Redefining how art is seen and experienced ™
With each work, or as an artist as a whole, what do you wish to communicate to the audience, and how does this specifically effects the final work? Does this change with different works, or series, or does it remain the same with all of your creations? My desire is to stimulate my audience through a highly textural 3D canvas with a material that is unexpected. The texture seems to be random, untamed and wrinkly, but when viewed as a whole the chaos on the canvas all makes sense. The dimensional canvas along with the boldness of the color outwardly generates a high-definition piece of art. Allowing a conventional subject matter to be transformed into a nontraditional painting stimulates the senses and shatters the archetypical illusions of preconceived interpretation.
Artists always vary in the importance placed on communicating their own vision without question or limitation, and the emphasis and importance placed on the audience, and how it can and will relate to them. How do you feel when people interpret your artwork inversely, or is there one primary thing you hope to have the viewer experience? I hope that the observer of the work can be open to something new, and not judge the work based on prier understanding of their interpretation of traditional or contemporary art. If you are looking at my work as traditional, you might be disappointed as this work will stretch the idea that this is anything but conventional. If the viewer sees the work as contemporary, one might not see it as artistically extraordinary because the subject matter is fundamental. If the viewer is searching for a story or a deep message they may find my art as meaningless. I would offer to the observer to see the work as unlike anything else, and look upon the work as a creation of inspired vision and a conceived technique coming together in a collaboration of one individual method; an innovation.
The creative approach is a very personal methodology, and every artist differs when it comes to their artistic process. How do you approach creation- can you elaborate on your working process? I prepare the canvas by gluing tissue paper, taking the shape of the image and creating a sculpture. I build up the tissue paper with many layers to the point it becomes three dimensional and protruding from the canvas, sometimes as much as four inches. The tissue paper is the starting point and the catalyst to the painting. It sets the mood, shapes the object and creates the design. The oil paint is applied after the sculpture is dried. In most cases, the color is applied in stages. My method is not to blend color but to use every angle of the tissue sculpture to isolate the color in its purist form providing the most vibrancy.
THE ARTIST SPEAKS:Michelle Larsen
In a wider context, why do you think art is imperative for the world, and why is it important for you personally as artist? “Now more than ever, we feel it, we live it, we are it; the essence of emotion. Humanity is trying to sort through this emotional intensity. Emotional energy does not dissipate, but rather roams around and bounces back and forth from one person to another. The artist is the conduit to harness this energy and make some sense of things, and to connect you to the deepest part of yourself where one finds answers and understanding.” Michelle Larsen. (Quoted by Michelle during a segment on WTAN-AM 1340 Tampa Bay, Florida in January 2015).
* In your evolution as an artist, (both creatively, conceptually and pragmatically), what has been the biggest frustration or obstacle? I have developed my style and evolved as an artist quickly as if I was on a deadline, causing an inferno in my fire pit. Many undesirable pieces of art has been scrapped, burned and discarded. My biggest frustration has been developing my exclusive style of a sculpted canvas using tissue paper. It was not found in a book nor were there any instructions. Also, two dimensional media has been a frustration for me because a protruding canvas does not duplicate well on the internet.
* Which of your works stands out as a highlight, favorite, or significant point in your creative growth and development? And why was it most significant to you as an artist? My most significant painting was “Wisdom,” a Native American Indian face. It was my first sculptural painting in which it extends beyond the canvas exponentially. That was the tipping point to my dimensional paintings.
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Y O R K
What are the principle themes and focus of your work? My main focus is on human beings that live off the land and cultivate the soil, land dwellers, mountain living, garden, nature and the human struggle. I prefer an up close view of the subject offering complexity to something that does not appear to be complex. I am in the process of working on spring bulb flowers, and a mountain man portrait. Soon I will be incorporating some short poetry writings onto the backgrounds of the paintings that I have written myself.
*Your aesthetic; while routed in fundamental art historical themes, is also very distinctive. I’m very interested in are artist with a unique vision places themselves within the art context; which other art and artists they are inspired and influenced by. Within the evolution of your artistic journey, have you found a specific affinity to certain artists, and if so, why? I create art from within attempting not to be influenced by any artist. I want my art to stand alone. Mostly my art practice is somewhat meditative, not to put too much thought into every process, but letting thing unfold as it progresses. I have been told my art is reminiscent of Van Gogh .
What are the principle themes and focus of your work? My main focus is on human beings that live off the land and cultivate the soil, land dwellers, mountain living, garden, nature and the human struggle. I prefer an up close view of the subject offering complexity to something that does not appear to be complex. I am in the process of working on spring bulb flowers, and a mountain man portrait. Soon I will be incorporating some short poetry writings onto the backgrounds of the paintings that I have written myself.
*Your aesthetic; while routed in fundamental art historical themes, is also very distinctive. I’m very interested in are artist with a unique vision places themselves within the art context; which other art and artists they are inspired and influenced by. Within the evolution of your artistic journey, have you found a specific affinity to certain artists, and if so, why? I create art from within attempting not to be influenced by any artist. I want my art to stand alone. Mostly my art practice is somewhat meditative, not to put too much thought into every process, but letting thing unfold as it progresses. I have been told my art is reminiscent of Van Gogh .