Interview with Roman painter and urban artist Marco Rèa:

You call yourself an “artist from another world.” Can you tell us more about who you are, where you come from, and what you do?

My name is Marco Rèa. I am an artist, and I come from a planet in a small solar system, light years away from Earth 😉 

Actually, I call myself that because I’m always a bit in my own world, with my head in the clouds. But also because I’m not interested in following the masses both in general and, above all, artistically. I give life to my own things, following personal research, my inspirations, and creating things that come from deep inside, from my world.

What is your opinion on (urban) art? How much does your art influence your daily life?

It may seem like an obvious answer, but art IS my daily life. I go to my studio almost every day, and even when I don’t go there my mind is always focused on art.

It is a fundamental presence in my life, both in the good times and the bad. 

I come from the graffiti world and have always followed street art. My opinion on urban art can only be positive, and I am convinced that it is indispensable. Although I am very critical and personally appreciate a small part of it, I find it nice that everyone expresses themselves as they think best, and that’s the beauty of it, that anyone can do it.

Do you have a formal artistic education?

Yes, since I was a child I have always loved drawing and creativity. It was almost obvious to me, after middle school, to choose an artistic path. I graduated from art high school and completed SRF (Scuola Romana di Fumetti) and then graduated in art history with a thesis on “Illegality in Contemporary Art.” In addition to a formal art education, I also have an “informal” one, having done graffiti from 1996 to 2006. And all this has contributed to the formation of what I do today.

You are internationally known as a member of the Italian Lowbrow Art scene and have experimented with the practice of Appropriation Art, where you worked with spray paint on advertising and fashion photographs. In your recent works you have approached the style of Line Art. Can you tell us more about your artistic development and way of working?

As I said before, after doing graffiti for many years, in 2005 I started exhibiting my works in galleries, first in Italy and soon after in Europe, then in America and Japan. I came to the creation of this particular technique of “spray on billboard” after a long, even tiring, journey, but I’ve been rewarded with great satisfaction. 

After 15 years, however, I felt that I had given everything I wanted and, even if it meant risking losing everything, I felt the need to change and experiment with other fields, to do other research. I abandoned the use of color stains, and I dedicated myself to the use of stencils, giving life to a series of female portraits formed by tangles of lines, a struggle between chaos and order. But I think that sense of elegance and composition of the earlier works remained the same. Even the inspiration for the subjects always comes from the world of fashion, which is distorted, and then takes on a new life in my works. I can say that these works are basically the other side of the same coin.

You are a contributor to SHOWstudio, a website focused on fashion communication. What is this part of your work about? 

SHOWstudio is much more than a website: it is a sort of factory founded by Nick Knight (one of the most famous photographers in the world), whose headquarters is in a beautiful art gallery in the heart of London, inside a deconsecrated church. SHOWstudio is also a creative team that includes some of the most important names in the world, including artists, photographers, fashion illustrators, make-up artists, etc… I think that Lady Gaga is also part of it. 

I’ve done several exhibitions with them, both in London and Tokyo, and I’ve done illustrations for Paris Fashion Week. I have also collaborated with Kate Moss, the actress Chloe Sevigny, etc… It’s a real honor for me to be a part of it.