Federico Bonfiglio’s minimalist and perspective trait

Hi Federico, welcome to our microphones! Tell us a little about yourself and your creative path…
My name is Federico Bonfiglio, I come from the sea, I am a graphic designer and an illustrator. I was born in the Genoa area, I started drawing as a child and I have never stopped since then. The need to draw has always been “physiological”, because it made me feel good and allowed me to create a personal space wherever I went. After attending the illustration course at Genoa Comics Academy and obtaining a degree in Graphic Design and Art Direction at the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, I focused on publishing by developing graphic projects and illustrations for the most important Italian publishers.
Looking at your illustrations, do you think you’ve unknowingly been inspired by any particular current / artist? I am mainly inspired by minimalist nature and the East (especially the masters of the floating world) which often play a key role in my imagination and in my study of a deep and intimate aesthetic. In my case, I tend to separate my personal research from the client’s request and this allows me to often change tone, to adapt and transform my sign according to the needs. This aspect of the illustrator’s life is extremely stimulating for me because it pushes me to look for different solutions to new problems and requests. My creative process often starts simply with paper and pencil. This leads to a fair amount of scribbling where, as the idea becomes clearer, the lines are reduced to the essentials. At that point, I digitize the final sketch and I start experimenting. In this last phase the depth of the message and the atmosphere are fundamental and sometimes I search for them obsessively, but it also happens that they are suggested to me by a mood or a feeling in a completely spontaneous way and it is in those moments that I realize something new, that I had never tried before.


What is the essential element to illustrate and why? I believe there are many exceptional illustrators in Italy and all around the world and I can also certainly say that I am not going to reach the level of most of them, but that is not important. Being the best is not fundamental in our work, I think in fact the essential element to be a good illustrator is to be authentic. Everyone has their own way of seeing things and it may be that they come close to the style of an artist, but we are always influenced by those we admire and we can’t forget that we are all healthy carriers of a unique quality that just has to find its own way.
When did you realize you had a talent for drawing? When I was a child I drew dinosaurs in all sorts of ways, and from there I have not stopped. Over time I decided to turn my need to draw into a real profession, experimenting a lot and “touching with my hands” my feelings. My drawings reflect me! I am instinctive and do not dominate my creations, I accept the mistakes and try to find the positive aspects.


From landscapes, to human faces: your subjects frequently change. Are you experimenting? In the last period I always try to create suggestive atmospheres… always giving to my public a different point of view, linked however by a common thread with my other realizations. My research is still in an embryonic stage, necessary to fully understand my style and my aesthetic sense.
From your latest creations we notice how much “three-dimensionality” has a leading role in the scenes represented. Do you find yourself in this? Yes, in fact I have been experimenting with this concept lately. It is important for me to find the atmosphere and then the concept. Observing some paintings by great artists of the past (including Van Gogh) I have noticed how three-dimensionality manages to give a decisive touch to the atmosphere depicted.
Contact: www.federicobonfiglio.com



