Louise Giovanelli Artist Film
So Louise, tell us about the imagery you use in your work.
“When I look back over a year at what I’ve decided to paint I begin to see similarities within the imagery - a thread in which they all hang. So recently this has included various light phenomena, folds in fabric, glitches of some kind - interruptions of a surface. So I guess there is an internal logic to my choices of imagery but this isn’t available to me at the time. It’s only something I can decipher in hindsight. I always want the narrative to be ambiguous in my work. It’s important for me not to give too much away, as then the painting becomes an illustration - and when that happens it looses power.”
Do you favour a specific technique?
“My technique is very traditional. I use thin layers of paint to build up form, light and shade. Most of the time I make underpaintings which act as a blue print for the rest of the painting. I am drawn to these techniques because they were based on the core principal of light. The physicality of the light in the room, the light emanating from the primed canvas, and how this interacts with pigment. For my most luminous works I tend to work with single pigment colours in thin layers on a bright white ground. By using the least amount of the best quality pigment you can create real painted light. Mixing pigments on a palette and then applying it just isn’t the same. It produces a deadness.”
What’s your daily routine in the studio?
“I have a very disciplined studio practice. In the last 6 months leading up to a solo show I was working every day, 12 hours a day. I am a morning person, I can’t work in the evenings or through the night. So I would get up at 5 and be in the studio for 6 then work through to 6pm. That’s not sustainable though ! I can only do it leading up to shows. A normal day without an imminent show is usually 6-7 hours painting, 1 hour reading and my evenings free for socialising or making dinner ! This routine works for me, but I appreciate art can and is often made in other ways and not necessarily in such a structured way. But for me I have to have a disciplined working day and then a gear shift into relaxation in the evening.”
Film commissioned by Paradise Works, and supported by Arts Council England.