I have been trying to avoid to reveal personal matters in my work. People would notice a strong input of emotion in my paintings, will see the gaping holes, turmoil in my seascapes, but how would they know, that I was also talking about myself. I have tried to give structure to the sea, to cut it into 3, to fragment it, to let it go… A huge amount of paint, a huge amount of energy to reveal… to reveal what exactly? A storm at its best… I have constructed bridges and aligned currents, lined up rocks, did my best to create a bit of order within my seas. I have been fighting between a need of structure and a desire for storms, unwanted dramas, slits and endless currents of water and fluid. When I look back on a few of these paintings, I find myself trapped with no air. And what about the viewers? What did they see, what did they buy? A seascape or the conflict within me?

Over the last 6 months, I have removed the sea from my work. At first I felt nothing, then I denied it all and changed totally my subject matter. I decided that if I wanted structure I better paint the space of a house, any house will present a structure, isn’t it? Bachelard was there to support my thinking with his writing in The Poetic of Space. And, with all the energy I am capable of I started to build my structures, made of canvas, wood, screws and glue. Stuctures on which I decided to impose a division into 3 distinctive elements, yet inseparable. The cave – The living – The attic.  I realised that I could build stuff according to my drawings and ideas on how the work will look and be apprehended by the viewer, from far, then…then from close. The closer view was the issue, what will a present within my house, made of canvas, wood, screws and glue? Which home? What’s inside? Would you come inside and share with me a moment in my life.

With ‘A bas l’ecole‘ The viewer is not friendly welcomed, the invitation suggested by the arch line in the middle is amended by the whiteness of the surface which tells you off!

Then I started to question myself about my relation to my art and to the viewer. How could I reveal a bit more without  being too much? This a question that occurs everyday in my life, how to be right sized, not being too much, yet present and fully part of a life with others. In my work how to find the balance between the contained and controlled part of  my work and the unfolding flow of the images that are staring back at me, inducing each time more memories, more images. ..

Family Matter …for example. 

Would see my solid block of memories flying free like air and openness?

I somehow know why I need and want so much the structure in my work and why I am  just fed up with it. My grandmother was all in control., a very intelligent, contained person, never a word above another, an art of perfection. She was my dad’s mother  who was perfect too (of course!). These two had huge expectations for me. My mother was Polish and totally driven by her emotions (and war trauma), she liked good company and vodka, but she was also very unhappy. Until now I am asking myself: Do I look more like my mother or my grandmother? I ended up Bipolar and a happy person anyway…, not really successful but in control of myself most of the time.

And they all passed away..

I have recently decided to make Bipolar works in order to separate the two poles that are triggering me. On one side, the solid, the real, the known, it is plain paint, it does not allow the light to come through. On the other part, memories will unfold, honestly and freely.

Memories do not come as an illustration, they are paint that becomes shapes and forms but which are remaining paint. They become at first recognisable as a  place I have been to or things I have known, then tangible and real, to me and to the viewer. ‘Playground’ was made in the  very same way I will have play with water and sand when a child in the ‘jardin d’enfant’. I am confident that now I have found a structure with the juxtaposition of two opposite, they won’t be separated. I trust that not only I will become a better painter but a more happy person. I might come to the conclusion  that I am composed by two distinctive parts , one solid, one fluid, and that these two will coexist but never really meet.

Perhaps one day I will rely on my daydream and leave the structure in the shadow.

To be continued..

A NEW INTERVIEW

I read a lot of artist’s interview. I like listen to the artist voice, it give an other dimension to artist work and way to live and think in his time.

Please post your comments.

Lorraine Fossi Interviewed by Lisa Gray

We were overwhelmed by Lorraine’s ability to depict an understanding, a love, a representation of the world she dreams of, the tones, the colours, the blurred reality and a complete and complex beauty. Abstract expressionism depicting the illusions of life, emotion and space; an exceptional artist that is always bold in her output and unique in her compositions and narratives. We are excited to know and follow Lorraine’s creative path and urge you to view her stunning artwork. Thank you Lorraine for sharing your art, your inspirations and thoughts with us.

READ MORE….

Photograph by Valerie Sieyes

Picasso had many different style, actually he was changing style at each new mistress he had…
And after Guernica was made,  Picasso just went on and one in a compulsive manner, as if disconnected from his own intentions and vital guts, as if it was not really necessary for him anymore, to make art. An excellent book has been written on the subject by John Berger: The success and failure of Picasso.

I am not comparing myself nor my career with Picasso here, was just thinking about style. To me, the artist’s style stands up and shows life when the expression and use of the materials find a clear language through the artist choices. These choices are made to keep or get rid of certain habits, tropes, subject matter, taste, believes and should exist in one, single expression. Yet this transformation past to mature work should take place fully and accordingly to the artist inner originality, not through reduction and exclusivity. If you are loosing too much in order to get a style, you are going to put yourself in a corner, an unhappy one. Reducing my possibilities is something I want to consider, for a short time, a few months maybe. If it creates solutions and inclusiveness with what matters to me today, it will certainly take shape in something I will recognise to be right and better. If it creates frustrations and too much thinking, then I will let you know…

I have painted in a structured and abstract way.

I have created daydream image, induced space, invited to the voyage…

I have also suggested realism, building volume with my paints, inviting the viewer to recognise a place, a feeling. 

I also draw a lot, and like to bring things, fragments together.

I am not a religious person but I pray and like to trust that my thoughts for others have some kind of effects…I do not pray for myself but sometime ask for inspiration and direction for my work. My parents were not religious either…and their non-religious attitude became stronger when close to the end…. Thus they were both brought up as catholic and my brother and I were too. Saying this I mean that my parents (and above) taught us guilt and shame, and the virtues of hard work and low self seeking. I learnt young how to behave in Churches and understood more or less what had happened to the Christ.

I always freak out when I am not feeling understood…It might be related. 

I like very much looking at the Christ on his cross, it is also a formal thing I suppose.  I like the T device, I was born a Thomas.

When I look at a large Crucifix, fixed against a wall, I am overwhelmed.

There is no more horizon, only hope that ‘He’ finds one. I have the same feeling when I look at a good painting in a museum. I see drama, void, turmoil, lack of gravity, and mystery in the message, and also the feeling that there in something in the painting that is bigger than ourselves.

I have often said: Do you see the unseen, hear the unsaid, feel the unknown…A gap that never really filled? 

This time I wanted to make a Cross and a Painting. With this iconic and emblematic object, I reunite both the Christ’s cross and a painted canvas. There is an obvious note and gratitude to Rothko. He deserves it. 

I got the palette in 1991 in Warsaw from my old uncle. At the time I was not a painter. Today the palette represents this mental fence that exist between me and the world. Behind and safe, I can think, feel and respond.