slipping in and out


kaliisa conlon


los angeles based photographer, kaliisa conlon, takes you upon a surreal visual journey using bold colours, bizarre subject matter, black and white portraits and dreamy collages. she's interviewed for powder by her mentor and san francisco sorceress heather anneleice young.

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What inspires your artwork?

I have always been fascinated by the imagery and symbolism of the subconscious realms. I love Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell's writings on dreams, psychology and the collective conscious. Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite writers and I am playfully styling myself into becoming an amalgamation of his male and female characters. Specifically, in terms of slipping in and out of alternate realities and nurturing a devotion to music, cinema and food. I think he is brilliant and I have noticed that his books find a way of enmeshing themselves into their reader's lives in the most peculiar way.

Color, light and texture are my primary concerns in making images. I love highly saturated colors and fill my art with as many colors as I can. The Surrealists are the art movement that I love and identify most with. Man Ray, Joan Miro and Leonora Carrington are several of many surrealist artists I really love. They were so influenced by the soul of the child and the workings of the subconscious mind. My favorite sculptor is Constantin Brancusi, most famous for "Bird in Space." His forms are so smooth and elegant. Fashion delights me because it is pure play and there are so many historical references. I love the futurist clothing of Spanish designer Paco Rabanne and other favorites include Valentino, Tom Ford and Yves Saint Laurent. Last but not least, my mother Jane Conlon who is a true artist in everything she does and my ultimate art hero.

What kind of music inspires you? What is it about music that inspires you?

Music is the great Psychic Whisperer! Emotion, thought and dreams are fluidly shaped into sound. The melodies that we love become the sonic landscapes of our lives. I think music is more closely connected to emotion than any other art form.

My favorite musical group is the Velvet Underground and I tend to swim in the seas of rock and roll and punk, but my passion extends far outwards from there. I love classical music like Beethoven, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Glenn Gould, Chilly Gonzales, etc. I love jazz like Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Shirley Horn, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, etc. Krautrock is really inspiring, an explosive blast of creativity and free form expression. I also really dig Ali Farka Toure, Django Reinhardt and Fela Kuti.

Aphex Twin, Suicide and Kraftwerk got me into electronic sound. I am a big fan of current artists Com Truise and Chromatics. I played music in three bands (Pizza Party, Sunshine Songs and Grey Gardens) and I count that time as my most influential artistic experiences to date. I think that once you decide you are artist, you will always be an artist; the medium may change but the desire to create something never dies. I also believe that anybody or everybody can be an artist. It is an equal opportunity adventure and the best canvas is everyday life.

What from your childhood inspires you?

Dispatched dreams and reveries from the sleepy little hippie college town of Eugene, Oregon in the 1980s. The soothing sound of my beautiful mother Jane sewing gorgeous velvet bohemian dresses late into the night on her antique Singer treadle sewing machine.

Long, lazy summer days spent buying bags of candy and taking the loot to the park for sinful consumption.

And also the aromatic smell of fresh jasmine flowers outside my bedroom window open on a rainy day. I would sit there when I was ten with a highly prized glass of sparkling water in my hand, jazz playing on my boom box as I dreamed of the romantic cafe I hoped to one day own. And in the afternoons, laying on carpeted floors with friends staring at the ceiling for hours as we drift in and out of various fantasies, always wondering who we would become when we grew up.

Are there any profound dreams that you feel have inspired you or gave you insight into how you create?

While I can't pinpoint any specific dreams, I will say that the collages I make are based on visuals I experience during meditation. I conjure the animals, characters, places and symbols that I see into two dimensional form using collage. I am reading a great book called Surrealist Experiences; 1001 Dawns, 221 Midnights, by American painter and poet Penelope Rosemont. Her views on collage, poetry and the "revolutionary significance of a fairy tale," are really inspiring and highlight the special significance of collage within the surrealist world.

Most importantly, I make art to honor the spirits of my beloved and departed. Anything I have ever created is a tribute to somebody that I love. My view of art is greatly influenced by Fluxus artists like Yoko Ono, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik ~ artists who opened up what art could be. Art on some levels can be the pure and fluid experience of life.

Do you have a fave cartoon character?

Yes, Betty Boop!

What is your favorite sauce on a pasta?

Pasta carbonara at the lovely Italian restaurant Fiore in Brooklyn, NY with my girls Lindsay and Harmony. It is such a rich, flavorful and satisfying meal.

What's the weirdest smell that you are attracted to?

G-A-S-O-L-I-N-E.

What's your fave aquatic animal?

Seahorses. The male seahorse has an incubation pouch and when the female delivers the eggs, the male fertilizes them. A short time later, the male enters into labor squirts those itty bitty seahorses right out of the pouch! I really like this unusual reproductive arrangement. Plus the seahorse has a fantastic shape.

What is your favorite Incense?

Nag Champa original and L'occitane's pear incense. I burn incense constantly at home. I love it for the aroma, but even better is the sense of ritual and calm incense creates.

What is your favorite ancient culture?

Egyptian.

What is your favorite texture to have against your skin?

Pure silk.

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