Antonia Rodrian
Artwork’s Title: The Net, 2019
Materials Used: Oil on canvas
Studio Based: Düsseldorf, Germany
Can you tell us about the process of making your work?
My work consists mainly of paintings and drawings. Both play an important role, and neither is inferior to the other. Sometimes I use the drawings as foundations for a painting and sometimes a painting comes first and I continue drawing from the same idea. They influence each other, they are intertwined.
In the big paintings I start with a general sketch of the idea or the composition and than work from light to dark, adding more and more contrast – while maybe changing the original sketch during the process. I use the oil paint quite thinly, almost rubbing the paint into the canvas. The most joyous part to me is the last act: adding the shadows.
How would you define your work in a few words (ideally in 3 words)?
What happened here?
Would you use another three different words to describe ‘The Net’ painting?
Where is this?
How did you come up with this painting idea? Is there any story behind this painting?
I spent the last six months living and working in Tel Aviv with an artist-in-residence programme called “Bronner Residency”.
During my residency I took inspiration from all the new things surrounding me there, basic everyday impressions. Structures, repetitions, colours and spaces. But I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out where I am – puzzling over concepts of identities and inherent contradictions, as well as political issues and regional conflicts. I loved the movements of learning a new script – the beauty of both Hebrew and Arabic.
Maybe some of these subjects found their way into this strange and a bit mysterious painting. You can read a lot into it but you can just as well choose to focus on the colours and abstract forms or the shadows.
What colour is used the most in this painting?
A brownish or reddish orange and a light blue.
What would be the best way to exhibit your work?
I do like bright spaces and big walls. The classic white cube seems likely, but I can also enjoy a more unconventional space.
How do you know when this painting was finished?
I never really know how to answer this question. I guess when some kind of problem was solved to me but enough questions are still available to the viewer.
What about the place where you work? What’s your studio space look like?
During my residency I worked in a quiet studio by myself, looking out a window to the streets and onto a small sports field – not far away from the busy market and the sea.
Now I am back in my studio in Düsseldorf. It is spacious, has high ceilings and roof lights and I work there with two friends and great painters: Pia Krajewski and Antonia Freisburger. We have a community kitchen and brew each other coffee. The space is quite clean and open.
The three of us do not only share a studio but also run a small exhibition space together, called “sonneundsolche”. We invite other artists to exhibit and experiment with different kinds of group and solo shows.
Is there any particular message that you wish your viewers can take from this painting?
I would like to leave that up to the viewer.
What does your mum think about your art?
She is a fan.
Which exhibition did you visit last?
The permanent collection of the archaeological Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem.
Which are your plans for the near future?
My next upcoming exhibition is a group show in an artist run space called “Bistro 21” in Leipzig.
Additional Paintings
© All images are courtesy of the artist