Interview
Rosa Roedelius
Rosa Roedelius is a German artist who grew up in an artistic environment. Her mother studied stage design under Lois Egg at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and her father is a freelance composer.
As a child, she spent much time among musicians and artists, and has known she’s an artist for as long as she can remember. She was never bored, constantly finding and reassembling, painting and thinking up stories, or reading and strolling through the wilderness of her village.
Later on, Rosa studied Art, Animation and Tapestry at the University of Applied Arts, where she also worked as a lecturer for some years.
What inspires you most?
“The great gift of my childhood is the time spent on the island of Corsica. Its wildness and beauty have made it possible for me to experience a unity with the great mysteries of nature. The sea, in its unpredictability, its pulsation, waves, depths, its unexplored nature is a great source of inspiration. Nature itself, in its fertility and beauty, is the source from which I draw my inspiration. And of course, its the expression of many other artists that inspires me and keeps me curious and aware, as they show me their interpretations of the world.”
“My main theme and source of inspiration is the sea, which stands for the depth of the human soul, from which both the creatures of the inner struggles and the wonderful beings of the clarified inner world emerge.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“Amazement and wonder are human characteristics that expand the world and enable free thinking. The speechlessness that follows open-mouthed amazement is an unexpected source that begins to flow, because you stopped thinking for a moment.
In rare moments, the naked you in your creative expression reaches the other person. Art arises from man's mysterious ability to create astonishingly from his thinking body. Kairo's breath helps, as do the muses of everyday life - and what you have brought into life connects with those who want to be part of it. Connectedness is probably what art longs for. Since I'm kind of a storyteller, maybe I hope people get the message: my questioning, processing myself and showing what is going on in my world. Showing my fears and my light, but also my shadows. Most of the time I show the first take uncensored with all its mistakes. Nobody is flawless.”
“We all feel alone in our world, in the big world and that's a good thing. We are alone and yet connected. Art shows that there is more, so much more. Rely on your imagination, and let the imagination of others take you to unknown coasts. The topic, therefore, is the self-observation on ever-new islands that one travels to voluntarily, or where one is stranded, and the reaction of others to it. The fertility in its inexhaustibility, the human depths and heights in the ups and downs of life are further sources of inspiration.”
How would you describe your work?
“In a dreamlike certainty, I bring to life those things which apparently want to be seen by myself. Since I don't want to give too much away, because every story includes the listener and every work of art includes the viewer, I try not to be too specific. The secret of a shape, a sculpture, an object in which many figures can be seen enables others to become part of the creation process. So, my work seems archaic and not flattering. It leaves questions unanswered. It's kind of raw.”
“In my academic years, when my images were like a short summary of a long story, or the stills of the most relevant scene from a movie, I was ultimately very self-centered. I always had the urge to unravel the secret. I wanted others to understand the point. I wanted to be understood. But now I find that open-ended stories invite one to feel like a companion with the storyteller.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I love art movements like Dada and Environmental Art. I admire Pina Bausch and Louise Bourgeois. I was accompanied by writers like Rilke, who leads us on romantic paths, and Dostoevsky with his ability to reveal the depths of the human soul. I'm excited about the mischievous part of Heinrich Heine's humor.
I am just as inspired by Georges Méliès as I am by Anish Kapoor. I love Cy Twombly and his poetic, light, but powerful work as well as the humor and the colorfulness of Christian Ludwig Attersee, who has made himself a brand in the midst of the often frozen seriousness that prevailed in Vienna and thus provoked outrage. Roman Signer and Franz West moved me as much as Cindy Sherman and Kiki Smith, Sheela Gowda and Camille Claudel. This list could be expanded with many names.”
What is your creative process like?
“I create my art in two ways. The first is finding seeds in letting go. As an Oneironaut of art, most of my texts and ideas arise from the in-between of the not yet sleeping or almost dreaming. This land in between, in which the scenes of everyday life begin to disappear and become part of the interpreting and newly creating unconscious, is the source from which my art arises. Just like others keep a dream diary where they write down what the night showed them, I find my words, texts in an almost hypnotic state, and these become the seeds of my work.
At some point, everything comes together to form a whole, and I think that's why I'm involved in so many fields of expression. Just as we are part of something big, these artistic forms are ultimately part of stories, they become protagonists in narratives.
The other way is to just work, rely on the things you know. Cultural techniques, draw, paint and form without thinking. Do it until it catches you, until you find yourself in a flow where everything just happens. Even when its not the great unique art you created, it maybe can be a source some other time.”
“Nature is the source that fills me with strength again, as my insomnia sometimes pulls me down into deep canyons. Dreaming, the land in-between, is the second focus of my work. Maybe we are all a cornucopia and it is our fate to overflow. Since I am mostly solely responsible for my sons, I see and love the fearlessness of many women. Being a female artist is still not easy when you have strong family ties.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“We live oscillating between freedom and restriction, feeling and analysis, agreement and division, animus/anima and corporeality, hedonism and asceticism. This duality inherent in the human world keeps us in tension and helps us to find a position we can bear. We find relaxation in serenity and well-being in rare moments when we are not yet resting in our unshakable self-confidence. World events, which repeatedly focus on the issues of security and freedom, bring to light where we ourselves vacillate.
It challenges us to position ourselves, and repeatedly shakes the foundations in which we apparently found security. Art cannot not react. There is political art that can be understood as resistance and interpretation, that which shows the insecurity and inner shock that our environment evokes. Art can, and must also be allowed to omit what shakes us. Just as Art can be uncomfortable, it can also convey a feeling that everything is fine. Art, thus, offers an opportunity to linger in beauty at least now and then.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have shown my work in a number of exhibitions, as can be seen from the following links:
- Installation at the Art Garden Daniel Spoerri.
- Exhibition and Performance at the project space of the TEA Tenerife.
- Exhibition Film about speechlesness at Arthouse Vienna View the video, or read about it here.
- KUNSTWERK KRASTAL Stone Ideas and Krastal.Other links are: Galerie Frewein, WUK, Arnulf Rainer Museum, Vagina Museum, Artifacts.
You can also view my performance and stage design/poetry here.”
Website: www.rosaroedelius.com
Instagram: @rosaroedelius
