The premise of 3 Questions is simple. What would happen if you asked a complete stranger three questions? This interview with Riccardo Sabatini first appeared on ELLO as part of the original interview series.
If you visit Riccardo Sabatini, be ready to go down the rabbit hole of trippy hallucinogenic and utterly brilliant design. It's an experience and one that made me want to know a little more about the person behind those fantastic ideas.
3️⃣ Questions with Riccardo Sabatini
1️⃣ You always seem to have something going on. You've mentioned, that you have a messy life. What’s your advice for time management and tips for remaining focused while juggling multiple projects at once?
RS: First, you have all the time to be quiet in the grave 💀 so at least a messy life is not so bad.
In the making, I'm the opposite of messy; I tend to be very systematic and precise in the creation of my projects. But when it's about time management, I don't have a lot to teach. I work from home, so my hour schedules are very flexible.
I don't work on multiple projects at the same time. For me, once I enter a job session, it's full immersion till the end.
And then go to the next.
2️⃣ Your work runs the gamut from re-purposed hair to an homage to Bushido. If you had a full gallery exhibition all to yourself and an ample budget - what might you focus on and why? How might you present your exhibition - video installations, tactile experience booths, music, etc.? (Though, since you nearly always put a soundtrack with your projects, I imagine there would be music involved.)
RS: The wide gamut doesn't imply to show everything together. As I wrote before, for me, full immersion also means a sort of isolation.
If you see my portfolio, it's easier to explain. Each project has its own showcase once you enter. It's the opposite of a general art-board, which, in general, I hate. I do work that switches genres heavily from one to another.
When I participate in exhibitions, I always show one thing (a single series, I mean), not a mix of them. Type is type. Geometric art is its own thing. Digitally modified portraits another, and so on.
The concept of brand image can be applied to everything, and it involves one of the most important things into aesthetics, a pattern.
A recurring feeling of recognition, what makes you say " this is so-and-so's work." I take this rule seriously but as a watertight chamber. Fuck the market, which says that for a better self-branding, you gotta do one thing.
I want to have several brands that live separately on their own. (Maybe that why agents have a hard time labeling and categorizing my work for sale. It doesn't fit into a box or catalog.
Besides this professional rant, let's go back to the exhibition question.
Yes, music of course, from a live set even better (I got a lot of musician friends), and sculptures, if I would have the money to print my stuff on 3d subjects.
A few artworks but colossal size, and screens with gifs playing everywhere. What a mess.
3️⃣ What keeps you up at night . . . and what puts you to sleep? What nourishes your soul and what saps your strength?
RS: I don't have office hours and even if I tried to be I'm the opposite of a morning person, ergo, I go to bed usually at 2-3 am.
I go to sleep because society says, "it's nighttime. This is when you should sleep." Instead, what keeps me up till that hour beside working (best hours for me to have ideas) is everything; from movies to music to browsing the web for news, reading, comics online, the social networks and so on.
I leave reading books and comics for when I'm in bed, though.
About what nourishes my soul it's basically the same, I like to learn and discover new things as much as possible, but also to travel (something that I don't do enough because of low funds, but it's definitely something I want to fix for the future).
Last but not least, I would like to make a comparison with the movie Inside Out. It's not joy who pushes you to go beyond, it's a mix of fantasy (Bing Bong RIP), fear and anger who really fuels you.
Joy comes after, eventually.
I said I was a mess. Thanks for reading, cheers!
About what nourishes my soul, it's the same. Learning and discovering new things as much as possible, and travel (something that I don't do enough, but it's something I want to fix for the future).
Last but not least, I would like to make a comparison with the movie Inside Out. It's not joy who pushes you to go beyond; it's a mix of fantasy, fear, and anger that fuels you.
Joy comes after, eventually.
I said I was a mess. Thanks for reading. Cheers!
I said I was a mess. Thanks for reading, cheers!
- j o y c o m p l e x
CONTACT RICCARDO
https://www.riccardosabatini.it
hello@riccardosabatini.it
(+39) 320 69 46 379
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