10 Questions with REBELLICCA

REBELLICCA is an artist and wordsmith based in the Netherlands. She creates 3D surrealist visual poetics that gravitate around the concepts of consciousness, freedom, time, and love. Her journey reflects a gradual shift from the abstract to the conceptual and the surreal. Her art can be considered a dialogue with the subconscious. It is born from visions she sees as complete in her mind before rendering them into tangible form, with 3D as her preferred medium.

She has exhibited globally, including Milan, London, Valencia, Toronto, Seoul, Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Lisbon, and most recently, Melbourne.

@rebellicca

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My art emerges within a fractured paradise of destruction and rebirth, spilling fragments of longing for deep connection. The pieces are suspended in a liminal stillness where symbolism and emotion converge in unresolved tension. Light lingers on the edges of the impossible, and time is sentient. In every canvas, a paradox unfolds: essence eclipses into silence while collapse hints at serenity. Through these visions, I invite you into the delicate architecture of consciousness unravelling—a glimpse into the vulnerability of being and the defiance of becoming in the sandbox of time and beyond.

The surreal is the only real. Meet me there.”

— REBELLICCA

INTERVIEW

How did your journey as an artist begin, and what inspired you to explore 3D surrealist visual art?

My journey as an artist began with an insatiable curiosity about the world and a need to translate what I felt into something tangible. I've always been drawn to the invisible, the layers of humanness, memory, imagination, and existence that words alone often cannot fully capture. My early works emerged from my poetry and were rooted in abstract and floral forms, but I felt something deeper within me demanded a different medium of expression. 3D art offered me the perfect language for this. Its ability to bridge light, space, and texture allows me to create surreal, poetic universes that existed as vivid images in my mind. It gave me a way to articulate the tension between longing and being, the visible and the unseen.

Your art has been exhibited around the world. What does it mean to you to have such a global presence?

I've had the chance to see quite a bit of the world, but there's something profoundly humbling about knowing my art travels to places I haven't yet visited myself. It's magical to see people from different cultures connect with and interpret my work through their unique lenses. I've received messages and encountered collectors and supporters who've shared how my art shook them to their core, brought them healing, inspired them to love again, or unlocked emotions they couldn't express. While what I create is born from the visions I see in my mind, it's also a reminder of the universality of human experience, where art functions as a bridge between minds and souls.

Garden of the Unspoken, 2024 © REBELLICCA

Can you walk us through your process of turning a vision in your mind into a tangible 3D artwork?

It's not so much a process as it is a surrender. A vision stays with me until I let it materialize, already fully formed in my mind. I don't ever sketch in advance. Instead, I trust that the clarity in my mind will find its way into the 3D software. The creation unfolds like a conversation between myself and the medium. It's an intuitive dance between structure and chaos, technical skill and vision. I build the piece, responding to each new texture, light shift and form as they emerge on the screen. In a way, my work feels like it's revealing itself to me as if it's always existed within me, and I'm simply giving it a voice.

How do you balance abstract, conceptual, and surreal elements in your work?

I see abstraction, concept, and surrealism as inseparable threads woven into my artistic evolution. In the past, abstraction offered me fluid space, unbound by embedded meaning. A sense of freedom. But over time, I felt the need for more depth. My visions, driven by symbolism, grew beyond form and colour into layers of meaning. Abstraction evolved into structure and fluidity into a language of surreal imagery. The emotion remained just as raw and intense, but it is expressedin a language uniquely mine. One that doesn't just evoke but questions, challenges, and reveals. The surreal allows the conceptual to transcend logic, creating depth from within the visual poetics of the unspoken. My work invites you to look beyond the surface and engage with the intricate paradoxes of existence.

What led you to choose 3D as your preferred medium, and how does it enhance your storytelling?

3D felt like the medium that could breathe life into my most complex visions. Cinematic in nature, it allows me to bend reality to my imagination. Yet the decision to embrace it wasn't immediate. My community and collectors knew me for my digital abstract and floral work. The leap into 3D was bold and risky, but I felt I was stepping into something extraordinary. I knew I had found my language, but I also knew I had to master it, a process that continues every day. It's not just about the medium but how perfectly it aligns with what I see in my mind. 3D offers a different kind of storytelling: immersive, visceral, real. It transforms emotion and thought into experience, where viewers aren't just spectators but also participants. The piece doesn't even need to be animated to feel alive. It simply exists, drawing you into its space.

The Dawn We Chose Each Other, 2024 © REBELLICCA

The Unframed Longings Of Water, 2024 © REBELLICCA

Your work often involves intricate symbolism. How do you approach incorporating these details into your art?

Symbolism isn't something I force into my work. It emerges naturally. It's like a conversation between the conscious and the subconscious, where symbols appear as whispers, guiding me toward deeper meanings. My work is inherently metaphorical, and I welcome its mystery. Sometimes, a texture tells a story. Other times, it's the silence between light and shadow. Each symbol is a fragment of a larger, almost unknowable truth. It's an invitation for both me and the viewer to search for meaning in the clarity of the mysterious. It's a journey I'm still on, and I love to know my work becomes a map for others to navigate their own soundscapes, too.

Your art explores concepts like consciousness, time, and love. What draws you to these themes, and how do they connect in your work?

My hybrid mind, equally comfortable with words and images, loves to ponder big questions through poetry and visual art. To me, these themes convey the essence of existence. Consciousness is what permeates everything, defining how we experience reality. Time is a sentient being that dances with fate. It's also the currency of life itself and the sandbox in which life unfolds. It's in us, and we're in it. Love, as the deepest connection between souls, is the force that binds everything together and gives it meaning. In my work, these concepts converge and amplify one another, creating a narrative about the fragility and beauty of humanness.

You describe your art as existing in a 'fractured paradise.' Can you elaborate on what this concept means to you?

To me, the 'fractured paradise' is where destruction and rebirth intertwine, where personal mythology meets art. It reflects fragments of the divine and the human within us—the wounded and the sacred. This paradise isn't distant. It's here, within us. Fragile yet layered, it holds pieces of bliss, longing, and the hidden parts of ourselves. Our inner Eden is both beautiful and scarred, and those scars become jewels, marks of evolution. What makes this paradise tangible is the yearning to share it, to be seen fully—fears, dreams, and all. In my work, destruction is fertile ground. I believe we're reborn many times within a lifetime, through both pain and love. Shattered clocks, fractured glass, and objects suspended between light and ruin mirror life's constant erosion and renewal. And through it all, love remains, both a force of preservation and transformation.

A Million Second Chances, 2024 © REBELLICCA

How do you see your work evolving in the future, and are there new mediums or ideas you'd like to explore?

I see my work evolving into something more experiential, more alive. A few years ago, I began integrating multimedia elements—poetry, narration, music—into my 3D art. The Answer is one such piece. Personal circumstances temporarily paused this exploration, but the response to the artworks was profound, and I'm ready to dive deeper. More than anything, I want to create spaces where people don't just observe but step inside the surreal worlds I imagine. Art that stills the senses yet electrifies them, where the line between viewer and artwork dissolves. I want to push storytelling to the edges of the unknown, to make the unseen felt. That takes boldness and vulnerability. I'm fortunate to have both.

Lastly, where do you see yourself and your work in five years from now?

I can't say where I'll be, and I don't feel the need to know. Imagination, to me, is the loudest prayer an artist can send into the universe. I follow art as a path that reveals itself as I walk it. An instinct that guides me to share what I was meant to with the world. In five years, I trust I'll have connected with new audiences, kindred spirits, and amazing collectors even more. It's essential for me to stay true to my vision and continue to create from within. Art that is born from truth hits differently. What matters to me is for my work to continue to stir emotions that stay with people long after they've left the exhibition or looked away from the screen. The greatest recognition for an artist is unforgettability. If what I create is imprinted in someone's mind and soul, then I've succeeded.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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