Ian Liska spent his childhood playing with explosives and bees, so it was perhaps unsurprising when he followed in his father’s footsteps to become a chemist. That was not to be his ultimate career, however. Following completion of his scientific studies, he started painting acrylics on canvas in 2007.
We chatted to him ahead of his new show, which opens in the very gallery he himself cut the ribbon for: the Guangzhou Opera House’s Arte Place.
Where did your passion for art first develop?
I grew up in a colorful environment where science and art met. I grew up playing around with things that are usually dangerous for kids – my father is a scientist and works with bees. I remember growing up running away from bees and playing with explosive materials, which sometimes actually exploded. I survived my childhood, luckily, intact. Aside from a few fractures and burns, I escaped my hyperactive days of childhood.
I grew up and became a chemist. It was when I became an adult that I started to paint. Art and creativity run in my family: my father is always doing something interesting, and my eldest sister has painted her entire life. I got influenced by my environment, until art got so big in my life, it took over completely.
Are there particular themes you try to focus on?
My art spins around one central fact: we are all one with this planet. We all participate in this beautiful mess we create with our ideas and our actions. I am thrilled to share my ideas with the world. I give talks, conferences; I speak as much as I can, to as many people as I can possibly reach. I found that art lets me do just that. I communicate my ideas even more powerfully with a painting than through words.
My art is abstract, but if you take a closer look at it, it speaks back. The abstract world, the natural shapes, the color, they all have a story and a meaning.
How did your upcoming show at the gallery in the Guangzhou Opera House come about?
It’s actually an interesting story about a particular painting called 'The Mandarin Duck.' I had been painting this painting for a year, and I spent weeks and weeks setting pure gold into some of its finishing touches. I finally finished it. Right at that moment, I met with the director of the Arte Place gallery at the opera house. The gallery had a grand opening and was looking to curate an exhibition for their special day. The director for the gallery loved that painting.
I ended up cutting the red ribbon at the grand opening of the gallery, and that’s how it all started. Color, Sound and Light: Seeds of Life is part of a series of exhibitions that I am showing around the world. It’s a privilege to open the show it on March 11. I am excited to be part of the Arte Place gallery at the Opera house and share my art with the city of Guangzhou.
Several of your paintings scheduled for exhibition look like stained glass windows. Can you tell us a bit about these new works?
These new abstract paintings have a new twist, they use ultraviolet light effects. You can appreciate their beauty with every type of light, but when you shine the right light on it, you find an extra meaning. This is what the new paintings explore. The fact that we can find beauty through finding the light. That's a metaphor, we can find beauty if we find the eyes to appreciate it, or the light to see it. It’s simple, but brilliant, in the way that it shines like artwork from a different planet.
In your own words, how would you describe the style of your art?
My art is contemporary abstract art with a touch of impressionism. People have to check out with their own eyes my newest exhibitions cause each period of my life comes with a story, and with that, a new style is born.
Now I am exploring technology, and I have ambitious plans this year to merge my work with high-tech installations – things that I am happy to share with the city of Guangzhou, and my visitors at the Arte Place gallery at the Opera House.
What do you make of the arts scene in Guangzhou generally?
Well, I have been here in Guangzhou on and off since 2012. It has changed dramatically in just a few years. I see things are forming faster than ever. Interesting things are developing everywhere, not only in art, but in all areas of the city. I start seeing Guangzhou bloom, and it’s beautiful to be a part of Guangzhou's scene. Things are happening, and I enjoy the ride.
Is it difficult for an artist to get exhibited in China?
It’s a tricky question. It always depends when you ask this, and who you ask. When an artist is ready to jump into the art scene, when their work is ready, it’s easy. Getting to that point requires focus and dedication. If an artist has a message to share with the people around, and the people around enjoy that message, it’s easy to be exhibited and picked up internationally.
For me it took some years of experience, I have been doing exhibitions for almost a decade. I try to have two exhibitions every year. I am satisfied with my work; however, I always have bigger and bigger ideas and plans, so whatever I do, I want to do it better and better each time around.
What originally brought you to China and Guangzhou?
I have a global project that is called The Butterfly Effect. The idea behind this project is to bring good ideas everywhere in the world through art. What I do is I travel around, speak with people everywhere, do good things, I teach everywhere I go, everything good I have picked up from every place I have been. You would be surprised how much good is going on everywhere. Only in Guangzhou, there is so much good things happening, I am overwhelmed by such positive influences, people, and situations. Guangzhou called me, and I answered yes! I am here.
Your website states that you also teach art classes. Do you enjoy teaching?
Yes, I am a part-time art teacher at the Arte Place gallery, I teach twice a week, Thursdays to adults, Sundays I teach two groups of children. I have to say, I am not a teacher, I am a communicator. I am an artist with good communication skills, with a science background. I am especially good with children ‘cause I come from a big family. I have been surrounded by children my whole life, I am like a big kid inside, I simply connect with kids.
In my classes with adults, I teach them what I know, I teach them to observe life, and to find beauty within, ‘cause it’s there where artist get ideas to create art.
What are your artistic plans for the future?
I plan to move into my new studio soon. I have a brand-new, fully equipped studio in a building called Utopia in Panyu. It’s a high-tech studio, in a high-tech building. I am privileged to have the highest quality sound and projectors a person can dream of. An art space I will soon call home.
I have ambitious plans that involve this city in more ways than one. Better than describing my future plans, I invite the city to visit my art shows, you can see with your own eyes. I will be having regular smaller-scale preview shows at my studio at Utopia, and every season I will host an exhibition at the Arte Place gallery at the opera house. The show has just begun.
Tue-Fri, Mar 11 – Apr 1. Arte Place. See event listing.
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