A Moment with Galina Monroe
As British/French artist Galina Munroe works from her beautiful light-filled studio space in France, we fell in love with her expression, her organic composition, simplistic color palette and minimalism all coming together to create these dreamy images. We recently asked Galina a few questions about her life as an artist, what she loves, how she creates and where she hopes this process takes her.
What do you feel is the best part about being a creative entrepreneur?
“I’m very aware of how lucky I am to be painting so much nowadays. I come from a working class family in the east midlands of the UK, and until last year worked in childcare and hospitality to keep myself afloat. I now work for myself and also as a studio assistant in France and absolutely cherish all of it. I am constantly stimulated, I set my targets and work pretty much seven days a week now that I live in the sticks! I had to give up on my fun east London life and pub nights but I wouldn’t move back now. Being a creative entrepreneur… I don’t know, but I’m giving it my all to stay afloat and most importantly keep enjoying what I’m doing.”
Do you notice any intuitive and repetitive qualities in your work? Do you often try to tie in any particular aspect to make everything cohesive?
“Painting has become a necessity for me, I loose days glueing bits of canvas down just to rip them off or paste more over because I’ve changed my mind, and this happens over and over until the canvas just won’t take anymore and answers have surfaced along the way. This is a running thread in my work. There are multiple paintings hidden under the surface, and I see handfuls of other possibilities even when I think I’ve finished. It’s hard for me to leave them be, but I’ve made peace with this and im allowing it to be one of the main drivers of my practice now. Acceptance of a failure is a real positive, it’s extremely stimulating. I have tried to reduce my accidents to be less wasteful, but I noticed that it changed the energy and urgency that I loved seeing on the final surface too much. I think the idea of being the only person who knows what’s underneath thrills me a bit too.. I moved from East London to south west France last year and the light down here still blows my mind. I use quite a bright colour palette that seems to be more and more in correlation to my environment. Colour fields and landscapes are amplified around here when the sun hits, it’s my main source of colour reference.”
How would you best describe your overall style?
“I’ve had a strong introvert gene built in to me, and since accepting this, I think my work looks happily inwards, it looks for abstract connections, spatial games and colour fields, which all interplay and act as communicative games to stimulate the individual and maybe slightly distract from the weight of emotional turmoils and societal pressures. I don’t sketch or plan work, I move quickly and look for an organic line or mark to begin a surface. This could be a paint smudge or a crease in a piece of canvas that I stuck on. Once I’ve found this ‘key’ it becomes an urgency to hold on to it. It’s like stumbling upon a hen tooth in a hay stack. You have to hold on, but softly not to break it.”
What are some things you would like to achieve in the next few years as an artist?
“The same excitement to paint. I know things will change and develop, but I want to keep the urgency. I want to keep the thrill intact. Everything else comes secondary to that feeling.”
