Veronica Gudmundson Interview
1) How long have you been making art?
I have always been drawing and painting since I was a child. I loved creating fantasy worlds and expressing myself through colour and images.
I studied painting and sculpture in A-levels and continued to college and university where I studied Fine Art and Art, Design & Environment. Outside of school, I have in one way or another always been involving art in various projects.
2) What genre best describes the kind of art which you create?
I don't know if I can put my art in any genre really, I paint what comes from inside. It often has existential themes combined with astronomical phenomena. I paint what I am curious about, something I would like to understand or it could be a cosmological /philosophical statement. I can best describe my art as imaginative.
3) How has your artwork evolved since you began?
When I was younger I was mostly drawing fantasy-art, graffiti and airbrushing were also a big part of my artistic expression. In A-levels we had to focus on realistic painting so I did a great deal of that too. From illustrative and figurative paintings I have gone to more atmospheric images where the colour is more important than form. I have also focused more on astronomical phenomena and the sublime. I also make public art, for instance mural paintings, where I am focusing on the impact of colour based on my training in art therapy.
4) Is there a medium or technique that you have yet to try but would like to?
Vj:ing and mapping.
5) What would your ideal solo exhibition be like and where would it be held?
I have already had a couple of solo exhibitions in Sweden in different galleries which I combined with fundraising for an orphanage in Nepal and another for animal rights. The ideal solo exhibition.. well I think my dream project would be to create a big piece of public art for underprivileged people, in an economically and socially deprived area.
6) What do you like most about the art world?
A space for free expression, a space for discussion and questioning and exchange of thoughts. An individual free zone.
7) Which artists either historically or current, have influenced you the most?
I don't tend to look too much at other artists as I want the ideas for my work to come from inside myself. But if having to choose one that is inspirational, rather than influential, it is James Turrell. The way he is using light, colour and space together is amazing. I appreciate the way he tries to give the observer an experience that creates an awareness of the inner self, attempting to show that there is something much bigger beyond the self.
8) If you had to choose just one, what would be your favorite artwork?
It is an amazing piece called Ganzfeld by James Turrell. It's a large installation; a light-filled room with colours that modulates between the red and blue ends of the colour spectrum. One loses all sense of space and scale, the eyes gets lost in the infinite depth of colour. You start seeing with the whole body, a total experience of both body and spirit. An amazing feeling of being part of an infinity of colours!
9) Where did you sell your first artwork and how did it feel?
That was in the mid 90s in Sweden. It was nice to know that other people appreciated my work and equally the exchange of thoughts. I also made a mural painting in the city centre, which I really enjoyed as it was exposing the work to a wider audience.
10) What are you planning to exhibit at the New Artist Fair in March 2014?
Paintings with astronomical and cosmological themes.
I have always been drawing and painting since I was a child. I loved creating fantasy worlds and expressing myself through colour and images.
I studied painting and sculpture in A-levels and continued to college and university where I studied Fine Art and Art, Design & Environment. Outside of school, I have in one way or another always been involving art in various projects.
2) What genre best describes the kind of art which you create?
I don't know if I can put my art in any genre really, I paint what comes from inside. It often has existential themes combined with astronomical phenomena. I paint what I am curious about, something I would like to understand or it could be a cosmological /philosophical statement. I can best describe my art as imaginative.
3) How has your artwork evolved since you began?
When I was younger I was mostly drawing fantasy-art, graffiti and airbrushing were also a big part of my artistic expression. In A-levels we had to focus on realistic painting so I did a great deal of that too. From illustrative and figurative paintings I have gone to more atmospheric images where the colour is more important than form. I have also focused more on astronomical phenomena and the sublime. I also make public art, for instance mural paintings, where I am focusing on the impact of colour based on my training in art therapy.
4) Is there a medium or technique that you have yet to try but would like to?
Vj:ing and mapping.
5) What would your ideal solo exhibition be like and where would it be held?
I have already had a couple of solo exhibitions in Sweden in different galleries which I combined with fundraising for an orphanage in Nepal and another for animal rights. The ideal solo exhibition.. well I think my dream project would be to create a big piece of public art for underprivileged people, in an economically and socially deprived area.
6) What do you like most about the art world?
A space for free expression, a space for discussion and questioning and exchange of thoughts. An individual free zone.
7) Which artists either historically or current, have influenced you the most?
I don't tend to look too much at other artists as I want the ideas for my work to come from inside myself. But if having to choose one that is inspirational, rather than influential, it is James Turrell. The way he is using light, colour and space together is amazing. I appreciate the way he tries to give the observer an experience that creates an awareness of the inner self, attempting to show that there is something much bigger beyond the self.
8) If you had to choose just one, what would be your favorite artwork?
It is an amazing piece called Ganzfeld by James Turrell. It's a large installation; a light-filled room with colours that modulates between the red and blue ends of the colour spectrum. One loses all sense of space and scale, the eyes gets lost in the infinite depth of colour. You start seeing with the whole body, a total experience of both body and spirit. An amazing feeling of being part of an infinity of colours!
9) Where did you sell your first artwork and how did it feel?
That was in the mid 90s in Sweden. It was nice to know that other people appreciated my work and equally the exchange of thoughts. I also made a mural painting in the city centre, which I really enjoyed as it was exposing the work to a wider audience.
10) What are you planning to exhibit at the New Artist Fair in March 2014?
Paintings with astronomical and cosmological themes.
