@simonagalizia

Instagram: @simonagalizia Website: www.simonagalizia.com

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

I spent my childhood in a very small village up an hill in the center of Italy: Roccavivara. Then I moved in a neighboring seaside city, Vasto, where my family lives. Then I moved to Rome, Istanbul, Utrecht, Barcelona and at the moment I’m living in Milan. I’m searching my home and maybe I’ll never find. Meanwhile I experience new places.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I create a visual imaginary in which the poetic language is full of meaning. I focus on the conceptual value of the images and on the metaphoric association of elements. I’m looking for simplicity and powerful colors to communicate effectively.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

I prefer the digital medium because it permits me to do more intermediate proofs of color, shape and composition. I find it more precise, also because I’m a little bit messy and for me it’s difficult working by hands with colors and reach the predetermined result.

4. What is your artistic process like?

I write down, pin up ideas and I do sketches like a child of the different images that come up in my mind. Just in a second moment, I do researches about the theme or I look at random conceptual images. I make rough digital versions and with the client we choose the final one to work with. But when it is not about commissioned works, the idea come up completely from my mind.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

I’m inspired by the people that surround me, by talking with strangers, by a new city, by the art exhibitions. Then there are the conceptual, pop, surrealist , neo-expressionist and primitivist artists that are a huge source of inspiration.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

Art is a huge part of my life. Drawing permits to express myself in the most genuine way and to show to everyone how I look at things. It is a way to let my personality come up and to share my experiences in an unconscious way. With the art filter, I see at the world in a funnier and more sincere way. Less evil, I would say.

7. Where did you study?

I obtained bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and Masters degree in Visual and Multimedia Communication Design at Sapienza, University of Rome, and Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Illustration and Visual Communication Techniques at Eina, university of Barcelona. I was awarded a scholarship at Istanbul Technical University, and apprenticed in a video animation studio in Utrecht, after which I interned in a graphic design studio in Barcelona. At the moment I’m attending Mi Master in Editorial Illustration in Milan.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

I have no idea where I see myself in five years. I’m in a moment of my life that I would define “reborn”, so it is difficult to think about the future, I’m totally concentrated on the present. Most probably I see myself wandering around the world searching for exhibitions, clients, magazines, art directors. I see myself under construction! But for sure, wherever I will be, I will always do art.

9. What about in ten?

Still too much in the future. Maybe in about ten years I would have a stable house close to my family doing what I love the most: drawing.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

I would emotionally involve the most people I can.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Pecorino cheese with pear and pepper.

12. Favourite book?

It is difficult to find one. I would say “Crime and Punishment” by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is a passional and psychological book.

13. Favourite genre of music?

To represent a genre, I mention the group I like the most: Radiohead.

14. What are your hobbies?

The hobby I prefer the most is to walk around new places and get lost. I also like a lot to collect business cards, postcards and flyers. I love to write down thoughts and poetries. There are also tv series and films.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

I would be a chef for two reasons. First I love to eat. Then I have a lot of creativity in preparing meals.