Interview: Lucia Boaghe
Luca Curci talks with Lucia Boaghe during VENICE INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR – 15th Edition, at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

Born in Moldova, based in London, with a BA in philology and interior design background Lucia shifted to the Fine Arts for the last 8 years. In July 2017 she had her first solo exhibition in London and decided to follow her passion with further education. Moving to The UK, a new country, was not just a new beginning of life for her but also an impulse to create. Paying attention to all the changes happening in her thinking and feelings she wanted to translate them into a visual language. There’s a theory that people become different personalities in every new language they learn. English became the sixth for Lucia and she aimed to express her transition from one culture to another in her sculptures. The difficulties of integration into a new society and the joy of a new start are the main ideas of her work. During her Foundation course at Hampstead School of Arts (London), she participated in the Picture the Heath event, part of the Hampstead Summer Festival, and became the face on the event’s poster for the next few years, appeared in the local Ham&High newspaper in June 2018 and the Artists & Illustrators magazine in March 2019.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Lucia Boaghe – Art is a way of living but halfway through imagination. A way to connect my soul to the viewer and touch it in a sensible way. It’s a kind of addiction as well because whether the public likes it or not, it sells or not the artist is compelled to do it….Art can serve as an incredibly important tool for the psychological needs of many people.

LC – What are you currently working on?
LB – Now I’m at the beginning of a new project. It’s based again on human feelings and emotions but this time it will be about the connection with nature and the universe: Time, love, life, space, and sustainability. About how the environment can influence us and how we can keep our planet alive.

LC – What is the role the artist plays in society? And contemporary art?
LB – Art is the way humans process emotions, memorialize events and leave their mark on the world. Humans were using art to make a record of their life before we even had a written language. Visual Art is a language itself that doesn’t need a translation. Art is food for the soul and artists are instruments to awaken and express emotions. Art is education through feelings, it’s the shortest method to access the brain via the heart.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
LB – Mostly my art is very personal, it’s inspired by my experiences, reading, thinking, feelings or emotions. Nature and the miracle of life are also my inspiration. I love to visit different shows of contemporary art, it gives me a new perspective on my work.

LC – What is the most challenging part about creating your artwork?
LB – The moment I’m ready for creation I usually act intuitively, finding the shape at the moment, and giving voice to the material I work with. Trying to find the right colors and curves. Sometimes the result is completely different from the initial idea and I can’t decide what’s better but if I start a new piece it leads me again to a new form, so I hardly can repeat an artwork, I feel like I need to switch off the internal voice for it.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this exhibition? How did it inspire you?
LB – This exhibition analyses the relationship between body and space, and the hybridization between identities and cultural/physical/social/urban settings in contemporary times – it’s actually the theme I’m researching for the last few years. Also to exhibit new contemporary work in an old historical place such as Palazzo Albrizzi Capello is exciting, a mix of arts of all times. And Venice itself is a treasure.

LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this event? How is it connected to the theme of the entire exhibition?
LB – You’ve said that the human body is a changing system that connects us with other bodies and spaces to perceive the surrounding reality: a strong communication system with its own language and infinite ways of expression. Well, my sculptures are poems about the internal nature of our bodies, about feelings and emotions contributing to external changes, and about the assimilation of new experiences and their effects on our consciousness and bodies.

LC – Can you explain something about the artworks you have in our exhibition?
LB – The two sculptures in this show were a result of my experience of emigration. They are an externalization of my feelings: the fear of new beginnings, the absorption of a new culture, and the excitement of new possibilities. I like to mix abstract shapes with parts of the human body, it arouses a visual conversation in the viewer and stimulates the imagination. Ceramics as a material itself is a metaphor for human life for me: mobile and easy to shape when it’s row and getting strong and rigid on going through firing. Also easy breakable and hard to glue – it’s about the fragility of human life.

LC – Do you think ITSLIQUID GROUP can represent an opportunity for artists?
LB – It’s an opportunity to increase the visibility of art of course. The venues are also carefully chosen, it gives a new life to our artworks.

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
LB – Yes, I did. Was easy to communicate and the staff was very receptive, except for the fact that the date of the exhibition was changed and I couldn’t stay more in Venice for the Private View but thank you for the photos. I felt a nice atmosphere.

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
LB – Thank you that your existence, it’s very important for emerging artists to have such platforms as yours. Thank you for choosing my works to be in your beautiful venue and for the great opportunity to meet the new public.