Featured Artist of the Month : Simona Lyriti Mar. 2023 | TheArtList - Art & Photo Calls for Visual Artists and Photographers.

Simona Lyriti

New York, NY, USA

After my first studies in architecture, the excitement of creating something with my hands made me decide to work in a film studio as a set designer. There, I started my career in animation and motion graphic design. Working as an art director for print, film, and TV for many years, fine art - drawing and painting - was a permanent source of creative expression. Cultural heritage and my interest in art history are always sources of inspiration.

How and when did you start creating art?

I started when I could keep a pencil in my hand, about 4-5 years old. I was encouraged to do it as long as I did not risk making it a profession. Like all parents, mines too were concerned about the difficulty of entering a world often closed to most people, especially women. But my stubborn independence kept me insisting, and like any girl in love, I followed my heart always. I worked as a motion graphic designer and painted in my spare time, enjoying every minute. The computer era made it clear that knowledge of fine arts will help create special effects, digital painting, film, TV sets, and much more. I was right, and I applied my experience in computer graphics and animation.

What media and genres do you work in?

Oil or acrylic on canvas, and ink and watercolor on paper. I also create ceramic compositions on frames or small sculptures. I work in any medium where the idea is suited to be materialized. I am of the old school principle that an artist can make everything he feels like creating in any shape and form. It is only a matter of practice and loving what we do.

Who or what are your influences?

Studies of the European Art Nouveau period influenced my work along with Japanese architecture, Gustav Klimt, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, and Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Literature and theatre are often sources of inspiration. For me, painting is an exploration, a dialog, and a learning process.

What was your inspiration for
Carnival II
?

It just came to mind as a game of color and form. I did not follow anything in particular. Painting is a private process, hard to explain because it is different every time. We have different points of start, inspiration, and moods. All these contribute to the result, and for a keen eye, it’s all visible in the final work.

Describe your creative process?

My process starts with a drawing; however, the canvas has its own life and takes me on an exploration where I am equally author and viewer. It takes me along in discovering myself and exploring ideas materialized in the colors inspired by the subject. If it is a Greek myth, the colors will be from the blue sea, the bright yellow sun, and the red of a sunset on the Aegean Sea. The result is the expression of an internal dialog that ends most of the time with surprise. The surprise leads to more interest and research of another, similar discourse. Usually, work is not finished when the paint dries; I find ways to do it better. From this process, I create variants, and a series comes to life. Sometimes, it ends far away from the drawing I planned, and to be pleasantly surprised or not. I start again, drawing, researching, improving, improvising, and certainly, enjoying it.

What are you working on currently?

I have several projects in mind. One is a mise-en-scene of Medea in a modern way, with film and special effects on set, and designing the sets and costumes myself. Another project is an animated film about a polar bear, an old Romanian story, where I create characters and direct the animation. The last and permanent one in my mind is to continue to paint as often as I can because it is, as always, my refuge, my catharsis.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

To be happy, enjoying what I do and the people beside me. I do not make plans; they never come true. I take life as it comes, one day at a time, and deal with it.