Isabel Cavenecia
Isabel Cavenecia is an artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Can you tell us a bit about the process of making your work?
The first thing I usually do is to rub (graphite-or soft pastel) powder onto an empty paper. Due to the way my hand moves over the paper, the powder gets more dense at certain places and this causes shadows to appear on the paper. I look into the shadows until I can recognize some faces and other kind of shapes. Usually I see different faces and shapes in the powder, so then I just choose the ones that are resonating the most with me at that time. I only have to trace the lines or erase some parts until the drawing starts to reveal herself to me. I enjoy this way of working because it is always a surprise to me what comes out. I also think that this way of working is a bit like when you do a Rorschach Blot test at the psychiatrist. It's a way to draw intuitively and without any pre-conceived ideas. This makes the drawing more honest to me.
When reflecting on the drawings a while later I can usually see some recurring themes. For instance, I used to be obsessed with water and therefore many of the drawings where portraying scenes on the ocean.
What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I’m working on some drawings that are depicting scenes in the desert. Lately I have become more fascinated with the desert instead of the ocean. Although I think both of those landscapes are similar in the way that they seem empty and endless which allows your mind to become still and project creatures in the clouds. I guess these landscapes are a bit similar to my graphite powdered paper as well.
During the last weeks, I was drawing a family that is traveling in the desert. The oldest daughter is very adventurous and she is running into the desert as if she only wants to run into the desert deeper and deeper. But at some point she hits a transparent wall. She is carrying a beautiful scarf with her that is also in a way resembling the transparent wall she is about to hit. In another drawing we see her from the side and she is carrying a little handbag with her. She has a really great vibe and she is radiating that into the desert plants. Her little sister is on the other side and is visualizing the female energy of her big sister.
So many of your drawings are in graphite. Do you have a connection to that material?
I made those graphite drawings because I just happened to have graphite and paper in my house. After I graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Art I was very stuck in my work. I felt like it was not allowed to make the things that I wanted. Being intuitive or spiritual seemed to be forbidden at our academy, I never understood why. For that reason I stopped making art for a while and I started to study architecture instead since imagining spaces was a great hobby of mine. But during architecture study I discovered that I was more interested in depicting fictional spaces rather than actually learning how to build a house.
After a while I felt I didn’t fit in that university anymore so I dropped out and then lockdown happened so I just picked up a pencil and started drawing. I think almost everybody has a paper and a pencil at home so it's a very accessible thing to do. Which is also what I love about drawing. It is almost as writing. It's a really direct way of making an image and transferring your mind onto the paper. You only need like 3 euros to make it and also you don't need a studio or a lot of space. I can always draw whenever I want, may it be at a cafe or a day at the lake. Its simple and easy and its one of the most joyful things I can think of.
What are some references you draw upon in your work? Are there any themes in particular you like to focus on while creating?
I don’t intentionally choose any themes or references. I do feel like a lot of the works are about revealing or discovering an invisible world. For me the most important thing is to focus with the drawing.
Every morning after I wake up I meditate to get myself in tune. Then during drawing I listen to music. One of my favorite albums is Trilogie De La Mort by Eliane Radigue. This album helps to put my mind and hands into focus. But when I feel the drawing is becoming a bit dull I will put on some psychedelic rock or punk. I like when the drawing has this meditative feeling to it but jet a twitch of rebellion and freedom. I think its important to be focused and light but sometimes it's also good to put up your middle finger and joke about life.
Where are your favorite spaces that support contemporary art or design? Now that the online presence changed?
I once saw Monet’s waterlilies at Chichu Art Museum in Naoshima Island, Japan. It was a very special way to view his paintings. In order to see the paintings you first had to get onto a boat to get to the island. When you arrived at the island you’d enter the beautiful underground museum, designed by Tadao Ando. The interior was very light and serene. I believe I had to take off my shoes and hand in my phone. The people from the museum where also completely dressed in white and it felt as if I was entering a futuristic temple or space capsule. The waterlilies framed behind white marble frames which causes you to think that you are not looking at paintings anymore, but you are gazing out of the window of a space capsule, straight into Monet’s ‘illusion of an endless whole, a wave with no horizon and no shore.’ You find yourself sucked into this amazing floating waterlily world filled with colors and shapes.
It was the most profound experience I had, when experiencing how architecture and art can enhance each others beauty so sweetly.
Do you have anything coming up? Anything you'd like to share?
I’ve started a project with my friend Bernice Nauta. She makes great drawings and we talk a lot together about the power and potential of drawing. We want to use the practice of drawing as a psychedelic way of investigating the way the mind works. So for instance we came up with the idea to make a drawing for a certain title: ‘She wears a hemispherical scull cap’. We had to make one drawing and then make the next drawing as a reaction to the previous drawing. This chain reaction of drawing can show how your mind makes certain associations and how it is unique to everyone how you associate. We are now showing these drawings in Art Bar Kippy in Amsterdam which is a tiny art bar. But we would like to go on with this project and our dream is to show it one day in New York.
Isabel Cavenecia’s work is included in our show “Illuminated,” July 9th - Aug. 30th, 2021. Visit her Instagram (@isabelcavenecia) and her website to see more of her work.