The eXTra finGer

Interview with Serhiy Kolyada

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:51:00 +0000

q)For the people who don't know your work - how would you describe it ?

a)I call my art contemporary postmodern art, because I try to show todays life mixing the traditions of old classic arts and literature and todays images of pop-culture, politics, etc. ... A lot of my works are about real life in Ukraine, I try to show the truth, that's why not a lot of people want to see my art in my country. Especialy our Ukrainian galleries refuse me all the time to make my exhibitions, so, there is a kind of censorship in my country. The owners of the galleries are affraid of our authorities, that they can take off the licenses for their business, I think. Nobody in Ukraine wants to see the true life in art. Most of my art is bought by Europeans, Americans and Canadiens. Maybe, one reason more is not ordinary media I use- not traditional, it's a ball-point pen on paper. Sometimes I add some watercolors or collage details in some of my works... A lot of people don't beleive I use ball point pen... Sometimes my works look like black-and-white photographs...

q)What are the key themes running through your practice?

a)As I told, I try to show the true life in Ukraineand also sometimes I depict some themes of global life. Also I like to make some erotic art. I show the world of corruption in Ukrainian politics, the problem of prostitution and sex-tourism in Ukraine, the problem of using alcohole and drugs among Ukrainian youth, the problems of world economical crisis and contrasts of rich and poor people in Ukraine...

q)Your favorite place on earth?

a)I didn't travel a lot... I like my country and I liked Swedenwhere I was in 1991 during the communist putch in Moscow, when Ukraine still was the part of Soviet Union. I asked the political asylem in Sweden but in a month the Swedish authorities told me that Ukraine is democratic and free now, and I have to go back...

q)What influences your work?

a)Old classic art, literature, ancient myths one one hand influences my work... and on the other hand some great artists, like Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko (19 century), Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, some of the German expressionists and some other surrealist painters... And the influence of contemporary pop-culture, mass symbols from advertisings, gloss magazines, including erotic and even porn photos... All of this is combined in one postmodern mixture... I also call my art "LifeScapes" (from still-life and landscapes) or "Visual prose"...

q)What music are you into right now?

a)I listen to different music - from classical to todays hard rock

q)Describe your thought & design process...

a)Usualy, I read some book, see television look at advertising boards on the streets, listen to the people talking- all of this, as I told became in a strange mixture in my head... sometimes I use even some of my night dreams...

q)Which emerging artists are you looking forward to seeing more of?

a)I am interested in some of my friend artists in Ukraine, we organize together a group which is called "Freedom or Death"... all of them try to show our true life in Ukraine... Some time ago I began to find different artists abroad on Saatchi Online and I found some interesting artists and interesting art with interesting ideas and concepts... It will be good to make some international exhibition...

q)Favorite place on the internet?

a)As I told last time I liked Saatchi Online, besides I get acqainted with intersting people on Facebook...

q)Do you have any upcoming projects/exhibitions we should know about?

a)I took part with my friend artists in Ukrainein different art fairs, but now I cannot tell you what will be in future, I still have problem to make the exhibition in Ukraine... but I'd love to have my personal show...

q)Tell us something we don't know - but should...

a) The most important thing I'd like to tell you that Ukraine is not free in sence of free art, free mass-media still and even isn't free economicaly and even in politics. To my mind and a lot of people will agree with me that we still have unhuman government and president who are part of mafia... That's why I cannot develop my art free. In fact, I'd like Ukraineto be a part of Europe, that I could go free in Europeto show my art free in European galleries. But European politicians understand that it's dangerous to allow Ukrainian mafia and criminals come to Europe...

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a) All my art people can find on my personal web-site: www.kolyada.com

Interview with KEELERTORNERO

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:55:00 +0000

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

a)KEELERTORNERO is Chin Keeler, Emma Tornero: Stoke Newington LONDON

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)After having both attended art college in London, I started playing music in camden town and Emma started work as an animator. We met when i joined a band fronted by Mary Byker of Gaye Bykers on Acid, Emma was going out with the keyboard player. We had very similar interests and began collaborating on various music related art commissions such as sleeve design and backdrops for clubs and venues. Meanwhile we started collecting plastic toys from jumble sales and charity shops and these became the materials for a series of surreal dioramas. We attempted to sell these at Camden market, never making much cash but managed to make a living painting shop signs and banners in-between touring with various bands. At one point we moved our massive collection of plastic into a cheap tiny studio across the river from the Millennium dome in the docklands area of East London and continued to create. There's very little documentation of what came out of that period because at the time we didn't realise it was important. During this time we set up the artist collective 'glassshrimp' promoting music and art events and producing a live weekly magazine show on London's famous Resonance 104.4fm. We also began producing work with collaborative artist group 'The Doberman Family' which focused on community based projects and site specific installations.

Eight years ago, our tiny riverside studio was demolished and we were offered space in a dynamic artist community housed in a Victorian sewing factory in Stoke Newington. It was here that our collaborative style flourished as we focused more on fine art drawing and painting. Since then our practice has moved to another level, with our current diary full of deadlines for shows and projects.

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)We are fantasists and surrealists, obsessed with the past and fascinated by the future. We like to shake it all up to illustrate an alternative reality in which anything can happen. We once described it as: 'A fisherman from the island of Terschelling in 2019 rubbing shoulders with John Wayne who, trapped inside the body of a stag in 1648, is trying to escape his future by becoming the son of architect Mies van der Rohe'.

We like to create images in which the impossible emerges as something perfectly natural, where characters play parts in an all-encompassing illusory world – a place of dreams, hallucinations and unkempt fantasy, inhabited by strange beings, beasts and insects living out their lives just beyond our peripheral vision. We are drawn to the illusion of innocence represented in the images, characters and movies of the 50's and 60's, the colours, the textures, the cultural idyll of that bygone age, something that is lost forever and therefore holds magic for us. In the same way, because we were both partly brought up in the country, we are interested in rural themes in context of an urban existence, again how the concept of rural life is held in the minds of contemporary city dwellers as an ideal, something we all aspire to but is at the same time an illusion and something that is increasingly disappearing. You will always find related motifs in our work: birds, insects, animals etc but usually presented out of context or in environments you're not used to seeing them in. Humour is very important to us so basically we're trying to have fun with the images we love and are drawn to but at the same time present open ended questions about the nature of humanity.

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)Music is a permanent accompaniment to everything we do and we have very eclectic tastes. Without listing actual names, we listen to everything from doom metal to New Orleans jazz. We are currently grooving to BELBURY POLY on the Ghostbox label and The Melvins is an everyday staple.

Inbetween making art we work for a friend who promotes music for press and radio, so theres always new and interesting stuff coming through the building. At the moment we are working on the new album by Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk. Also we belong to a larger musical community and most of our friends are somehow connected with the music industry so theres always lots of gigs and shows to go to.

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)Our work is essentially surrealist figuration rendered in either paint, pencil or collage. We like to have fun with imagery and enjoy the juxtaposition of the absurd and the super absurd. What we do is usually attractive in a way that most people don't fully understand at first and sometimes on closer inspection, all is not what it seems. In terms of technique, we achieve a high level of technical expertise but at the same time retain an aspect of freshness and immediacy. Our individual styles are very different but we manage to meld them in a way that doesn't seem forced or contrived.

q) Influences?

a)We are influenced by everything, all the time. All aspects of life find their way into our work. The art that influences us is also very eclectic: the dutch masters, pastoral painting from the seventeenth century, the neo-impressionists of the 40's and 50's, graphic novels and comics, pop art, art brut, circus and fairground art, classic portraiture, early religious icon painting and so on…thats not to mention the many friends and colleagues whose art is all around us.

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)Everything we do contains either the conceptual or physical input of both artists, working on the same piece at the same time and sometimes getting in each others way, but its a process of give and take. We usually have several pieces on the go at any one time so we can put things in rotation, wait for things to dry, talk about the next step for each one. Theres always a definite dialogue about where each thing should be going and it's important that we agree. Sometimes this happens in a more intuitive way where one of us will have an idea down on paper and the other will add to it and hand it back for the first person to continue. There has to be a certain level of trust when working like this plus an intrinsic understanding of where each other is coming from. We also tend to work in intensive blocks where we really get into the zone, often working late, sleeping over at the studio and continuing next morning.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)The most important thing for us has been getting a decent website together, getting some nice little business cards made with that website address on, attending gallery openings and generally getting yourself out there. If you cant get anyone to show your work, put on your own shows with friends and promote them yourself. We sometimes do things without payment just so we can add it to our CV and especially if we haven't done anything like it before, plus you never know where it will lead or who you will meet in the process. All that and work on your stuff everyday…

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a)We now really want to get to grips with oil paint. Up to now most of what we've done has been using acrylic, graphite or collage so we're excited about the new horizons we hope oils will bring. We have several friends who are master oil painters so we should be ok for good advice.

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)Our studio is in Stoke Newington which is home to a remarkably diverse mix of cultures, races and lifestyles. You have communities of hasidic jews, turks, muslims, afro-caribbeans and asians all rubbing shoulders with artists, musicians and baby-producing young professionals quite happily, so its a rich atmosphere to be around. Plus the food that you associate with each of those groups is present in abundance. Five minutes walk from our studio is a huge overgrown cemetery which we use for walks of inspiration. Also theres a myriad of beautiful parks, marshes, canals and pubs within spitting distance, it seems we have everything right here, except the mountains, and sea that is, and the desert….. and the sun…

q) Best way to spend a day off?

a)On a bicycle, slowly discovering new bits of town and catching exhibitions and shows. The thing about london is that is doesn't matter how long you've been here, theres always something new to discover, places you've never been, buildings you've never seen, and of course ending up in a lovely boozer.

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)In the coming months we have a solo show in central london, two solo show in manchester, a mural in a trendy Hoxton bar and a job designing the set and costumes for a show being devised at the Unicorn theatre. Also this year we will be getting into the world of film, which we are very excited about.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

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

http://keelertornero.com/blog/

https://twitter.com/KEELERTORNERO

http://www.facebook.com/pages/KEELERTORNERO/280492298628280

Jacopo Benassi

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 22:26:00 +0000

http://www.talkinass.tumblr.com/

Interview with Dito Von Tease

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:27:00 +0000

q) For the people who don't know your work - how would you describe it ?

a)It’s a collection of finger-portraits of celebrities.

q) What are the key themes running through your practice?

a)I think it’s a project you can “read” in two main ways: as a funny joke to make children smile or as an invite to reflect about the complex topic of identity ...

q) Your favourite place on earth?

a)Lisboa.

q) What influences your work?

a) Public events influence my choice of characters for portraits: for example, I designed Dito-Garibaldi to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of united Italy and Dito-Obama in November 2012 for the occasion of American elections ...

q) What music are you into right now?

a)Fabrizio De Andrè.

q) Describe your thought & design process...

a) The characters I choose to create my portraits are famous icons who populate our world, thoughts and dreams. All the rest is creativity, love for details and photoshop.

Every portrait takes 12 work hours on average, trying to reproduce particulars and to recreate the right expression characterizing celebrities I transform in fingers.

q) Which emerging artists are you looking forward to seeing more of?

a)Banksy, Slinkachu and all street artists.

q) Favourite place on the internet?

a)Facebook

q) Do you have any upcoming projects/exhibitions we should know about?

a)Actually I have many interviews for newspapers, radios and tvs (very tiring!), a list of requests for portraits, some negotiations to product gadgets and also a contact with a gallery in London... so stay tuned!

q) Tell us something we don't know - but should...

a)Santa Claus doesn't exist.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)You can find my collection of finger-portraits and information about my project on: ditology.blogspot.it

You also can look for “Dito Von Tease” Fan Page on the Facebook … the Ditology project started there!

Leif Holmstrand

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:03:00 +0000

Leif Holmstrand

Interview with Matteo Cocci

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:23:00 +0000

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

a)I am Matteo Cocci I have 37 years and i live and work in Prato near Florence, Italy.

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)it is a necessity, I studied in art schools, but not necessary.

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)my ideal is a form of ignorance, not intellectual, not weight.
paint with a technique thatdoes not teach at school.

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)listening to everything. from Napalm Death to Pascal Comelade.
I hate Giovanni Allevi

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)I try to paint what I think when they are unconscious,

with all that I find, paper, color, bitumen and use much the cutter.
just use the brush.

q) Influences?

a)Jean Dubuffet and Art Brut, Karel Appel and Cobra, Klee, Federico Fellini ,Gianni Celati, and the art of children .

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)I do not know what to do, but I try to do it as fast as possible and without thinking.

then follow a track.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)not to show up when looking around do not see much of their best.
and stay awayfrom fashion , galleries and critics.

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a)of my two daughters.

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)that is the place where I was born

q) Best way to spend a day off?

read all day

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)will soon be madeof the prints of my work, which will be sold in a chain of Italianlibraries and havea low price so that even those who normally can not buy art buy., is a very interesting project. I really like the libraries.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)this is my portfolio ,www.matteococci.it

and writing my name in google something jumps out.

ERIC LANUIT

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:42:00 +0000

Born in Paris in 1965, ERIC LANUIT has always been interested in image, fashion and photography. His bedroom was full of vintage Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar issues and his first photo shooting was at the age of 13 with his little sister as a model.

In 1987, he graduated from IPAG where he specialized in marketing, then from IFM (Institut Français de la Mode) where he finally chooses to work in communication, public relation and image for fashion. After 15 years as the head of communication and press relation of different Haute Couture houses including Givenchy with John Galliano and Alexander McQueen during 6 years, he decided to change his way and in 2003 he entered the famous Parisian cabaret, the Lido.

He never forgot his first passion and takes more and more time to devote himself to photography. Starting with thousands of shots taken in the Lido’s backstage, he develops his art with an insatiable creativity and thirst of capturing the world around him.

In July 2011, his life between communication and photography led him to the creation of an international fancy digital magazine, CHARACTER.

The magazine, only published online, is firstly all about the images, the emotions they create and the stories they tell. Each portfolio is presented by the text of a writer, a journalist or the photographer himself.

Fairy tales, stories, fashion, travels, dreams, sports, daily life, fights, events or news… CHARACTER doesn’t know any limits and doesn’t have any taboos. The only thing that matters are the aesthetics whether it is in the beauty or in the ugliness.

Open to all the talents, CHARACTER offers its pages to many unknown and well-known contributors and artists : Dana Thomas, Didier Lestrade, Donald Potard, Benoît Missolin, Stephen Todd, Katie Weisman, Fady El Khoury, Justino Esteves, Tom de Pékin, Fred Bladou, Bruno Jacquelin, Philippe Tyberghien, BillyBoy* and Lala have already been involved in the success of the magazine.

ERIC LANUIT keeps on photographing for the Lido and CHARACTER as well as for different magazines worldwide.

http://www.ericlanuit.com/Eric_Lanuit_Photographer/Welcome.html

Interview with Sam Branton

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:52:00 +0000

q) Introduce yourself, name, age, location.

a)My name is Sam Branton, I’m 26 and I live in Oxford, UK

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)When I was at school I drew a huge picture of a city – it was about 2 meters by 3 meters. The city was hanging over a waterfall and looked like a whale’s tale diving into the ocean. This was the first time that I saw people spending time in front of something I’d made, and bringing their friends back to see it.

After art school I was invited to exhibit in a couple of galleries in London which led to to further exhibitions in London, Stockholm and Los Angeles. These shows introduced my work to collectors who have followed my career.

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)My philosophy is to avoid being drawn into the consumer society; to learn to be content with a simple life – but at the same time, try to enjoy the finer things - Music, books, art, food, films…

My work plays homage to the classical painters but at the same time, I try to be witty and also undermine the pompous behaviour of certain classes in society by setting self-important characters in absurd situations.

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)I’ve done four big collections of work for exhibitions and music has played a big part in influencing each collection - it adds atmosphere and mood to the images. More recently – I spend more time listening to the Howard Stern show.

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)There’s nowhere quite like Oxford. It has the most beautiful architecture in England and has an atmosphere that is both peaceful and inspirational. I think that feeling comes through in my work.

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)I’ve always had a problem explaining my work but it’s a mix of Rubens with Ren and Stimpy.

q) Influences?

a)Rubens and Ren and Stimpy,.

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)It can take me a year to do a set of pictures and I might spend two or three months developing the idea in my mind before I begin. I start with a basic theme and allow the theme to develop as each drawing is completed. I like to let the individual pieces influence the direction of the collection so that the body of work shows a progression. This process always leads to ideas and characters that I didn’t envisage at the start.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Getting work into a gallery can be tricky. I would encourage artists to run group shows. If you advertise them like a music event with posters, flyers and social media, an exhibition can get a lot of attention. The more artists in the show, the more people will visit.

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)I’ve just started a new series of drawings based on the Batman comics. The scenes are inspired by Batman characters but placed in the renaissance period to create a new mythology.

q) Best way to spend a day off?

a)Whale watching (but this can be difficult in Oxford).

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a)I’m planning to go to Iceland – to watch whales

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)www.sambranton.com

Interview with Shawn Huckins

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:47:00 +0000

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

a)Shawn Huckins, current age 27, located in Denver, Colorado.

q)Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)Since I can remember, I’ve always drawn in my little sketchbooks, drawing my favourite things, and as a kid, those favourite things were Disney characters, video game characters, and my favourite sports players. My grandmother passed away in 1993 and I was given her oil painting set and I decided to try painting for the first time. I remember how good the paint smelled, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I had no idea of how the medium worked and I became extremely frustrated and put painting aside and went back to drawing. I wasn’t reintroduce to painting until high school and wasn’t professionally trained until college. From the support and lessons from my professors in college, I feel in love with painting and for now, I’m exclusively a painter.

q)Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)I guess I would describe myself as a traditional kind of guy, wishing for a more simpler way of life that was lived by the founding people of America. I do enjoy technology and could never be independent of it, but sometimes, it nice to dream of life without cellphones, Facebook, or computers, and enjoy more of the simpler things. I’ve always enjoyed the Colonial period ever since learning about it grade school and I wanted to express my “wishes” by comparing the two worlds, one world classified by political revolution and the other classified by technological revolution.

q)Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)It’s on constantly. I usually get sick of my own music, so I tend to turn on the iTunes radio and stream all types of music, from classical to bluegrass, new age alternative rock to 80’s and 90’s pop.

q)How would you describe your work to someone?

a)My current series explores 18th century American portraiture juxtaposed with the superimposition of large white letters over top symbolising current day digital speak, such as text acronyms, Facebook status updates, and tweets.

q)Influences?

a)It’s pretty evident Edward Ruscha is a huge influence on my work. Ever since I saw his work in college, I just feel in love with and I had to channel it somehow. Other influences are Wayne Thiebaud for his use of colour, John Singleton Copley for his brilliant skills to paint people that could come alive, and Robert Bechtle for his compositions.

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)It all starts with finding the right tweet, text, or status update to superimpose over the image. I never use my texts as I feel the work would be feel too contrived, so I use third party texts of people of whom I never met and it seems to flow more naturally. Then I find the perfect painting to replicate to contrast the text and begins with a drawing on trace and on Photoshop.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)I’ve gained a lot of exposure through e-zines and art blogs. Once someone sees the work and likes it, they will post to their own blogs and the web continues, so I would recommend submitting work to all the blogs where your work would fit best. Also, try to visit your local galleries and get any opportunities to show with them to get some local exposure.

q)What are you really excited about right now?

a)The release of New American Paintings Issue 98 which was just released and also, my upcoming shows. I also have some ideas cooking for future series which I’m excited about, but still need to be more thought out.

q)What do you love most about where you live?

a)The mountains, the food, and the microbrews.

q)Best way to spend a day off?

a)I really enjoy doing new things, seeing new sites, or going to new restaurants or bars. When I take a day off, I try to make the most of it and try new activities. But if it’s a typical stay at home kind of day, I enjoy reading, going for a run, and cooking.

q)Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)Inaugural Group Exhibition, Vol. 2 held at Gildar Gallery, Denver, CO. Opening March 2nd.

Two Person Exhibition Featuring Shawn Huckins and Billy Reynolds held at L2Kontemporary Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. Opening June 23rd.

Two Person Exhibition held at Cain Schulte Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA. Opening June 28th.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)www.shawnhuckins.com

Interview with Carlito Dalceggio

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:49:00 +0000

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

a)CARLITO DALCEGGIO-SECRET SILK SOCIETY- 41 , CURRENTLY IN MONTREAL AT MERCAN DEDE STUDIO

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)I WAS BORN TO BE AN ARTIST; IT IS TRACED FOR ME AND I HAVE A MISSION-THERE IS NO EXILE NO ESCAPE-
I LEARNED ART BY MAKING IT, NON STOP IN A FURIOUS PASSION , TRAVELING ALL OVER THE WORLD LEARNING WITH THE TRIBES, WITH TRADITIONAL MASTERS, WITH PSYCHEDELICS, INSTALLING POP-UP STUDIOS IN MANY DIFFERENT LOCATIONS SUCH AS THE DESERT IN INDIA, PARIS, NEW YORK, MEXICO, BRAZIL... i am a gypsy, like the wind, running for something that does not exist, BUT I KNOW I WILL FIND IT

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)I AM A FREEDOM WARRIOR, A SEEKER, AND A PEARL DIVER, MY PAINTINGS ARE RADICAL FREE FREEDOM FLAGS , TALISMAN TO PROVOKE AND CHARM AND TO TRANSFORM

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)MUSIC IS VITAL TO MY CREATION, ALWAYS LOUD MUSIC PLAYING IN MY STUDIO, IT IS CREATING THE SILENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD,,, I LISTEN FROM SUFI TRANCE TO QUAWALLI TO MALI DESERT MUSIC TO NEW TWISTED ELECTRONICA TO TRANCE TO CHANTS TO PROTEST SONGS, EVERYTHING THAT GIVES ME THE KICKS,----- THESE DAYS, I AM INTO SHACKLETON AND FOREVER SHPONGLE,,,, BOLERO DE RAVEL,,,
WE NEED TO CREATE A SPACE FOR RITUAL, A FREE PLACE TO EXPLODE IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE GREAT ALCHEMICAL WORK,,,,

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)I DO NEVER DESCRIBE MY WORK--- I SHARE THE VISIONS, THE PAINTINGS, THE MURALS, THE WRITINGS, THE FILMS, INSTALLATIONS PERFORMANCES, YOU HAVE TO SEE IT ALL TO HAVE A GLOBAL IDEA OF MY VISIONS, PAINTINGS ONLY EXPRESS ONE PART OF MY MESSAGE

q) Influences?

a)AN ARTIST ONLY RE-TRANSMIT WHAT THE ANCESTORS HAVE LEFT BEHIND AND CHANGE IT , UPLIFT IT,
----HUICHOL ART-HERMAN HESSE- AYAHUASCA VISIONS, THE OCEAN, CHILDREN DRAWINGS, COBRA MOVEMENT, CAROUSSELS, PICASSO, BASQUIAT,TWOMBLY, SACRED TIBETAN ART, ALL SYMBOLS IN THE STREETS, TRIBAL ART, EROTICISM, RED WINE, ALLEN GINSBERG, ALL REVOLUTIONS, EVERY MOMENT IN LIFE,,, PEYOTE, -----NATURE AND TREES---

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)IT S A TOTAL TRANCE WHERE I LOOSE MY HUMAN SHAPE, I LOOSE CONSCIOUSNESS, AND I ACCESS A HIGHER LEVEL WHERE I AM ONE WITH THE UNIVERSE, A REAL KICK, AN ECSTASY, A BLEND OF EUPHORIA AND SILENCE, AN EXPLOSIVE MANTRA,

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)NEVER WAIT FOR NOBODY, NEVER WAIT FOR A GALLERY, CREATE YOUR OWN UNIVERSE ANYWHERE YOU CAN FIND--RISK EVERYTHING YOU ARE, BLOW IT-
AND CREATE A SPACE THAT RELATES TO YOUR VISION-BE TRUTHFUL TO YOUR MESSAGE AND SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO ACHIEVE AND TRANSMIT IT
GET A KICK, A REAL THRILL, PLEASURE IS THE KEY

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a)SO MANY VOLCANOS ARE ERUPTING NOW, CONSTANT MUTATION, IDIG DEEPER
I JUST STARTED TO PRODUCE A DUO EXHIBITION WITH TURKISH MUSICIAN-PAINTER MERCAN DEDE, TO BE PRESENTED IN AN ART FOUNDATION, BORUSAN MUSIC HOUSE IN MAY, WE LOCKED OURSELVES IN HIS STUDIO WITH HUNDRED OF LITERS OF COLORS AND ROLLS OF CANVAS
ALSO, I JUST COMPLETED A SERIE OF FILMS, LABYRINTH OF LIBERATION,, THE VISION WILL SOON BE SHARED WITH THE PEOPLE,
AND OTHE THINGS, I AM EXCITED ABOUT THE UNKNOWN
ABOUT A PAINTING TRIP TO MONGOLIA AND A MURAL I WILL PAINT IN VLADIVOSTOK

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)I DO NOT REALLY LIVE SOMEWHERE, I FLY WITH THE PROJECTS AND THEY GUIDE MY GYPSY ROAD,
EVERY PLACE HAVES A SPECIAL ESSENCE, AND I LOVE TO GO PAINT IN SEVERAL PLACES TO DRINK THE PERFUME OF THE FIELD OF JOY AND TRANSMIT IT

q) Best way to spend a day off?

a)THERE IS NO DAY OFF FOR AN ARTIST, THERE IS NO TIME TO WASTE, I PAINT EVERYDAY****
BUT A DAY WITHOUT A BRUSH MUST BE SPENT MAKING LOVE WITH A MUSE AND TRACING OUT

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)-MAY 18- REVOLUTION REVELATION, WITH MERCAN DEDE, ISTANBUL, BORUSAN MUSIC HOUSE, MULTI MEDIA EXHIBITION AND LIVE STUDIO
-ART CAR FOR BURNING MAN IN AUGUST
-GIANT MURAL IN VLADIVOSTOK AND PERFORMANCE IN SEPT
-LAUNCH OF MY FILM -LABYRINTH OF LIBERATION,, SOOON
AND OTHER SECRET STUFF I DO NOT TALK ABOUT

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)WWW.CARLITODALCEGGIO.COM
ON FACEBOOK FOR RECENT STUFF
VIVA LA REVOLUCION

Interview with GREATeclectic, aka Kendrick Daye

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:20:00 +0000

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

a)My name is GREATeclectic, aka Kendrick Daye, I'm 24 years old and based in Miami, Florida.

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)I was always creating and drawing, even as a kid. My mother caught on to this, and made sure she nurtured that talent. I was in Magnet art schools in Middle and High School. Even when I went away to College at Morehouse College in Atlanta to study English, I still was working on art, it was something I couldn't stop doing.

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)As an artist I blend the most abstractly familiar elements of life – love, envy, wealth, wrath, perception, desire, greed, necessity, lust, identity, indulgence, ideals, ego, morals, said bankruptcy, and fears – with the rawest veneer of famous faces. My pieces are pastiches – whole in-and-of themselves but even more so in context of one another. Pop & Politics are alive and well-contented bedfellows in this world. The personal space stands as the preeminent public place of judgment. Shadows dance in rigid rhythmic formation with neon strobes. The entire world coalesces into a kaleidoscopic cultural landscape… where we are presented with our own selves from before the mass-mediated mirror of Pop life.

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)Music is a huge part of my studio time. I can't work without it. I listen to alot of mixes or songs I'm working on. But right now I've been re-exploring Fiona Apple's "Tidal," Missy Elliot's "Da Real World" and Duran Duran's "Red Carpet Massacre." I also can't get enough of Cassie's "King of Hearts."

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)It is arduous. It is bright. It is delusional. It is hidden in prismatic view. It is seeing roses through Reagan-colored sunglasses. It is waking up to the first Pink Friday after Sunday mourning. It is the scene sweet-tooth before and beneath the staid urban decay. It is everything in one place, in distorted focus, for no other reason than for you to see it; because we’ve been blinded by the guided light, because we need to throw shade if only to stargaze again.

q) Influences?

a)Andy Warhol. Jean-Michel Basquiat. Keith Haring. Ron English. Shepard Fairey. Banksy.

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)In the beginning stages of creating a new body of work I initially just have my materials around me and get to work on something. Later, after I begin to notice recurring themes and from that I go back to the drawing board and sketch more concrete ideas, edit, edit, edit and start over.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Be open to new avenues of showing your work starting out. Everyone would love that big gallery, with clean white walls, but don't shut out using coffee shops or lounges and other non-traditional venues. The idea is to have your work seen.

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a)I'm really excited about life. There's so much I have to look forward to

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)I love that there is no such thing as Winter. I love that water is all around. I love that my family is here. I love that art and street art is huge here.

q) Best way to spend a day off?

a)I don't have days off. But if I did, I might go to the beach and just sit, sketch and people watch.

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)Right now I'm prepping for my second solo exhibition. It's entitled "Kendrick is Dead," and it should be opening sometime Late Spring/Early Summer. I just released my first project of original music "Planet of the Ape$," which you can download here, and I'm currently working on the follow up entitled "Large Fears" which should be out the end of the Summer.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)You can check out my website www.greateclectic.com it links to all my art and music and other social networking sites. I also post new work constantly on my Tumblr www.greateclectic.tumblr.com

Interview with Shalom Tomas Neuman

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:18:00 +0000

q)Please tell us your name and where you practice.

a)Shalom Tomas Neuman. I live and work in both New York City, US and Prague, Czech Republic

q) Why do you make art?

a)It’s what I have been doing my entire life almost every day for sixty years.... I need to make art; it is almost an uncontrollable bodily function. In fact, when I was asked that question in 1970 while I was doing my graduate thesis, I said I need to make art like I need to eat and shit. In saying this I was told that I offended the Dean of the school and the benefactors!

q) How do you work ?

a)I am fortunate enough to have my studio below my warehouse loft in Brooklyn, New York. I make art everyday.

q) What’s your background?

a)I have a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. in both Painting and Sculpture from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA as well as postgraduate fellowship in Sculpture from Indian University

q) What role does the artist have in society?

a)From my vantage point, the artist uses his artwork to speak his (or her) mind, express his opinions and beliefs and to mirror society and culture. Art is a direct reflection of the times in which we live. An artist’s job is to speak to that honestly, no matter what the cost.

q) What was a seminal experience for you ?

a)Arriving on a boat from Israel into New York Harbor at age 13. It blew my mind because I had never seen such tall buildings nor had I ever seen cars, only jeeps and buses.

q) Has your practice changed over time ?

a)All of my artwork is framed within the concept of Fusion art (see below). My creative process has not changed but it has expanded into more(with new materials and equipment) technology just as our world has become irrevocably entrenched in technology. The number of consumers who have computers, smart phones, tablets, e-readers, etc has grown exponentially and all signs point to that trend is continuing.

q) What art do you most identify with ?

a)Multi sensory, multi disciplinary art, what I have called FusionArt since the 1960s. Art that combines all the artistic genres such as painting, sculpture, action/performance, written/spoken word, etc. into a unique genre of its own.

q) What’s your strongest memory of your childhood ?

a)The Israeli Mediterranean Ocean and walking barefoot most of the time.

q) What themes do you pursue ?

a)Inequality, injustice, ecology/consumerism and religious dogma.

q) Describe a real life experience that inspired you.

a)When I returned to Prague, the city of my birth, as an adult for the first time.

q) What’s your most embarrassing moment ?

a)I have a tendency to forget a person's name within minutes of being introduced and then I call them by another, completely unrelated name. It gets confusing to say the least.

q) What jobs have you done other than being an artist ?

a)I have taught art on a college level for 40 years. to put myself through school I worked as a dishwasher and a finishing carpenter.

q) What responses have you had to your work?

a)I have always had very positive responses to my work. But in New York everything is about being expedient and commercial - make art fast, sell art fast; bang a nail in the wall, throw a painting/print/photograph on it, wheel in a pedestal and place a sculpture on it. Galleries want the less complicated work. This is the direct antithesis to the European aesthetic which is more open to and appreciative of the complexities and multiple layers of fusion art.

q) What do you dislike about the art world ?

a)The phoniness and the unwillingness to embrace anything or anyone new that hasn’t already be “anointed” by the powers that be. The fact that the art world is more about commodity than creativity. It often isn’t about the art, but rather about who you know with the most money and connections.

q) What research do you do ?

a)I have a personal assistant who helps me with my research.

q) What is your dream project?

a)To create a completely multi sensory environmental room where the illusion of space and time is constantly changing and evolving. What seems near can be far, what seems tangible is intangible and vice versa. You are enmeshed in the artwork, and you do not know if you are outside, or inside or where you are in time and space.

q) What’s the best piece of advice you have been given ?

a)Elaine DeKooning advising me to come to New York.

q) What couldn’t you do without?

a)Health

q) What makes you angry?

a)Dishonesty and disloyalty

q) What is your worst quality?

a)I am too trusting. I prefer to believe that people are motivated by good and as we all know this isn’t always the case.

q) Dogs or Cats ?

a)I love both

q) Making art is a lot like tripping on LSD. Know what I mean?

a)I agree completely! I get a natural high making art.

q) What does “ copy” mean to you ?

a)To be unoriginal - if you have to copy the thoughts and ideas of others, you are both unoriginal and not a creative trailblazing thinker.

q) What’s your favorite cuss word ?

a)Charah, which means shit in Hebrew

Interview with Hormazd Narielwalla

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:12:00 +0000

q)Please tell us your name and where you practice.

a)) My name is Hormazd Narielwalla and I practice in London, UK.

q) Why do you make art?

a) I make art because it allows me to channel my energy into a physical form. I find the process of making an artwork stimulating and calming besides the most important thing is that it becomes a language for me to express my feelings at that moment of time.

q) How do you work ?

a) I am lucky to have my own studio where I practice. It is based in the London College of Fashion. My principle material is the tailoring pattern that I acquire from bespoke Savile Row tailors Dege & Skinner - these I use depending on the size of my canvas. The methodologies I use in creating an artwork depends on what the final outcome would be. So for instance when it is a collage illustration - I worked digitally or if it's a physical artwork like Dead Man's Patterns skull then it would be a more hands on method. I also use photography, screen printing, hand and Vector drawings in my work. But they all compliment and balance the tailoring pattern, which is the principle component in my artwork.

q) What´s your background?

a) I am trained as a fashion designer. But I don't make clothes. I make art!

q) What role does the artist have in society?

a) the artist is the rebel, the creator and the philosopher

q) What was a seminal experience for you ?

a) finding out that in Savile Row the tailor discards the pattern after the customer dies. My conversation with William Skinner, Managing Director of Dege & Skinner about it ignited a feeling in me that I could create a visual voice to tell their tailoring stories.

q) Has your practice changed over time ?

a)Any practice keeps evolving. I started working only with digital versions of the pattern - now I have started viewing them as physical objects in themselves and I see myself cut, copy, paste more often...

q) What art do you most identify with ?

a)Abstraction art - Matisse and Picasso specifically

q) What´s your strongest memory of your childhood ?

a)Being taken to the Zoo and hating it.

q) What themes do you pursue ?

a)The 2 strongest themes in my work are the body and clothing, I guess you could say that patterns are the link between the two.

q) Describe a real life experience that inspired you.

a) going to the Picasso retrospective at the National Gallery, London.

q) What´s your most embarrassing moment ?

a)In an art context not knowing who Gilbert & George are when discussing with my tutor. I love what they do and how they dress.

q) What jobs have you done other than being an artist ?

a)I worked as a stylist briefly, for an interior designer, and many part time jobs..

q) What responses have you had to your work ?

a)Critical but in a positive way. It took some time for people to get what I am doing.

q) What do you dislike about the artworld ?

a)At times artists are prostitutes.

q) What research do you do ?

a)My phd examines technical values of the pattern - my argument is that in dress history the pattern is a historical document - a file of knowledge and can be viewed as drawings in their own right, abstracted shapes of the human form.

q) What is your dream project?

a)To work with a Matador tailor in Madrid and create artworks inspired by the experience. To also be invited by the Royal Palace to create a portrait of Her Majesty The Queen

q) What´s the best piece of advice you have been given ?

a) Follow your instinct.

q) What couldn’t you do without?

a)My eyes

q) What makes you angry?

a) Stupidity

q) What is your worst quality?

a)I am overly critical of myself.

q) Dogs or Cats ?

a) Both, but cats at the moment.

q) Making art is a lot like being on lsd. Know what I mean ?

a) I have never had it - but my other euphoric experiences could be compared to creating an artwork where I am able to just let myself go.

q) What does “ copy” mean to you ?

a) there is nothing more amateur than being scared of being copied.

q) What´s your favorite cuss word ?

a) C"*T because it's offensive! I've used it once!

''L'ultima onda del lago''

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:34:00 +0000

L'ultima onda del lago

The Lake’s Last Wave.

A novel by Stefano Paolo Giussani

Synopsis.

This is the story of an escape through the mountains around Lake Como in northern Italy.

Anna is a Jewish girl from Milan. In 1944, following the arrest of her parents, she is left alone with her deaf and blind brother and Sebastiano, a gay friend. All three have known the terrible loss of a loved one, as Sebastiano’s partner, a socialist, has also been arrested. Together the three decide to leave the city, which has been ravaged by bombs, and try to escape to Switzerland through the Italian Lakes.

Anna is only able to communicate with her brother by drawing images on the palm of his hand with her finger. Despite their handicap, the group overcome the journey’s initial difficulties and the Nazi controls which slow their progress. Near to the border the group meets a strange couple from the valleys near Lake Como. It is there that Anna and Sebastiano know the bad face of the war...

stefano paolo giussani (1966) is an italian journalist for Corriere della Sera and iViaggi di Repubblica. This is his first novel.

--
stefano paolo giussani
via manara 48, 20052 monza
spgiussani@gmail.com
cel.393.9576719

Interview with Panagiotis Hadjistefanou aka nanogod

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:51:00 +0000

Undernight 5 (Detail)
Mixed media (3ds Autodesk Software, Video, Projections, Music)
Jpeg. (Animation still). Dimensions Variable. Athens 2007.
Courtesy of the Dakis Joannou Collection and DESTE Institute for the Contemporary Arts.
Undernight is an environment that attempts to capture the comfort and splendor of dead ends.

Hallucination Park

Untitled 2 (Sinking Ship Dispersing it’s Bubble-Bath Cargo)
Outdoor Animated Light Sculpture (Animation Still, Installation view)
(Mixed Media – 3DS Vector Object, Jpeg Mapping, 3D projection).
Courtesy of the September Gallery, Berlin, 2011.

Hallucination Park is a series of animated light sculptures, designed in 3D vector software and meant to be projected outdoors in various locations.

Ghost 2
Athens 2007
Sculpture for scanner and c-print
Mixed Media (Ink, oil, pastel and scratches on paper, Jpeg, C-Print) Dimensions variable.
Ghosts is a series of diptychs. Each consists of a mixed media painting and its attendant c-print enlargement. The work is the sculptural feeling generated by the viewer as he touches the paper “original”, trying to discover the unseen areas and marks charted for his sake by the high-resolution scanning process.
Courtesy of the Dakis Joannou Collection and DESTE Institute for the Contemporary Arts.

Hallucination Park

Untitled 1 (Long day’s Collision onto Night)
Outdoor Animated Light Sculpture (Animation Still, Installation view)
(Mixed Media – 3DS Vector Object, Jpeg Mapping, 3D projection) . Courtesy of the September Gallery, Berlin. Berlin 2011.

Hallucination Park is a series of animated light sculptures, designed in 3D vector software and meant to be projected outdoors in various locations.

Undernight Screen (Panel 3 of 9)
Detail of painted screen for the projection of the animations. 1m x 1,5m. Total size 1m x 9 m. (Nine Panels) Athens 2007.
Mixed Media (Oil, spray, pencil and pastels on canvas).

q)Please tell us your name and where you practice.

a)My given name is Panagiotis Hadjistefanou, and my artistic alias is nanogod (no capitals, please). I live and work in Berlin.

q) Why do you make art?

a)Because I cannot do anything else. Art is my destiny, and as such it is not only inescapable, but also its own sake. I strongly believe that in order to be an artist one must devote himself to what he does with the fervor and perseverance of a monk. Anything else for me is dilettantism, and I abhor it.

q) How do you work?

a)I work constantly, fixatedly, as if on a mission. The medium, as far as I am concerned, is not important. I paint, draw, sculpt, work in all kinds of computer software, compose music, make films, photograph, and write. But all these activities have a common denominator: me and my obsessions.

q) What´s your background?

a)It’s complicated. My father is Greek, my mother is Uruguayan - an extremely rare and exotic mix. I studied in St. Martin’s School of Art in London, which has affected me quite a lot in terms of how I approach creativity and the world of art. I have lived in Athens, London, New York, Paris and Berlin. I have travelled extensively, from Miami to Sudan, so I feel I am a citizen of the world. I have no real sense of national identity.

q) What role does the artist have in society?

a)I can only speak about myself, since to define one role for all artists would be either absurd or fascist. My work attempts to illustrate the inexplicably sublime, as if art is the religion of the incredible and I am a hagiographer of saints who believe in nothing.

q) What was a seminal experience for you?

a)To become a household name by speaking out, loud and clear, against the forces of evil cannibalizing Greek society. I happen to be very famous in the land where I was born, Greece. This is because I have taken a very public and active stance against the decadent and fascist elite that is ruling the country by violence, terror and Machiavellian conspiracies against the people.

I am considered a revolutionary icon for intellectuals and artists there, and adored by the people for being courageous and not collaborating with the dictatorship. Before I went into exile in Berlin, I used to write in major Greek newspapers, appear regularly on national TV channels etc. Of course, my activism only led to my ruthless persecution. There have been 3 assassination attempts against me in Greece, two armed ones and one by poisoning. Sometimes I wonder how I have managed to stay alive.

q) Has your practice changed over time?

a)My practice has changed only to the extent that I have changed as a person myself. As I said above, the medium and form for me is not important, what they communicate is always the same, my progress towards oblivion or eternity.

q) What art do you most identify with?

a)I feel a particular affinity for any artist who was damned by his own existential narrative, and his art expressed directly the suffering he endured. From Caravaggio, to Francis Bacon, to Jack Smith, to Tennessee Williams, to Bas Jan Adder, the examples are too many to mention here. For me, an artist is only true when he is true to himself.

q) What´s your strongest memory of your childhood?

a)Terror.

q) What themes do you pursue ?

a)The futility and perfidy of hope, the loyalty and honesty of despair.

q) Describe a real life experience that inspired you.

a)My source of inspiration is the devoutness that burns my soul when I look for love in places where misanthropy is cultivated by the inability of strangers to communicate their vulnerability to each other.

q) What´s your most embarrassing moment?

a)I am never embarrassed by anything because I am fully aware that I am just another aggregation of human frailty, failure and fault.

q) What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

a)Being an artist is not a job, but a calling. Anything that I have been obliged to do in order to pay the rent and eat is a form of prostitution as far as I am concerned, so you can say that I have been a whore. It does not really matter if I was working as a journalist, or a doorman. The feeling is the same. To work in any field except art and writing for me is about strangers paying money to use my body and my soul according to their filthy, evil priorities.

q) What responses have you had to your work?

a)I am considered the most important artist and writer of my generation in my homeland and this opinion is held not only by me, but also by such people as the important collector Mr. Dakis Joannou, who has kindly supported me for quite a long time.

q) What do you dislike about the art world?

There is no such thing as the art world. You are probably referring to the legions of parasites that make their living out of manipulating and abusing the work of artists. I try to ignore them as much as possible, and I am happy to pay the cost of my stance towards them.

q) What research do you do?

a)I don’t research, I discover accidentally, by allowing myself to be constantly exposed to the muse of poetry.

q) What is your dream project?

a)To die as a free man.

q) What´s the best piece of advice you have been given ?

a)I do not accept any kind of advice, I treasure my mistakes over the wisdom of others. Mistakes are nobler than art.

q) What couldn’t you do without?

a)Sleep, a roof over my head, some food for me and my cat, health insurance. A bit of sex with kind strangers now and again is also welcome.

q) What makes you angry?

a)I am particularly irritated by unjustly privileged idiots who believe that their financial or social position allows them to exist as anything else but figures of ridicule. I also hate uneducated fools who voice their opinions solely based on their ability to speak even if nobody asked them to. In the end though, I always decide that my anger is too precious to waste on such people.

q) What is your worst quality?

a)Probably the fact that I defend, support, and protect my loneliness as if it was the love of my life.

q) Dogs or Cats ?

a)I consider all binary dilemmas a form of blackmail, and I never succumb to their extortions. At the same time, I confess I am a slave of Remix, my beautiful orange cat who rules my life with his imperial ego and constant demands.

q) Making art is a lot like being on LSD. Know what I mean?

a)Yes, I have experimented with hallucinogenics in my youth. The common factor between lysergic visions and creating art is the departure from what is commonly accepted as reality.

q) What does “copy” mean to you?

a)Replicas, duplicates, twins, simulacra, counterfeits, decoys, mannequins, portraits, genetic cloning, war games, camouflage, instant replays, digital imaging, parrots, photocopies, wax museums, apes, art forgeries, DNA – copy is everything, everything is copy.

q) What´s your favorite cuss word?

a)Love.

Interview with David Trullo

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:04:00 +0000

q) Introduce yourself first please?

a)My name is David Trullo and I am a visual artist.

q)Where do you live and work ?

a)I was born, live and work in Madrid, Spain.

q) How did you started? How have you realized you wanted to become an artist?

a)I always spent hours drawing when I was a kid and I never stopped. I still have a diary from when I was 8 years old where I wrote I wanted to be a painter, so I guess I had it quite clear since a very early age. My father was a bullfighting photographer, it all came naturally, I suppose.

q) What materials do you use and why?

a)I use mainly photography and video. Photography is quick and gives me a lot of resources to play with fiction, fetishise, turn subjects into objects, and create alternative realities. Video works as an extension of it all.

q) Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

a)Most of my influences come from writers who were curiously filmakers, like Cocteau and Pasolini. Some specific pieces had a great impact like Andy warhol’s silent films, as well as Spanish and Italian 17th century painting.

q)How do you dream up with your wacky ideas? What is your creation process?

a)Sometimes ideas go around for a long time before they become ‘physical’ and some others come up suddenly and are done immediately, or change completely while working on something else. Ideas usually come up by putting together things which apparently don’t fit.

q) What haven't you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

a)Theatre

q)Are there any contemporary artists that you love ?

a)I like particular works mainly, and follow and collaborate with other artists with a similar perspective like Robert Flynt or Roberto González Fernández.

q) How long does it take for you to finish a piece ?

a)Sometimes months, sometimes minutes. I often go back to former projects and start them with a new eye.

q) What music, if any, do you like to have on while you're working?

a)Anything ‘harmless’ that doesn’t distract me. Radio is fine as long as it is not very ‘arty’.

q) Do you do many art shows?

a)Too many, maybe. ‘Repertoire’ keeps growing…

q)Tell us about a recent dream you had.

a)I’m walking through the Vatican gardens and the Pope is talking about the length of my shorts. No idea what it might mean…

q)What are you doing when you are not creating?

a)Sleeping

q)Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your

work when it is sold?

a)No. ‘Children’ should fly free when they can. And I don´t have any of my works on my walls either.

q)What new projects or exhibits are in your future?

a)I’m putting together a project on identity and gender with the excuse of studying the life and work of Yves Saint Laurent and Andy Warhol.

http://issuu.com/trullo/docs/bogus

Another project I’m starting will be around representation and iconography based on Cesare Ripa’s ‘Iconology’

q)What is your favourite art related web site?

a)I check artinfo for the art gossip and re-title for interesting projects.

q)What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?

a)I keep seeing strange things everyday, that others might consider banal.

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever done?

a)I keep doing strange things that others don’t notice.

q)...any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?...

a)Concentrate on your personal work so it fulfills you and don’t worry so much about if it sells or not. If you worry too much if your work is commercial maybe you should do something else.

q)your contacts....e-mail...links...

a)http://davidtrullo.com

http://vimeo.com/davidtrullo/videos

Interview with Thomas Edetun

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:09:00 +0000

q)Please tell us your name and where you practice.

a)My name is Thomas Edetun i am a painter.

q) Why do you make art?

a)Working with art is special, there is no rules. But you have to find your own way and your own rules. In some ways it can help you understand what it is being a human and living in this world.

q) How do you work ?

a)I work mostly with painting in different media as oil, acrylic and watercolor. Sometimes i work with film, photography or art objects.

q) What´s your background?

a)Regular school education 11 years and 9 years in art school. There was no real interest in art from my childhood upbringing, my parents did not attend art exhibitions or other cultural events.

q) What role does the artist have in society?

a)The artist role today can be an economical investment or a mirror for the society (political). but in the long term i think that art can make people understand what the world is about.

q) What was a seminal experience for you ?

a)When i was young and experienced for the first time the freedom in art. That an art piece can make you think and feel something you did not knew existed before.

q) Has your practice changed over time ?

a)I now am more focused from the beginning in what my art work is dealing with, the actual work in my studio with the art piece is easier since i got more experience.

q) What art do you most identify with ?

a)I identify with any kind of art that for me have a meaning and not only are beautiful, but meaningful art can be beautiful.

q) What´s your strongest memory of your childhood ?

a)That must be when i first tried to understand the world around me, i sometimes sat alone and tried to work it out. What it was all about.

q) What themes do you pursue ?

a)I work with any themes that will come up, i try not to restrict my mind before i work.

q) Describe a real life experience that inspired you.

a)It happens all the time.

q) What´s your most embarrassing moment ?

a)None really, i think its human to make mistakes and therefore i accept it happening.

q) What jobs have you done other than being an artist ?

a)Working in hospital, art teacher, art photographer, cleaner, intendent at art museum, technician at museum, window cleaner.

q) What responses have you had to your work ?

a)I´ve had mostly good response in media and from visitors at my exhibitions. And sometimes also from other artists.

q) What do you dislike about the artworld ?

a)That it´s not as free as i thought from the beginning. But it´s like the real world.

q) What research do you do ?

a)I do research in technical things like using new materials and also through seeking out other artists work both from art history and from contemporary artists.

I like to look and experience art all the time.

q) What is your dream project?

a)To be in a situation where i can work for a long time in my studio to prepare a big exhibition which would be shown internationally.

q) What´s the best piece of advice you have been given ?

a)Why not make it the other way around?

q) What couldn’t you do without?

a)My eyes.

q) What makes you angry?

a)That some people in our world today have to struggle so hard to survive, that the world is not equal.

q) What is your worst quality?

a)That i can be too focused on my art, but that´s good too.

q) Dogs or Cats ?

a)Both.

q) Making art is a lot like being on lsd. Know what I mean ?

a)Making art can be entering a special room with is separated from the real world, with rules of it own. Sometimes when you get lost totally in that room you can fell free.

q) What does “ copy” mean to you ?

a)It´s a way to work with art, and a way to show understanding and appreciation of other artists. I have been copied and i get inspired from other artists.

q) What´s your favorite cuss word ?

a)None, i try to use as many as i can.

Interview with Marcos Marin

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:02:00 +0000

q)Please tell us your name and where you practice.

a)Marcos Marin, Born in Brazil, lives and works in Monaco, Also have studios in Lisbon Portugal, Sao Paulo Brasil, Miami Beach USA,and Lacoste France.

q) Why do you make art?

a)It is the most important part of me, it is my reazon for life! I was born for!

q) How do you work ?

a)From a image, normaly a face, I feel how I can deconstructe and analise what kind of celular element will recompose that image, dots, lines, curves, so after made the composition, the design the creation, for me the most important part of the process, after that it is just a choise of realization, suporte and tecnique to produce the preconcept image. I like made several times the same image to see the possibilities , and somethimes mix all. Accidental elements is always wellcome too!

q) What´s your background?

a)I'm a pianist, after was in Architecture but not till the end of the University. Meeting big masters and great artist was my school, and finaly in 1990 Vasarely inspire me to do optical art, where I became totaly addicty

q) What role does the artist have in society?

a)We do windows for dreams, a scape for the imaginary, a moment for a mental gymnastic!As a person hope I can inspire people to exercice Freedom.

q) What was a seminal experience for you ?

a)it is all the time!

q) Has your practice changed over time ?

a)I always want to change, and try new things, but after a moment I stay consistently abou the base of my creation, op art, and play with all possibilities to do that. Changing but with a strong sustained signature.

q) What art do you most identify with ?

a)Portraits

q) What´s your strongest memory of your childhood ?

a)When Someone played piano and violin, and after when I start in the consevatory with 5 years old.

q) What themes do you pursue ?

a)Portraits, optical kinetic ilusions

q) Describe a real life experience that inspired you.

a)Pierre Cardin life, my Patron, 89 years old, doing new projects all the time!

q) What´s your most embarrassing moment ?

a)I'm naturaly a desaster man, during a very fancy snoby visit to the Sermadiras garden,I was invited to visit with others 30 peoples,higth people,We walk trougth the garden and before the entrance of the castle for a Lunch, we across a sand designed art nouveau drow in the floors, and in the entrance first room of the palace, had a tapecery with pockets and inside each pockets had a soft shoe with fox head! chic! so we can walk on the wood with no sand in the shoes, and I dont know why I try to say to Mr; Sermadira in french " I can take out my paints" insted say shoes!!! He says , ok brazilian keep your paints please!!

q) What jobs have you done other than being an artist ?

a)Pianist, Cinema cleaner, unload merchandise from a ship in a port, stuart, model,

q) What responses have you had to your work ?

a)I won several great prizes, art contests, a car,resident programs for artists 2 times, a house and studio for life by Pierre Cardin, A concert piano, several fly tickets and businnes oportunities, pay my bills with my art, and of course the most important be apreciate and the people love my art!!!

q) What do you dislike about the artworld ?

a)The way of some galleries and marchands treat the artists, explorations of the needs of the artists, the stupid snobism, fake things.

q) What research do you do ?

a)All the time about ne materials and possibilities, love try diferents art suplies from others cowntries, about strategy to show my art, I m recently studing all about art in public spaces.

q) What is your dream project?

a)to have in several cowntries 'land marks', my sculptures, monuments in public spaces.

q) What´s the best piece of advice you have been given ?

a)keep doing always, the insistence, the consistence, be a work-a-holic with your art.

q) What couldn’t you do without?

a)My piano

q) What makes you angry?

a)people that dont pay!

q) What is your worst quality?

a)I'm messy!

q) Dogs or Cats ?

a)Cats of course!

q) Making art is a lot like being on lsd. Know what I mean ?

a)I'm addicted in my art! And without any drogs and alchool!! I play my piano and in that moment my mind produce many ideas for visuals creations!

q) What does “ copy” mean to you ?

a)If you do a copy, make that original!

q) What´s your favorite cuss word ?

a)"caraleo"

Interview with Bryan Schnelle

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:18:00 +0000

q) Please tell us your name and where you practice.

a)Bryan Schnelle, Los Angeles.

q) Why do you make art?

a)That’s a good question, I don’t really know, it’s just something I need to do.

q) How do you work?

a)Quickly.

q) What´s your background?

a)I grew up in a typical, boring suburb not unlike a lot of other typical, boring suburbs.

q) What role does the artist have in society?

a)Different types of Artists seem to have different types of roles. Personally, I hope to encourage and contribute to serious thought about reality.

q) What was a seminal experience for you?

a)I remember going to a museum with my friend Joe and his dad when I was maybe around 13 or 14 and his dad smoked a joint with us in the car before we went in. I wasn’t a huge Picasso fan or anything, but I remember standing in front of this one particular Picasso, the title escapes me now, but I had what I can only describe as a “spiritual awakening”. I knew what I wanted to do.

q) Has your practice changed over time?

a)Absolutely, my work is always evolving as my ideas and interests change and develop.

q) What art do you most identify with?

a)I’m not really sure. I guess maybe sarcastic, funny, clever, or ironic Art?

q) What´s your strongest memory of your childhood?

a)A pop-shuvit tail grab down 10 stairs (landed it, but broke my board).

q) What themes do you pursue?

a)Lately I’ve been interested in advertising and capitalist consumer culture and the state of disconnect with reality it induces.

q) Describe a real life experience that inspired you.

a)The Basquiat retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum in 2005 was pretty impressive.

q) What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

a)Worked for a property management company (serving tenants with eviction notices), did landscaping, assembled generators in a factory, stood outside of stores collecting signatures, dug graves...

q) What responses have you had to your work?

a)Mostly appreciative and encouraging, I think that most people are starting to wake up from the dream.

q) What do you dislike about the art world?

a)I’m not a big fan of bullshit.

q) What research do you do?

a)I read a lot of books and watch a lot of tmz.

q) What is your dream project?

a)Haha, nice try. That’s top secret.

q) What couldn’t you do without?

a)I’m sure that I could survive without any modern gizmos if I had to, anyone could. But books and coffee I would really miss.

q) What makes you angry?

a)Bullshit.

q) What is your worst quality?

a)I’m really awkward socially. When people meet me for the first time they think I’m a dick, but the truth is I’m actually a pretty nice guy.

q) Dogs or Cats?

a)Dogs.

q) Making art is a lot like being on lsd. Know what I mean?

a)I guess it can be, but I actually feel the most grounded when I’m making Art. It’s when I’m not working… that’s when things get weird.

q) What does “ copy” mean to you?

a)Control C.

q) What´s your favourite cuss word?

a)Sucky Motherfucky.

Roberto Kusterle

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:44:00 +0000

Roberto Kusterle was born in Gorizia ( Italy ) in 1948. Since the Seventies he works within the field of the Visual Arts, devoting himself to painting and installation works. Since 1988 his interest for photograhy begins, that has become his primary way to express himself. He lives and works in Gorizia

www.robertokusterle.it/

Interview with Kurt Wenner

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Thu, 26 May 2011 10:11:00 +0000

Name: Kurt Wenner

Horoscope: Virgo

Countries: Italy & USA

Website: kurtwenner.com

Favorite Book: Andrea del Pozzo, “Perspectiva Pictorum et Architectorum”

(2 volumes, 1693, 1698)

Favorite Museum: The Vatican

Motto: Art is how the universe expresses its creativity through human

beings.

q)Please introduce yourself for the first time.

a)My name is Kurt Wenner. I am an American artist, although I have spent

half my life in Italy. I work within the tradition of European classicism and

create original architectural designs, paintings, sculpture and decoration. I

work in numerous media and venues, but am best known for inventing

3-dimensional pavement art. This is a very popular art form that has

inspired many artists.

q)Where did you grow up?

a)I grew up in Santa Barbara, California.

q)Where do you live?

a)I lived in Italy for 28 years and now live in the US.

q)What is your family's past? Were there any artists in your family

that encouraged you to be an artist?

a)My great, great grandfather was an artist as well as my great uncle. I have

never seen their work, and had no visual artists in my immediate family.

q)Did anyone else in your family display artistic talents and inspire you to

explore your own creativity?

a)My immediate family members were creative in areas other than the visual

arts, such as music and the sciences. My father is a retired provost for the

college of creative studies in Santa Barbara, California. The college allows

students to combine disciplines, such as arts and sciences. My mother

taught music, and my sister was a professional musician for many years,

before deciding on a career in journalism. I think I enjoyed the visual arts as

a youth because it was different than what other family members did.

q)What was it like growing up in Santa Barbara, California? How did the

environment affect you? Did the city bring out your creativity?

a)Santa Barbara was a small, sleepy beach town when I grew up there. It

always had many examples of beautiful architecture and gracious villas,

which influenced me very much. Creativity was very much encouraged,

although in the 60’s it had a very hippie flavor to it.

q)Do you remember your first commissioned mural you did when you

were sixteen? What was it a picture of and for whom did you create

it? Was this your first mural or were there others before this one?

a)My first mural was for an ice cream store and manufacturer called

McConnells Ice Cream. It’s a famous Santa Barbara institution. I portrayed

the family of the owners in a composition that was a cross between the Last

Supper and Alice in Wonderland. The family still owns it. I had done many

other works before, but this was my first large-scale commission.

q)What made you decide to become an artist? What influence does art

have in your life?

a)I think that the desire to communicate was foremost in my personal agenda.

Although I always created images, my formal decision to be a professional

artist was made in high school. To this day I work nearly every day

including weekends on artwork of some sort. I always feel that I have more

to do than I can possibly accomplish.

q)How did you search your own style?

a)I always felt that if I studied something unusual and asked good questions

my style would develop naturally. My studies were unusual for their time

and led to unusual works.

q)Is an artist born, or is he made through experience?

a)The desire to create may be part of the artist’s soul, but artists are made and

destroyed every day by experience. I always thought that after a certain

investment of energy it would be possible to rest and enjoy the result. Being

an artist seems instead more like being a garden. While some areas flourish

and bloom, others will whither or become dormant.

q)What kind of artist do you consider yourself? How would you describe

your art?

a)I am a contemporary classicist who studies and researches lost, neglected or

ignored ideas from historical aspects of western European art. I try to use

them in an original way to make them pertinent to my time, and challenge

my contemporary audience.

q)Which famous artists have influenced you, and how?

a)The famous artists that have most influenced me are from the past,

especially the late Italian renaissance and early baroque. I have always been

interested in European classical drawing and its development over the

centuries. My enjoyment of this period is not directed at any individual, but

is based on the artistic process itself.

My main influences are European drawings, both architectural, decorative

and figure drawings. They show how the artists thought. The artists and

sculptors I admire generally left great drawings.

q)What factors have most influenced your work as an artist?

Survival, a desire for understanding, and a need to

communicate my discoveries have been my major influences.

a)Is there any new artist that you admire?

I admire anyone who can create works, especially if they have a large

enough public to earn a living from them. I like outsider art and “art brut”

that is contemporary, or at least done in the last 50 years. I like refined,

museum quality “crafts” that mostly go ignored. I do not like it when artists

have others do their work for them. Although I often like many of the

results of this method, I cannot fully respect the artists. Stylistically, I am

always more fascinated with works from the past, before the invention of

photography. To me, artists had a different way of seeing hundreds of years

ago.

q)Which artists or people do you admire most? Why?

a)Paramhansa Yogananda would be my choice because I can feel my spirit stir

with his writing. On a more earthly scale, I like the writing and ideas of

Alain de Botton. Most of the artists I admire would not be familiar to people

today, though I can recommend Giulio Romano. In the end I think it may be

more significant for an artist to inspire others than to make a bunch of stuff,

even if it is pretty. I think this is what art should be about.

q)Could you talk about your earlier studies? Out of all the art schools in

the world why did you choose to attend the Rhode Island School of

Design and Art Center College of Design? Were there any professors at

these universities whom you would consider were your mentors?

a)I specifically went to Rhode Island School of Design to study with David

Macaulay. He wrote a book called Cathedral, which was a great influence

on me at the time. It turned out that the drawing instruction at the school

was not strong enough at the time for me to obtain the training I needed, so I

switched to the Art Center College to study with Harry Carmean. He

introduced me to the principles of classical drawing, which changed the

course of my career.

The major subject I learned on my own was artist’s geometry. This is seen

in my use of perspective and illusion as well as in the proportional design of

my architecture. This subject is perhaps the most important single

component of our European artistic heritage, but in general it is taught badly,

or not at all.

q)Could you tell me how do you get your first job? What story in it?

a)One of the scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory taught physics in the

evening at the Art Center. He asked me to create a perspective drawing of

an ion mass spectrograph. None of he artists at the lab could do it because

of the number of angles and curves involved.

q)What is the work of as advanced scientific space illustrator?

a)I eventually was employed at the laboratory and created artist’s renderings

of future projects to Mars, Venus, and even the sun. The images were

created by hand from scientific data, landscapes of outer planets and future

spacecraft. I can’t even begin to describe what the experience taught me.

q)What made you decide to quit a secure post at NASA and move to Italy

and study the works of the masters?

a)The entire time I worked at NASA I studied classical drawing, sometimes

for more than 20 hours a week. Eventually the time came when the only

way to further my studies was to go to Italy and work from the masterpieces.

I saw the first examples of computer graphics imaging (CGI), at the

laboratory and realized I would probably be the last traditional artist to do

that kind of work. Because my own studies were rooted in the ancient

tradition of sacred geometry rather than technical drawing, I was concerned

about this development. It occurred to me that the tradition and significance

of geometrical drawing and design would become lost with computer

graphics in the same way that the tradition of classical drawing had

collapsed with the invention of photography.

q)Did you find a correlation between your scientific illustrations for

NASA and the religious oil paintings you made such as the composition

of the Last Judgment for the Pope and The Miracle for The 21st

International Cervantino Festival in Mexico? To the outside world,

science and religion are total opposites but you have worked with them

both. How did you do that?

a)If anyone thinks science and religion are opposites their philosophy is

flawed. To me, they are just two different ways of organizing human

experience. They are not polar opposites, though they vie for our attention.

Each discipline organizes a huge amount of information according to an

internally logical set of rules. This yields a certain insight into some ways

the universe works. In my opinion, human beings are very far from being

able to grasp the mysteries of the universe as a whole. Religion and science

are two helpful tools if they are applied with refinement and discretion.

q)When, how and why did you start to paint on the streets?

a)I started to paint on the streets of Rome, Italy in 1982. I was studying in the

museums directly from the great master works of art and needed a way to

make ends meet. For six months I spent eight hours a day drawing and

learning from paintings and sculpture. At first I sold the studies to tourists

and museum guards, but it did not cover my expenses. I did not speak

Italian and had no permission to work in the country. One day, I saw a street

painting and asked the artist what he was doing. He explained the tradition

of street painting in Europe to me, where it was a traditional form of folk art.

After viewing my museum drawings he asked if I'd like to paint the head of

an angel while he went to lunch. At the time, it was not a sophisticated art

form, and my drawing skills were more than sufficient in order to distinguish

myself. Working with the chalks came very naturally, and from that point

on I've been street painting.

q)Rome is a city you began street painting. Is there any reason you chose

it for the first painting place?

a)Chalk art in Italy has a very long history in Italy. At one time it was a

religious folk art. Sometime in the seventies, art students discovered it as a

way to make a living. Pavement art allowed me to finish my classical

studies in Rome. I met historians and restorers on the street, while doing my

work. I was even invited to climb the scaffolding in several churches to see

the frescos up close during the restorations. I even touched the Sistine

Chapel ceiling. On some of the ceilings I noticed that the figures were

elongated to appear normal from the ground. I was aware that my street

paintings were subject to similar viewing circumstances- people looked at

the work from an angle rather than straight on. This eventually inspired me

to create a pictorial geometry specific to the street.

q)Can you make a living doing this?

a)As with any occupation you generally find people engaged in the work

because it supports them. And, like any other trade, there are different

degrees of success. Some painters live hand-to-mouth and others enjoy it as

a lucrative profession. Success is very dependent on the sheer number of

people who pass by a work, their reaction to a particular image, and the

artistry of the painter. On first street painting, I made three times my NASA

salary.

q)What do you use to create these paintings?

a)Street painting, or pavement art, has a long tradition and is done in chalk or

pastel. It is meant to wash off.

q)Normally how long does it take to create a piece art?

a)Works can take any amount of time, but my personal preference is to design

works that take five or seven days to execute. They total about 25 square

meters.

q)Are street painters able to create artwork wherever they want, or do

they have to obtain permits to work in public?

a)This depends on exactly where they are creating. Most street painters soon

learn that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

q)Your artwork enables people to interact with you during the creation of

your art. Have you received any special feedback from those

audiences?

a)In the beginning my focus was on providing a drawing demonstration. The

geometry of the work allowed for the audience to enter the pictorial space,

and this became a focus of the art. To me, the feedback from the audience

that is most rewarding is when they are inspired to learn more about the act

of drawing.

q)What is your favorite street painting you have worked on to date?

a)I think the image “Dies Irae” remains my favorite work because I learned the

most from it. Now I am working on stereoscopic street paintings, which are

a lot of fun. I am happiest when I am trying to solve an interesting problem.

When it is solved, I tend to move on to another idea or problem.

q)”Street Painting” has many titles through out the world; some of them

are Madonnaro, Callejero, Madonnari, Strassenmaler, Ephemeralist.

Could you give us a formal title?

a)25 years ago we always used the English term “street painting” to describe

the work. A street painter was called a “madonnaro” in Italy referring to the

religious roots of the art form. It has been more popular lately to use the

terms “pavement artist” or “pavement art.” This seems more elegant.

How does the process of the painting happen? I’m sure that is not as

simple as it looks.

In the past I improvised works directly on the street. Most of my recent

works are done on commission, and a presentation drawing is created first

for the presenter to approve.

q)What is the most difficult aspect of street painting?

a)It is more physically demanding than many other forms of visual art. If it is

a profession, the artist needs to be productive on call rather than following

moments of inspiration.

q)Do you remember how long it took to paint the most time consuming

street painting?

a)I have worked as long as six weeks on a picture. This was due to the rain

rather than the complexity of the piece. Unless a work is protected, it is

difficult to carry it forward for more than five days. Many of my more

complex designs have taken a week to ten days.

q)Do you still do street painting?

a)I did about twelve works last year.

q)Is there a sidewalk that you secretly desire to paint?

a)My desire is to start creating images for galleries and museum exhibition. I

have a number of works in mind that could use a more protected

environment.

q)What is the basic theme of your paintings? Do they have religious

themes, fiction or mythical themes, or something else?

a)I use themes that are traditional to European art. Sometimes the works are

religious and sometimes they are mythological. In Italy the themes of the

street paintings were generally religious. In the USA my favorite subjects

are from classical mythology. Naturally, even mythological paintings were

religious 2000 years ago, but in our time people think of them as allegories.

The myths are fun for me, and appropriate for my work. We live in a

particularly confused society, lacking consensus in terms of history, morals

and culture. Even the Hollywood studios, such as Disney, DreamWorks,

and Warner Brothers find great relief in the classical myths. It seems they

are reviving classical culture out of sheer desperation; trying to find a

cultural common ground. Naturally, this is what classicism offers.

q)What’s your point of view between “Street Art” and “Graffiti”?

a)The difference is in the intention of the artists. Graffiti artist work in

isolation to impose their vision on an unwelcoming environment. Street

painters interact with the public and seek to gain their interest and support.

They do not try to permanently alter the environment, but seek to enliven it

for a moment.

q)Is graffiti art, if so, for what reasons?

a)To me, art is nature’s way of expressing its creativity through human beings.

If graffiti is creative, it is art.

q)Do you feel there is a relationship between graffiti and your own work?

a)My work is aligned to graffiti because it allows me to express myself

directly to the public without an intermediary, such as a gallery or cultural

institution. It is different from graffiti in the sense that pavement art seeks to

entertain, amaze and challenge the public in the hopes of financial

compensation. In general, graffiti is focused on the artists’ need for self-

expression. The works are not dependent of the public’s approval.

q)Do you feel there are any differences between graffiti works on display

in the street and those displayed in a gallery?

a)They are absolutely different, context changes every work, and no work in a

gallery can claim to be entirely independent of public approval. It is an

irony of our time that we attempt this.

q)Are there any further comments you would like to make regarding

graffiti?

a)Aesthetically, I rarely like graffiti. I can admire the vigor of the expression

and appreciate the need to work outside of conventional venues. Graffiti is a

form of “outsider art” sometimes called “art brut”. It represents the human

need to create in its most powerful and fundamental form. Outsider art

reinvigorates all of the arts when they lapse into convention and repetition.

Graffiti as an art form has all of the challenges and problems of any other

movement. It constantly risks lapsing into conventions and creating venues

that are at odds with its primary message. Artists eventually seek some sort

of acceptance or approval from some group of people. It becomes a problem

when part of their message is that they don’t care about this.

q)How do you feel about the ephemeral quality of the art form?

a)The ephemeral aspect of street painting was most important when it was a

religious art form. The 3D street paintings do not necessarily need to be

ephemeral, as they would make fantastic permanent works of public art. The

problem of maintaining a work on a horizontal surface is not an easy one,

and only very recently has it been possible to use digital technology to create

permanent pieces from the designs. I expect this will become popular in the

near future.

q)Do you feel sadness when your artwork destroyed by the weather?

a)I do not feel sad when a completed work is destroyed because I know it

cannot remain fresh and beautiful any more than a flower can. Weather is

still the most frustrating part of street painting, since pastels aren't

waterproof. It can be very exhausting to have works destroyed during the

creative process. This does not get easier with age either.

q)How long does it usually take to fix one of your works after a rainfall?

a)I usually need to be able to fix a work within a day after a rainstorm. This

can be quite exhausting, as I must move over the whole picture rather than

concentrating in an area.

q)Have you seen the popularity of street painting grow since you have

been doing it in Germany and in other parts of the world?

a)It is truly unbelievable how global the art form has become, and the millions

of people who now participate as artists and spectators. It gives me a special

pleasure to see the illusionism become so prominent, as this was my

personal contribution.

q)How many people make their living as street painters?

a)There are probably two to five hundred street painters at any one time that

depend on street painting as their primary source of income. There are many

more seasonal painters, those who only work in the summer months.

q)Have you suffered prejudice by painting on the streets?

a)25 years ago street painting was strongly associated with poverty and

desperation. That is now mostly removed from the public mind. I did,

however, suffer it in the beginning, and it took time to change the

perception.

q)What is the secret to street painting?

a)For me, the secret to street painting is to remember that it is a performance.

The process should capture the imagination of the audience.

q)Do you consider what you do as art?

a)Street painting is a recognized art form with a long history. It is a very pure

form of expression as it was originally a devotional art. I am currently

finishing a book about the history of street painting. People think of it as

spontaneous, but it actually is a tradition.

q)According to your website you make your own pastels to paint with.

How do you make your pastels and where did you learn how to do it?

a)When I first started street painting I used commercial chalks and pastels. I

soon found the chalks to be too dusty and they constantly blew away on the

street. The pastels were more permanent but too costly; as I would consume

a couple hundred sticks per picture. It didn't take long before I began

experimenting and making my own pastels with pure pigments and binder. I

started making my own pastels in Rome. I was fortunate because they still

sold the necessary raw pigments in the hardware stores. Although I studied

old recipes for pastels, my final recipe was taken from an unrelated text

dealing with marbling paper. My handmade pastels are stronger and more

permanent than commercial products.

q)What are your views on street painting as a contemporary art form?

a)Traditional street painting, where artists copy masterpieces, is still a folk art

rather than specifically a contemporary art form, although the quality of

some of the work has become incredible. The street painting illusions are a

contemporary art form that did not exist 30 years ago. I think this aspect will

continue to evolve because there are numerous possibilities that have not yet

been explored. It is still fresh and experimental.

q)How do you feel about experimentation with the street painting art

form with new methods of artistic collaboration other than the

traditional?

a)My own personal focus is on experimenting with new venues related to

street painting. Some years ago I introduced vertical elements to the

compositions, and now I am working on stereoscopic images and digital

reproduction techniques.

q)What will be the most interesting part for you to do street painting?

How is the difference between fine art and street painting? Could you

please tell us how you paint, and with what kind of materials? How long

is the painting going to stand on the ground?

a)I think that the desire to communicate is foremost in my personal agenda,

and because of this street painting has always been fascinating. To the best

of my knowledge, few art forms have the universal appeal or the wide

cultural demographic that street painting has. Traditionally street painting

has been a performance art. It has always been considered a fine art, but was

traditionally impermanent. This made it impossible to market the images as

fine art gallery products. Street painting technique lends itself to digital art,

and therefore this aspect is likely to change.

Street painting is and was done with chalks or pastels, usually directly on the

pavement. The emphasis on the art form has moved from being an

impermanent sacred art to a performance, and now to a form of interactive

art. At one time the destruction of the piece was vital, then the creation of

the work in real time became more significant. Now the juxtaposition of the

work and the environment and its relationship to the audience has become

the most defining feature. It has become interactive. A traditional street

painting lasted only hours after its execution and needed constant

retouching. Today the permanence varies widely.

q)What is the most difficult aspect about creating a street painting?

a)It used to be the weather, now it is generally the time constraints. It is also

physically difficult to sit cross-legged for hours on end, especially with age.

q)Why are you able to walk on your painting and not damage it?

a)Most of the painting's color is in the pores of the pavement and not on the

surface. Although I try to walk on the picture as little as possible,

sometimes I must in order to retouch a spot, or remove debris that has blown

onto it. I may also put a sheet of paper or plastic on a finished area before

standing on it.

q)How can you see what you are doing?

a)Unlike other projects where it possible to stand back and view an entire

work, street painting and large scale mural painting are unique in the sense

that one must imagine the whole painting while working on a detail of it. It

takes special training and experience to work in such a format.

q)Do you make a drawing of what you are going to paint?

a)When I first started street painting I seldom made drawings of what I would

paint. Now that I only paint for special events I work out the composition

and geometry prior to arriving at my painting site.

q)Where was the most difficult place that you have painted?

a)The most difficult place to paint was during the street painting competitions

at Grazie di Curtatone in Italy. There was limited time, it was dark, and the

pavement was rough.

a)Why do you use chalk on the street and not other tools such as spray

lacquer?

a)In the early years the impermanence of the work was an important feature.

The idea of painting religious icons on the street in chalk has a centuries-old

tradition in Italy, and I began my street painting experience within that

tradition. We often worked the same spot for months, creating new images

when the rains destroyed the earlier ones.

a)Some people believe art should only be done for art’s sake what are

your thoughts on paid street painting commissions?

a)For many years I worked only for tips and have fond memories of those

days. The art form however, could not grow and evolve without the promise

of it becoming a lucrative field.

q)Where does this kind of 3D painting come from?

a)The three-dimensional street painting is my own invention. I created it by

studying a type of anamorphism that existed in the 17th century. For

several decades artists designed large works to be seen from one specific

point of view. I was invited to climb the scaffolding in several churches to

see he frescos up close during the restorations. I even touched the Sistine

Chapel ceiling. On some of the baroque ceilings I noticed that the figures

were elongated to appear normal from the ground. I was aware that my

street paintings were subject to similar viewing circumstances- people

looked at the work from an angle rather than straight-on. I started creating

my particular perspective geometry by adjusting the proportions of the

painted forms to accommodate the viewpoints of the spectators standing at

the base of the work. Unlike traditional anamorphic compositions, such as

church ceilings, the viewing angles were very wide, and I started to use a

curvilinear fisheye lens to document the compositions.

My own geometry is different from the 17th century works, and I have not

published it. It combines a logical use of linear perspective with a projection

outward from the human eye. Other artists that emulate the three-

dimensional pavement works use a more traditional geometry called

“quadratura” that does not involve complicated calculations. They do not

understand that my geometry is unique.

q)Why did you invent 3D street painting?

a)My objective in inventing the 3D street painting was to insert my original

classical drawings into contemporary environments. I established the

creation of the works as performances that allowed the public to view the

process of classical drawing. For nearly 20 years I was the only artist who

could do this work, but now other artists can use graphics programs to

imitate it with quadratura. Most of these artists are not classically trained

and they have altered the original intent of my work to suit their own

abilities and taste.

q)3D street painting has an extremely strong visual impact. It relies on

both perspective geometry and drawing technique to achieve this.

Could you tell us how you begin the design? Do you make a design

first?

a)I always begin a design with geometrical calculations and a perspective

drawing. This drawing is based on the size of the work and its spatial

relationship to the viewer, the environment, and the public that may

participate in the final image. Every work has two forms, the anamorphic

form of the art itself, (as it will be painted), and the perspective form, (as it

will appear to a viewer or the camera). My own work creates an interface

between anamorphic and curvilinear perspective, andI work back and forth

between them. The geometry of my work is different than that of the other

artists. I place the viewer extremely close to the work. The three-

dimensional figures I paint would not actually be in classical proportion

from this viewpoint. For this reason I use the “hyperbolic anamorphism” of

my own invention.

Almost all of the 3D pavement works are done for public venues. In general

there are presenters who must approve the design. For this reason I create a

detailed tonal drawing for presentation. Drawings are not highly valued in

our society, but I take great pleasure in creating them and consider them to

be my best work.

q)This innovative appeal of 3-dimensional street art has inspired many

artists. Do you consider your art a “new kind of art”?

a)From the very beginning, (1984), I considered my street painting illusions to

be a new form of art. I linked the artistic and classical imagery I was

studying to the contemporary world using perspective and photography. By

making the work into a performance, I was able to avoid dealing with some

of the antagonism that existed toward classical drawing in the 1980’s. It has

become very popular in recent years though I am seldom given credit for the

innovation. When I publish the form of anamorphic perspective I employ it

will be understood as being different from the historical geometry.

q)Could you introduce your original architectural designs, paintings,

sculpture and decoration? What do you consider to be original

architectural design?

a)My own designs are a result of my studies of European classicism. As

works of architecture they are original in the sense that none of the elements

are copies of existing designs. I have created my own proportional scale and

I design every detail from scratch. Some of my designs introduce concepts

that did not exist historically, but few people have the background to be able

to understand this. So far my architectural commissions have all been

private and the clients have wanted the designs to be somewhat traditional.

It would be fun to do shockingly original designs within the classical

tradition, but I would need the right patron for this. I already have the ideas.

q)On your website the architectural designs look classical. Why do you

like the classical style so much?

a)European classicism is an enormous cultural heritage. The roots of this

tradition stretch back before ancient Greece at least to ancient Egypt. This

gives the tradition five thousand years of history. In this way it is similar to

classical Chinese culture. The European classical tradition is not really a

style, but a visual language that encompasses hundreds of different styles.

Studying and working within any tradition this vast can be daunting, but is

endlessly challenging. I also enjoy decoration in architecture and the

classical tradition is unrivalled in its ability to organize decorative elements.

q)How did your work as an artist eventually lead you to architecture?

Was architecture an area that you were always interested in pursuing

or did it end up being a natural progression in your career?

a)The major subject I learned on my own was artist’s geometry. This is seen

in my use of perspective and illusion as well as in the proportional design of

my architecture. This subject is perhaps the most important single

component of our European artistic heritage, but in general it is taught badly,

or not at all.

After spending many years creating paintings and decorations for sumptuous

homes, I began to be asked to create original architectural designs. Along

with artist’s geometry and perspective, I have collected and studied many

theories about classical proportion and architectural design and eventually

came up with my own. It was exiting for me to put my theories to practical

use.

q)Your designs take on a very Roman feel. Is this due to the amount of

time that you have spent in Europe or has this style always been a

favorite of yours?

a)I lived in Italy for 25 years, so the influence is ongoing. The basic premise

of my work is that there are aspects of classical culture that have yet to be

explored. I never seem to run out of ways to do this.

q)Which do you find the most personally rewarding art or architecture?

a)No matter what kind of project I am doing I spend most of my time lost in

the contemplation of spatial geometry. To this end I can spend countless

hours with the architecture. Composing figurative art is difficult and can be

fairly exhausting. I usually need to be refreshed and concentrated for this

task.

q)How do you decide on a subject?

a)When I have free reign on the subject matter, I often like to create

compositions using famous themes from European art and music history.

This invites a comparison of my work to earlier artists. Perhaps I do this for

myself, as the number of people in my audience who can understand the

references is probably small. Now that I am older I enjoy using themes that

appeal to children, as they are the most consistently enjoyable members of

my public audience.

q)Do you think that your work became an “oasis” for people that were

tired of modern and futuristic art?

a)Fundamentally I consider my work very contemporary. It defies the

conventions of modernism, and therefore draws a lot of people to it. I do

believe that our century has made a monumental mistake by discarding the

tradition of classicism. Musicians manage to preserve their classical

heritage, while creating new contemporary forms as well. The visual arts

has a “slash and burn” relationship with its past. It will preserve the works,

but not the creative process.

q)How do you think about your style of your painting? What kind of story

you wish to show in your street painting?

a)My street painting compositions began as studies of renaissance

masterpieces. When I began creating original compositions, I was almost

immediately invited to participate in and start arts festivals. I considered the

creation of the work to be a performance and a drawing demonstration.

Because the work was created for public venues, I generally based the

subjects on traditional and recognizable themes. In Italy the themes of the

street paintings were generally religious. In the USA I mostly work from

classical mythology. Although the myths are fun for me, and appropriate to

the style of my work, there is a certain irony in the “Renaissance” of their

popularity. We live in a particularly confused society, lacking consensus in

terms of history, morals and culture. Even the Hollywood studios, such as

Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Brothers find great relief in the classical

myths. It seems they are reviving classical culture out of the sheer

desperation of trying to find a cultural common ground. Naturally, this is

what classicism offers.

q)Is there a relationship between image and word in your work?

a)There is a relationship between image and story in my work. I like the

works to tell a tale.

q)In general, how long does an image take?

a)Most of my works take three to five days to design and a week to execute.

Some works may take much longer depending on their size and complexity.

Most of my work is done on commission and I have little control over the

size of the individual jobs.

q)Could you describe the process of your creation?

a)All the works start with an idea that is usually worked out in a tonal

drawing. This kind of drawing is a hallmark of my style. The perspective is

also worked out at this stage.

q)In what way do you exercise your skill?

a)I am mostly working full time, and can only exercise my skill through the

projects that arrive. This is not always the best situation. I often end up

designing difficult works so that they remain challenging to me.

q)When you are doing a new work, what thing is your first thought?

Could you tell us your flow of your creative process?

a)Generally I think about the environment of the work, most of the work is

created for a specific environment. Then I think of the geometry of the work

and an appropriate theme. In some ways my process is more similar to that

of an architect, although most of my work is drawn and painted.

q)Do you listen to music when you working? What kind music is your

favorite? How do you think about the relationship between music and

your artwork?

a)I actually listen to early Italian opera. Maybe this isn’t too cool, but the

elegance of the music is very important to me.

q)How do you usually become inspired?

a)I rarely can wait for inspiration to do a specific work. My real inspiration is

in the ability to understand and communicate lost bits of European visual

culture.

q)What is the most difficult thing when you doing the artwork? How do

you conquer it?

a)Difficulties rarely arise in the execution of an individual work. The real

difficulty for me is to maintain control of my career and move it forward in

directions that are in tune with my artistic mission. Every day many

requests arrive for works. I need to decide which jobs I will take to pay the

bills, and how I will move forward on the projects that I want to develop.

This can often be very frustrating.

a)How long does it takes, on average, for you to complete a painting?

a)All my works are different, but most projects are designed for a 5-7 day

execution.

q)Can you describe the relationship between form and color in your

work?

a)Form is everything in my work. Color is used to emphasize form and space,

rather than for its own sake.

q)How does the setting in which your art is viewed effect how it is viewed?

a)Almost all of my work is site-specific, and the site does affect the meaning

of the work.

q)What is the significance of the particular medium/s you work in?

a)I work in a wide variety historical media as well as contemporary ones. For

me, the nature of the work determines the medium; the medium does not

inspire the work.

q)Do you think your art can be an incentive for people to visit the

museums and galleries or the idea is to bring art of museums for the

reach of everyone?

a)I have attempted to prove that the tradition of European drawing and

painting can be employed to create new and innovative works. It would

please me to see the curiosity about the images lead young people to

discovering this visual patrimony. It is too often buried in the mass of

imagery we create.

q)Do you use digital tools? What do you think about the difference

between digital and traditional techniques?

a)Today I use and enjoy digital techniques, although my expertise is limited to

2D programs such as Photoshop. I still do the 3D perspective calculations

by hand. For most of my career all my work has been designed and

produced by hand. Even when I worked for NASA, computer graphics had

not been invented. We even drew and inked the spacecraft diagrams by

hand. There is nothing wrong with digital tools, but the lack of experience

with traditional techniques can create a gap in an artist’s education. Art

education has yet to sort out the knowledge of past generations and extract

the vital information from the various traditions. For this reason each

generation is presented with a confusing array of concepts that may or may

not be helpful to a young artist. Completely ignoring thousands of years of

human experience in favor of current visual or stylistic fads is likewise a

poor plan. This is especially true for younger artists who will outlive the fad

and be ill equipped to move in different directions when it has run its course.

q)Could you please tell us your life attitude at this moment?

a)My desire is to move into education and share my experiences with younger

artists. I have been reorganizing my life significantly to accomplish this.

q)Any plan for you in the short term of the future?

a)I am working on creating books and programs that will teach geometry,

perspective and illusion as well as classical drawing and painting. I have a

book of my street painting experiences and a history of this art form at

Sterling Publishing in New York. I have also developed a new kind of

stereoscopic street painting and premiered it in London. I am also redoing

my website to be more informative and offer Giclée prints of drawings and

pastels.

q)Can you explain what kind of reaction that your art has on the public?

a)Street painting has always had a fantastic popularity with the public. It is

difficult to imagine another art form that would have such a widespread

demographic.

q)What is the first reaction of people when faced with your painting?

a)In the beginning the reaction was surprise, wonder and a bit of confusion.

Now people approach the image with expectations of what to see. The

diffusion of the images has been broad. I sometimes miss the old days for

the reaction of the audience.

Surprisingly I found out that you have many very young fans due to the

Gear of War image at Xbox. How did it feel to create something so “S-

Fiction”? Did it bring back some really cool NASA memories?

My core audience has always been in the 20 to 45 year old range. They are

not tied to the concept that art must be flat and non-representational to be

contemporary.

q)You are considered a Master Artist, how does it feel to get a title that is

originally given to painters such as DaVinci, Michelangelo, and very few

others?

a)The title, “Master Artist”, refers to the ability to compose original works

within the language of classical form across a variety of mediums such

sculpture, painting, architecture. I’ve worked hard to be able to succeed at

doing this. There were many master artists in the past, and the term “master

artist” should not be confused with “great master artist”. “Old master”

seems to imply “great master”, because it also refers to the body of work that

is in museums today. A master artist will also create works that inspire

others and be able to teach. This is the most significant meaning of the term.

q)Artists work really hard on their creations, usually taking up a lot of

their time. When the piece is finally complete, it may receive negative

criticism. How do you deal with such criticism after working very

hard for long hours?

a)I have usually been very lucky with criticism, but I know it can be painful.

The Internet is a great new forum, but is very prone to rude and immature

comments. The most depressing thing for me is to have other people be

given credit for my inventions or works. This is rampant on the Internet and

very depressing for me. I have been accused of copying people who are

actually imitating me. I think that artists probably need to be more thick-

skinned now because of people’s ability to make anonymous comments on

work. Perhaps this is easier said than done.

q)Do people still give you change for your great work?

a)For three decades all my work has been done on commission for museums,

arts festivals, and corporate clients. I sometimes miss the complete artistic

freedom I had when I worked for tips, and would not be opposed to

returning to that lifestyle. At the moment it is still difficult for me to turn

down the commission requests.

q)Do you earn your living by painting?

a)I have always earned all my money with my art.

q)Who pays for your paintings? How do you sell your art?

a)Almost all my work is done on commission. Both events and permanent

works are made to order. This is mostly due to the scale of my work, which

makes it difficult to mount a show.

q)What does making art bring out in you? What do you mean to express

about yourself in your works?

a)Making art it so much a part of my daily existence that I have a hard time

separating myself from my work. Conversely, when I create I am not

focused on expressing myself, but focused on a more universal theme or

subject. The expression of my artistic personality is something that happens

by itself as a result of my relationship with the work.

q)What were some techniques that you had to learn on your own through

practice and experience that art education did not teach you? Is

practicing important in building your skill and confidence?

a)The major subject I learned on my own was artist’s geometry. This is seen

in my use of perspective and illusion as well as in the proportional design of

my architecture. This subject is perhaps the most important single

component of our European artistic heritage, but in general it is taught badly,

or not at all.

q)What materials do you use for your oil paintings? What facial

expressions and body movements are challenging for you?

a)I use a fairly traditional technique for oil painting. In general, I prepare my

canvasses from raw linen, rather than buy prepared ones. I mix the

preparation of the painting ground myself, but do not use the old animal

glues. I use a selection of the highest quality oil paints and pre- mix about

40 colors with a palette knife before starting to paint. My paintings are done

in layers, using the technique of glazing. Expressions and body movements

are generally resolved in the drawing, and rarely are an issue in the painting.

q)How did you get involved in making sculptures and ceramics? When do

you know a piece is finished and you no longer need to work on it? How

long do you usually spend on a piece?

a)I started making sculptures when I was working on a villa that required

them. Therefore my very first sculptures were 6’X20’ each. I knew that in

theory, my classical training in drawing should allow me to sculpt, but it was

still very scary because of the size of the commission. In a very short time, I

realized that my skills did transfer, and that sculpture, at least in clay, was

very much like drawing. I had wanted to do ceramics for a long time, but

this too waited for a commission before I was able to learn the craft. I have

always supported myself with my work, and commissions are often the only

way I can finance learning a new process or technique. Some of the

fundamental ideas that I use in my work are the result of studies I do on my

own time. This can take years, and I have to wait a decade or two before the

ideas are understood enough to be applied.

q)How did you get involved with animation and being a consultant for

Disney Studios and Warner Brothers and conducting workshops for

their staff? Is the teaching rewarding for you?

a)My parents were both teachers, and it has always come naturally to me.

Sometimes I have actually avoided it, perhaps because it seems like cheating

to earn money for something that doesn’t seem like work. I have to give

credit for my introduction to the studios to my manager Karen Schmidt.

Long before she managed my work, she worked for those institutions, and

hired me! I have seen good and bad teaching in my life; teaching is

rewarding to me when it challenges me. I am hoping to begin teaching

seminars in the next years.

q)Regarding your work with Disney Imagineering, are there any specific

works that reflect your artistic influence that Disney fans may

recognize?

a)I created an entire illusion room for their Tokyo Disney Sea theme park in

Japan. In addition I did a lot of teaching and consulting, and I like to think it

rubbed off. The artists and designers are already very sophisticated, and I

often get ideas from them as well.

q)How many companies have you worked for? Which one left you

impressed?

a)I have worked with dozens of top international companies, and many public

institutions. Of all of the private companies I have most enjoyed working

with Disney. I like the artists, designers and directors in that company.

They have always been respectful, professional and enthusiastic.

q)What influenced you to start a two-day residency program with The

Music Center in Los Angeles, CA? How do art and music come

together for you? What components do they share? How is the

program coming along?

a)To the best of my knowledge, the program is ongoing, although it is now in

the hands of younger artists. I devoted a month to the program each year for

about a decade. Eventually it became impossible for me to continue it,

because of the expense of spending that much time away from home (I lived

in Italy). Another factor was the amount of energy necessary to do the job.

In the years I did it, I taught and demonstrated the art for at least 100,000

children. I hope someday to create a teacher-training program that will be

very effective.

q)Do you find yourself still wanting to paint or do you leave the painting

up to your students? What are some qualities that a good lecturer or

art teacher should have in order to guide the students?

a)As much as I have painted in my life, I wake up every single day wanting to

paint. Although it is rare that I go for a week without creating art, I become

nervous and irritable when this happens. I think that someone who does not

have the need to create art cannot teach. It seems that an art teacher or

lecturer that creates every day can be a good teacher, even if they are

themselves commercially or critically unsuccessful. People who do not feel

compelled to create art probably have a much harder time teaching it.

a)Your love for art and all it represents has taken you all over the world.

Do you have a favorite location that has provided the most memories for

you?

a)Rome would be on the top of the list, and more recently Mainland China. It

sometimes reminds me of my early years in Italy because I cannot

understand the public or read the signs. Globalization in China has come so

late that there is still a huge amount of cultural distinction.

q)What do you consider as art? What is art for you?

a)For me, visual art is communication by decoration. I think of it as a way to

give a deep and subtle message under the pretense of making things

beautiful or entertaining.

q)In terms of your art, do you have a particular favorite piece or design?

a)I think my favorite work is the “Dies Irae.” It was a summation of my

studies, and presented a personal direction for me. It was so different than

anything done before that it took a long time for the public to grasp it.

q)Do you think you have grown as an artist since your initiation? What do

you think has changed?

a)I have certainly grown since I started, and different years have brought

completely different venues. Sometimes I feel the desire to return to a

particular study because I feel I could do much better now. I am not always

in control of what I can work on at a given time.

q)What is your goal in creating paintings and illustrations? Is it your goal

to be a famous artist or you just have the passion for creating artistic

things?

a)Generally when I start a work my goal is to learn something. I think I am

relatively detached from the outcome of the work other than to have the

experience of creating it be useful and rewarding. Now that I am over 50

years old, I feel that I would like to consign works to posterity. Earlier I felt

I was still learning too much to be concerned with this.

q)What is your signature work of art?

a)My most well known piece is a work of pavement art known as the “Dies

Irae”. It has been published all over the world, and it was the piece that

introduced 3D street painting to the world. Many artists have taken up this

art form in the last decade.

q)What do you feel is your greatest achievement as an artist so far?

a)My most successful invention has been the art form of 3D street painting.

This has influenced many artists and directly or indirectly touched millions

of people. It is still only a small aspect of a much larger comprehensive

study of geometry, design, perspective and illusion that I have been working

on for the last 30 years. I am working on publishing this material now. It

will be much more important than anything I have done so far.

q)Have you been using the Internet to learn more about the world, to find

more opportunities for yourself to explore, or has the Internet been

useless for you? Do you have any favorite websites?

a)Nearly all the requests for my work arrive over the Internet. I myself use it

rarely. Oddly, many of the ideas I work with have not found their way to

this medium.

q)Tell us about your recent works. What do you plan to do in the future?

And what are your dreams?

a)Sterling Publishing of New York will soon release a book with 25 years of

my pavement art. I am working on creating a museums show.

q)Which countries exhibit your work? Do you select these countries or the

countries invite you?

a)My work is shown all over the world. I go because I am invited to exhibit

my work.

q)What has been your favorite experience in all of your life?

a)My favorite years were the first years I spent in Italy. Even as they were

happening I would think, “these years will be the best years of my life.”

Other events were extremely important in my life, my marriage and the birth

of my son. But in those years I became me. Whether we want to admit it or

not, all things move from this center.

q)Are there any memories or events from your career that you are

particularly proud of?

a)Until now, the National Geographic documentary on my early work, and the

Kennedy Center Medallion stand out. I hope that my biggest contribution is

yet to come, and it will be in the area of education.

q)On which pictorial movement would you classify your work?

a)I think I sort of created my own pictorial movement, but the evolution of it is

still very much in transition. It should come to some more tangible

conclusion in the next decade.

q)Do you share your plastic work with other activities?

a)I do not always have the opportunity to sculpt. I hope to interface it more

with my drawing and design as I move into education.

q)What is your plan for the future?

a)I am currently working on educational programs that will bring the results of

my personal experience to the next generation. I plan to mount educational

demonstrations on my website. These will include the famous illusions, but

also a comprehensive survey of geometry in the arts, including proportion

and architectural design. Later I will expand the demonstrations to include

other subjects such as classical drawing. When I started studying this

material, many of the ideas seemed obsolete. Now the pendulum is

swinging in the other direction and much of what I know has contemporary

applications, especially for computer graphics and imaging. The classical

drawing provides a solid foundation for contemporary drawing styles, which

are becoming more figurative.

I am also working on stereoscopic street art.

q)Do you have advice for young artists who want to be successful as you

are?

a)I have always measured my own successes and failure in terms of personal

growth. Now that I am older I think more about my contribution to society.

My advice to young artists is to accumulate skills. This includes skills with

digital technology, but more importantly perceptual skills. The technology

will change constantly over the lifetime of a young artist. Most of what they

learn today will be obsolete within a decade or even sooner. Perceptual

skills, such as those involved in drawing, painting, sculpture and geometry

are much harder to acquire. So are the traditional techniques of creating art.

For this reason they provide an advantage to the young artist and a buffer

against the hardships that are all too common with a career in the arts.

q)What message would you give to the “new” artists of today?

a)My message to other artists is to search the past for ideas and aesthetics that

have been lost in our time. Only by reference to our global artistic

patrimony can we assess the validity of our personal contributions. If we are

torn from historical references, our creations are likely to be overly attached

to current fashions.

q)What is one mistake that aspiring artists seem to make?

a)Rejection comes from others, and is only important if they are right.

Frustration is a natural part of the creative process. Some artists come up

with formulas and by repetition avoid failure or frustration. Other artists

have no consistent procedure or technique, and are constantly frustrated.

The key is to have a procedure or technique that guarantees success, but is

sufficiently flexible to accommodate new ideas.

q)What advice can you give to aspiring artists?

a)If you are creative, you will have the tendency to constantly move out of

your “comfort zone.” Good technique allows you to escape back into the

safety zone when the work starts to fall apart. If you lose lots of works, you

should reassess your technique. Master painters of the past did not lose lots

of works, but were nonetheless creative.

q)Do you have any tips to give those that aspire to make a living out of

painting?

a)How an artist makes a living at art is essentially a personal choice.

Detachment and a thick skin are the basic tolls for selling anything and art is

no exception. I would say for a young artist it is best not to wait around for

galleries and agents to do the selling. Get out there and sell it yourself.

q)What advice would you give to an artist that loves to be someone like

you?

a)My own work is based on understanding the history of the art I love. Many

artistic traditions are rich and unexplored. The Arab culture has left works

of great geometric beauty that are no longer understood. By understanding

the principles underlying these works, new and dramatic works could be

created today. If I were Arabian, I would pursue this idea.

q)What words of wisdom do you have for anyone interested in entering

the world of Street Painting?

a)Street painting requires a lot of courage. Few artists are immediately

comfortable sharing their creative process; it is intimidating to them. What I

have found is that the process results in a catharsis. The artist learns that the

public does not actually understand the process well enough to be critical,

and is truly fascinated by the creative process, even if it is imperfect. It is a

great liberation to learn this. That being said, street painting for tips is a

survival skill. It is immensely difficult, but the rewards are proportional to

the effort.

q)What tips would you give me on how to create an anamorphic image?

a)I am writing a book about artist’s geometry. Until that is published, I am

keeping my proprietary geometry to myself. What makes the anamorphic

images successful is a strong knowledge of perspective and good classical

drawing skills. I would concentrate on those, rather than seeking an easy

way to do the work.

q)Do you have any final messages for our readers?

a)I would say that we are in a time of great transition in terms of culture and

the evolution of human perception. There are very few art rules and little

advice that is useful or applicable to young artists. At the same time, it

seems to me that there is a trap peculiar to the new generation. This is the

possibility of avoiding the development of skills. Gaining perceptual and

manual skills may become much more important in the next decades than we

can possibly imagine.

Interview with Per Zennström

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Mon, 09 May 2011 10:48:00 +0000

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)My name is Per Zennström, swedish fashion photographer, blogger, on-line publisher, public speaker and teacher on topics like photography, fashion, pop-culture, new media and things like that.

I'm born in sweden but haven't lived there for over 20 years now. I lived in NYC, Paris and currently I'm based in Berlin, loving it here because of the strange a nd “unfinished” state of the city. I feel that there is so much opportunity in this city and You can see and feel that everywhere. There is a definate “slacker” culture here but at the samer time a lot of people are drawn here because of the opportunitys to actually produce work here and the city itself is activly trying to remake itself into a world center for culture, education, entertainment & art.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)Like I mentioned I do a lot of different things, what they have in common is photography, fashion, pop-culture & new media.

I like to be more than “just” a fashion photographer and that's why I'm so exited about all the possibilities of the current shift from old-, to new-media.

All of a sudden almost anyone who is “hooked-up” to the web, can take control of their own story... (see Iran / and the current Arab popular revolutions and the rise of new media...)

I have a very big interest in the area where pop-culture, media, music, fashion, photography and business meet, mix and match. For example I'm fascinated by of how Lady Gaga and artist Marina Abramovic recently cross-pollinated each others work and image, and really taking advantage of media to further burnishing their repective public persona.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)It would be nice to hear that Your work is “different” or “You have a singular style” but in reality all images have already been painted or shot. What You can do is to re-package certain ideas...

I'm trying to be “edgy elegant”, essentially that means that I'm a classic photographer fascinated by “new stuff” and I'm trying to use that in my images.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I have been a (fashion) photographer for 18 years now and about 10 years ago I became lazy and my work suffered because of that. So I took a long hard lok at my images and decided to change...

I realized that I needed to start from scratch again and I activly started working with almost anyone that was unknown, new, young or in general “not connected”. Some thought I was taking risks by associating myself with “unknowns” but for me it was very important to try to move on and not just go through the same old motions as before.

My thought was that I needed to start to work with a whole new generation of editors, art directors and not rely on my “old” contacts anymore...

I also have become interested in the business itself and how it works.. I used to a bit snobby about money , not taking it seriously but I now understand the enormous creative energy that goes into any business.

The past 2-3 years that I started pushing, hustling and trying to promote my work using all the new outlets at our disposal nowadays = Social Media. I have seen a big increase in the interest for my work recently and I believe it's all thanks to the work that I have put into promoting myself. I don't see myself as an artist, I'd like to think of myself as a “storyteller”...

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Ohh...

That really could be anything like the shine of a girls hair on the beach, or walking past a cool building, or reading an interetsing article on-line or an old movie...

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Right now I'm working on an exhibiting for Berlin Fashion Week in July. I'm also trying to get issue #3 and #4 of my magazine 11horses out soon.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)Music could be very important during a shooting and I love to hear new stuff and different peoples playlists ( Years ago I used to lug around my whole CD collection in 2-3 CD albums, about 400-500 CD's, crazy !!! Love Spotify !!!

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)This is a really great question !!!

I think that a lot of people limit themselves too mouch and never dare to cross the line into something unknown. I'd like to think of myself as a “storyteller or “image maker” more that “just“ a photographer...

I find that blogging really suits my temperament and it's also a tremendous “traffic driver” to Your main website. I like to muse about things that crosses my mind and show things that I like, not necessarily my own images all the time. I also publish my own, pop-cultural, magazine 11horses.

Recently I have also started getting invited to lecture and talk to students at various art-schools which I really, really enjoy.

In fact I think I'd really would like to have my own talkshow and invite interesting guests to talk...

Being asked to talk to these student made me think about fashion-photography and why I like it so much and why I think this is important.

Another very very cool “new” thing that I'd like to explore more is live video streaming. Basically we all now have the possibility to become broadcasters and produce our own on-line TV shows, for FREE !!! It actually doesn't cost You a dime !!!

I'm also pleased that I have been invited to curate and edit some photo related projects... (soon to be anounced !)

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Use the networks and the possibilities that social media gives You to connect with the right people... Do Your own thing and produce Your own show !!!

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Now in July, here in Berlin there will be a smaller show with some of my new work...

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)Please check out:

http://www.perzennstrom.com/

Per Zennstrom on Behance

Per Zennstrom on Saatchi on-line

11horses, the viral issue

Interview with Ian Strange / Kid Zoom

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:39:00 +0000

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)Ian Strange / Kid Zoom, I'm originally from Perth, Western Australia but i now live in Brooklyn, New York.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I paint with Aerosol

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)I apply classical oil painting techniques with free-hand aerosol, which not many people do.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)Ive been showing for several years, the biggest break i ever got was meeting Ron English in Sydney while i was hijacking bus-shelters there. He took me under his wing and really helped me make my mark in the US.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Cinema is a huge inspiration to me, the work of akut from maclaim crew in germany is one of my idols.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Intergrating my work more with other mediums and collaberations with other artists.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)I listen to alot of books on tape, but when i do listen to music is generally very ecclectic. Everything from dub-step/dnb to classical.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)I experiment with photography and video, but the majority of my work is freehand aerosol.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Dont stop working.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Since my solo show last december in newyork ive been offered the opportunity to persue some life long dream projects. At the moment i cant really talk about them but they should be ready December 2011 / early 2012...

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Not that i can announce yet.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)www.kid-zoom.com

Interview with Alan Macdonald

noreply@blogger.com (Claudio Parentela) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:00:00 +0000

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)My name is Alan Macdonald. I was born in Malawi to Scottish parents and now live in Carnoustie, Scotland.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I am a figurative painter and I work with oil on board and on linen.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)I try as far as possible to be myself. It's a hard thing to do because those innermost parts of yourself have a tendency to run away and hide when they know that they are going to be exposed to scrutiny by others. You have to make a leap of faith. However, if you succeed, your work will be unique.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I have been showing my work for 25 years. I suppose my big break was in Gallery 47, opposite the British Museum in London. You are supposed to rent the gallery, and as I couldn't afford to do so, I offered to redecorate the space in return for a week's free rental. From there I was spotted by other galleries, and it all seemed to grow from that point.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)I have been inspired by so many things it is difficult to select a few. I suppose early on when I was a child I was very inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. Later I was excited by the freedom that plant illustrators had... they could cut away as much or as little of the plant as they wanted, have dotted lines coming out to boxes with abstract cross-sections within, write lists on the page... in other words, within the strict boundaries or their discipline, they were free.

Abstract painting then helped to free up my working processes and learn to trust my instincts. Conceptual art, comics, wrapper design, music... these are but a few.

I suppose the biggest inspirational boost came from visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid. All those magnificent dark paintings... the person who went in was not the person who came out!

q)hat have you been working on recently?

a)ecently I have been working on a portrait of my Mother on a Vespa. The painting has been going on and off for a year now and finally I think that I am getting there. I am also doing three large works for a client in London as well as some smaller work for myself. I am learning to marry observed reference with imagined forms in a way that I haven't yet achieved... and it makes me very excited!

q)o you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)listen to classical music mostly, from BBC Radio 3. I like the variety and unpredictability of what is coming next... rather than selecting my own music to play. Although it has to be said that I prefer silence or my own choice when they decide to play Benjamin Britten's choral music!

q) you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)used to experiment in other media, but now I stick to painting.

q)hat advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)e main advice I would have is to remember to be true to yourself and to be brave. Keep the faith and work hard. If you get better every year and don't give up... it is a matter of time before you are surprising even yourself. I used to get laughed at for saying that if something really special happened in my work, I wouldn't have to promote it... that the word would get out and things would happen of their own accord. Well, in the end, that is just what happened to me.

q)o you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a) April 2011 I will be showing at the Dallas Art Fair with Stewart Gallery, and I will be having a solo exhibition at Galerie Rademakers in Amsterdam in May 2011. Also in 2011 I am scheduled to participate in an exhibition of British painting at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington.

q)here can people see more of your work on the internet?

a) websites are:

www.alanmacdonald.net

www.messagefromthedarkside.com

There are many more sites with my work on that can be found easily with a google search.