This week in our Conversations in Colour series, we’re excited to chat to artist, Louise Buckley, on where she finds inspiration and how colour influences her work.
What’s your earliest memory of colour?
Growing up my bathroom was orange, my bedroom went from lighter to darker purples over the years, and the kitchen was a delightful and bright robbin’s egg blue.
What drew you to the world of art, and why is expressing yourself through art so important to you?
The first time I recall being moved by art was looking through an Ed Ruscha catalog in early high school. It rocked my world. I was struggling with my general quiet temperament and I often felt like I was being pushed out by louder voices who craved dramatic attention.
Looking at his work for the first time I remember feeling so comforted. His work holds a quiet power that I had never seen before and really responded to. There is a poetic confidence and beauty in Ruscha’s work and a lot of artwork I am drawn to. I am excited by how much I learn from looking at, making, and talking about art. The directions it can point me in, what it reveals, the questions I can ask, and what I can discover.
Tell us about your art, your process and who or what inspires you most.
I am an image maker. Photography, drawing, and painting are my primary mediums. While the content of my work varies, they are linked by a focus on surprise, sensitivity, connection, and a curiosity around light and shadow. Visual elements that appear throughout the work build a refrain and a familiarity, while varying brushwork, streams of light, textures, and transparencies create rhythm and harmony.
Most recently with my drawings I’ve been interested in activating space without a figurative or narrative subject matter. I’ve been exploring something similar in my photos, making abstract photographs almost like paintings that are focused on texture, colour, and movement. I’ve also been setting up a lot of still lives recently that include and document what I’m making in the kitchen. Still lives with food, have such a rich history that I’m interested in exploring more. I’m part Dutch so this feels like a funny and natural route of image making in some ways!
The more I work the more I work, if that makes sense. I don’t always have a plan about the image I’m going to make, but I find the act of doing and just getting started always leads somewhere. I adore the work of Vija Celmins, Susan Rothenberg, Silke Otto Knapp, Lenka Clayton, Richard Diebenkorn, Luchita
Hurtado, Milton Avery, and of course Ed Ruscha. So many of my friends are wonderful artists who’s work I love and who’s opinions and feedback I value.
What colours are you particularly attracted to and why?
I always find myself coming back to warmer hues. I don’t know why. I’ll always love purple too.
What's coming up for you next?
Through spending a lot of time on set as a model I’ve been able to see the different ways creative people work and work together. My proximity to creative professionals has taught me a lot about the ways I like to work as a photographer, I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge from people on sets that I’ve been able to bring into my own work which I usually make at home.
I’ve met close collaborators and friends as well. I have a couple projects in the works with my frequent collaborator and dear friend Cortney Morentin. In addition to modeling, I’ve been working freelance for brands doing food and product photography and creative directing the visuals for Olive Bernard’s upcoming album and would love to do more of both in the future!
I feel lucky and proud to be able to combine my different interests and skillsets and turn that into work. Helping bring someone’s vision to life, no matter my role, feels very special and important to me and I always learn something. I’d love to work for some of my favorite brands in any capacity like Westbourne, Ghia, and Saie Beauty whose products, aesthetic vision, and ethos I admire. No matter what, I’ll be making and looking at art until the end of time! I hope to keep working with and learning from all kinds of dedicated and thoughtful people while still finding the time and space to continue making images on my own.
What’s your favourite Dora Larsen piece, and why?
The first nice bra I ever bought for myself was Dora Larsen. The designs are so uniquely feminine and elegant and the color combinations are incredible. My favorite piece at the moment is the Vita set. I also love the newly launched swim line, the fuchsia bikini is my favorite!
Shop Louise's edit here.
Discover Louise's art here.
