A) nome / name: Anne Forest
B) nazionalità / where are you from?: My parents are both American but they moved to a city near Amsterdam, The Netherlands before I was born. I grew up there, and now live in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
C) età / how old are you?: I'm 28.
D) area d'azione (disegno, pittura, fotografia, animazione, ...) / your sphere of interests: Drawing and painting.
E) studi / studies: Drawing has I think always been my primary obsession, the first thing I couldn't stop doing. The first art academy I attended didn't know what to do with this. The medium combined with the fact that I was always drawing people probably wasn't “modern” enough for them. I was looking for guidance in making my transition to painting, since I always longed to be as fluent in that as I was in drawing. But at this academy you were lucky if you even had one teacher who either drew or painted. So I left before finishing, and found the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the Hague, which still has an actual painting department. I've studied there for the past three years, and had my exam-exhibition just a couple of weeks ago. It's been a wonderful three years. I can't say enough good things about this school. I learned how to make painting my own. Now it's my new obsession.
F) qualcos'altro dal tuo curriculum / could you please tell us a little bit about what do you do/have you done?: I've always been fascinated by the darker, hidden sides of peoples characters (also my own), and how this manifests in their faces in particular. The first stage of my journey into this fascination started about 6 years ago with a series of warped self-portrait drawings. Many stages through drawing and painting have followed. Now, in the most recent stage I make large scale portraits of black figures for which the starting point is always a classical Renaissance or Baroque painting. The process is finding inspiration in an existing work, using it as the base for a new work, and my own style and story finding its way through this centuries old work to the canvas.
G) 3 maestri / 3 masters: David Lynch, Frances Bacon, Matthew Barney.
H) 1 città d'ispirazione / 1 inspiring city: The best time I had in a big city was probably when I was in London a few years ago and took a Jack the Ripper- walking tour. But I have to say, I feel more inspired by a rough country-side with castles and ruins. I went to Scotland when I was a little girl, and I'll never forget it.
I) dove il prossimo viaggio? / a place you'd love to visit soon: I always imagine that of all rough landscapes, Iceland has the roughest. I've always dreamed of going there.
J) 1 museo speciale / 1 special museum: Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
K) 1 link da consigliare / 1 recommended web-site: http://davidlynch.com/
L) gusto di gelato favorito / favorite ice cream flavour: Chocolate. No wait, strawberry cheese cake. No wait, pistachio. (I can be very indecisive)
M) un negozio che approvi / a shop you love: It's probably a very obvious answer, but I love going to any art-supplies shop or a bookstore with a good art-section. I just forget about time for hours in shops like that. And stand the most chance of spending way too much money.
N) 2 oggetti che ti piacciono / 2 objects you like: My external hard-drive that has hundreds of movies on it I haven't seen yet. I also love my external hard-drive that has hundreds of movies on it I have already seen. I am a major movie nerd+addict.
O) la tua colazione ideale / your ideal breakfast: If I never had to pay any mind to my health, I'd probably eat an English breakfast every day of the week. Sausage, beans, bacon, eggs, toast; the lot. I also remember warming up leftovers in the morning with my sister when we were younger. Chili con carne, pizza; Americans can eat weird things in the morning. It's in our DNA.
P) un bel posto nelle tue vicinanze / somewhere nice to go in your neighbourhood: I live very close to Utrechts old city center and what sets it apart from other Dutch cities is that the canals that run through it are lined with unique wharf-basement structures that create two-level streets along the canals. It's just so medieval and romantic. Lots of artists have their studio's down there. I hope I will too one day.
Q) cosa stai leggendo ultimamente? / last books you have read: I'm a big movie-watcher, and not a big reader. I do enjoy reading good books that have been made into good movies. I'm re-reading Brett Easton Ellis' “American Psycho” right now. Last year I read a lot of books about David Lynch while I was writing my thesis about his movies. I have lots of books though. Mainly art books and books with lots of film-stills, there to inspire me on a rainy day. Having lots of books around me makes me feel at home: I grew up in house that had no walls, only bookshelves filled with books.
R) cosa ti ispira attualmente? / what are a few things inspiring you at the moment?: Baroque and Renaissance portraits, photographs of empty malls or offices or elevators or subway-stations, Angelo Badalamenti music.
S) qual'è la principale difficoltà per un 'giovane creativo' oggi? / which is the main difficulty for a young creative today?: Well, Holland isn't the heaven on earth for artists as it used to be. Right-wing politicians like Geert Wilders are against the government spending as much money as it used to on the arts, and you can really feel the effects of that now. Art-funds are cutting back, some academies, galleries and other initiatives don't even know if they'll be here next year. It's so weird and sad to see stuff like this happen. I'm so worried we'll loose our uniqueness and turn into one of those run of the mill, bland countries that doesn't understand that their country needs the color and poetry that art can offer it.
T) dimensione collettiva nell'arte e nella creatività: si, no, come? / what do you think about the collective dimension of art and creativity?: I'm a bit of a workaholic and I tend to forget about the world around me when I'm in a flow and working for long stretches of time. Going to a museum or a gallery usually shakes me out of this. Suddenly I feel the contact between the artist and the public through the artwork. In the end, that's what a big part of my work is about: people can feel so cut-off and isolated when they're just sitting in a train or walking through a supermarket together. I know I sometimes do. Art and creativity break through those walls. Suddenly you can really show yourself and you can really be seen. I think that shared experience between you and the public is one the most important things art has to offer.
U) cosa stai cercando? / what are you looking for?: A studio space!
V) di che cosa non vedi l'ora? / what are you looking forward?: The Future! I have no idea what's coming my way and I can't wait to see!
W) progetti per il futuro (esagera!) / projects for the future (exaggerate!): I only know about the near future: there are bunch of galleries that want to show some works in group-shows, I'm going to try to get some funding, and there's a masters I'm quite interested in. So, if I'm accepted and if the government doesn't shut them down, I might be going to school again next year.
X) cosa ti piacerebbe studiare da vecchio? / what do you like to study when you'll be old?: I'll always be feeding off of art and movies and love and the way I experience life. Experiencing and investigating things like these with a purpose turns them into a study. I'll never be finished studying them.
Y) un buon proposito per la stagione 2011-12 / a good purpose for the 2011-12 season: Painting, painting, painting! (Network, network, network...) Exhibit, exhibit, exhibit!
Z) la parola "fludd" cosa ti fa venire in mente? / what the word "fludd" suggests you?:An abundance or an overflowing of inspiration! This is good! There can never be too much!!
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LINKS: Web-site
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I always love your little interviews! Thanks for another one!
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