Marco Lodola:The photonic fairy tales of Lodoland

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Written by Monica Camozzi

The most beautiful thing about Marco Lodola was said by his friend Jovanotti, who described him as balanced ‘between art and shop sign, between monument and baby’s toy, rattle to lull babies to sleep and lighthouse for old sailors adrift’. Lodola’s iconoclastic rocking horse, full of neon and colourful faces, took Teresina, Lorenzo’s daughter, straight into the glittering, hyperbolic world of Lodoland, where everything is light. There is no room for gloomy thoughts in Lodoland. He cuts through psychoanalytic sessions and descents into the recesses of the unconscious in one fell swoop, flooding reality with superheroes, unicorns, princesses and fantastic creatures. Alternatively, he transforms the perception of everyday life: no one can forget the ‘lodolised’ Ariston theatre, lit up in a colour that would have put Boccioni to shame, the way he transformed Perugia into ‘Infinite City’, his Plastic Ballet at the Venice Biennale, his heavenly ballerina (Eden) above the arches of the palazzo in Piazza Duomo where Mondadori is located. And then the Vespa, the Dolce Vita, Miss Italia, the luminous nativity scenes, his glittering self-portrait in the Vasari corridor.

Lodola passes, illuminates, grafts, carries his milky way and leaves. His imprinting is fairy-tale, dreamlike, it has the connotations of the eyes of wonder with which children observe the world. And in doing so he breaks down the perimeters that divide the sacred from the profane: he can interpret Puccini’s Tosca, Dior’s shop windows, the Avengers, Umberto Eco’s Venus Unveiled. 

And perhaps Roberto d’Agostino is right when he says that his illuminated plastic is perfect for representing “the non-value of the world” so flexible, light, transversal and detached from the dark depths of things

You light up everything, since when exactly?
I was born a painter, at school I did the beautiful circle on the paper (laughs), I went on to high school, the academy until I was thunderstruck by advertising signs. I saw them as sculptures, beyond their commercial value.

Marinetti said that signs are luminous faces

After years of art history and dark monuments that can no longer be seen at night, I said to myself ‘I’ll do something backwards’. That’s how it was born.

 

Is Lodoland an inner state?

To me it’s a drug, I never switch off, in fact, when I’m in the studio I enter a parallel world where I exorcise everything, I reset the damage of life. It’s a Zen exercise, this electric current sends sad thoughts away.

In life you need two things, Karma and Butt. As Fellini said, real luck is when you get money for something you would do for free.

Is there any artist who initially lit your heart?
Fortunato Depero (who was paired with his works in the Futurismi exhibition in Venice in 2001, ed.), certainly Warhol. Among the great ones also Matisse, with his use of colour. And then in Florence I was struck by Beato Angelico’s cells, the impulses came naturally, even while I was on the street. Picasso always said that everyone copies. Then, because you don’t succeed, the result of the attempt is you.

You have been called part of the new Futurists, what do you think?
At the end of the 1980s, we created a group of artists where nobody painted, we all used different materials: plastic, light, lenci cloth. People need to make labels, to categorise, so they christened us new futurists. I don’t have much of a relationship with art critics….

If you look at my catalogues, I have always preferred to report opinions or articles by musicians, actors, people outside art criticism. I am not interested in the opinion of critics

What is your greatest enemy, boredom? Does the magic planet you create defeat it?
Boredom scares the hell out of me! And then I go into crisis over the ontological problem: I’m not interested in understanding what will happen, rather where I was before, millions of years ago! And if I think about it I fool myself because if better men than me have not been able to solve the enigma…You are suspended, but if there is light everything changes.

Is it true that you wanted to be a musician?
Yes, absolutely, it’s more fun. But I play badly, so I set up a recording studio that a lot of people have gone through, Grignani, Jova, 883 just to name a few. I’ve been lucky enough to do record covers, concert sets. I’ve done it all, it has to be said!

With Andy from Bluvertigo we did a four-handed show, LodolAndy a GoGo’

You were one of the very few artists invited to exhibit by the government of the People’s Republic of China, but you escaped from the plane at the last minute: why?
Ah, because I had had a premonitory dream: a white nacelle with red interior. Then, as I was boarding in Zurich, I saw it materialise in front of me: white, with red interior! I thought ‘here falls the plane’ and got out.

You married Giovanna Fra, an artist (she celebrated Enzo Iacchetti, ed.) you also did exhibitions together. Complementary in everything?
She is a painter, she does abstract works, for two or three years we crossed paths and interesting exhibitions resulted, it was a good experience. Then, everyone goes back to their own thing.