Painting as Personal Exorcism - Deiilissa
Baring a resemblance to Modigliani and Gauguin, Deiilissa paints bodies and shapes moved by feelings and instincts.
Looking at one of Deiilissa’s canvases you’d guess they come from somebody living somewhere exotic and remote, where the ocean is deep and the colours are dusky. Although remote and sleepy, the North West Italy village of Savigliano, where the 24-year-old artist hails from, surely does not stem any of the feelings and traits evoked by Deiilissa’s paintings.
“Coming from a multi-cultural family background that includes Iran, Algeria, Southern Italy and even a small Pacific Ocean island, I use those colours I have been used to and surrounded by since a kid,” explains Elisa Sophia - this the artist’s birth name.
Without any academic background Deiilissa took up drawing and painting as an instinctive antidote to her moments of confusion, sorrow or anxiety.
Deiilissa’s dusky and tropical palette of browns, whites and greens transports to Pacific Ocean islands or on the Norther Africa coast.
“One night I couldn’t sleep, my body was in pain. Looking for some relief, I got out of bed, opened my desk’s drawer and took a pencil and a piece of paper out of it. After a few minutes, my hand started to impulsively move. What I noticed on the piece of paper was a body shape, incredibly similar to mine. The figure’s face was in pain, but it mirrored my feelings at the time,” reminisces Deiilissa. Wondering in her room like a sleepwalker, she grabbed some old make-up and “dipping my fingers in the box I painted that face. It was done, it was me, I could go to sleep.”
“What I noticed on the piece of paper was a body shape, incredibly similar to mine. The figure’s face was in pain, but it mirrored my feelings at the time.”
This very same approach to art as a necessity is what Elisa’s paintings are based upon, a form of aesthetic personal exorcism. “Painting, to me, is the most efficient and accurate way to express my feelings. It’s like a long psychoanalysis session, or like a hangover. I put so much intensity into it that once I’m done my body can hurt even for the whole of the following day,” explains the 24-year-old artist.
Deiilissa’s paintings focus on the artist’s own feelings to better convey them.
Although Klimt and Modigliani’s oblong shapes and Gauguin’s dark-browns palette to inspire Deillissa’s sense of aesthetics, her paintings hold a deeply personal and authentically fresh style.
The focus, though, is not on the details but on the “vibe, the overall shape and the feelings. As to say ‘Hey, I know you’”, jokes Deiilissa. Surrounded by tropical, Matisse-like plants is in fact the artist’s own body or face, smooth yet characterised by some sharp edges, to appear on the canvas.
“Niki Lauda’s perseverance inspires me to strive for a magnetic and spectacular artistic essence.”
However, music and pop culture play a key inspirational role too. “Jim Morrison’s poetry and primordial live performances draw me into a limb of sensations; Niki Lauda’s perseverance inspires me to strive for a magnetic and spectacular artistic essence; Jimmy Page’s Gibson guitar feeds my desire of liveliness to the point I wish I could constantly go back to that first time I listened to a Led Zeppelin record.”
Rooted in her local community, Deiilissa’s goal goes beyond arts and embraces the social sphere. “I’d like to set up a place where to meet, work and build a dialogue. I’d like to give a voice to those who haven’t one, as I’ve always been a part of my community but I don’t know how it feels to simultaneously belong to other worlds.”
Find Elisa Sophia’s works on Instagram @deiilissa