Talking to artist...: Lena Lafaki by Lena Lafaki

EROTIC ART LOVER

TALKS TO ARTIST…

LENA LAFAKI

TALKING TO ARTIST… LENA LAFAKI By Grith Stagaard Gough, Erotic Art Lover, 16th November, 2012.

EroticArtLover: How long have you been making art? Lena Lafaki: From a very early age; that was normal in the former Soviet Union – it was (and still is) customary that kids are starting to be involved in their future as early as possible.

EroticArtLover: What is your preferred medium? Lena Lafaki: Oil, but I also love to experiment with different media.

Lena Lafaki, November 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

EroticArtLover: How would you describe your style of art? Lena Lafaki: Provocative realism? Actually I am double-sided: on the one hand my work is surrealistic, allegorical, with black humor realism; on the other it is ‘painterly realism’.

EroticArtLover: What is the purpose of your work? Lena Lafaki: My head is busy 24/7 and my hands just follow. So, it is my way of life. "Mothers" (Femme Fatal) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

"Her Swan Song" (2011) ÂŠ Lena Lafaki.

Degeneration sets in. The only things left over are memories. Her ephemeral swan is the cloud, whereas her real swan is the plastic chamber pot.

EroticArtLover: Do you like or loathe the term ‘Erotic Art’ for your work? Lena Lafaki: I am just expressing my view on the world in my work; I do not think of terms, it’s not my purpose. I leave it to the public because everybody feels it its own way. Is it erotic or not – that doesn’t really bother me, but if it touches the viewer deeply or if he/she hates it – anything better than passing by unnoticed.

EroticArtLover: Have you been to art school or are you selftaught? Lena Lafaki: Our “great leader” Lenin once said: learning, learning and again learning, so I followed his decree all my life . And seriously – yes, indeed I have studied throughout lifetime, different short and longterm educations. I am full of curiosity from nature, also a perfectionist. I hold a Master degree from a Ukrainian Art Institute and a bachelor at the Dutch Rietveld Art Academy.

Lena Lafaki: Sometimes the piece appears straight away in my head; I just have to put it down on canvas, but usually I do make some sketches.

EroticArtLover: Favourite colour? Lena Lafaki: It shouldn’t be because any color in its right combination or place is just beauty in itself; but yes, guilty – it’s yellow and all shades of it, it drives me crazy. EroticArtLover: What’s the last book you read? Lena Lafaki: Novels of Italian author Dino Buzzati (in style of Kafka) and Argentine short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges.

EroticArtLover: Do you draw from life or photographs? Lena Lafaki: 90 per cent of time from life. I hate to do it from photo because than the paintings become dead, but sometimes I have no choice as a supporting medium.

EroticArtLover: Would you ever nude?

model

Lena Lafaki: Easy, but I have to respect the master who does that. EroticArtLover: Do you work with music or in silence? Lena Lafaki: I do prefer to work in silence. I am continuously thinking while working, that is why even most beautiful music would take me out of my thought process.

EroticArtLover: Where do you draw inspiration for your work? Lena Lafaki: I draw a lot from life experience but also from TV, Internet, readings, street.

EroticArtLover: How do you prepare a piece? Do you use a sketchbook?

"Ballet #5" (Hello Degas ) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

"Ballet #2" (Hello Degas ) 2012 ÂŠ Lena Lafaki.

"Ballet #4" (Hello Degas ) 2012 ÂŠ Lena Lafaki.

EroticArtLover: Favourite music? Lena Lafaki: When I drive or in free time I love to listen jazz, sometimes house, also classical.

EroticArtLover: Which part of the creative process do you enjoy the most? Lena Lafaki: It’s a combination of the whole process: I start to be excited from the idea, and then I am curious how it will look like at the end. When it is finished I am sitting in front of the painting and look at it. I try then to understand if there is nothing that has to be changed, adjusted; with the result that I had often to repaint the whole work. This last fact I do not really enjoy but if it has success – then it gives me great satisfaction, like ecstasy!

EroticArtLover: How long does it take to make a work of art from start to finish? Lena Lafaki: Depends on size, on complexity of composition, on style of painting – fine or alla prima. One can be ready in three days, another takes three to four months to complete.

EroticArtLover: What’s your most challenging work to date and why? Lena Lafaki: Every next work is challenging because you enter into the unknown. Everybody knows how to ‘make’ children but nobody knows what sort of personality and outer looks they will get exactly.  I guess my most challenging work was a small painting of a simple apple – the problem was

"Ballet #1" (Hello Degas ) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

that it was my first work in oil and I made quite a mess out of it. When the apple was finished I was happy like a child! That was a big achievement since then my oils went like oil!

EroticArtLover: How do you relax? Lena Lafaki: Playing, hugging and squeezing my Chihuahuas. I love dogs and animals in general. Also I love to visit musea: in London or in Paris, Wien or Amsterdam, Antwerp or Warsaw...I also like to rummish through flea markets – it’s like in museum but here you can touch everything and you never know what you’ll see or find - very exciting and works relaxing for the mind! EroticArtLover: Which piece of art would

Studio of Lena Lafaki, 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

Lena Lafaki working in her studio, 2012 ÂŠ Lena Lafaki.

you most like to own? Lena Lafaki: Oh God! So much! Monet’s London series, any of Flemish Primitives, Chinese ink paintings, any of J.M.W. Turner’s last works … that’s just to begin with. If I’d get bigger house I’d start to dream about having more. EroticArtLover: Living or dead, which artist would you most like to have dinner with? Lena Lafaki: William Turner. This great master was about 200 years ahead of his time. EroticArtLover: What part does humour play in your art? Lena Lafaki: Main. Humor makes us human beings.

EroticArtLover: Are you stringent and planned or experimental when you work? Lena Lafaki: Again, it depend on work: nudes are made as I breathe, my whole mind is accumulating the model in front of me, I try to catch something that makes her characteristic. In these, nudes’ works, I like to experiment and often go wild “physically”. With my “Leda“ series, for instance, I went “mentally” wild (I mean the idea); but in the execution I carefully worked out the composition, all details were made with spits (pointy) brush. It was a long and tedious process, requiring many layers of thin transparent paint.

EroticArtLover: What do you prefer, day or night?

"#10" (Candy Store) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

Lena Lafaki: Day, because the colors and all nuances of it are most right at day light. EroticArtLover: Biggest ambition for your art? Lena Lafaki: Of course it would be nice to “hang” in some cool museums! EroticArtLover: When selling your art do you prefer, gallery representation or personal interaction? Lena Lafaki: It is important that it ends up with someone who loves the piece. Would it matter by which means? EroticArtLover: Innovation and investigation; is one more important than the other in art?

"#14" (Candy Store) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

"#5" (Candy Store) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

"#7" (Candy Store) 2012 © Lena Lafaki.

"Three Graces" (Leda) 2011 ÂŠ Lena Lafaki.

Sketch of large lady for Three Graces and old lady for Her Swan Song.

Lena Lafaki: They are two children of one mother: in order to innovate one needs to investigate. On the other hand (as someone said): “Art doesn’t need to be innovative to be good”…

EroticArtLover: When was your holiday?

last

Lena Lafaki: My mother always said: To rest is to change what you are doing. I tried to combine business with leisure throughout my life. I just came back from Venice, where I had an exhibition, while being there and waited in order to be able to take my works back home, I stood on streets with my painter’s box to capture architectural beauty. Who is not in love with Venice?

EroticArtLover: Biggest achievement date?

Lena Lafaki: Training my Chihuahuas to not to bark on everything that moves (Chihuahua owners will easily understand what that means) . In art – I haven’t reached it yet. EroticArtLover: Fact or fiction? Lena Lafaki: Candy or salami, boy or girl? If smartly done – love both. EroticArtLover: What is your next project? What does 2012 hold for you?

Lena Lafaki: 2013: Ladies, ladies and again - ladies. That has been the main subject of my work for the last years.

EroticArtLover: Where can people buy your work? Lena Lafaki: To buy or just to look at and hopefully enjoy everybody is welcome at: http://www.lafaki.com

EroticArtLover: Thank you for taking the time to share your story and letting us hear about your work. I wish you lots of success in 2013.

"Madam Butterfly" detail (Femme Fatal)