Choosing to be an artist takes courage. And a combination of circumstances to not only want to make that choice, but also to be able to. Lotte Wieringa was drawn to art after she graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy. Her work in education did not make her happy. "I actually always knew that, even during my studies. It was mainly that I didn't dare choose to be an artist. The stereotypical image of the poor artist who can't put butter on a sandwich or turn on the heating during the winter months got in the way enormously. That was something I had to struggle through."
In her first shared studio, she became inspired by her painting studio mate. "When making the first works with paint on canvas, I immediately noticed that there was something in there ." There was "really a kind of love between me and that painting. There is still the drive in that, that I want to and can do that every day."
"At some point in that shared studio, it became clear that I needed more space: a place to dive deeper into painting. At that time, I was living on three days of teaching and, with good luck, had just before gotten a social rental property. That home was the beginning of many changes. It was because of that that I dared financially to take the step of renting my own studio through SKAR." After that, things moved quickly. "I was nominated for the Royal Prize for Free Painting, suddenly had a gallery and a year later I received a beginner's scholarship from the Mondriaan Fund. Shortly after receiving that scholarship, I decided to quit the side jobs I had. Since then I have been able to focus completely on painting. I am immensely grateful for that."
Lotte has developed recognizable visual and stylistic elements. These were created by "trying out lots of things, touching materials, feeling and smelling. By looking endlessly, at what you make yourself, what others make and what has already been made. For me it is very clear that what I make is only possible because of all the work my predecessors and colleagues have done. Everything flows from the collective, nothing really stands alone in this." She continues, "but it's not only that, I always feel that there are certain shapes, colors and movements that live in me. What I paint are simply those shapes and movements. Music is an important guide in this. "In it, rhythms, emotions and movements are offered. The music flows through me and in color, scratches and stains, a rhythm is then created on the canvas." Lotte responds to what comes in from the outside, to what her brain and body do with it. Of those movements, output can be made on a canvas, then she responds to what emerges visually. "For example, I recently had a very strong urge to want to create red works. That stemmed from the large amount of gory stuff that I had coming to me because of all the chaos going on in the world right now. At the same time, I wanted to transform that into something that wasn't just about that bloodyness, but parallel to that, a security; a warm glow. In that, I try to find a balance. For example, about how mother earth feeds us all, but also how people move on her and what they do to each other and to the earth. Those red colors also made me think of creation and creation, like a womb. But also of how the womb is politically something that is very much under discussion. So it ended up being much bigger and more encompassing than the initial input that spurred me on to red."
"As long as the canvas is not finished, it keeps asking something of me. Until there is peace. Then I can't add anything more to it."
Meanwhile, Lotte lives in Berlin. "I don't know what the next step is going to be. I'll see, I think it will become clear by itself when the time is right for that."
