Angela Ifantidou grew up with painting silently but steadily present within her, long before it became a profession or a conscious life choice. Although her studies led her to the world of civil engineering, she ultimately let herself follow color, emotion and the need to create. A brush, a canvas and a little boldness were enough to begin a journey that soon turned into a profession.
Today, through realistic portraits and live wedding painting, she transforms the photographic moment into a painted memory. Where the click freezes time, Angela spreads it out on canvas, giving form to the gaze, the silence and the emotion of the moment.
In this interview for the Kalamata Photography Assotiation, she talks about the magic of live creation and the art that captures not just what is seen, but what remains.
Interview Natasa Stamatopoulou / Translation Julia Vrioni
1. We would like you to tell us a few words about yourself: how did your relationship with painting begin and what path led you to live wedding painter?
I studied civil engineering, however my love for painting has always existed since I was little, but I never thought that it could offer me professional development. Doing the job of a civil engineer, but then other jobs that did not suit me, I decided one day to start painting wherever it took me.
I bought canvases and materials and started. It did not take long for the first orders to come from friends and close relatives. Slowly, with the help of social media, I started to have additional orders until after a year it officially became my job. I worked for a long time with orders, with a greater approach to bridal portraits, this resulted in my experience in creating quickly, due to many orders. As it was something I would admire from artists abroad, as a wedding trend, I really wanted to be offered such a proposal so that I could make a start, and so it happened.
2. Painting was historically the first way to capture people and events. Do you think that with live wedding painter we are returning to this primary form of recording?
There are certainly influences and a vintage mood to all of this, it refers to that era, but in a very different way. Since the recording is now done through photography, the couple doesn't have to stand opposite and wait for me to complete the project.
3. How do you see the relationship between painting and photography today? Do they compete or converse within a modern marriage?
I believe that one complements the other. The photograph captures the moment and I transform it into a handmade work of art that certainly gives even greater value to the photograph that was taken.
4. As a photography team, we are very interested in “freezing the moment.” For you, what is the difference between the moment that is photographed and the moment that is painted?
As I mentioned above, I think one complements the other. Each is an art form in a different way. When the click is transformed into a work of art, in painting the work of art is one and unique, and in my opinion as an artist, that is what makes it special.
5. Photography has evolved rapidly through technology. Your art, although analog, is created in a modern environment. How much is it influenced by the modern era?
As an artist who creates realistic portraits, I can say that technology and the modern era help you evolve quickly, always following the trends of the time, but I believe that painting will always be what brings you back to the handmade, to the unique, to that which you will not find in the many standardized products that we see around us every day.
6. When you paint live, do you observe space, light, and people differently than a photographer would?
The truth is that when I paint live, I only have contact with what I paint from the photograph, and the people who come around me and talk to me asking things about my work, about the project, so my rhythms are so fast at that time that my perspective is definitely completely different from a photographer, as the photographer moves in space and captures many moments. I create that one moment of the couple that requires special dedication and attention for the result I will have.
7. The live wedding painter is not only about the end result but also about the performance. How important is the process in front of the guests to you?
Live painting is exactly that, a performance, you create something in front of people and that certainly involves stress and pressure, but at the same time such beautiful emotions, reactions and memories that are worth every minute.
8. How do you choose which moment to capture? Is it an emotional decision, a composition in your mind, or something that “speaks” to you at that moment?
The moment that I will capture on the canvas must first have emotion, and secondly, I have spoken with the couple so that we have a common perspective on the work, i.e. the pose, the location and what moment they want to have forever on the canvas is a joint decision.
9. Do you think a painting can convey emotion in a different way than a photograph? If so, what is this difference?
This can be seen in live performances, as the admiration of the creation at that moment shows that art touches the world, captures the emotion of everything that is happening at that moment, and recognizes in the artist that what they do is unique, special, and certainly unrepeatable.
10. In a world where everything is recorded digitally and instantly, what do you think painting memory offers a couple?
In a world where everything is instantaneous, a painting memory offers a couple something that no digital recording can replace. Where the digital snapshot freezes a second, painting condenses time. It captures not only what two people looked like, but how they felt, how they looked at each other. Painting is not worn out by information overload, it is not lost in thousands of files. Hanging on a wall or kept in a private space, it becomes a point of return. It reminds not only who they were, but why they were together. And in a world of instants, this “why” is perhaps the most precious memory.