Interviews and Statements"My art, my life", from a series of interviews with Adam Levine "Artist´s statement", the artist about herself |
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My Art, my Life
Early years
Though curiosity strikes at all youthful minds, I would say that mine was more impressed upon introspectively. My idle hours were not spent dully, but rather whittled away by a consumption of the mind. I was always hungry for knowledge, prone to high-mindedness, and subjecting myself to long stays of reading. Philosophy was of particular interest to me, offering a means of comprehension to boundaries that as yet I could not delineate. What limit to consciousness? Of experience? What can be achieved within this span of a life? Naturally, these issues are still a preoccupation. Nonetheless, they were initiated early and encouraged upon by a mother who had a zealous appetite for achievement.
It was her determination, more so than mine, that saw me at three educational houses rather than one. I had passed merit tests in both music and art and was thereby invited to either school to attend classes; as a form of supplement to my established curriculum. Though my preferment was for painting and art, my mother was resolved that I would attend the music school. Measuring her conviction as being insuperable, I recognized that a concession was required of me. I balked at the thought of abandoning painting so proposed to her the maddening prospect of taking on both concentrations. To my greatest surprise my mother agreed to this - agreed, that is, with the shared knowledge that were things to prove too much, art would fall casualty to the benefit of my studies in music. With that understanding and the consent of the schools, I began what proved to be an overwhelming few years.
At the tail-end of those years my determination had grown stronger. I wanted to be a painter. By contrasting my ability in both those art-forms it became increasingly clear that my force of expression was suited more to the canvas than it was to the keyboard. Were I to enter the conservatorium, as a means of continuing my studies, I would want to do so as an artist. Of that I then had no doubt. Naturally, I again had to confront my mother on the issue, but on that second occasion my will prevailed.
The irony of the situation is that when I finally left the conservatorium as a graduate of art, my first engagement of work was as a teacher at the music school; the one that I had attended half-heartedly all those years earlier.
Beginnings
By the year 1981 our family had left Russia and relocated to Norway, establishing ourselves in Oslo.
I soon found myself married, and soon after that expectant of a daughter. These entanglements -naturally- were a welcome and happy complication and by nature, filled me with such wealth of plenitude that letting my other prospects diminish felt a rightful and true consequence. Only in time, and with fortuitous circumstance, would I enter back full-fledged into the life of an aspirant painter.
The opportunity arose by way of a privileged meeting that had been set up between myself and the Oslo-based painter, Odd Nerdrum. He had requested a viewing of my paintings, and on seeing them, invited me to ´attend´ his studio; a proposal that would commit me for some months. I had little need to deliberate on the matter as I was eager to recommit myself. I accepted the offer and was in attendance the following day.
These were interesting months for me - near on two years - and sufficient time to reacquaint myself with the rigors and discipline of the art form. Being in Odd´s studio, however, was not a consignment I could willfully extent beyond that term. By the period´s end I had grown estranged from the environment, and dissociated from the work there. There was no rhyme or reason for me to remain. If I was to progress in all soundness, I had to develop alone, and rid myself of distraction. I set up studio, and commenced.
On painting
People say that my paintings are both simple and complex, and they are right to say so. By the very definition of ´simplicity´ one is attempting to uncomplicate the complicated. When one examines the ´simple´ with scrutiny, difficulty always reveals itself. This is the very law of simplicity. The ambiguity of this natural law is a huge attraction to me, and something I seek out in much of my subject matter. It is focal to my work.
I rely very much on physiognomy and human form, rather than the inanimate object, for I believe in it. The intricacies of our existence are never absent from us, and are revealed haphazardly about us. We can´t escape it. And I can´t help but be fascinated by it. For me a ´face´ is a boundless resource, and a summation of life. I am compelled to examine it.
I see myself as part of the humanist movement -defined by realism and neoclassicism- yet am tempted to simplify the association by saying plainly that I am human-oriented.
Being human is timeless. We see paintings from past centuries and still recognize in the people much of ourselves. It is as if time is an aberration of culture rather than a partition of ages. By maintaining the tenors of classicism we attach ourselves directly to that heritage, and extend it laterally in a way that enhances both the new and the old. Being bound by that common thread is a component to my painting that I can´t envisage losing.
Regarding my development as an artist, I refer you to a quotation of Picasso´s: "I am not developing as an artist at all, I just am." - and this hits at the essence. I think consciously one doesn´t have to be focused on development; it is an inevitability. As long as one paints, one develops. Basically, you focus on what you want to paint. One has little responsibility beyond that.