This is just a talk I had by E-mail with this girl called Alyssa for a final university work. I decided to paste it here because I wrote some very importants things about my influences and ideas about contemporary art. SORRY FOR THE ENGLISH.
On wikipedia this is written about you:Il suo lavoro sempre quasi completamente astratto, surreale e minimale trova ispirazione nei graffiti dell'europa neolitica nelle avenguardie del 900 [1] e in artisti contemporanei quali Stak e Richard Long [4]” Is that true? If so, I would want to ask you about Stak & Richard Long's influence on you as well as avant guarde movements etc... Other questions would be about your opinion on Italian graffiti?
Yeah it's true. First of all you must know that in the last years of the 90's I started to think a lot about what I was doing (graffiti) and the connection with my roots. I mean: I'm never been in NY and I'm born in a small city in europe, near the alps... so, NY graffiti it was just something I saw in some magazine and maybe in some movies. There was many things that influenced me more and I started to work, or better, to think on this. About primitive/magical art ang grarriti you, that are from Australia, must know that one of the pics that most influenced my mind, probably my subconscious, was a pic I saw in a book by David Attemborough about aborigenal art on cave!!!
Anyway if you want, about my interest and influences on primitive art I wrote few pages on a book published in Hugary... if you want I can scan it and send them to you!
About STAK: he is the artist that really changed my vision in graffiti. I allways like him and Honet, and their europen way to do letters. Anyway One day, probably it was in 96 (I can check the date) I saw his strange "signs" on some Roma's trains on a graffiti magazine. It was totally new. It was like to see the real birth of a new culture to me. I think that's incredible that most of the books about "post-graffitism" and "serious" street art, I don't know how to call it, don't talk about him! This is not serious for me. Ok, anyway...
Stak is really important to me also because he transformed the letters to something new. A shape with his style, without the letters. It's universal. Most of the other artists of that time, when they stopped to do draw letters they started again to do figurative stuff. So for me it was a step back. Another important thing it was that most of his work it was still illegal, real graffiti, pure research. Now nobody care abou that. The fact to make it illegal it's very important also because we are talking of graffiti. So making something very simple, fast and easy to be recognized it's for me VERY important. Most of the "street artists" now works on wall in the same way they work on canvas. Only the size change and this is not very interesting for me. About Richard Long: when I saw his stuff it was when I had allready changed my work. But I soon liked the images. Anyway, he really influenced me when I red about his work. I mean: graffiti have a great potential, but usually who made them and who write about it are very ignorant...usually they are not understand what they really do (artists) or they talk only about the surface, the ahesthetic (books/curators) Richard loge made some awesome art... I mean his work for me is pefect, but part under what you can see is bigger (I mean the big walks, searchig the right place to make a circle and pic of it...). When I started to make my shapes I made very ugly shapes... very small and minimal. But What I wanted to do it was to make signs. At the time I was travelling every time, I had free train tickets and I decided to visit all the city, also small city because I liked it and it was not possible to make bog illegal walls, because I was alone, with few money and usually I was travelling during the day. Anyway it was not my real goal to make big murals. It was about to make a big project connect with me, the places I was visiting and my traveling. I didn't want to do something big. I allready like most of the cities... in fact I studied the way to make stuff on the grey boxes. Something small, that just few people can see... It's more interesting I think. On this I liked a lot Long's work because he is very different from many land artits who made big works with machines and they totally change the environement. it's like the difference about travelling by bicycle or with a big car. I still prefere my bike.
I hope you understand what I mean....
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