ILARIA CLARI
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A YOUNG ILLUSTRATOR FROM TURIN, TELLS TO REDMILK ABOUT HER PASSION. SHE SPEAKS ABOUT HERSELF, HER INSPIRATIONS, HER PATH, AND ABOUT THE MYSTERIOUS FIGURES MADE OF THOUSAND SHADES OF ROSE THAT POPULATE HER WORLD.
How would you define your illustrations in three adjectives?
Self-definition is the hardest thing that is there. It is better to define who looks at my illustrations.
When did you start drawing?
My first drawing dates back to 1996 and depicts a horse’s head. I’ve always been drawn from baby, like most kids … It does not count “when” at the time level, but the “when” understood at a conscious level. I draw consciously for just two or three years.
How much did your childhood and your childhood memories have influenced your choice of becoming illustrator?
They have influenced me a lot. The draw was one of my father’s many passions. I remember when he puts me in front of the sheet, forcing me to draw without ever removing eyes from the subject, unable to look at the sheet on which I was drawing. Only then did I discover that I was exercising by drawing only the right part of the brain, that of creativity and intuition, freeing me from inhibitions and schemes.
What inspires you?
Mostly of my thoughts, but the inspiration is a bit like a mobile phone: if there is telephone field it gets good. Just overhear the conversation of two people in a bar or see the part of a movie. It can be a natural element, a dog or a child. So many things in the everyday life can cast the spark for the “birth” of a new design.
Is there a place you prefer to draw?
There is no specific place, it is more a question of tranquility, silence, and concentration. In one word: loneliness.
Discovering your illustrations is a surprise. With gentleness, irony, lightness you represent sexuality. Why this choice?
The themes of my illustrations are divided into periods. Today is the time of pink and sexuality, tomorrow’s blacks and monsters, and then the dogs, and then family relationships, and so on. And it all depends exclusively on what I’m living at the moment I want to draw.
To give life to your subjects use all the shades of rose and peach. The delicacy of these colours is in contrast to provocative and sensual figures. Why this choice?
“I want to tell you a secret but I do it in a low voice” this could be a possible hypothesis on the choice of soft colours. But it is a hypothesis because it is not a studied choice: I liked those pink tones and used them.
Lately you’ve started drawing mysterious dark-colored creatures. What do they represent?
They represent mental monsters, inner subconscious folds, nightmares, anxieties and fears. The negative part we all have periodically, part that can not be seen or touched. So I wanted to give her a shape.
You have collaborated with Moleskine, Linus and many more. Do you have some anticipation about your next projects?
From 1-5th November, in Turin, I exhibit at “PARATISSIMA” twenty illustrations for an exhibition curated by the N.I.C.E project entitled MONSTRUM VEL PRODIGIUM (the themes of my illustrations are those mentioned above). In the spring I will exhibit at the “Ghost Gallery” in New York!
Interview Irene Bellucci
Instagram @ilaria_clari
Official website www.ilariaclari.com
Photos courtesy of the artist