She wishes to contribute to the creation of a healthy and sustainable future for our planet and all the human and nonhuman animals with whom we share it through artistic expression, free of racism, speciesism, and discrimination. One immediate goal is to put an end to the absurdity of some people killing animals and then using their carcasses as props in the name of art. She believes that an artist’s fate should not be entirely determined by the preferences of wealthy individuals who may fund their preferred artist with a golden ticket to gain access to a world of art or business when it materializes. As a result, all proceeds from her artworks go directly to grassroots sanctuaries and animal rights organizations.
How did you get into art?
I’ve been painting since I was a small child, and I’ve used it to express my thoughts and feelings for most of my life. Whenever I took a break from painting, I would become engrossed in books about the ancients and the evolution of words, language, symbols, and how we interact. This would always inspire me to create something new, and I would return to painting. I use music, imagination, and personal experiences to create an exact frequency that I hope will resonate with anyone on a similar wavelength. I’ve always wanted to make the world a better place for animals who are at the mercy of humans.
Anyone who has lost their sense of wonder should seek out a creative outlet because we are capable of creating anything! I often say that art is like a traffic sign, indicating which way to think. I always want my art to communicate beyond the limitations of language. If there is even a glimmer of hope left in anyone, I want to harness that energy so that we can reconnect with the world and try to change how human animals who don’t fit in with today’s standards, as well as all other non-human animals, are seen and mistreated by modern civilization.
Where do you find your inspiration?
Art seduces certain people and uses them as its instrument and because of this, the artist must dedicate their whole existence to it, so their works must complement their beliefs. This is why I must use my life to contribute to the creation of a better world for all living things. Music helps me get into the right mindset when I’m creating. But it’s my broken heart that affects me the most because farm animals are among the most abused creatures on the planet. Millions of pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, and other animals suffer in dark cages that echo with cries of terror and pain, places that stink of cruelty, hidden places of shame, and unspeakable horrors. I wish you were here, says the artist. When they see something beautiful, even if it is ugly, they want to share it with the people they care about.
I’d like to share these things with anyone who is open to receiving them. Just as art used to defend human dignity against powerful religions that demanded humility, I now defend animals against the power of inhumanity.
What topics are you interested in?
I am a painter who focuses on social and ethical issues. I am fascinated with ancient civilizations and believe we can learn a lot from their successes as well as their demise. It is heartbreaking that today’s youth know little or nothing about the Holocaust and the suffering of six million Jews in concentration camps. Perhaps we experienced other genocides, „recalling genocides“ in the world that did not stop even after unprecedented crimes against Jews in World War II, including genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, because we swept it under the rug.
Now we have the never-ending slaughter of animals, genocide – the Holocaust.
I believe that we can accomplish much more with art than we do now. Tragically, art has become so ineffective. Artists may simply be freer to see the world in their way, or braver to show how they saw it. Humans should have continued to evolve as great creatures on this planet, but instead, they are regressing.
How do you begin a new work of art?
I always begin with love and try to shine a light where it is absent. Words can’t explain raw emotions and that is what we have. When we receive the gift of love we often think we are undeserving of it but when we are expecting it, and even when we are receptive to it, we can go into a complete reverse and become nasty because of it. In literature, words are just a surface representation. A picture can convey far more information than a block of text. Even a seemingly simple monochrome photograph can be admired for days, years, or eternity. Chaos is the main ingredient in any work of art, and arranging it helps to bring order to the world.
What are your favorite techniques and mediums?
I’ve always considered the painter to be the master of all things because they can create them and then transfer them to the canvas! I mostly work with acrylic and oil paints, but I also use pastels and charcoal. Art is a mystery to the average person. Even some of my colleagues who studied with the same professors as me do not always understand art. How can we expect this from uneducated people? Yet, when they visit an exhibition and see a portrait, a naked woman, a landscape, or a dead animal, they still have the impression that they have seen „something.“
Let us not overestimate our emotions. Where we left our thoughts. And don’t forget about the eyes. Every fool has them. The eyes simply look. Finally, the head instructs the eyes on what to look for. The eyes are merely a tool. It also ferments within the mind and heart. But it takes something else; understanding contemporary art necessitates a wealth of knowledge, an open heart, and a wealth of experience.
What are you currently working on? Is there an exhibition planned?
I currently have a „Love and Freedom“ exhibition on Artsy, as well as an art exhibition with an auction for animal rights in Melbourne, Australia. I have no intention of appearing in any gallery or museum. My artistic goal is to create a world free of racism, speciesism, and animal discrimination. We are of a slightly higher order. And when we feel it, we grow as people. Art must be beautiful, good, and inspiring. It must be ethical to be beautiful; ethics and aesthetics are combined into a single word. The disgust I have over today’s Museum of Contemporary Art cannot be suppressed, to see dead animals presented as talented works of human expression is a foul and embarrassing statement to make in the name of art.
Lavinia de Rothschild – www.instagram.com/laviniaderothschild/
