In this interview, Tracy Luck shares insights into her ever-evolving creative process, where layering, mark-making, and mixed media techniques become tools for self-reflection and storytelling. Working with diverse materials—including oil, ink, thread, and collage—Luck’s work explores themes of identity, human emotions, and existential contradictions. Her series Maps to Nowhere and 2 AM Garden embody a sense of wandering, reflecting a deeply personal journey of searching for meaning and redefining the concept of ‘home.’ Through abstraction and continuous exploration, her art invites viewers to engage on an emotional level, offering a lingering experience of introspection and connection.
1
You have developed your own unique technique, incorporating oil, ink, acrylic, thread, wax, collage, and cardboard into your work. Can you share more about your creative process and how you approach layering and mark-making in your work?What kind of projects will you be involved in next?
My creative process is ever changing as my art is evolving because I am, as a person and as an artist – working in different series allows me to push concepts further and refine, add to and tweak the corresponding processes (for instance, the next Maps to Nowhere might also have frayed edges, take on a scroll like appearance, with integrated dials and/or cartology lines) Amidst it all, there are layers of markings and lines of Unscript in almost all my recent work. Unscript is abstract notational expression generated based on my handwriting, used in various forms for depth, feeling and concept in my artworks. For the Maps to Nowhere, the unscript is the myriad of continuous lines running through the pieces and for the 2am Gardens, the unscript creates the under layer of broken lines and markings.
2
Your work explores themes of identity, human emotions, and existential contradictions. How do you translate these complex ideas into abstract visuals, and what emotions do you hope to evoke in the viewer?
My aim is to emote and express through abstraction composition – my art has always been a most personal conversation with myself, quiet contemplation, trying to be better and find solutions to complex real life, and expressing this all in colour, abstract form and lines using various mixed media techniques.
I would be happy if viewers engage with my artwork on any level – I hope seeing my work gives them a positive and lingering experience.
3
Your series "Maps to Nowhere" and "2 AM Garden" suggest a sense of searching or wandering. What are you seeking through these works, and how do they reflect your personal journey or state of mind?
Yes I think there is a sense of searching and wandering with these 2am Garden & Maps to Nowhere series on exhibit at artlounge, they are feelings I have been trying to embrace lately, and to understand that your ‘Home’ does not have to be a physical place, true ‘Home’ is where your most loved ones are, where we all want to be.
