Take a look at our new Emerging Artist!

What are you working on right now?

In the course of the debate last year i had with predominantly female role models and stereotypes of tattoos, violence and drug use in the field of artistic “bohemians” I developed a series of ballpoint pen drawings. From this series, I took ten sheets and will create a graphic publication. It will be finished during spring and presented to the public. In addition, I am currently preparing an artwork for a group exhibition in Hamburg in the gallery Melike Bilir (http://www.melikebilir.com) and plan an exhibition with Maria Schumacher in the artspace KASKL (http://kaskl.de) in Berlin. In April I participate in a group exhibition in Kiel and in summer I curate a solo exhibition of the painter Patrick Eicke in the gallery Genscher (https://galerie-genscher.com) in Hamburg. A lot to do!

What is your art about?

self reflection, expectations, prejudices, clichés, perception, casualness, situations, conditions, triviality, the so called reality, traditions in art history and classic themes of painting.

Do you find your immediate surrounding inspirational?

I live in Lübeck for five years and have to say that this certain isolation inspires me to such an extent that it allows me to really focus on my work. I am much closer to myself. And if i like, I drive to Hamburg and can have great art, colleagues and discussions! Also in Lübeck I have met some very interested and interesting people over the last few years and meet regularly with some of them in my studio for stimulating debates. I also feel closer to nature, the Baltic Sea is around the corner and the countryside of Schleswig-Holstein is beautiful.

Which artists or what kind of art has the greatest impact on your work?

At the age of 14 I started to get to know art, especially painting, of the 20th century, beginning with classical modernism and impressionism. Since then, I have dealt with a large part of the well-known art history. My perception opened up so much that almost every new experience inspires me. Everything i read, see or hear about art, design, philosophy and psychology influences my thinking and therefore my work. Two of my favorite artworks are the „Base of the world“ („Socle du monde”, 1961, iron, bronze) by Piero Manzoni and Hans Haackes „Condensation Cube“ from 1967. The´re so good!

How does the internet influence your way of working as an artist?

It helps me stay connected with the people in the distance. I can order every material i need. Of course, it speeds up the communication in general and helps, for example, to plan and implement exhibitions far away. Media such as instagram can be helpful in seeing new art and making contacts. The perception of the world is changing due to the filtered, artificially edited images on the Internet. A series of paintings by me relates to the contemporary aesthetic of social media. The series is called “Fruit on art book” and shows exactly that, a fruit is on an open catalog of a painter i respect. For example „Orange on Matisse“:)

Discover more works by Stephan Jäschke.

This week’s Emerging Artist is Ana Pusica.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m pretty committed to a series of paintings that is titled SQUARE AND CIRCLE. The basic idea is to develop with the colors a materiality and dynamic, which allow the viewer to decide what is the story behind the figure picture. Sometimes, the painting’s surfaces are heavily worked, sometimes they are expressively fluid or made of extravagant drips of paint. They are non-abstract, but not strictly figurative either. Though, representing no identifiable portraits, the pictures evoke associations: red-hot magma, cheeky pinks and oranges or cloudy color spectrums. As a result, the artworks exude an intense lightness and are allowing multiple layers of potential meanings.

My intense focus on colors is also reflected within the titles. In fact, every painting is named after a particular color tone that it is made of. As a result, there are titles such as: New Sneakers, Boston University, Tickle me Pink, Lobster Lips or Monkey Breath. Believe it or not, these are all official color names. I like the idea of drawing the attention of the observers away from the question “What do I see on the picture?”.

Concerning my public presentations, I am having right now a solo exhibition at the gallery Stoerpunkt in Munich until the end of May. After that a group exhibition “arkadenale. go to paradise” in the gallery Landeshauptstadt München Kunstarkaden in mid-June. And at the beginning of September there is another solo exhibition in the Bürgerhaus Unterföhring. For that one I am preparing a “color Installation”.

What is your art about?

In my work, the very action of painting is fundamental, and it is the moment when my physical impulses and visual imagination come together on the canvas. What matters most to me is the creative act itself.
My paintings are the expression of my subjectivity. They reflect the poetry of my inner world with its mixture of memories, ideas and quotations from my favorite authors. The gestures are just as important as the subject, as they reveal with the impulses and movements the embodiment of my thoughts. I am someone who lives in my own bubble. Although it seems to be very quiet, only there I can truly express myself.
My art is a physical act, direct, intuitive and in motion. There is a lot of energy in the pictures, that’s why I like to work on large formats. There I can put this concentrated force into the frame. I try to create a new and interesting surface from repeating one motive several times by using a lot of different movements, gestures and randomness. From the mixture of surfaces and layers, something like a figurative image emerges at the end.

Do you find your immediate surrounding inspirational?

Lacking of inspiration is often just a very good excuse to stay in bed, not having to deal with the unknown or an inability to encounter and overcome an obstacle. If something is inspiring or not is for me just a question of my momentarily state of mind. Very often completely uninspiring surroundings lead me to the best solutions. But without the interchange of ideas with people that I respect and appreciate, I could not be so productive, that’s for sure. I cannot say that there are many of them in my environment.

Which artists or what kind of art has the greatest impact on your work?

Howard Hodgkin, Peter Krauskopf, Marlene Dumas, Cy Twombly.

How does the internet influence your way of working as an artist?

What we all know for sure is that the job of an artist is not only being in the studio and creating a picture. Actually, so many things need to be taken care of outside of the studio. With new communication technologies and the emergence of Instagram, artists can in a very short time, without intermediaries, reach people and present their work – at least digitally. This makes us more independent than before. I still have not made a clear decision if I find that good or bad. I’m just afraid of becoming very annoyed by the crowd of hobby artists who have overbooked the internet.

See more of her work at Ana Pusica

We have arranged a selection of our favourite artworks and artists of this year’s exhibition tour.

Alicia Viebrock (class of Herbert Brandl)

Noemi Weber, Filip Gudovic (class of Katharina Grosse)

Frederike Stachowitz, Kaori Hirawai, Jana Zatvarnická, Jonathan Auth, Jannis Löhrer (class of Siegfried Anzinger)

Isabelle Heske (class of Tomma Abts)

Klara Virnich: “Femmage”, “Cinderella” and “Kybele” (class of Eberhard Havekost)

Mikkel Pedersen (class of Tomma Abts)

Yixiao Cao: “Die Erinnerung des Stilllebens” (print on photo paper), “Große Fahne”, “Verschwindende Identität” (floor work) (class of Marcel Odenbach)