Collector Focus :
Claudia Kaak
#figurativeart #artcollector #oilpainting #movie #inspiration
In Pursuit of Truth and Beauty, 2019 (Diptych) | Oil on canvas | 17 3/10 × 40 9/10 in | 43.9 × 103.9 cm | Available from Zhou B Art Center
Claudia Kaak is a German self-taught artist whose main subject is the human figure. Her paintings are based on photographs and movie stills. Every work has an autobiographical and social narrative which focuses on her childhood experiences. Her artwork deals with existential feelings, the inner strife of human beings and the extreme unlimited emotional and physical experience of pain. Her work is mostly untitled with a number assigned to a series in order not to influence the viewer. Her intention is to break taboo and allow emotional disorder to seep through the artwork.
A Thousand Times Good Night, 2019 | Charcoal on paper | 8 3/10 × 11 4/5 in | 21 × 30 cm | Buy from @33Contemporary
What concept or narrative is behind your work?
My work is autobiographical and society-critical. I work through my childhood experiences which affects my whole life. It deals with existential feelings, the inner strife of human beings, deep emotions to the extreme limit of pain but also the complete reversal. Many of my paintings are untitled and I assigns each of them with a number to form a part of a numbered series in order not to influence the viewer. I want to break the taboo to speak about and show feelings and emotional disorder.
How true are you to your artist statement?
I am very true to my artist statement because it's the air I breathe and everything that constitute my existence. It reflects my whole life, my experiences, dreams, wishes and fears. Nevertheless, my work has been evolving because my life and my experiences are changing.
Which other artists have you shown with?
I had the pleasure to show with artists like Gerhard Richter, Gottfried Helnwein, Xenia Hausner, Dmitry Zhilinsky, Harmonia Rosales, Andrea Kowch, Margaret Bowland, and Claudio Bravo among many other artists from the PoetsArtists community.
Explain your process.
The beginning is very different. It can be planned and I am meeting one of my models or plan something with my children or it can happen by random. My children do something interesting what I could use or I get an idea out of a situation, I see a movie and like a certain scene.
Then I think about the composition and start the preliminary drawing. When I begin to paint I always start with the face and every part of the skin. At the end I paint the background but often I finish it simultaneously with the hair because usually I paint wet-in-wet.
Terrence Melick’s movie The Tree of Life was the inspiration behind Claudia Kaak’s Untitled (Series 10, No. 5), which taps into adolescence on a deeper level. Explaining her painting and its connection to the film, Kaak says, “The movie and its motifs resonate with me in its impressive and emotive portrayal of a child conflicted. He experiences extreme emotions transitioning from the innocence of childhood to a disillusioned adulthood. My painting draws upon the maternal warmth offered to the child. It is a simple scene, a whispered moment; the shadows are laden with an undercurrent of a deeper meaning. Movie stills and photographs provide a means for me to understand my own childhood experiences, which were far from ideal. I explore societal taboos and disorder, and through my artistic practice I hope to be able to deal with the damage of my past and provide my own children with a world of wonder and nurture. - American Art Collector, October 2019, ROCHELLE BELSITO
Untitled Series 10 #5, 2017 | Oil on canvas | 23 3/5 × 31 1/2 in | 60 × 80 cm | Available from Ille Arts
Terrence Melick’s movie The Tree of Life was the inspiration behind Claudia Kaak’s Untitled (Series 10, No. 5), which taps into adolescence on a deeper level. Explaining her painting and its connection to the film, Kaak says, “The movie and its motifs resonate with me in its impressive and emotive portrayal of a child conflicted. He experiences extreme emotions transitioning from the innocence of childhood to a disillusioned adulthood. My painting draws upon the maternal warmth offered to the child. It is a simple scene, a whispered moment; the shadows are laden with an undercurrent of a deeper meaning. Movie stills and photographs provide a means for me to understand my own childhood experiences, which were far from ideal. I explore societal taboos and disorder, and through my artistic practice I hope to be able to deal with the damage of my past and provide my own children with a world of wonder and nurture. - American Art Collector, October 2019, ROCHELLE BELSITO
Forget Me Not, 2019 | Oil on canvas | 7 1/10 × 9 2/5 in | 18 × 24 cm | Available from @33Contemporary
Claudia Kaak is a member of the PoetsArtists community. Follow 33 Contemporary on Artsy for further updates.