Wobby #33 – Extreme: ‘I really want to explore all the possible ways of creating in my work’
By Simone Vos
“My inspiration is the reflection of the world I’m living in. It’s a reflection of my life, sometimes it turns out well and sometimes not. I always work on different ideas at the same time. I paint every day, and every day is different. I like to surprise myself with new ways of working and projects”, states Laurent Impeduglia (BE). He is an illustrator and painter but doesn’t want to use these labels for his work too much. “I don’t want to become the product of my products.” Laurent, who created drawings and the cover for Wobby #33, told us about his work and why he makes his paintings and drawings.
“I want to create a parallel universe in my work, a reflection of my inner world. I use a lot of humor, so I can escape the heaviness of the world we are living in. I don’t want to be an artist of whom people know exactly what to expect. I’m trying to reinvent myself all the time and while keeping the content of my work sharp, I constantly change my way of working”, Laurent says. He lives in Liege in Belgium and besides his job as an illustrator and painter, he also is a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liege.
Spread by Laurent Impeduglia for Wobby #33
Inspiration
“I try to make work that people can read in several ways. It has to be accessible for everyone, playful but with depth. My work is the story of my life. It is a road full of bumps, from hell towards the light. I really want to explore all the possible ways of creating in my work”, he says. “I like to speak about a quest, to transform the raw stone into gold.”
“My inspiration comes from a lot of different things. For example, religion, mythology, politics, the economic system, alchemy, but my work is also influenced by the first times I fell in love with someone. Besides that, I really got inspired by video games from the eighties and nineties and the isometric perspective that I discovered. The way the graphics work in these games are great.”
“The way video games work, with a goal that you must achieve during your journey, that’s also the way I make my work. There is a climb, a goal at the end that you must achieve, and on the road, you find plenty of obstacles. The connection between the earth and the sky, like in a lot of video games, is also an inspiration for my work”, tells Laurent. “My inspiration is always there; it never leaves me. It’s like an addiction I can’t get rid of.”
Wobby #33 – Extreme is now available in our webshop.