Yareah Magazine

El lobo interior

What is the essence of art for me?
First of all -art must not leave the spectator unaffected. Whether it is joy, calmness, sorrow, fear, disgust or thoughtfulness you feel. In my works I like to give the spectator something to think about. I do hide a lot of themes in my pictures. So what you get from looking at the pictures vary a lot – depending on the basis you have as a spectator. But art doesn’t stop with provoking the spectator’s emotion.
To me art is inextricably bound up with the artist having craftsman like ability. If everything you achieve in your pictures, your songs, your sculptures, your dance is made by pure coincidence, I wouldn’t call it art. Mere successful playing.
I myself have chosen a rather long-winded medium – the woven tapestry. If I don’t master my craft, I can’t express exactly what I want. I don’t believe in divine inspiration, but hard work in combination with my own personal development. When a set of feelings, problems, challenges have matured inside me, this transformation in shape of a picture is ready to “come out”. By the way it helps me a lot, that I don’t have to make my money selling pictures – I make the pictures on a totally egoistic basis , for my own sake. Money and art can be a dangerous mixture.
Animals like the wolf and the toro bravo have inspired me a lot. They both are in possession of hereditary courage, loyalty, beauty-strength and an unerring instinct of, when something must live and when it must die. Natural wisdom! If we today would be willing to accept our biological inheritance, we could learn so much from these two animals. So whenever you’re in a serious crisis – sharpen your inner wise wolf – whether you do it art-wise or not!