Interview
Vesna Longton
Vesna was born in 1974 in Moscow, Russia. She graduated from Moscow State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Fine Art in 1996. From 1992 to 1997, she pursued fine art studies at the Old School of Boris Ilyuhin. Between 1996 and 1998, she studied painting at the private art studio of Adronik Yakubyan. In 2006, Vesna immigrated to USA, where she lives now in Attleboro, Massachusetts. She is a member of Attleboro Arts museum and Pawtucket Art Collaborative. Vesna specializes in experimental interdisciplinary art: 3D-glass and resin painting, multi canvas and nonstandard canvas paintings, colored sculptures. Vesna works from ideas, using media and materials, that work best with it. Since 2019, she has developed a unique technique of layered with paints plexiglass or resin to create multi-layered three-dimensional images.
She experiments with mixing transparency and density in sculpture. Her artworks are often highlighted by LED lighting effects. Vesna actively uses symbolism and metaphors in her art. She also experiments with influence of the art on human self-development, somatic and connection with the soul of the multiverse. Vesna takes an active part in art exhibitions, and her works are in private collections In Russia, Spain, Germany, USA, Netherlands and Greece.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I started my path in Moscow, Russia. I went through all the positives and negatives of the late Soviet era – including standing for hours in long lines for basic products, having 5 toys though all my entire childhood, having the freedom to go wherever I wanted from the age of 6, and having free education at the Moscow Pedagogical University in Fine Art faculty. I have been painting and drawing since kindergarten when kids would line up and wait for me to draw for them. I was lucky with art teachers, they were always very good to me. They not only taught and inspired me, but sometimes even supplied me. They provided me with my first easel, first professional set of watercolors, brushes, I even inherited a stock of art materials when I was in my late twenties .But the understanding, that I am an artist came to me, when I was fourteen. A family friend needed another student to defray the costs of her child’s private art lessons and to have a company to her daughter. Of course, I agreed! It was the beginning of my professional education, life time devotion and love of art.”
What inspires you?
“I get inspired by the art of others, by nature, by ideas and the dreams that come to me. When I was 5, I remember how my mother lost me for a good period of time, because I was fascinated with a young lady painting a seascape in watercolors. When I paint in front of others and they are watching, I enjoy it. It means they are artists in some ways also. Sometimes, I’ll dream and like the idea so much I get up and go paint the impression, so I don’t forget it. Often, that begins a new painting. Sometimes, I don’t need to have my eyes closed to get interesting flushes of colors or ideas.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I love to explore connections. Connections between nature, the cosmos and between the elements and the human body and soul. Currently, I am working on the conception “Faces of water.” It is about the meaning of the element water for us, humans, feminine beauty, power and importance. In the future, I want to work on the theme of the elements in general. I would like to begin the exhibition “Faces of Water” with the phrase: everything you see, hear or experience has something to do with your past, present or future. Everything is interconnected and all is one. Though, I think that every art piece I make carries its own massage, and for each new person looking at it could be different. When the artist’s domain ends – the mind of other person begins.”
“Everything you see, hear or experience has something to do with your past, present or future. Everything is interconnected and all is one.”
How would you describe your work?
“Working in an interdisciplinary field I experiment; I make materials work with ideas. My sculptures have colors, density and transparency. Paintings are often made of multiple layers of epoxy or Plexiglas to create depth in layers of colors, or built from multiple canvases to simulate a puzzle effect. Light is important in my artwork. I use it as a symbol for the soul. My works are usually based on a symbol or metaphor and carry a coded message.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Mostly impressionists. When I was about 12, I found in a house a collection of illustrations of impressionists. I remember looking at Monet and Sisley`s strokes with admiration, then was Botticelli. I fell in love with his delicate and beautiful art. I still carry the influence of his Venus in my sculptures. I love that work. My daughter also reminds me Venus of Botticelli, so I am constantly under the influence. Then, Michelangelo with his monumental approach creating great sculptures and murals. I also love to create sculpture and murals. I work much better with bigger space than small. And my contemporary favorite artists – Ellen Jewett with her delicate and beautiful colored sculptures, muralist duo Alegria del Prado.”
What is your creative process like?
“Everything begins with an idea. Ideas come to me when I sleep, when I’m awake, it could happen anytime. Sometimes, it’s just a flash in my mind and I have to quickly grab paper and paint to record the idea. If I don’t, I may forget the colors! Then, I walk around pregnant with an idea, sometimes for quite a while until the work begins. I love to use layering in my art. I use in my paintings several layers of resin and paints, or I paint on several layers of plexiglass. At the end sometimes, I add LED lights. For me, light is the symbol of the soul. I sculp in a material of my own invention – I mix resin and hydrostone. It creates a remarkable effect of transparency and opacity. I also love to add colors to my sculpture and at the end I often add LED lights. When the sculpture is semitransparent it creates a beautiful effect.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I really can’t speak for others, everyone chooses their own role. I think my role is a role of magician. I create magic though my art. I am a bridge between past and future. You can interpret it the way you want. But my art often has future predictions, usually of my own life. Fist I create, and then later in time, I understand the symbolism of some event. For example, in several paintings I depicted the likeness of my daughter many years before she was born. Also, I made a painting “From house to house” with a flying bird house with birds, a year before I moved to America. I think that my art, and true art in general is connected to the source of everything, that why artists can make predictions and can feel deeper than other people.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I regularly take part in various local and international shows. I have a dream to be presented in the level of Art Basel, Armory show, London Bienale. One day I will get there.”
