El Universo de Antonio Natale

En Foggia, ciudad del sur de Italia bañada por la luz del Mediterráneo, nació Antonio Natale, formado en el Liceo Artístico de su ciudad natal y graduado en la Accademia delle Belle Arti de Roma, sin imaginar que aquella disciplina académica y aquel talento sin concesiones lo conducirían, décadas después, a las manos más exigentes del coleccionismo mundial. Hoy, reconocido en los cinco continentes como “El Artista de los Billetes”, Natale rescata papel moneda fuera de circulación para convertirlo en algo que el mundo no esperaba ver, y que nadie más ha sabido hacer. Su obra habita en cuatro instituciones museísticas de rango global, entre ellas los museos del Sheikh Zayed en Abu Dhabi, el Museo de Arte Moderno de Dubái y el Protectorate Museum de Australia. La Paleta de Oro en Lugano, el Premio Especial del Mellow Art Award en Asia entre más de 13.000 artistas, la Medalla de Oro del Wise.art International Excellence NFT Award en Davos, en el marco del Foro Económico Mundial. El Parlamento Europeo lo acogió en 2018 bajo el patrocinio de Viviane Reding, ex Vicepresidenta de la Comisión Europea, y durante tres años consecutivos sus obras han iluminado la Torre NASDAQ en Times Square. El ex primer ministro Tony Blair, el ex Presidente de la República Italiana Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Bob Ezrin productor legendario de Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper y KISS y la Banque Mirabaud figuran entre quienes han hecho suya su obra, gestionada desde Ginebra por Christine Ruiz Kerendi, su directora artística exclusiva. El más reciente capítulo de esta trayectoria es The Imperial Mosaic, una pieza única nacida del encuentro entre Franck Muller, arquitectos suizos del tiempo, y Backes & Strauss, la casa de diamantes más antigua del mundo, fundada en 1789 cuando Europa ardía en revolución, con más de dos siglos de excelencia ininterrumpida, donde el tiempo, los diamantes y el arte hallaron su forma más perfecta. Lo que viene no es menos: Guangzhou, China, y Santa Cruz de Bolivia ya están en su agenda para 2026.

www.antonionataleartist.com

Who is Antonio Natale and who is the artist?

I am a person like many others, born in a small city in southern Italy, who decided, at a very young age, to communicate through drawing before learning to write.

As a child, it was much easier for me to draw than to write, and the people around me noticed this. The seed of art, the creative potential, were already within me—they were born with me. Over the years, they developed and refined more thanks to my studies, but above all through experience.

Art within me is in constant evolution, with the sole mission of making the invisible visible. Being an artist means transforming an inner vision into a shareable reality, acting as a bridge between the invisible world of ideas and the tangible world of matter.

Being an artist is not just a profession, but a way of inhabiting the world, based on sensitivity and the search for deeper meaning. Becoming an artist was a natural consequence, a completion. Now I could not separate the two.

It’s quite daring to paint on banknotes from the world over, and you are recognized worldwide as “The Artist of Banknotes”. Have you had any objection or resentment about using this support in your career?

Painting on banknotes was the result of many years of research. Previously, I had already experimented with painting on pre-existing surfaces (geographical maps from 1990 –1997). But it was in 1997 that I began painting on banknotes, sparking curiosity and sometimes very different reactions to my messages or provocations.

But all of this should be normal: the artist must communicate, make people think, provoke reactions. They must convey messages. Otherwise, it becomes mere decoration.

Of course, I have had some episodes of “censorship.” I remember at the Norman Rea Gallery at the University of York, England, where during a solo exhibition I was forbidden from displaying a banknote depicting Queen Elizabeth dressed as a punk (that same banknote was later secretly purchased by a high-ranking figure at the University of York—for obvious reasons, I cannot reveal the name).

I also recall an exhibition at MAPRA (Maison des Arts Plastiques Rhône-Alpes) in Lyon in 2002, when the gallery advised me not to display banknotes featuring Saddam Hussein dressed as Zorro, given the large Muslim population in the city.

Painting on banknotes increases the power of the message. The banknote becomes a soundboard that amplifies it.

Is your work based on a mental vision, a photo, or rather, on a real object, or     event?

My work is based on experience and on everything that surrounds me. A landscape, a woman’s face, a news story on TV—any event, subject, or feeling can spark my creativity. My mind is like a computer that, once it receives a message, processes it and makes it visible to everyone.

How do you choose your subjects? Is there a recurring theme in your artworks?

It is the subjects that choose me—I do not choose them. They are the ones that capture my attention, that call to me. There is a kind of alchemy that is born between me and the subject, a mysterious and sometimes unexpected combination. In this way, a deep connection arises between me and the subject in question, bringing together inner elements.

The recurring theme in my works is humanity—the human being. It is at the center of most of my pieces: the human condition and its complexities, facing challenges on multiple levels.

Lately, I have dedicated many of my works to violated human rights, and many address violence against women, denouncing the deafening silence of those who should defend them.

A major exhibition of mine at the European Parliament was titled: “Stories of Roses, Butterflies, and Silences.”

What is the spark that makes you create a painting?

What leads me to create a painting is born at the exact moment when an emotional impulse or a visual intuition transforms into a need for expression. My creative process usually unfolds in two phases:

External observation: a landscape, a scent, a face, a play of light.

The inner world: deep emotions, dreams, personal reflections.

The spark is an illuminating synchronicity between what I see and what I feel.

Do you prefer working on intuition or do you plan every detail? What makes your painting considered as finished?

Instinct, too, can be planned. I know it sounds like a paradox, but it can be trained and structured. Pure instinct is an immediate, biological, and unconscious reaction. You cannot schedule it, but you can create the conditions for it to emerge in the right way, or learn to manage it through self-control, awareness, and experience.

When I paint, I “plan” instinct by repeating the drawing many times. By doing so, the brain no longer thinks—it simply executes the learned pattern, which has become second nature.

Knowing when a painting is finished is, I believe, the most difficult moment for an artist. There is a mysterious force that, at a certain point, stops you. It is when the painting begins to live its own life—when there is nothing more to add or remove to improve its overall balance or message, when the circle is complete.

It is in that moment that the artist must put down the brushes and the colors, so as not to interfere with the new life that has just been born. This can only be achieved through experience.

Are there any specific stories or emotions behind any painting of yours?

As an artist, I would be concerned if it were the opposite! Of course, each of my works has a story to tell, an emotion to convey. I consider my body of work as pages of a diary that recount, day after day, my life in relation to everything that surrounds me.

And I do this using a medium that already has other stories to tell, a medium that has lived: the banknote.

What are you trying to communicate through your artworks? Whom are you referring to or addressing through your paintings?

A painting is a very powerful visual language that allows one to communicate and convey meanings that words often fail to capture. A work of art can express a wide range of ideas, from the most intimate emotions to complex political and social messages. And this is my mission.

The artist is a kind of missionary—I believe all artists should be. Communication should be the most important role of every artist. Through my paintings, I address a plurality of audiences, depending on the historical context, my intention, and the personal experience of the viewer.

How do you deal with the “artist’s block” or the need to correct a work with which you are not satisfied?

Artist’s block is a frustrating condition in which creativity seems to disappear, making it impossible to start or complete a work. It is a common experience for all creatives, from beginners to professionals.

Personally, I deal with it by respecting the medium (in this case, the banknote). I leave it there in my studio, sometimes for days. It will be the banknote to call me back. In the meantime, I change environments, I occupy myself with other things so as not to think about it.

I have never corrected a work. Even if I am not satisfied, once it is finished, it must live on its own despite my dissatisfaction. One day, I will look at it with different eyes.

Who are the artists (classic o contemporary) that have influenced you in your work? Have you had any collaboration with famous artists or companies?   

Having studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, I was initially influenced by the great masters of the past. I had the opportunity and the privilege of having Caravaggio before my eyes every day and of witnessing the majesty of Michelangelo.

After the academy, and during many travels in Northern Europe, I was influenced by the great figures of Northern Expressionism: Munch, Nolde, the German group Die Brücke, Ensor. These avant-garde painters were characterized by a deep inner anguish and a raw aesthetic.

Yes, I have also collaborated with well-known artists. In Lugano in 2023, I exhibited alongside Damien Hirst and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Going further back, I also collaborated with the master Enrico Baj, who introduced me at one of my solo exhibitions in Rome.

As for collaborations with companies, I recently created a unique watch with Backes & Strauss and Franck Muller Watchland, and I also created an “artist’s car” (a 1978 Puma GTE from Brazil), which is currently touring in an international exhibition. This car is also the first artist’s car registered on the blockchain as NFT, and it is always displayed together with the original artwork.

According to you, what is the role and purpose of Art in today’s Society?

Art today acts as a critical mirror and a tool for social change. It is not just decoration, but a universal language that awakens consciences and brings people together beyond cultural barriers.

Its purpose is to intervene directly in the urban and social fabric: to denounce, to critique, to address issues such as social justice, the environment, and politics. It must speak about inclusion, creating spaces for dialogue and cohesion in multicultural or complex contexts.

On an individual level, art must serve to heal and connect the human being with their inner self. Today, art also functions as an antidote to conformity and to the frenzy of the digital world. This is why I spoke of a “mission”.

You are well known in Europe, the Middle East, the Far-East, and even Australia. Have you ever exhibited in the United States, or on the American Continent?

Of course, I have had very important exhibitions in the United States and across the Americas in general. Among the most significant were the 2007 exhibition at New York University, a show dedicated to Italian emigration to the New World (my project was selected among 3,000 participants), and the one held at Manhattan Capital Bank in 2010.

The Brown-Forman Corporation acquired one of my works in 2001 for its private collection. More recently, some of my NFTs were displayed on the NASDAQ Tower screen in Times Square, New York, after winning first prize on the Wise.Art platform during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In 2011, I also had another major exhibition in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

However, one of my greatest wishes remains to return to the United States with a major exhibition of my new works.

Entrevista por: Silvia Gonzali