Artist Focus: Leila Gholobi
Painter – IRAN
Leila Gholobi, M.A of painting, create her artwork with a unique approach. She considers painting as her patron and thinks of it not as a choice, but a sense of being. Leila is a postmodern artist who presents her artworks with an abstract approach in order to create a unique visual feeling and avoid repetition. Painting with color fusion is a specification of her art; she creates forms from colors without any assumption. Visual perception of his artworks can be described as immersion, the big bang explosion and a dream of nature.
Leila declares her attitude about her art and says: “my artworks convey a cosmological notion that comes from the inner word and goes to the outer world while what I am picturing belongs neither to the inner not to the outer word; it may be somewhere in between with a tendency toward one of these poles in each artwork. Every artwork of mine is my outlook at the moment which roots in the carved images of creation and existence on my mind and I call the Lai La, which was also the name of my previous exhibition. In Hinduism Lai La means game, a game which is not merely a game. In fact it is more like a war: A war or a game between the Four Elements for the creation of nature.”
Tell us about yourself and your Artistic Career…
Reason and sensibility have always the sources of people’s choice through the history. Painting is not my professional priority; it is rather the very first goal of my life- a way to express myself as I really am. The art is my means of communication; in other words I can communicate with everyone all around the world, apart from their language, skin color, nationality or religion with my paintings.
Painting is my language through which I can know myself. Nothing can be more pleasurable to me than playing with colors and lights. Canvas and colors are my life. I don’t remember a time when I decide to paint something; therefore it is not the matter of choice. The art of painting has always been within me, I did not choose it! Painting makes me feel alive.
Tell us about your style…
I am a postmodern painter. Styles have been faded since the late 19th century and world witness modern arts; and now we are experiencing postmodern area a period in which paintings are mostly consolidated and cannot be bound to a particular style. I believe I can say that my paintings have abstract approach.
Color fusion is my first step. At first, I don’t have anything in mind to set down on the canvas. As I mix the colors and add further layers, forms and lines emerge and I develop them to gain the ultimate goal which is determined during the painting process. I may add or eliminate some parts at last. This is not an easy thing to do at all because I have to preserve the noble and pristine nature of it and avoid making it seem artificial. The more successful I can operate at this level, the more beautiful my artwork would be.
Which one of your artworks you would choose as the most meaningful and the most influential?
In my last exhibition, I asked my professors, pundits, and the audience to define the artwork they have communicated with the most. Almost everyone chose a different artwork due to their attraction to a certain technique or other elements. It rally was interesting for me.
If I want to criticize my artworks and challenge myself, I can say that I love the artwork which has not been painted yet. Therefore my best painting would always be the next one. I believe a successful artist is someone whose artworks could have been divided chronologically and her most recent artworks are better than the old ones; so his progress and development would be tangible. A true artist is the one who would not deal with indolence and lethargy or even worst face degradation in his art. Unfortunately, we witness so many examples of this kind in our art which is caused by the lack of attention to the young artists and the art Mafia which ends in neglecting their talent’s flourish.
How do you mix the colors to create an artwork in your own style?
Accident is the initial spark of my work; something like the Big Bang Theory; a good and pleasant occurrence which will be developed for hours and hours to reach my ideal final goal and feel to stop. I don’t have any assumption that how long would a painting take. It would take 150 hours for me to finish some of my artworks. I must say that a painting goes on without me bossing it.
I mix wet colors together because it feels way much better and more natural; it is more original and less artificial. It is not an easy way to control colors and avoid the mess in this style. It demands plenty of time and a good care’ but I think the final result worth’s all the efforts. When I need to add layers, I put wet paint on dry paint. I do insist on the minimum usage of the brush in order to preserve the natural essence of the painting.
What was your audience’s perception of your art?
Almost all of the audience describe my art to the pictures of National Geography. Even one of my audiences who were a documentary filmmaker told me that he wants to dive in one of my paintings!
Most of the audience express their attitudes and ask me the goal behind my artworks. I prefer not to answer this question in order to avoid the pure relation they could have with my art. I prefer that my curios audience explore my art and come to a new concept every time he faces my artwork. I think that the moment I put my artworks in front of the audience it does not belong to me anymore and I become just an audience. Rarely I put a code as the artwork’s name in my painting’ but I prefer to let the audience read the exhibition’s statement and explore the artworks’ world all by himself because I do not believe in braking up my audience’s relation with the artworks.
At the end of one of his articles, Michel Foucault says: “once every speech, regardless of its status, form or value and regardless of subjection to a treat, will flourish in obscurity of a whisper; we will no longer face that repeated question: who really spoke?” Samuel Beckett also says: “someone is speaking; it doesn’t matter who”
Tell us about your future plans and further exhibitions…
Cosmology is the theme of my art. My last collection, Ley La, is the world’s creation overview- a conflict between advent and stealth. As I have said Lay La is a game, a game in which the Four Elements (water, wind, fire and soil) come together and create the world- plants, animals, and humans. In my future collection this viewpoint will be more specific through the constituent elements of the world and its creatures. A 4th dimension point of view which is detailed enough to picture molecular distance. This is pure abstraction, something that cannot be seen through eyes.
More About Leila Gholobi at: Linkedin