“Collage is an attractive medium, in my opinion, because it is immediate, instinctive and open to everyone and all ages.”

— Nazario Graziano, 2024

1) LOCATION?

In Italy, on the Marche’s hills. 🇮🇹

2) YEARS COLLAGING?

I started making collages when I was a child, I think at the age of 9-10, for fun. Then I started doing it again in an "artistic" way around the age of 20 ... until I created a work out of it.

3) WHAT DO YOU LOVE AND DISLIKE ABOUT COLLAGE?

Collage is an attractive medium, in my opinion, because it is immediate, instinctive and open to everyone and all ages. It is ideal for those who love to experiment without having large laboratories or large studios. All you need is a desk and some paper. It also has infinite fields of application and combinations, just as the results of the final work are infinite.

Finally, I believe it is an artistic and at the same time "intimate" medium that connects to our most hidden "self". Like a psychological session :)

4) BIGGEST INFLUENCES?

The influences are many. It's really hard to answer.

I am a very curious person and I am always hungry to learn new things. I think the first thing that influences my work is music, which I listen to continuously even at night.

I like and let myself be influenced by the 50s aesthetic, I love typography, modernism, traditional tattoos, the vintage sci-fi, old-school skateboard culture, breaking movements. From an artistic point of view it is reductive to name names I could tell you today... Basquiat, Shepard Fairey, il Sassoferrato, Magritte, Warhol, Ligabue, Hopper, Rockwell, the Dada movement... and I would leave out another 1500 artists :)

5) ANALOG VS DIGITAL, PROS & CONS?

As a professional illustrator, I often work for international brands and magazines, and obviously, by necessity, digital collage is the fastest and most "malleable" medium, especially for quick and frequent changes and for the final support... a file to send to print that can also be very large.

This is certainly a great advantage.

I have rarely been asked for an analog collage for "work", with a brief and tight deadline.

Obviously I love analog collage, it is in my opinion a purely artistic and 100% creative medium and allows me to experiment with new techniques that I then often bring back to digital collage.

There are things that strongly characterise analog collage and that you cannot have in digital collage, such as the quality and different texture of the paper, the stratification. Getting your hands dirty with glue and dust from old newspapers... that also has its charm.

6) THREE TIPS FOR SOMEONE STARTING OUT IN COLLAGE?

- Experiment.

- Try to find your own way and your own style.

- Be curious.

7) HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR DOWNTIME?

I spend time with my family, my wife, my daughter and friends.

I take long regenerating walks in the countryside, they help me find new ideas, new stimuli and recharge my batteries.

Also, as I said, I love music and when I can I play and dedicate myself to my electronic music project A Smog Museo. By the way... my new album will be released in autumn (self-promotion :) )

... and obviously when I can, on free weekends, I dedicate myself to analog collage!!!

8) WHERE DO YOU SEE YOUR ART PRACTICE HEADING?

I don't know if the question refers to the "technique" or the profession in general.

Regarding the "career", I tell you that even though I do a job marked by timelines and deadlines, where you have to have everything under control, I'm not used to making long-term plans. Life has taught me that everything is unpredictable and I prefer to work day by day.

If I could choose, I would like to dedicate myself more to teaching and workshops and always do very stimulating and creative projects.

Regarding collage and technique, I realise that my way of making collages and my style changes continuously and I never know where it will take me in a year, 5 or 10. Always for the same reasoning I was saying a moment ago...

Let it be ... the Beatles said...

9) WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LOVING RIGHT NOW?

Among the new stuff released in this 2024 I'm listening to The Smile, Fontaines DC, Kamasi Washington, Idles, English Teacher ...

Then for the rest I'm an omnivore ... I listen to everything ... from Jazz, (especially if I work at night), through electronic, ambient, wave and punk-rock. I'm of the Beatles-mania religion and I love Bowie.

10) UP-AND-COMING EXHIBITIONS OR PROJECTS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?

At the moment I have nothing confirmed in the program. I had received a proposal for the publication of a book and a series of workshops but in the end the project did not turn out to be very professional. I hope to resume the programming of workshops on collage in the autumn/winter and why not ... have the possibility of a new personal exhibition after a few years from the last one realised.

See more 👀

Gram: @nazariograziano
Web: nazariograziano.com