We’re glad to introduce the interview with Antonio Miele, a SOA student from the Masterclass#8.
Could you present yourself to our readers and tell them the position you currently hold?
Hi All, my name is Antonio, I’m Neapolitan (Italy) and I work at Uniform as CGArtist.
Why have you chosen to become an Arch-Viz Artist?
During my studies in Architecture, I developed a strong passion for photography and digital arts, so the process to put them together was natural to me. It is so rewarding for me to be able to create, manage and make visible what does not exist in reality: to take pictures in my mind and to express them with graphic art. It makes me proud having the artistic responsibility to create a picture today which tells the story that will be tomorrow.
Art does not reproduce what is visible but makes visible what is not always so.
Paul Klee
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What were the biggest difficulties you faced at the beginning of your career? How did you handle and overcome them?
Now I am integrated into a working environment which is intense, dynamic and rewarding. Of course, it hasn’t always been easy to me to find the right direction. Over the years, before the masterclass at the SOA, I had created my own workflow using tutorials, videos and everything that the Web could provide me. After the masterclass, I had closed every circle with my studies and, once at Uniform I was confronted with other kinds of challenges: real deadlines, communication with clients and not least, to integrate into a working environment which was all new to me.
As a frame for all this, I found the difficulties that a ‘Southern boy’ experiences when moving to a new country and a new city: understanding the different customs and traditions, which every day I discover and learn more about. Luckily I have colleagues who I thank for welcoming me into the studio, and who every day contribute to my growth as an artist and as a professional in the field.
I admit that I have had to work a lot out about myself during the last few years and I reflect a lot in what Brescacin indicated in his previous interview about the arrogance and stubborn pride: there is a close link between creativity and narcissism. Creativity is an expression of oneself, and it can sometimes be sensitive to critique from peers and the public, but this also brings rewards. As Csikszentmihalyi says, to stay in ‘the flow’ or ‘zone’ for a long time, in the state of mind for creative activity requires a pure, deep focus on the task, even excluding themselves and their emotions. Place your art in front of your ego.
Is there a work/ an image/ a project that you created which is most valuable to you? Why?
Each picture which I work on has always something important, a bit like when you hear that song that takes you back in time. Well, sometimes that image becomes the thing to help you remember periods of life or just an emotion that you felt at that time, that idea that materialises when you were studying its composition.
The image that I show is one which echoes a really nice time and it still excites me now: This is a KPF proposal in London. The image was published on AJ magazine as ‘most tweeted picture of the week’. I do not know whether it is trivial or not, but for me it’s a strong gratification and one of the first images I worked on at Uniform.
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What do you do in your free time after work? Can you balance your working life and your private one?
Working with creativity makes it really difficult to separate work from private life. You could walk along and see a reflection, a light … a plant … oh look that stone! At that moment you want to store it quickly, make it your own and create who knows what, a fantastic thing. It doesn’t always have the opportunity to turn into that fantastic thing, but it’s great when it does. And of course, I am not always thinking about digital art! I also have a private life made by friends in the pub or on a soccer field or in a gym. I like playing the bass guitar, maybe in a band one day, will see; I learned to play the ukulele with mixed results right now, but that’s okay! Then there are travels and those I constantly plan.
Sometimes I run somewhere along the coast to experience the smell of the sea that in my life must never be lacking. In short, I try to never be stopped.
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