Interview: La Paranoia

First the basic introduction – can you tell who are you, what are you doing, where are you coming from?

My name is Laura, and I am a visual artist from beautiful Costa Rica, I live in Barcelona since 6 years ago. I am a videographer/photographer,/designer always doing things with my hands like painting, drawing, cutting, pasting, cooking, anything that riches a little creativity and things like this.

So, why collages? How did you start to do them? What initially attracted you to collage?

There are a lot of techniques I love to practice, such as watercolor, linocut and many more. Collage is one of them it is a therapeutic way to say all I’m not able to say with words(I’m really shy when it comes speaking). The cutting part is something I find very pleasant, and the way I can play with textures and materials is one of the things I like the most. I see collages everywhere I go, everywhere I look. if you close your eyes a little bit and look around everything is a collage, haha.

“I found super powerful the idea of simplifying something so big as feelings or thoughts into small pieces of images.”

How would you describe your style? And how quickly you found your ”style”?

Definitively minimalist, but also surreal. Minimalism is an idea that I always try to apply in my life: less is more. I found super powerful the idea of simplifying something so big as feelings or thoughts into small pieces of images. It didn’t take me that long to find my own “style”, but definitively a lot of work, I did a lot of collages before I understood what I really like, so you can say it was the practice that made me find my “style”.

What’s the best part of the collaging process?

The cutting part is very relaxing for me, but, when I have all the pieces I need, I really like composing the collage and so I can find the visual pleasure I’m looking for, so that is the best part I think. Of course besides the final artwork.

And then, what’s the hardest part?

Since my artworks are minimalist, for me, that’s the hardest part of the process of creating a new piece. It is always hard to simplify as much as possible. But the final result is always satisfying for me, so It worth it.

What are your favorite source materials? How do you find them and do you spend much time while looking for them?

My favorite source material is my big collection of dried flowers (I always have a notebook on my purse where I put the flowers I like to dry). It does take me a lot of time to find pieces I like because I’m always thinking about the composition, which is an important factor in all of my artworks.

Do you work on multiple pieces at the same time or simply focus on one?

I don’t work on multiple pieces at the same time because when I create a piece is because I have something specific on my mind. For me is like closing a cycle, so I like to close them one by one.

What’s your favorite work? And why? What makes it stand out?

It is difficult to choose only one since every single one of them represents something I’m feeling or living in that moment, they all mean a lot to me, they all are a piece of me.

What/who are your biggest influences as an artist?

Everyday feelings. As a woman everyday living as fighting and surviving against the patriarchal and misogynistic society we live in. Also my moods, the simple things, my thoughts/beliefs, definitely a lot of female creators and empowered women in general, of course, the conservation of the environment and its beauty, and the list continues… All this influence directly my artworks.