The Psycho Golem

Interview from Lithuania

I have been pleased to accept an interview for Lithuanian cultural site www.suru.lt. Here is the LINK

Here below is the original text in (my rough) English:

1) hi, Alessandro, can You introduce Yourself to our readers, tell us
what are You doing and why You are doing it?

Greetings to all Lithuanian readers, my name is Alessandro Scacchia, I’m a
comic book artist and illustrator from Italy. I’m doing it simply because I
love it, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything else.

2) How it all started? How Your relatives reacted towards Your
drawings firstly as a hobby, than as a profession?

I grew up watching on TV any kind of 70’s to 90’s Japanese cartoons (anime),
just like most of Italian children of my same generation. But while my
friends used to go out playing soccer I preferred to pass my time drawing
and reproducing my favorite cartoon characters. It was not a chance they
were especially female characters, which my pure but not too ingenue mind
was already considering attractive. I then started being actually
interested in comics when I was 15.
My relatives didn’t take me seriously until they saw my artwork published in
United States, before than Italy. I could understand their concerns, since
we live in a world where only unpleasant and most remunerative jobs are
defined as “real” professions.

3) What qualities it takes to do that kind of job? Can You tell us,
how ideas comes to You?

I could give you the usual list of qualities that any other artist would
give. If you work hard everything is possible and it’s obviously necessary,
but I believe that looking for a spiritual side of this job can really make
the difference. In my opinion the first quality is to work for your own
pleasure, and being free to express yourself as you want. Also, try to be a
sincere artisan and always keep in mind that Picasso was a very skilled
realistic painter before starting to draw weird cubic faces.
As for ideas, I like to look inside me, other than around me: any detail,
any emotion or obsession I find can be a huge source of inspiration.

4) How people react when You introduce Yourself as a erotic comics drawer?

Nice question. Some people get imbarassed and come silent, others get
curious and fill me up of most strange questions. I prefer those who simply
don’t react, erotism is something absolutely human and natural. However,
that’s useful to understand how people live their sexuality…

5) Can you briefly introduce us to erotic comics culture in Italy, big
names (personally I know only Milo Menara), artists who influenced
You?

Italy has a long important tradition in comics, and erotic comics are not
excluded at all. Milo Manara is nowdays one of greatest comics artists
in the world. I discovered his work when I was still a teenager and he
changed my life. He is a master, although many other artists influenced me.
Guido Crepax, Vittorio Giardino, Tanino Liberatore and Magnus are also
equally immense Italian names in (and outside) erotic culture.

6) In Your work I fail to see any struggle with moral obstructions, it
seems like happy-go-lucky altitude. What is Your message on sexuality?

I try to avoid any form of messages. I rather try to represent sexuality as
something able to make people happy, as it really should be. Until partners
are consensual nothing in sexuality should be prohibited nor considered
immoral. Religions created morality to enslave populations, that is
abominable. The great erotic filmmaker Tinto Brass said: “The only
revolution I defend is sexual revolution. Everyone thinks about changing the
world, I just work to make it more enjoyable.” I couldn’t agree more.

7) Don’t You think, that without any obstacles it is hard to construct
any narrative?

I’m against obstacles, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use obstacles just to
destroy them. They can make the narrative even more exciting to the viewer.

8) What trends You see in modern erotic art, that includes comics?

Thanks to the internet modern erotic art is getting more and more
contaminated around the world. That is a good thing, the only problem is
that there is so much stuff it’s not always easy to find high quality erotic
art. Concerning comics I must say there is still a pretty chaotic trend,
because many good artists prefer to work on other kind of themes…sometimes
erotic comics are too much indecent for their moral career, or simply they
are not interested or are not able to make good erotism. The market is not
really rich neither. So there is still a lot of freedom of expression, that
is the most important thing to me. If one day erotic comics will become
mainstream we will probably witness to their death, any industry is like a
killer.

9) I know that recently You been published in one grand site or
magazine (I forgot which), can You name us Your achievements.

Maybe you are talking about Watch4Beauty site that recently featured my
latest work. Many other magazines and websites did it in the past and still
ask me periodically. I also did comics for Penthouse Magazine, with several
limitations though. Anyway it’s nice to see them occasionally interested in
comics in such a full system.

10) Finally, what about Your future plans, dreams, expectations?

I’m going to get my erotic graphic novel MONA AGENT X published for the
first time in France. I have some new projects that just need to find the
right publisher. Comics and not only. That is what I want to do as long as
possible.