Interview

Nov 1

Olivia Modine

Olivia is a school teacher who loves to paint. Her passion in life is painting, playing musical instruments, playing chess and learning German. She loves painting because she loves creating her own world with unlimited imagination, dreams, hopes and wonder. As painting portraits give her a lot of joy, she has painted over fifty portraits with mostly her colleagues and students as the object of her paintings. Olivia just started selling her paintings in 2023 and has sold four paintings so far, and planning to do her own Art exhibition soon.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I was born and raised in Indonesia and came to Australia in 2010. I used to be 'stranded' in the countryside of Victoria, a small town called Benalla for my work as a school teacher and wondering what to do with nobody to hang out with. Everybody has their own families and as a teacher, the weekend is the only time we can really use to relax and recharge. So, I took a once-off painting class, it was a portrait painting class and I can say it was a good experience. After that, I just kept practicing on my own, as I was definitely hooked with painting.”

What inspires you?

“I am really observant and I like to notice things around me, from what I read, what I watch, what I hear, using all my imagination to create something that also elicits people's curiosity and sense of wonder. Sometimes, certain movements or body language from people can inspire me to paint something in a particular scene or fragment. I even got two of my paintings that I painted off based on my dreams.”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“I just love creating something that is visually stimulating, making people wonder and or getting them moved. I sold one painting few months ago and the buyer said that the painting really reminded her of her deceased daughter and she wanted to buy it and hang the painting in her meditation room. I think sense of wonder is the main theme of my arts, people can not just look at it once, they have to see it again and have different opinions every time.”

“You don’t need to be the best artist in the world. You just need to find the audience that understand and appreciate your quirks.”

How would you describe your work?

“I love colours and I use plenty of colours in my work as I am not really a fan of black and white. You can find the similarity among my works, which is loose, a bit child-like and really day-dreamy. I want to invite the audience to my own little world that is full of wonder, dream and imagination.”

Which artists influence you most?

“I would say Christian Hook. I watched him in Portrait Artist of The Year and his level of art is just out of this world insane! I could seriously stare at his paintings all day. The colours, the brush strokes, the techniques, it looks like he really delivers life from his painting. Everything he paints just turns gold. I specifically remember the scene where he modified Allan Cumming's painting and he just effortlessly turned it into something magical and extremely beautiful.”

What is your creative process like?

“I only use oil painting, as I tried acrylic before and I felt that it dries too soon and harder to manipulate. After getting inspiration or scribbling with brush on canvas, normally the paint does the magic itself. I normally finish one painting per week. The weekend is 'holy' to me because that is the time I can really focus on my paintings. I do a lot of fixing of old paintings that I do not like or used to like but do not like anymore. I paint them over and create new paintings that I think is more inspirational or evocative. I am a typical artist who corrects my work multiple times before I am completely happy and look at it like 'Oh, look at my baby'.”

What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?

“I have mixed feelings about it. As an artist, I feel like selling arts is definitely not easy as people will prefer to buy food or clothes. Not everyone is in dire need of buying paintings per se. However, after the pandemic, I think people are more aware of how soothing and comforting art is. They appreciate it a bit more as art is viewed as an escape and also a therapy for people who have problem with anxiety or people who want to embrace new passion in life. The role of artists, in my opinion, is to spread their inspiration and messages through their creativity.”