ARTIST KORA MOYA ROJO
Kora Moya Rojo (B.1993) is a London-based Spanish visual artist. Born in Cartagena (Spain), Kora studied Fine Arts at the University of Fine Arts in Murcia (Spain). After graduating she moved to London where she currently resides and works. Her paintings circulate around themes of symbolism, female identity and issues of cultural displacement that merge with nostalgia.
Tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences?
There are so many things that inspire me but when it comes to artists, I feel very inspired by female surrealists like Kay Sage, Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini Dorothea Tanning and many more. Not only do I feel inspired by their wonderful work, I also have a huge admiration for them because they fought for what they loved and what they wanted to do regarding the fact that it was a male-dominated art movement and they were only known for being “muses” or “lovers”. Their talent was immense.
Tell us a bit about your creative process?
My creative process is currently quite methodical. It usually starts with a digital sketch of an idea that I have in my head, doing research about a subject that I find interesting or even tracing over random images of things that inspire me (food, objects, plants...). Then, I begin to play around with shapes and backgrounds on my iPad using the app Adobe Fresco. Once I have the final sketch and I'm happy with the composition, I move on to the colour palette choice and start adding colour to the sketch. I love using oil brushes because I can achieve a similar result to oil painting on canvas. Creating the digital painting takes a long time since this is when I'm fully developing the artwork from start to finish. Finally, once I have the finished digital painting, I move on to the canvas, and that's when it fully comes to life.
How has the pandemic affected your creativity and how do you see the world changing?
In my case, the pandemic has had a positive impact on my art practice. Having more free time has allowed me to fully focus on my work and experiment as I had never done before. During lockdown, I started experimenting with my style and working on a new body of work, which led me to what I'm doing at the moment. Not being able to go to the studio pushed me to find new ways of creating, and that’s when I started sketching and painting digitally. Since then, working digitally plays a big role in my art practice.
I think that since the pandemic started a lot of people, including myself, have found themselves prioritising their needs and focusing their energy on what truly matters to them. It was like a “wake up call”.
Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?
For me it’d have to be Yayoi Kusama. I just love how she went against everything and everyone just to make her dream come true.
What does wellbeing mean to you, and what do you practice?
Wellbeing to me can mean a lot of things. It can go from having a healthy balance between my work life and my personal life to spending time with my loved ones, getting lost in a forest and connecting with nature or even cooking and having a lovely meal.
Anything else you would like to share?
I’ve recently been published via the All She Makes Artist Directory, interviewed by The Artist Contemporary and featured in ‘The Studio Image' book by Friend of the Artist, launching early next year. At the moment, I'm planning to expand my practice towards the three-dimensional field, and looking forward to experimenting with sculpture and installation in my upcoming residencies in Spain in October 2021 and Mexico in February 2022 - so it’s a pretty exciting time!