The eXTra finGer

...''He was counting on his fingers.One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven.Eleven?Had he been born with an extra finger?''...

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Location: Italy

...& visit my web sites: Claudio Parentela's Official Site ''Claudio Parentela:Contemporary Art with a Freakish Taste!'' Lights&Shadows Disturbing Black Inks http://www.myspace.com/claudioparentela

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Saturday, September 22, 2007

Interview with Mario Sughi

q) Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.

a)I am a cartoonist (for www.donquichotte.at) and an illustrator (an associate member of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland). I have been living and working in Dublin for 17/18 years now. For the last 8 I have been full time with Margaret Gowen LTD, the biggest company of Archaeologists in the country. But please don’t misunderstand I am not working as an archaeologist but as a graphic.
So it is after work, in the evening, in the house where I live with Sarah, that I start to do my drawings. I was an humorist for Il Male back in 1979, and I have contributed to all the issues of ZUT, still in Rome in the early 80’s. Then I moved to history. I studied in La Sapienza first and then in Trinity College Dublin and finally in Queen’s, Belfast. During that time I have never completely stopped drawing. But it was only one year ago when I created nerosunero that I started to publish my work.

q)How would you describe your work?

a)Colourful. Elegant. Minimalist.

q) Did somebody encourage you to become an artist?

a)Not really. But to be honest I don’t qualify myself as an artist either.


q) What is your favourite medium?

a)It must be my Wacom Graphic Tablet. A very nice Intuos 3. Since I have bought it (last Xmas) I have done all my work directly on the computer. Only very rarely now I do some preparatory works sketching with the pencil.

q) Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

a)I sit down with an idea and I finish up with something completely different. That sometimes is great because I like this level of surprise. But sometimes it is not. For example the other week I had to draw a series of illustrations for Ruby magazine, on the theme of madness. I have been thinking at that topic for the entire week, and I managed to do at least 10 different illustrations. They are nice but none of them is about madness. They are more about women sitting alone by the sea or by the river. A girl walking to a graveyard in the countryside. Etc. They are nice but nothing to do with the topic, so I cannot send them to the magazine!

q) Generally speaking, where do your ideas come from?

a)I don’t want to know anymore. I have tried to answer to this same question many times in the past. Why do I sit down with the idea to draw about the brutality of life (that is what I was trying to do yesterday) and then I end up with a nice drawing of a young couple lying in a landscape. And my answer is: I don’t know.

q) How long does it take to complete a piece?

a)As an average it takes two or three hours certainly never more than one day. After a while I prefer to start a completely new drawing.

q) Who are your favorite artists…and who are some artists you are currently looking/listening to?

a) I like painting and I like painters, and amongst the modern painters I like Bacon, Hokney, Freud, Fishl and of course Alberto Sughi, my father.

q) Are you represented by a gallery? Do you have any upcoming exhibits?

a)Next exhibition will be at the DOZ gallery in Milan, 24th of October. I am looking forward to it since it will be my first exhibition in Italy.

q) Do you have any 'studio rituals'? As in, do you listen to certain types of music while working? What helps to get you in the mood for working?

a)I like music but I don’t listen music when I work. I like Siouxsie and the Banshees more than another band and if I really want to play something I will play her. I like to have art magazines open on my desk. I flick through the pages with the hope to get inspired by some of the images there.

q) What is your favorite a) taste, b) sound, c) sight, d) smell, and e) tactile sensation?

a) I love colours. I live by the sea and from my window I can see even now as I am writing the bright blue of a September morning sky reflecting on the dark blue of our Irish see. I love it. And I feel I couldn’t do without Sight.

q) Do you have goals that you are trying to reach as an artist, what is your 'drive'? What would you like to accomplish in your 'profession'?

a)I do enjoy a lot drawing, so I hope to have the possibility and time to keep doing this.

q) When have you started using the internet and what role does this form of communication play for you, personally, for your art, and for your business?

a)Yes it does.
I have started 15 years ago. It is a great tool. I like interactivity. I never feel alone.

q) What do you obsess over?

a)Milan Kundera. I am joking a bit. But I like this author and his novels so much that I keep reading all his books again and again.

q) Do you have preferred working hours? Do you pay attention to the time of the day or maybe specific lighting?

a)Due to the nature of my office work I end drawing at evening time. When I am tired. With a lot of coffe. I know that this is not ideal. But I still like it.

q) Do you do commissioned works?

a)Yes but I never get enough requests.

q) Any tips for emerging artists?

a)Go to a library and open the books with the works of the great classic painters and alwyays trust your onw taste.
q)…Your contacts

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Interview with Nicoz Balboa

q) Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.

a)I'm Nicoz. or Nicoz Balboa. An italian girl. Born in Rome on the June 23. Since 6years I live in France. I spent 3years in Paris and then I came living in La Rochelle where I rule a small art gallery (myspace.com/truehateartgallery). I'm a painter and an illustrator. I love my cat Elvis, I enjoy knitting, music, heroin and chocolate and I sing in a band (myspace.com/silverwartans)

q)How would you describe your work?

a)Uh I dunno...maybe: "autobiographical"? I just paint what happen to me. Or what happened. or what I'd like to happen to me.

q) Did somebody encourage you to become an artist?

a)Maybe my grandma when I was a kid. And my parents always supported me in doin' art-school when I was a teenager.

q) What is your favourite medium?
a)In these days I'm so found of pyrography. But I also like acrylic watercolours and oil.
q) Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

a)I always have a sketchbook with me. And most of the time I use it to pick up ideas for new paintings. When I'm into a medium I can carry on several works at the same time. I keep all the work around me and I go on a little bit on each piece.

q) Generally speaking, where do your ideas come from?

a)As I sayd before, ME. I mean my life. Those are my ideas, my theme. (oh god this is scary, isn't it?)

q) How long does it take to complete a piece?

a)It depends from the medium. It can takes a day for an illustration in ink/acrylic-watercolour on paper. Or it could take a week for a pyrography. With acrylic or oils I'm so much slow…

q) Who are your favorite artists…and who are some artists you are currently looking/listening to?

a)When I was a teenager I loved Jean Michel Basquiat's work and comic-artists like Charles Burns , Robert Crumb or Julie Doucet, after came the love for Frida Kahlo and the fascination for all the pop-surrealism scene. First of all Mark Ryden or Camille Rose Garcia. But I dig so much also some crazy french artist like Caroline Sury and Pakito Bolino from le Dernier Cri with whom I had some collaborations. Or Stephan Blanquet and Ludovic Debeurme. And I don't want to forget some very talented friends as Sunny Buick, Tanxxx, Rica, Karotte, Chris Bonobo', Ciou, Anna "rigid" Tufano, Lorenzo Lupano, Navette..

q) Are you represented by a gallery? Do you have any upcoming exhibits?

a)I'm not represented by a gallery. Uh well maybe from TRUE HATE ART GALLERY, my gallery!
And yes I have some upcoming shows:
From 4 to 30 september 2007 i'll participate to « the Bic show » in Paris ; at the ART DE RIEN gallery. (
http://www.myspace.com/art_de_rien)
From 22 to 25 September 2007 i'll participate to « the GIRLS ADVENTURE » in Bruxell ; at the ARKEL gallery
From 20 october to 11 november 2007 i'll participate to « Immigrant Punk » in Los Angeles ; at the Black Maria Gallery (
http://www.blackmariagallery.com/)

q) Do you have any 'studio rituals'? As in, do you listen to certain types of music while working? What helps to get you in the mood for working?

a)Yes music helps a lot. I like music I can sing loud. I like to sing and dance while I'm working.(I like Dalida's, Nancy Sinatra, Fiona Apple, Lunachicks, 60's music, Sonic Youth, Joan Jett, Judy Garland, Elvis,The Monkees, Velvet Underground, Dinosaur jr) I take some little pauses to dance a bit just like in a musical. I know this is embarrassing but I always work alone! And I like to have something to calm me down for working. Hard drugs can help…but most of the time is just chocolate (kinder above all).
Last winter I had an "art studio" experience in Rome for a month. I went to this hangar with other artists (that are also my friends) and it was a nice experience to work with other people. Chatting instead of singing. And I would need nothing to calm down…it was so cool even if it was so fuckin' cold in there. If I ever come back to Rome for living I think that I'd stop working alone and I'd go there.

q) What is your favorite

a) taste= Nutella. And the pachino tomatoes.
b) sound= feed-back guitars
c) sight,= when I'm on a big green field. Or up to some "collina". I like when there's so much green around me. And I hate the sight of the sea.
d) smell= burned wood (when I'm work with my pyrograph)
e) tactile sensation= to put my hand in a huge and just-opened pack of smarties. Or touchin some very small sand. Or some very smooth iron board.

q) Do you have goals that you are trying to reach as an artist, what is your 'drive'? What would you like to accomplish in your 'profession'?

a)… Just well living by selling my art.

q) When have you started using the internet and what role does this form of communication play for you, personally, for your art, and for your business?

a)I start to communicate with the internet very softly 3years ago by creating a blog. At the beginning I used it just to speak about my days and to tell stupid stuff. And maybe after more than a year I started to put my work on it. I think that communication for a painter need the internet part. And it was very useful to get contact with galleries and publishers!

q) What do you obsess over?
a)Uuuh quite a good bunch of stuff. Better I can't tell.
q) Do you have prefered working hours? Do you pay attention to the time of the day or maybe specific lighting?

a)I'd like so much to paint in the daylight but I never can cuz even when I wake up early I'm so stoned that I barely can see. I just wonder around the house drinking so much coffee. Or, the maximum I could do, I go to the market to buy fruits and vegs. When I finally start to calm down to paint it's maybe 5 or 6 pm. And the most of the time I go to bed so late (4 o 5 am) that is quite impossible for me to wake up early! So I often paint in the afternoon, in the evening, and most of the night. And this made my colours change a lot. They are always more "flashy" than I would expect when I see them in the daylight!

q) Do you do commissioned works?

a)Sometimes yes. But I must admit that I prefer doin' thing completely "free from asking". When someone commission something to me I feel quite a big pressure, like I must do the perfect stuff for this person. And it's not easy!

q) Any tips for emerging artists?

a)Work hard. Work always. Always look to other artists, learn from people better than you. And communicate a lot.

q)…Your contacts

Sunday, September 02, 2007

''The THERMostat&THe gReEN DRAgoon''



….maybe is this new air of the next fall or all these fires of this warm summer…or other again I don’t know and I don’t want to know…here to you guys&girls….cats&dogs&rats&fishes&stones&planets…
….yes…yes…yes…
…ladies&ladies…&ladies
Here my new(always the same old story…!!!???....):

''The THERMostat&THe gReEN DRAgoon''

http://thethermostatandthegreendragoon.blogspot.com/

…see you soon there….

….love&thunders
Claudio Parentela