ARTIST STATEMENT

I am primarily a self-portrait artist. I work with mixed media predominantly utilising acrylic painting and photography to ultimately turn my body into a theatrical (sometimes autobiographical) character. 

 

The eventual stories that emerge, depict resilience and strength in hardship. My work illuminates shared emotional experiences to create a sense of belonging relying mostly on personal experiences of what it feels like to be a misfit. I reproduce familiar feelings into visuals through a conceptually and physically layered piece of artwork.

 

The methodology to create my art has shifted over the last few years and is always open to evolution.

One aspect that remains consistent is my desire of working alone. With the aid of a camera, a tripod and a remote control, I take a photograph of my posed body, usually in my garage door with plenty of soft natural light.

The colours and light in this picture are then edited on my monitor to later match the feel and colour palette of the eventual painting, and to fit the preconceived idea of the final surrealistic artwork. This sometimes may involve heavier editing of the initial photograph.

 

I use a variety of ideas to create narratives I believe we are all connected to; the ones we are naturally wired to listen to, the ones that make us feel united in our pain, our hopes our journey of life. I continuously look to refine my visual language in a way that first intrigues and draws people in, then sets them thinking.

 

To me, being an artist is a never-ending journey through these ideas and human experiences. It is an exciting journey; building images from scratch, employing a rich visual language of surrealism and symbolism, which is made more familiar by often involving the natural elements of the woodland, always with a delicate yet powerful feminine undertone.

 

Ideas for the images are drawn from a myriad of sources; from conversations with people experiencing hardship, through folk stories, poetry, to the woods I visit daily.  They are linked by the same personal desire to find my own fit in the world.

 

In addition to the mixed media work, I’ve been drawing Creatures for over twelve years now, but only recently have started painting them onto board as well. They extend my love for the different, for the misfit with their relatability and amusing quirks.

 

Art, in times of need, can bring a kind of peace and comfort in how we interpret its depicted thoughts and ideas.  By recognising one’s self in any art form, deep rooted feelings will latch on to the artistic experience and find solace.

 

Veronika Lavey

2024