“The colors of the world”.Anna Baches, from Rome to New York via London, to stop in Sardinia.
Anna Baches, neo-expressionist artist and successful digital designer, has in her eyes and heart the colors of the world. Today she lives in the magical Isola dei Nuraghi. It is from that ancient land that she tells us a bit of her story. Actress, painter and mother of two beautiful children, she has found her artistic dimension but her journey continues.
(Prima Pagina News)
Sabato 31 Luglio 2021
Roma - 31 lug 2021 (Prima Pagina News)
Anna Baches, neo-expressionist artist and successful digital designer, has in her eyes and heart the colors of the world. Today she lives in the magical Isola dei Nuraghi. It is from that ancient land that she tells us a bit of her story. Actress, painter and mother of two beautiful children, she has found her artistic dimension but her journey continues.

by Pino Nano 

She is an interesting character to describe. Her story is full of colors, curves and straight lines, it is full of encounters and clashes, first of all with herself. Her journey began in 1984 in Houston, Texas, the land of the cowboys which then became the Oil Country, very hungry for art and culture.

Anna Baches lived in the United States until she was 4 years old and then moved to Italy. She touched Florence, then Rome where she studied acting at Cinecittà. With a huge but almost empty suitcase she reached New York and then moved to London. Today she lives in Cagliari, in the ancient land of the Nuraghi. Hers is an all-round artistic talent: she sings, paints, acts, writes, produces and directs. The world around all this hurts her because her sensitivity is immense, too much. You can see it in her works, a universe that attracts like a planet attracts its satellites. Today Anna has a husband, two children and the night to devote herself to her artistic intuitions. She got a lot as a gift from her father, a highly regarded graphic artist in America, who is no longer with us due to a terrible illness. As a child she stayed by his side and tried to imitate the gestures and techniques he used to create in his works. Over time even with great distance, thanks to the internet, the two managed to continue exchanging ideas and know-how until the last moment.

Anna has lived through many experiences in life, despite her young age.

-In Rome, for three years, between acting, studying and auditioning, you followed the lessons of great Italian screenwriters like Scarpelli. You've made a few successful series appearances like "A Doctor in the Family". Then what?

After Rome I moved to New York where I attended the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, that produced the likes of Robert Redford and Lauren Bacall and where I met my husband, a wonderful person, a friend before everything and a great talent. On Madison Avenue, within the walls of the school, I breathed the lives and infinite imagination of great artists but also of young novice talents, also with a great history behind them and a passion for cinema and theater. I took the time to understand the basics and the different sectors of the business, from set design to costume design. I spent many hours of the night drawing the storyboards of the productions in which I was cast and studying my character to understand her soul. My acting books are full of their portraits. Being part of that family filled me with joy and energy. And, outside, there was New York, its streets full of everything, really everything, for better or for worse. I lived in China Town and I learned so much just by observing the life that revolves around that neighborhood.

-From New York to London. A bit of a strange choice for those who want to make films, right?

Ralph, my husband, is originally from England, Kent to be precise. For that reason we wanted to try to make it in London. It was a very hard experience. We had a serious loss in the family and after that everything got a bit harder. At the auditions they asked for a perfect British accent and they gave extra points to fellow countrymen’ who had studied acting at home, understandably. We always came in second with lots of compliments and a "thank you, see you next time". We have accumulated much suffering and many disappointments but also joy for the birth of our firstborn. London is a magnificent, multi-ethnic and culturally a very generous city but we were tired of going around in circles. For these reasons, after five years, we decided to go and live in Sardinia, my mother's land, the magical Mediterranean island where I lived an important piece of my life as a child.

-Still, do you consider the London experience positive from the point of view of your artistic training?

Together with some friends from the New York AADA who had moved to London we put on a theatrical pièce in the West End, the show district. I had a lot of fun even though the work was hard but I noticed that what gave me the most satisfaction was creating the set and the costumes. We never stood still, we tried in every way to find the road to success. We also founded a production company that has staged several interesting works with very positive reviews. It still was not enough. But at the end, the great difficulty in finding a role to play on stage or in front of the camera was the stimulus to understand which was actually my right path. I started working from home. I ordered everything that could be used to produce art via the internet. They weren't tools of great quality but I didn't care much because what mattered to me was being able to draw. I felt the need to use brushes and paint. To complete my professional education I enrolled at Regents University of London where I attended the production and screenwriting faculty. I did not complete my studies because I was expecting my first child. The idea was to write, produce and direct my film, which is still aside in my drawer and speaks of my Sardinia. I grew up seeing London and Britain in the films I loved the most: Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Love Actually. How can you not love that country, despite all its contradictions Central London enriches, conquers, hypnotizes with its museums, art galleries, street artists who in many cases are a unique and amazing show. That city has a prodigious lifeblood. It is the land of personalities like Shakespeare and Sting, just to launch a historical hyperbole. I remember that while my husband was filming a Kevin McDonald movie (The Eagle of the Ninth), instead of staying on the set, I would sit in front of Big Ben and draw its outline on my sketch pad. The perfect simplicity of that tower with its famous clock is incredible. There are emotions that only the big cities are able to give you. Think of Banksy and his Street Art. You walk down a gray street surrounded by gray stone walls and suddenly a work by Banksy appears before your eyes, whether it’s the little girl watching her heart-shaped balloon fly away or the man who erases the word Eternity with a sponge. It is a gift for the mind, for your physical and mental well-being. Living in a big city for me is like when you are on a fast train, the images pass before your eyes like in a time-lapse film as you move on safe and sound and knowing that you will arrive at your destination. It is an inner search that finds an important outlet in centers like London.

-When does your full time relationship with graphic art begin?

I have to go back a bit. During my Roman period I watched a lot of films. I was very appreciative of Johnny Depp and wanted to delve into his story. He was kind of a nomad, his older brother had a great influence on his formation, growth and love for music but above all he read, he read American writers and among them there was Allen Ginsberg who I immediately went to look for in the bookstores of the Italian capital. I found myself in my small apartment near Piazza San Giovanni, living in a lonely and fascinating planet, surrounded by the scent of vanilla cigarillos, with classic films to keep me company while I drew and painted on canvas, cartoons, napkins, books’ pages. I couldn't stop conveying my deepest thoughts on whatever material I had available.

-What were your works like at the time? How would you define the style?

It’s called Neo-expressionism and it’s an impulsive form. My feelings, my reflections, my beliefs materialize in a painting. It is not a question of beauty or perfection, so much so that in Rome I worked without using a pencil but directly with a brush and watercolors. I let myself be conquered by Jean-Michel Basquiat's intuition to insert keywords in the work: sometimes they are graffiti, other simple nouns or adjectives that are however indecipherable. They always asked me what I had written in each and every one of my paintings in the other and in the other, but it still remains a secret today, except for my two children. It is a bit like Bob Dylan's harmonica: that sound manages to make you feel any kind of emotion without any presumption, leaving you free to travel with your mind, connecting it to your heart. Sometimes it's a positive feeling, sometimes it's not.

-Here, music also enters the scene, if I'm not mistaken, as fundamental inspiration in your paintings and beyond.

Yes, it's true. After Rome I returned to Cagliari for a short time to learn how to work behind the camera. I have made several documentaries and short films as a director as well as a screenwriter and producer. However, at night, all night, I painted and listened to Bob Dylan. I liked him so much that every week, when record shops were still easy to find, I would go and buy an LP of his. I pretended it had just been released and record after record I was able to listen and learn all of his songs. Among these I was struck by Hurricane, a wonderful song even if with a mistake. . . very current even today. A black boxer is accused of a murder he did not commit. I have thoroughly researched his court case. The next step was to get my mom to let me paint a mural in the four-walled vestibule leading to the bedrooms of our home. The apartment is now my husband's and mine and I enjoy taking guests to that colorful space to let them soak up the Rubin Carter experience.

-But is Sardinia, artistically speaking, a difficult land to emerge from?

In some ways, yes, but it is so full of very talented people. If you stop for a moment and look around, you see art everywhere. For me it is a strange thing, in the sense that initially for me it was not home, I did not feel it as my land. I always thought of Houston as my city, until some time ago I found the notebooks I wrote in as a child and reread the words of infinite love for this place. Then I remembered the many moments of melancholy that gripped my heart when I was away. I have never cut the umbilical cord with this piece of land in the middle of the sea, the most beautiful sea in the world. I sincerely believe that the platforms currently available, such as Instagram to name one, are now art galleries without borders. One can get tremendous visibility no matter where one physically is. There are many Sardinian artistic realities, especially in the north of the island. They keep up to date on how the world moves and try to understand how to make a living with art works today. It is also true that Sardinian artists have to work a little harder to make themselves known but the way to emerge sooner or later is found. A Sardinian artist called Manu Invisibile and who keeps his identity hidden has "autographed" with his Street Art most of the walls and streets of Sardinia. We all know him for his work in which he also expresses his opinions on society and the world, but we do not know what he looks like. He managed to find his space successfully. I have created my website, my Instagram page. It is called Colorsof84 if anyone is interested.

-And now Anna, now what are you doing, where is this life taking you?

First of all I'm having a great time. I started painting again every day, sometimes every night and I do almost everything digitally. I rely on the techniques my dad taught me. I finally found the place to print my works as I like it and also a great framer, Gianni Aresu, with whom the understanding is perfect. Here, inspiration is a constant state of mind. I believe there is much more to the Sardinian people than what is known or perceived. The Sardinian people have a surprising sense of humor, they are rebellious, strong and very courageous people but above all immensely in love with their land. We are in continuous suffering for the management of daily life matters, for the lack of job opportunities, for the abuses made by entrepreneurs without respect but, we do not give up. We will never give up. We have to find a way to get out of this stalemate and with my art I want to collaborate and help create a good future for us and for those to come.

 


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