I’m Luca, a London based visual artist working with painting and mixed media through movement and somatics. I make large scale paintings and site specific installations. My practices range from fine art to textile art and performance. I was always curious of the merge between different disciplines and mediums in connection to the human body. I explore intuitive mark making, action painting and large scale mixed media through introspective themes. Originally from Budapest, Hungary, I lived and practiced in many countries around the world, from Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Australia and the UK, each influencing and shaping the evolution of my art. I graduated with an MA in Textiles from UAL (2019), and a BA in Fashion Design from VIA University College, Denmark, 2017. I'm currently living and working in London as a Visual Artist as well as a Textile Artist for film.

@luca.levai

Process

After priming large pieces of often reclaimed textiles and canvases, my practice always starts with movement studies, inhabiting and exploring the canvas as a space, as a fertile ground. I do a lot of full body mark making, exploring the intersection of emotions and the space my body inhabits. Then I work with a lot of layering of different mediums, often pouring paint, and then adding back graphics on top after each layer is dried, creating a very rich visual universe. I almost always cut up all my finished pieces and ensemble them in new ways, layer them up, so they are essentially large scale painting collages.

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Influences

Although I’m a very visual person, I actually don't look at much visual art. What really moves me is crossovers to other disciplines especially to performance and live music. I also love to read a peculiar selection of books, whether that be poetry, a random book on seashells from a second hand bookstore, or some more proper reads on philosophy and anthropology. Sometimes just a combination of a couple of words open up an entire new chapter in my work visually. It's fascinating. I always used travel as a massive source of inspiration, and just living life, being present, watching people, really noticing. Noticing everything. When we know how to see and listen, everything is a teacher.

Challenges

I can't really operate without a studio, and sometimes especially in the London climate that can be difficult to keep up. But I am grateful for every space I get to create in, it is a very special thing to have, a type of church. I also find it's important to keep the state of play alive in our practice. Life can get a bit too serious sometimes, and it is a real superpower to push through and keep bringing the out of the box silliness, that's the whole point. We are here to pick up all the layers of the world that are overlooked and forgotten, and bring it to light in a new way.

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Reflection

I'm working on a large immersive piece at the moment which will take a lot of time and effort, but possibly the most excitement as well. My practice is very much leaning more and more into community and collaboration based projects, and very excited to embark on projects this upcoming year that focuses on co-creation. I’m also excited to continue facilitating my somatic visual art workshops around London called Moving Marks (@movingmarks). I encourage everyone to cultivate a relationship with journaling, writing or visual. Some sort of a reflective practice, on the go, or as a ritual. It deepens your ability to ask questions, and to get into the habit of making note of your ponderings and what you notice each day.