Monday, June 13, 2011

ALIDA (Artists)



1/
Thank-you Alida in accepting on such short notice, much appreciated. I understand "Alida" = Latin 'little winged one' or 'little bird', that's an interesting name, almost sounds gypsy like, or folksy like some of your art, coincidence or not, in a manner of speaking is your background of such commonality?


Alida was the name of my mother’s best friend in Finland. Alida was a gypsy, a Roma – dark haired and olive skinned. She lived on the fringes of Finnish society with her long plush velvet & silk ruffled dresses. My mother was blond and blue-eyed. Alida and my mother were like day and night. Mum used to sit around the campfire with her family and watch Alida play violin. They all ate and clapped and sung together under the stars. My mother said those times were romantic and enchanting and if she ever had a daughter, she would name her Alida. So although I am not of Roma origin, I am attracted to the essence of the gypsy lifestyle – the colours, survival skills, hand-crafts, music, the way they pass on their stories and dreams, their kinship with both family and the natural world around them and above all the climate of freedom they live in.


2/ You have a very distinct kind of art, very much your own style, how long have you been painting and using different types of media?


Eight hours a day, five days a week, for years, I used to submit myself to drowning in paperwork, faxing, filing and photocopying. I was practically choking myself on red-tape! Every day was Groundhog day.

Never one to know what I want to ‘be’ or really ‘do’ when I grew up, I continued droning on as a secretary until one day a beloved friend died. Out of this devastation came questions of my own mortality and the realisation that I was wasting my life. I asked myself what it was that I really admired in people … the answer was creativity: “I want to be an artist”, I roared!!

That was only four and half years ago. So I haven’t been doing art for that long and during this time have been mostly experimenting across the board from sculpture, printmaking, painting, drawing, mixed media etc.



3/ When do you feel Alida, you reached your own personal style; some artists find it in early stages others through different experiences over time?


Funnily enough I find my own style (do I have one?) rather like a big jumbled-up junk-yardy chaotic vortex that sucks itself up and spews out chalk and cheese.

I am so inspired and overly stimulated by other artists that I want a pinch of this style or a dash of that approach, and as a result predominantly find myself whirling in a big pot of mixed-up befuddled stew. I’m just simmering away and have at times boiled over and thought about giving it all up due to the frustrations of finding my own art style.

For some reason I keep persisting and I think I’m getting there … (wherever that is). Maybe my style is to be ‘random’. It’s all about play … kind of like hide and seek. Hiding one day from doing art and then the next, seeking it out.

I would say I’m creatively challenged!


4/ What media do you prefer using on canvas and why?


I’m not too keen on creating works on canvas at this stage, although I’d like to incorporate mixed media such as painting, collage, glitter, paper and sewing etc. I did do some small works on canvas recently where I imprinted toy shapes on the canvas with gouache and acrylic. That was fun.

Most of my work has been made on board or paper. At the moment I’m really digging mixed-media. I use anything from magazines, empty beer boxes, tree branches, found objects, recycled materials and odds and bobs


6/ Is there one piece of art you feel is more special than the others and if so can you share the reason as to why?


A while back I created a piece on a dear friend I’ve known since childhood. She suffered for many years from a drug addiction and was going down hill badly. She was so sick that there was a feeling of blackness and death surrounding her.

One day I did a healing meditation for her. A future vision of her appeared in my mind – she was smiling and beaming with happiness and health.

The art piece I made about her was of her naked, alone and vulnerable in a landscape. There was blackness about, but underneath colour and life were blossoming. This was a portrait of hope. It is very special to me.

Today she is that happy and healthy future vision I had all those years ago.


7/ Who is your favourite artist, past or present, and what makes their art special?


Crikey ... Favourite?? It chops and changes like the weather! Here comes the massive 20 page list … we’ll just pretend they’re all ‘one’ artist ok …. ;)

Elliot Hundley – for his crazily wild detailed collages. I think of the macrocosm/microcosm when I view his work.
Kirstine Roepstorff – for her use of drawing with collage and being able to express social and political issues with this medium.
Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger – for their madly detailed installations and kooky outlook on life
Noriko Ambe – her sculptures made out of a paper are amazing
Michael Husmann Tschani & Pascale Mira Tschani – playful, colourful, child-like wonderment and innocent imagination.
Helle Jorgensen – sensational hand crocheted/knitted sculptures
Vali Myer – her gypsy lifestyle
Marina Perkovich – her art inspired by gypsies and her use of mediums
Emily Kngwarreye – for her delicious layers of colour and expression of the Australian landscape
Richard Larter – his abstract work
Jesse Bercowetz/Matt Bua – their work is nuts
Erika Somogyi – for her pretty and beautiful watercolours
Jacob Hashimoto – exquisite wall pieces made of layers of delicate paper
Henri Matisse
Hundertwasser
Recycled art from Africa
Folk Art
Helen Frankenthaler
Cy Twombly
Frank Stella
Joan Mitchell

On and on and on and ONNNNNN … the list is endless… anything I come across that makes me melt basically … I could like one artwork by one artist, and dislike the rest of the stuff they’re doing, or I could like all of it! It’s like music. Not every song on the album is great, or sometimes, there’s only one-hit wonders.


8/ Personally where do you think the art movement of the future is going to take us?


Let me gaze in to my crystal ball! What a hard question.… I guess it would depend on how the Earth will fare up.

We’re doing a mighty good job of fucking up this amazingly beautiful living organism we call home. We’re destroying ecosystems, we’re chopping down forests, we’re facing global warming and rising sea levels, we’re at risk of destroying cultures by the simple fact people are now in the throes of making plans to move off their native homelands and on to bigger land masses in case their island homes are submerged under water, and in the case they can’t move then it’ll be cultural wipeouts.

We all desperately need to face up to the massive problems we are spawning and obviously will have to face the monster we’ve created in the future. All I can personally hope for is that the present and future art movement will help us all to connect with our innermost selves, to connect with others on a deeper and more spiritual level and that we all as individuals form a strong loving bond with nature and stick to her like glue, as if she’s the best and most wonderful soul-mate in the whole world!


9/ Where do you get most of your inspiration in the creation of your art from?


Spirituality, mythology, colours, artists, music, stories, animals, people, history, philosophy and nature.


10/ Would you prefer a glass of white wine or red?


Well I’d have to say that when I have that Dionysian twinkle in my eye, I’d go the nice glass of red thanks … in a big goblet … with some ear-splitting music to dance wildly around to!

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