Art in Conversation
with Lali Torma
ABOUT THE ARTIST
My artistic practice started as a part-time, self-taught balancing act during my life in Canada. The first experiments with color and movement were influenced by the North American Abstract Expressionists (Jackson Pollok, Jean-Paul Riopelle) and came from a quest for color and free expression and a thirst for unseen forms and patterns. By 2014, art took a primary place in my life when I moved to Berlin and added new dimensions to my experimentations: post-Painterly Abstraction, Conceptual Art, Op Art, Minimalism and a continued interest for Asian Art (Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, Mark Rothko, Sol le Witt, Yayoi Kusama, Hiroshi Sugimoto and many others). Originally a purely acrylic painter, I have discovered other forms of expression in installations, objects, digital drawing and, in the last years, calligraphic ink drawing.
LALI TORMA
Visual Artist | Canada
Artist Statement
Results may have varied over time, but my process is the same: firstly, I choose the color according to my feelings and, then, a starting point. The final and most important act is to let everything flow freely allowing for accidents, but most importantly, for the surprise, the novelty, and discovery of the “unseen” within the self. The movements are simple, looking for primitive impulses so as to dissolve the complexity, restrictiveness, and ambiguity of language and figurative representation, a transcendental quest away from intellectualism. The surfaces generated are representations of a subconscious full of imagery, exposed to a multitude of patterns in my everyday environment, but mostly in nature where they thrive freely. These patterns of energy in movement become live membranes remodeled by my emotions and inner thoughts.
EDUCATION
2010 – Corso professionale per l'applicazione di resine per pavimenti e rivestimenti – Resin Application Professional Course - Teknai - Milano, Italy
2009 – McGill University – Master of Business Administration – Montreal, Canada
2001 – John Molson School of Business – Bachelor of Business Administration – Montreal, Canada
1993 – Philology and History High School – European Bachelor Degree – Modern Languages – Onesti, Romania
EXHIBITIONS, PROJECTS & PUBLICATIONS
2019 – “Forma - Figur - Exemplar” – Weartberlin Gallery - Berlin Art Week - group show
2019 – Weartberlin Gallery - Hamburg Art Fair – Group Show – Hamburg, Germany
2019 – In collection at Art and Design Foundation
2018 – “All over the Map” – artist group Janzen/Ságy/Torma – within NO (B)ORDERS – Group Show – Netzwerk freier Projekträume und -initiativen – Senate of Berlin - Berlin, Germany
2018 – The Woven Tale Press magazine – site review - international
2017 – Weartberlin Gallery - Köln Liste – Art Fair – Group Show – Köln, Germany
2017 – “Darker” – Monti Café – Solo Show – Berlin, Germany
2017 – Professional Artist Magazine - cover of February/March 2017 issue – “Prism 4 - Open Heart Furnace” - International
2016 – Weartberlin Gallery - Hamburg Art Fair – Group Show – Hamburg, Germany
2016 – “Anima Lamina” - ECC Weißensee - Artist Collective –– Solo Show – Berlin, Germany
2016 – “Prisms – Selection” - Monti Café – Solo Show – Berlin, Germany
2016 – “Borders of Canada” - ECC Weißensee - Artist Collective – Solo Show - Berlin - Germany
2015-2016 – Humboldt University – Humboldt Innovation Department – Artist in Residence – Berlin, Germany
2015 – “Time Series” - Berliner Liste art fair – Solo Show – Berlin, Germany
2015 – “Digital Series” - ECC Weißensee - Artist Collective - within Group Show – Open Studios – Berlin, Germany
2015 – “Prisms” - ECC Weißensee – Artist Collective – Solo Show - Berlin, Germany
2014 – “Ist Pantomime eine Sprache?” - a C. Mach project (ESF, CQ and “Projekt Archiv e.V art collaboration) - Video and Photography – Berlin, Germany
2013 –Thomson Reuters – Multiple Client Events – Photography - Paris - France
2009 – McGill University – Desautels Faculty of Management - MBA Lounge – Group Show – Montreal, Canada
2004 – “Women in Spring” - Romanian Consulate – Group Show - Montreal – Canada