MARCO MELGRATI - CONFUSING REALITIES

CONFUSING REALITIES

DESCRIBE YOUR WORK IN THREE WORDS.

Illustration, ideas, drawing.

WHAT DOES YOUR ART FOCUS ON?

When I work on personal illustrations (not on commission) I love to draw anything that attracts my interest. Usually I like working around current issues, social or historical themes, they give me more ideas. Sometimes it may happen that a book, a documentary, or a scene of real life push me to be interested in a particular topic.

WHAT TRIGGERS YOUR IMAGINATION?

When I work on commission, I try to inform myselfas much as I can on the assigned topic, to findmore ideas as possible. When I’m drawing for myself, I just do what comes to mind. Recently I’m moving quite often, changing place helps meto find inspiration and have different visions ofreality.

BESIDES YOUR COMPUTER/PHONE, WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU CANNOT WORK WITHOUT?
Paper and pencil, is the easiest and more direct way to put out ideas. I love oil painting too but it’snot so easy to find the time. Music is importanttoo, but sometimes I prefer silence, especially when I want to be really focused.

WHO’S HAD THE MOST INFLUENCE ON YOUR ARTISTIC GROWTH AND WHY?
Since I have attended a painting academy, I love Art History, especially painting, it is an inexhaustible mine of inspiration and beauty. The renaissance is my favorite period, Italianand Spanish artists such as Bellini, Giorgione and Velasquez have impacted me greatly.

HAS INSTAGRAM INFLUENCED YOUR WORK?

From a stylistic point of view perhaps not much.For sure it has greatly amplified the diffusion.Thanks to it, many more people can see my work and it is really a window to the world, I can discover a lot about places and people I've never seen directly. Professionally, it is a great opportunity for an illustrator. I like to see how people comment on the illustrations, it is funnyhow many different interpretations people cangive to the same image. I think social media has enormous potential, both positive and negative;and is definitely changing our society in manyways.

NAME THREE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS YOU FOLLOW RELIGIOUSLY.
@gudim_public
@r_kikuo_johnson

@natureismetal_

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BIGGEST FAILURE.

Mmm ... I do not know. Fortunately, in my work sphere, it hasn’t happened yet.

YOUR FIVE ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOVIES?

Pulp fiction
The good, the bad and the ugly. The Fall
Gran Torino.
Rear Window.

YOUR ALL-TIME FIVE FAVORITE MUSIC TRACKS?
Riders on the storm.
Stairway to heaven.

Onion head. Tequila sunrise.

WHO IS YOUR DREAM COLLABORATION?

An album cover for the NY Times

WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING?

I love my work, even if at the start I struggled, I feel so lucky to do something that I love for a living. Can’t ask for more, plus is the only thing I can do quite well so I have no other choice than to keep going.