“I chose painting because it feels completely natural to me. When I paint, I feel like a fish in the water.”
Name
Sibylle Czichon
Profession
Artist
Website
Where are you from?
I live and work in Cologne
Your style in 3 words
colour, movement, process
Your weakness?
Self-promotion
Your strength?
Courage
What makes you different?
I can type faster on the computer keyboard than anyone else.
When did you decide to become an artist?
I actually decided to be an artist when I was a child. It became a conscious decision when I enrolled at the art academy.
Do you choose your art form or does the form choose you?
I chose painting because it feels completely natural to me. When I paint, I feel like a fish in water. To me, painting is a tool with which I can immediately sample fragments of my perception.
What do you find most fascinating about the creative process?
The best part of the creative process is the state of being in flow. This is when I stop thinking in words and think in movement and colour. It‘s a mental space in which the unplanned and unforeseen can happen.
A few words about your favourite creation?
I really like the music video for the song „Praise You“ by Fatboy Slim which was directed by Spike Jonze. There was no script except that a fictitious guerilla dance group dances as a flash mob in front of a movie theater and the video was filmed amateurishly. I love the chaotic choreography. The irritated viewers don’t know how to deal with the happy dancing. I like that the dancers go through with their unwelcome choreography anyway, thus standing up for their primal joy of movement.
What surprised you most about your first art shows?
That the paintings change when they change location and that they also change the location.
Someone elses work that inspired or inspires you?
Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Jaqueline Humphries, Charline von Heyl, Lee Krasner, Edvard Munch
Who would you like to work with someday and why?
I am open for collaboration with visual artists. I would also like to make a textile pattern for the Finnish fashion brand Marimekko.
A new project coming up or an idea you want to work on?
I would like to continue to create a series of paintings that don‘t function in a linear but rather in a star shaped way, so that the works shine in many directions, and hopefully always open up paths to new variations during the painting process. I think that’s something I’ve already done unconsciously anyway, and I really want to give space to this erratic vision.
Finish the sentence: „More important than my career is…“
My health
2024 where are we going?
People will become kinder.
Do you think about time as an artist?
Ideally I lose track of time.
When the going gets tough?
I take a deep breath and pull myself together.
Put on your future vision glasses: What direction is our generation moving in, what will our world look like in 50 years?
PEACEFUL
What would you do if you could change the world?
All money and resources are redistributed so that people have their basic needs met, good education is free, all humans are equal, no animal suffering, no exploitation.
What does freedom mean when it comes to art?
Sharing real and authentic toughts.
If universe is everything and its expanding, what is it expanding into?
Into itself
Tell us about your future plans?
Concerning my general future I would like to have a painting show in a botanical garden or in a greenhouse, develop a website together with a webdesigner that represents my artistic work, live secluded from the big city. Somehow I imagine it to be totally redeeming to live in a place such as New Mexico for a while and to gander at the open plains and the blue sky.
Your citys favorite spot?
Niehler Wiesen in Cologne
A book that everyone should read?
Virgina Woolf – Waves, Meral Ziegler – Context, Kohei Seito – Systemsturz
Last but not least: whats your favourite Song?
It’s hard to name a single song. Maybe Cocteau Twins – Cherry Coloured Funk. There are albums that I think are great: Patti Smith – Horses, Caribou – Swim, Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92 to name a few.
One lst statement please: „Wood or stone, gold or art?“
When I get there I‘ll send you a card.
Your #…?
#sibylleczichon
