Ieva Stafecka (artist name ''Nāra'') was born in the capital of Latvia, Riga. She started to draw at an early age and fell in love with colours and that childish joy still remains to this day. Later she went to drawing courses in LMA (Art Academy of Latvia) where she learned to draw academically properly but came to conclusion that photorealism just isn’t her thing, not because she couldn’t, but simply because it didn’t motivate her. She felt like her own grotesque style seizes more story, more character, just feels more lush and replete. She quickly got bored by colour restrictions and proper proportions, so went her own way. To keep it all in frames, she strives to perfectionate her works with clean lines, she doesn’t want them blurred and messy. Worth mentioning is that she used to work in animation film studio RIJA by films ‘’The Golden Horse’’ and ‘’Lote’’, she might have some subconscious influences, however, she never copied anybody deliberately, so if she's asked about her idols, she just doesn’t have any. It’s her own personal journey through the labyrinths of her emotional states. And the biggest inspiration is when emotions get out of control and she needs to deal with them by locking in art. That’s how she shakes it off. Of course, she doesn’t make art only for emotion’s sake, she's also relentlessly aspiring towards greater aesthetics and that urge for improvement never dies.
