Anthony Alberti’s works are sometimes funny, often striking. This self-taught artist has his own unique vision of society and its excesses. On the occasion of his exhibition “Reality Show 2.0” at the Lympia space in Nice, we had a fascinating meeting with the man known as Mr OneTeas.
“Mr OneTeas” is a somewhat mysterious name, where does it come from?
Originally, my graffiti name was Teas, which means “Tease” in English. I’ve always been a teaser in my way of being, and I still am today through my works and the messages I convey. It then became Mr OneTeas, somewhat like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In graffiti, we all have two sides, the public one and the one in the shadows. This Mr OneTeas is my own Mr Hyde. My artistic anonymous persona.
How did this desire to create, to make all kinds of objects come about?
When I was little, I spent every weekend with my uncle and aunt. They took me to many museums and contributed to the development of my artistic curiosity. I participated in many workshops, which is funny because today I lead them as well. I don’t remember much, but I also drew crying clowns. I already wanted to make Ronald McDonald cry.
I wasn’t really an artist, more of an athlete, but I was very curious. When I turned 20, a friend suggested I try painting, and I challenged myself to improve until I was good enough. Fourteen years ago, in 2005, I did my first graffiti. I haven’t stopped since. In 2011, I wanted to start painting canvases, so I quit my job in June and set up my first exhibition. All my paintings sold, which allowed me to live for a year and then start again.
Objects have always been very important to me. I’m a collector of old things, a bit of a hunter. When I’m driving and see something interesting, I stop and pick it up. These things I accumulate, I want to immortalize them but also share them with everyone. The idea is to use an object from the past to deliver a contemporary message.
Can we consider you an engaged artist?
I don’t really like the term engaged artist in the first place. People like to say that to signify that we’re conveying a message. All artists should be engaged. We’re in an era where beauty has taken precedence over meaning. People hang colorful paintings in their homes to have a light mind and think of nothing. My paintings are not cute little things to put up and empty your mind. I see them as things you want to live with, messages we face or that represent us. That’s why my work has evolved a lot. My role is to convey a message of alarm or a positive message.
What difficulties do you encounter when setting up an exhibition? Can your commitment be an obstacle?
In the past, gallery owners covered the costs of production, framing, and expenses. There was a mutual commitment. Today, there are still galleries that support artists, but it’s rarer. Many of my peers can’t set up an exhibition because it’s expensive, time-consuming, and a real profession. Thanks to my previous jobs, I have a taste for organization and management. It has helped me a lot.
As for the nature of my works, it all depends on the gallery owners. Some might have a crush on a complete series or a particular creation. I might even be given free rein to exhibit what I want. Sometimes, I can’t exhibit certain works due to fear of public opinion and reactions. I understand that too.
Conditioning is a word that often comes up in your vocabulary. Can you define it in your own way?
It’s a word I often use for a simple reason. As the years pass, humans become more conditioned. Whether through education, with what we are taught, or through television with advertising. With the Milgram experiment*, the idea was to show that an authority figure had a certain hold and power over people. The experiment was repeated in 2009 with a TV presenter as the authority figure. The results are astounding. We have to admit that today we are all somewhat dulled by mass entertainment. We don’t get away from it. Whatever you do, you’ll always be conditioned, even if you decide to live alone in the mountains. We undergo incessant conditioning.
Is art also a victim of conditioning?
In art, there’s a double-edged sword. On one side, there are all these fashion phenomena and artists producing works devoid of meaning. Many take advantage of these trends for communication. On Instagram, a person’s notoriety is measured by the number of followers. Before even looking at the content, you’d like it just because of notoriety. Like a sheep, head down, you rush in. A girl showing her buttocks will gather thousands of likes, while someone trying to advance the world will get minimal attention.
The influence of social media is a theme present in your exhibition. What’s your relationship with the virtual world?
The Reality Show means that today people live in a “reality” that is actually a “virtuality.” Through social media, people sell a reality that is not their own. I’m not against social networks. For me, it’s like tobacco or alcohol, it should be consumed in moderation. I prefer living among the real rather than through the virtual. But without these networks, you can’t reach the world anymore. We hardly read print media anymore, if at all. We see it, newspapers are shifting online today. People spend a lot of time on their screens, trapped in their ‘selfish phones.’
The more rotten the world, the more useful art is?
Art is a big word. And also a subjective notion. Art exists in the eyes of the beholder. We were always taught in philosophy about the notion of art and the Beautiful. There are things that touch me, others that touch me less. I’m no one to judge the artistic practices of the whole world. However, I appreciate the effort, the way it is done. I might find a painting horrible, but I’ll always get closer to know how it was made. It’s important to realize the work behind each piece.
Today, we’re moving in a world where people are no longer centered on others, but on themselves. They band together to claim things, but we should also gather for the good things. I think the world is not doing well, I try to put images and works to its ills. I clarify them with my explanatory words. My utopia is to believe in a better world through the power of our actions.
When I hear people chatting and saying, “Look at the world we live in,” I feel like responding: “The world we live in is the one you build every day.”
