Meet Lourans Mikhail | Multidisciplinary Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lourans Mikhail and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lourans, why did you pursue a creative career?
I was a single dad in the Marines raising my oldest daughter on my own. I knew that raising a young woman in that environment it would not be conducive for her and especially for my mental state.

At first I wasn’t sure what I would do after deciding to no longer continue serving in the military. I was coming up on 13 years and could just transition to working on civilian aircraft. Except I knew I didn’t want to do that, and money wasn’t really a concern as far as making me happy.

I enrolled in school for a bachelors in graphic and web design. I realized that a lot of graphic designers did not draw, and I wanted to be able to do what I envisioned in my head. Slowly, I realized that I did not want to work for anyone else, and that working in graphic design sometimes meant that you wouldn’t own your creations, especially working at a design agency. Couple that with the possibility of having to work on something for a company whose morals don’t align with mine made the decision easier.

Art helped me with my PTSD and my ADHD proves to help with my art practice. Art helped me become a better human being and healed me.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art involves a few aspects incorporating mixed media like sculptures, typography and paintings. My practice has mainly revolved around three separate on-going series.

The first is “Different Strokes” which highlights brushes as the focal point and the actual art piece itself, The brush is seldom considered as the topic for dialogue, more commonly, it’s utilized as a tool to create. It has the power to elicit emotions by the words it writes, imagery it creates and, the manner in which it’s message is delivered. It exists as a means to an end, the transportation of an idea that manifests itself through this extension of the hand, providing literary or visual experiences for the intended audience.

I am also having a solo show that starts August 2nd and runs for the whole month at Thumbprint Gallery in La Jolla, CA. with this series.

Another is my “Anamorphic Alphabet” which is reimagining the english upper and lower case letter forms. The idea is creating upper and lower case letters with a single line that never intersects. The other constraint i put on this typography was to have each and every letter fit the same dimensional constraints. Similar to single line drawings or one liners in graffiti where artists write their name in a single line.

Lastly, my series “Literally?!” explores clever wordplay and pop culture references, this series is the manifestation of everyday sayings and colloquialisms. Each concept is ingeniously transformed into physical objects, paintings, or a combination of both encapsulating the meaning or visual representation of the phrase. Some pieces elicit lighthearted laughter, while others are crafted to provoke deeper contemplation, challenging preconceived notions and inviting introspection on the subject matter.

In essence I love using perspective, whether literally or figuratively.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love to go to the beach or either hiking the mountains. La Jolla is a great spot to snorkel, while i enjoy hiking the mountains in Julian and other areas in San Diego.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I don’t think I could put it into one group or a single person. I have met many amazing artists and friends that have mentored me and given me advice on my aspirations and artwork. I personally am thankful to people like Johnny Tran, Mister Toledo, Allison Bamcat, Spenser little, Thumbprint Gallery. This is a little harder to think of because i feel no one does anything by themselves. There are definitely more people that have helped me and I this is what I could come up with off the top of my head.

Some of the books that have helped me include, “the 5 second rule”, “The Power of Habit”, “How to Win Friends and influence people” are books that helped me understand the psychology of how I operated and what it takes to break through certain limits we place on ourselves.

Website: https://www.louransmikhail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LouransMikhail

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouransMikhail

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa6XM3F6fTub0H6Ef9ADSWA/