In this series of interviews, Bold Beginnings, the spotlight is on a group of 2021 graduates who emerged with a flourish. These artists are immediately noticeable for their distinctive styles: the exciting results of very different research choices. The promise of their achievements has been recognized by universities and awarded prizes; we wanted to find out more about these young artists on the cusp of their careers.
A graduate from Edinburgh College of Art, Lorena Levi paints group portraits with impressive technical skill. The often domestic spaces of her scenes hold an atmosphere charged with the psychological reality of multiple subjects. They also give space for alternatives, the other version of events that the mind dreams up. Read on to hear about how Lorena sources her stories, the freedom her new studio space affords her, and her sophisticated use of ‘unfinished’ stylistic touches.
Your work is defined as ‘narrative portraiture’. How would you characterise this genre?
I hope to present a snapshot of a scene in my paintings. My practice concentrates on storytelling and putting forth a snippet of a scene that holds a narrative. I look at approaching a painting as though I’ve taken out the most important moment of a moving picture allowing the viewer to decipher what has happened, and what will happen in the scene.
I am interested in painting people as exploring ways of showing their internalised feelings, or relationships with others in a scene, allows me to develop the narrative in the painting. Rather than traditional methods of portrait painting, I prefer catching a moment between conversation or action to depict people’s situations and emotions involved.
The people in your group portraits can strike one as alone in the crowd, even as the relations between them are drawn out and explored. What is it that draws you to painting groups?
I’m drawn to painting more than one person because I can construct a more layered story to the painting. Multiple people in the painting allows for different emotions or stances within a context of a scene, it heightens the feelings I want to draw out from the primary subject in the painting, it allows for depiction of tension or even amicable relations. Human relations are a driving force for my paintings and in order to emphasise one person’s emotion, the presence and relationship others have in the painting enhances the whole composition.
You paint strangers and their stories (using internet chat rooms for your series ‘Omegle: Talk to Strangers’) as well as friends and family. Are these experiences contrasting?
Yes and no. My approach to collecting stories from both friends and strangers are the same; a casual interview method which most likely turns into a more in depth and intimate conversation. The reactions and approaches friends and strangers have to answering my questions can certainly differ. I found that strangers lose their barriers and blockades to getting deeper much quicker. I noticed this in my Omegle project where people swiftly opened up and we got into the crux of their lives and stories much quicker. I think this is because there’s an acknowledged aspect that we will only have this communication here at this given time. We know we will remain as strangers so there are less inhibitions about sharing.
How do contemporary technologies influence the content and form your painting?
Since January 2021 I used the internet as a way of finding subjects for storytelling in my paintings, starting with chat room sites to independent online research of other cultures and traditions in them, seen in my Child/Bride series based off the ultra-fringe tradition of child marriages in some regions of Turkey. I also used podcasts as a source of inspiration, listening to ‘Where should we begin now with Esther Perel’ which delves into couples therapy sessions. From what was spoken about I painted scenarios I imagined from what I heard in the podcast. The podcast series was specific to Covid, so I found myself painting families around the world again.
Many of your portraits have a raw background texture – of wood used as a canvas. Why did you begin working this way?
While painting domestic and interior scenes, the wood grain became a motif I liked to use because it added a warmth to the tone of my painting. The more I continued, the more I experimented with leaving things ‘unfinished’ and highlighting aspects of the painting where I didn’t complete the detail. The juxtaposition of detail with linear aspects of my work became more harmonious against the backdrop of the wood. I found that on a wood background the painting flattened, making the composition almost dreamscape-like and distorting perspective – as it is never fully clear how close, or far, the figures are to elements of the space they inhabit.
Tell us a bit about your studio space.
I currently work in V.O Studios in Angel since October which I share with a fellow artist Laila Maijid. The studios are somewhat collaborative with artists encouraged to be involved with each other in crits and joint exhibitions put on by V.O Curations. Since the space is open 24/7, I have huge flexibility with the hours I come in and stay. I find it a perfect space for me to experiment with techniques of painting and themes or subjects.
Art history icons and / or contemporary inspiration?
My interest in narrative painting saw me becoming more explorative of the work of Frida Kahlo.I started looking deeper into her work when I painted myself and aspects of my body mixed with the perceptions of illness, and then enjoyed her methods of storytelling in painting. Paula Rego is another female narrative painter that I draw huge inspiration from, and seeing her Retrospective at the Tate Britain reminded me of the sheer number of topics she delved into that were pressing and needed some form of creative commentary to raise more awareness. Alice Neel’s and Chantal Joffe’s portraiture depict stories just from the looks they capture from their sitters. The viewer gets a chance to enjoy deciphering who these people are and their relationships to others – either in the painting or the artist.
At the end of your degree you were a 2021 recipient the Astaire Art Prize for outstanding work at Edinburgh College of Art, with the judges noting that the themes of the four winners included isolation, memory, and Covid-19. Can you tell us a bit about your training as an artist, and your trajectory these past few years?
I started my training with my art foundation at the City and Guilds Art School in 2015. It was a chance to see what medium of art I enjoyed and, in a sense, suited me best. Once I realised painting was what I felt most passionate about, I applied for painting degrees and found that Edinburgh had a course that combined Fine Art with History of Art and would be an integrated master. The course itself was incredibly enriching as I was able to truly understand the context of my own work by learning about how artists developed theirs. It gave me an understanding of background to painting subjects and deciding how to present my art so that the context I found important could be communicated to the viewers in some capacity.
What does the year ahead hold for you?
Now that I’ve settled in my studio, I am working on projects I’ve been planning for and am very excited about. My current project is a springboard off my painting Couples Therapy, if, where I have been reading through published psychoanalytical papers and painting scenes in the therapy room. I have also been accepted onto a residency in Hydra for the upcoming summer with Descoverart, where I am really looking forward to collaboration with other artists and painting in totally new surroundings. I’m still working with Alveston Fine Arts Gallery and hope to be part of some upcoming shows. Now that the new year has started there have been openings for applications to shows and residencies, so I try to apply to everything that takes my interest in the hope of being able to display my projects.
Words by Maggie