How did you get into making art?
It´s been a rather fluid transition from my natural desire to create- to draw, sing, or write- into a more professional practice. Some of my earliest childhood memories are about the praise I received while painting, or early experiments with paper and ink in my grandparents’ kitchen. Drawing and painting as means of translating between the imaginary and a material world have always formed a basis for me and so it came naturally that I put my focus on it while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden. There, I had the great luck to study with professors like Peter Bömmels and Anne Neukamp, who helped me become more precise in the formulation of my artistic concerns and also sharpened my theoretical understanding of painting.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a series of paintings for my next solo exhibition, Gardens at Night, at Galerie Laetitia Gorsy Leipzig, which will open on March 14.
In different formats and an atmosphere of bourgeois Gothic, these paintings are about places of longing, which I seek in middle-class rooms with books and pianos, but also in the motif of the nocturnal garden, which visually only appears in the form of bouquets of flowers. I assert this garden as the background sound of the other paintings, but never really show it. What also interests me in this current series is the archetypical figure of the vampire and a retreat into the dreamlike and private. I continuously search for a balance between naive and realist figuration and a very basic joy in colors and my painterly materials.
I continuously search for a balance between naive and realist figuration and a very basic joy in colors and my painterly materials.
Johanna Seidel
What inspired you to get started on this body of work?
My painting is constantly nourished by what I long for and what I fear. These inner forces meet in atmospheric pictorial spaces where they can come into contact with each other. In doing so, I try to develop universally understandable and evocative images.
The spaces and figures in my paintings often come to me in friends, my family, and on long walks. I am repeatedly moved by the beauty of nature, by the wonderful gray of a meadow in late February, by pink clouds, by evening light.
Do you work on distinct projects or do you take a broader approach to your practice?
I see my work as ongoing, whereby a connecting theme often emerges during preparations for larger exhibitions. However, I rarely set this consciously, but wait for it to reveal itself.
What’s a typical day like in your studio?
My working day usually begins around 10:00 a.m. I often start by answering messages over an espresso or doing whatever administrative work needs to be done. Then I take a fresh look at the previous day’s work, taking as much time as possible. I often see quite quickly what I would like to change, paint over, or continue, what works and what doesn’t. After that, it’s usually time for lunch, which often consists of pasta with pesto and a little salad. I make a second espresso. Then the actual painting process commences, and often the best things in a painting emerge in the early evening. In the run-up to an exhibition, my days are often unreasonably long, and I don’t leave the studio until around 9:00 p.m. My favorite working days are those without deadlines, when I first take a trip by car to the art supply store and, in the best case, find a new color by Gamblin or Old Holland that is exactly what was missing in a current painting.
Who are your favorite artists?
For a long time, I particularly appreciated the narrative qualities of the Dutch Renaissance, and my favorite painting was Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Hardly any other painting is so enigmatic, and the hunters’ black robes are eerily beautiful against the white of the snow and the turquoise blue sky. I also became very enthusiastic about the Impressionists and their ability to transform their canvases into an event resembling a sunset. In contemporary painting, I currently admire Issy Wood, who uses quotations and associations to create a very intense experience of the present, as well as Daisy Parris, whose paintings radiate such emotional urgency. The colors of Pierre Bonnard and the surrealism of William Blake are enchanting and unique as well. Not to be missed are the films of Christian Petzold and Krzysztof Kieslowski, the music of Fréderic Chopin and Lana del Rey, and the books of Tarjei Vesaas and Iris Wolff.
Where do you go to discover new artists?
Working in the arts also means frequently visiting galleries and museums, attending art fairs, and being fortunate enough to receive recommendations from friends and colleagues. Alongside the internet, and Instagram in particular, these are excellent ways to discover new artistic perspectives.
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