We recently connected with Leemour Pelli and have shared our conversation below.

Leemour, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I knew that I wanted to pursue the arts and live the life of an artist in my early teens. It started first with an interest in writing and poetry, and then developed into the visual arts. I was enamored with Art from a very young age, and I did become an artist, but by a very circuitous path. Art was part of me, and my soul was drawn to it. It was a place to channel my emotions and experiences. In order to pursue my art – I even traveled to other countries to study art which was also a very difficult thing.

I was accepted to the School of Visual Arts in New York at the age of 18, but at the time I wanted to be abroad in another Country, and was rejected by the Art School in the other Country. Despite the latter, I persevered, and continued to make art on my own – and later on went to both the School of Visual Arts – (where I received my B.F.A.), and to the other art school that rejected me at the age of 18. Even though I faced various hardships I persevered.

Leemour, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My interest in art manifested itself at a very young age. My mother always tells the story how my kindergarten teacher approached her with my drawings one day, and said to her, “what do you notice about these drawings?” and when my mother could not find the answer the teacher was looking for – the teacher told her that it was quite unusual for such a young child to render the human figure the way that I did. She indicated that I had given such precise attention to details such as nails, fingers, fingernails, hair, eye lashes, etc in contrast to most of the kids who basically rendered more typical “stick-figures.”
So – I was enamored with Art from a very young age, and I did become an artist, but it was not an easy path for me.

Today – I work in the media of Painting, Sculpture, installations, works on paper, photography, and prints.

In my work I focus on human inter-relationships and states of being. I use poetic, anatomical, and medical imagery as an extension of the figure/body to convey human experiences. By incorporating the latter elements into the work, the paintings often become like x-rays of life, or x-rays of figures or certain situations. This appears in the form of multiple or single figures in heightened states of emotion, state of solitude, creativity, or love and connection. The figures are often merging into one another, and being affected by one another. At times the figures appear with enlarged and out of control hearts, overlapping lungs, and other anatomical organs as an expression of one’s inner realities and dramas. The depths of the human heart and soul are explored within personal and universal struggles and realities. The works are conceived in layers of paint that build up and at the same time disintegrate as an expression of the ambiguous, fragile and temporal nature of humankind.

I am most proud of having two solo exhibitions with Annina Nosei at her eponymous Gallery in Chelsea, and a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Part of my creative and artistic journey/life is to delve into complex experiences and interrelationships in contemporary existence, and to find a language to express them in pictorial form. It is a quest to look deeply inside one’s self, others, and the human condition, and to possibly change or effect the ways one perceives things. The depth of the human heart, within personal and universal struggles and realities is pursued in my work.

I find that I am inspired to make art that has multiple meanings, that is poetic, and medical at times, that can make you laugh or cry, that makes your guts turn, and art that has an effect on your soul and heart, that is like music. . .

I strive to explore the human figure or landscape in an anatomical, medical, and poetic way – almost like an x-ray, as a place of memory, interaction, and transformation, all through the power of time. If my heart has penetrated one’s heart and soul in some way or has made someone feel something or think about something, or more aware and sensitive to something then I have done something of worth.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Being an artist and living the life of an artist is not an easy path to undertake. So for an artist, to me, it has to be “a matter of life or death” so to speak – something that you are so impassioned with, that you must do it no matter if you get recognition or not. It is a constant struggle, both to constantly be in a “creative mode,” – and to realize that there will be times where you may not be exhibiting, or may not have a gallery, or may not get the recognition that you deserve – though you may invest all of your life in it/Art. So to be an artist you really have to want to just make art – no matter what.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.leemourpelli.com
• Instagram: @artistcreator15
• Facebook: facebook/leemour pelli
• Linkedin: Leemour Pelli
• Twitter: twitter.com/@artistcreator

Image Credits
Courtesy of the Artist and the Leemour Pelli Studio and Archive