June 2009: Basik in Rimini

I love asking little kids questions about street art. This summer, I struck up conversations with school children as Os Gêmeos painted in NYC. I was never a 'draw on the walls' kind of kid, but every youngster I talked to loved the fact that two guys were painting the whole side of a building. I hope Italian artist Basik asks the same questions. The first image appears on the outside of a kindergarten. What a great place to take your kids! Today, we hear about how

"It was a hot summer in 1977 and while both disco music and punk ruled the world, I started my own life's journey. Since childhood, I've spent much more time drawing on paper than playing soccer with most of the other Italian kids. This could be weird in some ways (for any Italian signor Rossi), but who cares? Creating images just fascinated me."
"When I was 12, I saw for the first time some paintings on a wall of my city: I got in touch with graffiti writing, one of the most important things I've dealt with in my whole life. Being a writer has been massively important to me for about ten years now. It's been the reason I spend hours sketching and many cold nights outside on a mission."

"2001: time to push things forward. I felt limited by letters and spraycans and I decided to put my whole attention to characters, evolving that figures I often painted next to my pieces. So, I began to research lines, shapes and solid aspects of the colours, using human bodies as a message of my concepts. Now I can focus on playing with paint's matter which is powered by the inifinite kind of signs I can create as I put a different touch and sensibility on works. Human lines become idealized, renewed and unreal; strokes become like bones of the figure; matter turns into flesh."

"I love to put my works on useless and broken items, to give to these decayed canvases a new dimension and a new dignity. The work itself gets stronger by the eroded support."
Grazie, Basik! I love the idea of 'eroded support' from 'decayed canvases.' Way to turn something broken into something beautiful! If you want to see more Basik info, visit his MySpace or website.