This piece was written during my MA Arts and Lifestyle Journalism - University of the Arts London.
Where do artists seek inspiration during a pandemic? “Crossing internal boundaries is as important as physical boundaries”
Unknown cultures, unfamiliar habits, interesting smells and inspiring encounters are vital impulses to many creators. How do artists deal with being locked inside the four walls of their studio most of the time - and more importantly, how do they stimulate themselves to keep on creating? Painter Christian Quin Newell, born in Italy but works and lives in Peckham, is one of those confronted with this challenge.
Christian Quin Newell (29) recalls how pencils and brushes were the tools he’d naturally navigate towards as a child to express himself. His family kept on stimulating his curiosity and organically painting became a way to clear his mind. “However it wasn't until the age of 18 that I decided I wanted to turn painting into my profession. I had no idea what ‘an artist’ actually meant, but I was intrigued in so many different ways that I’d study the biggest examples and their style. First René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, then other surrealists and later on different colour theories. As I shifted the meaning of painting from something that had always felt natural into my future career, I started to over-analyse it. I approached painting as if it were an exact science. In a way it differentiated me from other painters as I have a broad knowledge and I am willing to experiment within the field, but it also blocked me. I lacked imagination.”
Imagination
Later on, Christian implemented the technical skills he had acquired into his style without letting them outweigh his inner creativity and imagination. “Last year, I travelled to Italy, the country where I was born. I associate particular feelings with that place as, in the process of becoming a painter, certain people were quite judgemental. It was the very first time that I painted there. The work that I made was fresh and new. It embodied a new period in my life. However, it wasn’t really about the physical borders I crossed whilst travelling to Italy, but more so about internal ones. Overcoming something I have been suppressing for a long time and being able to implement it in my work felt so liberating.”
“I think that, in terms of seeking inspiration elsewhere, the state of mind is just as important as the destination. A trip from your house to the park can be more inspiring than a country reached after a 12-hour flight - as long as your intentions right. One has to be, but most importantly feel, free. From there on it is just a matter of going with the flow.”
Meditation retreat
“Personally, my emotions and state of being are directly aligned with the work I make. When I am upset, it clearly shows in the shape of my work. I was aware of inner-work being a determining practice for artists, but as the pandemic forced me to navigate with my work so intensely, I had no other choice but to practice mindfulness.”
“I think that the pandemic, for me and many other artists, was similar to a year-long meditation retreat. As we spent most of our time alone, we were obligated to face certain things about ourselves. Things we normally avoid by fleeing elsewhere. An artist's work is a mirror of what is going on inside their head. Once certain internal borders are overpowered, impulses found after crossing physical ones will feel even more inspiring.”
Christian is represented by Public Gallery in Shoreditch, London.
Picture: The Boy on the white horse (2020), 16 x 15 cm, Gouache & acquarelle on primed hemp paper.