The ‘ALO – Interview’ is one of our online ISSUE segments, head to ‘THE IRIS ISSUE’ for the complete editorial and set of images.
Tell us a bit about who you are, and how would you describe your art to our audience?
I’m a London based Italian artist, I consider myself an artist of my time. That means I’m mostly a studio artist and my work is developed completely in my studio, on canvas, but I’ve been also attracted to painting on external walls, to use the urban environment as a canvas itself. My artworks are handmade, by brushes and acrylic paint, with acrylic markers as well. I began painting with oil first though.
In your work you mainly celebrate women. How is your art challenging people’s ideas and perceptions on female portraiture?
I try to get deep into human psychology and soul. That’s much easier trough a female figure. That’s not by chance most of the masterpieces I’ve loved so far are female portraits.
Your work has been described as colourful, bright and impactful. Tell us a bit more about the significant role that colour plays in your art.
Colours are in my opinion the most important aspect of an artwork, considering the impact that’s supposed to have on a viewer. Through a stronger impact it gets easier to get inside all the other layers the artwork is made of.
Your brushwork technique almost creates the illusion of a moving image and has become a distinguishing characteristic of yours. Could you describe your technique and your chosen media to our audience?
Actually I developed my technique by myself, spending most of my time in my studio. It wasn’t planned, came out naturally. I could say that’s just my own language.
You are part of a group of artists that are known to have made fine art accessible to the masses. Your work can be spotted in the most unlikely of places around East London and other big cities. Why do you choose cities as your canvas?
As I said earlier, being an artist and living in such a city like London brings you to develop also different ways to express your art.
When looking at your portraits, eyes are the one feature that tends to stand out the most. Is this intentional?
I have to say I pay an extra attention on painting eyes. I’m also glad when that’s noticed, since not everybody does. Not to be trivial, but it’s common knowledge the eyes are the windows of the soul. So, there’s probably a reason why people perceive that.
Could you guide us through your process of getting to the finalised art piece? How do you know when a work is finished?
You just know. There’s not an answer to that. Art lays most times on a non logic /non rational plane.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m preparing my next solo show “Babel” at the Jealous gallery in London. It’s opening on the 30th of November, running until the 23rd of December. I’m gonna showcase 35 new original paintings.
You have expressed before that your main inspiration comes from everyday interactions and people you meet. Are there any artists that inspire you to create?
I’m inspired by people in general. Who I’m inspired by in a particular moment depends on many factors. About artists, I’ve been inspired by so many, from Caravaggio on I would say.
What advice would you give to an upcoming artist that is reading this?
If your attitude is not about spending most of your time alone in your studio and
being ok with that it’s probably better to do something else
Interviewed by Maria Mavri