Interview made in 2006 for the XFUNS magazine # 28 (Taiwan).
Scanned pages:
INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Please briefly introduce yourself for XFUNS readers.
Hi! I’m 108 from Europe, I live in a little city called Alessandria in the north west part of Italy. Here the weather is not very “good” winters are longer and the most famous thing is the fog. This is a big influence for me. I started to drow when I was a child and I never stopped. I did the first ugly tags in 91 and the first “good” pieces in 93-94. I never been in to Hip hop or stuff like that and I allways tried to do my own stuff. It was the end of the 90’s when I started to do new “abstract stuff” both in visual art and in music...
2. Did you choose, or were you chosen to create street art?
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3. Where is your inspiration come from?
Most of my inspirations come from the stuff I see around me. First of all natural landscapes, mountains, trees, stones, roots, old walls and stains are probably the biggest. I’m very influenced by animals like cats, slugs and wild boars... not just by their shapes.
4. Please briefly share with us about your childhood influence and how
this shaped your creation?
Yes, before my birth, in the 70’s my mother made a lot of paintings, most of them was copies but she also did a lot of abstract stuff with glue and oils... a strong influence for me. Also my grandfather, he was a worker in a metal factory for all his life, and he was very good to buils stuff... at home he was creating a big landscape for train models with a lot of hand made mountains, it was like a big sculpture. I learned a lot of things from him!
5. What are your methods of graffiti? How does the process of creating
an object begin?
For me it’s the same when I do a painting, graffiti, a sculpture, a song or a video: I try to express my purest ideas, I must search in my unconscious, I wanna forget about all the trends and useless stuff... so usually I try to draw without thinking on paper. I found most of the ideas in my dreams and nightmares, or in my deep thoughts (the wheel for example), and sometimes I recognize the meanings of them only after years.
6. What is the main concept and key element of your work?
As I told you before, most of my works come from my unconscious and are totally irrational. You can see the abstract, soft and gloomy shapes... My works are also very symbolic. The same old example of the wheel, I found it in my unconscious, it was a big fixation for me... usually I have drawn it with 8 rays inside... In fact it was the sun wheel, one of the most impirtant symbol in ancient indoeuropean cultures (you can find it in a lot of indian and celtic stuff). This is just one example.
7. Have you ever confronted any difficulties when creating works?
The biggest difficult is in myself. When I can’t find any ideas or inspiration I feel very frustrated and nervous in my life also. I hate that. About the public works, obviously, the biggest problems is he police and the ignorance of people. I had some problems with them a lot of times... but luckily the problems was never been too serious. Another problem is about exhibitions, pubblications and the ART world: everyone today looks to the last trend come from the USA, and if you aren’t american and you are not following any trend, hardly you can find place to expose your stuff, expecailly in Italy. But I don’t care too much, I allways made stuff for myself first...
8. How did you select subject when you are creating?
This is an important part of my work. Usually I work in public spaces, you know, and the background is the most important thing. I must find a good shapes for that place, usually I prefere old walls and abandoned places, and my “thing” grow by it self, as a tree or moss did, but I know nature do that really better than me! It’s very hard for me to work on a blank white surface... in that situations I must find a good inspiration elsewhere, maybe in another work I did before or working with a good friend with good ideas.
9. Why aren't you working on an graffiti now, instead of answering questions?
Haha, at the moment outside is raining and it’s too cold! In fact I like to reply to some questions sometimes, expecially if they come from very far. I like to confront myself with new people and trying to explane my works to others. Sometimes I also understand unknown part of my works when I try to explane it.
10. Please share with us your view on "love"?
It’s very hard to reply to this question. I don’t know what do you exactly mean... anyway there are different kinds of “love”. I think it’s allways a good thing...
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11. Who do you admire most? Why?
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12. What do you expect to accomplish in the next 5 years?
Onestly I don’t know, when I think about my future I feel very distressed. But anyway, I hope to have the possibility to travel around Europe and if it will be possible the world more and more than now... In the end I hope to be really happy and to finish to try to survive.
13. If you won the lottery, what will you do?
Hahah... I never play so it will be very hard to win the lottery. But anyway. If I won a lot of money, I want to buy some ground and fill it with woods... build a little house inside it and live and work on my stuff there when I’m not travelling... Ok, It would be great also to make a shelter for animals, from the cats to the slugs, doing everything I can against industries, maybe promote artists that I like, and stupid stuff like that...
14. Please drop some suggestions to the people who want to join graffiti.
[Artists' File]
Age: 28
Horoscope: Aries (Hearth Horse in the chinese one)
City: Alessandria (North west of Italy)
Agent: ?
Personal Website: www.108art.tk
Art Tools/ Technique: Everything!
Specialist: ?
Favorite Color: Black and dark deep colors in general
Favorite Artist: Too many... I need 10 pages!
Favorite Fashion/Trendy Brand: 2nd hand stuff or handycrafted stuff.
Motto: Save the planet, kill yourself!
Editorial Clients List: ?
Commercial Clients List: ?
