Mircha Ivens is concerned with the very power of subjectivity and its influence on the spaces, objects or environments that we or others inhabit in these paintings. This observation leads to the peculiar and uneasy manifestations of the familiar to become an estranged and ominous presence that overflows into the everyday.
1) Which art movement do you consider most influential on your practice?
It is always difficult for an artist to pinpoint a specific source of influence. As the times in which we live in are so diversified and over saturated with art and poor concepts I chose to look back to the classics. They must have known something, something that we might have neglected and eventually got lost. I have been very inspired by artists of the likes of Goya, Caravaggio, Vermeer and Velasquez. I imagine the history of art as a huge table full of exotic and exquisite dishes that are there for us to savour for free. The avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century, the non-realist painters, Symbolists and Expressionists like Munch have deeply influenced the way I think about art. I would say that probably German-expressionism is the closest to me.
2) Where do you go and when to make your best art?
When I'm bored. Boredom is one of the most neglected but most powerful tools of the human mind! It's when the experience of reality is stripped of all the artifice, and it's only then that imagination is let free on the playground.
3) How do you describe your 'creative process'?
An interval between worlds.
4) Which artist, living or deceased, is the greatest inspiration to you?
There are so many people I look up to but I guess Goya is a painter that keeps haunting me maliciously.
5) If you weren't an artist, what would you do?
Run away with a circus.
6) What do you listen to for inspiration?
I listen to almost everything that sounds good to me. Most of the times I prefer aggressive music or abstract compositions, like early electronic music that doesn't have a clear notion of composition. I guess it depends on the day, but I usually listen to music that would add an extra experience to my understanding of that very moment. At times I prefer complete silence.
7) If you could own one artwork, and money was no object, which piece would you acquire?
Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez.
8) If your dream museum or collection owner came calling, which would it be?
I don't have such dreams.
9) What is your key piece of advice for artists embarking on a fine art or creative degree today?
It's only within you that you're going to find the true voice. No institution would lay down the mould needed for your temple.
10) What is your favourite book of all time (fiction or non-fiction)?
Anita Albus - The art of arts
11) If you could hang or place your artwork in one non-traditional art setting, where would that be?
Toilets.
12) What was the biggest lesson your university course or time studying taught you?
Stay true to yourself!
13) And finally, if we were to fast forward 10 years, where would we find you?
You will find me in the space behind the place where all the world is being spat out into new versions of itself.
