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Interview with Raffaella Corcione Sandoval

Academy of Italy in Art in the World

Biennial Art Exhibition "The Renaissance

Michelangelo's David Award

Roberto Chiavarini, Art Director

 

 

 

How old were you when you felt the passion for Art born in you?

 

The passion for art was born with me. This talent was brought out in Caracas by a very young babysitter who later became a famous artist Novella Parigini and who gave me her brushes when I was only three years old.

 

 

Where did you have the most important exhibition of your career?

 

The most important exhibition of my career was the presentation of the sculpture "Sindone Partenopea" in the monumental archaeological complex of San Pietro a Corte in Salerno. I had the opportunity to install the sculpture suspended in the central apse above the remains of a pagan altar dating back to the time of Arechi II.

 

 

Describe yourself and your Art in a few words.

 

I am my Art, and I am in all my artistic expressions.

 

 

Does your Art tend more towards a traditional classical language or, differently, towards the modern-informal one?

 

I started from the informal parallel to my existential research to arrive at the form that most belongs to me and identifies me.

 In Art, the concept of Classic or Modern belongs only to the historical moment.

 

 

Which painting by a great master of the past would you have liked to paint?

 

"Salvator Mundi or "The Virgin of the Rocks" by Leonardo Da Vinci.

 

 

Do you think that there is a close relationship between Science and Art?

 

 

Art is science, philosophy, technology but above all Theology and my works express the essence of it by incorporating them in an aesthetic synthesis of semiotics. This Art has allowed mankind to better understand the meaning of life and human evolution on earth, translating concepts inaccessible to our dimension into accessible pictograms, which are imprinted in the consciousness by transmitting them through the electrons, carriers of the individual experience of an artist.

 

 

 

December 2021

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Interview

With Raffaella Corcione Sandoval

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by Aldoina Filangieri

 

 

 

 

Q. You've been an award-winning artist for many years. What inspires you to create?

 

A. To receive an award is to have arrived in the heart of someone who recognizes the merit of having received an emotion as well as a concept to be explored.

An artist cannot specifically define what he or she draws inspiration from because he or she is the inspiration, creating is just the need to want to communicate.

 

 

 You have experimented with many different styles and means, including now writing books. What is your opinion about the role of the artist in the world?

 

Every medium is a tool, there are no limits of styles or techniques, the results sometimes confirm the multifaceted ability of an artist who describes himself as the drop of an infinite ocean to which we all belong.

 

 

 You use the language of symbolism in your paintings and sculptures, as well as in your poetry and prose, and even in your fashion design. Can you explain why communicating through symbols is so important to you?

 

The language is made of sounds to which we have associated graphic signs since the dawn of time, the synthesis contained in a symbol is a powerful psycho-gram that stimulates the perception of the observer and produces reactions and memories stored in our DNA.

 

 

You have been an artist all your life. Why are art and creativity so central to your way of life?

 

It's who I am and what I was born for.

 

 You've done so many exhibitions, personal, collective, institutional. What would you like to do at this point in your life to continue sharing your art?

 

I feel full of enthusiasm and curiosity, ready to experience new and stimulating horizons that give me a sense of the finite and the infinite.

 

 

 Who are some of the artists you appreciate the most?

 

They are many, from different eras and styles, to mention them would be limiting since every art form has encouraged me to express my individuality.

 

 

Art critics have never defined you by genre or style. You always seem to surprise them with new and unexpected work. How would you define yourself as an artist?

 

Simply an Artist.

 

 

 What new horizons do you foresee for your work?

 

Every day is a new horizon, working on a project requires study, research, reflection and experimentation, it is not about time but bringing to completion what you believe in and starting over.

 

 

What led you to write the book "Ella"?

 

The need to share a part of me that no one could have ever known either through a psychological analysis or by describing chronological events of my life because it is extremely intimate.

 

 

Why a veiled biography?

 

The Veil is a mysterious element that makes the invisible accessible from the visible because it blurs its contours and dedramatize the hidden truths.

 

 

Are the elements in the book real or fictionalized?

 

The Book Ella places itself exactly in the center, filtering the real which is too cumbersome even for me, with a romanticized result.

 

 

Who were some of the spiritual Masters who guided your path?

 

I recognize in my life the privilege of having met many Spiritual Masters since childhood like St. Padre Pio who was even my father's spiritual father, meeting him often. I had the honor of being able to converse with elected souls such as Gustavo Rol, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, The Dalai Lama. My spiritual Master is Sri Sathya Sai Baba whom I met in India for 30 years. I had the honor of praying with Monsignor Milingo, Swami Roberto and many others lesser known.

 

Each of them planted a seed in my soul, making it a fragrant garden with the passing of "my time".

 

 

 What do you hope the readers will learn or take away from this book?

 

What everyone is ready to receive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

 

 

 How do you think your book might influence the spirituality of our time?

 

After the Coronavirus nothing will be the same as before, this is the time of the New Covenant with God and my book is just one of many candles lit in the Temple of Renewal.

 

 

 In this book, you provide new insights into important teachings of the Gospels and the Gnostic Gospels. What are the implications for Christianity and for the seekers of God?

 

Ella was written by me and an expert in philosophical and theological questions, I have only answered hquestions that he considered unresolved.  He is the one you must ask about Christianity and the Gospels. For the seekers of God everything is simpler because nothing escapes a pure heart and an attentive mind.

 

When did you first discover your paranormal gifts and this preponderant spiritual identity?

 

There was not a beginning but a succession of confirmations all of my life, sometimes uncomfortable. 

 

 

Why do you share your book with interested readers online before it is officially published?

 

Because as never before, each one of us tries to support others with our own means and when a decision is made, that is the perfect moment for those who believe in a divine plan.

 

 

What is the next step for this project?

 

In addition to the publication of the book, which is currently translated into four languages, the project includes the possibility that there may be a producer interested in making ELLA a film, having also written the screenplay.

 

 

Are you also working on other projects?

 

I plan to publish a series of children's initiatic stories entitled "Hidden Fables" and prepare a solo exhibition for November 2020.

 

 

What is the role of Mary Magdalene in our time?

 

The role of every woman and mother of all times.

 

 

 From your point of view, and in relation to what is happening in the world right now, what is your thought about the future of humanity?

 

The Divine took us by surprise despite the fact that we were all aware of the end of time, but notwithstanding this terrible moment, God's mercy mitigated the predictions of visionaries and saints and the salvation of the planet took over human wickedness. Man, having to this day committed the greatest sin, that of presumption, I believe that our children can begin to hope for their children a better world in which respect and protection of the Earth will take priority.

 

 

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The Mysticism of "Ella and the Tree of Mira".

An Exclusive Interview with the Artist and Writer

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval

L'Idea Magazine 2020

by Tiziano Thomas Dossena

 

 

Born in 1951 in Caracas, Venezuela, Raffaella Corcione Sandoval now lives and works in Rome. She is Academic with the Gold Medal of the Accademia Italia delle Arti delle Lettere e delle Scienze (1979), Academic of the Pontifical Tiberine Academy of Rome (2009) and Honorary Member of the Arsgravis Arte y Symbolism Academy of Barcelona (2010). She attended the three years of theological specialization at the Faculty of Jesuit Theology in Naples (1985/7) and visited India for thirty years, deepening the Buddhist and Hinduist philosophical thought. She also obtained the qualification of Stylist at the Fashion Academy of Rome (1987). Painter, sculptor and designer known nationally and internationally, she has exhibited in Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Spain, China, Arabia; she has also held numerous exhibitions throughout Italy in various galleries and museums. She made a name for herself on the contemporary art scene in 2005 with her sculpture "Sindone Partenopea" (plaster cast and crystallized fabric - a technique of her own invention), also exhibited during the great exhibition "Il Velo" at the Filatoio di Caraglio (Turin, 2006/7). Her works are part of public and private collections all over the world. In 2020 she published her first book written with Theodore J. Nottingham entitled "Ella and the Tree of Mira", translated into four languages; she is also the author of a collection of six illustrated short stories for children entitled "Hidden Fables", also translated into four languages. 

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L'Idea Magazine: You was born in Venezuela but came to Italy as a child. What was the reason for this radical shift for your family?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

I was born in Caracas where I lived until I was five years old, I clearly remember the day my father made the drastic decision to move to Italy with the whole family. We were on the balcony of the apartment where we lived, in the last building he built: The Bolivar Gallery, two large communicating towers, among the first at the time, in the center of Caracas, in Savana Grande.

A series of military planes passed at low altitude, I remember the deafening noise and everyone’s fear. They marked the beginning of the political revolution led by Perez Jimenez, who ousted the president in office Romulo Gallegos.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: Your father soon became very well known for his relationship with the Napoli Football Team. How much did the notoriety of your family at that time influence you in your choices? [talk about your guardian and the various friendly relationships if you want].

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

It was 1968 when my father left us, he was only 48 years old and I was a fifteen-year-old girl who despite living in a golden tower, felt strongly the radical change that was bringing young people in society. I felt like a rebellious hippie forced to go to the prestigious Sacred Heart school, with the family driver, whom I asked to pick up as many friends as possible along the way.

My father, although acclaimed and esteemed by all, a pupil of Senator Achille Lauro, unfortunately did not have time to enjoy the deserved position of prestige he achieved, as President of his beloved team of Naples. My brother Giovanni has written a book that will be out soon, where he tells everything that deserves to be known about him.

Dad could not stop my dream as an artist and neither could the Commander, who later became my tutor and reference point for my family.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: Until high school, you had a religious upbringing but eventually chose art, studying at art high school. Why was that?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

When I expressed to my family, after the death of my father, the desire to go to art high school, having attended elementary school at the Nazareth Institute, middle school at Maria Ausiliatrice, the Institute Santa Dorotea, and for a couple of years the Sacred Heart Institute, my mother felt desperate. When Commander Lauro was asked, he was very strict with me and told me very clearly that he would have my paintings "ruthlessly" evaluated by the expert who then wrote about Art and Culture in his newspaper "Il Roma" and that with my mother they would decide accordingly.

We were all in the living room, in silence, while Gino Grassi passed in front of my canvases, observing them carefully when he nodded and said: “Yes, there is an artist in her!” I wept with joy, but perhaps they did not.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: The path of an artist is very often difficult to get to be recognized. When success comes, however, everything can change. What was your point where you felt  that you had arrived'? Did being recognized as an artist in any way influence your later art?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

Personally I think that an artist should never feel like he or she has arrived, there is always so much to do to improve oneself and transfer oneself into what is created.  To have arrived does not mean to sell your work at a high price but to be a means of inspiration for those who ask themselves existential questions and seek the answers that change the vision of themselves and of life. I believe in some way that I have succeeded. My path as an independent artist has guided me to pay a lot of attention to the words and reactions of the critics. There are those I love and esteem the most, not because they are famous, but because they are great connoisseurs of art, guides and inspiration, and they have been milestones for which I am deeply grateful. An indelible memory is when Achille Bonito Oliva told me: “You have technique, elegance and mastery, I see you exhibiting in large spaces alone, as an Amazon of Italian contemporary art.” I asked him to write even just this phrase for me, but he explained why he couldn't do it and it was enough for me to have heard it, without ever forgetting it.

Another significant moment of confirmation was when Vittorio Sgarbi, who at the time lived in Rome, in Via Santa Maria Dell'Anima, asked me to show him and some of his guests my paintings on cotton "Le Pezze dell'Anima", and in the end he asked me: "Can I have one? Is it signed?" He chose "Gioia -Dolore" but in truth I would have given them all to him, such was my happiness and honor.

 

The moment I felt recognized was in 2005 at the end of the press conference presenting my institutional exhibition, with 27 journalists, in which I exhibited the sculpture "Sindone Partenopea". The curator of the exhibition, the great antiquarian, writer and critic Marco Fabio Apolloni, in front of the Superintendent architect Giuseppe Zampino, (a diamond in the art world who unfortunately left us too soon and whom I will never forget) kissed my hand and said: "Congratulations Maestro!".

My commitment intensified with the passing of time in the desire to give the best of me through my multifaceted art, to the end of my days.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: As a visual artist, you have exhibited in many countries. What was the exhibition that most satisfied you and why? And what was the most coveted award you received?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

My personal exhibition in New York, in 2004, at the gallery of Abraham Lubelski, publisher of New York Art Magazine, was certainly one of the most satisfying. I presented "Danza Cosmica" which had an excellent response, so much so that I planned with Lubelski a period of presentation of my work in the world of New York Art, through the media and press, to finally arrive at the MoMa Museum.  Unfortunately, the costs were too high for me at the time, as an independent artist, and I had to give up, bringing with me the satisfaction of feeling like an international artist. This is a dream still to come true, that of bringing my works to the Moma in New York. All the awards that I receive with great humility, are for me a coveted and rewarding recognition, but the qualification of mother is without doubt the most exciting award, because I consider my daughters two authentic Masterpieces.

The oldest, Cristina, is now an American citizen and has lived in California for many years,  working for a long time at PIXAR, and today she has chosen art as her profession and is the owner of a "Dragonfly Gallery" which is my reference for the USA, and has the task of launching new international talents in the art market.

The second Alessia, is an expert international lawyer in copyright and film contracts, who works in Rome and protects her mother.

 

L'Idea Magazine: Despite your passion for art, you also attended, in the eighties, the three years of theological specialization at the Faculty of Jesuit Theology in Naples, and I must deduce that your interest in spirituality is not accidental. What was it born from?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

Each one of us is born with a very precise nature and a predisposition that can be seen from birth.

My childhood was characterized by episodes so called "paranormal" that resulted in adolescence, to prescience through the world of dreams.

My temperament is mystical, not bigoted or expressed and lived with fanaticism, but ecstatic, joyful and free.

I grew up in a practicing Catholic family, devoted and close to Padre Pio, I was married according to the Orthodox rite, and I started to practice Kriya Yoga when I was very young. During my travels in India I met my Master Sri Sathya Sai Baba and knew the Dalai Lama before whom I took the oath of bodhisattva. I have always had a great interest in wanting to deepen my knowledge of Eastern religions, but I told myself that I should start from the one in which I was baptized, get to know it thoroughly and then expand my research. I talked with my spiritual father, now bishop, who at the time was teaching at the Jesuit Theological Faculty, in Via Petrarca in Naples, next to my home. He allowed me to attend the faculty during my three years of specialization, I was alone with about thirty future parish priests, during the most difficult period of my life.  

 

L'Idea Magazine: We can therefore deduce that your many trips to India are linked to your continuous research in the world of philosophy and spirituality. What did you study in particular in India?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

India is a magical place from which one does not come back the same even after a tourist trip.

I had the privilege of being a faithful direct disciple of Swami Sai Baba, whom I visited for 30 years until he left the body in 2010. He granted me in 1990 to found the first Sai Baba Center in Naples and, as President, to guide and bring his teaching to everyone. In India I learned to know and recognize myself, opening a path of direct communication between me and God.

 

L'Idea Magazine: In addition to the artistic and spiritual aspect, you have even obtained the qualification of Designer at the Academy of Fashion in Rome, becoming a designer known nationally and internationally. In your creative versatility, what is the relationship between these various life choices, i.e. how much influence does spirituality have on your art and on the function of designer, and how much influence does the artist have on the function of designer and on your spirituality?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

We live in the most extraordinary work of Art that exists: the Earth. We are surrounded by the perfection of creation and sacred geometry that reveals the harmony and beauty of shapes, sounds and colors, constantly inspiring us.

The law of analogy and correspondence of the great Hermes Trismegistus says "As above so below" and one of our contemporary Masters, the great Gustav Rol, whom I had the honor to meet during a trip to India, receiving directly from him some of his teachings, said: "We are the expression of the Intelligent Spirit", so it is not possible to separate art from spirituality, a creative mind has no limits.

In presenting my sculpture "Sindone Partenopea" I said: "Knowing one's own emotional chromatic range sometimes makes the awareness of knowledge unbearable, which being one's own, does not admit alibis" and this is what determines the individual trait of an artist as a significant sign in his or her creations, be they fashion designs, sculptures or paintings.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: Your book, "Ella and the Tree of Mira", is a biographical work. What is it about?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

It is a veiled and fictionalized biography, where I told things about myself that I could not have said otherwise, because they are outside of time and the understanding of the many, things that no one would have ever known.

 As a nose, creator of perfumed essences, I felt the need to leave "metaphorically" the wake of my personal perfume entitled "Athanor" through the book "Ella and the Tree of Mira", in our fleeting passage through this world.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: What drove you to write this book? How did you meet Theodore J. Nottingham and what convinced you to collaborate on the book?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

Following a dream, where I was told where to find the person who would help me confirm insights into my inner reality, a relationship of great esteem and respect was born. Although overseas, with the help of technology at a distance, we reached the point of deciding to collaborate in the writing of the missing pages of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and to clarify a series of theological questions that he said were unresolved. Through a long series of questions conceived by him, to which I responded spontaneously according to my intuition, later creating the plot and describing episodes of my current life, adapting them to the story. It was a beautiful literary and spiritual work that gratified us, because it gave each of us the answers we needed and the joy of being able to share the final result at such a difficult time for all of humanity.

 

L'Idea Magazine: A collection of six illustrated children's stories for children entitled "Hidden Fables" is also being finalized.  Can you explain to our readers the theme of the stories and what led you to write children's stories? 

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

My grandmothers were my first teachers, fundamental for my life and not a day goes by that I do not feel their precious teachings manifest themselves in the most varied situations.

I became a grandmother a few years ago and the thought of not being able to give my granddaughters my answers about the meaning of life and the roots of our family traditions and fundamental human values, such as unconditional love, inspired me to write and illustrate the series of six stories in "Hidden Fables". I recently finished writing and illustrating a new fable entitled "Nothing is Lost: Art Will Save the World" dedicated to the introduction of children to Art and set in the Louvre Museum.

The "Hidden Fables" talk about Brotherhood, Cooperation, Courage, Reconciliation, Reconciliation, Knowledge and finally Procreation, they seek to be a bright dawn on an infinite future that we can only imagine, towards which we have the duty to direct the children, our true terrestrial heritage.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: Besides being a stylist, designer, painter and sculptress, she is also a writer now. Other ongoing programs? Exhibitions? Dreams in the drawer?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

I will close this year with the solo exhibition "Infinitamente Piccolo, Infinitamente Grande" in the Galleria Italia in Parma, European Capital of Culture 2020.

At the same time, also in Parma, in the institutional space "La Casa della Musica" there will be my personal exhibition "Event Horizon", four large canvases also mentioned in the book "Ella and the Tree Mira". Covid permitting.

I am working on a stylistic project with a very dear friend, a new Brand, which I pulled out of the drawer and that we hope to be able to present at Alta Roma next Spring / Summer.

But the most engaging dream at the moment is to see "Ella and the Tree Mira" become a Film, of which there is a screenplay and a soundtrack "Ella’s Theme" created by a very good composer friend.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: If you could meet and talk with any character from the present or the past, who would you be and what would you ask?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

If I stare into a mirror, I feel I am in contact with an out-of-time character who guides, consoles, encourages and inspires me: Joshua.

Through automatic writing I receive their messages, but sometimes also from heavenly beings, and who knows I might decide to share them one day through a new book, only if I feel that it will have a global meaning and a right time to do so.

As for asking for something, I am guided by a sentence that Sai Baba said to me during an interview: "If you ask for God's love you will get everything else accordingly".

 

L'Idea Magazine: In these sad moments of isolation, quarantine and stress, what function do you see in the person of the artist and the writer?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

The artist and writer as the musician and the creative in general, must be a torch that illuminates the path of those who are afraid of the future and show that isolation is actually an opportunity for introspection, growth and transformation through the beauty of art that is in each of us, in all its expressions.

 

 

L'Idea Magazine: A message for our readers?

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval:

Always and despite everything look at life as the most important gift that has been given to us! In this regard, Mother Teresa of Calcutta wrote a universal prayer "Hymn to Life" of which I mention only a few lines:

 

Life is an opportunity, seize it

Life is a challenge, face it

Life is a mystery, discover it

Life is an adventure, risk it

Life is life, defend it 

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November 2020

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Interview with

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval

for ItsLiquid.com

by Luca Curci

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Luca Curci talks with Raffaella Corcione Sandoval during THE BODY LANGUAGE 2020 at THE ROOM Contemporary Art Space.

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Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Raffaella Corcione Sandoval now lives and works in Rome. Her artistic vocation blossomed as she trained very young at the Sancho School of Art in Caracas. In Italy she was a pupil of the artist Novella Parigini and Prof. Emilio Maria Avitabile. She attended the three years of specialization at the Jesuit Theological Faculty of Naples 85/7, and traveled for 30 years in India deepening her philosophical thought in Buddhism and Hinduism. She obtained the qualification of Advertising Graphics in Naples and of Stylist from the Fashion Academy in Rome. An artist known nationally and internationally, she has exhibited in Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Spain, China, Arabia and in numerous exhibitions throughout Italy. In Italy, the artist has aroused and continues to arouse a keen interest, and her works have been exhibited in several galleries and museums. She made her mark on the contemporary art scene in 2005 with the sculpture “La Sindone Partenopea” (her Magnum Opus), created in crystallized fabric, a technique she invented, also exhibited during the great exhibition ‘IL Velo’, at the Filatoio di Caraglio 2006/7 with the greatest names in Art. Her works are part of private collections all over the world.

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Luca Curci – What is art to you?
Raffaella Corcione Sandoval – Art is a tangible manifestation of the Absolute whose approach elevates us to a stage of purity of our own individuality with uncontaminated beauty, otherwise inaccessible, with the privilege of living the direct and indirect experience.

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LC – Which subject are you working on?
RCS – Currently my expressive research work looks to the depths of the unconscious from which primary memories, without superstructures and contaminations, re-emerge to be brought to light in their disarming spontaneity.

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LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
RCS – From the phrase, “I Created Myself From Myself To Know Me”. The mind lets you delineate figures that blend with emotions to create imaginative images and surreal scenarios.

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LC – What is the most challenging part about creating your artworks?
RCS – The moment when my emotions and analyses channel and materialize through my hands to the canvas or sculpture. Like the petals of an almond tree in bloom lulled by the gentle breeze of spring, the color draws poetic stories in the air before gently settling on the virgin canvas, arousing astonishment and enchantment in me!

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LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
RCS – An artist, whose works are the result of his unique authenticity, will be represented by them and will determine his path at all levels.

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LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this exhibition? How is it connected to the theme of the entire festival?
RCS – “Father-Mother, Spirit-Matter, Creation-Genetics” (Our physical bodies are like musical notes, in whose geometric form there is information, in the harmony of dimensions the order of rhythms: music). This is the title of the work I created in 2003 on the occasion of the third stage of the exhibition entitled “DiaLogos – La Danza Cosmica” of the overall exhibition project whose aim was to represent Harmony between opposites through their dialogue. The entire ‘DiaLogos’ Project was born after the tragic event of the Twin Towers in New York, and is composed of 11 Events of which 5 have been realized at the moment.

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LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think of the festival theme?
RCS – My art has always been exactly in theme with your vision and with the whole festival. I always thought that the birth of a new vision of the universe starts with a new vision of us. The set of thoughts forms the creative mind that generates the form. There are two types of mind, the planetary mind and the cosmic mind, which is the Universal information. In the Planetary Mind there are physical laws, Geohistory, events and even earthly projects, but not the information of our stellar origin, nor the fundamental awareness that we are all ONE. Everyone is free to pass instantly from one logic to another. This is the mental alchemy, the inner marriage between the male Father and the female Mother. Between Body and Soul.

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LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
RCS – The apparent unruliness of an artist, whose introspection demands total loyalty, sometimes leads him to isolate himself from worldliness. In the presentation of my sculptural work in plaster casts and crystallized satin fabric entitled “La Sindone Partenopea” (The Parthenopean Shroud) of 2005 I said: “Knowing one’s own emotional chromatic range, in some cases, makes it unbearable to be aware of the knowledge that being one’s own does not admit an alibi.” In my case, the ITSLIQUID Platform acts as an island on which to land and take refuge to share the product born from an exhausting inner quest for perfection, through the semiotics of art. Otherwise, one would not be encouraged to constantly improve oneself and one’s work.

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LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
RCS – I am very happy to collaborate with you, a group of lovers of life and its mysteries, expressed through the multiplicity of various forms of art and aesthetic synthesis.

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LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us? What do you think about our services?
RCS – I hope to intensify my collaboration and to establish over time a constant presence within the platform and consequently through your services, at an international level.

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The Great Interviews 

with Raffaella Corcione Sandoval

Agata Scaldaferri

 

 

 

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval is a multifaceted international artist who likes to define herself first of all as a mother, grandmother and friend. You were born in Caracas with Lucanian origins, do you feel more Venezuelan or more Italian?

 

For many years I strongly felt this double identity emerge in opposition to the place where I found myself. In Caracas I felt Italian, in Naples Venezuelan. After 30 years of traveling in India and a daughter living in California today I feel like a citizen of the world.

 

 

Your father was from Padula where the majestic Certosa di San Lorenzo stands. Unesco monument and pride for us Italians. What does this Certosino Monastery represent for you?

 

I spent long periods of vacations of my childhood and adolescence in Padula, for me "La Certosa" is home, in the years 60/70 it was accessible to all, it was the first playground, then growing up meeting with friends of all time at Pasquetta, a theater in which to play, sing and dream, inspiration for the soul and, in 2014 with immense emotion, "Museum" in which I held my solo exhibition "La Maddalena di Proust".

 

 

If your father, President of the Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in 1968 the year in which he died, at the time of the legendary Omar Sivori and José Altafini, had not died at such a young age, when you were only 15 years old, do you think you would have become an artist anyway?

 

When I told my father that I wanted to go to art high school, after having been in religious institutions from elementary to middle school, it was a great scandal, dad died in the middle of '68, and he didn't have time to stop me.

Afterwards Commander Achille Lauro, my tutor, consulting with the critic Gino Grassi, Art Consultant of his newspaper IL ROMA, supported my talent.

 

  

When did you feel recognized by critics and collectors as an established artist and which current do you feel you belong to?

 

It was in 2005, at the end of the Press Conference attended by 27 journalists and cultural leaders, held at the Superintendence of Salerno, where I presented my sculpture "The Parthenopean Shroud" ("Sindone Partenopea") exhibited at San Pietro a Corte. The curator of the exhibition, art historian, antiquarian and writer Marco Fabio Apolloni kissed my hand saying: "Congratulations Maestro!".

 

As an independent artist the current to which I belong is that of "Creativity".

 

 

Spirituality is central to your art. Why?

 

I was born into a Catholic family, believers and practitioners, I knew the Faith in early childhood and through study, research and practice I recognized the Divine in everything, what better way to share it?

 

What are you working on now and when will you hold your next solo show?

I never imagined I would also become a writer, in the middle of the pandemic and quarantine I published my first book: "Ella and the Tree of Mira", with the collaboration of American writer and friend Ted Nottingham. I wrote a screenplay for the book and am working on the development of the film version. It is a sort of veiled autobiography, like my works, in which I had the honor to have the preface written by Senator Gianni Pittella, friend and brother of thought and heart.  Following the recent birth of my granddaughters, my age forced me to create a series of six small books "Le Favole Nascoste" with the intention of transferring to them and to all the children of the world, through UNICEF to which part of the proceeds will go, my intuitions and my answers on the meaning of life and Love.

 

 

Don't you think the time has come for a retrospective?

 

My next solo exhibition, unpublished, will be held at the Galleria Italia in Parma, European Capital of Culture 2020, in November. As long as research and experimentation will stimulate my curiosity and creativity, I will not be ready for the retrospective.

 

 

What advice would you give to young artists who have just started their career?

 

Not to give in to contamination, but to dig into themselves to bring out their uniqueness.

 

 

You are always so cheerful. What is the secret of happiness for you?

 

Unconditional Love.

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Interview With Raffaella Corcione Sandoval

Author of the work Ella and the Tree of Mira

on Unfolding Rome

by Emanuele Gambino

 

 

Raffaella Corcione Sandoval (Caracas, 1951) is a painter, sculptress, writer and fashion designer who lives and works in Rome. An artist known nationally and internationally, she has exhibited in Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Spain, China and Arabia; she has also held numerous exhibitions throughout Italy in various galleries and museums. She became known to the general public on the contemporary art scene in 2005 with her sculpture "Sindone Partenopea" (plaster cast and crystallized fabric - a technique of her own invention), also exhibited during the great exhibition "Il Velo" at the Filatoio di Caraglio (Turin, 2006). Her works are part of public and private collections all over the world. In 2020 she published her first book written with Theodore J. Nottingham entitled "Ella e l'Albero di Mira", translated into four languages; she is also the author of a collection of six illustrated short stories for children entitled "Favole Nascoste" (Hidden Fables), of which part of the proceeds will go to UNICEF, also translated into four languages.

 

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"What are the reasons that caused you to write your work Ella and the Tree of Mira?"

 

The need to leave the personal testimony of my passage on this planet, not only as an artist, but also as an individual soul, through my thoughts, in a literary narrative. I hope that this sharing can be an inspiration for real seekers, telling things about me that are extremely intimate, but that are broadly shared throughout my life in a playful way with a small circle of friends. Things that no one could have ever known or written otherwise.

 

 

"What were the sources of inspiration for writing your book?"

 

The inspiring source is one, my great love for Joshua, then my mystical nature, my research, my introspection did the rest.

 

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"Would you like to describe the characters of Ella and Mira? What do they share, and in what way are you reflected in them?"

 

Ella is an artist of the twentieth century and Mira a youg girl of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, but in reality they are one eternal soul that recognizes itself in the passage of earthly time from incarnation to incarnation. I personally believe in reincarnation and the correlation of all existing things that demonstrate the perfection of creation.

 

 

"Would you like to share with us a quote from your work that is particularly close to your heart?".

 

"Miriam soon realized that his presence balanced his clear masculine polarity with her feminine polarity. In this way, the divine manifested itself through the respective roles assigned to them in form in order to proliferate unconditional love".

 

 

"Would you like to tell us how the meeting with the researcher in the field of spiritual awakening Theodore J. Nottingham, co-author of the work Ella and the Tree of Mira was born?

 

I had a premonitory dream three years ago, as I have had all my life, that I have punctually transcribed and which, together with the others, will probably be published in a future book. In the dream I received precise indications on where to find the one who would help me, confronting myself to confirm my intuitions, and carry out my personal research. Without the help of the internet it would otherwise have been impossible. Our friendship is based on a great esteem and mutual respect, lived at a physical distance, with deep feelings outside of earthly requirements.

 

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"Who are your reference authors? Are there works that have changed your way of seeing life?".

 

Of course the Gospels and the Sacred Texts of the various religions have been fundamental in my life to know myself, as well as discipline and practice. The world is full of chosen souls, mystics, saints and philosophers, as well as excellent authors who have the power with their extraordinary literary works to enlighten and heal. In any case, there have been some works that have resounded strongly in my heart more than others such as "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene", "The Imitation of Christ" or "The Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda, but of fundamental importance was the privilege of having personally known St. Padre Pio, Mother Teresa and the Indian Master Sri Sathya Sai Baba whom I visited for about thirty years.

 

I had in mind to contact Alberto Rizzoli, whose thoughts I knew, because he had been for many years the companion of one of my dearest friends during the period when I lived in Milan, Elisabetta Mosconi, a wonderful woman, very sensitive, cultured and spiritual, who painfully left us a few years ago, after a tenacious struggle against the evil of the century. The sad and unexpected news that Alberto had joined her prematurely upset me greatly, slowing down my decisions. Then came the traumatic event of the pandemic and quarantine and I felt that it was the right time to comfort and give my support to others, sharing such an intimate part of me, independently.

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“Ella and the Tree of Mira”, the suggestion of the week of Names, Books and Cities

 

Libero Pensiero

 

 

 

What is your novel “Ella and the Tree of Mira” about?

 

 

"My novel is about an artist who achieves her goal with a solo exhibition at the MoMa in New York. At the same time she receives, from a writer and scholar of Sacred Texts, the intimate confirmation that she has been waiting for all her life about her real spiritual identity. She contacted this man via the Internet because of a premonitory dream in which she was told where to find him. He lives on the other side of the world, she meets him in person unexpectedly only after two years - at the vernissage of her exhibition - when she receives a book from him as a gift, the result of research, where stories of previous lives will be revealed".

 

 

Can you tell us about the figure of Ella, the protagonist of the novel?

 

  

"She is a woman who loves to call herself a mother before she is an artist, and lives for her daughters. Since childhood, she has had mystical and paranormal experiences, initially difficult to manage, but as she grows up she finds a way to live with them without being disturbed, remaining in contact with her "Guide" through her eyes. Her mystical nature and creativity decide her destiny. Her works, appreciated by critics and collectors, are the result of her faith which through inner and artistic research, has the goal of bringing Joshua's message to the world through Art.

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