Introducing 'Artist Interviews' a series of interviews with established artists on what keeps them going and what are some of the highs and lows of their careers.
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| Louise Blyton in her studio. |
Thank you Louise for agreeing to do this. Tell us a bit about your practice and you, the artist, that you are comfortable to share.
I’m a Melbourne based artist that works in handcrafted works occupying a space between painting and sculpture. I find significance in the ordinary and the ephemeral and focus mainly on the relationship between light, shadow and colour. I tend to look at my work as objects rather than painting/sculpture.
I am an alumnus of the Factory 49 Paris Residency, Paris, France, Point B Studio Residency, New York, NY, and Redgate Studio Residency, Beijing, China and have exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions around the world.
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| Installation images of When Afternoon Arrives, solo exhibition, Louise Blyton, currently on view at Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne. |
What keeps you Going? (Given that ongoing challenges, it seems, have affected the artworld over recent years.)
I think, ultimately, it’s curiosity. I still get excited by the simple act of making something and not quite knowing where it will lead. There are always those small moments in the studio when something unexpectedly works—or even when it doesn’t, but sends you off in a completely different direction. That keeps me coming back. Some days you're swinging on a star and the next you can be hit by a cul-de-sac!
The art world has certainly had its challenges in recent years, but I’ve never really made work because the circumstances around it were easy. I make because I have to, and because I genuinely enjoy it. There is something very satisfying about disappearing into the studio for days, solving a problem, moving things around, getting it wrong, starting again, and occasionally surprising myself.
My practice has become increasingly about looking closely at the things around me—light, shadows, circles, colour, the accidental beauty of something ordinary. I like the idea that a work can begin with something very small and simple and slowly become something else.
Perhaps what keeps me going is that sense of possibility. There is always another idea waiting around the corner, another thing I want to try. And as long as I’m still curious about what might happen if I put one thing next to another, I will always keep making.
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| Installation view of Mulooning, solo exhibition, Louise Blyton, Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne, 2025. |
What is a personal achievement for you that you would like to share?
I think one of my biggest achievements is simply that I’ve managed to keep making art for all these years. It sounds rather ordinary, but it isn’t. There have been plenty of moments when it would have been easier to stop, or to do something else, but somehow I’ve always found my way back to the studio.
There have been wonderful exhibitions, opportunities and moments of recognition along the way, of course, but the real high for me is having a life where I can wake up and think, I wonder what will happen if I try this? To still have that feeling after all these years feels like quite an achievement.
And perhaps even better than that is when a work leaves the studio and someone connects with it in a way I never expected. That is always a delight.
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| Pleasure and Toil, 2025, acrylic on linen, 42 x 50 x 10 cm. 4th Australian Biennale of Reductive Art (ABORA 4) Five Walls Gallery, 2025. |
There have been some lows. Probably the hardest have been the times when you put an enormous amount of yourself into an exhibition or a body of work, only to have it met with very little interest or response. It can be surprisingly brutal when something that feels so important to you simply doesn’t connect in the way you hoped.
There have also been disappointments, opportunities that disappeared, and the occasional feeling of being overlooked. I think every artist experiences some version of that, and it can be difficult not to take it personally.
But perhaps the worst part is the self-doubt that can creep in afterwards. You start wondering whether you’re doing the right thing at all. I've learnt that those moments pass, and that the best thing I can usually do is go back to the studio and make something.
In the end, the work has to matter to me first. Everything else is a bonus.
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| Installation view of All the Birds are Singing, solo exhibition, Louise Blyton, Joshua Liner Gallery , New York, 2019. |
Finally, how do you think the art world and/or the artists life could be improved? For example, many artists work multiple jobs, and an artist often has to wear many ‘hats’.
I’d love to see more people feel comfortable in the art world. Sometimes the language around art can make it feel complicated or as though you need to know something before you’re allowed to have an opinion. I don’t think you do.
Looking at art should be something everyone can enjoy. You can like something, dislike something, wonder about it, laugh at it or simply enjoy looking at it. I’d love to see more opportunities for people to engage with visual art without feeling intimidated by it.
I think the art world would be a much happier place if more of the general public felt that it belonged to them too. Art is made for looking at, thinking about and enjoying — and everyone should feel welcome to do that. Artist's love to share and it could be improved more if there was a larger audience in Australia.
Thank you Louise for being the first interviewee!
Louise and I co-curated the 6th international biennale of non objective art,
Que des femmes/Only women, Melbourne virtual satellite in 2021.
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