read it on: http://issuu.com/ozon/docs/october_issue_2011
here’s the english translation:
Rome is a city with great artistic heritage and important pieces of art all over; from architecture to paintings. How do you see your work in comparison to this artistic culture?
They really don’t have much in common. When you live in such an artistic city, it’s hard to appreciate it. I’ve never been inside the Coliseum for example. With my last drawings I’m trying to change that. I mainly have an international audience, so I never really thought of speaking of my city, or my country in the art I do, because it may be limiting. I try to search for universal themes, for something everyone can understand, especially in my latest drawings. I really talk about love and feelings in that.
You produce some kind of pop/street art with an aggressive twist. What do your subjects have in common?
I always try to find interesting characters to portray, or people that brought something into this world. People that influenced me or that did something inspiring for me or others. Not necessarily good, there are some evil people I portray too.
Even though your style has changed throughout the years, the main core of your portfolio is the transformation of celebrities’ portraits. Does their world fascinate you?
I have a thing with being remembered. And celebrities are. That’s why I portray them. Art to me is like religion, you can live forever only by the heritage you leave and the things you did during your life.
Your pop-art pieces resemble a mix of Andy Warhol and Mr. Brainwash’s work. What do you think about them in relation to your work?
Andy Warhol was my biggest inspiration because through his work I realized you don’t need to know how to draw a horse to be an artist, you just need a good idea. And ideas are free, and I have tons. I like mr brainwash, I can see the resemblance of his work with mine but honestly, I was doing this before his big artshow2008 in LA. I loved BAST way more at that time. Mr Brainwash kinda copies everyone’s style and mix it all together and does his art this way, but I’m fine with it. It’s pretty postmodern… but I’m following a different path now, I’m trying to find something more meaningful in the work I do now. I’m sick of icons.
When did you start experimenting with silk-screens?
I started some years ago. It has always been very DIY for me because the material you need for screenprinting is not on sale at art supply stores in Italy so I used frames from stretched canvases as screens, I used ikea curtains instead of silk, and I used acrylic or enamel instead of ink. I tried, I failed, I tried again and I succeeded in the end, I was so impressed with the result that I kept on doing it.. It felt so magic. For every painting, I just used the screen 2 or 3 times.. then I destroyed the screen and started over with some new image.
Twisted images, well-known trademarks and logos are some common elements of your work. Is there an implied irony under those choices? What is the statement you would like to make?
That’s our culture, isn’t it? Everything is so mixed up, streets are full of advertisement everywhere one close to the other advertising the most diverse products, brands or messages. That’s kind the effect I wanted to recreate. I’m not against brands per se, that’s our culture, it’s how things are now and well, It’s not that I care. You paint what you see, and that’s the landscape we get used to nowadays.
Which piece of street art are you more proud of and where it is located?
I did some street art to promote one single show here in Rome some years ago and all of a sudden everyone think I’m a street artist but really, I’m not. Even if I’d love to be. I’ve been pasting up giant size Xeroxes of my artworks around the city. It was fun but I realized it’s not really my thing. So I had to stop it there.
Why did you decide to change your artistic style- from the color palette to the medium- so dramatically?
Because I got sick of doing this post pop-lowbrow-street-art thing. Now everybody does it, and galleries are now full of senseless imagery that are all did with the same medium and the same style. I got so sick I abruptly stopped at some point, for years, because it felt so meaningless and wrong. It’s like everyone started doing it because it’s easy, but nobody is really keeping it fresh. It’s like they’re all saying the same damn thing, in just a slightly different manner. I felt the need to actually communicate a real message with my artworks and the style I used didn’t fit, that’s why I started to draw like a child, writing cryptic messages in my drawings, making it dirty and trying to tell a story, or a feeling or just something that makes you think. And it’s often so personal I get ashamed by it.
You entered the world of art as part of Rome based collective Punk Surrealism. Tell us a few words about it.
Punk Surrealism was a group of talented peeps which decided to group and do art shows together. It was fun while it lasted, but now the original group separated.. Some of us regroup sometimes for some shows, and with the others we’re still friends but we’re not really collaborating anymore. Our styles are very different anyway, what kept us close was friendship and supporting each other.
Some may say that your art has the element of vandalism in it. Can reacting to what is commonly accepted actually constitute a form of art on its own and motivate people?
Shocking contents always motivate people to think different. If I want to make you care about the environment, showing you a beautiful flower in bloom and ask you to respect it won’t probably work. You wouldn’t have the same reaction as if I show you a burning forest, or a village devastated by a flood. You should shock people to shake them up, think and react.
You have participated in various exhibitions in many cities around the world such as Zurich, Detroit, Santiago and Rome. Which is the next stop? What would be the ideal place to host your personal exhibition?
I love showing my art around the world and in any context, not necessarily only in galleries. I don’t miss the fact that I’m not there with my paintings. Art should speak for itself, there doesn’t need to be the physical artist there to promote the work. I don’t care having people know who I am, what I care the most is being successful with what I do and inspiring others as much as I was inspired by my mentors and idols.
