interview
What inspired you to become an artist and when did you start taking art seriously?
I was an imaginative child with an early love of nature, enjoyed drawing, and playfully created my own worlds. I also grew up in a family interested in art. My parents sometimes took me to art exhibitions, and my brother made sculptures and jewelry. Over time, I learned to appreciate art as something valuable. In my youth, August Macke's watercolors appealed to me, and I sensed that art could enrich me.
Which artists or art movements have most influenced your style and work?
Five years after graduating, I visited Agnes Martin's exhibition at the Tate Modern in London and was captivated by her bold approach to minimalism and her captivating imagery. Agnes Martin said, "You have to find the things you like. The things that make you feel good inside." I greatly appreciate this attitude.
Could you walk us through the creative process you go through when creating a new piece?
This varies from piece to piece. Sometimes I have an image or visual elements in mind, capture it in small sketches, and test possible implementations in tiny drawings. During the actual work, I let it flow and usually allow myself to be surprised beyond the planned components. Some things emerge spontaneously and playfully, or change over the course of the process.
Is there a particular theme or message you want to convey in your work?
My artistic work reflects my fascination with nature and scientific phenomena, particularly my interest in the microcosm and macrocosm. Furthermore, my art is characterized by a kind of philosophical exploration of questions of time, space, origin, human existence, the cosmos, and composition.
Nature fascinates me in all its facets. From the universe to the communication between plants to the world of microorganisms, I see myself as a kind of artistic explorer. I also enjoy creating poetic connections, for example, between butterfly wings under a microscope and a river. Minimalism and reduction generally inspire me, and it's exciting to find a kind of core essence. I like creating abstracted visual worlds that allow me and the viewer to develop their own thoughts and associations.
Which techniques do you prefer and why?
I like to mix different techniques, but drawing is my favorite medium because it allows me a certain precision and freedom.
With wax pastels I achieve painterly effects, with ink pens, for example, I create fine, graphic lines that visualize a floating lightness of the lines.
I also like to use the sgraffito technique, in which I use a wooden tool to scratch lines into the wax pastels or printing ink, exposing underlying layers. This creates a slightly relief-like texture. The process has an almost archaeological quality, as I'm sometimes surprised by what I uncover and what emerges.
Where do you see yourself and your art in the next five years?
I am looking forward to interesting encounters and exhibition opportunities.
Do you have a "philosophy" that guides your creative expression?
Through my art I explore the mystery that lies within everything.
For me, everything is somehow landscape, both small and large. Internal and external landscapes to be explored. The surface of a plant, an alien moon, the skin of a fish, mountain ranges, water surfaces – everything ultimately forms a form of landscape. I am fascinated by exploring and transforming them intellectually and artistically. The quantum physicist Carlo Rovelli describes the world as grainy, space as a network of vibrating quantum grains. From this perspective, a play with perspective, the concept of landscape becomes even broader and takes on a philosophical dimension.
For me, the artistic process has something magical and spiritual at the same time. For me, art has a lot to do with introspection, but at the same time, I also feel a deeper connection with everything. I always look at the world from different perspectives. For example, I'm interested in the communication of plants from a scientific perspective, but I'm also fascinated by the spiritual aspects of nature. A while ago, I read the book "Thus Spoke the Plant" by biologist Monica Gagliano and found it very inspiring.
She, too, observes the plant world from different perspectives and opens up new horizons. I also like Japanese haikus, short poems about nature that often embody a form of spirituality. They are simple yet powerful: "Like astronomy, a frog observes the sky." These are just a few words from Kobayashi Issa, yet they open up a broad perspective on the world.