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| Geometric Composition, Acrylic and collage on canvas, 2011 |
January 22, 2011
Lila Afiouni was born and raised in Australia. She studied fine art at both the National Art School and St George college of Tafe in Sydney, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art with Honors in Drawing. Her discipline varies from painting and drawing to installation. She just completed a new series of paintings based on the theme of radios, their aesthetic and the metaphysics of connectivity between radio and listener. This series was shown at the annual Google Show at Hardware Gallery in Sydney.
Lila Afiouni teaches part-time in Sydney high schools and has taught art practice at Sydney University in the Visual Art Education faculty. In 2007, Lila was awarded a studio residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris by the Power Institute of Art and Culture. She is currently a resident artist at Root Division in San Francisco.
Lila Afiouni teaches part-time in Sydney high schools and has taught art practice at Sydney University in the Visual Art Education faculty. In 2007, Lila was awarded a studio residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris by the Power Institute of Art and Culture. She is currently a resident artist at Root Division in San Francisco.
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Craig Boehman: What brings you to San Francisco to pursue your art?
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| Broadcast, collage and acrylic on canvas, 2010 |
CB: Talk about Bruce Conner...what aspects about his work do you admire?
LA: I first heard about Bruce Conner in connection to the Beat writers. I had been making collage work, but when I saw Conner's work, it was more delicate, unassuming and feminine. His body of work really is mysterious because he works in so many styles. He also makes films. I just like how eclectic he was. In regards to how he treated the mainstream media – he was deliberately subversive and this interested me because despite his illusive persona and his underwhelming presence in the art world (a premeditated act of his own), he was prolific and is very much a celebrated SF artist.
CB: And with Ginsberg, is there a direct correlation in some silent undertone that finds its way into any of your pieces?
LA: That's a tough question. As as you know I'm a huge fan of Ginsberg. I also write poetry. He has been an influence yes for sure, his writing, the context of his work in America, the grittiness and honesty of it. I mean, my work is not literal, it's abstract, so it's hard to find the correlation except that perhaps I am making work that could be reflected of his time, in terms of emotion and honesty.
CB: You've been in SFO for over a month now, right?
LA: Two months now.
CB: Do you find your methods of working changing at all with the change of view?
LA: Before I came to SFO, I was making work for a show at Hardware Gallery in Sydney, and I seemed to have a breakthrough. I am still carrying on that style of work which is essentially neo-geometric abstraction. The only change of view is that the colors are a little softer as I seem to be absorbing the color combinations of the Victorian houses here. Their facades are very beautiful, even the weathered ones.
CB: Does the architecture in Sydney inspire you?
LA: The architecture in Sydney is not as consistent; it’s more of a sprawling red-brick house suburban attitude and not so inspiring. I would say the ocean down the street from where I live is more inspiring as a body of raw energy and power. This new work takes me to a more spiritual level of harmony and balance.
CB: Are there any special places that you return to in SFO when you visit?
LA: I'm a sucker for Haight-Ashbury. It still has a great bohemian feel to it. I love North Beach, too. It's not so populated and you can feel the literary history there. It's great just walking the streets around North Beach.
CB: You just began a new painting...can you talk about this yet?
LA: Hmm. I think I began another new painting since we talked! I construct my paintings like an architectural piece, one part must support another. It must all fall into place otherwise it won't stand alone.
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| Organic Composition No. 2, Acrylic on canvas, 2011 |
LA: Not for me. It's like continuing an ongoing conversation that I have had for months. It might start with an idea of Pythagoras and his notion that the world is based on numbers and have a certain balance that exists in the world, and then it keeps going, harmony might be the next phase. It's like a time line that keeps unfolding.
CB: I notice I'm about 16 months late, but do you have any of those limited edition postcards left you mention on your site?
LA: I certainly do. I can post them over to you...
CB: Nice! Thank you. I love postcards. They're the only things left in the world I love to post to people. I can't write legibly, and my thoughts work different when I hold a pen. My first art postcards was a collection by...not Klimt...the other guy.
LA: Egon Schiele.
CB: Schiele! He's one of my favorites. I shouldn't have got stumped on his name.
LA: I think Shiele was Klimt's pupil but don't quote me on that.
CB: How did your Paris residency come about?
LA: I had to apply for the Paris residency through the Power Institute of Art and Culture in Australia. It's an award. I sent them my work and they liked it so I went over to the Cite Internationale des Arts for four months. I was given a live-in space and a studio in a complex of about 300 other studios. The energy was amazing, artists, musicians, writers from all over the globe lived there. You really felt like anything could happen. Often I would sit in my studio and wait for something to happen and sure enough, my phone would ring and I'd be invited to a show or some kind of happening. Things were going on all over Paris, obscure things that would never happen in Australia.
CB: I often wonder how many artists out there have mentors or great teachers that were instructional or influential during some part of their lives. Did you find yourself in the company of any such figure in Paris?
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| Construction No. 1, Acrylic on canvas, 2010 |
CB: I wouldn't be able to concentrate on a thing. How long did it take you to get rolling with your work?
LA: well even logistics were a big challenge – like how do I get to the other side of town? How do I read the labels on a can of soup in the grocery store? I took home a carton of Pampelmousse hoping it was orange juice...it turned out to be grapefruit juice. I didn't make anything significant in Paris. It's what I took away with me that was important. I started a new series when i got back to Sydney called 'The Paris Paintings'. I made some paintings in the Paris studio, but they failed to capture a consistency that I’d hoped for.
CB: So your Paris Series were all began and finished in Australia?
LA: Yes...
CB: Very Hemingway. He was always writing about the last place from his new digs.
LA: Yes, that is understandable because they have such an effect on the artist. It is always the artist, and I mean all kinds of artists, that really take notice of things and see things in a different way, visually, emotionally. I remember so much from that Paris trip. It is saturated in my brain. And I still use that information when I need it.
CB: It's like jet lag for creativity, isn't it?
LA: Absolutely.
CB: Like it wasn't able to do its job on site.
LA: I think it takes time to absorb it all. It resonates when you get back home. The first of my Paris Series were the drawings, starting with Paris Street Map. I was quite disturbed that I'd gotten back to Sydney and hadn't worked very much in my studio for a month, so i sat on the floor and just started drawing and drawing, and that is the series that began and moved on to paintings on canvas.
CB: Who were your influences there?
LA: For the Paris Series?
CB: Yes.
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| Mystical Programming, Acrylic and collage on canvas, 2010 |
CB: Now this is your second residency in SFO?
LA: First in San Francisco.
CB: On your prior visits, did you anticipate your eventual return to work on your art?
LA: Yes, or at least I knew I would rent a studio. I had planned to come here, find a place to live and rent a studio. When I got here I happened on Root Division and they were interested in my work and offered me a studio residency for 6 months. Actually, they would usually have a one year contract but my American visa is only 6 months and RD made an exception for me.
CB: Paris is potentially a vast subject. Let me back up...Is there anything else you'd like to add about your stay in Paris?
LA: It can't be compared to my residency here. It was such a different feeling being in a foreign country and not speaking the language – it is a vast topic. Needless to say there was amazing art and incredible experiences around every corner. But it was tough at times too, setting your own agenda. I wasn't prepared for that. I learned much on that trip...quite unforgettable. It very much prepared me for this residency. Now, I have more practical sense in that I have a set program with things to do. I allow myself to explore the city, but I must also be in the studio at least 5 days a week.
CB: I won't ask you about specifics of what you're doing right now, other than the fact you've been influenced by the architecture there – it's often a matter of reflection when you return home – but is there anything you're finding this time in SFO that brings out an immediate response that must be applied to canvas sooner rather than later?
LA: I keep finding that I am a very tactile person. I love surfaces, bumpy surfaces, things you can touch – so just the experience of being in a different city allows my senses to be nourished in that way. I touch the sides of buildings as I go by. I get familiar with my surroundings that way. So how does this effect my work? I make sure that the surface of my paintings reflect the softness of the architecture I am looking at, or if I add some wood collage, it resembles the built environment in some way.
CB: Along the lines of some of your mixed media work...
LA: Yes, much like the mixed media work I did for the ‘Rauschen-burger To Go’ series.
CB: If you could take back a barge full of material to work with back home, what would you take with you, and what would you make?
LA: Oh gosh, I have found so many art materials here that I like, certain paints, canvas pliers, all workers materials. I think I can pretty much get most things in Australia but I do think I'll take back lots of magazines for collage material, American stuff that you just can't get back home. I'm sure I'd make more mixed media works with them.
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| Interflow, Acrylic on canvas, 2011 |
LA: When I first got here, I didn't use any mixed media; I was just painting my geometric abstracts. But I felt I needed to add more dimension to the works. One thing about my practice is that I can't sit still. I like to try different things or slip back to a style I was practicing ten years ago. So now I am adding some 3D relief to the paintings.
CB: Where are you getting your materials? I mean, are you finding them, purchasing them?
LA: The relief collage?
CB: Yes...
LA: I have been purchasing cord, wood, thread etc., and there is some left over wood in the workroom at the studio that I take before it gets recycled....haven't found much on the streets yet that took my fancy.
CB: Did you start off doing abstract or did you work in any other genres?
LA: My very first experiences in art were portraits and realist landscape paintings, then I moved onto abstracting those forms, and then finally non objective art. I was more into the feeling of the work. It had to take me elsewhere...that's what i was interested in, going someplace else. And that is what I got from looking at artists such as Motherwell and Rauschenberg.
CB: Was there a pivotal point in your schooling where a teacher took you aside and said, “Lila, you're an artist. Have you ever considered doing this as a career?"
LA: No, never. I was driven to be an artist. It was and is what I love. It wasn't a question of doing it as a career, it was just a question of doing it and not stopping.
