I forbindelse med WeLoveAsbæk’s scoop af en udstilling med det brasilianske street art stjernefrø Bruno9li, var Wonderland forbi dagen inden ferniseringen og fik en snak med kunstneren, hvis navn udtales Bruno Novelli efter det portugiske ord for ni.

Interview: Peter Rewers
Foto: Mike Nybroe

Samtalen kom vidt omkring alt imens fantastiske figurer kom til live på galleriets vægge. Bruno9li’s udstillinger er nemlig meget mere end blot mobile billeder; han inddrager også omgivelserne og gør meget for at skabe et helstøbt rum omkring sine værker.

Det har han i den grad også gjort hos WeLoveAsbæk, men problemet er bare, at de udstillede værker ikke er dukket op endnu! Men de er på vej, forlyder det, så fra næste uge vil også de pryde det intime lokale i Dyrkøb 7.

Mød den sympatiske street artist her og få blandt meget andet den mystiske historie om de forsvundne værker.
What made you take up drawing and become an artist?
- I decided to become an artist or a painter when I was 17 (Bruno is 28). I have been drawing all my life and I’ve always felt good when drawing. I think that’s why I just continued; I don’t remember one specific moment that made me go “Now I know what I want to be: I want to be an artist.” It just naturally happened.

What is your background?
- I studied graphic design, but I didn’t finish because it was too much theory and repetition of the teachers’ thoughts. If you have different opinions there is no room for you. Plus it took time away from my drawing, which was what I really wanted to do. It was not good for me. For instance I had to go Japan earlier this year for an exhibition and even though I only was away for a short period from school and furthermore just about to graduate, the teacher said that he didn’t care at all and if I went I couldn’t graduate now. Even though I told him that I could do the missing work before I left or when I got back.
Then I just decided to go anyway and to forget about graduating. Maybe one day I’ll go back a take my degree, but for now I don’t want to. I just prefer to be free.

I think also that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way of educating artists or creative people. If the professors just tell them to think like them, the students will never be individually interesting. You cannot teach them to be unique and to find their one style. That has to come from inside them selves.

How will you describe your work?
- It’s hard to describe. My influences are easier to talk about. I think it’s like a DJ; he takes different bits of sound and but them together in new contexts. So I mix everything together. Religious symbols, Greek paintings African masks, ancient body art from Brazilian natives. I like to work with graphic expressions that origin from a lot of different cultures.

I really like to think about the future. And so I really like to mix ancient images and my imagination and thoughts about the future and what I can do with it. And nature for sure is a big inspiration, plants animals everything. I believe we are all connected through nature: that we are all the same in a sense. That’s why I mix the different images.

How is your working process?
- For my originals I create the basic structure of the drawing with a pen or pencil. It’s the freest part, so I just draw and don’t imagine what’s going to happen with the colours. And then I put some more lines over and create details. And finally the colours, it’s not logic.

You seem to work with an image that reminds me of some sort of a food chain. What does that symbolize?
- That’s a good question. I’ve been thinking about it too. It just happens when I draw; something takes my attention. I think for me it’s a kind of recitation of my subconscious; the fish/ it comes from the sea, a place that I cannot access all the time. But it just comes from some other level of consciousness. And it comes really strong; like in bold red colour. It came in a metaphor; a big red fish with different layers that reaches out from inside.

So it’s actually the other way around a suppose to a food chain. The moving direction is inside out and not starting with the smallest fish?
- Exactly. It comes from inside. From the big mind and the thoughts that springs off it.

I’ve noticed that several of your paintings have this certain image, where a pair of eyes is looking out through what appears to be an opening in an armoured helmet or a chink in a prison door. It gives me the impression that someone’s being trapped inside or being held prisoner. Is that what you want to illustrate?
- Yes, somewhat. It’s like we have our body and everything that is reachable. I like to think that our body is a sort of a spaceship, and that way we see the world from inside. That’s why my characters are wearing these different robes or exterior “body”. In that sense we as persons are inside something, but not necessarily trapped.

You mentioned earlier how you had created a certain image from your subconscious. Is that how it always works or how do you develop your ideas for the images?
- It just comes to me. I am always looking for interesting images to develop.

Which artists are your biggest personal influences?
- I appreciate many different artists, but I deliberately try to move away from their way, because I want my own style. But I do admire some i.e. the Brazilian Farnese de Andrade, who use different objects that he would come across wherever he went, and put them into his sculptures, it’s really amazing. Also I’m really into all the alchemical engravings and drawings cause the way they represent the world in their motives and mysticism. I basically like different way of representing deep meanings.

Do you seek out other art forms for inspiration? Music, poetry etc.
- Yes, I consider music in my drawing; my taste for music is very eclectic, so sometimes when I draw I think about the sound of it. That’s really interesting what happens when I do that, when I consider noises and atmosphere as part of the work.

You live in Brazil, where You grew up in Porto Alegre but moved to the bigger city of Sao Paolo a couple of years ago. Does the move to Sao Paolo influence your work?
- Yes indeed. There are more things happening and the scene is bigger. Sao Paolo encourages you to work more somehow.

I read somewhere that your works in many ways reflects your childhood area (Porto Alegre). Can you explain that?
- I grew up in a neighbourhood with big warehouses. So during the week it was very busy, with trucks and cars coming in and out, but in the weekends it was totally quiet. So I always think of my youth, I project it in my mind when I work. My neighbourhood has influenced me a lot; I had to use my imagination a lot to find interesting and funny scenes or images because they didn’t come to me in natural. I had to look for them.

How is the contemporary art scene in Brazil?
- It’s actually very intense. Especially in Sao Paolo there’s a lot going on, it’s very inspiring. The street art scene is very happening in Sao Paolo, the city is very metropolitan as suppose to Rio de Janeiro. Sao Paolo has an urban culture where the people do a lot of drawing in the streets.

Now you’re here in Denmark, but what’s next for you after this exhibition?
- This year I went to different countries and I worked really hard. So next year I want to be freer; I’ve only scheduled two exhibitions, which was difficult, you know, to turn people down and say no. But this year was too much for me, too much work, I had to put too much out and I really think next year I will take it easier, work on bigger pieces and taking more time to finish the works.

Why do you want to make bigger paintings now?
- Some times it takes more energy to finish a smaller piece. For example all this installation and painting of the walls I did in four days, where as one original takes 12-15 days to finish. The maximum sizes of my originals are 1,2 x 0.8 meters. I would like to see what happens when I up the scales.

Do you do other art forms than drawing?
- No, it’s the best way for me to express and represent my thoughts. Plus it’s the cheapest and easiest accessible. Drawing is the best media for me.

Have you ever thought about painting naturalistic?
- No, my mind doesn’t work like that and I never thought like that, so I don’t think it will be natural for me to express myself naturalistic, so to speak☺.

What’s the story of the missing works?
- They were retrieved to Sao Paolo after my latest exhibition in Milan because the Brazilian cultural department thought it was historic pieces of art, which someone was about to take away from the country. It’s ridiculous, but apparently there was missing one standard formula, so I believe it will be solved and the works will arrive here soon. But can you imagine having your first solo exhibition in a totally new country and have no originals to show to people. That’s why I actually asked the people here at the gallery if we should postpone the exhibition. But they said, “ No, Bruno, people here really want to meet you and we can do an opening with painted walls, so people can get a good taste of what you do.” I really like that attitude; it’s fresh and unpretentious. But of course I hope my works will be here soon, so people can see more than painted walls.

Do you always paint the walls when you exhibit?
- Yes, because it create a more intense atmosphere. And when people come to see my originals, they also get a feeling of being inside my drawings. I like that. But I really miss the streets, because I’ve been working so much in galleries lately. I think my last work in the street was ten months ago. That is also why next year I only want to plan a few exhibitions; so that I have time to work more on the streets again.

I’ve noticed that you paint a piece on a wooden plate. Do you prefer wood to canvas or is it just an exception?
- No, it’s not an exception. I’m really not in to canvas that much. I don’t know why exactly, maybe because it’s too alive. But I have thought about that I most likely will do my bigger pieces on canvas in the future because it is easier and cheaper.

Thank you very much for your time. Any last words to Wonderland?
I really like to thank you guys for a great magazine. It’s an important piece because it displays very good art and it helps people to expand their mind. You guys really do a great work.

For more words and pics go to the web home of Bruno9li

Written by Peter Rewers