Astrid Rothaug
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
astrid.rothaug@gmx.at
Website: www.astridrothaug.com
ONLINE RESIDENCY / CHALLENGE PAPER STATEMENT
In the virtual world, different things become important as an artist. Since this network is becoming the place to be, it is essential to explore the territory. When you leave the house, you might go to do some sketches or writing in a nice Cafe or stop by at a gallery or a museum. Now, all you have to do is move around with your mind, while your fingers find their way on the keyboard of your com- puter. You attend virtually guided tours at a museum, you check out the instagram of a new contem- porary gallery.. Sketching in a cafe? Suddenly, every palpable work, every little sketch lying on my desk realised before the pandemic outbreak, seems useless.
As soon as I scan it and upload it on the internet, it becomes relevant again. I only understand myself as an artist, when sharing my work with a public. It is therefore necessary for me to adapt for the time being. Only recently, I bought myself an iPad and installed an animation program on it. It is simple and effective, making you feel like drawing on a piece of paper, but different. I want to use it in order to create something inspired by the blending of my current realities
It is my interest to roam the internet like I usually roam the outside world and to explore the new routines I develop. Everyone likes habits. What are my virtual habits? What are the digital paths I walk over and over again until I know them inside out? How does the internet with it’s vigilant algorithms react to me? I want to curiously test my limits. How far can I go being a „virtual artist“ without limiting myself to only one position such as an illustrator?
This is where „A4“ becomes important. As for many others, I suppose, it is this normative format I chose when writing, be it digitally or manually. Perhaps the mind needs a frame in order to concentrate on something within that frame– something familiar one does not need to worry about. „A4“ is a familiar frame, it feels alright. In a way, when it comes to writing, it even makes me feel uncomfortable to opt for another format, an arbitrary one, for example the ones that are frequently suggested by some digital notebook applications. „A4“ is an anchor for me as a writer. It is a habit giving me the feeling of self control. Regarding my illustrations or drawings, however, it does not seem so important. On the contrary, I am curious about new possibilities. „A4“, in that sense, does not play a role now as something that I want to use. In fact, it is becoming what I want to avoid. What are the new formats in this digital world, where works are becoming impalpable? What is the meaning of standard-sized paper like “A4” paper on an online platform? What is it becoming? My plan is to develop little moving sketches, tiny animations and drawings capturing my „reality blend“ these days.
Reality blend, stories inspired by Instagram
GALLERY
From the Fortress
My series of drawings “from the fortress” is an approach to what kind of pictures and stories news-papers and magazines may evoke in one’s head. Most of these drawings are rooted within the inspiration of a simple newspaper photograph illustrating an article. They, however, soon start be- coming something else. They turn into reveries.
The drawings are made with ink pens on paper. Sometimes I concentrate on simple, reduced lines. Sometimes, it is dots and details that seem essential to me. I try not to restrict myself to one certain technique. Each and every piece of work has it’s own idea behind it often requires a change of approach.
SKETCHBOOK
I hardly overthink my sketches. It may be the nature of a sketch to be free. But then again, it is hard to say, at which point art stops being free. There is, however, a difference between my sketches and my drawings. Most of the pieces of work I consider as drawings have a concept or story behind them, my sketches do not. In that sense, they may be more naive and direct. They have more room to breath freely and develop their own ways, which I do not always understand myself. Nevertheless, I often catch myself falling into routines, the sketches become conceptual aswell, they become series, each attached to the other by making use of similar drawn forms. It is, in that sense, a challenge, not to lose curiosity and energy and enter this circle of repetions.
In any case, the translation of observation into sketches is fascinating and can be quite intense. Reaching the point, where a sketch gets authentic and resembles your true impression of something or someone is difficult. In my case, it never goes without many failed attempts. Trying to understand your motif, you touch it with your eyes, you consider how every detail you want to capture might feel or sound. How is it possible to define sound, using only lines and simple paper? Lines, thick or thin or shaky or strong, can communicate something themselves. They may trigger emotions in the viewer.
If a sketch is supposed to be alive, it requires empathy to realise it. In my regard, trying to understand, how whatever detail of your drawings feels and what kind of aura it communicates is essential. If there is someone an artists wants to capture running, for example, it is helpful to consider the feelings and emotions he might have, his fears and thoughts and his reasons. The heaviness of his clothes, the concrete beneath his feet, the ellbows of people he pushes aside..... All of these thoughts trying to understand what is moving (or not moving) in front of one’s eyes and why, contribute to building a bridge between what grows on one’s paper and what is actually there. A sketch, however, does not go much further, unless it seeks to become an illustration. It is no judgement, it stays a try to understand or express something, so there is often a lot one does not yet understand, in it. For me, it is an approach, an almost scientific process of exploring.
A fragment.
