Q: How long have you been an artist? Please tell us a little about your chosen medium.
A: I was involved in different creative forms and expressions throughout art since the early childhood – I was always with a pen in my hands:) Officially I guess it was when I chosen art high school and later on of course Academy of Fine Art in Novi Sad, Serbia, place where I was born and grew up.
Q: Have you been trained, and if so from what institution? Or are you self taught?
A: I graduated from Faculty of Fine Arts Novi Sad. I hold the BFA degree in graphic design and MFA degree in Illustration and Book design. I am self thought regarding painting which was my big passion even if I never did it in a traditional / classical way. It was always exploration of medium that was corresponding to the needs of my personal style that was more illustrative.
Q: What inspires your creations?
A: I find inspiration everywhere, life in general offers us so much only if we have a careful mind, patience to observe, if we’re willing to hear “the whisper” ! I am interested in human being in all it’s beauty but also with all its flaws, complexity of our minds and souls that shape our lives! Segments from daily life as much as dreams and subconscious intrigue me, I’m also a nature lover so you can surely recognize many natural elements in my creations. “My body of work is built of melancholic interaction between man-made status symbols and frozen moments of the Utopian childhood memories. Strongly focused on figurative narration my characters simply reflect us – modern society in all its shapes and forms. Yet the only place where we are truly revealed as who we are is from the inside. If you examine my work closely, you might come to the realization that my creatures are really kind of self portraits, set in fantastical landscapes of an imaginary world which echoes my own…a bitter, yet sweetly coated prescription for modern life.”
Q: Was your family supportive of your artistic endeavors?
A: Yes they recognized my talent and love towards art and were always very open minded and supportive about it.
Q: Is there someone special who has encouraged your work and your path as an artist?
A: No one in particular, my inner intuition was my bigger supporter and moving force.
Q: What are your hopes and dreams or future goals?
A: To have many new opportunities in art world, in both illustration and painting field, to grow artistically and spiritually, to be able to live and support my family with my work, to be able to travel and collaborate with interesting clients and creatives globally.
Q: If you could do any project with full funding what would it be?
A: Hmmm, good question, I should give it a good thought:) Probably it would be a creation and production of some very complex and heavy illustrated book with my weird characters based on some interesting tale possibly written by Neil Gaiman 😀 I would accompany production of that book / graphic novel with a serious exhibition and installation, presenting all characters created and included in book printed as 3d sculptures or so… I would love to translate the complex worlds I produce in 2D in a 3D version giving them real life dimension 🙂 But it’s a concept that’s very generic at this point, – if I had a fund that would support my ideas fully I would get wild and crazy and surely the result would be stunning:)
Q: If you could meet any artist who is no longer living, who would it be and why?
A: Frida Kahlo and Egon Schiele. I am fascinated by their lives, their strength and fragility at the same time– they both had extraordinary lives and minds and sensitivity that was deeply felt in their work. I would be very interested to hear what would they have to share with me…
Q: Tell us about the ghostly elements in your art?
A: I always think about layers that life includes. Often daily life makes us forget how much there is when we step “out of the circle” that we’re forced to be into. For most people life is all bout job, income, success, making family, being a decent citizen – it’s mostly uniformed, organized, full of rules and obligations, generic, almost robotic. On contrary I am interested in the space between, aside, underneath – every aspect that is “out of the circle”. In that space that is undefined and almost unreachable but still very present, almost like some parallel dimension – there I find my ghosts! Maybe they are just parts of our souls, subconscious, buried memories, forgotten feelings, distant people we knew or loved, or maybe they are us in some distant future…
Q: Have these sort of haunting themes always been of interest to you?
A: Because I want to find more then there is to an eye, I am following the whispers of the soul.. it’s pretty uncertain track but I’m always interested in unknown – that’s how life becomes an adventure, a miracle, exciting journey …it takes a lot of healthy imagination to live it trough that prospective, I’m nurturing my internal fantasy source 🙂
Q: Have you ever seen a ghost?
A: No, but I felt different sorts of presence in the dark, many times…
Q: Do you have a favorite ghost story?
A: I have a movie that I enjoyed very much when I was little – “the others” 🙂 ..specially the part when family in the movie realized they are the actual ghosts… I always thought it might happen to me too 🙂
Valentina Brostean is a featured artist in the Specter Issue of the Miroir Magazine.
