Interview with Laurent Impeduglia

q)Please introduce yourself.

a)My name is Laurent Impeduglia. I am a left-handed man who was born a Friday (the thirtheenth) at quarter for midnight…

q) Where do you live and work?

a)I live in Liège (Belgium). I teach in the royal academy of fine-arts from Liege as professor assistant.

q) How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?

a)My painting is popular narrative and expressive with some spirituality and derision…

q) How did you start in the arts? How/when did you realize you were an artist?

a)I started interesting my-self to art when my brother died. I was 16 years old and he was 18. After that I spent 20 years with painting which gave another meaning to my life.

q) What are your favorite art materials and why?

a)I like to paint over all support with different kind of paint (acrylic, oil, water color,…).However I have a particular pleasure to work with oil and high quality of pigment’s coloration.

q) What/who influences you most?

a)Of course my past and my true-life constitue the substance of my work, but the form evolved year after year according to artistical discoveries.. The 80’s music, video games, tv show all this popular culture is really important too… I feel also concerned by some mystical approach like alchemy, symbolism and other spiritual quests.

q) Describe a typical day of art making for you.

a)It’s really nice when I can spend the whole day in my workshop with some flipper-breaks…héhé

q) Do you have goals, specific things you want to achieve with your art or in your career as an artist?

a)Today my main aim is to be right in my painting, to be in perfect balance with myself.

q) What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)At the beginning, I followed several artistic streams. I always analysed my painting, I never kept any certitude within. I was always looking for something else .Today I feel more relax and peaceful and the contemporary realities always depend on countries. So I ‘m not interested into « what’s in and what’s not », even if I try to be in my century. Above all, I’m very happy to notice that painting is not dead as people said 15 years ago.

q) How long does it typically take you to finish a piece?

a)As long as my picture is « in » my workshop, I can do some changes. It’s funny to see different peaces of life on the same picture. The white background symbolize those changes, revivals. I like to do some painting which seem to be « out of time » because time is a part of undefinable space , globalized instead of a defined moment. Time is ungettable and I don’t like to give a frozen moment in my pictures. I try to give a global image and give a particular sens to the color.

q) Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are you emotionally attached to them?

a)I don’t feel so linked to them , I prefer knowing them living by other persons than dying in my closed.

q) Is music important to you? If so, what are some things you're listening to now?

a)Rock’n’roll…

q) Books?

a)I read mystical books (kabbale, alchemy) even if sometimes I only look at the pictures…

q) What theories or beliefs do you have regarding creativity or the creative process?

a)I have no secret of fabrication, sometimes it ‘s magic and the pictures appear by itself and sometimes it’s not so evident but I play the game, I like this adventure .. I try to follow my feelings.. sometimes i have a concreet project and sometimes not. It’s great to induce some accidents ! In that case I really have fun because I have to find some pictural solution (event if i don’t know how the picture will look like at the end).

q) What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing) when you're not creating?

a)Spending time with my wife and my daughter…

q) Do you have any projects or shows coming up that you are particularly excited about?

a)Nothing special. No matter my quest continue in my workshop. I like showing my painting in other countries whose languages are unknown for me. In that way my pictures tell all by themselves.

q) Do you follow contemporary art scenes? If so, how? What websites, magazines, galleries do you prefer?

a)I always try to keep interested in many different things…

q) Ask yourself a question you'd like to answer, and answer it.

a)Living in harmony with my family and friends, my painting and in the world I’m living in.

q) Any advice for aspiring artists?

a)To keep in search with what is the most suitable for them and not to be afraid to analyze themselves and to be patient …