The interviews are conducted by VB Contemporary's director, Vian Borchert. Besides being a multidisciplinary noted international artist. Borchert has been a writer and art critic for over a decade contributing with art articles in a national online newspaper within the U.S.A. Borchert gets called upon to cover and write reviews for major retrospectives and exhibitions in world-class American museums. Borchert is also the Art Lead / curator of the art segment for "Oxford Public Philosophy Journal" for the Turn 5 issue - "Oxford Public Philosophy" is a philosophy journal based at Oxford University, UK. The journal is a space for critically questioning what philosophy is and how we're doing it, in form and content. 

Interview with Ronis Varlaam

Image of Artist Ronis Varlaam
About the artist: Ronis Varlaam has studied filmmaking at the London Film School and produced and directed several documentaries for TV. Gradually Varlaam's interests moved to art in general and now his practice includes painting, photography, videos and conceptual art. Ronis is primarily a painter. Varlaam has taken part in more than 40 exhibitions, and he has been included in more than 20 publications. Varlaam has taken part in the Jerwood Drawing Finalists exhibition, Creekside Open, the Discerning Eye, the National Open Art exhibition and at the Royal Watercolour Society, Florian Museum in Romania, Project Berlin and Scope Art in Miami. Varlaam has also taken part in events at the Venice Biennale and at the Louvre. Varlaam is also the Editor of a new online art magazine ART_LOVE.
Tell us about your "Beginnings", how did you start your artist/photographer journey? When did you know that you wanted to become a photographer? How did your childhood influence your photography career path?  When I was growing up in Cyprus I was not interested in art as there were hardly any galleries there then, but we had cinemas. So I was much more interested in film. So when I came to London at 17 I eventually studied filmmaking at the London Film School. My involvement with painting was more or less an accident. When I graduated from the London Film School it was very difficult to find a job in the film industry as it was a closed shop. Also film is very expensive and unless one is very rich it was impossible to make one's own films. Of course nowadays almost anyone can make a film and feature films have been made with mobile phones. So I decided to find a job in the theatre and took an evening class in stage management. Eventually the teacher asked us to build maquettes of stage sets and buy paints to paint them. I was so ignorant of paints that I bought a set of oil paints which were quite inappropriate for the job. So I had a set of paints at home and one day I started experimenting with them. Eventually I did produce and direct documentaries for television as an independent producer.
Image of artwork TWO CHAIRS AND ONE TABLE
Walk us through your day and creative process? What does a day for "Ronis Varlaam" look like? Where do you find inspiration in the area by which you reside? My health has not been great recently. In fact I have appointments with 4 different hospitals! So if I have not got an appointment I just paint. I go out with friends mostly to galleries and rarely to the cinema or theatre. There are supposed to be 857 galleries in London. I am not sure that number is correct but London is definitely one of the best places to see art. The art I most like are the classics and the art of the last half of the 20th century and especially British art of the time.
As a fine art photographer, what have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced in your career? And, what have been your best achievements for you personally and professionally? The challenges I have are I suppose similar to the challenges most artists face. Finding a gallery is important for me right now. I worry about what will happen to my art.
Instagram: @ronisvarlaamsstudio