Every city has more than one story to tell and one face to show. Regardless of the artistic background, each place is full of inspiring individuals making its own culture and story. In Plus’s online initiative, ‘City Talks,’ we feature 10 creatives representing the designated city per season, asking contributors to share personal relatedness and building an engaging community that gives a sense of belonging.
The second season takes place in Los Angeles, and this week, we discuss with Claire Colette.
What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Where is your favorite (go-to) restaurant in LA? Why
What are your ways of recharging/ taking breaks?
What kind of song are you into these days?
There are subtle and sublime layerings of colors providing what looks like a dreamscape, and the recurring usage of mathematical elements resembles a star which opens up an unlimited possibility to the viewers. With that in mind, can you share more about the choice of colors and your fascination with math?
You incorporate ash, salt, rainwater, and different types of flowers in your recent works, and wonder what about those materials interests you.
Are there any specific imagery/sights you reference in your work? The spaces are imagined but reference landscape, mountainscapes, the ocean, and the sky. I like the idea of the work being a reminder of our smallness in a vast universe, in a way that is also comforting. I deliberately keep references open and abstract in order to facilitate this.
If you could have any artwork in your house, what would it be?
Cy Twombly, “Wilder Shores of Love”- either version.
How would you describe the art scene in Los Angeles?
It’s a fun and fairly close-knit community. I think artists are very supportive of one another here. The artists I am around really working hard and pushing each other and as a result, most of my friends are starting to do very well. Most of us feel that the community aspect is the second best part, aside from being in the studio.
What changes would you like to see in the art industry at large?
There are so many issues with how the secondary market is impacting artists and the culture. I’d like to see more regulation there. Also Instagram. I think it has been a wonderfully empowering and unifying tool for the art world—but it is over relied on. It is reductive, as it is meant to be— and not the way to consider thought-out intellectual shows that people have poured their creativity and intellect into. I think it has trained us to like one-off confident work with bold colors, and so much gets ignored. I am guilty of this but am training myself away. I hate considering an entire exhibition of mine through the lens of Instagram.
Which three qualities in yourself are you most thankful for?
My perseverance, my curiosity, and my insensate drive to create.
Listen to all the favorite songs picked by our City Talks contributors HERE.