Rosina Rosinski

How did you get into making art?

I got into making art around 2019. At that time, I was going to uni for my master’s degree in art history and was working different jobs 7 days a week to pay my rent and bills. So when everything became too much, I hung that cheap canvas print from some random furniture store off my wall, got acrylic paint from the dollar store and started painting over that corny lotus flower. I hadn’t painted before, apart from when I was like 6 years old with my watercolor box in the bathroom so I wouldn’t ruin my mom’s carpet. Fast forward to 2020, I quit uni and those jobs and from that time on painting is all I did.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on myself, meaning how to portrait myself in a more abstract way. My paintings are basically all self-portraits. A few years ago, I started off by depicting situations that occurred in my life and dreams from how I memorize them visually. Situations that were kind of hard to swallow. For each painting, I decided to use colors that would conflict with the depicted scenes but strangely still match them aesthetically. The figures in my paintings are very dear to me and I imagine them as kind of being alive even though they’re really stiff and stuck in certain postures. I guess it’s because this is a really personal thing. Right now, I am concentrating more on the abstraction of the body than the narrative behind it.

What inspired you to get started on this body of work?

The confrontation with oneself. I’m very interested in self-perception. You can look a certain way and still feel so much different. Or assume that others must view your body in one way or another based on your emotional state. I’m really not sure how people perceive me, so I can only try to express what I feel like being stuck in my body shell. I mean, me is who I know best. What else would I genuinely put on the canvas if not my perception of myself?

Do you work on distinct projects or do you take a broader approach to your practice?

I don’t work on distinct projects. I also find it very hard to do commissioned work. My paintings have to be 100% me. Randomly, there’s a dream, a certain feeling, a vivid memory, and boom, I write it down, stretch the canvas, draw on it and start painting. I have never done a sketch in my life. I just have to put my ideas on the canvas directly. And I never work on more than one painting at a time. The day I finish a painting, I stretch a new canvas. I’m very structured when it comes to that routine.

What’s a typical day like in your studio?

I get up early, make coffee, put on my old clothes, go into the next room which is my studio and paint for about 3 hours. Then I’ll make another coffee and continue. My paintings are almost print-like, so it takes time to produce neat layers with no visible brushstrokes. Can be meditative at times. I also work on my paintings outside, annoying my neighbors, using spray paint. Almost all of my paintings are made with both, spray paint and acrylics.

Who are your favorite artists?

Mostly musicians to be honest. Hip-hop has a strong influence on me, especially German underground rap. There’s something about the straightforwardness of words that gets me.

Where do you go to discover new artists?

Mostly Instagram. The social weirdo in me makes me avoid going to as many art shows as I probably should.