? The Emperor Hadrian, the English author Virginia Woolf and the Marx Brothers, but probably not all together.
Which books are on your nightstand? At the moment Eric Newman’s “The Great Mother”, Anne Sexton’s Poetry, “Per virtù d’erbe e d’incanti” by Erika Maderna and always Epicuro’s “Letters on Happiness”.
Yin or Yang? Are they not indivisible?
Your favorite Exhibition? Studio Azzurro
Your favorite Museum? Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museum Of Modern Art (New York), Museo del Prado (Madrid).
Your favorite Curator? The most loved critic José Ortega y Gasset.
Who is winning: the streets or the institutions? I wish I could say the streets.
Who do you dislike? The envious.
Your ideal holiday? At the seaside.
Your myths? Leonardo da Vinci
One film that changed your life? “Some Like It Hot”: nobody is perfect.
Your idea of misery? To be without inner resources.
Your disguise? The spray paint mask I use.
Your idea of mystery? The smile of The Monna Lisa.
Your favorite hero? Hannibal
The theme song to your life? A variety of playlists.
Your enemy? Stereotypes.
Your favorite drink? Gin and Tonic
If you could choose, how would you like to die? I don’t want to die.
Your motto? If there is no solution, there is no problem.
