Hollywood Press Corps - THE CREATIVE JOURNEY OF AVA ELEVEN (AVA 11)
Noted artist Ava Eleven manifests from her strong intuition and the emotional energy she feels all around her. She has an emotional sixth sense that is undefinable and guides her in a daily life.
She is an artist who follows her gut deriving concepts while creating based on personal and observed societal experiences. Her soul shows her the way to create without the conscience mind. The passion of portraying the EMOTION to the viewer is Ava’s addiction. Her acquired conceptual resources remain as an extracted personal experience.
The human body is her all time source of inspiration. This Godly creation cannot be replicated no matter how precise Artificial Intelligence attempts to mirror, yet society continues to strive to mimic human emotion, while erasing feeling. Her goal is to bring back feeling and emotion to the viewer. An attempt to preserve “feeling” again and combat the epidemic of a numb soul. It is a numb soul that personal and societal issues evolve. She will ‘flip a switch’ within her viewers so that they can feel again. An undeniable emotion that cannot be pushed beneath the surface. If we do not feel, we are no longer the true definition of ‘human’ but merely a mutated species incapable of living in the now. Her work is an attempt to pause the human emotional mutation. It is not simply a ‘face value’ creation, but soulful depth.
The method to which she revives these maddening emotions is a mixed media approach. She combine all forms of artistic rendering into one work. She pulls from my plethora of experiences with the primary being the female form and fashion. She creates a photograph, setting the scene for a real life capture to the smallest detail. She has no standard art academia rules in my creations, combining digital methods with raw historical pigments/mediums. She lives to break the mold and follow her heart. Ava has been formally trained with a M.F.A from The Savannah College of Art & Design, majoring in Fashion Design with a minor in Art History. While there, she was able to train with an elite group of professors and art industry icons. She has combined a true life’s experience in and outside of the art world to form Ava Eleven.
Q: Who Is Ava Eleven?
A: I am an extremely sensitive soul, with an empathetic core. I feel too much most of the time and use that energy and feeling to drive my creative process. I try to turn those emotions into a positive form of expression, releasing unwanted or overwhelming feelings. Trapped emotions equal a numb soul, I create to keep my soul vibrant and alive.
Q: Background and what inspired you to get into photography?
A: I am classically trained from a prestigious art school where I earned a full scholarship for both my BFA and MFA. I majored in Fashion Design with a minor in Art History but used full advantage of ALL media methods while doing my studies. I built my own brand and other successful brands as a student and intern for several major fashion company collaborations. I have a “jack of all trades” sort of approach that afforded me the means to pick up my camera again years later. It was the birth of my son that pushed me to use photography as a form of expression yet again. I felt as though my eye/vision had changed in ways I was not able to ‘see’ before. It was through the lens I could create quickly and effectively with the most efficient use of time.
Q: What inspires you?
A: Emotion and feeling. Even though my mantra is ‘feelings are not facts’, I use them as life ‘guides’. I believe that without feelings, there is nothing to be inspired by. No feeling, no inspiration. No inspiration, no life. No emotion, no guidance.
Q: I notice that your work has a lot of ethereal and angelic themes? How did that develop?
A: I feel that everything happens for a reason. People and circumstances come in and out of one’s life with a true intention- Self growth, life lessons, joy, pain, rationalization, pushing one to find their ultimate meaning in this life. It’s those everyday people who turn into ‘angels’ as they help one find themselves again- Find that missing piece to one’s life puzzle. My work is how I express the process I have grown through.
Q: What are your upcoming projects?
A: I am currently doing a series about a ‘numb, heartless, fame driven society’. I am planning to exhibit ‘NUMB’ at ArtBasel 2020. I’m always looking for collaborations with individuals and brands that can truly understand and “get” what my work is all about. As of now, I will continue to let my ‘gut’ guide me. It has no reason to lie and is never wrong.
Credit: Dustin Brown at http://hollywoodpresscorps.com/the-creative-journey-of-ava-eleven-ava-11/