Internship in Schön! magazine
During a month long internship in the magazine I wrote a piece on Lorella Paleni and her figurative surrealism art.
Dream are private, where creativity does not hold limits.
Already a glimpse at Lorella Paleni’s artwork gives grounds to the notion that her paintings are immersive. For a 25-year-old Italian born figurative painter, dreamlike reality and going beyond the mere visible is something dear.
The concept of surrealism, which the artist recalls not feeling embraced into, draws in the viewer who might try to resolve the painting’s central theme. But the question here would be, is there one or is the concept meant to be an enigma?
“A narrative image, in fact, is an image that is readable, that has an order of reading and tells a sequence or a story more or less chronologically. What I really try to do, instead, is to create images that are representative of a sensitive event instead of a chronological one. The figures in my works don’t, in fact, follow the rules of a story. The abolition of the constraint of the linear time in order to represent a sensitive event, rather than a readable one, is my attempt.”
Paleni made the move from Italy to New York in 2010 and recalls that “being in a place where nobody knew me allowed me to feel a strong sense of freedom in my work and let it go in new directions.” Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, Paleni’s work is predominantly exhibited in Europe. She has this ability to create a stage, where elements of dripping paint and her strong sense of graphics blend in colours of matt shade. But in the ‘While’ series a child in a white-layered dress is portrayed on a rather gloomy backdrop evoking, Paleni reveals, feelings of loneliness and abandonment.
She talks about her visions being strongly influenced by literature and film: Cesare Pavese’s novel ‘La Luna e I Falò’ and prophetic reality movies like ‘Vanilla Sky’, to name a few. Paleni also sites visual artist Francis Bacon as having a profound influence on her work. When asked about her views on symbology, she refers to the Jung's theory of the collective unconscious and archetypes - “I think there are strong symbols that come to us without our lucid awareness.”
In Paleni’s painting entitled ‘Whatever’, the character in the background is depicted attempting to jump in the pool, evoking a feeling of being told to leave. The features of shadow and reflection emphasise the act of a thoughtful contemplation. I can’t help but think, is this melancholy notion reflecting the artist’s own hidden and dark feelings? Previously Paleni has said about her work: “My pictures are the staging of my mind, sometimes confused thoughts, sometimes questions, memories and dreams. Often, the transparency of the mind causes memory and vision to overlap and blend together.”
Paleni likens her artistic profession to a journey - “I started 25 years ago without knowing it, like everyone else, I guess. I think that the difference is to recognize the fact that we are all travelling without a destination.”
http://schonmagazine.com/2012/03/lorella-paleni/
Image credits: Lorella Paleni
On page 11 in the magazine is a Q&A interview I did with David Gandy, the UK's top male model.
Mr.Gandy
http://www.whynotmodels.com/doc/doc_16SCHON%20N.%2016%20MARSO%202012%20AUT%20KATRE%20LAAN%20PH%20DIMITRIS%20THEOCHARIS.pdf
During a month long internship in the magazine I wrote a piece on Lorella Paleni and her figurative surrealism art.
Dream are private, where creativity does not hold limits.
Already a glimpse at Lorella Paleni’s artwork gives grounds to the notion that her paintings are immersive. For a 25-year-old Italian born figurative painter, dreamlike reality and going beyond the mere visible is something dear.
The concept of surrealism, which the artist recalls not feeling embraced into, draws in the viewer who might try to resolve the painting’s central theme. But the question here would be, is there one or is the concept meant to be an enigma?
Paleni made the move from Italy to New York in 2010 and recalls that “being in a place where nobody knew me allowed me to feel a strong sense of freedom in my work and let it go in new directions.” Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, Paleni’s work is predominantly exhibited in Europe. She has this ability to create a stage, where elements of dripping paint and her strong sense of graphics blend in colours of matt shade. But in the ‘While’ series a child in a white-layered dress is portrayed on a rather gloomy backdrop evoking, Paleni reveals, feelings of loneliness and abandonment.
She talks about her visions being strongly influenced by literature and film: Cesare Pavese’s novel ‘La Luna e I Falò’ and prophetic reality movies like ‘Vanilla Sky’, to name a few. Paleni also sites visual artist Francis Bacon as having a profound influence on her work. When asked about her views on symbology, she refers to the Jung's theory of the collective unconscious and archetypes - “I think there are strong symbols that come to us without our lucid awareness.”
In Paleni’s painting entitled ‘Whatever’, the character in the background is depicted attempting to jump in the pool, evoking a feeling of being told to leave. The features of shadow and reflection emphasise the act of a thoughtful contemplation. I can’t help but think, is this melancholy notion reflecting the artist’s own hidden and dark feelings? Previously Paleni has said about her work: “My pictures are the staging of my mind, sometimes confused thoughts, sometimes questions, memories and dreams. Often, the transparency of the mind causes memory and vision to overlap and blend together.”
Paleni likens her artistic profession to a journey - “I started 25 years ago without knowing it, like everyone else, I guess. I think that the difference is to recognize the fact that we are all travelling without a destination.”
Image credits: Lorella Paleni
On page 11 in the magazine is a Q&A interview I did with David Gandy, the UK's top male model.
Mr.Gandy
