The Munchies Art Club is thrilled to share our new artist feature, introducing the wonderful artist Theodosia Marchant, who took the time to share her work and answer our short questions, allowing us a more intimate view of who the artist is and what drives her.
My paintings study life.
Tell stories, ask questions, and challenge ideas.
Each series I develop tells its own story, with some reflecting upon ideas and others documenting my personal experiences, life, and its direction, thoughts, and desires.
The human mind, intimacy, relationships, and how our emotions affect our physical and emotional state are all themes that come alive throughout my art.
Life is constructed by emotions of all shades; light, dark, and the quiet shadow of their absence.
Intricate or simple.
I am inspired by humans and like to question life and explore psychology.
I allow my subjects, the protagonists, to express themselves alive in their own moments, and through them, I aim to define a universal language that remains timeless and incorruptible.
Greece is my first home; London is very special to me too. My family still lives in Athens, my parents live in the same house I grew up in and my sister lives closer to downtown Athens. While in the US, before the birth of my son and the pandemic, I visited every year, but I have not been back for a while now, and I miss it terribly.
Also, I have this immense desire to show my country to my son so that he can hear the language, and it will then make sense to him why his mom speaks that language and insists on eating greek salads, etc.
Seriously, though, even though I have been away from Greece for over two decades, it is so much in my heart and thoughts, and I would love to be able to move back at some point.
It never really crossed my mind to follow an art career.
I did indeed grow up in a very art enthusiastic and supportive family environment; my mother is a very talented artist and architect, but art was my hobby, relaxing my brain and having fun.
In my late teens, I wanted to travel the world, move out of Greece and be financially independent as quickly as possible.
I had no clue what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and what a vast expectation of having of a young adult at that stage in the first place.
My sister, who is three years older, also studied law in France. So I decided to follow the same path.
The years I spent working as an attorney have aided me in becoming the artist I am today 100 percent.
I am grateful for the work experience I had, the life experiences that path allowed me to have, and which, in combination, shaped me into the person I am today.
I don't think I would have been the same artist if I had done what I do now straight out of school.
The drive now is different at my age.
It is fast-paced, exciting, and frightening sometimes how much I want this and to be good at it.
My experience as an attorney, or previous life as I call it, taught me to be reliable and disciplined, and show up to my art practice daily, including weekends, with no excuses.
Making good art requires practice and dedication.
It is not a hobby.
Coupled with the art business side is a full-time job and more.
I have a home studio and share a larger space with another artist when I want to work on larger works.
But these days, I do most of it from home.
I love working from home.
I am in and out of my studio all day long, something I couldn't do if I had to travel.
Also, it works perfectly in combination with my son.
When he is out of school, it is easier to take care of him and for me to work from our house.
As soon as I drop him at school, my day usually starts with taking care of admin art business stuff.
The actual painting takes place after my son goes to bed, and I stay up late.
I try to balance the late nights by resting one night in between, so it works out, but when I have deadlines, things get a bit messier.
I don't enjoy working in the company of others. That sounds a bit antisocial.
I find creating art a pretty solitary practice where I want my thoughts not to be disturbed by external voices and opinions.
I like complete silence so I can hear only my thoughts, with no distractions.
I wouldn't say I like listening to music while I paint or sitting in my studio during the planning process.
Of course, I love music, but it distracts me.
I listen to music to relax when taking a break, and recently I have been listening to a lot of Fado, Amalia Rodrigues, for example.
I find the melancholy that this type of music exhumes relaxing and takes me back to old memories. Generally, I prefer listening to low-key music in my house, but it's a different story in my car; Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails, etc., are my vibe. Perfect for LA traffic too.
I have not completed a project yet, I would love to, but it feels like a separate field artistically-wise compared to studio practice and is something that requires me to explore more and get my name out.
Lately, it has been too busy, and I haven't had the opportunity to do so.
My focus is on other projects.
But I would love the prospect of painting a large wall and think my art would translate well on a wall.
I recently created a line of skateboards for a Berlin-based company called Curare Skateboarding.
The original decks were exhibited in Hamburg with Millerntor Gallery as part of social art, music, and culture festival for clean water, a fundamental cause.
I have also been creating custom hand-painted clothing, now available through an LA-based boutique, In Heroes We Trust.
In the meantime, I am also planning and building two solo shows for the coming year, one in LA and one abroad.
That is all from my side; a big thank you for allowing me to tell my story, and ever so happy to connect and discover our common background similarities.
Perhaps we will meet in Greece next summer.
Theodosia Marchant (b.1978) was born in Athens, Greece.
She studied law in London, and obtained a Bachelor and Masters in Law.
She practiced as a UK and EU registered attorney for a number of years before relocating in 2013 to Los Angeles with her partner.
Solo shows
2019 Domestic Animals / Life in 16 Frames - Fathom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 The World of Others - Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Group Shows
2022 10th Edition - Millerntor Gallery with Curare I Skateboarding x Art, Germany
2021 Glendale Community College - Guest Speaker
Which keywords describe your work best
Intimacy, emotions, expressive, lively.
A big EFCHARISTO (thx in Greek) to the wonderful Theodosia for sharing with us! Our connection virtual but with a strong foundation, both of us madly in love with our country Greece, both living life to the fullest as adoring mothers and lastly but just as importantly connected by our passion for the arts.
