I miss the sea. Covid-19 affected our emotions. As if there were – and there is – a higher stake that is life. Hence no cinema, no walks, no shopping at the market. How much I miss it! I'm not worried about myself. I'm a fatalist. I overcame a tumour – they couldn’t take it anymore at the Veronesi hospital [European Institute of Oncology]. They said I puzzled them, but I know they had fun after all! Now, I’m worried about my family, my daughters and grandchildren.The sea, like paintings, is a kind of inheritance, a family thing. My father was a real artist [Eustachio Catalano, an artist and former director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo], and my brother was a marine biologist. Part of my childhood was imbued with the sound of the waves of the Sperone suburb. What else could I have painted if not the sea?

I miss my sea and going fishing. I miss Arte al Borgo because it’s now gone, and even the place is not the same anymore. I used to go arm in arm with Sciascia. First, we discussed – tough topics, such as the BR [Red Brigades: an Italian far-left guerrilla group], the mafia crimes, the 60s and 70s – and then we went to the borgo district to buy the fish to cook for friends, for family. Paintbrushes are saving me. They represent a world of things that only belongs to me. Something only I can do. And, who cares if someone copies me? It can never be the same thing. Yes, I think I'm unique – he laughs. I was stung by people, but maybe I sowed well. For my 80 years, I read a lot of things about me. How many best wishes! How much affection! I think it's because I’m kind to people in my own way. I behave with them as I would like them to behave with me. It’s a spiritual, humane attitude, not a religious one.

 

"Look at my paintings with narrowed eyes, as the nearsighted do squinting their eyes to better see. So, you can see the whales. If you look at them with open eyes, they might be scary. But, if you look at them through the eyes of a child, you will realize they are good, protective. They are like a belly that keeps boats safe and does not make them sink as in fairy tales. In fairy tales, boats do not sink, and only bad guys die."