POST SCRIPTUM English__ Feb 2021

Damiano Errico was born in Caserta in 1970. He attended
the Art Institute of S.Leucio (CE), where he met the painting
master Bruno Donzelli and spent a long period as an
assistant in the master’s studio learning painting techniques.
After graduating, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts
in Naples, where he studied photography with Mimmo Jodice.
From the first meeting with the master till now, not a day goes
by without photography. He often exhibits in galleries and
museums, and carries out many photographic workshops
and seminars in Italy and Europe.
How did you become an artist?
It happened in very early childhood – I was 6/7 years
old, when I used to spend my days in my father’s tailor’s
shop, yes... my father was a tailor and created tailor-
-made clothes. I very often played with fabrics and
always drew. At that stage my passion for creativity was
born. I watched how, from a piece of cloth, a dress was
born. Today I try to “dress” my models with light. Light
does not strip bodies but dresses them with poetry.
Beautifully said…
When it comes to education, you started your
adventure with art with painting (studying painting
under the supervision of Bruno Donzella). I read that
you weren’t interested in photography until you met
the great photographer Mimmo Jodice at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Naples, where you were studying. What
did Mimmo Jodice say that made you change your
mind after one conversation?
I did not like photography. I wanted to become a painter.
I thought photography was a minor/trivial art. Mimmo
Jodice made me understand that photography is not
made up of numbers and formulas, but of poetry and
culture, of art history, of emotions. I remained in ecstasy.
I immediately bought a camera and since that day I have
always taken photos.
Mimmo Jodice is known for photographing
contemporary cultures: landscapes, cities, industrial
buildings, etc., the human figure is rarely physically
present in his works. You mainly photograph people.
What influenced your own style the most?
The master Jodice has often portrayed classical
sculptures, he managed to give life to a block of marble.
I want to convey the same emotions, but in the opposite
way. I want to transform people, models into paintings
and sculptures. From Mimmo Jodice I learned how to
look for feelings in people, landscapes and sculptures.
Yes, your photos look like the works of
great masters. Do you have a favourite master?
I love all the masters who have created masterpieces,
but in particular I love Caravaggio for his theatricality
and his realism, Vermeer for his natural light, Bernini for
his pathos in stone and Canova for the pursuit of beauty.
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