ART NEWS Interview, May 2014 — Travelling from Salsomaggiore Terme (Italy) to London, Cristian combined CGI and fine art for his massive project. His florid, mysterious illustrations are inspired by nature folk stories, greek mythic psychedelia, biscuits and childhood dreams.
How would you describe your work? I try to walk the line between kitsch, innocence, and melancholy.
How much time do you spend to complete an artwork? I’m very insecure, I really need to be insecure. I tend to think too much about everything. Especially about the intimate meaning of my drawings. But most of the time the sketch grow up directly in few minutes. Only the concept change constantly, and maybe it could take some month to come up.
Absolute zero 3. Chinese ink + CGI. Cristian Grossi, 2014.
Fine art or CGI? As a programmer geek, for the CG graphics I had to juggle with a bunch of programmes, as there wasn’t a single software that could do everything I needed it to. For my last project for example I used light scans of a tree, I had to take the data, and find a way to project that plant back on to the dome. I had to do some software development for this with C++, and worked with a couple of other developers to make some modules and plugins
Your style is both graphic and painterly, combining spindly linework with bold coloration to create narrative images that rage with a mythic sensibility. Why do you enjoy creating images through traditional methods before digitally enhancing them? I always try to evoke an emotional response from the viewer, so I choose vibrant colors and mysterious situations. The digital medium let me experiment quickly with colors combinations, and build my conceptual core. The characters of my works never dies. They come back from the drawings of 2007, become video art in 2009 or clothes in 2010’s print fashion collection.
Ideas never dies.
Balenciaga, balenciaga, balenciaga. Cristian Grossi, chinese ink, 2013
How does your role of children’s art player-educator contribute to work as in illustrator? Kids have great creative skills, and keep in contact with them helps me to refresh my stressed mind and clean my fantasies, so I can come up with new ideas. With their terrible and morbid innocence they can teach us theyr fears. I honestly love the fears of children
