Rad Dad Collective: Off The Wall

A Chat with Camilla ďErrico

With mega amounts of talent and numerous artistic disciplines under her belt it was a real treat to meet with Cammy...

RD: Hey, you have an extensive repertoire of artistic pursuits. Could you tell us where your from and what media you use please.

I live in Vancouver, Canada and I'm a painter as well as a comic book artist. I use Holbein Water Soluble oils to do my paintings and I use blue line pencils and pens to do my comic work. I also do digital illustrations. I'm a big fan of trying new media, which allows me different kinds of artist expression.

RD: What media do you prefer?

I'm very much a traditionalist. There's nothing quite like getting your hands, and even clothes sometimes, dirty with paint! I tried doing digital animation, but found that I was constantly sketching and drawing, so for me its definitely the hands on media that I love most!

RD: You have interests in video games and movie animation, tell us how that started and what stuff you have been involved with?

Growing up with anime and Saturday morning cartoons made me a little animation crazy! Its something that I hope to get into more, my ultimate goal is to have an anime movie made based on my own characters and story.
Videogames are a lot of fun and over the years they've become very lush and impressive. I've worked on a few video games, Sky Pirates of Neo Terra and with ActionPants doing character designs. Its an amazing thing to see characters you design, developed into 3D moving images. I really enjoy working with such creative studios.

RD: Could you give us a run down of where you have exhibited in the past and what exciting stuff you have coming up for the future?

I've exhibited in a lot of North America, Opera Galery in New York, Thinkspace in LA, and in Europe as well, my last solo show was at Mondo Bizarro in Rome. I'm very much looking forward to any future exhibitions I can have in Asia.
I have a solo show with Copro Nason in LA in the spring of 2012. As well as a few group shows, G1988 with Greg Simkins and a group show with Glenn Barr.

RD: What inspires you when it comes to your work- do you find music helps or working with like minded people perhaps?

I draw a lot of my inspiration from photography and also from exploring the city. My father raised me to love and appreciate nature, watching The Discovery Channel was one of my favourite things to do. So I take a lot of symbolism from nature and create my paintings based on that. I also am quite inspired by literature, I get an incredible exhilaration reading plays and poetry, its so inspiring.
Music for me is very important while I'm painting and drawing. Depending on the mood of the piece, or comic, I will often listen to a range of styles and genres to suit the energy of what I'm doing. I've taken a huge interest in dubstep recently and I'm finding that very inspiring.
Since I work alone, i don't have a lot of interaction with other artist. However I do have a lot of artist friends, and its really special to be able to talk to them and enjoy their company. Meeting my peers is something that I can't describe, and can only sum it up as awe inspiring!

RD: Tell us about the scene in Vancouver?

Vancouver has a very unique scene and I feel it is still quite untapped. There are local galleries, The Ayden Gallery, that showcase the "street art" and "pop surrealist" movement. There are many stores that also feature the local artists and help to create a sense of community for us. I really want this style to flourish and I think the scene here is just building up to become explosive.

RD: If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have two personal items with you, what would they be?(Go Wild...ha)

Well....that's tough. But only two things...it would have to be paper and a pencil. I LOVE to draw. I could equally say, black paint and a white canvas, or clay and an oven. (I secretly love making sculptures but don't have the time to really play and hon that skill)

RD: When did you start your toy designs and did you get your shoe designs produced?

I've been designing toys for a few years now. The toy industry doesn't give you immediate results, in fact its going to be this year, 2011 that I'll see my very first toy released. I've worked on other artist series toys, but I've never had my very own design released. I know this one will be the first with several more to follow over the course of the next few years. I'm dying to show the public because this has been a lifetime dream of mine come true!
As for the shoe designs, I've been part of many shoe art shows, where I have customized original shoes. It was a lot of fun. Now I have my own shoes on my Zazzle store and they are amazing! The response has been great!

RD: iphone or Blackberry?

I adore my Iphone...couldn't live without it!

That's your phone ringing now!...Thanks Camilla we'll leave you to it, thumbs up from The Collective☋