Vanessa Wenwieser: Transcendent Darkness
Vanessa Wenwieser is a contemporary figurative artist from Munich, Germany, using photography and digital painting to create images that explore the darker side of beauty. Her work places women at the forefront and emphasizes their connection to nature, embracing both power and vulnerability.
How did your creative journey begin?
My creative journey began as far back as I can remember, I come from an artistic family and inspiration was all around me. I began drawing, painting and then taking photos very early on and it developed from there, as a teenager I painted my own version of Gustav Klimt’s the kiss and took art as a course in high school. When it came to studying I knew I wanted to go the the famous Glasgow School of Art as I love Rennie Mackintosh architecture and art nouveau. There was a year when one drew, painted, did sculpture but then I decided to specialize in Fine Art Photography as I enjoyed the process so much of experimenting in the dark room. I loved the crossover between the mechanical and the human touch. I managed to make my own photographic version of the scream by the painter, Edvard Munch. The whole atmosphere was magical and I felt like I could express what was deep within, being inspired by the photographer; Duane Michals, for example, who experimented and actually dared to write on the photographic surface which was very much frowned upon in the fine art circles. Another powerful influence on me was also the Fine Art Photographer; Brooke Shaden as she made me realize that one can also show your innermost emotions from a female viewpoint and I will be forever grateful to her for her kindness and support. Photography doesn’t need to be documentational at all, you can make it into what you feel is right for you. Just light, darkness and a little bit of magic.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
A lot of my inspiration comes from dreams and visions of how my art should look. The best time for me for inspiration is in my half slumber where I can slightly direct my subconscious and have idea upon idea and am still awake enough to draw and write them down in the half dark, sometimes they can be a bit hard to decipher. Sometimes when I am in a meditative state I will have visions too, especially when listening to music or going for a walk. However, all this comes from all the inspiration I have through books, poems, art of any kind, music, it all inspires me to think and it gets filtered down over time and leaves strong impressions in my mind and makes me think, which in turn inspires me into action. Sometimes of course my inspiration will also manifest itself in the spur of the moment, when I see certain shadow and angles during my photography or while I’m using Photoshop. Sometimes I’m in a creative state of mind and while doing work I will be playful and investigative and try out new things and those magical moments often remind me of my beginnings in the dark room, when images would be created as it seems amazing.
How has your work evolved over the last few years?
My artwork has evolved tremendously over the last years and I have utilized all the different mediums that I am acquainted with such as, photography, printmaking and drawing and explored them further and when Covid struck and I was forced to spend more time indoors, I had loads of time to experiment with Adobe Photoshop and that’s where I truly found my signature style. I had had visions and dreams of plants suffocating and entangling me and from there it started, that plants and even flowers could have a dark side too and not all is always sweet that looks beautiful and that often not everything is black and white and there are many dark and saturated shades I wanted to explore. I wanted to use a motif that is very common within the history of art, especially in still life or with women and take it into a more multi-facetted arena and delve much deeper and darker than had been before. I wanted to show how women are also less two dimensional than had been portrayed before and show how even the most beautiful and fragile thing could be stronger and more powerful than you may think. I wanted to portray my females as strong and that this is entwined to nature and through this connection is what makes them shine. I wanted to portray all these emotions, in a vulnerable way, things that can not be seen with the naked eye and it takes longer to see and more time and effort to realise. That’s when I came upon my signature red and green images where the powerful and complementary colours that draw the eye in and make the viewer think of life and nature and how they are intrinsically linked to one another.
What does a typical day in the studio look like for you, and how has your art practice grown or changed?
A typical day in my studio would be answering or writing e-mails or writing for artist statements or other kind of writing. Then depending if I have a shoot that day, I would make the model feel at ease and try different poses, I’ll have made notes and drawing anyway which I’d go through with her so she finds my instructions easier to understand, although I’m always open for spur of the moment ideas or poses that come through my head or hers, nothing is wasted and I always learn more as time goes on. I usually like to put on music to loosen the atmosphere. I think being a female makes the models feel at ease and have a rapport with. Otherwise, I’ll work on the post production and on Photoshop and the layering side of things. I use texture that I photograph when out and about walking or even painted textures and then I experiment adding shades and highlights to the figures, I use layers and masking layers and paint in what I would like to be seen from the added layer or what I would like to vanish or hide. These skills have been self taught over time and I have quite my own way of doing things. Whatever medium I have used in the past, photography, drawing and printmaking my work always ends up look painterly, so what I will start doing in my studio is using mixed media to emphasis the painterly quality even more and make people wonder how it was created.
Which experiences have impacted your work as an artist?
Experiences like for example traveling and seeing great works of art or cultural achievements like Antonio Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia, sublime moments like that inspire me and lift my spirit to believe in humanity. Other great experiences traveling have been seeing Renaissance art in Florence’s well as being Albrecht Dürer’s home and witnessing his art in Dresden, he was a member of what is called the northern Renaissance and its fascinating for me to see the difference and similarities between them. And also great exhibitions like in Amsterdam, a Van Gogh exhibition where they imported all his nighttime paintings and the effect was stupendous, it may never be re-created again. Other cultural events that have really lifted my artistic spirt are also in Leipzig, showing art in an old factory warehouses with moving images and sound, that hit me on a very profound level and the light shows all over town I saw in Luzern, Switzerland, the layering of art and lights on architecture and churches left a lasting impression on me. Otherwise, I am deeply moved by nature, by the sea or taking photos in the Florida Everglades that make me feel I am in prehistoric times as well as in my alpine homeland and when you are far removed on the top of the mountain and through the clouds there is suddenly some rays of sunshine, the beauty and wonder of that is sublime. Otherwise, there are many socio-political events that have influenced my art to become more feminist and more inclusive but nothing has influenced me as strongly as Masa Amides death and consequently the upswing of the Iranian women and how strong they were. I will forever be in awe and amazement at this. I make some project about socio-cultural events with a friend of mine Tatiana Moura from Brazil, to hopefully create awareness and a more open minded public.
How has social media impacted your work?
I must say initially I was suspicious and skeptical about joining Instagram, thinking it is full of shallow people, but I have come to realize over time, that this is not so, it’s like in real life there are different kind of people and through time you can get to know them quite well and I have a great group of artist that I have an amazing support with, it got me through the isolation during Covid and they continue to support and influence me to this day. There are such amazing and beautiful artists out there who will reciprocate support and are just so inspiring each and every day. I receive info from other artists or art organizations or magazines, through social media, for open calls and competitions, which are invaluable.
What do you enjoy most about the digital art process?
What I enjoy most about the digital process is that one can experiment non-destructively, very quickly and efficiently. A painter might want to save time and see what background colours might look good behind the figure he painted. Also one can combine different techniques and still enjoy the imperfect and man-made versus the machine-made too. One can layer photography and painting and print and try out new things. It’s very exciting. I used screen printing as a medium for a while and enjoyed the back and forth of mark making or painting and photography and that juxtaposing of elements that are opposing to each other. It is mostly important what you do with it though to not make it look heavy-handed or clumsy, which can easily be the case in the beginning. It takes many hours to be able to perfect an artwork and I would say as advice to someone starting out is only learn the elements you will need in your next project, there are many tutorials online and like this you won’t feel overwhelmed. Also just be free and experiment, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. Experiment, experiment, experiment and you might find a path that has never been walked before.
Website: https://www.kunstfabrikstudio.com/
Instagram: @kunstfabrikstudio