In the Studio with Louisa Gagliardi

INTERVIEW

Published Nov 6, 2020

Louisa Gagliardi in her studio, 2020

Your painting technique comprises a combination of analog and digital techniques. Would you mind going into detail about your process?

I usually start a painting with a simple sketch, that often ends up just being a very small part of the final painting, but I typically need this impulse to start. I then take a quick photo of it, trace it and start painting in Photoshop. From there the image will grow, with this sketch being the first piece of the puzzle. It is rare that I have a clear idea of the final piece when I start, one part will lead to the next. Often, the first impulse doesn’t even make the cut at then end. 

The beauty (and sometimes the difficulty) of working digitally is that I don’t have to have that clear plan from the beginning - I can change format and build infinitely. It can be hard not to get lost in it and reach that final point. 

Once the image is finished, I will then print it on PVC, which is basically a slightly more refined material of what is used for outdoor advertising. More often than not, I will add a final layer with a paintbrush and different types of varnishes, ranging from gel medium, to nail polish, or latex.

You have a background in graphic design, so it is no surprise that you were drawn to using digital tools to create your works. Do you prefer to keep your graphic design work separate from your painting practice, or do you like them to have a relationship with each other?

You’re right, my background in graphic design allowed me to master digital tools, but what really got me to use the computer to paint was the immediacy of it. I have little patience and need to get a preview quickly of where I’m going. I do not practice graphic design anymore, but my training in composition definitely is a big help when composing a painting.

Your work often features figures with ambiguous identities - where does the inspiration for these figures come from, and do they have an operative narrative within your practice as a whole?

When I use figures, I see them more as vessels for whatever idea, mood, or narrative that I want to convey. I try to keep the figures as avatars, and keep this ambiguity of gender or race or any exact attribute of an identity. I like to know how different people perceive them, as often the interpretation is quite different.

Your paintings appear to have references to art historical movements, such as surrealism. To what extent does art history influence how you think and work?

I take inspiration from many different eras of art history. I like the openness of interpretation that surrealism can offer, since I like to include some sort of storytelling into my paintings. Depending on the show, I will look more at Renaissance paintings, or sometimes more at modern art. Depending on the painting, it can be quite the variety.

In a world where we are so interconnected and networked by social media, how do your paintings reflect on human interconnectivity and societal networks, within the digital sphere and outside of it?

I think the most obvious connection to social media would be the way the figures and objects are lit, often quite artificially, as if close to a screen. Also, the figures often seem to be posing, even if in a seemingly private environment. Nowadays it can feel like we are never really alone, always being watched, willingly or not. We get to curate our image (most of the time) and that sticks with us even in our private space. Home alone, but infinite scrolling into other people’s life.

Do you have anything exciting coming up (art related or not!) that you are looking forward to?

You know it’s 2020, I’d rather not jinx any of my projects by announcing them too early! But yes, exciting things are on the horizon. Oh and I just got my driving license, so I look forward to road-tripping (maybe).

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