Born in Athens and currently based in Singapore, Emi Avora is drawing subject matter from her every day; her sketches and images of public and personal spaces focus on the interior and still life. Her works are entering a dialogue with painting’s modernist historical canons and ponder on our ambiguous relationship to colonial narratives, exoticism, and taste. Humour, curiosity, and anxiety are elements that occupy her compositions. Sometimes dreamy, sometimes intense and with the use of light on the driving seat, her work allows space for invention, creating a gap between looking and making, between the real and the imaginary. Everyday observations become exaggerated through the use of colour and change of scale, focusing on what surprises her or grasps her attention. Stemming from reality, observed situations are weaved into fictional compositions that allow a multitude of readings. Equally, the very process of mark-making opens up a platform to investigate painting’s power to transcend imagery by breaking it down to the basics of colour, shape, pattern and composition.
Avora has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad. Solo projects include the National Theatre of Greece Athens, South Square Arts Centre, The Apartment Gallery, Athens, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York and Gallery Truebenbach, Cologne. She has participated in a number of group shows including Studio Voltaire, London, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, The Whitechapel Gallery, London and the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki. Her work can be found in private as well as public collections in Europe and the USA, including The Wonderful Fund collection and March collection. She has also been an Elizabeth Greenshields recipient and her work has been in various publications,
Self-taught or art school?
I was lucky to spend six years at Art school, first at the Ruskin School of Art for my BA and RA Schools for my MA.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
That’s a really tough question as I love so many artists but I think it would have to be Matisse’s ‘Red Studio’.
How would you describe your style?
If I were to describe it in five words I would say it is colourful, dreamy, maximalist, fresh and complex. The subject matter stems from a combination of everyday observations and archived imagery that come together to create fictional compositions that lie between abstraction and figuration, the real and the imaginary.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
My process is quite organic, I sometimes sketch out an idea but often I just start with an image that intrigues me and I create a composition around it in a loose way on the canvas. I work with quite thin paint and glazes that I build up gradually. Once I have established my composition and my main palette for the work I spend a lot of time working out certain balances. As the work is quite complex chromatically, I need to find the right equilibrium before I feel the work is complete.
Is narrative important within your work?
I tend to create spaces that are offered to the viewer. In essence, the viewer is usually the protagonist in my work and he or she is invited to enter a place to dream in. So I would say I don’t make narrative work per se. However one can always find narrative in a painting and mine offer a multitude of readings. I prefer to keep those readings open.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
I admire a huge amount of painters and looking at older painting as well as contemporary painting provides continuous inspiration. I have been looking at turn of the century painting like the post-impressionists Matisse and Bonnard a lot recently. One of the artists I am also looking at currently is the Swiss Cunot Amiet. Amazing Colourist. But there are numerous contemporary artists I am equally following and admiring. I guess when I am making my work I am continuously in a dialogue with paintings’ history and current output.
What or who inspires your art?
Everyday observations, literature, funny encounters, the chaos of motherhood, my current stay in Singapore and the incredible tropical nature, my own Greek heritage and mythology, the history of painting as well as current culture. I guess it is a multitude of things that come together.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
At the moment I have a studio at the Goodman Arts Centre in Singapore where I currently live. It’s not so easy to find space in Singapore so I feel very privileged to have that space for now. It is set in a building that used to be a school with various studios occupied by visual artists, musicians, dance and theatre companies. And it has a communal garden where chickens roam around oblivious to the large motorways and tall buildings nearby. It’s an inspiring space.
Do you have any studio rituals?
Whether I like it or not, I have to fit my studio time around my kid’s schedules so I don’t really have time for rituals…I do enjoy walking around the communal garden now and then though and take pictures. And I often use my studio time to listen to audiobooks or interesting podcasts, especially when I prime canvases or do something that doesn’t require too much concentration.
What are you working on currently?
I am working on two large paintings in the studio at the moment- I feel they are taking a slightly different direction to my current work and I am excited about that.
I am also currently showcasing some work in a group show at the Alliance Farancaise in Singapore so I have also been quite busy preparing for that.
Where can we buy your art?
There are a few UK based platforms showcasing my work: AucArt – The Leading Platform for Emerging Art, Art Consultancy | Offshoot Arts and http://www.artreversal.com and my website www.emiavora.com
