Reka
Ritt Laklia

I received doctorate of law and political sciences in Budapest, Hungary, worked as a barrister and studied children psychology before moving to London in 2011. I have completed Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Camberwell College of Arts in 2013, and BA (Hons) Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2016 with distinction. Since 2016 I have worked as a full-time visual artist based in London. My works are exhibited in the UK and internationally since 2013 and I completed several corporate commissions. I had two solo shows in London and have works in corporate and private collections in the UK, Hungary, Germany, Russia, UAE and Italy. 

My primary mediums are painting and VR short film embedded in interactive installations. Through these modes, I have been exploring ideas from modern consciousness research, transpersonal psychology, Eastern spiritual practices and mystical shamanic traditions.

Currently, I use copper as the base for my paintings. I apply a special chemical process to create random cellular patterns on the copper surface. After this initial phase, the patterns guide me through the interaction of adding colour, covering the metal with translucent enamel. Whilst interacting with these patterns, sometimes following them, sometimes altering them with the paint, a rhythm of surrender and control is created assembling the cellular mess into a complex but coherent system, an organic image which receives meaning during the process. It resembles a shamanic ceremony, where every action and every coincidence is considered symbolic.

Hence the process of painting became a quest to find remedies for fractures and injuries that exist on all levels of human experience, private or social, and, in a symbolic manner, to perform corrections. It is a process of discovering those patterns which run across the layers of reflection, as they show up in the initial process of creation, enabling curative corrections and adjustments that treat the artwork as a voodoo doll.