Artist’s Statement
Aggressive Idiocy in Abstract Figurative by Anna Seven
“Painting is playing on a color-violin, seventy-times-seven stringed, and inventing your tune as you play it!” Definitely all the technical and media questions shall have their place …“but the primary question of all is – can you play?”
These words belong to John Ruskin, otherwise I would write my own name here.
Since I began to feel what color means, I understand that I can do what I like with my colors no matter how realistic it goes. Or let’s say no matter how unrealistic it goes. Whoever really cared only about realism? We always look for something more than just realism. Who is interested in pure realism after all? And what is pure realism? We look for mystery and allegory in every piece of realism, as well as we do in our lives. Life is terribly realistic but we always look for God, a miracle or meaning in it. And to do so, we always distort our reality.
As for allegory, I myself have never been a great fan of it. I know it sounds ironic as you take a look at my paintings. It sounds as funny and ironical as ironical sounded Tolkien in his “Foreword” to “The Lord of the Rings” when he wrote: “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations…” At the same time he states a huge difference between allegory and applicability. I also prefer applicability. I give absolute freedom to the viewers of my art to understand it in a personal and confidential way. You are free to find an allegory if you have a strong personal wish to do so. I am not the one who forces you. This desire to make people wonder in their own inner worlds caused my decision to write Delusive Biography of Anna Seven. I want people to see my art through their own eyes. I want my art to be seen and to be felt, and to be understood through the thoughts and personal life experience of a particular viewer, a persona, as soon as I will be judged through the light of every single personality anyway. I don’t want my private life to play a decisive part of the process of judgment. I have already done my part by creating an art piece.
Now another common question: question about influence. Too many times in my life I had been questioned about who had more influence on my art? I have always found myself lost in this devastating question. Everything and everyone in some way had influenced me and my art. Every single day and hour I have lived has added its portion of poison and potion to my art. Every single artist or non-artist that I have ever been interested in, influenced my artistic outlook. Every single word, kind or not so, has changed me. I am really not able to mention anyone or anything influential in my life without missing someone or something. I am a living being and I constantly interact with the world. And because I dare to express myself I always expect feedback. No matter what kind of feedback as long as it exists. I need any form of feedback. I have learned to appreciate the attention itself.
No, I was not flirting when I mentioned any form of feedback. When you have a toddler growing in the house, you are becoming a cleaning machine. But you never mind it. Cleaning is a part of your responsibilities and part of your happiness. My understanding is that feedback is a result of vital functions of my art. And my art is a result of my love. So, with feedback, I always have an evidence of existence, presence, and growth of what I do. This is very important for an artist. Of course, all of these were very hard to understand when I was a teenager. I still remember grins on faces of my classmates in the art studio when I was showing my works made in colorful figurative style. I was only a teenager and believe me, those grins were very painful. Things have changed since then. I am not a teenager anymore. But I still paint in figurative abstract.
I always had a specific sense of color. Fascination with Color was the only reason why I started to paint. Passion for a Color was a reason why I returned to art after spending seven years in a University, receiving a Masters degree in Physics, and spending another five years working on accelerator. Infatuation with Color is a reason why I do almost everything differently from the way I was taught in the art studio. I do not know the real nature of my relationships with colors. I just know that there are some colors that make me physically sick, and there are some colors that make me happy without any other reason but color itself.
Here is a glimpse of the overall sequence and structure of my usual work process. I begin a new piece by making a realistic sketch. Then I feel that I am not honest enough, I feel disappointed and unsatisfied. From this point I start literally to think on canvas. I put thick monocolor layers of paint to create a comfortable environment for myself. Then I shape a character in this new colorful welcoming reality. Sometimes I make my painting deliberately flat, sometimes I shape it roughly with paints and dabs like if it is made of a wet, compliant clay. I do not know how an art-germ uses the soil of my imagination and life experience. The only thing that I know is that I start with a classical, realistic sketch and I always end up with dominating colors.
It is hard to avoid confusion between personal matters and the miraculous “machinery” of the Art in the statement, but at least I tried to do my best as I always do in my art.
Copyright, Anna Seven, 8-8-2008
Delusive biography of Anna Seven
Anna Seven is an American artist. She lives in San Francisco and she tries to make a name for herself.
Born and raised in Willbevisible, Goaway, Anna Seven was exposed to a wide variety of artwork at her parents house, at homes of her friends and at the great museums and galleries. She began relatively serious painting and drawing from third grade. Since then she was studding and learning how to draw and paint.
In 1988 Anna Seven left Goaway settling in Bull-Lichen, Zurbagan for three years. In three years in Bull-Lichen she learned how to use traditional pen and ink art professionally. She worked with watercolors, oil paints and colored pencils in this period of her life. In 1991 she had the good fortune to return in Willbevisible, where she had many opportunities for personal growth and transformations plus she graduated from Willbevisible State University in 1995 with a Master in Genuinus degree and a major in Starscounting.
Anna Seven traveled extensively through many countries during her life. She lived in many cities and she loved many great places in this world. But there is only one place in this world which she is in love with. To be honest one can not live in San Francisco if one is not in love with it.
Anna Seven paints intensively with oil on canvas in a style best described as an Aggressive Idiocy in Figurative Abstract.
Her artwork could be found in private collections of several countries such as:
Argentina, Armenia, Canada, France, Germany, GB, Israel, and USA.
Anna Seven can be reached at her home-studio:
(415)336-3575
or on her website at
www.annaseven.com
