Interview with the anonymous artist passionate about psychology and crypto art: Cupydo Art

Hello welcome to Il Mio Salotto, please introduce yourself and explain why you chose the stage name Cupydo Art.

Hello Francesca and hello to all the followers and readers of "Il Mio Salotto", before starting this interview I want to thank you and your wonderful staff for this great opportunity but above all for the beautiful relationship of complicity and friendship that has been created over this period.

On the other hand, I have found wonderful people with whom to exchange opinions and advice, but above all people with whom to talk about art in all its forms.

Now let's get down to business, I'll start off by saying that in this interview I will try to show as much of my artistic soul as possible, revealing a few little secrets about Cupydo.

Unfortunately, however, not all the questions will be answered properly, as they should probably also refer to the personal side that hides behind Cupydo and that at least for the moment I am trying to preserve.

The real reason for the choice of this pseudonym was entirely accidental and unfortunately, I can't give too much away on this aspect as by a strange coincidence this stage name is very closely linked to me and by giving an answer I could compromise my anonymity.

On the other hand, there are several other factors that led me to decide to keep this name, the first of which is undoubtedly related to my passion for Greco-Roman mythology.

And the choice of a figure that could be associated with feelings such as love, passion, and desire, excited me greatly.

Love is that thing that everyone likes, so I thought that automatically Cupydo could please everyone.

Then there are more 'strategic' aspects related to communication. Being a fan of marketing, neuromarketing, and psychology, I found a lot of elements that tied in with this name.

I will reveal some of them to you: CUPIDO, the greek Go, in mythology is represented as a child angel, and who more than angels and children convey feelings of happiness, peace, and positivity?

Then the hallmark of angels is definitely their wings, an element that symbolizes freedom, which makes us dream of flying, gives us a sense of lightness and carefree, and makes us imagine loved ones who have left this earth.

CUPYDO is a figure that appeals to women and men alike because it is that figure that can make them fall in love.

Cupydo is love, art is love.

Why the choice to remain anonymous, like the famous Banksy, tell us your reasons.

Comparing myself to a legend like Banksy both intimidates and flatters me, as it is from him that I took so much inspiration, especially in my early works.

In fact, the work with which I made my debut in the world of crypto art with my performance in the underground was intended as a tribute to him.

A tribute which, however, also concealed a strong message of provocation towards him, which perhaps we will unveil in the next interview hahaha.

I choose to remain anonymous as an ethical and political choice in order to highlight the total dissolution of the concept of identity in contemporary times.

Anonymity catapults you into a unique dimension, no one knows who you are, you could be the last bum on the face of this earth, or you could be one of the greatest established artists enjoying being an emerging artist.

Not knowing generates curiosity and above all, even if it may seem strange, unawareness generates respect.

Personally, being anonymous gives me a great feeling of freedom and irresponsibility.

I felt this extraordinary sensation right from the start with my first public performance, the one in the underground, where once I had placed the works without being seen, I could sit next to them without anyone ever knowing that I had installed them. It was beautiful.

How and when did you approach the world of NFT, was it love at first sight? Did you immediately think you could connect them to your art?

It was love at first sight, just like an arrow shot by Cupid.

Let's let a little more secret out, before being a crypto art enthusiast I was and am a big fan of the universe of cryptocurrencies, from a very early time.

This passion for cryptocurrencies and automatically for blockchain turned out to be a passe-partout into the world of NFT and crypto art.

I am fascinated by all innovative things, but I am not a nerd, as I understand little or nothing about codes, algorithms, and mathematics, let's say that my being innovative is much more about creativity than technology.

In fact, 'NFT on canvas' is practically the fruit of these two elements, creativity, and innovation.

No one until now had ever thought of taking a smartphone and making it communicate with a canvas by simply placing it on it.

I did it, and from this Cohesionism was born.

How did the idea of your interactive installation on the Milan metro on Valentine's Day 2022 come about?

You have probably noticed, that I love to be the center of attention, or rather that my works are. They are my creatures and I give them my whole self, every installation, performance, and work of mine, has to make noise, the noise is the nourishment of the work.

For my first installation, I wanted to create something spectacular, never seen before.

In fact, it was the world's first interactive installation developed inside subways, trams, and buses.

It was not easy, which is why I used some good and trusted friends who helped me to carpet as many vehicles as possible in the shortest possible time, it was quite an adrenaline-filled experience like all things show business.

I chose Valentine's Day because I wanted Cupydo to be born on the day of love, on the day dedicated to it.

Besides being a crypto artist, do you also have another occupation? Would you like to make art your full-time occupation?

Yes, I have another profession that is light years away from making art, but unfortunately, I can't comment too much on it at the moment.

Well, I think it would be every artist's dream to make their passion their profession, even if it is not among my main goals right now.

Now that art is not a real profession for me, I can be much freer, especially in inspiration.

Whereas I believe that whenever a passion turns into a job and therefore into a form of livelihood, one then has to 'force' the inspiration, respect deadlines, contracts, etc.

Now, however, I feel free and for the moment I am doing well.

You are also a writer for Agenda Digitale, tell us about your passion for writing.

Writing has always been a passion that I cultivate with great enthusiasm, as with art, I find in words a safe space, a place where I can confide and be free, let out that self that for obvious reasons has to hide behind a mask.

I have found truly extraordinary people in Agenda Digitale who have given me confidence ever since Cupydo was still very anonymous. I would like to thank the editor Alessandro Longo, a figure of great professionalism like the entire editorial staff, who is always ready to come to my aid.

I believe that for an artist to be able to narrate his or her work through writing is that extra touch that gives the piece an even stronger and more distinctive mark.

It is not always possible for an artist to convey to the public the whole of his or her self involved in the creation of the work, and often using words can help both the artist and, above all, his or her public to immerse themselves in the most intimate and hidden aspects of the work, revealing small details that may not be visible with a fleeting vision of the creation.

In September I will also be the author of another important online magazine, where I will bring my content related to the universe of crypto art and NFT, I am really excited about this new collaboration, as the magazine I will be writing for is exclusively art-oriented.

Can you explain how your work is structured and articulated and how the NFT is integrated?

So, first of all, let's say that with each of my public performances or art installations, works are recreated for art lovers or collectors.

So very often each work created will already have a relevant history behind it.

With a hint of presumption, I can claim to have been the first and currently the only artist to have brought a new enjoyment of art to the artistic universe.

This is thanks to 'NFT ON CANVAS'.

For the first time, a canvas can dialogue with a smartphone through the most intimate form we know, namely contact, and this is where Cohesionism was born.

Cohesionism is the movement that expresses the intimate connection between traditional art and digital art, and it wants to do so through contact.

In fact, the deepest degree of intimacy that we can perceive happens precisely through it.

The contact between bodies, glances, or thoughts, generates the highest expression of intimacy that an individual can perceive.

For many people, physical contact remains the primary language of love, in fact, it is also a powerful vehicle for communicating love within the couple, and is also an act that promotes the release of oxytocin, also known as the love and happiness hormone.

Cohesionism is based on these elements.

Inasmuch as it is precisely through the contact between two entities, such as a canvas and a smartphone one is able to perceive the deep intimacy that two different types of arts are able to express by existing together.

In fact, the term Cohesion indicates precisely two or more elements that make sense to exist by being together. In the cohesive movement, this union is generated by physical objects such as a canvas, a sculpture, or simply a sheet of paper, and digital objects such as smartphones, tablets, and monitors, which create real "digital grafts" capable of dialoguing with the physical work, digital grafts that can manifest themselves with digital video, photographic or even musical animations, which are then transformed and certified in NFT.

By placing the smartphone on the NFC contact point, an animation starts that either completes the work or tells a story about it, revealing its soul.

If I wanted to explain in a few words how one of my works is structured, I would simply say that it consists of a canvas on which a smartphone is placed and then the rest is magic.

Which work are you most attached to?

There are currently six works I have completed that are part of different collections.

The first was the one created and dedicated to the performance of my artistic debut on

14 February 2022, the collection of which is entitled: NFT INSERT COIN TO PLAY.

This creation consists of a triptych of "NFT ON CANVAS", of which only one has been made public to date, but for "my living room" I will make an exception and for the first time show the second NFT ON CANVAS that is part of this triptych, but only showing the figurative part inherent to the canvas, while for the digital part (NFT) we will have to wait a little longer, as for the third, the official presentation of which is planned for a few months from now (October/November) when they will most likely be exhibited in two important physical galleries in Milan and put on sale for the first time.

In the upper photo we can see the canvas work entitled "JUST A RED BALLOON".

while below we see the completion of the work through the digital graft that 'appears' on the smartphone by simply placing it on the part depicting the token, this happens thanks to the NFT technology, which the canvas is equipped with via a microchip in it.

Below, I leave a link to the full experience of the work via a video:

JUST A RED BALLOON Twitter link

And as mentioned earlier, here for you and only for the readers of Il Mio Salotto, an exclusive image of the second NFT ON CANVAS that is part of this triptych and will be titled

JUST HALF RED BALLOON.

I invite all readers of Il Mio Salotto to follow me on Instagram and Twitter where the digital NFT graft that will complete this work will soon be published.

Despite the fact that the various works and collections following this one have given me a lot of feedback and artistic satisfaction, to date, this triptych of works remains the one to which I am most attached, and perhaps it is also for this reason that it has not yet been offered for sale.

Do you also work on commission?

No, and I don't think I will start doing that in the short term.

I have my own philosophy about sharing/selling my creations, I am very selective and I want to choose my audience.

Even though I will rely on third parties to display my artworks, this does not mean that they will be accessible to everyone.

It will always remain up to me to decide whether that work is suitable for that collector, this can happen through an interview or just an anonymous chat with the person concerned.

It is clear that I will not always have control over all my works, but as long as I can I will adopt this method of selection, especially to avoid speculation or unfair techniques inherent in multiple purchases.

Do you think that more traditional artists should also approach the NFT world, if so why? I still perceive a lot of skepticism in the art world, what do you think?

Everything that is new or innovative is frightening, especially in the beginning.

But just like a fruit tree, it is in the initial period that the first roots sprout that will later give rise to that strong and sturdy trunk where in turn we will see the first branches sprout that will give rise to the long-awaited fruit.

My vision of crypto art is just like this tree, where the roots represent those who believed in it from the beginning and became pioneers and spokesmen for this universe, while perhaps the fruits are all those who will come later.

There may be good and not-so-good fruits and strong or not-so-strong branches, but in the end, what really counts will always be the strength of the roots.

Unfortunately, we will witness and are already witnessing an epochal change in the world of traditional art.

I am not saying that there will be no more oils on canvas, paintings, or physical sculptures, that would be unthinkable, but simply that these will have to 'adapt' and coexist with the new world to come.

How did you discover Il Mio Salotto and what made you contact us? ps: we are very happy you did it.

I always like to keep up to date with everything that revolves around art; therefore, I often find myself zapping through various social networks or even just Google.

Some time ago I found myself reading on Instagram an interview with an artist, a painter.

I found those few seconds of reading so interesting that I clicked on the link to the full interview on the dedicated website.

That website was Il Mio Salotto and from that interview onwards I read many others and always found so much originality and creativity in all the questions that were asked to the artists.

And so I couldn't miss the opportunity that those extraordinary questions were also asked of yours truly.

What are your artistic plans for the future?

So many, so many, perhaps too many. But unfortunately or fortunately when you have a creative soul, it is almost impossible not to be able to think of new projects, especially when you are a pioneer in a still unexplored world like that of crypto art.

Anything and everywhere becomes a source of inspiration, then the fun part is coming back home and trying to recreate in the most original way possible that simple intuition maybe arrived while you were eating a pizza or looking at a tree.

If I had to be more concrete, let's say that I am working on two projects of which I am very proud and enthusiastic at the same time, but sometimes also very frightened, because anything new is frightening, even for someone like me who lives on innovation.

Obviously, as they are still in the pipeline, I can't give too much away, but I can say that they are two diametrically opposed projects, even though they both remain strongly anchored to the Cohesionist movement, perhaps in different ways, with different materials and above all different concepts.

I am particularly attached to one of these projects, both professionally and emotionally. I have always accustomed my audience to big surprises, and I consider this project to be a great little revolution in the crypto universe.

Just for 'my living room', I will conclude this interview with a little preview of this project, telling you that it will be a creation that manages to encompass multiple elements: artistic, psychological, conceptual, sensorial, emotional and obviously technological.

Next up, however, is another incredible project, which for the time being remains TOP SECRET and which will see a collaboration with an extraordinary artist from the international POP ART stage, an EXPLOSIVE collaboration. The artist in question is Sara Arnaout (https://arnaout.it/ ), but I cannot add any more.

I thank Il Mio Salotto for this wonderful interview, in which I felt free to talk about my art, my passions, and my dreams.

Cupydo

...and we thank you, Cupydo, for allowing us to get to know you and your art and more.