Artist Ilze Egle
Congratulations to Ilze Egle for earning her place as a finalist in the 6th Edition!
Who are you?
I was born into a family of artists. My mother was a ceramic artist, and my father was famous sculptor, Indulis Ranka. His monumental granite stone sculptures Folk Song Park Dainu Kalns in Turaida is truly a fabulous place. I spent most of my childhood in their studios drawing on huge pieces of paper and playing with clay. At the age of 10, I started studies at the Janis Rozentals Riga School of Fine Art, a secondary school majoring in fine arts. It was located in the building of the Art Academy of Latvia and we used to sneak into the studios of the academy. I loved the atmosphere there.
Back then during art school, I spent most of my time drawing and creating paintings. I fell in love with black and white aesthetics and made illustrations for The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe and even wrote my own stories and drew illustrations. In painting my inspiration among others came from The Group of Seven and Canadian indigenous artists. I had a book about them and at the age of 15, I translated a part of it into Latvian. That is how much I liked these Canadian old masters. Apart from school, this is also how I learned English – from art books. My parents had a huge library. And there were always some artists visiting the house and studio. My father organized international granite sculpture symposiums and many interesting artists came from Norway, Germany, Hungary and other countries and I was always around. Those were the late 80ties and 90ties. My father was my first art teacher. That is how I started, but my journey towards being a professional full-time artist wasn‘t straightforward and easy.
Since art school, I started to participate in shows. I studied Theology and later Art Management and Curatorship. Today I hold two Masters of Arts and the European Diploma in Cultural Project Management a nomadic study program in Greece, Portugal and Luxembourg. I spent the summer semester in Sweden and received an Erasmus grant to study art in Italy. In 2013 I graduated from Printmakers Department at the Art Academy of Latvia. And for 5 years I am a freelancing artist, teaching visual arts and I am a member of the Latvian Union of Artists.
“Lightness of Being”
Oil and collage on panel
By Ilze Egle
What inspired you to begin creating paintings?
First of all my biggest inspiration were my parents. I literally grew up in their art studios. Art was all I saw and I started to create paintings and drawings very early. I am grateful that I have a good classical art education, but also at the same time after I graduated I wanted to forget all I had learned in order to find my own voice as an artist. Today my inspiration comes from nature, people and life.
The inspiration for my main work in the studio comes from the belief that we are all part of nature and we are connected. I like to explore the human body, spirit and emotions. Some of my work is abstract and some are representational and my challenge as an artist is to merge both. It excites me. This is where experimentation and unpredictability come in. You can see that in my latest work – portraits of women, and large-scale oil paintings on wood panels. Latvia is a very green country and being inspired by its beautiful landscapes sometimes I make some Plein-air paintings.
“Fragile Feelings”
Oil and collage on panel
By Ilze Egle
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind "The Lightness of Being"?
Painting “Lightness of Being” belongs to the series of portraits of women. For a couple of years, significant changes are happening in the world and of course, that translates into my art. “Lightness of Being” is the motto of my life. There is a reason why the figure of the woman in the painting does not have hands, or why you cannot see her hands. Only after several months when in my country it was prohibited to be in contact with other people, to hug friends when you meet, I realised how important in fact it is to touch other people, to hug, to hold hands, to cuddle, and to linger. It touched my soul deeply and I knew I wanted to speak about it in my art. This painting is also about the concept of enough. It turns out that we do not know what it means. We do not know how it is to have enough. To be enough. This is what lightness of being stands for. It is also about growing up in the soul. And there is also a projection of myself in this painting. We artists spend a lot of time in our studios with ourselves and eventually this projection is inevitable more or less in every work of art we create.
Can you walk us through the physical creation of "The Lightness of Being"?
The creation of the painting “Lightness of Being” took about two months. It belongs to some of my artwork that has undergone major transformations and the first imagery differs significantly from the final result. This is also what happened with the “Lightness of Being”. From rather conditional painting with particular imagery of a woman standing, leaning back transformed into this vulnerable, but strong, tied up, but free, particular, but universal portrait of my time, mapping my emotions.
It is done in oil paint with acrylic underpainting and underneath the paint, some parts of collages can be seen where I used some old newspapers I have in my studio. And there is some line work as well. I like to incorporate drawing a lot in my paintings.
“Secret”
Oil on wood
By Ilze Egle
How would you describe your work?
If I speak of my current body of work I consider myself somewhere between abstract and representational. I started very traditionally and I am going towards abstract with some representational tendencies.
Speaking about my art practice I work mostly in oil, but also in acrylic and mixed media. I like to incorporate drawing a lot in my paintings. I usually start off with an idea. It can be something I saw or a line from a book or poem, a line from song lyrics or even a line from a post on social media. It may be something my daughter or son said at the dinner table. It can be anything. I am inspired by the life and the people around me. As I work on multiples I may start with a figure on one and some random marks on the other just to loosen up and play. In the process, unforeseen transformations happen. When they meet the idea, that’s when the magic starts to happen. I am actually marvelled at the unpredictability of the art-making process. And very often I simply have to let go for it to happen. Probably this is still the most difficult part for me. Eventually, I am looking for the final artwork to surprise me. And when that happens, I know the artwork is becoming! Therefore I am rarely making sketches. I need this moment of surprise. This is also how I know when artwork is done – when it surprises me. And that happens when I stop trying. If I am making sketches they are more about colour combinations value relationships and design. Things like that. But I am never interested to reproduce a small sketch on a bigger scale. And I work in layers, many layers.
As a surface, I prefer paper and wood. I am not very fond of the bounciness of canvas and I lately use it less to paint on. And as I like to paint with spatulas a lot I find that wood panels are the best surface for me at the moment. The only problem with the large size is the weight.
What is the message you want to send your audience with your work?
Art is more than conveying a story and my practice comes from where I am emotional. With my artwork, I invite you to pause, contemplate and be in the given moment. I challenge the observer to stop and appreciate nature, relationships, and life. I capture moments and details, which show the beautiful fragility of the world. To the unhurried eye, the more detailed, intricate levels of my work are revealed, which bring it to a whole new level.
I wish to evoke a sense of wonder with my art. There is a fabulous children’s book “Horton Hears a Who” written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and a film by the same name about Horton the Elephant, who discovers that on a small speck of dust live microscopic creatures. There is a whole planet there and he places the speck on a clover and promises to protect it. Horton’s journey is challenging because nobody believes in him, but he keeps his promise. The theme throughout the whole story is very beautiful and it says that “a person is a person, no matter how small”. I feel it.
When I draw a hand or a face I am looking for how can I tell the whole story of that person. I am interested in how a single fragment reveals the whole.
“If I Begged The Sky”
Mixed media on panel
By Ilze Egle
What do you feel is your most successful piece to date? Why?
For me, it is “If I Begged the Sky”, the painting I did in spring this year. The process was particularly innovative for me and I like the final result. This is also one of the paintings I haven’t overdone. Sometimes I tend to spend too much time with the same painting building layer after layer and it can happen that I do not stop and overdo it. It clearly shows when it happens. But with this one, I even remember the moment when I knew it was complete. The painting was very different at the beginning and transformed greatly in the process.
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your paintings?
Travelling and art residencies are a big part of my journey of becoming an artist and are a great learning experience. It is good to spend most of the time in the studio or if you don’t have a studio at your kitchen table working on your art, but it is also very important to leave the comfort of the studio and to travel, to experience new places and diverse cultures. Travelling and especially art residencies have been turning points in my development as an artist. When I was at the university I spent one year living with nuns in a monastery in Southern France. That was an incredibly valuable time which helped me to understand what I like and what I want to achieve in my life. Soon after that, I had my first solo show. I have travelled a lot mostly as a curator and art manager. And in between, I have had years when I did not create much art. Lately, I am actively participating in art residencies, which have helped me to move on, they have challenged me and brought new insights into my art practice. During my art residency in Spain, I started a drawing series discovering a new technique. During the Canada Alchemy Art Residency, I created sketches that developed into large-scale self-portraits later. I am learning all the time. This is an ongoing process.
I grow as an artist from my failures. When the painting is a failure it is a lesson and the only important thing is what can I learn from it. The painting which is one of my most successful pieces If I Begged the Sky when was somewhere in the middle stage and I had put already many layers, it seemed that it is a total failure. I was unsatisfied with how it had turned out and it seemed to come to a dead end. After leaving it laying in my studio for a while one day I came back to it and in a couple of weeks made it into one of my most successful artworks. But it is not always like that, though all failures taken as lessons are blessings.
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
I think becoming a freelancer has been the biggest challenge and success. I actually did not expect it to be so hard at the beginning. I consider it successful because it has made me transform completely from the way I run my daily practice to the art itself. It has changed it all. I think the biggest is the mindset.
“Girl And A Cloud”
Oil and graphite on panel
By Ilze Egle
What projects are you working on currently? Can you discuss them?
My latest artwork consists of large-scale oil paintings on wood panels, in which I aim to convey the beauty and the power of human emotions by merging the abstract and figurative. These are portraits of women that I am empowered by or that I am somehow connected to. I launched the project end of last year and I will be working on it still for a while.
What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?
A museum solo show in an art capital.
“I Love You To The Moon And Back”
Oil and gold leaf on wood
By Ilze Egle
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?
One of the most important things is showing up. Showing up in the studio no matter what. I believe in dedication to the practice and trusting the process and trusting that something will come out of it. And if you can enter a flow state while painting or drawing and lose the sense of time, unforeseen magic happens. The creative process does not happen only in the studio at the easel. A huge part of it happens while being awake at night, daydreaming, cooking a meal, walking a dog or talking to someone.
I also believe in taking one step at a time. This is very important, it helps us maintain our health and mental stability.
Another thing is nature walks. I do morning walks with my dog Kiko every morning. I like walking in the forest and at the seaside. Many of my ideas have been born while hiking in nature.
Another piece of advice I would like to give is to trust in yourself. Only you know the best. Listen to your gut feeling. The way we paint says a lot about us, about our personalities. Trust in that process. And I believe that if we are honest the art is powerful. And a viewer immediately feels it and is drawn to it and wants to buy it.
When I paint my whole body is involved and I know I need to take good care of it. That is important. So that is my advice - take good care of your physical body and your mental state. All that is directly connected to the practice. I am talking about the lifestyle.
To view more of Ilze Egle’s work