Part 1

Name: Mina Alikhani

Nationality: Iranian-American

Occupation: Multidisciplinary artist
Recommendations: I think I can't point to one piece of art, but I can point out a few ... I could point to this Salvador Dali Museum and Figueres and Spain. The Teatro De Dali I think that's what it's called. It's basically a theater that he turned into a Salvador Dali Museum in the town that he grew up in Spain – Figueres. If you want to know my vibe, that place is the shit that's floating around in my head, like that way of seeing the world.
And then beyond that, I think maybe ... no I can't pick one piece of music because that would lock me in. So I can't.

If you enjoyed this Mina Alikhani interview and would like to stay up to date with her work and recent exhibitions, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram.


Inherently Different, Beautifully Equal (c) Mina Alikhani

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?
    
I think the impulse to create and to create a body of work, it's hard for me to describe where that comes from, I think that is something a bit above me. You know, whatever God, we want to say we believe in - we call it God, the universe, divine source - I don't know, it comes from some greater impulse.

But I am influenced by world events and injustices, and information and truths that are suppressed. I can understand where that impulse comes from, to express those truths. I think that coming from somewhat of a repressed upbringing, and seeing so many things being swept under the rug culturally around me, and people just being forced to not acknowledge the truth or bury the truth or look away from things that are hard to look at - I just have a sense of rebellion against that.

I want to shine a light on things that nobody wants to look at, because they're important to look at, because there are people suffering at the hands of these things and this mentality.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Yeah, I spend a lot of time visualizing. That's how an artwork is formed.

For me, stage one is just visualizing and usually ideas come to me. And then I'll kind of sit for quite some time alone, and stare at a canvas or just stare into nowhere. And usually what happens next is I have the foundational outline. From what I've been visualizing, I'll put it onto the canvas, right on paper. And then sometimes that's where it begins and ends, right?

But there are also times where that initial idea in my mind, once I've gotten that down onto paper or canvas, sometimes something feels like it’s missing. There's elements to it, where I'm like, it's not complete. And I'll know that. And then I'll have to sit back again and stare at it, and think about it and think about it, and think about what elements would make it hold for me.

So it's a little bit of the same thing, just in two parts.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

It's certainly helpful to have my shit together and laid out. It's nice when I have a fresh palette, and I have my blank canvas set up and out. But that's not always how it goes. And if it's not all laid out in front of me, that doesn't inhibit my process. I'll figure it out.

Usually my work starts with just freehand painting. I rarely complete a finalized sketch, I kind of sketch the idea out lightly on the canvas. Sometimes I'll sketch it out beforehand, if I'm like, really tired in bed, but in order to create, I try not to have too many prerequisites for what needs to be laid out to move forward, because I just feel like that, becomes an excuse or a crutch down the line for why I couldn't do something. It's like, if you feel the call to do it, just do it.

Of course, ideally, I would have everything clean and ready. But that's not always how it goes.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

No. Absolutely not. Again, like, back to the other thing. I just feel like, "I need the wind to be blowing at this degree in order to feel like" - no - I don't do rituals. I don't do that. Sometimes if I'm not inspired, I don't do it. But I'm rarely not.

Sure, there'll always be an ideal scenario where I take the time to light the palo santo and do this and that, but that's just not realistic. And I always feel inspired. So I don't try to do that. Rituals feel like hurdles for me. If it's like a ritual to get in the mood to create, it's like, no, just create.

And ultimately, I think what's 100% needed is good lighting. And if I can see where my workstation is, I'm good to go.

What do you start with? And, to quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with an idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

I discover the idea. And I think that's just a part of who I am ... I don't even know if it's about who I am - but it's something that has to do with my learning curve. What I've learned is if I'm too married to the final product in my head before it's even out, it can create limitations, or it can create hesitancy. And I think, for me, I work best when I'm not hesitating.

So I keep it as like a “Aha, I've got it!” I've discovered the idea. Now let's see how it plays out.

How do you take decisions on what materials to work with? What relationship is there between the process, the work, and the materials?

I chose oil painting as my primary medium because there's something about the motion of the material - the fluidity without the immediate drying - it's forgiving. And it gives me time, in my opinion, (I don't know how other people work with it) and I like that because it takes so long to dry. And because of the thickness …

I kind of break some of the rules of oil painting, I kind of do some of the things you're not supposed to do. But they make me feel good when I'm working, and it brings the best out of me. It just works for me. So I like the relationship of how oil painting feels. It just unlocks a lot for me creatively, mentally, it keeps me engaged in fluid motion.

I also do sketches and I really like the relationship between my creative process and that material: I can do that anywhere, I can do that mid-conversation with somebody with a pen, or I mean, with a pencil on any kind of paper. It can happen on a plane on a train, wherever. So I love the freedom to create anytime, anywhere.

Now with sculptured woodwork, what I like about this, and what I'm exploring is taking what I've painted, and bringing it into real life. I've been finding that some of my figures are kind of confronting in a cool, weird, eerie way, because they don't have facial features. And bringing them into the 3d space is very interesting for me. I like doing that and like seeing them live. There's just something that opens up the imagination even more when you start thinking about that.

You talked about going against the rules of oil painting, what are the specific rules for oil painting that you break?

Something I see a lot of people do with oil painting is, "Oh, it's not supposed to have clean lines. And it's supposed to be messy or unfinished or open," or creating almost a 2-D feeling with oil, which is typically used in a way that creates more of just like … I don't know - I didn't go to art school, right? And I feel great about that because it's created an opportunity for me to have my own unique journey and experience.

I blend on the canvas in real-time. That's one way that people kind of poopoo my process, like, "Oh, you're supposed to mix all of your colors on your palette, and then apply them to where they're supposed to go" and I'm just kinda like, "Yeah, but I kind of like doing it on the painting in real time sometimes".

These are just little things that I was aware of when I first got  started, and it was so limiting to think that I had to do everything the way everyone else had done it, in order for it to be right, when my instinct was to kind of do things in a little bit of a different fashion.

Many artists have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the process are out of their hands. Do you keep a strict control? Or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

There is a following things where they lead me and sometimes that leads me to the wrong decision that looks terrible. And that's okay, because the impulse to explore where it's going is ultimately the right thing to do even if you make a few bad decisions along the way. It's that curiosity so I kind of let it go.

I'm like, "oh shit, should this be an entirely different background now?" And then I'll have to follow it when really, maybe it was probably better before. But, I'll spend a day and a half doing that, to find out that it wasn't right, and that it was fine the way it was before. And then I have to go back and do it again.

Through that experience, I learn which is why let myself follow down the rabbit hole.

When alternative roads open themselves to you during the creative process, how do you deal with that? Do you flow with it? Or do you take that idea, put it on the side or write it down for later?

If I'm in mid-process, I'll try it out. I'll explore it, I’ll run with it. And if I'm doing something else, and I keep thinking about the painting and I gotta go to it, I'll write it down, and I'll let it circulate for a minute before I try it out. But usually I'll try out what pops into my head. And if it looks terrible, I'll wipe it off, let it dry and fix it the next day.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

I think it's very, it varies, right? I won't sit here and be like, “Oh, it's all I'm just channeling from the Divine.” That's crazy. Sometimes I'm channeling purely from ego. And from my own personal experience - the filter of my mind's eye - how life and how things pass through my own perspective. Sometimes it's heavy on that. And then sometimes it's heavy on, “I just had to”.

In a general sense, I don't know why. I mean, there are a lot of people who come from a similar upbringing like I did. I think I'm unique-ish, but not so unique that no one's had my life. They don't have the impulses and instincts that I do for certain things. So where I think things are divine is the impulse to create a certain type of work, and channeling is my style and the ways that I express it.

I can confidently say that it's a bit out of my hands, because I didn't go to school, no one showed me how to do it. I didn't grow up with a rich background in the arts and a family that takes their kid to museums, no, we were a broke immigrant family. I'm a second generation immigrant. There was no heavy art culture in my upbringing.

So I know that what comes out instinctively, for me, is divine. But some of the messaging is filtered through my personal perspective and ego and the things that really affect and impact - that shit hits me.