Tell us who you are.
My name is Nicholas Di Genova, , I live and work in Toronto Canada. In terms of interests, I’m mostly into nature stuff and comics….

What is your best piece of art to date? which are you the most proud of?
I worked on a piece for about 18 months, its a large grid depicting 20000 butterflies and moths, drawn in ballpoint pen. I think its the best thing I’ve ever made, and its definitely the piece I’m most proud of… Finishing it was sort of like torture.

You sit down, you grab a pencil or pen, what goes through your mind? what’r you listening to? are you wearing pants?
Usually I’m just thinking: “Please look good when I’m done, please look good when I’m done…” I’m usually listening to an audiobook, or rap music… My favourite audiobooks are sadly really lame fantasy novels, they help relax me and take up very little mind-energy. My favourite rapper is Saigon or J-Live. And yes, I’m generally wearing pants, I work away from my apartment and share my studio with a few people…

Knowing that all your work is by hand, how long do you think it takes you to complete a piece? For example your Featured Artist piece.
It really depends on the size… Last week I was on a roll and finished three small pieces in a week… The large butterfly piece took 18 months… It took me about a week to finish my featured artist piece…

Favorite animal, least favorite animal? Why? Which do you think would taste the best with a side of gravy?
My favourite animal would probably be a hyena, because I find their social structures interesting, and baby hyena’s are cute as hell…
Least favourite animal? I’m not really sure if I have one, I’m sort of scared of scorpions and poisonous spiders… I really don’t think either would taste very god no matter how they were prepared, one is poisonous and the other eats dead things for a living.

Are you a full-time artist or do you have a primary/side job?
I’m a full time artist, but only for the last couple of years… In the past I worked at an art supply store for five years, and a janitor at an arcade for two years, which was pretty much the most badass job ever… I also worked as an assistant to a stone mason, that wasn’t an easy job…

One person in the whole world you get to eat and absorb all their powers/talent/knowledge, who would that person be?
Joseph Cambell? If I got to absorb their looks too, it would be Vincent Cassel and I’d just go around meeting babes all day.

Do you get into creative “slumps”? How do you get out?
Sometimes. To get out I usually try to make some sort of positive change in my life. I was in a bad slump for awhile, so I quit smoking, and I felt better about myself, and I got out of the slump…. I did the same thing with a few other bad habits… Now I don’t really have many vices left, so I’m not sure how I’ll get out of the next slump…

Any current projects/shows/releases you want to advertise?
Um, i just released a small zine, its called Wunderkammer #1, and available for sale at my online store. Other than that, read my blog please!