Interview
Leia Tatucu
Leia is a Romanian artist based in Germany. By combining fineliner drawings with resin poured paintings, geometric shapes and patterns with floral or animal motifs and alternating realism with abstraction in her work, she often depicts themes of general interest as visual metaphors. Her work usually includes hatch drawings and freehand straight lines, as a result of the technical drawing training she received while studying for her university degree as a civil engineer. By drawing elaborate and time-consuming geometric patterns Leia brings a sense of control back to her sometimes hectic life. She is pursuing her self-taught visual language and attending specific training courses in resin pouring, digital editing and drawing while also exercising her engineering profession.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I have been drawing and painting ever since I can remember. It has always been one of my favorite pastimes, even in childhood. My great-grandfather was an artist and the first one to put a piece of paper and colors in front of me to join him, while he was working on one of his oil paintings. My art journey took a little detour when I decided to study for becoming a civil engineer, instead of visual arts, which is how the geometric elements and patterns, and straight free-hand line took over my drawings. Even though it bothered me, at first, I soon discovered it to be what defines my style of drawing and fully immerged in this direction.”
What inspires you?
“My works have a connection to my own life – the connections I establish, the relationships I have with friends and family, the overwhelming experiences, good or bad, the love I feel. Sometimes, it’s just the feeling of gratitude for being allowed to experience yet another glorious spectacle of the Sun rising, a new day beginning, a new chance to go after what I want and need.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I often find myself pursuing themes of general interest and bringing visual metaphors to expression. The urge of being in control, satisfied through the accurate and detailed geometric elements gets a counterbalance through the free-flowing resin added to the mixed media paintings, which flow can only be directed, but not fully controlled or bent into a certain shape.”
“My works have a connection to my own life – the connections I establish, the relationships I have with friends and family, the overwhelming experiences, good or bad, the love I feel.”
How would you describe your work?
“I think the word multi-layered would be the one best describing my latest work. My main mean of expression for many years was through fineliner pens. After almost losing some works because of the prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, I started scanning and archiving digitally what I was drawing. Once that began, I discovered new ways of expression through digital processing. Resin and structure came at a later point of the journey and first, as a mean of sealing, a reliable coating to protect the drawings and art prints for longer than a mere acrylic layer.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I find Frida Kahlo’s boldness inspiring, Louise Nevelson’s assembling process mesmerizing and Bridget Riley’s optical illusions through repeating geometric patterns fascinating, but I also love the Classics and admire and follow many of my very talented peers. I couldn’t say which artist of these influences me the most, but I definitely try to learn as much as possible from all of them and apply these learnings to my own process and artistic perspective.”
What is your creative process like?
“It usually all starts with a background story. Like the feeling of nostalgia for missing my friends and the Argentine tango dancing parties, called Milongas, we used to attend together. I took this feeling and put it on paper in the drawing called La Ronda, which you can see below. The term is used for the circling dance lanes at the Milonga, which depicts a room of dancing couples as seen from above. But for this feeling to be accurately expressed, it needed flow and the powerful touch of free flow of resin, like you can see next to it in the painting La Ronda on Fire.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I believe, the first and most basic role that artists fulfill is to deliver the beauty we all need in our lives. Artists provide this much needed beauty through painting, singing, poetry, writing and/or a combination of these. To that adds up our very own need as artists of expressing some personal truth and fulfilling a mission. Like the one that we need a second glance to discover a new, maybe better perspective and the learnings that will move us forward. On the other side of fear, we will find growth and satisfaction. We certainly need these kinds of reminders every now and then.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“The most notable shows so far, personal exhibitions, were in Stuttgart, Germany, in the last two years (2022 and 2023), both in a small private gallery, namely Dis|Harmonie and Blooming Season. All the photos for the interview are of works from these two collections.”
