Interview by Jimon

1- Where did you grow up and where do you currently reside and work?  I grew up on Long Island in the town of Babylon. Currently I reside in the Hudson Valley, and my studio is in Tuxedo Park, NY.

2- How would you describe Heidi Lanino?  Creative, passionate, intuitive, open to possibilities.

3- Do you remember the first piece of art you created? How old where you?  I remember being in Germany with my sister when I was 8, we were visiting family and could not speak the language, so we made a bunch of paper dolls together; very elaborate with fancy clothes and personalities, we used them to play, and to connect to our family through art making a theatrical experience.

4- You are a multidisciplinary artist – do you have a favorite?  I have always been drawn to materials and the texture of things. I approach most of my work through drawing, whether it be on paper, canvas, clay, wood or metal. The different mediums allow me to express the feeling I want to portray rather than the representation of it and how form looks in movement.

5- If you had access to a working time machine what period would you choose to live in?  I am an abstract expressionist action painter at heart, so I would say the 1950’s.

6- Is there any reality behind the characters in your paintings or are they purely fantasy?  Yes, but more of an embodiment of a feeling. My work focuses on the body as space and movement, both emotional and physical, the vulnerability of the unknown and a visual expression of it. Throughout my work, the female body is a vessel, a vehicle and a reflection of our times. How we fold and unfold and begin again. This rebirth of self and material is the process that I am drawn to using and reusing simple materials to mend, repair, and reconstruct a new composition.

7- How do you describe success as an artist?  Endless ideas and direction and the time to work on these concepts. Finding your voice and allowing yourself to discover, make mistakes and discover again. Allowing the last piece to lead to the next.

8- Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not stop looking at?  The first painting that made the strongest impression on me was Rosa Bonheurs “Horse Fair” at the Metropolitan Museum of art which I first saw when I was 9 years old. The powerful beauty, strength and movement mesmerized me.

9- What advice would you give putative collectors?  Buy something you love and want to live with.

10- What is your biggest achievement so far as an artist?  My solo show “Folded Females” at the Flatiron Prow Art Space, a series of works on paper, canvas, metal, clay and wood. The Flatiron was my father’s favorite buildings in Manhattan, and he spoke of it often, so it was very special to show there.

11- Best advice you ever received in regard to your career as an artist?  To develop your own process, welcome creative thought, and be open to vulnerability.

12- Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  My inspiration comes from life, and my passions and interests. They manifest in my artwork and change over time as I evolve.

13- If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, Sam Shepard, and Lee Krasner if Louise is not available. Not sure how they’d all get along, so maybe one-on-one would be better.

14- Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Aside from all my art supplies: music, books and my upholstered chair.

15- How would someone find you on social media?  Instagram @heidilanino