Peeta

Presenting our latest interview with Peeta. A talented multidisciplinary artist from Venice, Italy. His 3D art in graffiti and sculpturing has evolved it into a full visual experience that simply drags you out of this world. Find out what inspires him, what his future plans are and much more in our first interview of the year!

-What you choose to drink? Coffee, Tea, Beer, Soda or something else?
I’m drinking a Simcoe IPA from Borderline® :))

-Introduce yourself to us…
I’m Peeta, graffiti writer, painter and sculptor since 1993. I come from Venice (IT) where I am currently based.

– Where does your tag name come from?
It comes from the nickname my classmates gave me as a kid which was Pita so I’ve started tagging with it and just turned it into something more graphically appealing using “ee” instead of “i” to produce the same sound.

Peeta ‘s facade at the entrance of the “A. Gatto ” high school in Agropoli, Province of Salerno, Southern Italy.

-How do you define yourself? Artist? Street artist? Anything else?
I consider myself as a multidisciplinary artist. My roots are inside graffiti but I nowadays work in different fields: muralism, painting, sculpture as far as my previous studies included interior design which still influences my creative procedure.

– How did it all start for you, and what is it nowadays?
It started as a game and at the same time as a big passion which step by step has employed all of my time and energies until it turned out being something really serious and finally my job.

-What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
I take my coffee.

-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?
Surely electronic music.

-In all forms of art, inspiration is crucial. What is it that inspires you?
Apart from some cultural references I could be eventually studying while producing something new, my most traditional source of inspiration is given by the observation of the context where I am supposed to work: not only its architectural or natural characteristics but also its social life, its cultural background and anything else helping me in producing something capable of mixing with the surrounding environment by enriching it without parting from it.

-What is the hardest part while working on a piece of art?
To light the right sparkle in order to start. That is the hardest time because it represents the moment when you are finally able to get in the right mood to start and at the same time you have found the best concept and the proper strategy for technical development.

-Do you have an artist(s) you admire and what for?

I admire different artists. At present time I can quote some for different reasons:
Boris Telligen for his unique approach to 3D style and his continuous ability to break the rules always finding original ways to play with geometry.
Sainer from Etam Cru and Aryz. They don’t work together and have their completely different style but they represent for me some sort of “painting masters”. Their path comes from painting and gets to muralism and it is somehow the contrary of mine. I have always looked at them as great, experienced painters which have been able to develop a unique style and to stand out inside a wide panorama of hyper-realistic figurative street artists.
Sten&Lex for their ability in the use of black & white. While belonging to the world of graffiti, who is revolutionizing what the concept of letters’ shape is by breaking them and imagining a new way of composing pieces.
Cinta Vidal for her 3D representation of the world which is so close as far from mine, her high talent in representing the real world while, at the same time, her ability in reproducing a surreal world without gravity.

-Which cities are the most inspiring for you?
Venice is my hometown and my first source of inspiration being rich in art, architecture and great landscapes. Then I love San Francisco, New York and Vancouver both for their artistic production than for what is continuously going on there on filling those cities with stimulating dynamic vibes.

-What other passions do you have apart from art?
Well, I’m mostly focused on Art. I do other things sometimes in my free time but they’re just diversions or ways to relax, I can’t consider them as passions.

-Do you have a wild project that you dream of achieving some day?
I’d like to work on large scale public sculptures.

-Tell us about your art, does it include symbolisms, messages or repeated patterns?
Sometimes it includes symbols, rarely messages and generally more than a proper pattern it just contains a visual modular rhythm given by the shape of the letters composing my name which has been, for the past 20 years, the main subject of my works, even if now I mostly avoid letters and paint geometrics or abstract shapes.

– How long time does a piece of art work of yours usually survive for?
On average one of my last wall pieces could last for 10 years.

-What do people first think of, or feel, when they see one of your works on the street?
Usually people are totally attracted by the plasticity of my works and they want to touch or grab them.

-Do you have a secret you would like to share with us? 🙂
No :))

-What are your creative plans for the future?
Well, I’d like to move in so many directions. It is almost two years I’m focusing on anamorphic painting and I surely want to improve them more and more and keep on studying the potential of anamorphism.
Also, I want to go back on new sculptural production and study new shapes, new sizes and even new places where to install them.
Finally, I’ve been focusing so much in the aesthetic of my works that I now want to enrich them with more and more contents, I want my works to tell more.

-Is there a specific thought or message you would like to pass to our audience out there?
The message I want to provide also with my latest production is based on the suspension of normality. I like to think about what I do as an, even temporary, interruption of normality. I don’t question reality itself, I just provide people with a different perception which I think is necessary to reimagine the surrounding world and so the self.

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.

Peeta ‘s artist profile : http://www.isupportstreetart.com/artist/peeta/

Artist Links : Website, Facebook, Instagram

This fine wall was intervened by Peeta in Argopoli, Italy – an anamorphic artwork, that extends over four different facades of the building, of approximately 300 square meters, is visible from an observation point, chosen by the artist on the right of the internal threshold for the pedestrian entrance gate: the access at the main square of the High School.
A wall painting in which the passerby loses himself, drawing a new visual identity from his familiar landscape, now completely distorted, while maintaining recognizable connotations and numerous references to the real morphology of what surrounds the painted forms, rather integrating them as part of the artwork.

The project was curated by a.DNA as part of the “Urban Area – A Scena Aperta” project that has been ongoing since 2014.