This questions was sent to me by e-mail for a fanzine, but I forgot the name of it! Sorry.
1. Who are you and where are you from?
I'm 108 (birth name Guido), I'm an artists, I don't like to label myself, but I work with many kinds of art... expecially visual art, but also with sounds, and any kind of media. I'm from a small city called Alessandria, situated in the north west of Italy, but I don't care about countries, so I prefere to think that I live at the feet of the western Alps.
2. Do you think that all forms of graffiti are artistic?
That question it's not easy, before we have to decide what's art, but I think no one in the world know what art is exactly. I think that most of the times graffiti are very interesting, in years I changed my view and sometimes I prefere a raw writing with or without a sense, than a well done mural. I think about graffiti as something total spontaneuse, without a commission. It's something very interesting, and we should talk about that for years... anyway when we talk about ancient graffiti on the stones we talk about "rock art" so I think in a way mosto forms of graffiti are artistic in a way.
3. What other artists inspire you?
My inspirations comes from many directions... graffiti are just one of them. I think that my main inspirations (in graffiti) come from french/eurpoen artist of the 90's like Stak, something really new, with a sense, and a real study about public spaces, and many other things. In the last years I think the best things are coming from eastern Europe, where there are many different interpretations of graffiti, a lot of new ideas and expecially a lot of studies and discussion about the public art, the aesthetic it's just one of the things.
4. Do you think graffiti lacks both recognition and social approval? Why?
I think that in the last years graffiti are everywhere in the overground, but most of the times they are just a stereotypes. I mean, I'm interested about the "artistic" side of graffiti, the research about them... so the problem is not the lacks of recognition and social approval, because you can see graffiti on the Nike or Adidas t-shirts or places like that, and people like that. The problem is that I don't care about that kind of "graffiti", I think there is a real hole between waht's the real graffiti/public art movement (that's strictly undeground) and the real "art world", probably it's just because right now also ART is a big business, and not so much more.
5. Being that gangs are within the graffiti culture, do you have an opinion on the crime over territory?
Ok, I think that the connection about graffiti and gangs/crime it's an american thing. Here graffiti it's allways been something more politics, since the '800 and popular since the prehistoric times... If we talk about graffiti writings, it's something beetwen ther crews... but it's not about true crime. I think that things like sicilian or russian mafia have nothing to do with graffiti. I live in Europe and I think that the thing it's totally different than USA. I can't see nothing good in crime, mafia or gangs, and I think that people who want to be a "gangsta" is totally brainwashed and stupid.
6. Where you ever arrested for doing graffiti?
Ok, I'm 31 now, in the last years I'm painting mainly inside abandoned buildings or on canvas, paper stuff like that and I have no problem. In the past I painted undreads if walls and not only, 99% in illegal places, I'm been caught few times, but I'm never been arrested. In the last years things are becoming harder, but as told you I'm no more interested about painting in dangerouse places or walls with a value, I don't care about that kind of respect.
