Argentinian artist Diego Gravinese has gained some recent notoriety for posting his unfinished works and works in progress on his Flickr page, letting people into his process of creating some of the most vibrant and thoughtful art we have scene in while. Living with his now relatively famous muse, Panda, Diego is steadily gaining attention while still based in Buenos Aires.

In this interview Diego's innate warmth and disarming charm comes rushing to the surface, and we couldn't be happier or more excited to introduce you to him and his work if you haven't already run into it. It's always great to meet someone so eager to share with you their work and world—read on as Diego discusses the effect Talking Heads has had on his work and why he decided to open up his unfinished work to public scrutiny. It's pretty rare for most artists to let their work go during the creative process, allowing the audience a chance to not only reflect on his style, but also his technique and development. This is one of our very first interview pieces we will post, and it's a great one!

DIEGO GRAVINESE

bad neighbors. You've gotten some notoriety for posting photos of work in progress on your flickr page in the past, what was it like to be asked to make an "unfinished" painting this time—where the finished product was meant to be "unfinished"?
diego gravinese. Well, it's interesting what happened with flickr: I usually don't have people around me while I paint in the studio. It's a rather private situation, and in fact I rarely showed my work until it was finsihed or almost done. But then, I guess because of this sense of comfortable middle point between private and public that internet provides, I decided to show the step by step, (in part because some people wanted to see it), and to my surprise it gave people an extra dose of faith in my work. And, like you, a lot of people loved the unfinished version of the paintings, sometimes even more than the finished ones. It's very interesting, it made me realize a few things about the way I advance on an image. Being asked to leave a work unfinished feels good, it's kind of a relief for a change, the final stages of a painting are usually the more tedious ones, and, truly, almost all the power of an image is already there at those early stages.

b.ns. Did you approach this project in much the same way as you would any other project, or do you think that—being a commissioned work—it has somehow changed your process, (aside from the obvious subject restraints)?
d.g. No, it didn't change the approach at all. My only problem with comissioned pieces is when the subject is boring, or completely alien to me.

b.ns. How long have you been painting? Has it always been similar work?
d.g. I started showing my paintings in the early 90's, (even though I painted all my life), and my work changed quite a lot since those first years. It went from more pop, multilayered, sometimes chaotic, compositions to this quest for this more classical approach to the canvas of a single/central image.

b.ns. Are you into music? Did you grow up listening to anything in particular that might have inspired you?
d.g. I grew up listening to the Talking Heads, it was kind of the soundtrack of my childhood. I have two sisters that are some 6 years older than me, so when I was a kid their music was my music, and they always had a great taste in rock and pop. One of them was a bass player for some really good punk rock bands in the local scene of the 80's, so they knew what was good, even when it was really difficult to get good music in Argentina. Album's like Stop Making Sense, Fear of Music, Speaking in Tongues were all the time in our stereos, sometimes in family trips around the country, I still remember that. Then of course, they became super popular and with MTV came another wave of influence of the music , this time visually. And Talking Heads of course had these great videos, I think that And She Was can be traced directly to some of my first paintings, with all its collages of pop images, and the acid trip lyrics...I loved that song and video so much. Their album covers were also captivating, in cases like Stop Making Sense, I remember being a kid, not knowing much english, and looking at that vinyl record cover, the cropped figures and the questions, and wondering what were they talking about, feeling even provoked by it. Then of course, David's solo act, with his overdimensioned suits, and psychedelic catsuits, and weird, theatrical performances, were always inspiring. The truth is that I never was a mindless fan of them, in the sense that, you know, you fall in love with a band, and you put them in a god-like place, but then maybe you end up forgetting about, and move to the next hype. But, both Talking Heads and David Byrne always had this place of respect for me. Somehow I always felt some kind of dignity about them and their work, like: "these people is good for the planet". And that's something that I still think of David Byrne.

b.ns. Where do you live and do your work now? Do you work at home, a studio space? Do you work alone or do you share space?
d.g. I'm living in Buenos Aires at the moment and my house is my studio. I always prefered to have my studio at home because sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like painting, or knowing how to resolve something about a work, and I like to be able to go to the next room and keep on working.

b.ns. So, other than your Flickr page, (which is amazing), where else can I find your work? Any upcoming shows?
d.g. Thanks! Well, there's a long delayed project for my website: www.diegogravinese.com. It's been taking a lot of archive, scanning, research, and retouch work, (70% of my work was documented before the digital era). But it's almost done now. My next solo show will be in BsAs, but I can't talk about it, yet.

b.ns. Anything else that you're particularly proud of that you want to tell me? Talents, heritage, favorite food? Feel free to tell me anything else. Thanks again, by the way!
d.g. I love popcorn, in bed with my Panda. I am very proud of her in many ways, including her amazing poo-dances! Thank you!