Q&A
Natalia Rose Solo Exhibition “Blossoming” March 2024
“Tell us about yourself and what inspired your journey as an artist.”
I am a Danish abstract artist based in Copenhagen and started my career as a professional artist in 2010. I studied Philology at the Moscow State University and later continued my studies at the University of Copenhagen. From 1977 to 2010 I worked with teaching languages, journalistic and IT prior to moving focus to creating art.
In 2014 the I held my first exhibition in Copenhagen and since in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Saint Petersburg, Barcelona and London. Today, my works are held in the private collections across world - in USA, Canada, Spain, Sweden and Denmark among others.
I think of myself as a translator of culture and ideas but with enough ambiguity in my expression to leave room for interpretation. For me personally, I appreciate that whatever meaning you derive from art is ultimately a projection of your inner self, your dreams, desires and fears. Delacroix said that a good piece of art can say more than any text, and I think that's very true. Kandinsky compared art to language with a deep interconnection between the heart, mind and soul. I chose painting over writing as my form of expression, because art captures more nuances and emotions than words can. I am also impatient and crave fast results, and painting is the only medium where my ideas find their expression at the same speed as they appear in my mind.
“How do you approach a new piece and where do you find inspiration?”
When I get en idea, I am starting to paint directly on canvas. I am not doing sketches, just painting. My style of painting has a story-telling attribute to it. The paintings are layered and have taken several reiterations to achieve their final result.When I paint, I layer and overpaint, add, subtract, erase and elaborate. Works can take months, even years, to complete. Each of my works is an expression of many paintings below the surface and you can find remnants of different paintings in some of them. I don't believe in the notion of a 'right first time' when it comes to painting. Instead, I believe new meaning appears dynamically, and that you have to let go and let the work go on to complete itself. Sometimes over years.
My works are most often based on things I read, culture, literature, current and past history, and my canvases are large because I need space for every nuance of what I'm trying to convey.
First and foremost, I want to communicate depth, complexity and nuance. I can't control the meaning a person extracts from my art, and one painting can mean many things to different people. What I hope to convey consistently, though, is a specific and vast array of emotion. I've been rebelling against perfection since a very young age, and insisting on making colour-combinations my main form of expression over figurative images or geometric shapes. This frees the viewer from having to make an association to any object in the real world.
Instead of depicting things which I observe, my paintings reflect emotional moments I recall from the past, and also what I wish to see. My art depicts the world as I want to see it, not as it is. I think that is the ultimate value in art: that it offers us a richer and more beautiful reality than the one we live in. In the words of Philip Guston, ‘I mean there is a forgotten place of being and things, which I need to remember. I want to see this place. I paint what I want to see.’”
“Tell us more about you blossoming series”
True art spreads joy and inspires other people to think deeply about the world around us, power of nature. Beauty and depth of art can make peoples to be better. My intention is not so much to faithfully represent the world but rather to evoke the feelings and the inherent emotions contained within.
Painting featured in this theme are very different as they represent different aspects of emotions and my feeling though everyday life. Like in my painting “Everyday on my Way” I am showing my gratutude to the incredible beauty of flowers in the season of blossoming. Meanwhile “Unfading Flowers” is a kind of iconic picture where I am trying to express my nostalgic memories. I’m exploring the term ‘unfinished’ in the using a non finito—intentionally unfinished—aesthetic that embraces the unresolved and threfor inviting the viewers to make own interpretations.
“Tell us about a challenge you’ve faced and how it contributed to your artistic growth.”
I wish that women in the art world gain more respect and recognition. Of course only based on artistic quality, it is not a question of gender but there are many incredible female artists who are getting deserved recognition with some delay. But - better late than never!
My art first and foremost has to communicate depth, complexity and nuance. It shouldn’t be fast, easy or merely meant to please the eye. It has to be calorically dense, so to speak, in order for it to make a true mark as art and not a fast moveable consumer good.
I believe that one of the greatest challenges of today’s world is the ability to maintain attention on something for a longer period of time, to give the brain room to really absorb knowledge, insights, and art of course. We are held captive by a state of unrest, but in the end, beauty and profoundness will save the world. This is the role of art in the world as I see it.
“What advice do you have for aspiring artists based on your experience?”
Be authentic. Get more education and knowledge. Be open and love what you are doing instead of trying to figure out what the world will respond well to.
Personally, I don't believe in the notion of a 'right first time' when it comes to painting. Instead, I believe that new meaning appears dynamically, and that you have to let go and let the work go on to complete itself; sometimes over years. So my advice to upcoming artists would in essence be: Practice a growth mindset by continuously improving and trying something new as you go along.