e'topia

Q:
Hi Nell-Lynn. How was your year? It seems like you have been very productive.

Nell-Lynn:
Well, I don’t think I was very productive at the earlier part of this year but mid year onwards I’d say I was. The arrival of Fibromyalgia which brought much pain to my body and fatigue was something that I had to learn to cope with and adjust to. I am much better now. Hence, my productivity increased.


Q:
And now, as the year comes to a close, you are coming out with two new bodies of work on paper, the LITHOGRAPHIES and SERIES | 01, a total of 50 new pieces, of which nine have been already sold. What can you tell us about these works? Artistically first, and second, how you decided to launch and price them?

Nell-Lynn:
The Lithographies are a combination of two of my passions; writing prose and painting. I felt that it was time that I found a way to combine these two body of works into one. Series | 01 which are paintings on paper brings much joy to me as I return to the medium which I had first started painting on and with; paper and watercolours. Both the Lithographies and Series | 01 are the launch of my affordable work. I wanted everyone who like my work to be able to afford a piece.

Q:
So you painting these new pieces and pricing them low is a direct response to comments from some of your followers on Facebook?

Nell-Lynn:
It’s funny because I understand that art lovers can’t afford the more expensive pieces as I, myself can’t afford pieces that I have liked and seen, even ones that I have painted myself. Though I survive merely by painting, I dropped the prices of my work by 70% as I felt it art shouldn’t always be expensive and out of reach to the masses. I would rather cater to the masses than to art collectors. I am all for the people than for the elite. My originals in these series are cheaper than prints at Ikea. I remember reading an article about Bansky selling his work for 60/- USD and this prompted me to follow suit as I understood his intention behind it. I stand next to Bansky and a few more artists who defy the norm. Really this is my indirect message to the galleries that I am not painting to cater to the rich. I am for the people. I am them.


Q:
We all know by now the importance of social media. But while the big artists have agencies and legions of helpers posting and tweeting for them under the artist’s name, you do it all by yourself and you seem to enjoy it. How important is interacting with your followers and friends on Facebook for you as an artist?

Nell-Lynn:
I would love a Manager but since at this point I do not have one, I’ve had to do most of this work by myself. I wouldn’t say I enjoy it as there are days I would just rather paint and write, and would rather use the time I spend on social media, painting or writing. I have a Twitter account but I hardly use it. I do like engaging with people who like my work, but I’m an ambivert, which sometimes causes me to come across as aloof or less responsive than others, but it’s really just allowing people the space to respond however they wish to without pouncing on them. I am not big on hard selling my work. I believe if people want to purchase a piece they already know how to do so.


Q:
About the Lithographies - they are bold, colourful and very fluid. Almost pure energy. Yet the media you painted them on, tissue paper, is so fragile and easily destructible. Aside from the fact, that it must require a lot of concentration to work on such easily breakable paper, is that combination of boldness and fragility a conscious choice?

Nell-Lynn:
Yes it is a conscious choice. Life is a contradiction and so am I. Predictability bores me and so does sticking to one style of painting or medium. I’ve been advised to dive into my signature style more which I haven’t done consciously.


Q: 
Are these seeming contradictions maybe even a core idea of your entire work, if not even a good description of yourself? Your first solo show was called ‘Stillness In Movement’, after all.

Nell-Lynn:
I wouldn’t call it a core idea. It actually symbolizes me.


Q:
One more on the Lithographies: you recently had some success with them at the Affordable Art Fair in Singapore. Considering the amount of work they require to paint and them priced at less than half of your average concert ticket these days, is this a one off or will you continue doing them?

Nell-Lynn:
I don’t like keeping my work plus due to the amount of time they take, it would all depend on whether people like this series of Lithographies.


Q:
The Lithographies bring together you as a painter with you as a writer. In the past, you said you consider yourself first as a writer and second as a painter. To a person who knows and loves you mainly as a visual artist, what would you tell them they might recognise of you as a painter in your writing?

Nell-Lynn:
Actually I’ve never said that I consider myself a writer first. I just write more than I paint. I write on a daily basis where else I paint only when I feel like it. I am not an everyday painter though I’m beckoned to paint more often than I do. I only paint when the movement within me is big.


Q:
You’ve said, you feel at peace the most when painting. I think that comes across in that little video on your site, where you I believe were working on one of the new pieces on paper, from SERIES | 01. What is your process? When you sat down to work on SERIES | 01, for example, how much of the painting was in your mind before hand and how much of it emerged while painting?

Nell-Lynn:
What I said was a correction to what someone had perceived which is I am most happy when I paint. I’m not most happy when I paint. I am free when I paint. I have no processes that I follow. At the very most, all I see and feel is movement. I mostly have no idea what I’m painting. For me, this is what keeps me painting. Like I said, predictability bores me. I like discovering things about myself through my work and as my core belief is that we are all exactly the same, that discovery is available to others of themselves too.

Q:
I’m always struck by the inventiveness of your titles. And I always try to decipher the title within the painting. How about SERIES | 01?  Is there a unifying theme, a recurring topic?

Nell-Lynn:
I’m glad you picked up on this :) My titles mostly point within one’s self even when a painting is of the Universe.

Q:
Is there a relation between your large works on canvas, THE NEBULAS and SERIES | 01? (in case you refer to the Universe)

Nell-Lynn:
I believe in the Spirit more than anything else. The Universe speaks to me. I only paint what lives in me. I am an Eternitarian and paint yugen ( a Japanese word :) ).

Q:
And finally, what can we expect from you in the New Year? As a painter and as a writer?

Nell-Lynn:
The New Year feels like it has already begun for me. It’s great that we all have resolutions but everyday means more to me than every tomorrow. I have started work on my second and third book and I’d like to hold one show if not more that of my paintings that also feature my writing at different locations in the world. They are after all intertwined like conjoined twins. My wish for myself as a painter is really to discover more of my capabilities and to explore and share the world that lives within me; the Universe.