CH.89: If you were to categorize or describe the style of your artwork, what would it be and why?

FB: I do not want to confine myself in a prison of a style or shape. Drawing and illustration are for me one of the ways to recount and photograph the thoughts, feelings and emotions.

CH.89: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

FB: I do not believe in the inspiration. The ideas are there waiting for us, the problem is that often we are not able to see them. Anyway, I try to observe people, animals, nature… anything that contains “life”.

CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about what your creative thought process is like when starting a new project/ piece of artwork?

FB: The first step and the most important thing is to choose what I want to tell through my work. Once I’ve found the generating element the next stage is a research job to find the best way to describe and explain the concept. Transform the idea into an illustration. I find it extremely interesting to combine different fields in one image. Find a common language in different disciplines. There are endless connections and links between different art forms. My exercise is trying to discover some.

CH.89: Is there anything in particular that you would want people to take from your artwork?

FB: When I do something I do not think about how people might react.

CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about your lifestyle as an artist and what that is like?

FB: Every day I try to rediscover a way to observe the world as through the eyes of a child. Children are able to have a vision of things totally uninhibited and without the conditioning of the experience. The children’s drawings are always amazing and beautiful in their spontaneous simplicity and clarity.

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?

FB: Sometimes I like to act on impulse with a particular direction/set plan guiding my way. Other times I like to act with a particular direction plan and find an impulse to lose my way.

CH.89: What is one major lesson you’ve learned as an artist thus far?

FB: I try to keep my expressive language as simple as I can. Simplicity is the hardest thing. To simplify you have to remove things in excess, and to do so you need to know what to remove.

CH.89: Do you regard personal style & taste to be of highest importance?

FB: It is important if one is able to change and evolve them without fear.

CH.89: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being an artist?

FB: Trying not to consider yourself an artist.

CH.89: What is one thing you love about being an artist?

FB: Freedom in expressing what you feel, and feel what you are expressing.

CH.89: Is there anyone in particular, any artist’s that inspire you in any way?

FB: I like lots and I admire few.

CH.89: What do you think of technology in terms of being a useful tool for artists today?

FB: Is a tool that helps and that at the same time hinders. New technologies do not build Artists.

CH.89: Do you think being an artist allows you to view the world differently from those who don’t follow creative paths?

FB: It’s too presumptuous. I know people who are not artists that have an artistic sensibility.

CH.89: Do you enjoy traveling? If so, do you have a favorite city?

FB: I like to travel but I do not have favorite cities. I usually like small things of many cities that make up my favorite city. I like the light of lisboa the sky of Amsterdam the shadows of new york the smell of venice. London’s noise, the corners of paris …..

CH.89: Do you have a favorite author or book?

FB: I do not like to make charts. I have many favorite books that have marked many favorite moments. But I remember my first book when I was a child, like I remember my first kiss. Hans Ruesch: Top of the World.

CH.89: Any future goals or plans for your artwork?

FB: I do not see myself in a year or five years and most importantly I do not want to see myself in the future. It is difficult enough to recognize myself in the present and to remember me in the past that I prefer to leave the future alone… I’m always very excited and enthusiastic especially about the project I’m working on. I’m working on multiple projects simultaneously. This way allows me to have a more dynamic approach.” I’m a multitasking graphic designer.”

CH.89: What does being an artist mean to you?

FB: I prefer being a person.

CH.89: Any last words on the aesthetic of your artwork?

FB: The magic of illustration is the ability to surprise you. A simple drawing that contains some unexpected element.

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