10 Questions with Kristine Narvida

Al-Tiba9 Art Magazine ISSUE12 | Featured Artist

Kristine Narvida is an academic visual artist from Latvia, born in 1977. She graduated in 2006 as a Magister at the Latvian Art Academy in Riga. She lives and works in Germany in Potsdam and Berlin and is a Brandenburg Association of Artists member. She presents and sells her fine artwork throughout Europe, focusing on Germany and globally on art platforms.

This year she runs a solo at the "Futureins Blitztauf" Gallery Potsdam in March and exhibits at the Rhy Art Salon Basel in June. She prefers working with oil on linen, using models as her subjects.

www.narvida.com

ARTIST STATEMENT

It is important for her to know that this is real life and not a place for nostalgia. Through understanding of time, physical feelings, and the vis-à-vis of a living human model, a pause is created, and a place is created for the emergence of the present. Every line and brushstroke are precise, just like every meeting with this person, a dream, a thought.

Technical work with thought makes it possible to see how the ideal becomes material. Observing the movement, participating in it, and this process is what gives honor and meaning, joy and suffering.

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. What is your artistic background and how did you start experimenting with images?

My name is Kristine Narvida. I studied art and visual communication at the Academy of Art of Latvia in Riga, and I graduated as a Magister in 2006. I live and work in Germany in Potsdam and Berlin. My education has allowed me to master the classical means of creating art, study in the worships of adept professors, and fully shape my technical skills. I have always found it important to take into account the contemporary language of art and how it speaks about the current while maintaining the traditional ways of working in figural painting.

Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one?

To be an artist is my way of being, my understanding of things and occurrences. It has been present throughout my entire consciousness.

How would you define yourself as an artist?

I am the one I am. I enjoy seeing curators’ definitions of my art.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work?

There is no specific point of a beginning. An idea can flash while I offer a glass of water to my child, then it takes shape. It becomes an assignment, a question that demands realization. It lives its own life on the canvas. Sometimes the image takes shape by its own volition, and sometimes it refuses to be moulded according to my script, in which case I must respectfully pause and step back.

You work primarily with portraits. What themes do you pursue and what messages do you want to convey to the viewers?

Yes, in my current series - “Look how I move” - I work with models as the subject. I observe and find inspiration in the people around me who allow themselves to be interpreted to answer my questions. On the other hand, I believe viewers are able to identify themselves when seeing my artwork.

Do you have a role model that you’ve drawn inspiration from when creating your art?

The purity of form and conviction inspires me.

What’s the essential element in your art?

That is the relationship between the different shades of colour. They possess an emotional power.

Do you find that the shift to digital exhibitions and art fairs has helped you promote your work?

The transition to digital exhibitions is a form of relief in the process of reaching an audience, but the direct contact between art and observer is missing.

What do you think about the art community and market?

I am excited to be a member of the local art community in Germany and the global art community through digital projects. Due to the multiple restrictions for exhibitions, there are new challenges for artist to reach on the market, while I personally used this as an opportunity to reach out on the European and global art market. 

Finally, any projects you are looking forward to for this year?

Actually, I do have very ambiguous plans. After introducing my new series “Look how I move” in a solo exhibition in Potsdam, Germany, starting 11 March, I will present this series to you on narvida.com in my first online exhibition starting 23 March. I will outreach and exhibit at the Discovery Art Fair in Cologne in April and at, the Rhy Art Fair in Basel in June, and hopefully also at the Amsterdam Art Fair in August. During the second half of the year, I would withdraw to my studio to create new artwork while participating in group exhibitions.