Interview with Elia Colombo, Digital Artist featured on SIGN Art.
Recently we announced that coming Thursday, August 26th a new Featured Artist would be dropping three NFT’s on SIGN Art. We’ve arranged an interview with said artist to gather more knowledge on them prior to the release of their NFT’s, we’ve asked numerous questions regarding multiple topics, we’ll let the artist introduce themselves now:
Could you introduce yourself to the SIGN Art community?
Hello everyone, I’m Elia and I’m an independent digital artist. You might know me for some of my thought-provoking, ironic artworks which travelled the web, mostly through Instagram and other social networks. Introducing myself is always the hardest part, so I’d like to start by disclosing a funny truth: I began my career as a pizzaboy. Yes, for real. But given my passion for vector art (which I discovered in my college days), I decided to undertake the risky yet magical freelance path.
I wisely tend to underestimate my achievements, so that I don’t need to face unexpected self-esteem crisis, pushing my goals a little further every time; but when I look back at the time I used to deliver pizza, it’s sometimes heartening to consider I have been lucky enough to collaborate with important brands worldwide, to exhibit my art several times and to become a digital illustration professor in a well known school in Milan.
How would you define your digital art style?
If I had to define my art I couldn’t help but considering it the mirror of my soul. I’ve been quiet introverted for a long time, especially in my childhood. My inner life is deep, rich in colors and ideas, but it may be hard to share it with the audience, cause of the fear of it not being understood. My art is the best tool for me to express what I think. It’s even better than dialogue: at least it keeps the representation on a symbolic level and prevents something to get lost in translation.
Someone defined my style as soft and powerful. Adobe said it’s tongue-in-cheeck. I can only say it’s the only way I could ever represent what I want to say. There’s already a contrast in the core meaning of my pieces, and it’s strengthened by a superior contrast between the meaning on the one hand, and my soft lines and bright colors on the other hand. It’s a kind of a next level contrast; a 4th dimensional move.
What influences you the most in your creations?
Of course, I have no idea where inspiration comes from exactly, and I won’t lie about it. But relating to my previous answer, I’d say I gather much of my inspiration from my inner life. Introspection, meditation, imagination are the secret ingredients, I think. Then a bunch of unconscious sources are in play as well: experiences, people, places, books, movies, songs and whatever left a sign on me.
In short, one has no power over inspiration. One thing is for sure: I’m not the type actively searching for inspiration to get started creating. It might sound bizarre, but I only create when inspiration randomly got me.
Who are your favorite artists? (Crypto Art or traditional)
For what concerns the NFT space I’d say Mr Misang, Xsullo and Tony Babel. As for traditional art I’d mention Malika Favre, Steve Cutts, Joan Cornellà and Mr Bingo. Hard question anyways; I love and respect the work of a lot of artists.
When did you start with NFTs and what do you like about it?
Fun fact: I’ve been invited the first time in 2019 but I miserably missed the train. I approached the space this year, in June. I’m still a rookie.
What do I like about all of this? Look, after pushing my art on Instagram for years gaining literally nothing, the best part is to get paid for what I do. And it’s not that trivial as it sounds. We live in a society which strictly allows attention for a fragment of second. We’re strafed by a neverending stream of pictures and we have no time to understand there’s a creative mind behind some of them. Getting lost into this stream is so easy being a digital artist; maybe NFTs are breaking the rule giving back value to creators.
What art are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on different projects, all NFT related. Some of them are drops, some are collaborations. What I can disclose is that I have a new artwork ready to be shared called “Institutional wisdom”.
What do you think Crypto Art and NFTs need to do better in future?
I think I’m still too new to the Cryptoart world to give such an advice. For what I understood, everything is purely democratic here: my hope is for the space to remain so.
Aside of Digital Art, what do you like to do?
The more I grow, the more I notice I have a strong passion for studying, learning and understanding things. The biggest passion since my middle 20s is reading. I got rid of my TV years ago (and I’m extremely proud of this choice) so I have developed a sort of immunity to the news/information machine. This gave my mind the right time and serenity to approach a lot of challenging topics I’ve always been interested in, such as theoretical philosophy, anthropology, psychology, physics, logic and classic literature. I’ve read a lot of books and I keep doing it every year.
Do you have any word to your collectors or advice to future artists willing to try Crypto Art?
To my collectors, I’d like to say I’m taking this NFT revolution seriously, and my aim is to bring them value in the long run. My art has proved to survive the immediate “wow effect” over the years, probably thanks to its meaningful part.
To future artists, I’d repeat what has been my own motivational motto along the way (in opposition to Paul Rand): don’t try to be good, just try to be different.
Gebelia will be dropping three unique NFT’s on SIGN Art this Thursday (August 26th), the artworks can already be viewed on SIGN Art and will be listed for sale on Thursday. Get ready with your offers!
Gebelia‘s SIGN Art profile:
https://mainnet.sign-art.app/user/3PJWxUiwdSg8rr8Exp1bKGuGdejvQu1yNi8
http://www.gebe.it/
https://www.instagram.com/gebelia/
https://twitter.com/_gebelia
https://sign-art.app
https://mainnet.sign-web.app
https://www.signature-chain.com
https://sign-web.app
https://twitter.com/SignatureChain
https://twitter.com/signArtApp
https://discord.gg/wNkHtcN
https://t.me/SICA_official
https://t.me/SIGNArtApp
https://coindataflow.com/en/currency/signaturechain
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/signature-chain/
https://info.binance.com/en/currencies/signaturechain
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5026949.0
https://www.coingecko.com/nl/coins/signaturechain
