Artwork: Elise Lewis
Interviewer: Miriam Sims
Elise Lewis is a figurative based artist whose work focuses on depicting the many faces of human emotion with, predominantly, oil and pencil. She hopes to translate her technical skills and illustrative style into tattooing in the future. I was lucky to catch up with her recently to speak on her practice and future aspirations.
Hi Elly, thank you for meeting with me today! Would you be able to describe your current practice to me; what kind of mediums do you enjoy working with at the moment?
I tend to work with a lot of traditional mediums. I don’t experiment to the extent that a lot of other people I know do. I prefer to mainly work with oils and even just pencil. I sometimes do a bit of collage, but not all the time. That’s probably more in like book work stuff, which I do a little bit of, artist books and journaling
Oil painting is something, and drawing as well. They are both practices that take a lot of patience. What do you think about the process of art making as cathartic, and to do with mental health?
I think it’s a good way to just think.
I like to use painting, especially with the oils, as just a good way to process thoughts. [Painting] is a way to make thinking not be as overwhelming as it is to just, like… sort of sit and think. So, the fact that you are doing something at the same time, I usually just end up daydreaming the whole time, and I don’t really realise that I am painting. I guess you are just switching off, but also, you are thinking about more. I don’t know, it’s odd, because it’s not essentially switching off [and] it’s not essentially switching on either. But it is good, sometimes, the fact that it is so long. It can be really frustrating as well. Especially if you have got that idea of what you want it to look like at the end and it’s just not there yet. It can be really disheartening. And then you just end up wanting to rush, but rushing means you feel like what you end up making is terrible.
‘I usually just end up daydreaming the whole time, and I don’t really realise that I am painting.’
I notice you paint a lot of figures. What significance do portraiture and figurative practice have to works?
I find people just a lot more interesting than other subjects, especially faces; they are the easiest way, for me at least, to convey emotion. Because we are used to seeing faces anyways, I feel like it’s just natural to be able to look at a face and know what it’s maybe feeling, or at least be able to sort of get something from it. But sometimes, like with landscapes and stuff, if you try and make them “emotional”, obviously, with different people, they are going to get different ideas
So, it’s as though there’s more direct messaging when you are using people as your subject?
Yeah, like portraiture, it feels a lot more direct. I have just always really liked faces; I like how detailed they are. It always feels like there’s something to keep learning and keep trying to perfect. I just want them to be interesting paintings, but, in fact, literally, [the subjects] are all different and interesting as well.
I also noticed with your work, you often include a lot of text, like over the top of portraits. Where do these messages come from and what do they mean to you?
A lot of them end up being like lyrics from songs that I am listening to while I am making the piece, and then a line of text will just stand out. Or sometimes it will be something that I just ended up thinking of and if it just sort of ends up sounding cool, so, I’m like, ‘let’s just do that.’ It’s usually a bit of an afterthought, but I feel like it connects with how I want the piece to feel anyways, but it rarely will start with text. It will always start with the image and then follow up with text.
It’s interesting to me, because even though you work on pieces in a way that is considered quiet and slow, there is probably also a fair bit of planning involved. This part of the larger works feels like it’s quite intuitive as well, and quite process based. Am I correct in assuming this?
Yeah, I think, at least for me it is. I think the planned ones often look better, but they don’t feel as rewarding because you know the whole time what you are going to get. If you just sort of sit down with a canvas, you start to get the reward of being able to view the art as just anybody else would. And then you get to pull it apart for yourself a bit, instead of just always having a clear idea to run off of. Obviously, I do both. The planning is also good because then you feel like you are getting messages across directly, but you are able to dissect yourself as well.
‘I usually just end up daydreaming the whole time, and I don’t really realise that I am painting.’
What do you think people take from your works? Direct messages of emotional impact? Is this accurate to the meanings you feel you are embedding?
I think just from where I have grown up, being in the middle of nowhere, a lot of people just immediately think, ‘oh this is really dark’, and they don’t really like it. They would ask, ‘why is it sad?’ It was useful to think about how I used to get that a lot, not being there.
Now, I don’t get it. But I think that thought has still stuck with it. It’s just like, ‘oh yeah, my work is just sad looking.’ I guess I am sort of still stuck in that mindset, because I haven’t had as much criticism of my work while in the city. Being at home I got a bit more, because people just genuinely didn’t really like it.
Yeah. So, it is interesting that you say it’s perceived as sad, because I also think a lot of it is quite hopeful. It is definitely heavy and emotional, but I think it is hopeful in the material palette, especially in some of the colours you use, and figures like butterflies. Is there a lot of symbolism in there?
It is like… I know it’s not as dark as it could be. But I definitely am inspired by a lot of work that is darker, like Francis Bacon, even though my stuff looks nothing like his. I like the sort of vibe that his work gave off.
Yeah, your paintings seem to express ideas around this, the self and emotional intensity and depicting that honestly. Where do you see your paintings and drawings going in the future and throughout your studies?
I just can’t picture my work in gallery settings. I think it’s because I think a lot of galleries now are really contemporary, which, while I really enjoy looking at [them], I don’t think my art can quite fit into [them]. So, I plan at the moment on going into tattooing. I think that fits my style the best, and allows me to do some of that more “grunge” inspired work. Also, to get a profit from it and still be able to live off of it sounds fun. But yeah, at the moment, I can’t see myself in a gallery. I don’t picture that yet.
That is really interesting, especially because you do figurative work which is about bodies and people and then, eventually, you are going to work “on” people. Thinking about mental health, that immediately brings to mind the connections between tattoos, and mental health and healing. What do you think about this?
I think that the internet has really had a huge impact, especially now that the taboo of it is slowly diminishing. I think that it is a really good industry. It is one that I am excited by. So that is where I am planning to go, because it just feels right.
I just don’t suit gallery settings!
Well, there are lots of different kinds of artists and there are lots of different kinds of art, and I think if we all just made work that would suit a particular set of circumstances, the visual landscape would be a very different space, and, frankly, a bit boring. So, yeah, it is good you are interested in forging your own path!
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