IN CONVERSATION WITH ARTIST LILIA MAZURKEVICH

In conversation with artist Lilia Mazurkevich:

We are thrilled to present ‘Out Of The Blue’ a solo exhibition with artist Lilia Mazurkevich.

Hailed as one of contemporary art’s elite, Mazurkevich’s unique style of hyper-realism and subject matter offer a glimpse into a world of intrigue and imagination.

Prepare to be totally captivated by the anthropomorphic birds, rabbits and friends of Mazurkevich’s cosmos set against the most serene and mesmerising of sky scapes and RSVP now to attend the opening night on Wednesday 20th March 6-9pm.

We took a trip down to Lilia’s studio to ask her a few questions;

Why birds? Where did the fascination stem from?

Because I was always inspired by characters, usually being human beings. Thats why i wanted to become a painter, to be able to capture different emotions and personalities. But when you actually depict people, it can be too much. People can relate to the pain or sadness which isn’t always what people want for their home.

I then experimented with smaller subjects, and in particular birds, which people usually associate as being ‘cute and fluffy’. I found that when using birds instead, making them grumpy or miserable it made for a very interesting contrast. Instead of making people also feel miserable, they find their grumpiness sweet yet still relatable. It allows me to do what I always wanted to do but on a much smaller scale which is a lot less offensive.

We often describe your birds as being anthropomorphic, is that intentional?

It was never intentional originally it just happened! But as I noticed people’s reactions to my work, looking at each bird and saying ‘Oh this face reminds me of my child’ or ‘Oh he’s so grumpy just like my Dad’ etc. I decided to make the most of this and started to enhance the personalities of each animal. Now I paint not just birds but rabbits, guinea pigs, bees, ladybirds… whatever inspires me.

What is your process from start to finish?

I usually see a bird, whether thats online, in person etc. I will then decide from that bird exactly what I want kind of character i’d like it to represent and how I can make this personality shine through. Then I will begin by painting the skies as you can see, then slowly I will paint layer by layer, using each layer to create more detail each time. Sometimes they make take up to a month for each painting depending how much details it needs. For example the rabbits take much longer, not only because of the size, but to time it takes to create a ‘fuller’ fur.