“The ritual and sacred in everyday-life connects us so deeply with the universe-cosmos and I feel sometimes that our western culture is missing this, in a way mass production brings us far from all this. It’s very interesting how the meaning of the mask has changed, for primitive societies it had the power of connecting the man with the totality, giving him his real identity by this connection with the whole. In western society the meaning of the mask has changed, becoming a way to hide the true identity and it actually hides the loss of the connection with the eternal ideas leaving us with empty ‘roles’ to identify with.”
My first contact with Matilde Solbiati, an Italian artist now living in Los Angeles, was when she emailed me suggesting I might like her work.. as she saw some similarities in themes we both worked with, including ritual in tribal society. Massive hit. Delighted to discover the work you see here amongst much other beauty when I clicked into her website. Communication over time continued and Matilde’s words from an email, as above, are the perfect introduction to her “Masks” collages as seen throughout. I’ll be sharing more of her work here soon but for now Matilde answered a few questions for us .. With thanks. x
1. Real life HERO? Director Alejandro Jodorowsky is someone I really admire, his work inspires me and pushes me to believe in my imagination. Writer Jorge Luis Borges also inspires, these kind of artists made me believe in exploring the mind and the unknown. There is always something of the past in their works, even if they talk about a surrealistic event or place there is always something melancholic, the unknown is felt, like something we always knew but we just forgot about it.
2. Favourite COLOUR? Azzurro (light blue).
3. Guilty PLEASURE? Stay in bed, sleep and sleep more.
4. Favourite places to DO, BE, SEE? To go into nature and find little things to collect and into the flea-market to find vintage books with images that I like!
5. How would you describe your STYLE? Comfortable.. and I love to wear other people clothes.
6. Favourite RITUALS at home? Drinking green tea.
7. What is exactly that YOU DO? At the moment I’m exploiting images to create!
9. You have an hour to spend SURFING the internet…? Any websites, blogs or tumblr that contain images about archeology and anthropology.
APPETITE FOR DECORATION 
