Who is Lara Erel?
Lara Erel is a contemporary artist who studied graphics and printmaking at the University of Applied Arts Vienna from 2014-2020.
Lara Erel was born 1989 in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune in France. She lives and works in Lyon and Vienna (AT)
Lara shows work from her series « Soft Self »
I never thought about my own body until there was this « Aha! » moment.
Why did I have so little knowledge and curiosity about it?
What does it mean to have and to be a body? And what does it imply when the body I have is female?
And so, I started to investigate and observe my own body experience and translated it into pictures.
When/how did you find out you are an artist?
I don’t remember one specific moment, when I decided I was an artist.
But when I was four years old, I said I wanted to become a « dessinatrice » when I grew up (in French, it means an artist using drawing as a medium).
But I, in the end, only started to study at an art university when I was 25.
What is your relationship to Instagram?
Love-hate. It can be a great tool to discover new things but tends to be very time-consuming.
How important has digitalization become for you in connection with your art practice?
I am doing the least I can get away with!
Do you find that the pandemic has left a mark on your work?
Yes. I am very sensitive to my environment and I need peace to work artistically, which is challenging, when the world seems to be about to collapse and the room gets smaller around me.
Where, when, how do you work best?
I sketch small drawings, whenever, mostly in the evenings and on my bed.
For the actual works, I need rituals. I fix in advance days for working at my desk in the studio, and keep to them no matter what.
In the mornings, I am not able to do more than computer work, so studio times take place in afternoons and evenings.
To concentrate, I need to be alone but I fill the room with loud music.
Where, how do you usually get inspired?
There is not one specific manner in which I get inspired.
Sometimes I see an image in real or imagine one in my head, and sometimes I read an article somewhere or hear something, which trigger emotions.
Emotions give me the impulse to make new works.
What does success mean to you?
When a goal I set is achieved.
What are you working on currently?
At the moment, I am working on a series in the continuation of my diploma « Soft Self », using oil pastels on paper as a medium.
Let’s see what self I turn into in 2021.
The artist shares favorite quotes:
« I would always wake up in a cold sweat, checking the space between my legs to be sure it was still empty. » Nin Andrews (The Dream)
« I as Human » Miriam Cahn
