Interview with Daniele Cascone

q) Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.

a)First of all, I'm sorry for my bad bad bad English... I'm Italian and bad spellings are in ambush! :)
Well, my name is Daniele Cascone, I'm from Ragusa and I came in this world on September 1977. I normally work as web designer and I like digital art. I create pictures whit Photoshop and digital photography. I also have a web-magazine about arts called Brain Twisting and a photoblog called Reflectiva.

q)How would you describe your work?

a)mmm... my art it's me! :) It’s just the representation of my secrets and my feelings in a picture.

q) Did somebody encourage you to become an artist?

a)No, but people who saw my works have generally a good opinion that give me an incentive to persevere and improve my technique.

q) What is your favourite medium?

a)I use Photoshop for 90% of my productions. I prefer it because I can modify all I want: paintings, photos, textures etc. If I make a mistake or I want to change something, I can return back to my step.
Another indispensable medium is my digital reflex. I use it to create the main subjects of my picture. I use also acrylics, oil paint and ink which are included always in my artworks.

q) Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

a)I’m very nebulous and improvised… generally I always shot photo and collect objects that I can use for my pictures. Then, when I have some ideas, I sit on my computer and I start to make the artwork whit this stuff collected in the past and, if is necessary, I search new object or painting something that I need at the moment. When I think that my image is completed, I stop to work on it and I think to something else. After two days I return to see it and, if I don’t have something to change, I publish it on my website. It’s really finished!

q) Generally speaking, where do your ideas come from?

a)Everywhere! I like cinema, literature, art, design, photography and travelling around the world. Everything is a source of inspiration. I spend many time around Internet, that is my main medium to read up.
Moreover, I like art, from medieval art to our days.

q) How long does it take to complete a piece?

a)The time is much variable! I can complete a piece in two days or in a couple of month… it depends by my inspiration, wishes and apathy… but generally five days is the ideal time.

q) Who are your favourite artists…and who are some artists you are currently looking/listening to?

a)I Like too much Caravaggio and the Impressionists. I like many digital artist like McKean and Bavari, and photographers like Witkin and Saudek.

q) Are you represented by a gallery? Do you have any upcoming exhibits?

a)During the last months I didn’t make more exhibits… maybe I’ll restart with some exposition in Italy in December.

q) Do you have any 'studio rituals'? As in, do you listen to certain types of music while working? What helps to get you in the mood for working?

a)I must be relaxed and excited in the same time… I work only in my computer because there I have all I need. Music is important, and Winamp is always open!

q) What is your favourite a) taste, b) sound, c) sight, d) smell, and e) tactile sensation?

a)Sight, definitely!

q) Do you have goals that you are trying to reach as an artist, what is your 'drive'? What would you like to accomplish in your 'profession'?

a)My goal is to make art that satisfy me at 100%... but is impossible! :)I want to express, whit images, all I have in my mind and make this at the best I can… this is the priority.Then, if I become famous with my artworks, it’s not a bad thing! :)

q) When have you started using the internet and what role does this form of communication play for you, personally, for your art, and for your business?

a)I started with Internet in 1997, but it’s in the 2001 that I have increased my interest about web communities and digital art. Internet it’s very important to promote myself and allows me to reach more people and contacts. I think that my life was really changed.

q) Do you have preferred working hours? Do you pay attention to the time of the day or maybe specific lighting?

a)No, I have worked fine in every hour of the day, from the early morning to all night-long. It depends especially from my humour.

q) Do you do commissioned works?

a)Yes, but it’s rarely…

q) Any tips for emerging artists?

a)Be stubborn! :)

q)…Your contacts

a)My personal website: http://www.danielecascone.com/
My photoblog: http://www.reflectiva.com/
My web-zine about digital art: http://www.braintwisting.com/

Interview with Valerio Pierbattista

q) When did you start to make art?

a)In 2003 I think. Not too long ago.

q) Explain your inspiration?

a)My very first inspiration came from a book of Andy Warhol. I was so fascinated with how Warhol was painting these canvases, it looked so mysterious and fascinating. I linked Warhol’s work to the work of Gidget Gein, and boom… anyone can make art, art is just another tool to express dissent, hope, fear… a world opened up in front of my eyes.

q) In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?

a)I basically start with an idea and then I just start testing things, matching colours with copying techniques. And I get a painting.

q) Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?

a)Filmaking. I love that. I wanna be a director when I grow up.

q) What does being an artists mean to you?

a)Leaving a trace. Being remembered. Being miserable.

q) When does your art become successful?

a)When I finally get to fully love my work.

q) Who prices your work? And how is the price decided upon?

a)I price them. It depends on the size, on how long I worked on it, and how much I love it. The higher the price, the more I don’t want to separate from it. Prices ranges from 50€ and up.

q) What is your next; move,project,show etc?

a)I’ve a couple of art shows that aren’t confirmed yet. You can find everything on my website.

q) What are the pros and cons of the art market?

a)If you are able to get in (which is the hardest part I guess) and get some good collectors that buy your work, you can be able to live on that which would be wonderful. The problem is not when, the problem is IF. Because all art is good really… and it doesn’t depend on the artist, but on third parts.

q) Which pieces would you like to be remembered for?

a)Harsh question. I didn’t paint anything worth remembering yet I think.

q) Who has been the biggest influence on you?

a)Andy Warhol above all. Then Basquiat, Twombly and Gidget Gein.

q)Other visual artists that you like…

a)Banksy, Obey, Jenny Seville, Hirst … I don’t know many.

q) How much do you think hype affects the public perception of what good art is?

a)Like I said before all art is good, it’s the dealers that make collectors like something rather then another. But there is some art that just sticks out of the mass on its own, and that’s special.

q) Last CD you downloaded ?

a)Goon Moon – Licker’s last leg

q) What makes you happy?

a)Fulfilling goals, which doesn’t happen often lately eheh.

q) What makes you sad?

a)Not being able to create. It’s not only saddening, it’s scary.

q) Last book you read?

a)A catalogue of Damien Hirst. Oh and: “Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking®”, but I didn’t finish that yet.

q) What else do like other than art?

a)Movies.

q) Final thoughts...

a)Whip the willow, pierce the lung.

q)Your contacts…

a)omegaiori@yahoo.it
www.valeriopierbattista.info

Interview with Gina Magid

q) When did you start to make art?

a)Around 18 or 19 probably

q)Explain your inspiration?

a)I strive for a feeling of transcendent beauty, some mystery, the inclusion of the negative side of things as well as the positive. I like art that can take me to another realm where things are more open to possibility, not so narrow, and in a way present a more accurate picture of the situation, showing the connections between things that might not be readily apparent otherwise.

q) In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?

a)I try to be aware of the visuals and feelings around me, and to notice what things affect me and how, but I don’t always understand how, and working through them in my paintings is one way I can explore myself and my relationship to the world. The spaces between the internal and the external. I try to work from a place of uncertainty rather that with a concrete idea because I think its more interesting and gets me to something more real.

q) Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?

a)Sure, probably any. Dance, film, clay, fashion, music, writing. In a weird way it doesn’t really matter what the medium is, but I chose painting because I love having a solo studio practice and I respect it’s connection to the past, the craft of it, which has been building for hundreds of years, and which I can draw upon and add to in my own way.

q) What does being an artists mean to you?
a)It means living outside of the “normal” constraints that most people submit to, and making it my business to reflect light into areas that might otherwise might not be seen, or might not seem important. Revelation, revealing.

q) When does your art become successful?

a)It becomes successful when it reflects something back at me that I didn’t see coming and which is interesting and which I can stare at endlessly and it keeps revealing. When it is no longer about myself.

q) Who prices your work? And how is the price decided upon?

a)I guess mostly my gallery, Feature, helps to price my work. I think the prices mostly have to do with being in NYC in the art world system and them fitting in with how that system operates.

q) What is your next; move,project,show etc?

a)I have nothing coming up right now, but I am making a visual blog where I post recent work from the studio, photos, some other stuff I’m thinking about or working on. It is www.ginamagid.blogspot.com
Im very involved right now with a construction project. I’m building a studio space on the roof of my house in Brooklyn. It’s a big project and takes up a lot of my time. Then I’ll have a great studio tho!

q) What are the pros and cons of the art market?

a)Mostly I think that the current market is gross and to some extent ruins art. It is the part about being an artist that I don’t like. Here in NYC it’s really bad. It kind of bums me out that no mater what I may think I’m doing in my studio, ultimately I am creating consumer products for the ultra rich. That’s a problem! But I want people to own and live with my paintings, so it’s confusing.

q) Which pieces would you like to be remembered for?

a)I don’t get attached to individual pieces. They are all my babies!

q) Who has been the biggest influence on you?

a)I have a myriad of sources that I like to commune and converse with alone in my studio. It can range from Velasquez to Karen Kilimnick. I like Rita Ackerman, Elizabeth Peyton, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Monet, Kirchner, Schiele, Franz Kline, Klimt’s landscapes, old Flemish portraiture, water, animals, gore, the disrupt between humans and nature, things that make me feel something, trees.
I work a lot from the cultural time and place that molded me, Long Island in the 70’s and 80’s. I was a child in NY during the Women’s, Movement, which my mother was very affected by, and that has undoubtedly influenced me as well.

q)Other visual artists that you like.

a)See above

q) How much do you think hype affects the public perception of what good art is?

a)I think that hype absolutely and completely affects the public perception of what good art is. Magazines, media. At least here where I live it does, I don’t know about anywhere else.

q) Last CD you downloaded ?

a)In my studio lately I listen to Interpol, old Neil Young, Sonic Youth, Mazzy Star, The Cars, Sanskrit chants, Nina Simone

q) What makes you happy?

a)Animals, trees, my husband, swimming in the ocean, painting, bike riding, spiderwebs, creative projects

q) What makes you sad?

a)Roadkill, war, aggression, factory farming, intolerance, ignorance, George Bush, the conflict in Israel, disposable culture, consumerism, my phobias, lobsters in tanks at the Chinese restaurants .

q) Last book you read?

a)The Time Travelers Wife. Right now im reading The Pianist. I read a lot, all the time, and quickly. I don’t have a TV, because it numbs me out.

q)Your contacts.

a) www.ginamagid.com
ginamagid@msn.com

Interview with Matthew Stradling

q) Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.

a)I'm a 44 year old artist living and working in London

q)How would you describe your work?

a)My work is very much in the tradition of the Symbolists and Decadents. I paint mostly nudes set within bejeweled baroque tableaux. I have a taste for paintings that are 'difficult' and outside the mainstream,yet I try to maintain a high level of craftsmanship, often mimicking the techniques of the Old Masters. There is a definite 'Gay' aesthetic to my work, whatever that can be described as. It can be theatrical and luxuriant, sexual and dreamlike but usually with an edge of fear and repulsion.

q) Did somebody encourage you to become an artist?

a)Not really, art was always what I was good at . It seemed natural to follow that course

q) What is your favorite medium?

a)Oil on canvas

q) Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

a)A general theme to a painting will often occur to me - sometimes they feel like visions. Then I will collect imagery to make the vision real. I use life models who I do a photo session with. Then select the poses from the photos - sometimes manipulating them on the computer. Then I do many rough drawings working out the composition, arriving at a final image which I square up and enlarge onto the canvas. Preliminary painting is normally very rough and monochromatic and as the painting takes over I focus in on details and work around the whole canvas. Usually the whole surface is equally worked in quite fine detail.

q) Generally speaking, where do your ideas come from?

a)Alot of influence comes from the history of art, especially mythological painting. I love those grand iconic figures. But I'm very open to images from popular culture, adverts,fashion photography,pornography,art nouveau,jewelry design,biological diagrams,pop music,natural form and computer imagery.

q) How long does it take to complete a piece?

a)Between a month and three months

q) Who are your favorite artists…and who are some artists you are currently looking/listening to?

a)Favorite artists are Matthew Barney, Warhol, Klimt, Gustave Moreau, Rubens, Pierre et Gilles,Jeff Koons.

q) Are you represented by a gallery? Do you have any upcoming exhibits?

a)No not represented by a gallery. I will have work in a group show 'Spectre vs.Rector' at the St. Mary of Eton Church in Hackney,London throughout November this year. Next year I have some large scale paintings in the group show 'Fellow Travelers' which will be touring from Reykjavik, Iceland to Berlin, Germany.

q) Do you have any 'studio rituals'? As in, do you listen to certain types of music while working? What helps to get you in the mood for working?

a)I mostly listen to floaty ambient music - Eno, Oophoi, Robert Rich. This gets me in the right settled and contemplative mood. But sometimes I get bored and liven things up with some old punk music or thumping techno. I have alot of rituals such making the perfect cup of coffee, obsessive cleaning of brushes and generally arranging things in my studio - all help me to get focussed on work. I also love making canvases - a freshly stretched canvas is beautiful and makes me want to envisage painting on it .

q) What is your favorite a) taste, b) sound, c) sight, d) smell, and e) tactile sensation?

a)a)oysters
b)birdsong
c)blue light
d)lemongrass
e)skin

q) Do you have goals that you are trying to reach as an artist, what is your 'drive'? What would you like to accomplish in your 'profession'?

a)I am planning to have an exhibition of large scale portraits of certain people who I really respect and have influenced my life- other artists , musicians, dancers etc who have provided some hope and wonder in my life - it would be a way of thanking them, paying homage to them and completing the cicle of my life. My drive is to create beauty and awe - just as other artists have done for me, and to connect with the viewer either on a sensual or emotional plane. I don't really see my art as a profession - it is something I do. If I could accomplish anything it would be to break down the prejudices that the art world seems to foster - especially in terms of sexuality. As an artist alot of my impulse comes from sexuality and I find galleries terrified of anything sexual whether it be gay or straight.

q) When have you started using the internet and what role does this form of communication play for you, personally, for your art, and for your business?

a)I started using the internet about five years ago. It has been a fantastic way of connecting with other artist with common interests on a worldwide level - I have artist friends in America,Portugal,Australia, Canada,Germany and Mexico - all who got in touch via the internet.
It's also fantastic to get feedback from people who appreciate your work. On a business level it is reat to be able to promote you work with a website - it so easy to direct people immediately to a good selection of your work. I have had about four large commissions as a result of people contacting directly through my website.

q) What do you obsess over?

a)That no serious galleries will ever show my work .

q) Do you have prefered working hours? Do you pay attention to the time of the day or maybe specific lighting?

a)Yes I tend to work 10am to 6pm - I like to have a normal working day then social/relax in the evening. I don't like to paint at night because the light becomes so weird and artificial - also my mind goes into a different realm at night - I can tend to feel very lonely and isolated working at night

q) Do you do commissioned works?

a)Yes

q) Any tips for emerging artists?

a)Just do the work. Having alot of work behind you gives you confidence to go out there and feel proud .

q)…Your contacts

a) http://www.matthewstradling.com/