A day with Alice Pasquini: interview and new Street Art in London

I’ve had the pleasure of spending few hours in London with the Street Artist Alice Pasquini (AliCè), between painting (her!) and talking about art. She also accepted to be interviewed for Renton’sRoom: I’m sure you will enjoy it, good reading!

A new Street artwork by Alice Pasquini in London

Renton: You said Street Art is a way to completely and freely express yourself, without the constraints you have when painting for commissions. Do you think you can achieve the same freedom and self-expression painting (for yourself) on canvas or with illustrations?

Alice Pasquini: Yes I’ve that freedom, but I’ve also an “issue” with white backgrounds, I prefer something that has already “a life” in some way.

Also, when I paint in studio I’m just with myself, it’s an intimate and creative moment in which the goal is the artwork, in the streets instead there are many other factors, like the people, the adrenaline, the location, that make the act of painting “alive”.

So when I paint in the streets the final result, the artwork, becomes secondary: for me it’s much more important the act of painting itself and what I feel while I’m painting. For me doing art is the act of painting, the performance, rather than the artwork.

Also, if I create something on canvas, the people coming to the exhibition is expecting to see some art, they come for that. In the streets instead the viewers are not expecting to see art, so the impact they have with the artwork is unexpected and I think it’s much nicer.

R: In the streets you paint both huge murals and very small pieces. What’s the difference to you? What do you prefer/like more?

AP: Definitively the small pieces: I like the fact I can do what I really want and where I want; I like the adrenaline I feel because I’m painting illegally.

With big walls I have more time and I can develop different kind of projects, and the final artwork is definitively better, but talking about the sensations I feel, I prefer much more painting small, illegal pieces.

We could say for me small artworks are like tags for graffiti writers!

R: Most of your artworks are about people and their relationships, and about human feelings. Why did you chose this topic? Where does it come from?

AP: I’m interested in “moving pictures”, in moments of life that in some way are universal, in which the concept doesn’t change with time: it was the same fifty years ago, it will be the same in fifty years.

I also think my artworks are not done to be looked for long time: they are done to been enjoyed in a precise moment, and it’s the viewer to decide when is the moment, spotting the piece in the streets.

My pictures depict everyday moments that for me represent the real magic of life. I really think the real magic of life is the way you live every single moment.

R: You said you like London because of its openness towards new artistic movements and its lack of prejudices compared to Italy. You also travelled all around the world painting in the streets, but you are still based in Rome, your born city. Have you ever thought to permanently move abroad, perhaps in London? What does keep you in Italy?

AP: Rome… I hate it and I love it!

I don’t have any kind of nationalism, I’ve been leaving here in UK, in Spain and in Australia for a while, but I think I was missing the quality of life, the human relationships I have in Rome, that for me are very important.

I also think Rome it’s the real “Street Art City” since it has been created by artists.

Maybe I cannot really answer to your question because I’m almost never in Rome, but I can say it’s a city I always love to go back, it’s home.

R: What’s the best moment/achievement in your career so far?

AP: It still has to come!

There are many things, but I’m never satisfied: what I’ll paint tomorrow will be surely better.

I wish to myself to never be satisfied, if you are satisfied it’s over.