–  m . dicastri  –  born and raised on the west coast of canada – 1957  –

          : inspiration

falling out of the womb . waking each morning . being human . a blank surface and thirty jars of colour .

          : influences        

 family . friends . race . country . gender . upbringing . education . social economic back ground / privilege , personality , diet . addictions . the list goes on . artists i like . bacon , caravaggio , duchamp , warhol and many others . at thirteen , i discovered  the ‘dadaist movement , which articulated and ignited many ideas  already smoldering around  inside my strange little noggin . i loved the humor and freedom they unleashed and the self deprecation and pure talent they brought to the table and applied to their work . very nifty .

          : what is your favorite medium to work with

hard to pick a favorite . for now i’ll go with colour . i  love the dance of the brush . always have . so direct . so immediate . it is wonderful to experience ideas jump from head to hand to brush . limitless .

          : what is your creative process like

loose , messy , rapid fire . spontaneous  combustion . painting is a solitary activity and much like the quantum realm , observation effects out come . my best work  happens when i am alone and stop trying to paint and simply play with colour .

          : what pieces are you most proud of 

everything and nothing . each piece leeds to the next  . the journey never ends . 

          : what do  you think of art school

great for marketing and net working  . especially in the new millennium .  for some it works  .  i tried it for a year and quickly realized it wasn’t for me . 

          : what is it about graphic design that you like

 .  my  introduction to graphic design and print making was through a variety of  books on both traditional and modern japanese printers and graphic designers . what struck me was the simplicity and clarity of line and the idea of  ‘ less is more  .  i later discovered propaganda posters from the 30’s , 40’s and 50’s . as a collective , all the big guns , the united states , europe , russia , china and japan produced stunning graphics . their use of  colour , line , space , text and font was brilliant . i also have a soft spot for andy warhol .  his contribution to screen printing was immense .  he took an established practice and turned it on it’s ear . he brought chance into a mechanical process that strives to eliminate any and all potential of variation . very neat .

          : you work with sound , elaborate  

i was fortunate to be brought up surrounded by music . it seems to have taken hold . my chubby little ears exploded the first time my father introduced them to classical and jazz music . subsequently , they have become magnets to all sound .  when i heard  zappa , hendrix , miles and captain beefheart , i realized music could be completely open . non linear . no obligation , nor need to reference traditional twelve tone , eurocentric structures . a few years later i discovered john cage and the concept of environmental composition . pure sound . this has led me on a musical journey around the world , that continues today . when i began to record , it didn’t take long  to discover that (the) recording , editing and mixing of sound was simply ‘painting with ‘sound . its all there . the layers and textures . the backgrounds and foregrounds . the abstraction of space , tension / tone and orgasm …. beautiful . i still love to play with sound . mainly digital now . samples and loops / ones and zeros …….

          : 2017 – and into the future …..

continue to play with colour , sound and text .