Adela Andea shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Adela, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
I like renovating my house, which is also my studio. There are art supplies and projects everywhere.. I pick on projects that I can handle myself, and they sometimes plastering and painting the walls. It relaxes me to have all the walls super smooth and painted white. In my studio, the walls always get destroyed while working on my art. So, in between projects, I organize everything, and I like to make the place look pristine and ready for new beginnings.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am currently based in Houston, Texas, and renowned internationally for immersive light art installations that synthesize the natural world with technological infrastructure. I developed a unique visual language that transforms mass-produced electronics into bioluminescent, futuristic ecosystems.
My practice is grounded in creating immersive, futuristic ecosystems that blur the line between the organic and the technological, making this opportunity a professional milestone and an aesthetic alignment.
As a light installation artist and sculptor, I am inspired by the beauty of nature, science, environmental issues, and technological advances. I create large-scale immersive light installations using the latest technologies in the computer and light industry, mass-produced objects, 3D printing, laser technology, and a variety of other processes and materials.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
As I was growing up in the last communist years in Romania, I had a close connection with the old orthodox churches. The beautifully painted icons and frescoes were the only reason my grandmother was able to drag me to the church on Sundays. I remember staring at all the details of the paintings; some were more than 300 years old. I did not have artists in the family. Also, I found books that inspired me to draw and paint at a very early age. I was not even in first grade, and I did not know how to read or write, when I was trying to imitate artworks by Goya. These are the earliest memories I have about feeling powerful through being able to express myself through art.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Being around people, talking or writing about my art, is not natural to me, or at least it does not come easily. I have a reclusive personality; I work really well by myself in the studio and express myself through my visual elements in my art. So learning how to present myself to the world and how to give presentations and public speeches had to be learned over the years. I still prefer not to do it, and I pick and choose very carefully when to be public and social. It kind of disrupts my creative process and the good energy I build around myself in order to be a good artist. I think the creative brain is very different from the social brain.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
No, and I find the question very amusing. In the arts, there are aspects of yourself that need to show up, and the rest have to stay very private. Only very few close friends, over 30 years of friendship, know me and a lot about me. Also, my husband is part of the small group of friends that have been supporting the real me, in order to be able to create good art. The public persona is kind of like performance art. But I do appreciate it when I talk to fellow artists who may be authentic, or they just play the “authentic personality card” in public. Of course, there are norms and rules, but it depends on the circle in which you are invited to socialize.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
When I met artist Ultra Violet (Isabelle Collin Dufresne), a superstar in the Andy Warhol world, she was walking through the art fair in Houston, pointing to many artworks and kept saying “copy, copy, copy…” She was referring to a stylistic repetition of the 60s and 70s.. and so on. She stopped at my work and said, “Hmmm…. This is not a copy.” We spent more time after that talking and visiting Art Basel Miami, looking for ‘original art.”
So in her words, I hope my legacy will not be considered a “copy”. I strive to be original and different from everything I have done before, and from what other artists have done before.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.adelaandea.com/
- Instagram: andeaadela
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aandea
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@adelaandea2932
Image Credits
Adela Andea
