TvBoy x Artsprojekt Interview!
Artsprojekt: Who in the world is TV Boy?Tvboy: Tvboy is both my artistic nickname and the name of my main character. I was born in Palermo on 1980 and moved to Milan where he was very young. My father was a painter so I started drawing as a child. I studied illustration at the Fine Arts Faculty of Bilbao (Basque Region) and graduated in Industrial Design at the Milan Polytechnic. Since 4 years I'm living in Barcelona Spain where I settled my own studio which works mostly on art and design projects. In 1996 i started painting graffiti motly in the streets of Milan and Italy first with the classic wildstyle pieces then since 2003 with the image of the "tv headed character" both with sprays, wheat pasted posters and landslide of stickers. The idea behind character born while I started working as designer: as I used to spend several hours in front of a computer screen I started naturally to figure out and doodle this small child with his head trapped in a screen. Tvboy sounded good and it almost reminds me of our generation, grown-up watching cartoons. Tvboy also conveys a message: "switch off the tv, you're the protagonist!"
AP: How does your creation of graphic imagery and visual communications cross over with the fine art world?
T: "TV Boy" is the pseudonym of the Italian artist Salvatore Benintende. His visual style is inherited from Pop Art, Surrealism and the world of Comics, with breezily expressive characters and his own imaginative reworking of past icons. The baby with the face inside the Tv set, his alter-ego and hallmark, carries the message: "Switch it off,you're the one on stage!". Born in Palermo, Italy, in 1979. He grew up in Milan, where he broke into the art world via graffiti since 1996. After studying painting and illustration at the University of Bilbao in Spain, he graduated in Milan in Industrial Design, specializing in graphic art. His fresh ideas for images have already landed him prestigious commissions including: Hp, Smart, FIAT, Mini, Inoxcrom, Nescafè. He has put together shows in several galleries and been involved in street events worldwide, he also has collaborated as designer with famous international brands. He currently works in Barcelona where he runs his own navy-studio.
AP: Does this make TV Boy an artist, a brand or both?
T: Actually I feel more an artist then a brand... Street art leads me to improve skills and also produce artworks in the studio so in a natural way my art carrer started in 2004 with the firsts exhibitions. Since three years I had the opportunity of exhibiting my works in different countries such as Switzerland, Denmark, Lebanon, Spain, Italy and also Cuba (and next year i'mm planning a 4 months stay in N.Y. crossed fingers ^:*) Traveling is very important for an artist and I had good feedbacks from those exhibitions. even though my representing galery is settled in Rome, Italy it is called "Co2 Contemporanery Art" www.co2gallery.com
I started realizing i could make a career out of my art in 2006 when I had two lucky exhibitions one In the Pabillon of Contemporary Art of Milan and the other in Verona at Byblos Art Gallery.
Anyhow as I started to work as an artist and exhibiting regulary in galleries, I felt like I was losing something by the way. The art system is based on the concept of elitysm, only one rich person can own an original piece, and for the art system is better the artist to be unknown by common people. So I decided to open TVBOY®STUDIO: a company based in Barcelona, Spain and Milan, Italy that operate in the field of graphic design, illustration and product licensing of art related merchandise. It was founded on the belief that art should communicate with a wider range of people than the elite who use to visit art galleries and museums and can afford buying expensive pieces. That was the main reason of my design & licensing activity: to have products available at a lower price for anyone. TVBOY®STUDIO also landed me prestigious commissions including: Hp, Smart, FIAT, Mini, Inoxcrom, Nescafè. This lead to the opening of the brand TVBOY®CLOTHING 2 years ago, some of the designs of our first 2 collections are already available on my Artprojekt page check it at http://shop.thetvboy.com
AP: Who are the up and coming talents as well as your peers that are emerging at the moment?
T: In the street art field definitely Blu (www.blublu.org) a guy from Bologna, Italy that is conquering both the streets and the art world with his huge wallpaintings and his animation project Muto.
Also My friend of Jacopo Perfetti and the street artis "Ivan" of "Art Kitchen" http://www.
AP: . Please make a short video of a day in the life and art of TV Boy...
T: Luckily I have the opportunity of traveling very often so it's rare to have a normal day but generally when I am in Barcelona: I wake up around 8 am, shower, have breakfast in the bar beside home, go to the studio an old industrial navy in the "Poble Nou" neighbourhood converted in my studio, check mails, then start to paint or organize the work both make and answer to calls, deal with clients. Stop around 2 pm to have lunch and a walk near the sea and the follow working till 8 pm. Have dinner with my girlfiend and watch a movie or have a beer and hang around a while with friends fall in bed to rise again the day after ^:*
TV BOY wall painting at CO2 gallery - Rome
Fiat Grande Punto TV Boy
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