“Oh de Laval” is an interesting name, can you share the origin story behind it, and how your identity (name, style, mission) has evolved since you began creating?
There’s no secret meaning to my name. These are random words with which I wanted to create orginal name that will only be relatable to me and my paintings.
You’ve drawn inspiration from Renaissance masters to street culture, yet your style feels unmistakably your own. How do you honor your influences without losing your own artistic voice?
I think that the real struggle for every artist to be able to be inspired but not influenced enough to still be yourself, keeping yours imperfections and not copy. Although at the beginning it’s good to copy a lot of great paintings and then I believe your own style might emerge out of it.
Your paintings are unapologetically raw, often teetering between beauty and chaos. When you create, what emotional state drives you most—rage, tenderness, longing, rebellion—and how do you navigate that vulnerability on canvas?
All above,I’m very interested in human emotions and decision making, navigating these human vulnerabilities it’s easy as human myself I follow my path and hope that people will feel the same way too.
The figures in your work are often dreamlike, distorted, and erotic, yet strangely human. Are these characters extensions of yourself, avatars of societal critique, or something more elusive? What secrets do they hold that words couldn’t express?
Yes, most of my figures are me, often they are also puppets which I use in my paintings theatre to present issue, or social emotions which I want to present. Whatever secret the viewer has in mind. My paintings are quite illustrative so I usually do not like to tell their secrets, I like the viewers to confess to me what they see, it’s much more interesting.
Viewers often describe your art as both captivating and challenging. Do you aim to invite viewers into a space of emotional tension, and what personal questions or ideas are you exploring through that dialogue?
Yes, always I would like the viewer to feel something through my work, sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail. The personal questions are always their own, of course I always paint with some strong emotions in my mind I want to express, but I never want to discuss it and let the viewer have internal dialogue or question presented values in their own life.
Art can trap a fleeting feeling in a permanent frame. Do you see your paintings as attempts to preserve moments you fear will disappear, or are they more about embracing impermanence and letting go?
I would say both, each of my paintings is very different and yes I often try to preserve a moment of pleasure but at the same time, to remind the viewer that the moment that’s captured in painting, in real life will pass very fast and it’s great to appreciate it when it’s there not later when it’s gone.
Creation can be a lonely process. How do you balance the solitude required for deep artistic work with the public persona and Instagram-ready world your art now inhabits?
I would say I more jiggle it like a clown in circus than balance these things. I’m trying to minimise overstimulation of social media and phone as I find lots of comfort in painting and seeing the progress of work each day.
What have been some of the most significant creative or business challenges you’ve faced in your journey? Can you describe a moment where you felt you had to reinvent something—technique, material, message—and how that change transformed your work?
Not really, I’m trying to be quite consistent and I deal with any challenges as they come, then I try to forget about them. Obstacles are normal but I don’t let them influence my life as much as I can.
When you are not creating, what nourishes you, music you have on repeat, small routines that ground you, or activities and spaces that recharge your creative energy?
Walking, traveling, laughing with friends, sitting in cafe and observing, being with people makes me feel alive and happy.
Send a message to your future self.
I would prefer if future self could send me a message for current times. 😉
All images courtesy of Oh de Laval
