Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

Inspiration. Please. Not only artists need insipiration, we do too. When you only consider what is being fed to you by museums, certainly you miss out on the real contemporary art, the one you are supposed to meet, breathe, be part of, at least life-time-frame wise. Meet Emi Avora. Read the interview.

A name that will stand the test of time and haunt us with her paintings. Her works are visible at the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery in New York and the Apartment Gallery in Athens, while finishing an exhibition at south square centre in London where the artist lives.

Q. Where does life start for Emi, what is the first image that comes to mind?
A. My first impressions as a child are of the old town of Corfu where I grew up, the houses, the strong light and view to the sea.

Q. Your approach to art starts from which moment on?
A. I was introduced to the arts by my father who is also an artist. Since I remember myself I remember going to exhibitions with him and dabbling with paint in his atelier.

Q. How does you career evolve, and will evolve in the future?
A. I was lucky to study at some very good art schools, the Ruskin school of Fine Art at Oxford University and the Royal Academy Schools in London. The years there gave me the base of understanding contemporary art and evolving in my own practice. Through an exhibition at the Whitechapel gallery in London I got  interest from galleries- I am currently working with Greenberg Van Doren gallery in New York and the Apartment Gallery in Athens. While I am always evolving my practice in the studio, my career is evolving through exhibiting in commercial and non-profit/museum settings. I am also interested in working in more site-specific projects.

Q. Your paintings take us inside a place, which place?
A. Each painting endeavours to create a space for dreaming. I often leave the interpretation to the viewer. Some of the spaces are offering an exit of light, opening to an other world, some others are images of sometimes claustrophobic anxiety. All of them though are set to take the viewer to a visual journey into a parallel world.

Q. I know you are a hard worker and you probably don't work on a whim, when does a painting start and when does it end?
A. I constantly gather imagery, take photos or make drawings. The paintings often start from something observed, from realities around me or from something read. These two avenues also often work in combination as a starting point for an image. Then during the painting process there is distortion, exaggeration and invention taking place. The hardest part is to understand when a painting finishes. I prefer spending time with the paintings, it is almost as if they are maturing in the studio. After some time I decide whether an image needs  more work or whether it is finished.

Q. Tell us about your last/new exhibition.
A. My current exhibition is an a non-profit space called South Square art centre in Yorkshire, UK.  I decided to vary my practice for this show and worked at a large cinematic format. The works are oil on paper and the imagery creates ambiguous narratives. The installation of the show was very important as the paintings were acting a bit like large cinema screens in the space.

Q. Is Art an object? Would it exist without an audience?
A. I believe an object becomes art once there is a discussion about it and an interaction with it. Therefore I think there needs to be some form of audience, not necessarily only a commercial audience nevertheless.

Q. People will probably never be able to go about without clothes, do you think they could without art?
A. Since the beginning of civilisation, artefacts had been created for a variety of reasons. I don't think this is ever going to end. People will always need to communicate, comment, express ideas and poetic visions through art.

Swide's 5Q/A:
1. Artist or painter?
Emi: Artist.
2. Fashion or anti-fashion?
Emi: Anti-Fashion.
3. Expression or discretion?
Emi: Expression.
4. Fantasy or reality?
Emi: From reality to fantasy.
5. Desire or inspire?
Emi: Desire inspires.

 

Text by Acelya Yonac

Photo Credits: courtesy Greenberg Van Doren Gallery and The Apartment Gallery
Sources: emiavora.com

 southsquarecentre.co.uk

TAGS: emi avora south square centre gallery artist exhibits famous artists acelya yonac paintings painting talented artist