Interview with Ricardo Cavolo

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

a)I'm Ricardo Cavolo, I'm 30 and I live in Madrid (Spain).

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)I was born in a painting studio, so I started my career from the very first day. And I've been working on it always... But this activity became my way of life three years ago, I left my job in an advertising company and I formed my own art studio.

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)I always have on mind to talk about weird things, but with a respectful point of view. I try to show the beauty of the weird and strange things of life.

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)Of course, I need music for working. I usually listen american roots music (early blues, bluegrass, country folk, hillbilly...). And the singer is always present in my music list is Johnny Cash. He really inspires me.

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)I try to create a special mix creating complex and weird stories using a naif and direct style.

q) Influences?

a)My main influences are the outsider art and folk art. But I use music, literature, films, fashion, history, etc., too for creating my work.

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)First of all I need to decide what exactly I want to talk about. I have to think about the particular story I want to develope. After this, I spend some time investigating and trying to know more about the details of the story, the context... When I have on my mind what I'm going to talk about, I prepare a fast sketch for deciding the style, the composition and some more formal details. And finally, when all of this is done, I'm ready for working on the final piece.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)I think that the main message we need to have on mind is "to work, to work and more to work". Today is easy to show our work to the rest of the worl in internet, but it is si hard to get soe attention, and I'm sure that we can get something just working a lot for getting a personal style and being able to offer something personal and special.

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a)Till now the main art of my work it's been illustration, but the last months I've come back to paint (acrylics on wood), and I have mi head full of painting projects.

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)Madrid is a big city, but from the very first time ii is really open and friendly for people that we arrive to Madrid. So you have the nice things of a big city, but being so warm and friendly like a small town or village.

q) Best way to spend a day off?

a)Reading and watching series.

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)I'm preparing my first big painting exhibition, called Vida. It will be opened in Madrid the 19th of Appril. And I feel really happy (and a little bit nervous) offering to the people my first big paintings.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)My portfolio is http://ricardocavolo.com and you can find there a selection of my different kind of main works.

And there is a blog too, http://ricardocavolo.blogspot.com , it is like my work diary, where I show the most of my works I do daily.