aNa aYseL INgHam

WWW.ANAINGHAM.COM

Painting Is Like Falling In Love

“I believe that creativity is about finding a unique synthesis between reality and abstraction.

From early age, I was driven to writing and painting. This was my way of coming to terms with life's reality, and my artistic sensibility always tended to a zone between reality and abstraction. I wanted to look closely at the reality and see it clearly, yet also stand aside and see the reality behind a hue, a mist.

When a teenager, I wanted to do both writing and painting, but as it was challenging to focus on two different artistic expressions, I focused on writing.

After writing several novels, short stories, poetry collections, and plays, I claimed my right to express my experiences, emotions, and vision in painting. And the intense and, at times, rocky relationship between the late artist Bryan Ingham and myself must have contributed to this claim. But, after his death, my sensibility erupted, and I found myself painting passionately and obsessively.

I think painting is similar to falling in love. One falls in love through idealization. Love is an abstraction, and the need for abstraction seems to be inherent in the human psyche. I'm also a believer in beauty, although I know that artistic beauty should not be beautiful as defined by society and fashion. Artistic creation is a claim for one's sense of beauty captured through harmony and proportion.

Since I have been a driven traveler, I have become connected to different parts of the world and try to reflect my feelings towards places I've dwelled. I am driven to integrate collage and painting thanks to my dual artistic identity as a writer and a painter. Collage provides a direct link to the real, whereas painting is a product of the imagination”.

“Flowers Talk” Oil On Canvas, 39.3”x39.3”

“Farm” Oil And Collage On Wood, 43.3”X21.6” “Happiness” Oil On Canvas, 31.4”x43.3”