Asia Popinska is both a photographer and a painter. Her photo work takes a romantic look at some of the quiet and maybe lonely parts of our world. Discarded and left alone objects, quiet natural spaces really seem to communicate with her lens. The paintings are colorful and more abstracted. Allowing a more personal look at the artist and her outlook.
Both photographs and paintings of Popinska’s will be on view beginning in June at the Brookwood Café in Hamilton.
What are you communicating with your art?
Art is a vessel of some sort, and I’m sure it’s an expression used widely. I think of it more as a shared experience open to interpretation. I don’t necessarily have an agenda. I create for the sake of creating. From an early age I was a very visual person who was fascinated by colors, shapes, patterns, scents and sounds created by nature. It never ceases to amaze me. Art to me is a visual language that doesn’t have boundaries like spoken language has.
Are you primarily a photographer or a painter?
Although I started with the camera, I now devote my time to photos and painting equally. After 10 years of doing photography, isolation during the pandemic gave me a chance to explore other media, and so I picked up painting and tried to capture the same effects that my photos shared, but on a canvas. Today I spend my time either working on my photos or painting, but typically not both simultaneously. I choose a project (photo or painting), work it to completion, and move on to the next exciting thing.
When did you begin making art, and have you had formal training?
I started taking photos when I was nine. My dad was a passionate photographer and gave me my first analog camera at that age. It was a hobby we shared until I got married, and circumstances kept me too busy to even consider picking up the camera again. 20 years and one divorce later, I bought a high quality camera as a gift to myself right when I turned 42. I never had any formal training, and I’ve learned my way through trial and error.
Your paintings show that you create your own emotional world. Where does it come from?
My emotional world is based on my love of the ocean. I lived by the Baltic Sea and was influenced by Jacques Cousteau documentaries and my dad’s love of scuba diving, which he shared with me and my brother. Many of my paintings and photos have some element of water in them, and it’s because of the nostalgic feeling painting water gives me that I continue to include it in my works. To me, it is like playing with my memories. Even when I don’t paint water, the colors I use put me in that nostalgic head space.
When did you learn the painting style that you are working in now?
It’s been only 3 years since I started painting, and my style has changed only marginally in that time. I love texture in paintings, so I am currently trying different media, but have settled on acrylic for the time being. I’m experimenting with different ways of blending the colors together, and figured out soft makeup brushes are great for blending acrylic together. I would love to paint with oils, but my small condominium has little ventilation and I don’t have a method of fighting off the fumes yet.
With your photography, what subject matter interests you the most?
Definitely abstract art created by nature! Rust is one of my favorite things to take photos of. How the old and discarded can be beautiful when it breaks down. I go to junkyards looking for colors and patterns. The deep orange of rust, peeling bright blue paint mixed with the verdurous green of plants that take over and show resilience without easy access to soil is something magical to me.
What fight/struggle do you have regarding your art?
I’ve struggled with a chronic illness since I was a child, and I don’t have access to the best medical care. Most days, pain and exhaustion beyond normal wear and tear leaves me completely depleted. Having a physical day job doesn’t help. My illness leaves me with little energy to either create or promote my work, and I try to make the very best of good days to be as productive as possible before I crash again.
What one attribute should all artists have?
It’s a difficult question, because I’m thinking of so many. But if I were to choose just one it would be a deep love and passion for their specific craft.
What is the most difficult about being an artist?
For me it is the limitations of my body. I would love to have more energy to be able to create more art. Each artist probably has their own unique struggle when it comes to their work, and it’s hard to pinpoint one that’s more prevalent than the others. If I could choose two difficulties that many artists I’ve encountered share, they would be the time to create and the resources to promote their work.
What is on the horizon?
I’m excited to be a part of a group show next year and I’m working on a new set of paintings that I want to show there. I usually post my art once it is completed, but I’d like to leave this new collection as a surprise until then. I am also working simultaneously on a new rust and water compilation. My website is also in the process of a major makeover, so great things are on the way!
Artist Asia Popinska with one of her paintings.,
