Artist Interview: Sebastian Curi
Sebastian Curi is an Argentianian born Illustrator who now calls Barcelona home. He has found himself working alongside agencies such as: The New Yorker, CNN and Apple. With a plethora of influences and a style that are malleable in order to create life and connection in his pieces he is quickly becoming an artist I can’t stop looking up. From first glance the pieces make one feel jovial and a nostalgic take is created, continue looking and the sense of maturity and craftsmanship from Curi becomes apparent. He is an artist making art that fulfills its purpose, creating hope and feeling in an otherwise oblique world. He plays with body form and limbs which is reminiscent of the characters of Keith Haring, paired with the voluptuous use of colour found in artists like Alva Skog’s works. It is bold, bright and braisen with strong colours, lines and feelings.
BYO: How is life at the moment?
Sebastian: Life is great! We just moved to Barcelona with my wife a couple weeks ago. We decided to keep traveling and working at the same time. A couplemonths each city, next one is Buenos Aires where we have to figure out Visa stuff and then NYC or Europe. We really love to live in a city where things feels new and you are still curious about it.
I’m really happy with how my life is looking now; I got to a point where I can sleep well, exercise a couple times a week, cook with my wife every lunch and dinner and work on the projects I feel more excited about. I’m more than grateful for all of these.
BYO: What is your aim when you partake in a creative endeavour?
Sebastian: I always try to make the most beautiful thing I can. I think our place in the industry is between the commercial purpose and the ability to create some value. Is hard sometimes to be able to hit both. Sometimes the interesting thing to do doesn’t align with the project brief but that is our job, right?
BYO: What was it that lead to you to move from animation towards illustration?
Sebastian: The short answer would be more freedom to create and a bigger space to grow. Is nice start from scratch a creative project and I always felt the designer if good, already choose how to animate the piece. But it was a complex decision and a better work-life balance, more time with my family and a healthier way of life also were part of the move.
BYO: There is only excitement and joy within your work, they are playful and full of character. How do you go about creating these scenes / characters?
Sebastian: I care for things moving, for the bold and colorful. I love playfulness and I enjoy things that make you laugh. I found a voice drawing people, they get a reaction on all sorts of people. It’s universal. I tried a million things over these years but these felt different. I can have real ownership on the drawings I do now and they way they are is a reflection of things that I’m thinking on that moment.
BYO: What is an ideal day like for you?
Sebastian: I wake up. Go for a run. Go to the studio and work a couple hours. Cook something with my wife. Grab a Coffee. Work a couple hours more. Cook dinner. Watch an episode of my favorite series and go sleep. Sometimes I use the morning to explore the city we are living. We grab the bikes to visit a new neighborhood, new coffee or restaurant or a bookstore. We love bookstores. I would love to add a dog to our life but we are traveling too much and it seems a bit unsustainable for now. Who knows in the future?
BYO: What are some of your favourite collaborations you have done? (please include the works if you can).
Sebastian: It was really fun to put my time into the Venmo illustration Voice. That Collaboration with studio Koto was the best, all the work was inspired on my previous personal work and I had almost complete freedom to create scenes and moments to tell the story.
Another project that I really like is El recoleta, the scope of creating key visuals for a museum, painting walls and producing tees, posters, pins, chairs, and lots of other stuff was amazing.
BYO: What is next for you?
Sebastian: I want to create more personal stuff. To try new mediums and materials. To do an exhibition with paintings and sculptures, something fun! To go and do some animation with friends. To make clothing.
I’m very anxious and I always live in the future. My mind is always thinking what I could do. That’s also part of what is next for me. To enjoy more the present and worry less about the future. I’m very anxious, I stressed a lot for work stuff and my health reflects all of that. So exercising and working on my anxiety should be part of this. Working on that :)
BYO: If you could work on any project what would it be?
Sebastian: It would be fun to go into fashion. Not a t shirt. Like something crazy and fun for theater or some adventurous performer.
