by Florence Pia G. Yu
Published: Gulf News, Friday
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
April 25, 2003
Pages 20 - 21
in an interview in Dubai, U.A.E.
PERSONAL NOTES
I can't live without.. light. It is the wonder of life.
The first thing I do when I wake up.. I listen to the silence.
The first time I picked up a brush.. I felt a great serenity.
The first leaf I collected.. gave me the feeling of being a part of nature. My favorite color: Purple
My mantra in life: Be aware of the other people's problems.
The most touching scene I've ever witnessed:
two birds kissing each other.
I see the world.. with some fears and hopes, too.
My idea of fun is.. laughing with people who really know how to laugh.
The simple things I am most thankful for: my children being with me.
I was 17, a fashion editor and on my first trip to India for an assignment for Vogue. The six-week expedition was called the Road to India, and the sights; the colors; the women in their saris were all so beautiful to me.
Years later, the moment is still as vivid in my mind as it was to me then.
What started it all? Well, there I was, sitting next to this long table where my son used to work on. In front of me is the window that offered a view to the garden springing with life outside the house. My son had just moved out to become an archaeologist. He used to spend hours and hours on this table, working and studying. Sitting there, I thought, now I must do something on this table. It can not remain empty. I got out all the flowers and leaves I've collected, and laid them on the table.
In the beginning there were only the flowers and leaves. No painting. I arranged them on pieces of paper--like most people have done. It didn't seem extremely interesting to me.
Then as if orchestrated by fate, I found this man selling incredible colors in a souk in Maracas. The idea of putting color in my artwork flared in my mind.
The Indian lady and her beautiful sari floated in my mind once again. The memory inspired me to produce this artwork: smatterings of lively blue bordered with whitish bougainvillea petals with a blush of pink at the base, with a line of the same petals running through the center of the frame. This was how her sari looked.
Then, five years ago, at 55, I began to paint.
My first painting was a tiny one. This famous woman in Paris came to have lunch with me and said, 'Oh, you must go on painting because it is so pretty! May I buy it?' In two days the painting was sold.
I began painting some more.
Colors attract me. The shades I use on my paintings are made from natural pigments that I've found in all the countries I've visited, mostly Arabian countries. I discovered these powders--shades of ochre, crimson, saffron, light turquoise, light purple and blue--in Syria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. I make these colors by mixing the powder with ink and sand for texture. I use big brushes when I paint. And when I mix all of these, I never know what it will become, and that is why it is beautiful. I don't have a pre-conceived image of what I am going to paint when I sit before my easel. It's not technical, it's more emotional. I let my feelings guide my brush. Then I put the plants in place. I just let it happen.
Since I was 17, I have been collecting petals and leaves whenever I travel--from the West to the Far East, since I was 17. I never knew then that one day I'd be using them to create my art. I'd slip them in between pages of books made of special Italian paper to dry them out but still retain their natural color. I never pick just one; I pick several. I always think one is prettier than the other. I even collected leaves from the very tree Buddha sat under when he received a revelation. I am also especially fond of orchids with their various, beautiful shapes.
I was always encouraged to express myself. When I was a child, my father--an art dealer in Paris--would ask my sister, brother and me what we thought of the interesting talent he had discovered. I'd say, 'No, I don't like that painter at all.' He'd ask, 'Well, why don't you like him?' and I'd reply, 'His colors are not very strong..' So he would go to that painter and say to him, 'You know, my daughter said your colors are not very strong. I think she's right. Perhaps you should think about that.' And we were just around ten years old!
I think my father understood how children see things very purely. We just talk from the heart.
I never took art lessons. I've never learned how to draw. If my child would tell me to draw a house now, it's going to look like a child's drawing. I did not learn how to draw, yet I can do these things. Art was just in me.
It has been very easy for me to be artistic because I was born in a family that appreciates art. My brother is now an architect, and my sister works in the fashion industry. Our mother was an architect, too, and Father was an art dealer, so we had paintings all over the house. In my room I had Picasso, Braque, Salvador Dali and the surrealists. All my youth, I was surrounded with great paintings. I didn't have to know how to paint. Just looking at them was the best lesson for me. It taught me association of color; knowing what will blend right; what will convey the right kind of emotion.
Painting has always enchanted me. It is never really work to me. I am now 60. In five years, I have made hundreds of paintings, and all of them are unique, never similar. I have sold them all. My work has been especially appreciated in Japan. The Japanese even published 40 pages of press on me.
My exhibits are always called Picture Poems. To me, painting is like telling a poem, but instead of the words, you have the painting. I have had several exhibits in New York and Paris. I am preparing for one in Tokyo.
My father coordinated a lot of important exhibitions during his time. My mother, who died of cancer when I was only 15, was the one who encouraged Father to make more and more exhibitions.
We lived in Montparnasse in Paris, where all the artists lived. My parents never asked me to take art lessons because for them it was more important to look; to feel; to look around. Perhaps they were wrong. Maybe if I had lessons I would've done other things. I think that children--if you could teach them at a very young age to take a pencil, a brush and color and let them do what they want--then they will become great painters.
I think it is very important in life to take a peek at what experiences can give you. And discover what it is that you are able to do.
Some people don't know what they like; they don't even know what they want. They just don't feel anything. They just think, 'Oh, I'm going to buy this because the next person is buying the same thing.' But life is not like this. You have to know what you want; what you like.
Having worked in the fashion industry gave me a lot of confidence. I was 17 when an editor from Vogue approached me. It had already been a year since we moved to New York, as Father thought we needed a change of atmosphere after Mother died, and I was helping him run a gallery.
Anyway, this editor knew my background, and she asked me to choose several fashion accessories. After I made my choices, she told me, 'You have a very good taste. How would you like to be one of my editors?'
So I became this young fashion editor who never even went to a higher school. For me life is a school in itself. Five years in Vogue taught me a lot of things. I organized pictorials down to the last details--from choosing the photographer down to choosing the clothing to feature. It was all very serious for a 17-year-old, but I learned how to be strict; how to be on time; how to be organized.
After working for Vogue, I worked for ELLE, Marie Claire and other such magazines. Fashion prepared me for life and made me proud of who I am.
My paintings communicate my personality. I feel proud when someone looks at my painting--not buy it necessarily--and it stirs an emotion in him or her.
I have seen how my paintings make people react. I paint not really to make money, but to feel that I can do things that please people. It's like an adventure. And that's why I like it.
Even at age 60, I always look for adventure. We should never fear that age would limit our possibilities. If you have the passion to do things then you'll never be wrong.
To succeed in life, it doesn't just take talent. You have to have the talent, and the perseverance. You have to really work on it.
I think each of us has the possibility to do things. If we listen to ourselves, and wait, we will realize that one day, we, too, can do beautiful things.