Today we’d like to introduce you to Currado Malaspina.
Currado, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Having been born in Paris and after spending 30 years working as an artist in France, I felt that I had accomplished all I possibly could while still living in Europe. I was a member of the Société des Grands Méchants, one of the most prestigious artists guilds in the EU. I had two major retrospectives, one in 1991 at the Musée d’Art Profond in Lyon and the other, more recently, at the Académie de Moscou. My regular exhibitions typically sold out even before the vernissage. I was constantly immersed in one petty scandal after another, the price the French exact from famous artists. I basically had enough.
I decided to move to the United States after the curator and art historian Orestia Shestov invited me to be a guest lecturer at Cotensia. Because of my propensity toward melancholy, I settled in Los Angeles, where the sun seemed to be a stubborn climatic fixture.
I have been here for six years, and I have to say, despite the cultural differences, the emphasis on “well-being”, and the general obsession with lactose, I have become quite comfortable.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As soon as I moved to L.A. I learned to skateboard. This was fairly challenging, considering my age and my fatal deficit of agility, but once I got the hang of it, it proved to be a terrific way to meet people.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My very first ‘succès de scandale’ was when I published The Baba Kama Sutra, a lushly illustrated re-rendering of this classic Sanskrit text. Having made my mark as an incendiary provocateur, I decided to continue to shock through a series of unusual artists’ books. First, I tackled Dante’s Divine Comedy. Nel Mondo Gramo is my take on The Inferno, Sù Currado is my reading of Purgatorio, and La Dolce Guida is my irreverent revision of Paradiso.
I’m currently working on Milton’s Paradise Lost, and I have to say, the unrhymed hexameters took some getting used to after my classic French education that was marinated by Racine.
I’m particularly proud, however, not of my ersatz erudition but chiefly of my near mastery of Wordle.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Never put undo faith in faith. This might seem self-evident, but as someone who comes from a very traditional background, skepticism is a tricky business.
Contact Info:
- Website: curradomalaspina.com
- Instagram: @malaspina_currado
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100000071220855
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/currado-malaspina-b04a77109/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@curradomalaspina218
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Currado-Malaspina/author/B07JYJ7KCW?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
