What made you decide to become an artist? What is your background ?
I did not become a creator, I was born a creator. Under pain of acute depression, I need to materialize my visions, my desires. I need to satisfy through my creations, me first but especially the others. Pleasing, provoking emotion are an integral part of this process. Long confined to the role of "maker" to make possible the fantasies of others in the entertainment industry as a stage manager, today I am the captain of my destiny and apply my acquired know-how for my personal career.
What are the 3 things that make you different from other artists?
The first of my characteristics is being color blind, which surprises a lot of people. Another of my differences is that I make the radical choice not to exhibit physically. I sell almost exclusively on the net thanks to social networks. This is how I built my economic model. The multiplicity of my supports (breeze blocks, carpets, canvas, signs, various objects) and my favorite original tools (stamps and paint markers) can make a difference with more classic painters.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from my youth, rocked by video games, Japanese cartoons and the emergence of the hip hop movement. Very sensitive to the animal cause, I always try to slip ecological messages into my works.
Tell us about the conception of your works, do you have a long preparatory work or is it quite spontaneous?
The work comes to me. I am not afraid of the blank page and apart from a choice of visual upstream, I have hardly any preparatory work. I like to solve the puzzles that the "work in progress" offers me live.
What do you want to show through your work?
In real life, I don't have the soul of an activist but I always keep in mind the urgency to change the world to save our planet. I try to distill, for those who can read them, my concerns in my works. But, like many designers, most of my work is focused on finding the balance between beauty, aesthetics and emotions.
In your work do you use techniques or materials that are out of the ordinary?
Yes, I have already addressed it previously, that makes my specificity.
Do you have a favorite format? Why ?
I'm more comfortable with medium formats, it's more a constraint on space than a real choice.
What difficulties do you encounter in your work?
My biggest difficulties are related to logistics. I don't take much pleasure in packing my works for sending and I find the shipping costs for large formats too high. Sometimes I also have to deal with the weather conditions for my bombing job, which is extremely frustrating. Finally, the storage of my work can be problematic.
How do you work? At home, in a shared workshop, in your own workshop?
I mainly work from home. Dad of a young child, I made the choice to dedicate a wall of our living room to the hanging of the work in progress. I'm lucky to have a garden for the messiest jobs.
Does the work of an artist take you to travel a lot?
No, I do not travel and I am delighted. I gave up my job as a show manager in part because of the fatigue linked to the tours.
What has been the best moment of your career?
The emotion of a customer's discovery of an order is always a wonderful moment. I like the order because it allows the ultra-personalization of a work and therefore to truly connect with the customer.
How do you see your work in ten years?
No idea. Simply the desire to continue to have the extreme privilege of being able to continue to live serenely of my passion.
What are you currently working on? Are you planning an exhibition soon?
I am currently working on my first nft. Digital and blockchain technology will revolutionize the art market, it's a certainty for me and I don't want to miss the train.
If you could have created a masterpiece in the history of art, which one would you choose? Why ?
For the media phenomenon and its contemporaneity, I choose Banksy's little balloon girl. I am a spectator admiring the ingenuity of this character well in his time.
If you could invite a famous artist for dinner (dead or alive), which one would you choose? Why ?
I am reserving one-to-one dinners for my other half, but she won't mind Leonardo de vinci, kubrick and paco de lucia joining us. A good evening, no doubt.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli