DESTIG INTERVIEW WITH CAROLYN LAMUNIERE ONE OF OUR 25 RECOMMENDED ARTISTS FOR 2019.
Tell us about your work.
Many people see a certain Surrealistic mood to my paintings. They may be responding to a somewhat otherwordly quality.
I would describe myself in that way, I have a part of myself in two worlds. One part is interior. I believe there is an essential core of aloneness in all of us. Some people run from it. I try to embrace it. I paint interiors, empty spaces with low light, but what I feel is the energy of what has been. The spirit in deserted spaces. Sometimes people look at my empty rooms and create scenarios - What has happened here?, Who was in this space? What is the story? I do not paint people. I want what is un-shown. I feel that when one paints people the viewer stops there. I hope to take them beyond. My other part is exterior, it looks at the created world as reflected in architecture. I love patterns and shapes. I go outside and meet light as it creates these patterns and shapes. Not the moody light of the interior but the strong direct light of the exterior. I try to focus not just on the building but on the abstraction created by light. The mood of a place also interests me. What does it say of the people who created it? How do they live? What do they value?
Tell us about your work.
Many people see a certain Surrealistic mood to my paintings. They may be responding to a somewhat otherwordly quality.
I would describe myself in that way, I have a part of myself in two worlds. One part is interior. I believe there is an essential core of aloneness in all of us. Some people run from it. I try to embrace it. I paint interiors, empty spaces with low light, but what I feel is the energy of what has been. The spirit in deserted spaces. Sometimes people look at my empty rooms and create scenarios - What has happened here?, Who was in this space? What is the story? I do not paint people. I want what is un-shown. I feel that when one paints people the viewer stops there. I hope to take them beyond. My other part is exterior, it looks at the created world as reflected in architecture. I love patterns and shapes. I go outside and meet light as it creates these patterns and shapes. Not the moody light of the interior but the strong direct light of the exterior. I try to focus not just on the building but on the abstraction created by light. The mood of a place also interests me. What does it say of the people who created it? How do they live? What do they value?
"Many people see a certain Surrealistic mood to my paintings. They may be responding to a somewhat otherwordly quality."
Tell us about your background?
My background is in Art History. I am a self taught artist, I have always painted. My life was never without art. I graduated from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs NY with an Art History degree. My teachers have been the painters I love. My mother and aunt were both artists. My ancestry is northern European. When I was young I went to see an exhibit in Washington DC titled "Northern Light, Scandinavian Art of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries". It struck me like lightening. I saw myself in that art. Most of what I had studied had been southern and continental European and I felt something in my core had been reached with the Northern art. The artists which have most influenced me are: Felix Vallotton, Henri le Sidaner, Prince Eugen, Vilhelm Hammershoi, Harald Schlberg, and William Degouve de Nunques.
"I am a self taught artist, I have always painted. My life was never without art."
Tell us about some of your achievements.
On the practical side, I have been painting and selling my art for a long time. I have been in many galleries for years, the gallery owners are my friends, and I have sold well for them. I have ideas for new work and continue to treat my painting, not just as an expression, but as a commitment.
I have won several awards and been in many publications. The first was at the DeCordova Museum where I was part of a show called “The Top New England Artists Under 30”.
From there I became part of The National Association of Women Artists, won awards from the National Association of Painters in Acrylic and Casein and ADDY (cultural and advertising). Pictures of my paintings have been in The Village Voice in NY, The New York Art Review, The New York Times Gallery Guide, New York Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, The William and Mary Review, Women Artists Calendar. The paintings exhibited in The Art in Embassy program, International Juried Exhibition in the Treasury building, Annapolis, MD, National Association of Painters in Acrylic and Casein, and Allied Artists, NY, as well as other small museums and galleries.
I have been in several books including “One Hundred Artists of the Southwest”, Who’s Who of Western Artists”, The Best of Acrylic Painting”, “Who’s Who of Business and Professional People”, “Who’s Who in American Art”, and The Collector’s Guide Santa Fe, NM.
"I have been almost too immersed in the history of art. I don't believe it is possible to really create art without knowing it's history."
Tell us about where you are based.
I spend as much time as I can in France, particularly in Aude and Ariege, what is called "Cathar country". I am at home there. However, living in New Mexico in the US has brought a new perspective to me. The light is so direct and full of color. Sometimes too harsh, but mostly uplifting. The sky is always changing. I used to live near the coast in the northeast part of the US, I have been asked if I miss the water, Not at all. The sky moves faster with more color. There is a purity.
"I do believe it is possible for art, in both its creation and experience to be of the moment. The 'Ahah' response."
What is your view on art and its role today?
It is hard for me to give too much of an opinion on the art today, I have been almost too immersed in the history of art. I don't believe it is possible to really create art without knowing it's history. The elements already exist, it is a matter of how they are put together that make what is new. However, I do believe it is possible for art, in both its creation and experience to be of the moment. The “Ahah” response. In terms of art and its role in the world today, I feel more than ever good art is important. Bad media is everywhere. Art is often not taught in schools. Our society promotes what is quick and superficial. Art is important because it promotes a feeling reaction, it shows what is beyond the mundane, it gives a perspective, it takes the viewer away to places he or she would never go otherwise, it stimulates the imagination, and it is a release from the hard, often meaningless parameters that surround us.
Website: carolynlamuniere.com
| PDF of the Interview in DESTIG Magazine |