Interview: Filippo Ioco, Artist

Every now and then I come across an artist whose work makes me look twice, three times, even more, and makes me wonder what exactly I’m looking at. The first time I saw Filippo Ioco’s body painting portfolio – filled with vibrant colors, humor, and a provocative attitude that begged me to question what I was seeing – I knew I wanted to meet him and find out where he gets his ideas, how he works, and what he was trying to convey.

Initially it was a bit hard getting a hold of Filippo, who is about to move to Miami. Ahead of his move later this year, he has traveled to China, Japan, to the Burning Man festival in the desert, and back to China. By early September, he finally had some time to open his Hollywood home/studio where he usually paints on a deck that overlooks part of sprawling Los Angeles.

In his latest body painting work, “Tropical Splash,” we’re treated to a vision of a woman sensually seated in a martini glass, holding a life-size maraschino cherry while splashed by an electric blue liquor. In fact, the woman is meant to be part of the liquid flowing into the glass. Unlike other body painting artists, “I don’t paint people to look like animals, or other weird creatures,” Filippo says. Instead, he likes to paint bodies so that they fit into a larger image, a larger concept that captivates and tricks the eye. Painting a human body and watching how it changes as a result, he says, “is really like watching art come to life.”

In this slideshow, Filippo shows how he works. His wonderful model Janica and his Photoshop magician Rob also share their thoughts on the being part of the process.

Like many great ideas, Filippo’s inspiration to paint bodies came from out of the blue. “I’ve always been fascinated by the human body, so one day sitting around listening to Madonna, the idea popped into my head to paint people into my paintings,” he explains. “My first show was a big success and it just took off from there. I never would have imagined that it would have taken me to where I am today.” Since then, his body painting work has appeared in fashion shows, ads for Coors Light Beer, the men’s fragrance Axe, music videos, book covers and much more. From painting bodies as yellow medians on a highway to a man as the Puerto Rican flag, he sees no limit as to how to transform the ordinary human body into part of an extraordinary and unexpected image. Although his work has graced slick ad campaigns and he has been hired to paint bodies at numerous special occasions, Filippo has also contributed his talent to charitable causes including Operation Calendar, a calendar that helps non-profits provide financial assistance to wounded veterans, as well as organizations benefiting breast cancer, children with facial deformities, and AIDS awareness. Once in Miami, he hopes to do a runway art show for children who are HIV positive.

Although I focused mostly on Filippo’s body painting in this post, I urge you to take a look at his fine art and decorative art work. On another occasion where he allowed me to photograph him at work (see slides below), Filippo quickly painted a kind of Rothko-esque canvas, splashing and brushing on vibrant colors layer after layer to produce a beautiful, eye-popping canvas filled with energy and motion. Some of Filippo’s work might look familiar; his decorative painting has appeared in major publications such as House Beautiful and Metropolitan Home, while his fine art has shown up on the set of HBO’s popular series “Entourage.” I sure hope the guys appreciated the artwork while filming…

To view Filippo’s portfolios, please visit his sites:

www.iocobody.com
www.iocoart.com

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Tagged as: art, body painting, decorative art, Filippo Ioco, fine art, Operation Calendar, painting