Afton Love

The Sea is the Infinite Within the Instant

Interview with Afton Love (2025)

Coming from the desert landscapes of New Mexico to the Mediterranean at the Château de La Napoule, how did this contrast inspire you?

« This change has been a dramatic one for me! I am an artist who always takes inspiration from the natural landscape. I have been working with the New Mexico desert for over ten years and I was beginning to think that maybe there was nowhere else on the planet that could inspire me in the same way. Then I came to Château de La Napoule. I have become enchanted by the sea. In the desert I think a lot about silence; and I see the landscape there as a metaphor for eonic time. Here at the sea I find myself thinking about the present – this moment of time. The sea is the infinite within the instant. Also the sea is motion… there is the sound of constant motion… It gives me the feeling of regrowth and regeneration. It has encouraged me to think spontaneously and to work with impermanence. In some ways the vast horizons of the desert and the sea are similar, yet it is the immediacy of the sea that has flipped my perspective. My work here has more to do with being a human… And my work in the desert is constantly imagining that I am not… »

During your first residency in 2022, you experienced a different way of working, surrounded by other artists. What did you take away from that experience?

« Working at Château de La Napoule has changed the way I make work. It is hard for me to decipher exactly what made the shift happen, but I know that when I was first in residence I suddenly didn’t want my studio practice to be antithetical to being part of a group. I had a new desire to make something that could be integrated into my daily life and experiences at the Château. My 100 Bowls Project came from wanting to be social while making work. My studio became a place where people could come and go. I could talk and laugh while working, and I felt an openness and playfulness around the bowls… in fact I felt like we shared my bowls. I think the largest takeaway from that experience was that I could make something that was a true artwork simply in the making. The finished ‘product’ was when one morning, at the end of the residency, we all took my 100 small clay bowls to the sea and released them into the water. They were unfired and so we watched them disintegrate back into the sea – a bit like how we were all about to dissolve our group and go back into the world of our separate lives. I loved the bowls maybe more than most things I have made, and it was a huge lesson to find out that letting them go in the end made me cherish them even more. »

⁠The project for Ocean Touch evolved a great deal from your first ideas to what is now on view. How would you describe this journey?

« This has been quite the journey for me! I had a few ideas before I arrived about what I might make. And I brought a LOT of materials in anticipation of those ideas… but really the one rule I gave myself for this show was to make work that directly involved the land and sea surrounding the Château. In other words I was determined to believe in the magic that I know dwells at Château de La Napoule. The White Gallery is a huge space to fill, and I could feel myself wanting to rely on what I have done before to ensure a successful exhibition. But the truth is – if you are ever going to stretch your wings and push your abilities – the Château is the place to do it. So that is what I did. I had three months and lots of ideas. Basically the journey began in about 15 different directions at once; and through all of these starts I had to listen very carefully to the processes that were happening. What worked and what didn’t, and what was fun and what felt like a dead end. Very often I was scared that nothing was happening at all. About halfway through the summer I finally had three directions that I needed to choose from. That is when suddenly a big painting happened. My ideas that I had been tinkering with at the beach suddenly jumped into focus and the process actually worked! I had captured the moment when a wave crashes. It was really exciting. I had been testing testing testing… and all of a sudden – Bam! It worked! And so I knew that was the direction to go. Even right now it excites me to think about it. I am so proud of these paintings I have made with the sea. »

Working on site, you experimented with new materials and approaches. What did you discover through this process?

« I have discovered so much through my experimentation this summer. I have discovered that I think I hate uncertainty, and yet uncertainty is also where I thrive. I have discovered that try as I might to compromise, I truly only feel accomplished in my quest to make work if the materials I use are my primary inspiration. This is my first time using cyanotype and I am in love with the way it relates directly to the environment. It is not a pigment, it is a chemical for photographic printing, so it is making the image of the waves based on where the sunlight touches it and for how long. I realized that making the same work with carbon-based ink is in a certain way the exact opposite process. One material is reflecting light and the other is absorbing it. I have had to switch my thinking back and forth depending on which material I am using. Each painting is made at the water’s edge using a mixture of intuition, chaos, and scientific precision. It has been so fun! I am extremely detail-oriented, but because this show is the result of so much experimentation I have had to let go of a certain amount of obsessive refining that I would ordinarily require of myself. Instead I can now stand in the gallery and truly marvel at the fact that two months ago this show didn’t exist even in my mind. Out of spontaneity, trust, and collaboration has come the reward of a completely new direction in my work. So many elements, hands, and efforts have come to help me make this show happen, and that has also opened my heart. Collaboration is the true discovery. »

You mentioned the freedom La Napoule Art Foundation team gave you to experiment. What does that trust mean for you and your artistic practice?

« Setting out on this three-month journey my mantra has been “If there is anywhere you can do it, it is here!” There are very few, if any, places that support artists in the way that I have felt supported at La Napoule. I knew I was taking some big risks this summer, but I also knew that this show was an opportunity to push myself in a way that would be impossible at any other established foundation. Nelcy Mercier (Director of Operations, France) gives me wings. She and her team trust their artists more than we trust ourselves. I have wondered why it is that my practice evolves so dramatically every time I come here… And now I think I understand. The La Napoule Foundation believes above all else in the artistic process – despite the fact that process can remain a mystery to all involved. The truth is that when the artistic process is given absolute precedence there is no such thing as failure. My only responsibility while working at the château is to respect the process as diligently and wholeheartedly as the Foundation does. And that is when the magic happens. »

More about the artist