The self-taught artist, who only picked up a brush three years ago after a career in fashion, describes her obsession with painting as ‘low-key masochism’
Infused with the ominous glow of neon and the cotton candy sunsets of LA, Amanda Wall’s paintings of the female body – often presented as prone and exposed – are at once glamorous and darkly erotic. Just to clarify though, “If you’re thinking I have a foot fetish, I don’t,” she tells Dazed. “I just like the vulnerability of these body parts, the physical parts that you know the least about yourself.”
The Oregon-born artist has lived in Los Angeles for ten years, attracted to the dark promise of a city of palm trees built on a faultline. “It’s all apocalyptic to me,” she says. “And I’m very attracted to that feeling of the edge of destruction. Last night there was an earthquake.”
Despite showing an early talent for art, Wall only turned to the practice of painting three years ago after an interlude studying architecture and working as a model, stylist, art director, and brand developer. At a convergence of various crises in her life, she “casually” began teaching herself to paint and the influence of the time she spent honing her taste in the realms of fashion and design is clearly visible in her ultra-stylish artwork.
When pushed to define the unique aesthetic of her work, she describes herself as a “pseudo-surreal-new-romantique-figurative painter”. Her distinct colour palette is characterised by the shock of lurid colours in contrast to the soft, flesh tones of tender bare feet or exposed thighs. “I like colours that are overwhelming and a bit annoying, or combinations that feel wrong,” she says. “Pepto Bismol pink is huge for me. It’s actually the first colour that I can remember dreaming about, age five. Actually, it was a nightmare.”
Above, take a look through a selection of Amanda Wall’s sensual paintings while, below, we talk to the artist about her daily creative rituals, her artistic process, and how she found her way to painting.
Could you tell us about your background and your journey to becoming an artist?
Amanda Wall: I was born in Oregon and grew up in a very small, rural, redneck sort of town, low-low-middle class. I was always considered the artist in school because I could draw, and a lot of my childhood was spent alone in my room making things. I won all of the art scholarships but no one ever really told me that I could seriously be an artist when I grew up.
I went to college in Seattle for interior architecture and design, so I could get a ‘real job’ and was modelling at the same time to pay for it. I was easily sucked into the fashion world because of, well, the fun and the incredible day rates, and I love style. So, I was a stylist for a while, a casting director, an art director, a creative director, and I created brand identities for various brands.
I started casually teaching myself how to paint around three years ago. My mother was diagnosed with cancer and I was coming out of a long term relationship and living alone for the first time. I had a lot of emotional stuff that I didn’t know how to deal with, so painting found its way back to me, something that I could escape into. It’s really over the past year that I’ve taken it super seriously and now it’s an obsession. It’s the only thing that I like to do that truly challenges me; low-key masochism.
If you had to introduce someone to your work, how would you describe your aesthetic and any recurring themes?
Amanda Wall: I usually try to avoid telling people what I do, or at least try to stay away from anything too definitive. But, if I had to give a general aesthetic vibe, I might say I’m a pseudo-surreal-new-romantique-figurative painter addressing existential qualms of being trapped in a body and alive. A less-wordy major theme is the conflict of self.
I’m really intrigued by your process. How do you create that really distinctive effect?
Amanda Wall: I taught myself how to paint so the process thing has been a real process. I never know quite what they’re going to look like until they’re finished. I have a basic direction of subject and emotion that I aim toward but really it’s all up in the air.
I always start with some element of a personal photograph – maybe more than one – and it all sort of develops together on the canvas, an extension of non-fiction. My paintings are very layered and change a lot through the process, adding and taking away, looking for tension and balance as one mark informs the next. I like colours that are overwhelming and a bit annoying, or combinations that feel wrong. Pepto Bismol pink is huge for me. It’s actually the first colour that I can remember dreaming about, age five. Actually, it was a nightmare.
“There are definitely fetishistic elements to my work. It’s an aesthetic I really love that speaks to the limits of intimacy” – Amanda Wall
How important is Los Angeles as a source of inspiration?
Amanda Wall: This is my tenth year in Los Angeles so I’m not sure that I can separate the idea of the city from the idea of my life in terms of inspiration. I live and work in the most non-LA part of LA – the Arts District, which is very warehouse/industrial, in the blocks between the trendy part and Skid Row. There are no palm trees and I rarely make it to the beach more than once a year.
It’s the darker elements of the city that are more aligned with my representation and style – the isolation, the feeling of attainable fantasies. It’s all apocalyptic to me, and I’m very attracted to that feeling of the edge of destruction. Last night there was an earthquake. And, okay, maybe the sunsets inspire me too, all pink, red, and blue.
I feel like your paintings contain so many intriguing allusions to other areas of popular culture – cinema, fashion, pornography, the internet etcetera. Does this ring true for you? If so, what cultural references do you think are embedded in your work?
Amanda Wall: I’m a big film person, I love Bergman, Fassbinder, and Kubrick. I’m definitely a style freak too and also a major music snob so, yeah, all that’s in there somewhere.
Porn I’m not so sure, though I pretty much only watch lesbian porn and I pretty much only paint women, so there’s probably something to that.
Could you tell us a bit more about the eroticism in your paintings?
Amanda Wall: I guess by eroticism you’re referring to my paintings with nudity – all those feet and asses! There are definitely fetishistic elements to my work. It’s an aesthetic I really love that speaks to the limits of intimacy. If you’re thinking I have a foot fetish, I don’t. I just like the vulnerability of these body parts, the physical parts that you know the least about yourself. It’s all much more about vulnerability and control than it is directly about sex.
What excites you at the moment in other areas of culture?
Amanda Wall: Space exploration and psilocybin.
Is there such a thing as a typical day in your life? If so, please could you share with us what it might look like?
Amanda Wall: My pandemic days have been super monotonous. This year, I started waking up early, like 6.30am, so I can have max daylight for painting. It’s really hard for me to paint in artificial light, the colours are never quite right. I am very much not a morning person but I do like discipline so it sort of balances out. Every day I wake up and immediately turn on the classical radio station, make a French press of decaf coffee, and read for a while. I get to the studio around 9am and I’m pretty much there alone all day. At night I meet friends for dinner, or some days I go to the gym.
Are there any rituals or activities that connect you with creativity?
Amanda Wall: Being alone.
Amanda Wall will feature in a group exhibition at New York’s Almine Reich gallery from April 29 – June 5 2021