Zheni Warner
Norwich, Norfolk UK
Age 70
What keeps you excited in the studio?
Getting well into a new series of work. Not the beginning, that’s too painful
Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
I started off painting like my mother but with expressionist over tones, move through de Kooning, Kandinsky and Howard Hodgkin and became me in my thirties.I no longer produce a bad painting and sometimes manage to do a really good one.
What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
Hasn’t got one. Who even notices artists nowadays? I’m trying to produce a political piece, but even if it works in my terms, I can’ see it having much influence in the wider world.
What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
Decide if you can really do without eating. Don’t teach. Marry someone who is willing to support you financially.
Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
Generally you get better with age. Unfortunately galleries only want bright new things straight out of art college. So, yes age does matter in both a positive and a negative sense.
What can we look forward to from you next?
A series of large works based on Gaza. Far more impressive and important than “Guernica”
Is there anything else you would like to share about being an artist later in life?
The frustration of being taken as a ‘hobbyist’. The equal frustration of lack of energy; I can’t spend all day every day in the studio any more. Nor have I the energy to be schmoozing at social events to make important contacts.
Zheni.co.uk
@zheniwarnerart
