Inside the Studio

Lou Ros

What is your medium?
I usually paint but I’ve tried a lot of different approaches.

What themes do you pursue?
I worked on really different themes. I just like when there is a second view to a subject and when everything is not seen the first time.

How many years as an artist?
Well I’ve been making a living off of my work for 3 years but I started to paint 11 years ago. I started as a graffiti writer.

Where is your studio?
For the moment I really like how my studio is in my flat, this allows me to quickly work when I have an idea or something that I want to revise. The inconvenience is that I don’t really know how to separate my living time from my work time…

Process> Concept or Process<Concept
I do two both and I guess they both have qualities. I’m really open minded on this point.

Why do you make art?
I started to paint because I was bored. So I will admit that at first it was a good exercise for my brain ! And it still is…

Art school or self-taught?
Never been to an art school, I can see benefits but I think it’s better to have your own way when you do your own work. I can’t imagine reproducing the same art as a master and suddenly claiming it becomes my own work… But this is just my point of view and I can imagine that it could be interesting to continue the work of someone else.

Tattoos?
No. I own a tattoo machine because I think I will do it by myself if one day when I have found what I really want. I think a tattoo should be thought about for a very long time before it is inked.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Clearly with music.

iTunes, spotify, records?
Spotify !

Succulents or cigarettes?
I don’t smoke so it will be without a doubt succulents.

Where can we find you outside the studio?
I guess in my living room or in my bed. But I also like to see my friends studios. I guess in a friend’s place. Also not far from the sea/lake/river for fishing.

Who are your favorite writers?
I really like Nikolai Gogol.

If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
I really don’t know. Maybe a psychoanalyst or a fisherman.

Day job?
I sleep during the day, to be ready for a long night of fighting with my paintings.

Food or sleep?
Sleep.

Greatest achievement?
At first I wasn’t able to finish, or to find my own work finished. So I guess my best achievement was when I finally understood that you can have your own definition of “finished”.

Would you rather be able to make a living as an artist now or become famous after you die?
The best answer might be to become famous after my death. But for the moment my only wish is to be able to continue to work/paint/create without doing anything else.

Would you rather see your art on a t-shirt or on a billboard?
Clearly not on a t shirt but with pleasure on a billboard, only the image without anything else of course.

Would you ever figure model naked?
I would be able to paint myself naked but I wouldn’t do it for someone else. At least for now!

Religion or pop culture?
Pop culture.

Traditional or conceptual?
I think conceptual with traditional techniques can give us good surprises. So both of them.

What do you collect?
I do collect old and recent cameras. I use my own photos for the major part of my paintings. Obviously not for the series about the dating website and from the movie Come And See but all the other ones.

Favorite contemporary artist?
Hard to choose, I’ll  choose a painter and say Adrian Ghenie.

A piece of art you love?
I tried to choose one but I’m not able to make a choice. I really like when there are different interpretation in a piece of art. Or something that has a lot of work done to it but can still be taken with lightness.

Which living or dead artist would you most like to meet?
I would love to have a quick talk with Marcel Duchamp, just to see in person how he was.

Use anything other than paint?
Yes I do use everything I find great, it can be a colored pencil for children or some pigments. I first imagine the thing in my head and then try to find what could be the best tool to do it as close as possible. Sometimes I have good surprise, sometime it just doesn’t work !

Oil or acrylic?
Because I’m impatient, I usually start with Acrylic and I finish with oil but I think this thing can easily evolve depending of my requirements.

Figurative or abstract?
Figurative most of time, just because I feel closer of this way.

Is painting dead?
Haha, some people would like to bury it as soon as possible, but it’s clearly not dead. I see so many good and creative painters today that I think it’s really going on.

Favorite brush?
Yes but I don’t know the word to describe it, I’m just able to know if I don’t like it or if it’s fine. You know I work with the worst paintings ever, you can buy some similar one on you supermarket.

Palette knifes?
Yes sometimes, but not only with knifes. Just for some effects.

What do you wear while you paint?
I always wear the same clothes, I call it my disguise. Some old pants and a sweatshirt. But don’t worry, I wash them. Sometimes.

Painting Inside or Outside?
I used to paint outside for graffiti and I liked it a lot when it was on abandoned spaces. But now I know the best for my work is to work inside and alone, because I’m not afraid that someones sees a painting I failed or just an evolution that I dislike of my painting.