Artist Proof: Alessandro Echevarria aka Skull Daggery is a Mental Astronaut and Amateur Deconstructionist who currently, lives, works, plays in Brooklyn, New York.
Artsprojekt: What inspires your art?
Skull Daggery: Living? I don’t actually know. It’s a very difficult thing to pinpoint.
I often make work about what interests me or what I deem meaningful in some way. Right now I’m really into animal bones, nature, diagrams, victorian/edwardian style, and meats. But I’ve also always really been inspired by old sailor tattoo flash, and japanese comics. I think mythology, and stories are a big part of what inspires me, but interpreting and creating them. I really like exploring how things are made, and putting it down showing how I understand it.
AP: What is the relationship between technique and content in your work?-
SD: Technique serves the content, but I guess I usually stay away from
depicting anything I don’t feel confident enough to draw or paint. I mean as I become better at my craft, I’d like to think the way my content is presented also improves, but other than that I don’t think about it all that much.
AP: Describe your first experience of making art and how it affected your life’s journey
SD: Well my mother says I started drawing when I was about 2, but I can’t say I remember that. Once at a friend’s studio in Florida, I was given the freedom to use paint and wood, to make whatever I wanted with no restraint. I just started doing what I thought was cool, not worried of any idea or context. One of the things I made in those sessions ended up being the first piece I ever sold. Which then got me invited to do more shows. Something I never even thought about doing with my work, I was pretty stoked.
AP: Describe your most recent experience of making art.
SD: Well the last thing I made I would hardly consider art. I worked on a pattern, something I have wanted to do for a long time, but never got a chance to or made myself do until just recently. It was a fun challenge to come up with all the elements of the composition and to fit them together without repeating too much, I’d love to work on more now, and really fine tune the process.
AP:Take us on a guided tour through a day in your life as an artist
SD: I usually wake up rather late, check emails, and Blog Subscriptions.
Next I plan my moves for that day, reply to calls or messages, and do some research for whatever personal or work project I’m currently developing. Then I head out to Nicola Verlato’s studio, an amazing artist who I assist,you should check out, and who is gracious enough to allows me to work on my own art at his studio. I do that until almost midnight and then go home to rest up, or work even more at home. The next day I do it all over again. This has been my new routine since the new year, As soon as I get my own studio, I’ll probably be there 24-7 working on projects.
