HS: On behalf of Black White Gallery I would like to say how excited we are to have you as a newly supported artist! Your work is refreshingly contemporary and yet still seems to hark back to a rich art history of  figurative painting. Who / what are your main influences?

SGL: I was always surrounded by art growing up which was particularly encouraged by my parents; a lot of this was heavily influenced by music whether it was through album covers, fashion or painters that they introduced me to. My dad showed me Roy Litchenstein, when I was about 15, I was obsessed with him ever since. I love how he creates a story in a painting; always leaving the viewer with unanswered questions. This is then followed by Hockney, I love his use of colour and how he capture summer so perfectly – I think colour can be a visual representation of emotion, just like the weather and seasons. Up there would be Francesca Woodman too, way ahead of her time, I love the aesthetic of Yashica (the camera she used) and this abstract representation of herself and her body – a lot of my paintings are usually of myself, I find this resonates with me massively.

​

HS: You obviously have a great sense of humour and this is apparent in both your paintings and their titles! What inspires the titles behind your works?

 

SGL: I usually name the paintings before I’ve even created them. I like doing a play on words or writing up poems when I get a chance. I like the idea of translating words to imagery. A lot of it is just reflecting the everyday, I try to make the experience as universal as possible, because its most likely we have all experienced it or can relate in some way. A lot of my ideas do sometimes come from painful experiences, but I try to see the irony in it – a lot of the time the only way to get through difficult situations is to see the humour in it, this is something I try to re-create. Ironically, no one wants to lash to the neighbours, but we always end up accidentally doing it.
 

HS: Your paintings seem to have a recognisable style. Was that something you purposefully aimed for, or did it rather come with practice?

 

SGL: Weirdly enough, I only ever found my style at the end of my degree, when I wasn’t even in the studio. It was during covid, and I think most people had an unpleasant time, I was finishing my degree from home in my bedroom and lockdown had made everyone feel isolated like never before. I found myself painting colourful imagery of myself or loved ones to keep me going as it was a dark time. I was trying to reflect reality in the opposite of how it was; a colourful paradox so it made it more bearable. Naturally, after that, I felt like I had found what my niche and just practiced it.

​

HS: Please share some of your creative processes with us, from a starting point to a finished piece?

 

SGL: It will usually start with an idea; an observation of some sort, or even a story that was told like a Chinese whisper – I will then write this down and create the story verbally before visually - then I will do brief sketches of how I intend the painting to be, I usually have to get my mates to help me stage photographs so I can get the composition of the body’s right – followed by creating the surroundings, I like to put people in situations, particularly rooms or spaces that could be considered desirable. I will then sketch these up on the canvas and begin to paint. Choice of colour is usually made up along the way with some sort of referencing to modern society. I tend to use warm colours followed by bits of foliage in most pieces.

​

HS: Any other emerging artists you’d like to recommend to our readers?

 

SGL: There’s so many to name I don’t know where to start, a lot of them I just find from Instagram; I really like Rebekah Rubalcaba work, she creates such a mood and I think as a woman its particularly relatable. I like Scout Zabinski’s stuff too, I think she captures colour and human form delightfully. My good friend too Lara Peach – makes figurative painting seem so effortless. Not necessarily emerging but a big fan of Hilary Pecis, her paintings pop.

​

HS: Finally, how would you describe your work in two words?

 

SGL: Inviting and Ironic OR a Surrealists Reality.