My artwork consists of pastel-cute joy with childhood nostalgia undertones.
Bio
Live Light is a printmaker, photographer, bookmaker, and sculptor from Westchester, New York. She is currently attending Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University to receive her BFA in Printmaking, a minor in Art History, and a Pennsylvania Teaching Certificate for Art Education. Live’s artwork was published in the young adult novel The Skinwalker’s Apprentice by Claribel Ortega. She has exhibited in multiple Temple University organized exhibitions. She currently resides in both Westchester, New York and Philadelphia, PA.
Artist Statement
My artwork consists of pastel-cute joy with childhood nostalgia undertones. I find my inspiration from Art History and what I experienced whilst living in Japan. I take key components of religious artwork from the Renaissance and incorporate them in an obscure way that become clear only when the information is purposefully sought for. A mixture of my fascination with triptychs (three panel art pieces) and my adoration of the number 3 combines as a repeated feature of my work. I use art both to reminisce about my time in Japan and to further extend my experiences there. I consider the mundane acts and objects of daily life that were key features of my routine whilst I was in Japan and incorporate them into my art. Repetition in motion, action, process, colour scheme, and themes are a critical part of my work. I thrive most when I am able to incorporate some sort of repetition either conceptually or physically. The act of tearing paper, making prints with a silk screen, and mixing ink brings me a sense of calmness due to its flow. By repeating the same set of themes over and over, I am able to explore concepts more deeply with each work I create. Some of my favorite themes I typically go back to include pomegranates, triptychs, putti, Japan, animals, and religious iconography. The use of pastel colours dominates my work as a means to exude happiness. The sole reason I create art is to make myself happy both during the process and upon viewing the finished product. When approaching my work, small details such as the edition number, border size, and features related to numbers are carefully considered due to my natural compulsion for specific numbers. No matter which medium I choose to work in, my artwork is formed with utmost care, love, and delicacy as if it was my child.
I am for an art
I am for an art that creates the perfect cocktail of dopamine and serotonin, making me immediately drunk since I’m a lightweight.
I am for an art that stops you in your tracks, forcing you to observe it longer than you anticipated, engraving itself in your mind like a copper plate and acid.
I am for an art that instead of taking your breath away, it chokes you like Corpse Husband until you uwu.
I am for an art that has been cared for, loved, and mothered like a puppy instead of an art that dies as quickly as a ring toss fair fish.
I am for an art that feels. I like my art both soft and rough. Fast and slow. To feel like it takes forever and finds completion shortly after it began.
I am for an art that satisfies the senses. Taking me to a dimension outside of this earth, encapsulating and transporting me to a realm outside of what is natural.
I am for an art that lulls me to sleep, intertwining with my lucid dreams, haunting my subconscious without relief.
I am for an art that inspires, conspires, and aspires to be more than simply a visual experience.
I am for an art that is forgotten by the general public in our everyday objects.
I am for an art that makes strangers tell me “oh you’ll never get any money in that.”
I am for an art that penetrates my very soul, oozing out of every pore.
I am for an art that hurts my teeth when I bite down on it since it’s too sweet.
I am for an art that tastes like salt on a lime, an addictive shock to the senses.
I am for an art that screams your name when you try to sleep, forcing you to focus on it when you’re internally begging your mind to finally rest.
I am for an art that appeals to my desires for particular numbers, 1, 3, 7, 11, 13, 17, 21, 27, 30, 31, 33.
I am for an art that allows me to hoard and collect it both physically and digitally. Overflowing in folders, bins, boards, and boxes. So much that I lose track and feel a sense of home when I rediscover them again.
I am for an art that allows me a second chance to access my childhood. Appealing to my nostalgia and healing the scars I’ve been left with from my past.
I am for an art that rises like water when I make my way into its pool.
I am for an art that is so mesmerizing, it forces me to believe that there is a god.
I am for an art that slowly kills me. Inhaling its fumes into my lungs like a cigarette. Ignoring the suggested ventilation and poisoning me with it’s elegance like smoke.