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How to start ? It would be appropriate to talk about art, yes but which one, the art of writing, of reading, of speaking, the way to see things, the latter is certainly more relevant for this encounter with SHADYA, artist, painter.
After twenty years working in the media, press, radio and especially the television world, but as well jewelry design, it’s only since a couple of years that her passion for painting takes all its sense. It has become her art of predilection, the art to paint, the art to share a profound respect for nature that surrounds her, through abstract oils, where we can slip into dreaming in uncertain and unknown landscapes.
A distinctive technique, a fusion between an academic career and a feminine sensibility, that seems just as impulsive and spontaneous and that transmits a sense of speed, movement, then slowing down and freezing natural colours and contrasts differ from earth and sky.
A continuous account of what she sees, hears and what she wants to share with us, a strong nature, intense and rich in senses, like the artist herself, who achieves to blend all this in her works.
WasaPix: By contemplating your paintings, I ask you how do you interpret this form of expression so unusual, so personal, a constant ambiguity between abstract and nature that we find in nearly all of your paintings, what dominant factor inspires your own style, is it definable ?
SHADYA: Frankly, I paint that’s all. If I have a personal touch, an identifiable style, I have no merit: I only listen to my my hand, my soul. My hand only translates emotions and messages I receive. I’m only a transmission channel. And if it’s true that I am at the limit of the abstract, the sky, earth, water and wind are always recognisable. I love the wind a lot ! As well as storms. They are everywhere in my work. Like a spatter of life.
W: The Swiss Romand public knows you very well since many years as a media figure, what do you think about enjoying, what we should call, a popular fame, does it help to recognise an artist’s work, or real talent ? Or does the public remain demanding and unbiased when it comes to appreciating your oil paintings, not knowing that behind this media figure is hidden a former talented art pupil of “Les Beaux-Arts de Genève” ?
S: There are several questions in your question ! Let’s start from the beginning. First, media fame is not an asset : it can be a handicap. I had to fight for the truth of my painting to be respected and understood. It’s not a whim of a Romande “star”. I had to have an out of the ordinary tenacity.
The public ? It always knows how to recognise sincerity. The worst is the so-called “intelligentsia”, those who put human beings in boxes. But I resisted. Finally, thank you for reminding that I did the “Les Beaux-Arts de Genève”, the happiest period of my life. The choice to paint is, in a way, going back to my roots. I had a strong need for meaning when I left everything to paint.
W: You live in Montreux, a small town in the heart of the Canton Vaud, by the Lac Léman, with an exceptional micro-climate for the area and the Jazz Festival that everybody knows about. Montreux is mostly a town renowned for being quiet, clean and charming and is on a human scale. Did the choice to live here have an impact on your artistic commitment, that you had before always kept discreet although it was a strong passion ?
S: Yes, Montreux really contributed to the expansion of my painting. For loads of reasons : I found here the peace, as well as an everyday quality of life, that I needed and it gave me the possibility to concentrate entirely on my painting. And also, the view I have from my workshop is unique and is a permanent source of inspiration. I love this daily contact with the elements : the sky, the water, the air and their changing moods and colours. I needed this immensity. And I’m proud to be a painter in Montreux.
W: You still travel a lot and your destinations of predilection seem to be betrayed by your oils where certain flowers of the region can be recognised, the fields of the canton, the sky above the Alpes, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean. What is the natural context that inspires you the most or that you would like to interpret more intensely through your works ?
S: All what you say is true. My eyes, my travels, my love of the Mediterranean, my love of silence too – because I’m a great loner – influence my work. My eyes take photographs of places, and parts of planet earth that mean a lot to me. I live permanently with my eyes. All this is absorbed by my soul and self and comes out through my paintbrush. I entirely obey to my hand ! Therefore, I do not make projects. My painting is not rational, nor conceptual. It is instinctive, emotional, gestural.
My aim is just go to the depths of my truth, my technique – that permanently evolves even if my universe stays personal. And to share that. Painting only exists if it’s shared. I capture and convey emotions.
W: A floral, spring, summer and colored context can be noticed in your works generally and there’s no representation of winter and the grey autumns. What are your source of inspiration in those seasons, how does your artistic activities evolve during the so-called “cold” periods ?
S: Spring is for me more an idea of re-birth than a season. It’s more spiritual, moral, than seasonal. Summer too, because it symbolises the fullness of energies. These seasons mean for me light,light of the spirit, of the heart. Light and movement are the big affairs of my painting. And to tell you all : I love to paint in winter ! It’s the season when I work the most. In summer, I am by the water, I swim mornings and evenings, I soak up the lake, the sea, the sky and I recharge myself.
W: What are your forthcoming projects, your exhibitions, your big dates not to be missed in the next following months ?
S: Clearly, my exhibition of new works during the 6th MAG – Montreux Art Gallery – Salon D’Art Contemporain which is held at the Montreux Congress Centre from the 10 to 14 November. For the rest, you must follow my exhibition agenda on my website.
W: I had the privilege to be able to discover some works, that are so to say, more personal, that will never go public, could you as well privilege our readers with a foretaste or those oils that only a few lucky people were able to discover during the open days of your workshop ?
S: It’s difficult to speak of them ! I have my secret gardens. I have paintings that I simply can’t sell, that I show only in my workshop and I keep them for people who have or will have a special meaning in my life. I believe in absolute gestures. An artist has its mysteries.
W: Dear Shadya, I thank you for your courtesy, and your charming company, I leave you now, by duty, to choose the colour, the landscape, the phrase, commonly called the last word, to conclude this interview and try to leave the reader immersed in this nature that you can metamorphose, this time with the text and not with the image.
S: Ah, another difficult question. So let me finish with my favorite quote. It concentrates my approach, my choice of life. It is taken from “Notes sur la peinture d’aujourd’hui” of Jean Bazaine : “Painting is a way to be, the temptation to breathe in an unbreathable world.”
Montreux, Switzerland, 25/07/2010
Web: http://www.shadya.ch
Press: http://www.shadya.ch/index.pl?go=presse
E-mail: peinture[at]shadya[dot]ch
Translated by thinwhiterachelle[at]gmail[dot]com
