Interview
Natalia Rose
Natalia Rose is a Danish artist best known for her semi-abstract works. Her works feature pictograph-like symbols, painted with broad and heavy brushstrokes. Natalia raises questions about the nature of communication, and the way in which one can express abstract and conceptual ideas through color and iconographic markings.
Born in 1953 in Stavropol, Russia, Natalia studied at the Moscow State University, and later at the University of Copenhagen. In 2014, she held her first exhibition in Copenhagen, and later in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Saint Petersburg, London and Barcelona.
Today, her works are held in private collections across the world — in USA, Canada, Spain, Sweden and Denmark, among others.
Natalia lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I can’t think of a time in my life that was void of a need to creatively express myself. I was always designing, writing for the newspaper, and painting. My greatest source of joy is being in a state of flow, expressing my ideas in different forms.
Growing up in the Soviet Union, being an artist was associated with high uncertainty. This made me discount art as a career path. Even so, I never stopped thinking creatively and cultivating images of the art that I wanted to create. However, it wasn’t until I had fully explored what a conventional career meant—or lacked, for that matter—that I came to understand how much I longed to reconnect with the creative part of myself. Once I did that approximately ten years ago, I felt that I became a whole person.”
What inspires you most?
“I’m exploring the term ‘unfinished’ in the visual arts. There are works left incomplete and works using a non finito—intentionally unfinished—aesthetic that embraces the unresolved. Artists like Cézanne, and modern artists Jackson Pollock and Robert Rauschenberg have taken the unfinished in entirely new directions, blurring the distinction between making and un-making, extending the boundaries of art, and inviting the viewers to make own interpretations.
I am also inspired by the looser norms of what constitutes 'good' art. The art world has become more inclusive, which leaves room for a much wider variety. I don’t necessarily agree with or like everything out there, but I appreciate that there is room for it. This gives me the courage to deliver an unpolished, authentic expression of my inner self to an audience when I feel it’s ready.
I don't believe in the notion of a 'right first time' when it comes to painting. Instead, I believe new meaning appears dynamically; that you have to let go and let the work go on to complete itself, sometimes over years.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“In my art, I draw from historical and cultural imagery to create a visual map of identity—an identity that mingles Eastern and Western beauty ideals and mythologies. Tensions between the varying cultures emerge in the juxtaposition of Danish and Russian worlds, as well as in the celebration and antagonization of the Eastern and Western ideas of beauty and cartoons. Moments are depicted to punctuate the human drama, in order to clarify our existence and find poetic meaning in everyday life.
As a result of growing up in the former Soviet Union, freedom and its expressions have been a consistent theme and impact in my life as an artist. Throughout the years, art has been the only messenger and translator of my personal experience in a way that would accurately convey what words couldn’t capture.”
“My work has been described as symphonic, which I find poignant. I’m currently pursuing this connection to music in even greater depth.
I think of art as a language, and the language of music is especially interesting. I treat paintbrushesin the same way a pianist or cellist would use their tools to trim sound.”
How would you describe your work?
“My works are based on formal associations which open a unique poetic vein. Multilayered images arise in which the fragility and instability of our seemingly certain reality is questioned. By emphasizing aesthetics, I try to grasp language. Transformed into art, language becomes an ornament. At that moment, lots of ambiguities and indistinctness inherent to the phenomenon come to the surface.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I was born and raised in Russia, and the Russian inspiration is apparent in my works, ranging from nativistic folk art, Russian icons, to Russian avant-garde.
In addition, the influence of Central European expressionism spanning to abstract expressionism is also clear; artists like Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova, Emil Nolde and Jackson Pollock.
Other artists I admire include Kazuo Shiraga, Mikhail Vrubel, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, and more.”
What is your creative process like?
“When I get an idea, I start painting directly on canvas without any prior sketches. My style of painting has a storytelling attribute to it. The paintings are layered and undergo several reiterations to achieve their final result.
When I paint, I layer and paint over, add, subtract, erase, and elaborate. Works can take months, or even years to complete. Each of my works is an expression of many paintings below the surface, and you can find remnants of different paintings in some of them.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“First and foremost, I want to communicate depth, complexity, and nuance through my work. However, I can’t control the meaning one extracts from my art, and one painting can mean many things to different people. Ultimately, I hope to consistently convey a specific and vast array of emotions. I’ve been rebelling against perfection since a very young age, and insisting on making color-combinations my main form of expression over figurative images or geometric shapes. This frees the viewer from having to make an association to any object in the real world.
Instead of depicting things which I observe, my paintings reflect emotional moments I recall from the past, and also what I wish to see. My art depicts the world as I want to see it, not as it is. I think that is the ultimate value in art—that it offers us a richer and more beautiful reality than the one we live in. In the words of Philip Guston, ‘I mean, there is a forgotten place of being and things which I need to remember. I want to see this place. I paint what I want to see.’
With constant motion and impression intensity, we experience overwhelm in the search for a tangible means of self-expression. Complexity and lack of clarity leads to an experience of separation, loneliness, and a yearning to connect to something or someone, while at the same time to separate and be distinguishable. Differentiated. We are held captive by a state of unrest, but in the end, beauty will save the world. This is the true artist’s role in the society.”
Please tell us about any previous exhibition you found noteworthy and wish to share.
“In 2022, I’ve participated in the following exhibitions:
- International Biennale in Barcelona, MEAM Museum (European Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona), Spain. November.
- Art Screen TV Digital Exhibition MAG Fair Montreux, Switzerland. November.
- Palma 1.0 Casa Del Arte Palma, Spain. October/November.
- ARTISTI presentation of the volume to the press and exhibition at EFFETTO ARTE GALLERY, Palermo, Italy. September.
- Exhibition FLOWER POWER, Nata Watts Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark. August/September.
- UnisVers’ART exhibition MUSES & CREATORS, Centre Spirituel et Culturel Orthodoxe Russe, Paris, France. July.
- International Contemporary Art Exhibition Yellow, M.A.D.S. Gallery Milano. April/May.
- Creative Mind Øksnehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark. April.
A full list of the shows I’ve participated in is available on my website.”
