RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS WITH ~ ANA BENAROYA BY PABLO G. VILLAZAN

Hey guys! This week in “Rapid Fire Questions”, Our good friend Pablo G. Villazan interviews New Jersey based artist, Ana Benaroya. We the League love Ana’s work for her bold wild dominant sexual female characters that truly bless canvases and of course our eyes.

So, Ready! Set! Gooooooo!

Who is Ana Benaroya?

An artist who was born in NYC, raised in NJ. I have a quiet exterior but a loud and wild imagination.

Did you always want to be an artist?

I did, I'm lucky in that way.

Where does your inspiration come from?

My interior emotional life, human connection, intimacy. But also popular culture, art history, comics, advertisements.

Which artists have the greatest influence on your work?

At the moment, Robert Colescott, Dana Schutz, Carroll Dunham, Tom of Finland, and Matisse.

What is your process to create your work?

An image usually pops into my head and I make a quick or detailed sketch. Then I translate that into a painting. Aside from doing a sketch, most of my paintings are quite intuitive.

Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?

A window.

What is the meaning behind your artwork?

Wow haha this is a hard question to distill into a short answer. I guess I think a lot about the bodies we are trapped in and how desperate we all are for deep and meaningful emotional connections. So most of my work deals with this. I use my wild imagination to create scenarios where I can escape my body and my life and live out certain things vicariously through my paintings.

Imagine that your paintings could talk, what would they say about you?

I think our love for each other is mutual.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Chill out because you can't rush certain things. And life is unpredictable...no matter how hard you try to control it.

Do you find the social channel’s influence Positive or Negative?

I would say they are equally positive and negative.

Describe how social channels affect you as an artist.

I think they open up my world in terms of sources of influence and also have introduced me to other artists who I now consider friends. It's a central part of my growth as an artist and I'm very grateful for it.

What is your dream project?

Retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I am 69