‘Artists can help us to not only pause but also encourage us to see the world from a unique perspective.'
Anne-Marie Zanetti is an Australian artist, based in Brisbane. Through her painting she explores the emotional landscape of the human spirit, and interprets beauty through her figurative work and still life compositions.
Where is your current studio? What would be your dream studio? When I first started painting my children were young and I painted in the middle of our house amongst the activities of family life. Less productive but very necessary! A renovation on the house 8 years ago included the addition of an extra bedroom
that ultimately has become my studio. It is a beautiful room with wonderful light and I love having my studio in my house. As we are now empty nesters and my practice 'outgrows' my studio I have been able to take over another bedroom in the house. I often consider what my dream studio would be and my first thought is always - large! I'd love to be able to stand right back when observing my work, to have lots of pieces on the go at once without having to continually shuffle them out of the way, a space big enough to cater for a massive rustic, timber workbench as the centerpiece, with lots of shelves and storage for displaying my work and other acquired inspirations. Of course I imagine other aspects as well such as great lighting (both natural and artificial), glass doors leading to a garden, a lovely comfy corner for contemplation and relaxing Do you prefer to work in silence or does certain music inspire you?
Like a lot of artists, I have a strong critical inner voice that needs to be distracted while I work. My solutions range from playing music, to listening to podcasts or audiobooks or having the tv on in the background. The audio books seem to work very well - I usually listen to crime/mystery and I suppose this preoccupies the analytical/critical part of my brain so that I can utilise the playful, imaginative side.
Describe a moment you had an epiphany concerning your creative life.
One particular interaction has stayed with me and immediately changed how I felt about my work. I had just opened my first gallery exhibition and they called me to say there was a young woman who would like to meet me if I was available right then. I jumped in the car, more than happy to meet someone who had shown interest in my work. Upon entering the gallery I saw the woman looking at one of my stylised, young girl paintings and I realised she was crying. She told me that the painting had touched such a deep place in her that she couldn't control the tears. She had wanted to meet me to help understand how my work had caused such a visceral reaction. As we spoke we realised we had experienced similar circumstances in life giving us a shared understanding and grief. She expressed her gratitude for the emotional healing she experienced from the work. Through this encounter I began to understand my work is not just about me and my love of painting - I think as artists we will never really know how much someone else may need our artistic expression in their lives.
Is there something you regard as essential to your preparation or process?
I have found my creativity and my personality require me to feel unimpeded by exterior expectations on my time. Basically if I feel overwhelmed with life and it's business my art suffers tremendously so I try to keep my life as structured and predictable as possible. Of course this is not always easy when I also want to be a sensitive wife, mother, grandmother etc etc!
Detail a moment which was the highlight for you, thus far. As I delved more deeply into portraiture work I decided to spend time honing my skills and trying to build some recognition in this area. I started my practice later in life, at forty, and feel I am always trying to 'catch up'. After a few years of concentrated effort in this area I was accepted into a couple of portraiture competitions but when I received an email in 2018 saying I had been selected as a finalist in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize I was really ecstatic! I realised I was probably experiencing one of the high points of my career. What do you hope to convey through your work?
Whilst my aim is to produce highly, realistic paintings with a beautiful aesthetic my hope is that viewers will experience a sense of intimacy, presence and connection with my work.
Who would you identify as your historical and contemporary influences?
Masters from the past include Vermeer, Caravagio and Rembrandt. Current artist include Mary Jane Ansell, Michael Zavros, Teresa Elliott, Joel Rae, Michael Gaskell, Kit King, David Kassan to name a few. I’m constantly in awe and inspired by the quality and breadth of artistic expression to be found on social media. How do you see your work developing in the future? My approach to my art is very organic and has progressively developed as I experience and discover new, exciting and stimulating options. At the moment I am really drawn to artists who have a very loose style to their brushwork and feel I will eventually try this style once I have achieved my goal of becoming very adept with detailed work.
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