In September 2014 I went to a conference about art and marketing, where the speakers put forward a strong point that to sell (anything), you need to have a brand. This marketing rule applies to art as well. Therefore, given that we live in a brand society, to get recognized on the art scene (and to make a living out of it), I need to present my brand successfully to the public. This led me to explore this concept of brand deeper and to explain it not only to my public, but also to myself.
I am an artist, I create because of my need to create, without a thought for marketing and selling and without any knowledge of it. My need to create comes from the spiritual need and not the economical one, but as we live in a society where we need money to live, selling my art is a big consideration.
Hence if I want to survive of my art, the public need to understand what they are actually buying from me. It’s not just a decoration or a nice painting, but also a philosophy, my poetry, a piece of my life, based on my life history, on all my experiences and research.
But why would you want to have this at your home or in your collection? Because it speaks about the truth of life, about that spiritual master which is inside all of us, which we need in our lives to be mentally healthy and happy, which we have to be for successful evolution of our human race. And that is why you are buying my artwork!
Since I started creating art, the main theme of my art research is the society we live in and an individual person as a part of this society, this living organism in constant movement and evolution. The symbol I’ve always used for describing the society are bricks.
I chose to continue my art research with a new series, called Portraits of Situations, where artworks are named by numbers and all of them are recognizable through this motif of bricks as a representative symbol of my brand. There are different themes and topics in these artworks, of course, but they all have this same constant symbol of bricks. The first series that contained bricks actually started back in 2012 with the title About the Bricks, but at the time it was not planned or chosen as a main symbol of my brand, it was spontaneous inspiration and action, as usual with my art. Now, however, I deliberately choose this idea of bricks for presenting and explaining my brand conceptually with stronger and clearer recognition.
Bricks are like particles, together creating something bigger. As in life, moments create time, experiences compose life stories, and individuals make society… For example, in music we have melody which is composed of musical notes; and this concept of melody as a symbol of life, for example, I used in 2007 with the series Melody of Life.
Since the beginning of my art research, my main story is a life story, story about an individual living in this society. Microcosm and Macrocosm. Diary of a person and at the same time a diary of the time in which this person is living. It is a mirror, a story, a construction, an interpretation, an interaction, an intellectual exercise… It is a composition which is always in movement, made of philosophy, poetry and experience seeking for an evolution, for a better life. I believe we learn to live throughout our lives; learning to live better and to understand better what our lives are all about. And this is my work, where my artworks are actually the results of my studies about life.
I find bricks as a symbol very interesting because of the ambiguity in the possibilities of interpretations that bricks can give us as a wall or as a construction. As a wall it could be seen also as an obstacle, like a barrier or sign of limit or separation in life. In this case we might see it as negative, but alternatively it can be seen as a construction and therefore more positive and creative. However, in case of representing the society, we people are all these bricks and together we create a wall or a construction. In this case we could ask ourselves how good and strong we are as bricks? In the case where these bricks represent a life of an individual person, they become moments in life of this person. And going back to the ambiguity of wall or a construction: in difficult times the together of bricks could be interpreted as a wall we have to climb, and in good times these bricks are a construction which we are creating through our experience of moments for our evolution.
As we can see in artworks from this series, every brick on the canvas is saying something different to us and all together they are presenting a composition, a portrait about some specific theme. They are leaving the spectator to interpret freely but at the same time they are asking and answering questions about life, and the truth about life, in very direct and concrete way.
Artworks from this series were to date exhibited at these exhibitions:
– Solo exhibition at Slovenian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium 2014
– Group exhibition “Arte in Palazzo” at Farini Gallery, Bologna, Italy 2015
– Group exhibition “Concorso in mostra” at Sabrina Falzone Gallery, Milan, Italy 2015
– Solo exhibition “Artistrate” at Caffè degli Artisti, Berlin, Germany 2015
– Group exhibition at Private Office Berlin, Marburger Straße 2, Berlin, Germany 2016
– Group exhibition / contest “ConCorso Buenos Aires, Open Art Milano Association, Milan, Italy 2016
You can buy artworks from this series at Online Art Gallery Singulart.
For more information about this series do not hesitate to contact me at: artist@veronikaban.com
“Portrait of Situation No. 1 ”
Mixed media on canvas: Poetry Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu printed on paper, glue, coat, silicone, acrylic colors, charcoal, crayons and varnish on canvas.
100x100x4cm * Made in Berlin, June 2014. This artwork is now on sale at Online Gallery Singulart.
“Portrait of Situation No. 2 ”
Mixed media on canvas:
various photos printed on paper, glue, cardboard, black dress, thread, crayons, acrylic colors and glossy transparent varnish with UV protection on canvas.
100x100x4cm * Berlin, September 2014 * This artwork is sold.
“Portrait of Situation No. 3 ”
Mixed media on canvas:
photos of most expensive artworks sold at auctions to date printed on photo paper, polystyrene board, glue, acrylic colors, crayons and glossy transparent varnish with UV protection on canvas.
100x100x4cm * Berlin, October 2014 * This artwork is sold.
“Portrait of Situation No. 4 ”
Mixed media on canvas:
phrases and images printed on photo paper, cardboard, glue, cotton trousers, thread, acrylic colors, crayons and glossy transparent varnish with UV protection on canvas.
100x100x3cm * Berlin, December 2014 * This artwork is sold.
“Portrait of Situation No. 5 “
Mixed media on canvas:
phrases and images about love & life printed on photo paper and glued onto cardboard or polystyrene board, wax, acrylic colors, crayons and transparent varnish with UV protection on canvas.
100x100x3cm * Berlin, February 2015 * This artwork is NOW ON SALE!
“Portrait of Situation No. 6 ”
Mixed media on canvas:
phrases and images printed on photo paper, glue, cardboard, acrylic colors, charcoal, crayons and varnish with UV protection on canvas.
100x100x4cm * Berlin, March 2015 * This artwork is sold.
“Portrait of Situation No. 7 ”
Mixed Media on Canvas:
phrases and images printed on photo paper, cardboard, glue, acrylic colors, crayons, charcoal, varnish with UV protection and wax on canvas.
100x100x4cm * Berlin, April 2015 * This artwork is NOW ON SALE at Singulart Gallery!
“Portrait of Situation No. 8 ”
Acrylic colors, charcoal, crayons and varnish on canvas.
100x100x4cm * Berlin, July 2015 * This artwork is NOW ON SALE at Singulart gallery!
“Portrait of Situation No. 9 ”
Mixed media on canvas:
charcoal, crayons, shirt, glue, acrylic colors and varnish on canvas.
Diptych: 160x80cm (80x80cm + 80x80cm)
Berlin, September 2015 * This artwork is sold.
“Portrait of Situation No. 9” / zoom detail
“Portrait of Situation No. 10 ”
Collage painting on paper: charcoal, crayons, acrylic colors, picture of Koons´s Dog and Banksy´s Rat printed on paper and glued, varnish.
70x50cm * Made in Berlin, October 2015 * This artwork is ON SALE at Online Gallery!
“Portrait of Situation No. 11”
Collage Painting made with charcoal, acrylic colors and varnish on cardboard boxes.
Installation of 6 boxes with dimensions of each 46 x 32 x 10 cm
Made in Berlin, December 2015
“Portrait of Situation No.11” – Part 1
“Portrait of Situation No.11” – Part 2
“Portrait of Situation No.11” – Part 3
“Portrait of Situation No.11” – Part 4
“Portrait of Situation No.11” – Part 5
“Portrait of Situation No.11” – Part 6
“Portrait of Situation No. 12 “
Charcoal, glue, jeans trousers, acrylic colors and varnish on canvas.
100x100cm * Berlin, March 2016 * This artwork is NOW ON SALE at Online Gallery!
“Portrait of Situation No. 13 ”
Charcoal, glue, cardboard, photos, glue, acrylic colors and varnish on canvas.
64x84x4cm with frame * Berlin, May 2016 * This artwork is sold.
“Portrait of Situation No. 14 “
Charcoal, glue, cardboard, photos, glue, acrylic colors and varnish on canvas.
90x90x4cm * Berlin, June 2016 * This artwork is NOW ON SALE ONLINE!