Fede n Rico, author of The Bias-Cut header and logo, talks us about his sketches flair.
In what does it consist your drawing technique?
It’s simple, I like using normal gel ink pens, usually waterproof, coz lately I tried to colour some of drawings with watercolors. Sometimes I try to paint on a canvas, but I still need ot get better at that.
How did you come to drawing? Do you focus only on this technique or you are considering other approaches?
I have always been drawing, since I was a child, but I never took it very seriously, till some friends of mine convinced me that I had to start showing my stuff more. I think I opened my mind after finishing high school, I started growing more interest in street art, but I slowly realized that my favorite stuff was the one that wasnt too close to the stereotypical graffiti art. I don’t have any art school background, I have a degree in political science and economics, nothing to do with art.
In the last couple of years I have actually been trying to improve my skills, widen my horizon. I attended figure drawing classes last year, and found it extremely interesting. It might sound trite, but I think the human body is simply one of the most beautiful things to draw, it has everything I like in terms of lines, shapes, volumes etc. And sometimes you can add three more arms, two more eyes, one more boob or a vagina on the forehead…It’s funny!
Before starting drawing had you been through different types of art? Not really, but I really like cinema, I watch a lot of films.
In your sketches we can see some unusual human charachters who deal with the surrounding environment, usually consisting in an urban scenary, what do they represent?
My fucked up mind 🙂
I dont really know, I don’t think everything I draw has a meaning. but I like the idea of a city as a modern jungle. I remember the first time I was in New York, the city from the top of the Empire State Building looked like a huge anthill, where humans are the ants, as small as insects.
What about the other charachters, the animals that looks like mythological figurers?
Do their throwing up and eating each other mean anything?Somehow can they be compared to primordial creatures throwed in the contemporary age?
I like to think of humans as sophisticated animals, that’s why I like mixing human features with animal-like ones and see what happens. Plus I grew up watching cartoons, where characters are often miss shaped or they can swallow a huge fridge or they can be run over by car, get flattened and go back to their usual shape and things like these. It’s basically fantasy, imagination. and drawing allows you to subvert reality anyway you want it.
These creatures in my drawing are not throwing up just because they are too drunk and they need to get rid of some toxic shit, the throw up thing also represents what comes out from their mouths: words, insults, lies, laughs, any form of verbal communication. They are basically like the small cloud in a comic, just stripped of words.
Do you think that the place where you live gets into your creations? Do you see any difference between sketches produced in Italy and in Berlin?
Berlin is a very inspiring place, but since I moved here I have less and less free time, I work 40 hours a week and sometimes it’s a bit hard to find time and energy to do something, especially for a pathologically lazy person like me. But here many people are convincing me to take my drawings more seriously and there are a lot of cool possibilities to show your stuff to a lot of people. Plus a club printed posters and flyers using my illustrations, I was really happy 🙂
Is there any celebrated artist by whom you have been inspired?
Well, not really, I find more inspiration in small things. For example, I like the amazing patterns that Mother Nature can create, like snake skin (although I am terrified by snakes) or trees roots. I also have a fascination for old drawings, including middle ages icons as well as antique japanese illustrations or traditional indian art.
Which soundtrack would you choose for your sketches? Something with a dirty but groovy sound, something psychedelic. Perhaps some kraut-rock like Neu! Or Can would be perfect.
The Bias-Cut 