Aviva Leah - Portrait of an Artist

Our studio is located in Industry City, Brooklyn, in an old warehouse full of a diverse crowd of amazing artists, makers and support personnel. We've challenged ourselves with the goal of creating one portrait a day of someone from within this community. Aviva G. is a visual artist focusing on representational portraiture.  She draws from images in the natural world and medical illustrations to connect the psychology of peoples faces to what they're experiencing as physical beings.  Her amazing work can be seen here:   http://artimmersion.tumblr.com/

"I work from images of myself looking in the mirror or from photographs of myself or drawings of other people, as well as abstract images in my head.  I think that people feel very distant from their inside because it's not something we normally see or understand.  I think that one way for us to better understand what's going on within us is to look at nature and really appreciate the patterns and see how well things work in nature as  a system."

“The natural world is systematic and precise and that’s how we are on the inside.  It’s obvious to me that it’s a machine -- and we’re a machine within a machine.  It’s very fascinating.”

“Most people get swallowed up within the system, become invisible and don’t try to do anything artistic or to influence their environment at all.  I think it’s a source of depression for many people.”

Check out these other - Conversations with Artists.