Interview

Chiara Dominique Daum

Chiara Dominique Daum was born in 2003 in Offenbach, Germany. She’s a self taught artist, coming from a very creative family, where art had always been something that was supported strongly. She was lucky enough to grow up being strongly in touch with her own emotions. After Grade twelve, Chiara left the school early and two years after, realized that university wasn’t the right thing for her neither. So she just got back to painting. She started to focus on it and improving both her art style and her techniques. Her great aunt, Eleonore Elfers who is in artist herself, used to have an art school and also thought art herself, helped her a lot during that time and even today. Today, Chiara explores in her work, what had shaped her so strongly: emotions and their impact on each one of us. She’s fascinated by making them the star of the show. Making visible what she sees, feels and often gets hidden. Even though emotions are such a important part of life and our society, as she thinks.

 

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I grew up in a very artistic family and was lucky enough to be supported from early on. Almost all of my family members do pursue some kind of art. Painting, drawing, writing or photography. My parents weren't very strict when I grew up, so got to choose myself, in what kind of activities I was interested in. From early on, I had always been painting, making sketches, writing stories or drawing. In middle school I was very into realistically drawing animals and Portraits, as well as doing photography too. Later I started painting with oils and fell in love with the medium. Growing up, I couldn't imagine doing something creative as a job, but as I grew up, I realized how much it means to me. How it makes me feel content and grounded. How it gives me room and a voice to tell what I am feeling. I have always been a person with deep feelings and many thoughts, sometimes so many, I don't even know where to put them. They have always fascinated me. Feelings and their impact on us, their beauty and pain. Love, hate, sorrow, happiness and so many more. They're in a flow, always changing and evolving. They're so alive and they make us so alive. Painting and art became a more and more essential part of my life. Now I can't imagine doing anything else with my life, but creating. When I realized that, I started working towards that. Luckily my great aunt, Eleonore Elfers, is a painter herself and used to have an art school. So I got and still get to learn so much from her, making me an always evolving artist. I feel very blessed to be surrounded by people who believe in me and never told me, what wasn't possible.”

What inspires you?

“I think life itself and emotions is the biggest inspiration there is. No matter if it's the act of falling in love with someone or loosing them, feeling in control of life or feeling frozen in time. It's what I experience, no matter whether it's the sexual abuse some of the people I know they went through, told me about, or loosing someone I deeply loved, to drug abuse. It's fights with my sister, having panic attacks, lying in bed at night, thinking about my biggest dreams or being overwhelmed with everything. I often think of the fact, that feelings can feel to different to each of us. My sorrow isn't your sorrow and your thoughts aren't mine. We never fully know what another being is experiencing, no matter how much we think we do. Language has its own barriers and every person lives in their own little world, looking through glasses that are tinted by our own experiences, that form how we feel and act in life and situations we are confronted with. Painting has become my way of telling my part of the story. My feelings and emotions. Really hoping there are people out there, feeling seen through my paintings. Finding themselves in my paintings, their own feelings and experiences, their own part of the story. No matter if it's some form of abuse or loss, they went through, or their first love. Emotions are important, very important and we sadly live in a world, where there often is no room for them. But they do need that. We need to have room for what we feel and experience. It makes us human and alive, which is why they're the star of my paintings. Being put in the foreground, finally visible.”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“In my paintings, I study emotions and their impact on us. They're about connection and disconnection. My own experiences and life and feelings. Each of my painting is its own little world, having their own special message. ‘inner voices’ for example, is about feelings and their impact on each on of us, ‘Medusa’ is about sexual abuse and how we should change the way we treat victims of it. My painting ‘broken heart syndrome’ is about my own broken heart and how I personally grew from the pain and ‘you're (not) a doll’ , a painting I’m currently working on, is about our responsibility to take care of ourselves and our actions. It's really worth it to read into the exact meaning and description of each painting, on my website. They're unique and speak their own language. Each one of my painting has a strong voice and message, but in the end it's always about emotions. Mine, yours, the person next to you. It can be so different and similar at the same time. My work speaks deeply from my heart, carrying pieces of my own story, reflecting yours. And I can tell you, there are so many more paintings to come, hoping they can bring us closer to ourselves and our emotions. Closer to the person next to us.”

How would you describe your work?

“My work is very colorful, metaphorical and full of symbolism. Each one of my paintings are full of emotion and life, created to bring some light into darkness, hope to those who need it and are meant to make people feel seen. They're all created with so much love and passion, with attention to detail. They all tell their own story, yet they tell my story. I usually paint portraits, mostly women, as our bodies fascinates me the most. I often play with contrast of color, fabric or flowers. Using a glazing technique, I get to give my paintings depth and life, which is really important to me. Usually my paintings are quite big, between 1 and 1.5 meters tall and wide, making the viewer feel like they're part of the paintings, to fully observe it and feel what is meant to be felt. Giving space to just feel and observe, to forget anything else for a moment.”

Which artists influence you most?

“I really love art, so there are quite some artists who inspire me. On the top of the list is Maria Guimarães, she has such a unique understanding of color, contrast and making the viewer feel. I don't think I can even fully describe how her work makes me feel. Darcy Whent is a young artist from London, she has such a playful style, yet full of symbolism. Her paintings feel so free and warm to me. I even own two originals from her, myself. Nadine Tralala is another amazing painter with such a unique understanding of color, contrast and light. Leny is a Parisian artist and paints insanely good paintings. All of his works of art are so unique and full of strength and life. Inés Longevial is truly inspiring too. She paints really playful, emotional paintings, that feel content and alive to me. What I think mostly inspires me about those artists is their knowledge and level of skill, just as the way they use color and light, what shows in my paintings too. Art makes art, which is very beautiful and important, as I think.”

“My work is very colorful, metaphorical and full of symbolism.”

What is your creative process like?

“Usually, my creative process starts with a flash of inspiration. That can be a feeling or situation I'm going through, but also a painting or color combination I see. Often those sudden Ideas develop in my head as time goes by. They change and evolve, often I bring them to paper, just so I don't forget about them. At this point I have like 20 more paintings just sitting in my head or as sketches on paper, waiting for their turn. When one of them just stays on my mind and I have the time and space for it, I start working on it. Making sketches, trying different color ways, perfecting what story it tells. When it feels right, I start to bring it on a canvas. Lying down the underpainting and then more and more layers of oil paint. One painting takes me up to a half a year to finish, as each layer has to dry, before applying the next one. I do at all times, work on several paintings, switching between them, to be more efficient. I truly love every stage of the process, wishing I could be much faster, because Ideas just keep on coming, yet my time to work on them is limited, as I currently can't afford to make a living from my art. My paintings are finished, when they feel done. When I can sit in front of them and they radiate exactly what I want them to. Sometimes, it can really take time to get to that point. When something feels weird or just not exactly how I want it. The feeling I have, when they're done is unmatched. Something I created, with my own mind and hands. I feel very blessed to be able to make those special pieces.”

What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?

“I think artists are insanely important and at the same time, we're really not. We're unimportant, as we are not really essential so live. Even though it might feel different, art isn't something you can consume, that feeds your body and makes you physically stay alive. Yet there are poems that have kept people from committing suicide. There are paintings that make people feel things, they haven’t in months or years. On a Physical level, art isn't the most important thing. But it can give hope and a sense of safety, purpose and love. It can make people feel understood or content, maybe angry or alive. As known, those emotions do have an influence on our physical health. Mental Health matters in every way, just like physical health. Also in a historical way, art is very important. As we look back, art can tell us so much about the time it was created. No matter which form of art. It can tell u what clothing was trending, if people were feeling happy, romantic or angry, how the society felt. How well the economy was doing or if there was a war or famine. Sometimes art tells those things in a hidden way, but it's always there. I think that art will always be exactly that. And how important certain forms of art are currently o in future, to society, does get formed by the way people feel. It depends on the influence of poverty, a bad economy or affluence has on them. We do get drawn to things that make us feel seen and important.”


 
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