[Artist] Lani Imre

Lani Imre is a multitalented artist who splits her time between Baja and Vancouver, creating work in many mediums and genres, including painting, maskmaking, drawing, and sculptural ceramics. I first encountered Lani’s work at Ayden Gallery during BraveArt 2008, where she was live painting alongside Milan Basic, otherwise known as Sez. Her playful, easygoing spirit shone through as I watched her hand over the brush to an audience member, encouraging him to take a turn painting—for better or for worse.

Spring 2009 brings Lani back to Vancouver for another show at Ayden. Nowhere Else But Here, opening Friday, March 20, features work by Lani as well as by artists Lauren Javor, Jordan Quinn and Samantha Dickie. I was offered the chance to get to know Lani a bit better, and gain some insight into her life and her work:

How would you describe your aesthetic in three words or less?
Hmmmm. “Elegant, strong and sexy.” I don’t know …

What does a typical “day in the life” of Lani Imre look like?
Oh god. There is no “typical day in the life of Lani.”

When you are walking down the street, what grabs your attention most often?
People’s faces. Small objects or stickers on the street. And people’s shoes. I love checking out people’s shoes. I think because I am always feeling in need of a pair of shoes. Because I live a lot in Baja and California, I often find myself in Vancouver with only a pair of flip-flops and not the time or money to find something suitable for the climate here.

When you are at home, where is your sanctuary?
I don’t really have a home. So I guess my sanctuary often comes down to the bed I am sleeping in. I am always grateful to reach my bed at the end of the day. Otherwise, my most permanent place of residence has been the casita that I rent in Baja. And THAT has been my sanctuary!

Where do your ideas come from? How do you get them out of your head and into the world?
My ideas come from everything I see around me! I like to take bits and pieces of the urban environment, media and the natural environment and fragment them all together. Also, I think a lot of what I do is inspired by being a very independent woman, and living a life in a constant sate of motion. My environments, my routines, the things that I do change by the month, sometimes by the week. I often feel as though I am living four lives rather than one. I am sure many of us feel this way. It is a common state of being I guess … but this phenomenon inspires, excites and perplexes me. I try to find grounding through my work.

When do you feel most creative during the day, and why?
Sometimes I have a rare push of energy in the quiet early morning. Sometimes just as I wake up. But mostly I find that everything calms down around me late at night, and I am most creatively productive between the hours of 9pm and 2am.

Where do your characters come from? Are they people in your life, in your dreams, from the media, from your imagination?
My characters come from a combination of things. I am always collecting images from magazines, the internet and my friends. People have even begun to send me images. Sometimes I find an image I really like and work quite directly from it. Sometimes I do a combination of a body posture with a face or hair or model different body parts myself. Whatever I need. But I always do a drawing and a “characterization” of what I am looking at before I put it on a canvas. I like to take the liberty of exaggerating the things I like and altering the things I don’t like so much. It is like playing dress-up or something.

Tell me a bit about your first ever gallery exhibit—what it was like, how it came about, and how it changed your process/product/artistic identity?
My first true art exhibit was through a gallery affiliated with NSCAD University in Halifax. As my graduating exhibition, I was given complete control over the entire space and presentation of my show. For the first time I was able to cohesively present my large-scale canvases, smaller drawings and ceramic sculptural work and dolls, all under one theme and space. The title of the show was “Tokyo Tequila” and the whole production helped me realize how important it is for me to work both two and three dimensionally. It is the closest I have come to re-creating the space that is my imagination—the fantasy I live inside my head. To make it real that others may enter it and be encompassed by it on all levels. It was amazing and I look forward to the day I am able to create that on an even grander scale! Showing commercially has also been interesting and fun, and has taught me a lot about production while giving me a chance to develop my skills and style, but it certainly has its limitations on an artistic front!

Do you see yourself in a lineage of Canadian artists? International artists? If so, which ones? Whose work has influenced you in the past, and who do you draw inspiration from going forward?
Not too much to say on Canadian artists other than the ones I love and work with! There is definitely some amazing talent in Canada. Other than that, the artists and work I follow has changed slightly over the years. Initially I followed a lot of lady artists, such as Audrey Kawasaki and Yumiko Kayukawa. I loved the clean, illustrative quality of their work as well being entranced with their appeal on a pop culture level. I also looked at comics artists for their straight-up drawing ability. I find Joshua Middleton particularly tight in his rendering and line work.

I have been very interested by graffiti as well. My work is inspired stylistically by graffiti. I have yet to make art for the street, but I check out artists in London, New York, LA and San Francisco. I look at big names like Banksy and Shepard Fairy, but I like to follow artists more locally in San Francisco because most of my immediate family is there and I spend a lot of time there. As a surfer girl, I like the way West Coast art has incorporated skating and surfing culture as a foundation for artists’ work and life-style. I am always impressed by Barry McGee, David Choe, Sam Flores, Silvia Ji, Doze Green … and the list goes on. But I guess now, I am looking at artists who incorporate more and more of a fine art style into street based art. I like work that is a lot “painted” and incorporates brush strokes, or at least a lot of variety in the way marks are made. My heroes at the moment are Ekundayo and Herakut. But gosh … I could go on forever…

How would you like to see your work evolve from here? What are your next steps—in terms of process, or concepts, or career, or something completely unrelated?
I think I am just wanting to develop what I have already put down a solid foundation for over the last few years. I want to always be able to incorporate art and surfing and travel into my life. I want to continue painting, but I can feel that soon I will need to ease up on the canvases and get more in touch with the sculptural side of things. My career will most definitely depend on variety. I want to start doing more design work within the surf and board and clothing industry. I also want to get more involved with masks and costuming and performance work. As for my paintings, I would like to see them develop more to the side of “real” and fine art I think. I have spent all of my brief time painting trying to funk out my style, but I am feeling the need to really engage in character and the power of technique through painting. It doesn’t have to be tight … but I love faces, and I want to make them real … if that makes any sense.

Tell me something random about you that I’d never think to ask…
I like buckwheat, scotch and dark chocolate. Really dark…

words: Shallom Johnson