CH.89: If you were to categorize or describe the style of your artwork, what would it be and why?
SM: A personal view on things, because I think that is what it is.
CH.89: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
SM: Inspiration can come from anything, though usually it comes from things that I somehow experience. Literature, movies and art in general are also an obvious and permanent source of inspiration.
CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about what your creative thought process is like when starting a new project/ piece of artwork?
SM: I rarely work on projects that stand on their own, my photographic series tend to be built around my life, but sometimes an idea just comes to my mind and then I can’t stop thinking about it. It frequently happens when I’m in bed and when I should be sleeping but I can’t. Then I can pretty soon figure out how a new project will be, even if it will be reformulated as I start to work on it, of course.
CH.89: Is there anything in particular that you would want people to take from your artwork?
SM: I would like to hope that in some way people get what I do, but in the end what they really can take goes beyond me, I have no power over it.
CH.89: When starting out an artistic task, do you think it is better to have a particular direction/set plan guiding your way? Or, is it better to act on impulse and go from there?
SM: Both ways can work but I often start from a very spontaneous and impulsive moment and then I try to really focus and build things in a very rigorous and formal way.
In photography I often shoot in a way where I try to find a balance between the directness of a scene, as it appears to my eyes, and the tendency I have to force this moment into a composition that responds to my aesthetic views.
CH.89: Do you regard personal style & taste to be of highest importance?
SM: If style and taste are part of how one’s identity is built and if this comes from a personal desire, in a not overly constructed way, then of course they are important. But I don’t necessarily see them as directly related to the artwork or to the diffusion of it.
CH.89: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being an artist?
SM: To make a living from it, only from it. It seems like a pretty hard thing.
CH.89: What is one thing you love about being an artist?
SM: That I have no boss or any kind of superior authority whatsoever.
CH.89: Do you think being an artist allows you to view the world differently from those who don’t follow creative paths?
SM: I guess that could be true, though I also believe that it is more a personality matter, it depends on how a single person sees the world and how different their opinions on things can be.
CH.89: Any future goals or plans for your artwork?
SM: To always work in a way that fully satisfies me and to accomplish everything I want to do.
CH.89: What does being an artist mean to you?
SM: The possibility to create things, to put ideas into form and work on a personal aesthetic language. And basically the only way I can find to give a meaning to life.
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