Saskia Huitema, Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory member provides some fascinating insights into her practice and experience as a surrealistic painter, as she responds to the questions below:
- If you had to choose only three words that you feel describe your work, what would they be? And why?
- Many things inundate our daily lives. What role do you feel art and the artist still have in today’s society?
- If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be with and why?
- What do you think is the single most important piece of advice you have been given as an artist?
If you had to choose only three words that you feel describe your work, what would they be? And why?
Well, the first word would be crisp I think. My art is mostly recognisable by the crisp style with bright colours too, which I have developed over the years as a self-taught artist. The second word has already slipped in and would be colourful. As third, I would say “sensitive” as subtle emotions, a calmness, tenderness or thoughtfulness is reflected in my art and the rendering of my models.
Many things inundate our daily lives. What role do you feel art and the artist still have in today’s society?
Artists can express themselves and address issues and current happenings in the world. Art can function as a mirror of ourselves. I feel it’s still important for voices to be heard and to bring (personal) injustices to light through the expression of art.
Art originating from the deepest crevasses of the human heart and mind transcends superficial coveted achievements like power, money, looks and fame.
I myself do not address political (global) issues in my art. It expresses a deeply personal reflection of the things I love or things that spark my interest, some of which are recognized on a certain level by others too. As the advice to writers is “write what you know” I apply the same to my work. I use my own reference materials and my beloved small family often appears in my work.
If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be with and why?
There are many artists I admire, living or dead, and I like to collect art too. To name just a few, Michael Parkes, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Hayao Miyazaki, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Millais, Waterhouse, Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Haeckel, Rackham etc
What I would like most however is to be as a fly upon their wall and see their studio and watch them perform their art. Painting is a very personal thing to me and I prefer to be solitary in my studio as I work. It requires all my attention and having other people around (outside my little family) is too distracting. So no other collaboration for me other than being part of an artist collective.
What do you think is the single most important piece of advice you have been given as an artist?
As I am a self- taught artist I have missed out on many objective pieces of advice that come with schooling and education. At my age, I have reached my fiftieth birthday now, I think I may also have developed a certain attitude that makes me avoid situations with people advising me or giving direction about what to do or what to change, a certain stubbornness you could say. However, reflecting back, a good piece of advice I once received was that it is OK to not approach reality so much, but to enhance colors for example, as you like. It gave me more freedom and air, as I was trying very hard to paint exactly what I perceived at the time.
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