Italian artist Millo creates enormous murals that often contain scenes of wonder with young subjects. (The artist was last featured on HiFructose.com here.) We recently asked the artist about his process and why he works with such large-scale canvases. Check out our Q&A below.
Hi-Fructose: What’s your process for planning the story and mood of each mural?
Millo: After the choosing of the surface, I (usually) ask information about the area where my work will be, so I usually try to read as much as possible about the history of the place, where it is located inside the city and if there are any other information useful to inspire me.
Sometimes, the theme is already suggested by the organizers of the festivals, but most of the time, once I’ve arrived to the wall, I let myself find the inspiration in locale, to be sure to create something that fits perfectly with the place.
HF: There seems to be a sense of wanting to capture nostalgia and wonder in many of your works. How does your massive platform inform the feelings you’re trying to invoke?
M: My characters live in a city without colors that sometimes could even appear uninhabited; they are out of scale, and a bit clumsy while playing with objects that belong to our childhood memories.
Probably all of these factors lead the viewer to feel this “nostalgia” while looking at my works.
HF: Do viewers often have misconceptions or new interpretations of your work that they share with you?
M: It happens a lot of time while I’m working that people pass to say “hello” and tell me what they see in what I’m doing.
Usually the main meaning is clear, but I find very interesting when someone has a different interpretation from mine. It’s in the end what I love the most: to let everybody interpret my works as they like.
HF: Do you enjoy the challenge of integrating existing parts of buildings into your works?
M: It’s a great challenge for me to interact with the shape or the existing parts of the building I have to paint; it’s definitely another source of inspiration for me. So yes, I love it when it’s possible!
HF: What is it about mural work that attracts you to this form?
M: While I’m painting it’s like a sort of meditation for me and bigger the surface is longer this feeling lasts, moreover the contact with the reality, with the city down my boom lift, it’s completely different from when I’m painting inside a studio. It’s like being part of what I’m drawing.
