Michele Del Campo – ARTIST

Michele Del Campo

Interview with artist Michele Del Campo —

1. Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Michele Del Campo, I am an Italian painter and I live in London.

2. Why art?
It comes from an intrinsic need, when I don’t engage in a creative activity I cannot find fulfilment, art is for me a continuous journey of discovery that lasts a lifetime.

“The Pier”

3. What is your earliest memory of wanting to be an artist?
Since I was a young child I enjoyed making objects, little sculptures, drawings or paintings. Very soon I dreamt of becoming an artist, but only at 20, after emigrating from my small town in South Italy to the big city of Milan, I felt that perhaps it wasn’t so odd to follow an idealistic dream and wanting to be an artist.

4. What are your favorite subject(s) and media(s)?
I am interested in young people, their inner world and their stories. I like urban, often gritty, post-industrial settings. My favourite medium is oil painting, worked “alla prima”.

“The Other Side”

5. How do you work and approach your subject?
I imagine situations when I look around, or when I read, or speak with people. I sketch those situations and then I stage them with models, mostly people that I meet around or friends of mine. I both paint from life and from photographs, according to the complexity of the composition.

“Floating Words”

6. What are your favorite art work(s), artist(s)?
“The Raft of the Medusa” by Théodore Géricault is my favourite painting. The artists that I admire most are Andrew Wyeth, Antonio López García, Liu Xiaodong, Joaquín Sorolla and Edward Hopper.

“Cars Cemetery”

7. What are the best responses you have had to your work?
A close friend of mine had only seen the early, small-scale works that I did in Italy when I was very young. I used to exhibit always abroad, and when he travelled to come to one of my solo exhibitions he was so taken by some of the subjects and the scale that he came to confess that he had goose bumps at viewing them.

“The Abandonment”

8. What do you like about your work?
The freedom. Nobody tells me what I should do, how, and how often. It is not as idillic as it seems, as there are many worries and responsibilities to bear as a professional artist, and if there is a risk, that is most of time to overwork, but I enjoy what I do and I do it with passion. Another thing that I like about my work is that I have the chance to meet wonderful people who bear my same passion for art, and I believe that being in touch with these people gives me strength, motivation and it makes me feel lucky.

“The Fall”

9. What advice would you give to other artists?
Make art for your own satisfaction, if you enjoy it, it will be reflected in the quality of your work. Also, never think that you know enough or that you have all that it takes, if you are humble you will always strive to progress and you will improve.

“Winter Sun”

10. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
With the same passion for painting, and even more, and hopefully very well established and with a massive studio of my own!

Michele Del Campo

LINKS —

Web: www.micheledelcampo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/micheledelcampoart
Blog: www.micheledelcampo.wordpress.com