Angelo Visigalli, Restaurateur

Back in 2010, I was putting together a feature article for Metropolis magazine on art in restaurants. As part of this I ran a few questions past the owner of BICE, one of the restaurants featured. The interview was carried about by email to save on transcription time. Some slight corrections have been made in Visigelli's English as it is not his first language apparently.

Liddell: When did BICE start exhibiting art and why?

Visigalli: Art it is always being a passion of mine, therefore when we were planning the restaurant layout, I made sure that it would be equipped for exposition. We did the first art exposition a week after the opening. Usually we do a different exposition every 2-3 month.

Liddell: What attracted you to Aeravi’s art? [The artist currently on display] How do you normally choose your artists?

Visigalli: I liked the graphics of her design that I find very metaphysical but very expressive at the same time.

Liddell: Do you have any restrictions on the kind of art that can be shown? If so, what are they? What are the reasons for these limits?

Visigalli: Usually I do not have any limitation whatsoever, because art as food, is a matter of taste, you can love it, or dislike it. At the same time, I expose art in my restaurant to entertain, and therefore, in order to respect the first and most important core of my business, serve food with good service in a cozy environment, sometimes I find myself turning down offers from artists that are too explicit. This is to avoid an 80-year-old lady, finding herself in front of a man's nude, which can be acceptable in a museum.

Liddell: How can artists approach you?

Visigalli: 90% of the time I go searching for artists in expositions, internet, or during visits to gallery, but as we have been doing this for many years now, we receive lots of portfolios, and than we take it from there.

Liddell: How are the paintings marketed to the customers? For example, how do they know that they are not just decoration but are also for sale?

Visigalli: Usually our staff informs the costumers regarding the exposition, and if the costumer asks for more details, we always inform them that unlike the art galleries, we do not take part in the sales, therefore we suggest to contact the artist/gallery that represent it directly.

Liddell: What do you think of the traditional gallery system – rental galleries, dealer galleries, etc.? What are the drawbacks? What are the advantages? Do you think this system can survive?

Visigalli: I believe that the systems works fine. Unfortunately, for the artists, some galleries are very greedy, and therefore leave the artist too little to live on. At the same time, it is a necessary process to eliminate unnecessary art, or inconstant artists. The market is very much saturated with so many different kinds of artists and art, and this highly competitive system, will ensure the survival of the very true, artist with a message, not the one that only have a fantastic concept that needs the instruction book as an appliance to be understood.

Liddell: What are the advantages for the artists of exhibiting in a restaurant setting as opposed to a traditional gallery? What are the disadvantages, if any?

Visigalli: The advantage is that usually there is a lot of people going through this kind of activity than an average gallery. Disadvantage can be that we are not a gallery first of all, therefore the people that visit us do not come to see art, even if I would like to underline that, after 8 years, lots of our guests are always looking forward to the next exhibition.

Liddell: What are the advantages for the restaurants? Are there any problems?

Visigalli: The basic advantage is to ensure a different atmosphere according to the artist's message. Problems none, except the set up. That is time consuming, in an already busy environment with daily operations, but I would not call this a problem.

Liddell: Tell me about some of the artists who have exhibited with you and how it has impacted on their career?

Visigalli: Well, we did lots of solo artist exhibitions, from top Italians, like Mario Arlati a living artist that is considered one of the top 5 (all after Clemente of course), or Massimo Catalani  (www.massimocatalani.com) another already famous painter from Italy, Tetsuro Shimizu, a teacher at Brera art school in Milano for over 20 years, Kentaro Baba, Saito Kaoru, Mr. Dang, and many many more. Of course, the famous did not have any gain from exposing in BiCE except for the revenue on their sales, the younger ones, have a chance to showcase their art to a window on the city of Tokyo, and you never know, one thing can led to another.

Liddell: BICE is on the 47th floor and has incredible views. Other restaurants I have visited are in basements with no windows. Restaurants with no windows obviously need the kind of visual charm that art provides, but why does BICE need art when you have such great views already?

Visigalli: As mentioned before, art is a passion of mine, and I'm always hoping to expose some of the artists that I like, not for commercial gain, nor to fill my pockets with the sales, as I am not a professional in the field, but just an amateur, by exposing new and young artists I hope to make more people interested in art, as much as entertain them.