Artist Spotlight: Slosi

Slosi is a London based Romanian artist who graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA and MA in Fine Art. Her work mainly consists of beautiful, large scale wooden sculptures in vibrant colours. ‘An emblematic quality is embodied in her pieces. Through their dense folkloric and mythical symbolism, they act both as heavily sedimented heraldic devices and, in total opposition, as empty ceremonial vessels, amulets ready to introject the viewer’s belief system.’

We spoke to Slosi to find out more about her work and what inspires her. You can view more of Slosi’s work on her website.

Can you tell me a little about yourself and you work?

I am a Romanian artist based in London and a Central Saint Martins Fine Art graduate. My main body of work consists of large scale wooden sculptures and illustrations, occasionally branching out into the realm of performance and video art. My practice is a constantly evolving exploration of fetishism, ideology and culture, and the idea that these constructs might have emerged from an incapability of grasping the potential formlesness of life.

What inspires you? Do you have any influences?

My creative drive comes from a wish of ‘returning home’, to our pure undamaged essence. I think for me the inspiration comes, or better said gets revealed, after creating something. My work is usually a combination of intuition and intention and I always understand better what inspired it after it is completed. Ideas that are always present behind it are concepts such as self-alienation, apperception, survival, the subconscious and the unconscious. Nevertheless, if I could name some influences those would be Surrealism, folklore, primitive art, rituals and ritualistic objects.

How does your work reflect your lived experience?

Over the years, the weight that my lived experience holds in my practice became more and more evident to me. Even though I wasn’t aware of it, I used to be very scared of being vulnerable in my art practice. Now, I believe there is a strong symbiosis between my work and the way I experience life, and that is reflected in my work not only per se, due to the subjects I approach in it, but more so by the fact that the creative process is very cathartic for me. In so doing, areas of my life where I need help, soothing or coping are reflected in the work, and automatically become the subject of the work itself.

What do you wish for your viewers to take from your work?

I would love for my pieces to represent a safe space where the viewer can soften and surrender. I think there is a strong emblematic quality embodied in my pieces as they are dense with folkloric and mythical symbolism. My wish is for them to function and act both as heavily sedimented heraldic devices, and, in total opposition, as empty ceremonial vessels, as amulets ready to introject the viewer’s belief system.

What is your process?

My process depends on the medium that I am using. It usually involves sketching and drawing or designing a final piece, making stencils and hand cutting wood or MDF, painting the shapes and assembling all the cuts together. At the same time, part of the process is creating rituals that allow me to hear and trust my intuition, but also to learn how to unravel my subconscious and unconscious mind, as they hold a lot of precious information.

How did you develop your style?

I think that happened by embracing the urge to use different mediums and experiment with different ways of expression. By not sticking to one thing, I learnt what are the ways that, on one hand, I enjoy the most, but on the other hand, that allow me to best express myself visually. Simultaneously, something that helped me develop a cohesive style was doing a lot of introspection, writing and researching.

What’s next for you?

For the future, I hope to find ways and platforms through which I can share my work with people, but also to collaborate with others, as I find that very fruitful, inspiring and fulfilling. I’m also planning to explore more and experiment with performance art, video and even music.

Any advice for artists starting out on their creative journey?

Be mindful if you are using the idea of ‘perfectionism’ as a cover up for self-sabotage.

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