“I always wanted to become some kind of creator.”
Name
Anna Lisei Math
Profession
Painter
Website
annaliseimath.de
Where are you from?
Münster, Germany
Your style in 3 words?
conscious, calm, observing
Your weakness? Your strength?
being self-critical
What makes you different?
In one way everything, in another nothing.
When did you decide to become an artist?
I guess, I always wanted to become some kind of creator. I just didn’t dare to admit it right from the start. I grew up in a town where art is mainly considered a school subject and treated like handicrafts. People talk about their houses, income, and pension, not about their ideas and dreams.
Do you choose your art form, or does the form choose you?
I would say, it’s kind of a mutual interplay.
What do you find most fascinating about your work?
The creative process sometimes seems to become endless. You start with something and suddenly it becomes bigger and bigger. I’m also fascinated by how much my work affects me physically. I feel queasy when something doesn’t work out well. My heart is racing when I have to take a difficult decision, especially when I realize afterward that I took the wrong one and ruined a painting.
A few words about your favorite creation?
Well, I have the habit of working in series, so it’s hard to pick out one painting. What I can say is that the more serious and calm my art work is, the more I like it.
What surprised you most about your first art shows?
That people didn’t stop asking me how long it takes for me to finish one painting…would love to know why people are interested in such banalities.
Someone else’s work that inspired or inspires you…
John Bauer, Albert Anker, Carl Larsson, Peter Ilsted
Who would you like to work with someday and why?
There are many people I’d love to work and exchange experiences with, especially abroad. I’d also love to connect with other artist parents.
A new project coming up or an idea you want to work on?
Back to green, back to nature, I’d say. I’ve just started working with pastels on canvas, slowly going back to figuration and trying to combine painting with an illustration.
Finish the sentence „More important than my career is…“
…my dearly beloved daughter and keeping the memories of my own childhood.
2023: Where are we going?
Through spring, summer, autumn and winter. Through good and bad times as always.
Do you think about time as an artist?
Always. Although I try not to.
When the going gets tough…
…I try to remember that life is a never ending sine curve.
Put on your future vision glasses: What direction is our generation moving in, what will our world look like in 50 years?
In 50 years, we will probably tell our grandchildren about how cold the winters were when we were their age. They will sit on our laps and listen to our stories about the green, green forests in which we used to build robbers’ dens and tipis out of spruce branches. And we will tell them about the blackboards they used to have at school back then. They were also green. Our grandchildren then will roll their eyes and remind us of the fact that we’ve already told the same things last time when they had come to visit us. They will slip off our laps and start rummaging in one of the drawers of our old and shaky IKEA sideboard that we found on eBay in 2020. They will ask us what the golden, bronze, and little coins are for which they found in a jar. So we will take them back on our laps and tell them about how we paid in cash when we were younger. We will remember the two wicked years of COVID-19, we will think of the time when we finally stopped relying on politicians. We will remember how expensive our shopping baskets suddenly became. Inflation. And our grandchildren will roll their eyes again and go out into the garden to build a robbers’ den with the neighbors’ kids. We will call them back to offer them the euro and cent coins as treasure, but they will already be outside googling the best way to build a den out of the branches of Japanese knotweed.
What would you do if you could change the World?
Mmm…spread love, slow down, dissolve boundaries. I guess, changing the world would be more than I could handle.
What does freedom mean when it comes to art?
I mean, I appreciate not being politically persecuted for what I’m doing, but am I really free? I assume, not, after all, I’m on Instagram.
If the universe is everything and it’s expanding, what is it expanding into?
Infinity?! One of my teachers once told me that when he was a kid, he believed at the end of the universe was an old picket fence. So, if that is true and if the universe is expanding, the fence will just have to be moved a bit, I guess.
Tell us about your future plans…
Finding a new, affordable studio would be great.
Your city’s favorite spots?
My flat, my sofa, my studio, my hood.
A book that everyone should read…
Momo, Moby Dick and Don Quijote
Last but not least: what is your favorite Song?
Hard to say. Definitely some classical, timeless piece. For example one of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites or Smetana’s Vltava. Must confess, I’m a bit of a romantic when it comes to music.
One last statement please: „Wood or stone, gold or art?“
I don’t want to be rude to all the rocks out there. But I’d choose wood…and probably art.
Your #…?
#annaliseimath
