LouLou Avenue
Liv Ann Van Der Laan, the woman behind LouLou Avenue, has been an artist since she was very little. From being a toddler, she would bury herself in art books. A pen and a piece of paper was never far away either. Her favorite books were Pipi Longstocking and Picasso & Jacqueline. Quite the contrast. But her love of art and creating art ran in the family. Painting, sculpting, reading about art, visiting all kinds of museums, these were all frequent family activities. She loved it then and loves it now. Liv’s parents cooked up one artsy child!
Liv became an artist, because it’s who she is. An inevitable motion. She lets herself inspire by anything her eye catches, her mind warps or hands express. In three words, her art is emotional, pure and full of the beauty in raw imperfection. With imaginative face line drawings as her staple.
“To me, art is as natural as breathing. As thinking. A means of expression. There’s no way I could go a day without a scribble, a drawing, a painting; there’s always a line that finds its way out.”
Rainbow of Memories
When Liv started working as an artist, she decided to have an artist name not too close to her private life, because using her own name felt a bit too personal. She had a name she loved for ages: “LouLou”. It felt like a perfect match with her feminine and nonchalant work, and started with an L, just like her actual name. Her surname is Van Der Laan, which in french means Avenue. So then the name LouLou Avenue was formed, and it kind of fits.
From an early age, creativity was a safe place, and that never changed, but Liv was eager to see the world, so she left home at 17 and traveled. She lived in Italy for a while and went to Art school there, and when she made the move back to the Netherlands, she continued studying Fine Arts at The Amsterdam Art Academy.
“I have had a long journey that has taught me to live at my own pace and it has showed me that I can fully rely on myself. All the places I have been and experiences I have had, have given me a rainbow of memories. They are important for my work, as they are a source of inspiration that I tap into daily. My art is an ongoing process.”