Interview with Lucie Tománková: chromatism and ligh
In this interview with Lucie Tománková you will discover an artist who experiments with his inner ideas mainly in the field of chromaticism, forms and light.
Il background culturale e artistico di Lucie Tománková
When and how did your artistic career start?
It is really hard to say when and how it exactly started. Actually, how can we understand the term ‘artistic career’? Do we count it from the moment someone starts to be seriously focused on art production, or do we count it from the moment someone starts living from his/her art?
When I was in kindergarten, around 3 or 4 years old, my good friend Jana asked me a question, which children commonly ask each other: “What do you want to be when you are an adult?” I still remember, that I clearly answered that I want to be a painter. Perhaps, because my grandfather was a painter and I grew up surrounded by his paintings. I also remember how I enjoyed touching the drying oil paint on his palette.
Thanks to my mother I was attending art exhibitions and theater performances since I was little. My father contributed with delicate music taste, that he was playing in the house (jazz, blues, the Beatles – all this good stuff).
I also remember that since childhood one of my favorite play was to drip watercolors on a wet sheet of paper and observing how the colors spread on the paper and intertwine with each other.
Artistic influences
When I was at primary school, we found out, that my mind is rather abstract and I had difficulties fitting into the educational systém. The only subject, which I really enjoyed was a painting.
Since 9 years old I started attending painting classes. My life focus seemed to be clear. I was following my passion by studying painting at the Higher Professional School of Applied Art in Prague and later on two other art universities in the Netherlands.
I was definitely influenced by the cultural background of my family, but not all my brothers and sisters are following this pathway. Therefore, I assume that the passion for painting, or art in general, is something that you are just simply born with or not. I feel that it is something embedded within the personality, inseparable part of the soul. Then, we could ask a question: How can start something, which already exists? This is indeed beyond my human possibilities to answer.
Artistic research between mind and inner space
Which people, artists and episodes have most influenced your work?
To answer properly, the list would be very long. I was very lucky to meet many amazing and sensitive people in my life. Reaching from the tutors at the universities, fellow artists, or professional artists that I have had the opportunity to meet, family, or friends from other fields. But one person, who has influenced my life and my career the most, I would say- was my younger brother Jan, who passed away 11 years ago.
I have one more brother and three sisters, I love all of them, but with Jan we shared passion for art. He was a poet and a very talented draftsman, painter, sculptor and philosopher as well. Our minds were crystalizing together, we were inspiring each other. I would say that he was my muse. His departure completely changed my understanding of life.
Another fundamental change happened when I moved to the Netherlands to study my bachelor at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. The environment at the university has offered a great sense of freedom. Something has changed within me and although I was studying in the painting department, I started to experiment with other mediums. My works became more experimental and joyful. It had opened a new dimension/horizon for my further artistic development. My subsequent study at Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen was a continuation in this experimental line.
Artistic research by Lucie Tománková
What do you look for through the art form you use?
For me, the art forms are the material execution of something that I feel already exists within me. Most of the time, I first get some idea, I let it grow in my mind/inner space, and later on, the idea itself usually tells me how it should look like and what medium and material I should use. So I just simply follow my intuition and I try to be as honest to my inner world/to the ideas, as I can. Therefore, I wouldn‘t say, that I look for something through the art forms, but rather – I use the art forms in order to be able to bring into this visible and tangible world something that I feel already exists within me. Perhaps, we could talk about it as about the process of embodiment.
Is there a part in your artistic research that you would like to talk about in particular?
I don‘t know which part to choose, there are many and that would be a too long story…
What is your relationship with the market?
To be honest, I don‘t make money with my art yet. My relationship with the art market is open and positive. I believe that one day it will breakthrough. Everything has its right time.
Advice to artists
What would you recommend to an artist who would like to live on art?
I would give two advices. First of all: You have to love what you are doing. If there is enjoyment, there is energy. I believe that this energy is something that will be embedded in the work itself. Therefore, be honest and truthful to yourself, to your works and to others. I believe that if you love what you are doing, money always comes into your way, one way, or another. Live for the road, not for the goal.
Second: Don‘t give up if the world is not making it easy for you. Once you have artistic spirit and inner urgency for the artistic expression/production, you can‘t breathe without it. So it‘s simple – you have to continue.
Lucie Tománková contatti
Sito: https://www.lucietomankova.com/
Lucie Sarah Tománková (@tomankovalucie) • Foto e video di Instagram
email: luciemag@seznam.cz
I also recommend:
Virginia Overton: Discovering new artistic perspectives. | (connectivart.it)
Francesco Cogoni.
