Interview: Annette Lang
Luca Curci talks with Annette Lang during CONSCIOUSNESS, second appointment of the ANIMA MUNDI 2022 art fair, at Palazzo Bembo – Venice Grand Canal

Annette Lang (1963) is an artist originally trained at Copenhagen Art School. Since 1989, she has been taking part in several censored exhibitions and exhibitions in many different galleries at home and abroad, and in a number of large Danish companies, public buildings, and art associations. “One of the most important things in my life is to express myself … it’s a circle of experiencing – to be present, sense, and then give it back to the universe again in the form of an expression… That’s why I call myself an expressionist – in that it is my perception of the world.”

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Annette Lang – A day for me is not lived without being in the sign of art. I get inspiration from nature’s sensations, colors, shapes, light, and shadow and reproduce them again, so that’s my expression. That’s why I call myself an expressionist. My father showed me the joy of creativity. We created together animals made of clay and candles.

LC – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
AL – As a child, I was very much into nature. And being able to be in the same place and still be a part of everything that moved. The light, the change of darkness, and the seasons enveloped me, and I became one with it all. I love walking the path of development in my works and in my own personal journey. To go deeper and deeper off the paths – the encounter with all that is.

LC – How is your creative process?
AL – I feel each color separately: all colors have their own tone and feel, as well as frequency as in a piece of music. I am led into a mood – into the loss behind the creativity, from a place I feel that exists. From the light of spring to the contraction and darkness of winter – a longing and contemplation, a connection with nature and its infinite power and strength, from dormancy to when the flames are lit. I paint myself in and out of the darkness and the light, and swing in between and find up to myself and hope that others will also meet themselves in the works.

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
AL – I work with the 4 elements – fire, air, water, and earth – in the painting with processes such as immersion, change, and renewal. When I shape the painting, I have these elements to create my painting with, something solid, something liquid, something airy, and something that can radiate and brighten areas. I then embark on this journey into painting.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
AL – It is my wish that others can also explore the landscapes, recognize themselves and bring out their own memories. Nature is our mirror, times change, the tree loses its leaves, and then again when the time is right, green springs out again. Nature shows us that we must not give up, but simply rest in that we can start all over again and again with renewed vigor and strength.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the exhibition?
AL – I think my work and my nature abstractions are perfectly fitted into the theme of the exhibition ANIMA MUNDI. My perception of the world is that everything is connected in a common consciousness in the soul of the earth.

LC – Can you explain something about the artworks you have in our exhibition?
AL – The work is made with acrylic and serial series, and is made of many layers to get this depth. The colors are painted so they are in great contrast. The work is about mirroring itself and each other. To find the common spirit. That what we see as contrast worthy with the other is also included. As we hope to grow from “mirror and you will see”

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
AL – A cooperation with ITSLIQUID, which is once again to follow the flow where my work is moving. ITSLIQUID has given me the opportunity to show both my genres in Italy, both the obvious figurative that are from the South, but also my nature abstractions which are far more inner journeys and they have given them the opportunity to be shown in their beautiful premises in Venice, which is a great honor to hang in such aesthetic spaces. This has given my works an extra dimension of both the painting and space working together and this merger is so important for the works to come to their rights.