Loane Bobillier: The Art of Blending Cultures and Creativity
Having lived in the UK, Switzerland, China, and Singapore do you think these diverse cultures have influenced your artwork?
Definitely, a lot of my work is based primarily around who I am as an individual and where I come from. A lot of my work, especially whilst I was at university was about delving into the individual and the self. I started my life in Switzerland, then China when I was four and I was eight when I moved to Singapore so in these differing environments there are a lot of unique colours, people, environments, smells, food and more. All of that comes together and I want to present these different senses in a creative way. I use a lot of those colours in my own art. I surround myself with it in my home too, pieces from many different countries that remind me of where I have been. Recently with my new necklace designs I’ve been using gold leaf which is inspired by the gold you see often in Asia around temples, during Chinese New Year, Hong Baos and gold coins to celebrate wealth and prosperity. The use of gold leaf in my practice has definitely been taken from my heavy Asian influences.
What was the most surprising or challenging aspect of transitioning from university to working as a professional artist?
The most interesting and challenging aspect of the transition from University to working as a professional started when I was in my final year at Leeds Arts University. I started to think about jobs and what I was going to do once finishing my BA Fine Art course. I didn’t want to go back to Singapore. I wanted to stay in the UK and live with my boyfriend for the first time! So that meant there was a lot of pressure to find a job and sustain me for a bit. As any University student lost in their future career plans would do, I went to the career counsellor and asked her for advice. I was kind of surprised by her response because she told me that I should work at Sainsbury’s and do art on the side. It was a very odd response! Now though I kind of understand it, I’m currently working as a Project Coordinator, using my free time to create my artwork. Due to this, I’m no longer having art as the centre of my life and that is something I had for six years basically. Now it has become a hobby or side passion to those around me and it’s not the role I want art to play for me. Navigating my own artistic path in a world that wants you to be a hustler and get a high income, fast paced job doesn’t provide as many artistic opportunities as I had thought there would be coming out of University.
Speaking of university, how did you find Leeds Arts University?
I loved it! I came to Leeds during Covid and had never visited the country before due to the travel restrictions. So, I came with a blind idea of what it was going to be, I had googled on YouTube some run-throughs of Leeds to see if this was the place I wanted to go. I ended up having such a good time; Leeds Arts itself felt like a really vibrant arts community. Towards the end of the year when we all graduated, I felt like I knew everyone as there were a select few courses and the class groups were quite small compared to larger Universities. As Leeds Arts was specialised in Arts, all of the funding that I was putting into the University I felt that it was going towards the arts and bettering the University building and it was actually being used for the artistic courses. The best part, I thought, was the workshops! The possibilities were endless with workshops enabling the students to work with plastic, glass, wood, ceramics, casting and metal. The instructors would tell you methods upon methods. If you wanted to do something there was definitely a solution. There were a lot of opportunities as well, they promoted student-lead exhibitions, and constant encouragement to go out there and show your work. It was nice to be pushed that way, because if you want to be an artist but have no clue how you’re going to do it, the course gave us specific skills on how to pursue an artistic career. The one thing is there wasn’t a lot of contact with tutors, compared to what you would be used to in high school or Sixth Form. I didn’t really struggle with this too much, as I was used to the freedom that came with an art course and having to come up with your own ideas and develop them with slight guidance from the tutors, but some students would have appreciated more frequent contact.
When did you first start to think you were ‘making your mark’ with your art? Was it a specific piece or exhibition?
Making my mark for me is touching people’s feelings and emotions! Currently for me, getting people to see your work and appreciate it is hard as there is a lot of competition and so many great artists' artworks out there, so getting to touch people’s feelings and emotions can sometimes feel daunting and inaccessible. However, recently making my mark has been the Sunshine Gold necklaces I made, they are the first pieces of jewellery I have created. The way that I created artwork that can connect with a large audience was making a jewellery piece that is in line with my practice by creating a small sculpture that people can wear and have my artwork on them, wearing the sculpture for the public to see around their necks.
Loane’s Necklaces
The meaning behind the necklaces is to let your inner warmth and uniqueness shine. I think a lot of people in this society try to blend in and don’t show who they really are for fear of being judged. The necklaces are a reminder to appreciate your own person and who you are. (the gold leaf material shines in the sun)
How do you stay motivated to create especially during times when opportunities may feel scarce?
Everyone has their ups and downs, there are times where I am not making art because things in life come in between that. However, art has always been part of me and part of my life, it’s in my blood it’s who I am and what I love to do. I create art from the heart not based on opportunities or financial gain. If people like it, they like it but as long as I am constantly creating, I am happy. Because I love it, it doesn’t really feel like I am doing it for any other reason than that.
Can you discuss any specific obstacles you’ve encountered in your artistic career so far and how you have aimed to overcome them?
I think the biggest obstacle was when I left University, time became scarce, resources and opportunities were less, and I didn’t have workshops or a studio space. It becomes quite difficult when you’re working in your own house and don’t want to create that mess or ruin my wooden floor in a rented apartment for example. The transition from University was a challenge, but I had to continue my artistic practice. I had to make work that was cleaner, smaller and it made me rethink the way that I was working. The art that I did in University was based on creating pieces that were for exhibitions, they were conceptual and big sculptures. So, when I was rethinking, I thought about how I could make my work versatile, sellable, and accessible so that people would want to have it in their house. That’s why I recently started a few design collections. I made candle holders and wall art that people can purchase and have in their homes as a contemporary decoration whilst being a sculpture I created.
Your recent solo exhibition, “Squaring the Circle” (2023) delved into the concept of the impossible. What inspired this theme for you?
The square and the circle are very opposite shapes but at the same time they are very similar. If you look at them from one side, just like any 3D shape, the other side behind it is always hidden from the viewer. I wanted to combine both of them together in an ‘impossible’ kind of way and merge them to create a unified ambience. I started with the cube, I enjoyed that it was easy to put away and you can stack them around each other, again there is one face that is always hidden. Looking at that, I was focusing on individuality, because everyone’s individual experiences shape who they are. So, with the cube I decided to create ones with lots of different materials; metal welded, casting, wax. Therefore, even though they are all cubes they are all so different and I represented each person in the world as a little cube. We can all fit together, merge together and create beautiful communities of different cubes. This is something that the circle can’t really do, it came as a contrast to really bring out the neatness of the cube. Even though the sphere is different, I created artwork that combined both shapes, such as ‘Touch’ 2022 a bronze sphere enclosed in an acrylic cube. I enjoyed the contrast of the materiality whilst continuing to combine the differences of the square and the circle shape, merging them together to create the title ‘Squaring the Circle’.
What would you say to someone considering studying fine arts who wants to be a full-time artist?
I would say it is definitely hard work. I'm not there yet; I’m not a full-time artist. I’m trying my best, but it is hard work because you have got to find the right opportunities, a lot of it is good luck, good timing and the right connections. I would say even though it is difficult, if you have a dream to achieve something, we all need to really strongly believe in ourselves. For me, the reason I pursue art and aspire to be a full-time artist is because I love it. If I’m living in this world for such a small amount of time, I want to be doing something I enjoy. I know that in the end it will make me the happiest I could be on this Earth. It’s about choosing what hard work you do. (Do you do the hard that you enjoy and could make your dream or the other hard that you dislike?)
Finally looking ahead, do you have any projects or collaborations you’re excited about?
I have a photography collaboration that I am going to do with someone wanting to get into photography and videography. I will be sending some necklaces over and they will take some pictures of them. We were thinking of doing a shoot as well at some point. That’s quite fun working with someone else rather than using my own photos and having someone else’s opinion too! Having them reach out to me made me feel privileged that they wanted to work with me. As well as the constant, continuous stream of applications for exhibitions and galleries too, reloading my emails, wondering if anyone has responded. Hopefully sometime in May/June I will be going to Iceland or Denmark for two different exhibitions with Basement Arts Project so that’s pretty cool! We’re still finalising the details, just got to hope it all works out.
