Alice Pasquini

We speak to one of the most active female street artists of the scene, Alice Pasquini. From Rome she has trravelled all over the globe creating countless walls, depicting beautifull art about people and their relationships, representing human feelings and often easily recognised from drawing strong and independent women. Find out what goes through the mind of Alice and what drives her into being an unstopable artist that inspires so many people!

(ISSA) -What you choose to drink? Coffee, Tea, Beer, Soda or something else?

(Alice) – Coffee and cigarettes

-Introduce yourself to us!

My name is Alice Pasquini, though many people know me just as Alicè. I decided from the beginning to use my real name, showing my identity as a woman at a time when men dominated the graffiti and street art world and when most people used an alias.

I come from an academic art training, having attended art high school, fine arts academy, and obtaining a master’s in art criticism. This background was part of the year that many years ago I decided to work in the streets.

-How do you define yourself? Artist? Street artist? Anything else?
Anything else is also fine, but usually I define myself as an artist. If I could think of another definition, I could also say contextual artist, since my artwork is in relation to a specific context.

Alice in Berlin

– How did it all start for you, and what is it nowadays?
The original impulse was probably born during my academic studies in reaction to the old ways of teaching and push toward conceptualism, but one that was cold and unattached. This was an approach to art that my professor has. The elitist vision he proposed probably prepared me for my escape as a young artist exhibiting in galleries to the streets, where just the first experiments of what we now call street art were taking place. My need is to give back value to abandoned things, and this discovery took place at the same time as a difficult, but decisive moment in my like.

Painting is a way to filter feelings.

-What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
See answer number 1!

-Street art is mostly a visually stimulating form of art. To add one more sense to it, what music would you pick to accompany your art work?
The comments of passers by and traffic is more than good.

Alice Pasquini Hamburg

-In all forms of art, inspiration is crucial. What is it that inspires you?

In the street creativity is influenced by many things; from the light and colors of the surroundings to the people that pass by and reaction, as well as the surface of the artwork. For me, the painting comes from the place where it’s conceived and I find it very interesting that it evolves along with the city once I leave.

Every wall that I paint takes shape in one of my many sketchbooks that I bring with me. My sketchbook is my travel journey, which I collect thoughts and emotions that, in a second moment, get painted on a large scale.

-Do you have an artist(s) you admire and what for?
There are lots of artists that I admire. Often that artists that I like don’t have much to do with what I do. For instance, when I was 18 years old, traveling with friends around Italy, going to the Palladian villas painted by Veronese was definitely moment that greatly inspired me.

-Which cities are the most inspiring for you?
I’ve painted on all the continents—except Antarctica—and in a lot of countries—more than 2,000 walls. So my collection is spread out across a lot of cities. The walls I like the best are always tied to the last trip I did. The perfect place to paint is the space I find by accident, something that all of a sudden jumps out and appears perfect because of the colors of the wall, a design I have in mind, or for the inspiration the space gives me.

-What other passions do you have apart from art?
Nothing compares.

Alice Pasquini in Melbourne

-Do you have a wild project that you dream of achieving some day?
More than one!

-Tell us about your art, does it include symbolisms, messages or repeated patterns?
As an artist I’m interested in investigating human feelings and the ties between people by exploring my own emotions. Speaking from a personal point of view, I usually find myself working from a female perspective. This is the reason there’s always some sort of unconsciously autobiographical touch to the subject or situation I paint.

– How long time does a piece of art work of yours usually survive for?
I don’t really care about this. I like that once Ieave, my works continue to evolve with the city. Sometimes they last awhile and age with the way, they beomce a critical part of that place and its history.

-What do people first think of, or feel, when they see one of your works on the street?
My feedback is from the comments of the people passing by while I am painting or by the emails I receive. Most of the time they recognize themselves or their friends in the painting

-Do you have a secret you would like to share with us? 🙂
What kind of secret would it be then?

-What are your creative plans for the future?
I am working on a big solo show in Rome in January titled ‘The unchanging world’ it’s about the transition of objects and the area in between oneself and reality where the game, the imagination, the illusion live.
I am also planning the third edition of CVTA Street Fest, a collective art project that is transforming and repopulating a semi abandoned village in Southern Italy.

Alice for Cvtá fest

-Is there a specific thought or message you would like to pass to our audience out there?
More than anything else that it’s increasingly necessary, in a world dominated by cynicism, that I take interest in the small human moments that are universal among us. These are concepts that don’t change with time and that don’t change over long distances, even from Moscow to Sydney.
I try to show everyday moments, which for me represent the real magic of life. I really think that life’s joy resides in the way in which we live every single moment. For example, a casual encounter with a piece of street art can become, for the observer, an intimate and surprising experience.

Thank you! It’s been great to get to know more about the mind and person behind such talented and inspiring works.

‘’I Support Street Art’’ team.