Every era and every world has its own chronicler, and when it comes to digital imagery in Italy, one cannot avoid recounting the path of Federico Clapis, often anticipating themes and trends.
His work explores timeless themes such as birth, transformation, and the sacred, but does so with a futuristic aesthetic that speaks to new generations. His digital sculptures — human beings fused with technological devices, hearts and fetuses hybridized with electronics — are icons of an era balanced between spirituality and post-humanism. Clapis operates in a space that is both playground and field for reflection: his visually captivating art always carries a profound, sometimes unsettling message, a lens through which to observe our own humanity.
Interviewing him for this issue of Artbook gave me the chance to delve into several central yet controversial aspects of contemporary art… his thinking is lucid and coherent when addressing uncomfortable topics that often become clichés in this sector, dense with unexpected conformism. His nonconformist vision paradoxically demonstrates an ultra-pop approach to creativity and the experience of art.
What are your most recent projects?
“I am working on a major digital project that I have been focusing on for years and which should take shape towards the end of summer. It will be truly revolutionary for the digital ecosystem, a performative experience never attempted before, although I cannot reveal the details yet. At the same time, I am deepening my passion for virtual worlds — I prefer to avoid the word ‘metaverse’ because of the speculation surrounding it in 2021, but essentially it is that. Since my first virtual exhibitions, I realized that this dimension synthesizes and amplifies all my previous creative experiences. I am therefore creating a complex yet simple space that combines electronic music, art, and other languages within the Roblox ecosystem. Here I see tangibility and an active community: while many blockchain platforms lack real users, Roblox has 200 million. My work aims to build a new ‘empire’ for the future, even if not immediate.”
Do you consider yourself a pop artist? Do you like the pop approach to art?
“Yes, I could be defined as pop, but it’s not a label that particularly interests me, especially today when cross-era and cross-genre contaminations are so numerous that categories become blurred. In recent years, the word ‘pop’ risks being confused with ‘trash’ and kitsch: galleries and pop movements have lost their original strength. However, if ‘pop’ means accessibility and the possibility of being understood by everyone, then yes, in that sense I identify with it.”
What is the most ‘pop’ aspect of digital art?
“Probably money. In recent years, digital art has been talked about almost exclusively because of record-breaking sales. In this sense, the economic dimension is the most ‘popular’ element of a sector that otherwise remains confined to a small niche of crypto collectors and enthusiasts.”
How do you see the increasing accessibility of digital tools in artistic creativity?
“It is certainly positive that increasingly simple tools allow many people to explore their creativity. However, I do not believe this makes art ‘better’ in an absolute sense. Rather, it will change the way the human brain perceives images: what amazes us today will seem ordinary tomorrow, just as happened with calculators for numbers and complex calculations. Established artists might find more complex and articulated ways to create experiences beyond the mere image — immersive and interdisciplinary experiences — but it will take years to materialize them. As for images, in a few years the sense of wonder risks disappearing.”
Do you think it is essential for an artist to move from digital to physical?
“No, I don’t think it’s a necessary step. As long as my parents’ generation is alive, there will still be a market for the physical alone. Later on, the physical might have more of an ‘archaeological’ value than a contemporary one. In any case, today digital art is still closely tied to crypto market fluctuations, so the stability of the physical world remains valuable.”
Do you believe art is a fundamental tool for spreading social messages?
“Art can certainly be used to convey messages, but this applies more broadly to the world of images. The term ‘art’ carries a special, perhaps overrated aura today, and often gets confused with anything visual. I believe the ability to communicate effectively is a value inherent to the image rather than to art strictly speaking, and that art is no longer a central element as it once was.”
According to Richter, art represents the greatest hope to defend diversity against homogenization. Do you agree?
“I don’t agree. Art is often a place where conformity reigns supreme. Of course, it depends on what we mean by ‘art’: if we talk about the individual creative act, perhaps yes; but if we talk about art moving within the market and following its rules, conformity is more the norm than the exception. Today, I don’t believe art still has that salvific role it may have had in the past.”
Which is your favorite work and the one most loved by the public?
“There are works like Baby Drone that have become iconic for my community, and others that aged too quickly. For example, in 2015, when I tackled smartphone addiction, the theme was still fresh, whereas today it seems almost rhetorical. Then there are my more experimental works, ready-mades, and accumulations, which I am very attached to. But ultimately, being obsessive, the only work I am truly attached to is the one I am currently working on: until it is complete, only that one exists for me.”
Should an artist’s popularity be considered a value?
“I believe popularity has always been part of an artist’s value, at least from the market perspective. Today, the ways this popularity is built and manifested have changed. It should be remembered, however, that art is a craft as well as a market: popularity becomes a commercial value. But there is also a more intimate and sacred level, related to the meditative and therapeutic dimension of the creative act. There, popularity doesn’t matter at all.”
