Magzoid Magazine - Luxury Magazine in the Creative Space | Feb 2023

An abstract
figurative artist
whose artwork
dances between
abstraction and
realism
“The continuous flowering of my style is the most important thing to me; I want my work to
vibrate with the same energy I walk through life with,” – Says Stirling
- Exclusive to Magzoid
Stirling Caiulo is a mixed-media artist
based in Melbourne. His work walks
the fine line between abstraction and
realism, often leaving information out
so the viewer can create their own story for
the piece.
He has been practicing drawing
since 2013 but started rapidly
developing a voice and the
techniques needed to execute
his ideas in 2019 and has
been all in ever since.
In 2012 Stirling was
living in his hometown
Perth, Australia, when a
modeling scout from an Italian
agency (Crew)
met with his local representation (Chadwick)
for prospects. Stirling was unable to attend
the meeting but a few weeks later received a
call asking if he wanted to take a plane to Italy
and participate in the Milan Fashion Week.
Stirling accepted immediately and, upon arrival,
experienced a very different way of life to
his hometown. He was soaking in new
and unfamiliar cultures while traveling
Europe for work and meeting some
of the top designers and creators in
the world, admiring their attention to
detail for their craft.
During his downtime in a small
apartment in Milan, one of his friends
would often draw to pass the time. Stirling
was inspired and, in turn, bought his own
sketch pad. While sketching people down
by the canals of Milan, hours of his time would
go missing, and this would be the feeling
Stirling would fall in love with. Practicing
for years to chase the feeling of ‘flow’
while creating, Stirling continued to
resist taking anything seriously,
as he couldn’t imagine art as
a career for himself. Seven
years later, the call for him to
sink more time into art became
louder and harder to ignore.
Then the thought struck him-
‘how far could he take a piece of
art?’ Stirling sunk three months
of time into one drawing, and
the old ceiling to his work was
now blown open. Now how far
could he take things? And in
what direction? Stirling started to
understand and respect art as
his means of communication.
“I try to “find the
line between the
earth and sky.” says
Stirling Caiulo.
What’s the difference between a fast stroke or a
slow one? Being thoughtless while creating or
being meticulous? He’s always liked misdirection
in art from films like Refn’s Drive, the way a
Haruki Murakami novel unexpectedly guides
an audience into a surreal world, and the way
rappers like Lupe Fiasco spontaneously create
lyrics as a freestyle.
Stirling wanted to find a balance between the
two sides of himself: the expressive, the one
who wanted to travel and soak in the world, and
the other who wanted to stay in his apartment
and find his flow. This is why he likes his work
to dance between abstraction and realism,
or as he calls it, ‘finding the line between the
earth and sky.’
Stirling Caiulo has been a finalist for the last
2 years in the Lester Prize, a major Australian
portrait prize. He is now working on writing
and illustrating his own graphic novel while
he continues to take on commissions for oil
portraits and large-scale murals.
-feature@magzoid.com
www.magzoid.com February 2023
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