Artists

Interview with the artist Michelle Hold

How did you come to art, or how did art come to you?

I grew up in a family of artists, my father was a cameraman for movies, my aunts actresses or painters, my grandfather a theater writer, It felt normal to be artistic in every move . Only when I attended school I realized that my upbringing was not in the norm.

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Find your energy©MICHELLE HOLD

Why did you choose abstraction to express yourself?

I am a creator and abstraction is a way to invent a new image for feelings, emotions, different things that interest me. Abstraction for me means to take away, to reduce, to find the essence of any real thing. To paint abstract is a way to see the world with different eyes, and at the same time to stimulate the viewer’s fantasy, open his mind, build bridges for others to see and help them listen to emotions that are given so little importance in current times.

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Healing Journey©MICHELLE HOLD

Does your work engage with current events ?

I do not engage with politics, it seems a waste of time to me, but I am interested in nature and science. Of course current events influence me, I cannot close my eyes when for example I see pictures of all the plastic in the oceans. So my artistic mind thinks about how to move the viewer to appreciate water and care for it and our precious planet. What can I paint to show the beauty of water ? Believing in the law of attraction I will always engage in beauty and show the ideal state of the world not the current one. So the viewer is able to hold that picture in his mind and move towards improvement.

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All is connected© MICHELLE HOLD

When working on a new project, what are the first steps you do?

When I decide to work on a new theme it comes from deep interest, reading books, researching the internet.

My last solo show was called ‘Turning Inside’ because on one of my researches about silence I came across Eckehart Tolle and started reading ‘The Power of Now’. From there it was logical that I wanted to paint my inner research, my way of liberating myself from family’s and society’s expectations and find inner freedom , Have a look at my collection ‘Turning Inside’ the titles explain a lot..

On every project I first decide on the color and the message I want to convey with the help of a certain color. I might do some paper collages to find the right composition and then forget the world around me and just paint. All really good artists know that in the creative process it is very important to connect with your inner self and allow the unexpected to happen.

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Turning Inside©MICHELLE HOLD

Can you tell us a bit about “Shades of silence”?

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Shades of Silence © MICHELLE HOLD

Shades of silence is a large abstract painting that I have created last year for an exhibition in Italy.

First asking my self the question if silence has a color and which one. For me silence is definitely blue, like the ocean, the sky , the infinite.

Then I was wondering if the saying’ “Silence is empty” is true for me and I came to the conclusion that my silence is full of things I remember but maybe I cannot see clearly at the moment . There came the question “How can I hold a silent moment without painting something boring ?” Is silence vertical or horizontal ?

The moment I cleared these questions I began to paint and live in my painting.

Like all large abstracts the painting process is very long, there are many many layers of acrylics and pigments I mix myself, there is continuously adding, canceling, never pushing the painting but listening to it till the moment where nothing more can be done….

just to look at it and enjoy.

Discover Michelle Hold on Singulart :www.singulart.com/en/artist/michelle-hold-455
Wondering how the artworks look on the wall?www.exhibitionatlift.com/michelle-hold/

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