Interview

Oct 11

Eden Gutstein

Eden Gutstein is an Israeli an artist, illustrator and tattoo-artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. She moved to the U.S from Israel in 2018 to pursue her artistic goals and graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration and a minor in acting. Throughout the years, Eden's work was showcased in many different places, shows, festivals and events around Atlanta. Her work is driven by social messages, ideologies and metaphors. A lot of the work is graphic and portrays ideas of social issues, such as injustice, desire for equality, women's rights and mental health. A lot of her earlier work is inspired by 60's and 70's aesthetic, especially her pattern making. Eden's background in writing and interest in poetry is what a lot of her work is based on, such as her piece "Mental Imprisonment" and "The Beating Heart". Working with different themes, such as travel posters with a vintage touch, surrealism, botanical paintings and a distinct tattooing style, she covers a broad set of skills and artistic styles. Her art work is sold in different stores and events in the city of Atlanta and is constantly expanding.

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

“I am originally from Israel and I come from a multi-cultural background. My mother's side of the family is Georgian, and my father's side of the family is from Egypt. Starting my artistic journey was very intuitive for me. I started drawing as soon as I figured out how to hold a pencil, which was around the age of 4. Keeping in mind, that back when I was growing up we did not have the technology that kids have today, such as Iphones, Ipads, social media platform and etc. I was also a pretty introverted kid that did not spend much time playing with the other kids. I lived in my own little world I had created for myself. I grew up with my aunt that was around me all the time and she introduced me to drawing. I remember attempting to draw portraits of her when I was five years old. Looking back at my very first art pieces, I can tell that I was inspired by surrealism and the dream world. My head was always in the clouds and I wanted to make sure to translate that into paper. For me being an artist was not really a decision I made, but rather a natural gravitation I have been born with. I did not see it as something I need to achieve, it was more of a state of joy I would fall into. Looking back at my old elementary school notebooks, I find so many drawings between the pages. I would constantly doodle in every single class and I remember that at certain times, other kids would pass me their notebooks for me to draw something for them. It was just a skill that became subconscious, where I would always find myself doing in some way or another. When I was in middle school going into high school, I made the decision that I wanted to become a tattoo artist one day, as I was always drawing art on my friends bodies pretending its a real tattoo. I started creating flash sheets in my middle school notebooks, knowing that one day this art is going to be residing on someone's skin. Years later, that dream came to pass, as I was able to use the same designs I had created at 14 and turned them into tattoos.”

What inspires you?

“So many things. To be honest, a lot of my art pieces are inspired by poetry. Poetry by nature invokes so many emotions that many times comes from the need to express, the need to be heard, seen and the to vocalize your pain. There is beauty in emotions and feelings, even the painful ones. Creating a drawing or a painting for me is like writing a poem or a passage in a diary. It's always personal but it is also up for interpretation. It might not be as obvious as a poem and sometimes I find that I can illustrate my emotions and thoughts better in a visual sense rather than vocalizing them. It feels safer and less confrontational. Poets like Robert Frost and Sylvia Plath have inspired some of my favorite art pieces. Another big inspiration for me is nature and especially flowers. When I do traditional work, I mostly paint flowers. When I took art history class in college, I was fascinated to learn that in the Victorian era, people used flowers to convey secret messages, especially between men and women. They had a flower dictionary and every flower had a different underlying meaning. This inspired me to create handmade postcards of flowers where you can leave a message in the back of the card. My more recent work that you can find on my website has been inspired by social issues. I have done some artwork for the Science Gallery of Atlanta recently, and their exhibition was based on ideas of justice and injustice. I learned so much by creating those pieces, and how many forms injustice can take. This gave me a sense of purpose, creating work that has a strong message and purpose to the public and not just art that is pretty to look at.”

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

“When it comes to themes with my work, I go through different phases. Last year, I went through a phase of creating travel posters of different cities and places around the world. I have met friends from so many different states and places from around the world, and their stories inspired me to create an illustration. Especially, as I come from a multicultural household, I have always had a deep passion to explore what is out there. I have gone through a Mid Century Modern phase with my artwork, where I used a very specific color scheme and added retro elements to every piece I had creates. I really enjoy the sense of nostalgia that this specific style carries. And as I mentioned previously, I am currently going through a phase of creating illustrations that revolve around the ideas of social topics that arise in our everyday lives. That way I can convey a certain message without a need to be political. At the end of the day as human beings, we all want to be heard, seen, respected and treated equally and that is the message I am trying to illustrate with my pieces that revolve around social topics.”

“Poetry by nature invokes so many emotions that many times comes from the need to express, the need to be heard, seen and the to vocalize your pain. There is beauty in emotions and feelings, even the painful ones. Creating a drawing or a painting for me is like writing a poem or a passage in a diary. It's always personal but it is also up for interpretation.”

How would you describe your work?

“There is not necessarily one specific way that I can describe my work, as I work in so many different styles and am always evolving. I would say that my purpose with my work is to make people feel something, especially with pieces that where inspired by a state of being I was in when I created them. A lot of my work is also abstract enough for people to be able to tailor their own story and meaning to what they see. And that is the best part of it all. Being able to create a certain idea I had in mind, and seeing so many different interpretations that are based on people's perspectives. If I had to choose a common theme with all of my pieces I would say they all bring a sense of nostalgia.”

Which artists influence you most?

“A lot of my art is actually inspired by poets such as Robert Frost and Sylvia Plath. When it comes to visual artists that inspire my work, I can definitely say that a lot of what I do is inspired by Rene Magritte, Rafal Olbinski, Joseph Albers, Erte and Salvador Dali.”

What is your creative process like?

“My creative process has to start from a certain feeling, an idea that I feel like I have to materialize into paper. Even when I work on a digital piece, it always has to start in my sketchbook with an actual pencil. I get a certain image in my head and I figure out a way to translated it into a sheet of paper or a canvas. Once I am done with outlining the idea and creating a few revisions, I think of the color scheme I want to create. As we know through color psychology, colors set a certain mode and the palette you choose to use for your piece creates a completely different meaning. I usually create at least five different color options and get an opinion from my friends and family to see which one works the best. And of course there isn't a right or wrong answer, however, I am always curious as to how it makes them feel when they look at it. My creative process seems to be changing from piece to piece, depending on what it is that I am making. Sometimes I do need to get myself out in nature and look at a landscape to be inspired and other times I just think of an idea and a few hours later it turns into a finished piece.”

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

“Whether people are artists or not, as human beings we have been consuming art since the beginning of time. And that gets into the philosophical question of what is actual art? And there is no specific answer nor limits. Art can be anything from the clothes we wear, the plates on our dining table, the framed painting that we hang in our living room and the music that we listen to. If life was an empty room painted in white, an artist's role is to add color, both literally and metaphorically. Artists create a certain atmosphere and add exciting elements to different areas of our lives. Imagine walking into a waiting room in a dentist's office and all you see are white walls? Now imagine if the same office had beautiful art work around the walls, it creates a whole different feeling. Or imagine how the artsy areas of your city would look without all the street art and murals? It would feel like an unseasoned meal that doesn't even have salt or pepper. Of course an artist's purpose is not just aesthetics and adding elements of beauty. Artists are storytellers, whether it is fiction or a true life stories. Artists provide a voice and resonance. It connects people in more ways than we think. There has always been a need for art and I think that in modern days art is finally being taken more seriously, turning into an actual career rather than just a hobby you keep for the weekend. I am excited to see how much further this evolution is going to go.”

Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?

“I have created event illustrations for the Justice Exhibition at the Science Gallery Atlanta. All the illustrations revolved around different elements of justice and injustice that we are faced in our everyday life. The four events I have illustrated for are "A Just Sentence", "Justice Vs The Law", "Justice Yoga" and "Comedy and Conversations." You can find all of those on the Science Gallery Atlanta Website.”