"I believe that art can heal. Imagine a world where you can let go and live really fully, where you can scream, scratch, punch, break, tear, push, pull, burn, play, and anger is not something that makes you “out of your mind,” but something that you tame into creativity. From my earliest memories, drawing has been as essential to me as breathing. Committing myself completely to art gives me a sense of being alive, aligned with the world, serene and complete. I have retained a childlike curiosity and an urge for ongoing renewal. Rather than specializing in one thing, I prefer to remain a “perpetual beginner” and be constantly open to new possibilities and explorations. Mirroring the harmony of my own contrasts, I seek various forms of challenge, from confrontation to liberation, from conversing to dancing or sparring with the elements, from the most direct actions of steel welding, cutting, burning, and bending metal, to completing a portrait from life in a slow and irresistible process, to capturing the spark of life which makes each person distinct. I explore, revisit, and reinvent with complete commitment. I improvise, create “stuff ” in my laboratory in an instinctive, nonverbal, and extremely intimate search for authenticity. I roll up my sleeves and dive into the creative dimension, striving to get maximum results with minimalist methods, in simple and pure renderings. I love to study and sharpen the “how to.” I enjoy and welcome the sense of risk and inner chaos I feel before an artwork appears to me, finished and intimidating. Only then can I play and create and finally clear my mind of unnecessary noise and dare to breathe, feel, play, live, and express. I tried to embrace other paths but without direct involvement in the arts my life has no meaning or essence. I cannot find a more interesting topic than life itself, motions and emotions, or a better subject than human beings and our unlimited collective mind and shared universal symbols."
- CAROLINE BERGONZI, 2012