ART, WHATEVER IT TAKES

Since the early pandemic in 2020, Rome Art Program has conducted a series of interviews, “Art, Whatever It Takes.”
Artists, Art Critics, and Art Historians living in Italy, the U.S., and U.K., share their insights during these powerful times.

Interview with Lani Irwin

American Artist presently living in Italy – Assisi Countryside, Umbria Region.

RAP:Where do you live ? And what is your background ?

Lani Irwin: I have lived in the hills outside of Assisi since 1987. I have an MFA from American University in Washington DC. My career has been that of a artist, with gallery representation and many solo and group exhibitions.

RAP:In your opinion is there a "creative method”?

Lani: We all have our own ways of working. I make figurative paintings that evolve through months of continual changes. There is a dance between observation, intuition, inventing and listening to my inner voices.

RAP: The "lock down moment" can set you on the path of some important change(s) in your creativity and style...Has this happened to you ?

Lani: My routine is little changed. I continue to work on paintings started before this year. Worries and fears about humanity prey on my mind. Time and the ability to concentrate and allow myself to be completely immersed in the world of art, the quiet contemplation of the making of something more than the ordinary, is a gift beyond reckoning.

RAP: What normally inspires you? Which is the most important inspirational source you have found in Rome?

Lani: My paintings often involve the assembling of objects and figures that are unrelated or in an unfamiliar context. Rome is a collage of periods and lifetimes. Objects transcend, mysteries lie resonant in its walls. There are no clear beginnings, edges or boundaries, but a correlation with centuries of artists.

RAP: Is there a difference in working in Rome for an artist? What art medium do you prefer to work in?

Lani: I have never had the opportunity to live and work in Rome. But I can say that to do so would be a rich and rewarding experience. Wandering just about anywhere in Rome is full of delight; the light, the colours of the buildings. the fragrances of orange blossoms, the daily food markets, sitting in a piazza drinking a glass of wine, watching the theatre of every day life passing by. I paint with oils, and I make collages, sometimes three dimensional wearable collages.

RAP: Specific events and historical conditions have a significant role in the creative process; how does this pandemic emergency affect the Arts?

Lani: We each have our our own creative process. It will take time before the affects both in personal terms and in the more general circumstances are perceivable and will depend much on individual experiences. Cancelled shows, lack of funding and galleries closing could affect many.

RAP: How are you feeling at this difficult moment and what made you feel this way? ...are you optimistic for the future?

Lani: My moods swing rather wildly, as if my inner psyche feels the pain and sadness of the world. There are days when I can only work in the garden. I hope that people will realise how precious life is and that the slowing down of their lives will allow a re-evaluation of habit and what is important. However, that optimistic thought is often tempered as I watch the push to re-open businesses and lessen social distancing. A “return to normal” too soon could ramp up consumerism, thus the economy, and have the rich get richer which is not going to benefit the population. Many people are doing extraordinary things and that gives me great hope.

RAP: What can Art contribute to history? Will "Art save us” ?

Lani: Art is what survives of humanity, often expressing some of the highest aspirations of humankind. Throughout my life, art seems to have been more and more co-opted by business concerns and people have been made to feel unable to understand or appreciate painting or sculpture without some curator telling them what to think. For centuries painting and sculpture were part of life. People didn’t enter a church and believe they were unable to understand the images. They experienced something that only art can offer, something that enriched their lives. Art is constantly saving those of us who are fortunate enough to be in our studios making it. However, I fear art has been reduced to a luxury both financially and emotionally for most people.

RAP: What is your most ambitious dream?...and the greatest sacrifice that you have made for your Art?

Lani: I can’t imagine considering any part of my life as an artist a sacrifice. I have been incredibly privileged to have been able to do what I love doing. I would wish for a shift in emphasis towards preserving humanity and our natural world, finding pleasure in simpler things and the beauty that surrounds us and caring for others instead of focusing on accumulation of wealth, fame and fortune.

RAP: Recently, the artistic and cultural message of Italy and Rome was reemerging as a great “work in progress”, ...is this your point of view?

Lani: The intertwining of historic and modern culture and traditions that has endured for centuries would certainly set Rome apart from other cities. Perhaps it is still called the Eternal City because it is a living example of the integration of human history that accepts and builds upon the past, able to move forward while embracing the entirety of its history.

RAP: Which is your favorite Italian, or Roman, place(s) of art (Museum, Gallery, Monument...) ?

Lani: The Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi.

RAP: Which period of Italian Art do you prefer? What is your favorite Italian work of art?

Lani: I love the Italian painters of the Medieval and early Renaissance, as well as some of those working between the wars.

RAP: How has Rome personally influenced you as an artist and a person?

Lani: Life is full of uncertainty and unexpected juxtapositions. In Rome, I love turning a corner and finding such unexpected and magical encounters. There can be an ancient Roman marble foot amidst motorcycles, or fragments of ancient sculptures imbedded in the wall of a court yard. Fellini films come to life as you round a corner and some daily interaction becomes theatre. Carlo Carrà once said, if you take an ordinary object and isolate it or put it in an unexpected environment or relationship with other objects, it takes on a life of its own, it surpasses its original identity. Rome is full of paintings and sculptures, colours and textures, a metaphysical dream house. Often these sculptures are found in the streets and the paintings are in churches where they have been since they were painted. Art is experienced as an integral part of life, not something removed to be appreciated only on special occasions. The city has such extensive layers of history and culture, a spirit that envelopes the soul and reaches deep into the heart.

RAP: What’s your goal? What role does the artist have in society? Any final thoughts and advice?

Lani: Artists reflect and record many aspects of life, their own and through the shared unconscious, those of others. My advice is to seek the beauty and poetry within us.

www.laniirwin.com