Under the motto Remix & Fusion, 17 artists from Hamburg and the surrounding area will be presenting two of their works each in the GRACE DENKER GALLERY from September 7th, 2018, thus providing an insight into their creative work and making people curious to find out more. The different approaches, ideas and concepts create a special, inspiring experience.
In the following article, get to know the exhibitors better and gain an insight into their artistic work and artistic concepts. The exhibitors answer questions about their artistic process, how they start and what materials they use. They also explain what influence their art can have on the world.
Part 2 features comments from Marion Meinberg, Nina Relleke, Ruchi Kaushal, Christian Galan, Nina Harden Lehmann, Än-J, Nensi Tolic, Evelin and Manfred Hoop.
Register for the vernissage at: https://www.artcraftliving.com
Marion Meinberg
In my artistic work, there are two directions in which I move; "Gestalt-Animals" and "Lebensklang". In the group exhibition "Remix & Fusion" two of my "Gestalt-Animals" pictures are on display: "Bathtub Opulent" and "Woman Standing Upside Down / Head and Heart".
Encounters with people in all their diversity touch me and are the main theme in my art. I find my motifs through conversations and observations - without any intention of wanting to paint anything. If something touches me, I know immediately that I will paint it - and I often look at the situation with humor. I work from memory and years can pass before I want to paint the picture. The choice to depict people in an animal makes the often harsh reality or the perhaps precise and unpleasant observation softer and more conciliatory.
In the painting process itself, I allow the original image to change within me. It takes on a dynamic of its own and tells its own story. In doing so, I enter into a process that inspires me, that I struggle with, that I fight with and that I am happy with - it always challenges me.
A picture like "Opulent Bathtub" or "Woman Standing Upside Down / Head and Heart" takes about 4 months to complete. The entire composition of structures, colors and details means a lot to me and I take my time with it.
The ugly and often strange nature of the "figure - animals" becomes something beautiful in the picture as a whole through my implementation in the delicacy of color and structure.
My pictures are timeless; they awaken feelings in us and offer us an opportunity to contact - also with our animal origins.
Nina Relleke
For me, making art is primarily about making, about a development process. The end result is not the main focus.
My art reflects how I have developed as a person and at the same time helps me to develop myself further, both personally and artistically. I have never settled on one style of painting and am always trying out new things.
When it comes to my abstract paintings, I am often subconsciously inspired, starting either with colored areas or intuitively with a random dynamic "brush" stroke. I am interested in painting people when their character and personality inspire me. When I want to paint people, I first start by taking photos of them, playing with light and perspective. The choice of colors and the picture then emerge quite automatically from this.
I prefer acrylic paints because of their properties and work with brushes (flat or round), spatulas and fingers. I also often use structural paste. I use canvas and found construction or driftwood as a base. High-quality materials and tools are crucial.
I hope that my art can make others happy and convey a certain natural feeling about life.
Ruchi Kaushal
For me, art is energy translated into a medium. Art should tell a story, evoke emotions and create a certain mood. This spark of energy is the starting point of my creative concept. I usually paint a series of paintings at a time. You can think of it as a music album. I like to work with themes. I am a marketer by profession and I tell stories. I also think that storytelling is at the core of what connects us and makes us human. In a way, telling stories through art is one of the most fulfilling parts of being an artist.
Depending on the subject, I often do preliminary work in the form of reference color studies on paper before starting on canvas. I am part of some supportive and helpful artist communities on the internet. I like brainstorming, expressing my work to the outside world. Sometimes I work with mood boards, vacation photos, reference images, and book passages. For example, when I painted the India themed series, I referenced mood boards with India color palettes, images, fabrics, anything to capture the energy and transfer it to the canvas.
When I learned to paint as a child, I started with oil paints. It is still one of my favorite mediums to paint with. Over the years I have painted with acrylics, oils, pastels, spray paints, inks, pigments and continue to experiment. I love the scientific part of painting as much as the artistic part. Often times when I am doing mixed media, after coating the canvas with regular gesso, I will use a latex-based primer or glaze to waterproof the base and help the paint move. For painting, I use the usual tools like brushes and knives for the base. But to move the paint on the upper layers and create textures and patterns, I use an air compressor or wallpaper spatula. I love the richness of the colors that comes from using pigments and inks and recently I have also been using gold leaf in some of my paintings. The choice of media type often depends on the subject matter and how I visualize the end result in my mind. Sealing this type of mixed media is very important and I usually spray special varnishes and UV sprays to maintain the color and saturation.
Art can be transformative; it can bring people together to discuss a common idea. When I create a piece of art and share it with other people, usually online, I am presenting a story, a thought, and a shared insight into the world. It could be a small idea, like putting contrasting colors together and talking about beauty in diversity. It could be painting on a round canvas instead of a square, which means breaking the rules. Every time you present such an idea to an audience through art, you are contributing to a story. Storytelling is what I try to do through my art.
Art helps us appreciate each other as different people because no two people see the same thing in a work of art. Acknowledging and celebrating that is what I want to do with what I create. My message is very simple - colors outside of lines. We all did it when we were kids; there were no lines, no boxes, no boundaries. Get out of the comfort zone, that's where the magic of possibilities lies.
Christian Galan
I've just entered this wonderful world of art. Art has always had a certain attraction for me. In 2016, I slowly and somewhat hesitantly began to implement my vision of art.
Each of my works of art begins with the idea of a brushstroke and ends as a final painting after a usually long process in which feelings, experiences and my own demand for perfection play a major role... I prefer to work with recycled wood, regardless of whether it was once a gate, fence or roof. It tells its own story alongside mine and that is what makes it so special in my eyes. Of course, different fabrics for my canvases and paper are also among the materials I use.
I want people to enjoy my works and have their mood positively influenced by them.
Nina Harden Lehmann
Do I have a concept at all? It's more a longing to create my own world. To tell stories. Childhood dreams. I call it the "Alice in Wonderland feeling."
I usually start my creative process by reading newspapers and collecting words. The words I find make me want to tell a story and then I just do it. I scribble, smear, print and paint on empty canvases and paper. Maybe I'll discover something there.
My main and favorite materials are large canvases, acrylic, colored pencils, ink, chalk, paper. I want to work with anything that makes me want to touch it. I especially love paper, feeling it, cutting it up, playing with it, putting it together until it tells a new world or story. This process calms me down, takes me somewhere else in my head, makes me happy.
I think my art conveys exactly this feeling, awakens longings for our own colorful world, carried by the dreams of our childhood. In the best case, it gives you the feeling or need of a hug.
Nensi Tolic
Nensi Tolic was born in Croatia and has lived in Germany for 15 years. She studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts (University of Zagreb). She then studied illustration design at the Leonardo Academy in Hamburg.
Her pictures are created intuitively using various mixed techniques through overlays and layers. Reality and abstraction alternate in the process of creation. The diffuse and often only visible at second glance find expression in the pictures. Nensi Tolic finds inspiration on the street, in music, on travels and in encounters with a wide variety of people.
Än-J
Merging completely with my colors, letting energy flow through me, being highly concentrated in the moment and surrendering to the flow state - that is the most beautiful thing in my artistic creation process for me. Becoming one with my painting leads to the complete self-expression of my feelings. That is art for me: the pure expression of emotions.
I am fascinated by the brilliance of brilliant colors. That is why I chose a medium that reproduces the pure luminosity of pigments: synthetic resin. It gives the painting the highest color intensity and an unmistakable high gloss.
Lose yourself in the play of colors, feel in the here and now, and then follow the flow of life strengthened with energy, joy and positivity.
Evelin Hoop
I am fascinated by expressing in my work how different we humans are with our different cultural backgrounds. To depict how nature and humans live together and to express this in a way that allows me to show how I see the world.
I use a variety of techniques, photos and my own impressions of life to help me. It is always an exciting process that develops as I do it and I am often surprised by the result and deeply impressed by the source of my artistic work.
Manfred Hoop
People who are very special, who do things that are different from others and who send messages out into the world, amaze me. These people inspire me to draw them, to give them an expression. This should show that they are standing in life and doing what they enjoy. These are people who inspire me.
For me, the technique of drawing is a way of creating expression in the finest possible way. After some work in sculpture (stone and wood), I experience a special kind of connection with what I am drawing when I draw.