Interview: Lila Bettin
Luca Curci talks with Lila Bettin during FUTURE LANDSCAPES, third appointment of BORDERS ART FAIR, at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

“I am French and I live near Lyon in Collonges au Mont d’Or. Since childhood, I have always been painting and writing. As a self-taught painter, I started exhibiting very early. Then, after a professional career in Brussels, where I had to take a break as a painter, returning to France, I decided to take classes at an art academy linked with artistic training with famous painters to free myself from technique and “paint what I think and not what I see”. Boesner National Trophy finalist in 2021, and 3 times Laureate of the Public Prize during collective exhibitions. Member of the Lyonnaise Academy of Painting, (ALP) a member of the International Association of Contemporary Art (AIC). So, since 2012, I have participated in around 25 collective exhibitions and 21 personal exhibitions.”

Luca Curci – What is the trigger that leads you to paints?
Lila Bettin – I didn’t really have a click for painting because I’ve been painting and writing since childhood. The trigger was to free myself from the technique to paint what’s deep inside of me. I decided to take classes at an art academy, which I did for 9 years. I understood my need to “paint what I think and not what I see” Picasso.

LC – Which artists have somehow had an influence on your work?
LB – Monet, Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, Zao Wou Ki for their work on color, the freedom of forms, and their imagination.

LC – How is your creative process?
LB – The creative process of my painting is akin to a sensitive immersion within my emotions, my imagination, an expression of my innermost being I do not try to copy reality even if sometimes I suggest it. I like to play between shadow and light, between doubts and certainties, between heaven and earth, between forms and my thoughts. To me, “anything that can be imagined is real”. Picasso

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
LB – My unconscious common thread is a lyrical abstraction so that whoever looks at my paintings can project himself. It’s also a wish to introduce an opening in each work, giving the opportunity for the visitor to enter and leave my canvas when he or she decides. For me, each look at my artwork is unique, an intimate moment between the viewer and me, the viewer and my painting.

LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
LB – It is to express oneself through different forms of art, such as painting, music, dance, cinema, literature, etc. It is to seek meaning and authenticity by being attentive to the times but also to one’s own history, feelings, codes to leave a trace despite the society of the immediate, of the present moment. The choice of the artist can be oriented towards aesthetics, and the stimulation of emotions, but can also choose commitment to tackle social issues, etc. First of all, the artist must remain sincere in his artistic approach.

LC – In which way the artwork presented on our exhibition is connected with the exhibition’s theme?
LB – Yes completely. I specifically painted imaginary “Future Landscapes”, more visible than usual in the composition of my paintings: clean, pollution-free landscapes of the future.

LC – Can you explain something about the artworks you have in our exhibition?
LB – I wanted to evoke a sweetness of life, a nature at liberty, respected, and harmony, to show a way, a healthy nature, with a predominance of greens to underline the purity of this nature alive, oxygenated once again.

LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us? What do you think about our services?
LB – Yes, in particular for the exhibition spots you propose: Venice, Rome, London.