| To be in the company of the artist, Loveariel, preparation is a must. First, you should start by keeping a vampire’s hours. Loveariel peaks creatively when most of her peers who share the Surry Hills studio have packed up and left for the evening. Second, you should read up on matters of the occult, the supernatural, and any texts regarding the 2012 prophecies. Without much coaxing, Loveariel is happy to launch into a deep and meaningful discussion about her spiritual connections. “It’s a story; it’s religion,” she says. “But by 2012 there’s going to be an extra planet. All of the planets in the solar system are going to align to create a cosmic shift, evolution, big bang, or maybe nothing at all. The government tries to hide it all, but once you really study these things, it all makes sense.” Loveariel’s beliefs do more than fuel her insatiable curiosity; they inform her body of work. |  |
Alana Armstrong
Loveariel, Tiah with Stigmata, 2007. Acrylic, charcoal on canvas, spot resin, 6 feet. Courtesy of the artist.
To be in the company of the artist, Loveariel, preparation is a must. First, you should start by keeping a vampire’s hours. Loveariel peaks creatively when most of her peers who share the Surry Hills studio have packed up and left for the evening. Second, you should read up on matters of the occult, the supernatural, and any texts regarding the 2012 prophecies. Without much coaxing, Loveariel is happy to launch into a deep and meaningful discussion about her spiritual connections. “It’s a story; it’s religion,” she says. “But by 2012 there’s going to be an extra planet. All of the planets in the solar system are going to align to create a cosmic shift, evolution, big bang, or maybe nothing at all. The government tries to hide it all, but once you really study these things, it all makes sense.”
Loveariel’s beliefs do more than fuel her insatiable curiosity; they inform her body of work. She turns out paintings at fever speed but with the careful craftsmanship of an artist beyond her years. As the topic turns to her recent work, she pulls out three six-foot portraits of girls with gleaming, milky skin, and large, engaging eyes. Each one oozes fluorescent and iridescent liquid from their nose, mouth, and hands, hence her reference to the Goo series. One of them, Tiah with Stigmata, is a rather dark depiction of Loveariel’s muse, Tiah Eckhardt, oozing purple substance from wounds in her palms, which are raised above her head in a languid, sultry pose. Loveariel has been following Eckhardt’s career in modeling and burlesque for a while before she “infiltrated her life,” as she puts it. “I was still struggling with myself, constantly shape-shifting and had dyed my hair red to get close to Tiah. There was such a romantic vibe to finally find a model I really connected with…. All the women I was painting when I started to do the Goo [series] were all embodying some sort of pain, but they emitted a serenity and strength that hid their struggle.”
Another of the trio, entitled Rose, is a waiflike, charcoal humanoid enveloped in iridescent tones of pink and gold. Rose has a stream of goo flowing over her bottom lip, into her hands and down, beyond the canvas edge. Her eyes have a luminous, vacant stare, void of pupils, and a glowing halo encircles the unworldly being’s white, blond hair. “This latest one,” says Loveariel staring across at Rose, “when I look at it, I see myself. But I also recognize my mother in it, too. But she is most definitely an Anunnaki.” The Anunnaki refer to a group of Sumerian and Akkadian deities, believed to consist of both extraterrestrial and earthly entities. It is a creation story that Loveariel invests in, using its related symbols throughout her work.
Loveariel had an uncertain start to her artistic practice. A lifelong illness came to a head several years ago while ending a relationship with her fiancé. “I realized that every time I got sick and relapsed, it was because I felt like I was failing,” she said. “I had some help from someone I was speaking to at the time, someone I respect quite a lot but who, by societal standards, was schizophrenic, and he told me about the 2012 prophecies. It immediately set off a fire in my head. I was having a physical and spiritual reaction to it, and it all clicked…. Since then, I’ve met the most amazing people, made friends with those I had admired, and love is all around me.”
