Artist case study 4: Karina Llergo

Form, form, form. I know I have been going on and on about it, but I feel it is an integral part of my exploration of myself as an artist. It’s just something that seems important to me. I seek out the shapes and forms in my own paintings as I paint. It is a discovery I make about what the painting is trying to say. It is also about the challenge. An acrylic pour is so formless and flowing that it feels like a worthy challenge to try to create a fleeting shape as the paint falls.

Also, the end goal is to create a 3-D shape emerging out of a 2-D painting and the two have to be connected, thus the need for form in the 2-D painting.

Anyway, another artist who inspires me is Karina Llergo. Previously I explored the idea of underlying textures (Kwang Ho Shin) as well as multiple layers of acrylic pours (Jackie Peach) but Karina Llergo focuses on something entirely different. Her shapes arise either out of the acrylic pour itself (careful, focused controlled pouring) OR the pouring makes only part of her painting while the other part is a sketch or a realistic painting. 
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I just find this so fascinating, for lack of a better expression.

Karina Llergo is apparently inspired by the motion of the human body. In her own words, she wants to capture the ‘magic’ or ‘energy’ of movement in her paintings. She calls it “alchemy for the eyes”, hoping that the energy in her paintings will inspire you to harness the positive energies in your own life.

Like Jonathan said, ‘influencing’ the paint is a matter of expertise and practice and Karina Llergo seems to be a master at this. Now, I don’t know the materials she uses or the techniques she employs and I do not expect myself to immediately jump to creating such perfect pours, nor do I think I am any good at realism and of course, everyone has a completely unique style so mine will be an entirely different attempt. However, I do feel like this is the next step in my studio experiments with acrylic pours. Namely, retaining a portion of the painting that is separate from the acrylic pours. Now this could occur by painting a portion of the canvas and not allowing the acrylic pour to fall over it, OR it could be done by painting over the acrylic pour.

I end this blog by writing down the impressions Karina Llergo’s work left on me: fluidity, movement, grace, human form, energy, floating, sinking, diving, positivity, emotion, voice, feeling.

The next blog is about the painting inspired by her work.

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