Today we’d like to introduce you to A. Lelanea Fulton.
Lelanea, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Born to intellectual bohemians in rural West Virginia, Lelanea was schooled from an early age in the necessary contradictions inherent in effective art. Living everywhere from old farm homes to tents on the beach to pre-revolutionary houses, she learned to work with nature and with architecture, light and shadow, human and animal. Lelanea then moved to Germany for three years and became fully consumed with culture, art, and photography, before returning to the U.S. and signing as a model with Wilhelmina. That experience, along with her studies at the International Center of Photography and the School of Visual Arts allowed her to better elaborate all aspects of her art from creation and composition to Digitech and Retouching. She also works in the wine world as an award-winning Sommelier, traveling some of the world’s most beautiful vineyards and historical wine caves.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I started working with literature & words and charcoal & oils before turning to photography. I love layers and find that layers when applied to any medium is compelling. I love layers in music, storytelling, food, wine, salutations, sketches & paintings, color and of course photography. I grew up surrounded by woodlands and nature. I grew up believing in fairytales & magic, pagan folklore, and traditions. I also grew up on old Hollywood film noir features so I would say that all have played into my art. I think these things are obvious in my work. I like my work to feel like an emotion rather than a thought. I want those who view my work to walk away feeling like we just embraced and I whispered a secret in their ear.
Nature is growing ever distant with the growth of cities. My world was nature as a child. a lot of what I do is infuse nature and fashion when I am working on a fashion shoot. I like to either double expose or superimpose photos of nature to a beauty shot. It feels like a prayer, to include nature in my work. It also feels as though I’m diluting the superficiality that fashion can often exhibit. Hommage to the source.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Surround yourself with other artists whom you respect and admire. don’t compete, just contribute to their growth. It is great to reminisce in later years of the struggle of youth, finding one’s art and place in this world. Adopt art that has long been forgotten, it’s bringing back the dead that keep things fresh and in perspective. Could you imagine a world of only digital photography? yeah, neither can I. Buy an antique large format camera, get drunk and try to figure that damn thing out, when you do, you’ll never want to play with anything else again.
Contact Info:
- Address: New York City, Los Angeles and everywhere in between.
- Website: www.lelanea.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lelanea/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lelanea.fulton
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lelanea
Image Credit:
Kristean Pareals, Sussan Cordero, Junya Nakashima, Bank Matzamai, Darryl Glover, Meriedth Morgan, Masha Szaro, Lisa Ward, Rob Knipps, Mister Chubba-Lubbacous, Sascha Eiblmayer
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
