JANA BRIKE INTERVIEW
““I believe an artwork is a mirror to the self, both, for the creator of it, as well as for the viewer.””
Your work possesses a dreamlike quality that feels both ethereal and deeply introspective, often exploring themes of innocence, transformation, and self-discovery. The imagery seems to exist somewhere between memory, imagination, and reality. Where do you draw inspiration from when creating your work? Are your ideas influenced by personal experiences, dreams, places you've visited, literature, or something more intuitive and difficult to define?
The self-discovery IS my inspiration, and I do it through my life’s journey and emotional processes, and my art creation as such is a self-discovery and thus a self-sustaining driving force.
Several of your works have faced censorship on social media platforms, often because they challenge conventional ideas about the human body, beauty, and vulnerability. As an artist whose work explores deeply personal and emotional themes, how do you view censorship in the art world today? Do you see these restrictions as a barrier to meaningful artistic expression, or have they influenced the way you approach and share your work?
The request to censor paintings on social media is just a pimple on an organism that is sick from the inside. All the perception of the body and its processes, especially the female body, is just askew in our so called “civilized” world.
Your work evokes a deeply emotional response and has a remarkable ability to awaken memories, feelings, and personal reflections within the viewer. Rather than offering a straightforward narrative, your paintings seem to invite an intimate dialogue between the artwork and the observer. What role do you hope this personal interpretation plays in the experience of your work, and what fascinates you most about the different meanings people discover within the same piece?
I do not really communicate some specific direct message. I believe an artwork is a mirror to the self, both, for the creator of it, as well as for the viewer. If it is a strong artwork, you won’t be overwhelmed with reading the artist’s life in it, you will read your own. How else can you explain that one and the same artwork can provoke responses as diverse as – it is so full of love to the self, of harmony and acceptance – and – it is all abuse and ugliness. We lie to ourselves about the self. There are grand blind-spots in the perception. And a mirror – either it is close human relationships or other emotional triggers like art – is needed.
Oil painting has become synonymous with your artistic practice, allowing you to create the rich textures, subtle emotions, and dreamlike atmospheres that define your work. What is it about oil paint that continues to captivate you as a medium? Looking ahead, are there other materials, techniques, or creative disciplines you would like to explore more deeply? We'd also love to hear about your creative process—how does a new piece begin, and how does it evolve from an initial idea into a finished work?
I don’t think I will stop painting anytime soon, but I have done also animations, installations, digital media, drawing, sculpture, photography and more. But I just love the slow meditative process of oil painting most of all. My studio is a bad mess in the middle of my work on a series. It starts with the overall feeling, a state of mind and state of heart, and then come the images like flashes on my mind. Then I sketch, gather reference material, paint and paint till I am happy with the emotional vibe it all radiates.
Throughout your artistic journey, have you had the opportunity to collaborate with other artists, and if so, what did those experiences teach you about your own creative practice? Additionally, are there any artists—past or present—whose work has inspired or influenced your artistic vision, whether consciously or subconsciously?
I have collaborated with some of my friends, and it’s been inspiring in a sense that it has given me new unexpected contexts for my work, and made me look at myself and my work from a different angle. But in my heart, I’m a loner. I like to control the process from start to finish. I’m trying to break through it though, as it doesn’t let me create really big events.