Interview: Domenico Balducci, the art of letting ideas choose their own form
- Victoria Di Cala (BC)
- Aug 7
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
An artist of many forms of expression, Domenico Balducci shares his perspective in this exclusive interview on illustration, creativity, and the pursuit of artistic authenticity.
It only takes a few moments observing Domenico Balducci’s work to understand that defining him as a mere illustrator would be reductive. In the work of the Italian artist, drawing naturally enters into dialogue with painting, sculpture and video. Each discipline seems to extend from the previous one, without hierarchy or boundaries. This refusal to confine himself to a single practice is not an artistic strategy: it reflects a way of inhabiting the world.
This creative freedom has its roots in his childhood, spent in a country house where nature became his first field of experimentation. Long before art schools and professional commissions, there were the stones on which he drew, the earth he shaped, the flowers he assembled, and those hours spent transforming the elements around him into spontaneous creations. With hindsight, he sees in those moments an instinctive way of observing his surroundings and telling stories through forms.
Painting entered his life at the age of twelve, before an artistic education and later studies in advertising design provided him with the technical foundations necessary to develop his own language. Later, Rome became an obvious choice when he decided to study fashion. Yet it was precisely during those university years that he became aware of what deeply inspired him: illustration.
In his eyes, illustration possesses a unique ability to bring together drawing, colour, storytelling and aesthetic sensitivity within a single language. Since then, it has occupied a central place in his work, without ever eclipsing the other forms of expression that continue to enrich his universe.
This plurality, however, was not always obvious. Like many young artists, Domenico Balducci once believed that he had to choose a single path in order to be identifiable. With time, this conviction disappeared.
“True identity is not born from limitations, but from the freedom to express oneself. It is the idea that chooses the medium, not the other way around.”
This philosophy runs throughout his entire body of work. While his illustrations often give the impression of having been born with astonishing simplicity, they are in fact the result of a long process of research, made of sketches, experiments and invisible adjustments. The process disappears behind an image that seems to have emerged on its own.
The artist does not seek to control every detail. He prefers to let emotions guide his gesture until the work naturally finds its balance. According to him, there is no precise moment when an illustration is finished. There simply comes a time when nothing more needs to be added or taken away.
This search for balance undoubtedly explains why his creations go beyond the simple notion of beauty. For Domenico Balducci, a successful image does not merely seek to please the eye.
“A beautiful image attracts the eye, but an image that possesses a true presence leaves an emotion, a trace, something that continues to live within us after we have looked at it.”
His work therefore gives an essential place to what remains invisible: the emotions, memories and stories contained within each illustration. If he were asked to choose only a few works among all those he has created, he would not select them for their graphic quality, but for what they tell. An illustration becomes important when it contains a fragment of his journey, a feeling or a thought that extends far beyond its form.
This faithfulness to his own universe also guides his professional choices. The artist regularly refuses certain projects, not because he lacks time, but because they do not correspond to his vision of creation. He prefers to give up a commission rather than produce images he considers devoid of soul. Only projects capable of arousing an emotion are, in his view, worth pursuing.
This demand is accompanied by a gaze that never leaves him. Whether he observes a city, a garment or a person encountered in the street, the same curiosity remains at work. He does not seek to turn off his artist’s gaze; it is an integral part of his daily life, a constant way of perceiving forms, details and emotions.
In a context where social media often encourages creators to seek immediate approval, Domenico Balducci identifies one danger greater than all others: the desire to please.
“When an illustrator creates while thinking first about the gaze of others, they risk losing their authenticity. A true artist must follow their own vision and let their language speak.”
Ultimately, it may be this authenticity that best summarizes his work. If the colours,lines and silhouettes were removed from his creations, he believes that only one thing would remain: the spontaneity of the creative gesture. That of a child who invents without calculation, guided solely by imagination and by the emotion of the moment.
A simple, almost self-evident definition, yet one that sheds light on Domenico Balducci’s entire approach: creating without ever losing that original freedom from which the most sincere images are born.
Translated by Federica Mignacca
