Not Just Another Pretty Picture
Christina Livadiotis
Born and raised in the Tuscan countryside, Serena Ras now resides in New York City. I caught up with Ras after she had returned from stints in Italy and Amsterdam, and just before she left for Brazil. Trying to contact Serena is like trying to swat a fly with a bobby pin. This virtual impossibility is a testament to Serena’s dedication to her work. She’s not just creating a "pretty picture," Serena scoffed in her charming Northen Italian accent, but using art as a social and political catalyst in her effort to better the world. Yes, Serena has dreads and uses the two-fingered universal sign for peace on the homepage of her website. But she is far from your ordinary hippie. Her paintings are loud and vivacious and her message is brave and unrelenting.
Christina Livadiotis: As you are a self-taught artist, where have you found points and people of influence?
Serena Ras: My father has been one of my biggest influences. He is a painter himself and I grew up watching him paint, learning basic techniques, particularly watercolor. He would draw mostly Tuscan country houses and landscapes. I didn’t want to go to art school because I never wanted painting, what I love doing, to become homework, something that I dread.
CL: How do you go from watercolors of Tuscan landscapes to paintings of anti-war politics?
SR: New York during 2001, the wars that followed… I was sensitive to all that. To be honest, I don’t really like politics, but I feel very strongly about some things–race discrimination and other social issues.
CL: Other works seem quite whimsical, quite a contrast to the political ones.
SR: That’s what I am hoping comes through with the paintings. Certain colors that wouldn’t necessarily go together, I mix them up. I’m trying to use alternative things, not just brush, but also pieces of wood or cardboard. Also, I like to use natural colors and earthy tones, because I feel it’s really important not to loose touch with nature.
CL: Which is undoubtedly difficult here in New York. How has this move from Tuscany to New York effected your work?
SR: My art has become more intense. Stuff comes out that you haven’t even thought about before–anxieties, fears. These are emotions that you see and experience everyday, on the train, on the street. Let’s just say, I have never done a watercolor after leaving Italy.
CL: What medium are you using right now?
SR: For now I really like acrylic. It’s really bright and very fast. I work really fast, mixing colors on canvas, so I need something very liquid. I also like it because it’s not such a fine paint. If you’re in a sketchy neighborhood, they use spray paint. They don’t use or have oil paint. Acrylic is more base, down at the bottom.
CL: Do your paintings follow a blueprint in your head, or are they more organic?
SR: It depends on the type of painting. For the paintings that are more philosophical and abstract, I start with one color first. Then I find myself in a trance. I don’t think about it before hand. With the ones that are more political, a graphic idea pops into my mind–yes, I guess you can say like a blueprint.
CL: I noticed a theme of contrasting lightness and darkness in your work. Does this symbolize or allude to anything?
SR: Yes. Paintings that have black borders symbolize negativity. The middle and the majority of the painting is light, and then the darkness, even though it is only occupying the borders, seems to cover it all. My older paintings, which were more positive, were covered in white to symbolizing something being washed out by humans. This sounds negative but really it’s positive in the sense that we have the ability to delete everything and start a new beginning.
CL: Is this newfound negativity a consequence of living in New York?
SR: Yes and no. New York has prompted more negativity but also more meaning and more ideas. Just more reality. Surprisingly, happiness came out. I began using a lot more yellow, and creating graffiti type things, fun things.
CL: How do you feel when you walk away from a work?
SR: Passion. Passionate. I am passionate about art and I am passionate about this city. I want to say something, to send a message. I don’t just want to paint a pretty picture. Well, sure I want it to be pretty, but… you know what I mean.
