Cento Canesio itw

Are you doin’, Cento. A big hands shake. Are you right- or left-hand?
Hello to you. A big hands shake is a good starting point. I’m right-hand, anyway.

Where are you now, and where do you come from?
I’m on a train right now, I’m coming from Vicenza and I’m going to Venice. While, broadly speaking, now I don’t exactly know where I am, I’m quite confused about that, I think that deciding the way you exactly want to follow  in your life is really hard, anyway… I come from the world of skate, writing and music in general, I can say I’ve always been fascinated by the young subcultures, from where my background comes. Still, I’m attracted from what emerges there, trips infuse me a  lot of energy and spurs, as meeting new people, I can live them very often thanks to what I do.

What’s behind you? Physically speaking and concerning your artistic experiences?
Physically speaking, there’s a bear, he’s observing me from some time to see what I do … it’s hard to understand those people…. Always referring to this precise moment. At the top of my artistic experiences there’s the trainbombing, taking great part of my life for a longtime, Let’s say I always considered it an either adrenalin or formative strong expression,  it made me feel physically well, I always said that drawing a train is one of the very few things healing my headache.
‘Cause besides drawing the fascination consisted in finding the locations for the drawings, understanding the best moment for  striking out unknown places, to the most. It soaks a very special energy, without equal!

How old are you? If I asked you to describe yourself in 3 TAGS to a centenarian who doesn’t know anything about tags  … how would you face it?
I was born in 1974, I’m 34 right now, the Tags could be: Salt, Hundred and Canesio, I believe they are the 3 basic cores of my trip.
The first goes back to the beginning, and represents my getting into a new and so attractive world. I remember I tried to create my first piece in the summer of 1989 together with my friend. I almost perfectly copied a drawing I saw in a skate fanzine. Since then I was more and more involved in it and I never gave up, indeed.
The second represents the maybe most productive period, where let’s say I was able to create decent pieces, and I threw myself heart and soul in making as many pieces as possible and pushing my limit further and further, either talking about drawing quality or risks. It’s really important never to be content with what you do, or you could risk to sink and find the finish line.
The third describes the moment of change, when I got tired of certain things, not because I didn’t retain them interesting anymore but simply ‘cause I felt like changing. It is really important to face steady challenges and attempts to make something new every time. Experiencing and getting into unknown circles allow you to move your limit forward and change your way.  You know, I often did sucking  things, while I meant to do else but I was not skilled enough, thanks to them I improved and got better .

To the most who know you as “OH! OK! The one of the dog”.. do you want to deliver them any message …?
Well, being known is positive in any case, even when someone talks about you in a  negative way, someone positively  or stupidly. Basically it means you’ve been able to stir up a reaction with your works.

How old is…..what’s his name…the dog? Is it aggressive? Is it foundling… how is it born?
Its age is indefinite, it’s presumed to be a male, even if it could be possibly asexual. Aggressive… not at all, I don’t think so. Even if its master was, it grew up good and pacific.  It is a fact that its muzzle always shows concern ….  I must still find a reason why.

Freestyle/impulsive soul  or pencil, rubber / brain?
As I’m rather stupid and dumb  I say freestyle/impulsive soul, hehehe.
I’m kidding you, the most part of my works isn’t planned so much, my whole past production is based on the moment, I got there and what came out came out. Usually I find myself doing everything at the last second, so I avoided preparing anything, if I could. Obviously, now that I work as graphic or creating pieces based on projects I’m kind of obliged to draw on paper, and to project a little more,  so I had to change my way of working. Anyway, if I’ve the chance to create something only for myself, I still love starting without a plan and finding out where I’m going step by step.

In your life, who influenced you and remained in your Olympus?
Well, I’ve always appreciated very much Iacovitti from a figurative point of view, then Sharp concerning my eldest and most complicated jobs. Drawing with him left the mark in me, I saw how he used the colors and sprays, he literally changed certain points of view. Anyhow, I’ve always been attracted by simplicity, I’m convinced that creating something simple but really striking is much harder than complicated stuff. If you write a very intricate letter you can easily hide the imperfections, while one simple and clean without a solid structure can be immediately blamed.
Then, I cannot deny I like Snoopy  and everything  around him….

Does a music/sounding background exist, that you retain the most suitable to your “style”?
No, no special music, as I adore listening to music in general.  It’s a very important thing for me, based on the day and on what  I’m doing. It always makes me feel very strong emotions, listening to music is essential, music is the soundtrack of one’s life, thank god someone invented it!

Which among your creations has a special place in your heart?
I think it’s the New York subway … everything began there, so laying hands on it  sounded like a dream, something I’d have always considered unreachable …. Now I can die happy!

How do you keep fit? With your board or dressing the table?
I’ve been snowboarding and skating for a longtime, lately I begun skating once again in my free time, it relieves me a lot. Then I ride the bike very much, but eating remains the best seller, I’m curios of tasting, so I love eating everything. I think I’ve been eating the most part of eatable stuff, except for shit … Anyway, however I try to keep fit beer blows my stomach up!

You succeded in showing your art to a mainstream audience, applying it to famous projects such as Lobster and Tim Tribu’. How did you get there  and which are the pros?
Indeed, I’m not sure about how I made it, let’s say I’ve been working in the fashion industry from so many years. For a longtime I designed the most part of Broke line, then I decided to give birth to the brand Lobster together with an old friend of mine.   Maybe feeling 100% free in creating the graphics, maybe designing quite simple stuff, it gave me the chance to use them even for projects of this calibre.  I realized that when I apply canesio on a t-shirt, it’s usually appreciated ( although he remains with his worried expression ).  The pros consist in being able day after day  to live what you do, and this is very important to me.

What takes you up right now Hundred%?
My job unfortunately, not 100% but almost; by the way, this is the con of carrying on with your art, in my case at least. Projects without any purpose become rare time after time, and I’m always on the run with deadlines, etc. etc. etc.
At best I should be working for living, not the contrary … but the fact I can survive more or less with what I love doing is positive itself.

How would you spend the Hundred Euros?
Well, if with 100 Liras men went to Usa, with 100 Euros I can do a lot of fucking things! … mhm … right now I’d buy food, I’m hungry.

Now, what can’t we really miss of Cento Canesio, in your opinion?
His bullshits! Ahhahaha, I talk too much, anybody would say that. Anyway, if you mean to give a look to my works you can visit my  blog http://centocanesio.blogspot.com where I publish all my things.