Painter Stephanie Nückel

Painter Stephanie Nückel was born in Göttingen in 1960. She went to Berlin in 1984, completed an art therapy study from 1991 to 1995 and then worked as an art teacher at the Cologne School of Art Therapy / Dependence Berlin. Stephanie Nückel has been working as a freelance artist in Berlin since 1999, where she creates her seductive portraits of women. With her works, she asks whether we have long forgotten, what power and magic women have. The primeval feminine seems at first to have been lost in our world. Women make careers, try to organize and live their motherhood in parallel. Your intuition remains in offline mode. With her own intuition, Stephanie Nückel takes up this topic. Subtly and analytically, she embarks on a world that is far from the mainstream - the world of myths. She dives into cultures and times when goddesses were not denied but honored as life-protecting. The primeval force of the feminine is cyclical. And so it is not surprising that the moon circles in the goddess pictures. This is just one of the symbols to be discovered. Like the torch, the fire, the light. In it the secret knowledge of women is canceled - at least in mysticism. 

Which is your favorite media and tools to create your art (acrylic, pastel chalk and coal)? Why? 

I mainly work with acrylic paints, chalks and charcoal. I use these materials because I have a living studio and cannot and do not want to work with solvents. In addition, the drying process of acrylic is very fast. That corresponds to my way of working, because I paint in many wafer-thin layers. These must always be well dry for the overlay. 

What is so special about your process? 

Finding the subjects and characters. Often there are appearances from the diffuse state between being awake and sleeping. Or they appear in my dreams. I then often work with photos, including those I take myself. I roughly lay out the pictures according to a basic idea. Then I enter into intensive communication with the canvas and what is created on it. I can change the image completely several times during the process. I deal with it for so long and keep going until it expresses exactly what I want to transport. 

What differentiates your works apart? 

I think it is the radicalness with which I am willing to question and destroy what I have created until it has the strength, energy and message I want. 

How long have you been painting women, beautiful women and in the classic sense, fine, symmetrical facial features, even skin and large eyes? 

Haha, now I have to laugh, because somebody once said that I paint ugly faces ... which also surprised me;) It really started with the characteristics mentioned above with the work group of the Circen. This was necessary to crystallize the principle of “seduction”. I also love beauty. The beauty of the goddesses is born of itself, because beauty embodies the divine. I think that the soul is looking for beauty, because beauty embodies harmony and harmony. 

When was the first time you realise this is your 'style'? 

I think it startet really really with the “Circes” in 2016. 

Change is constant, even in today's context of the (COVID-19) crisis. What do you think in terms of your thought process that needs to be changed? 

I want to grasp and implement the topics that can move and touch people even more courageously, radically and profoundly. Much braver!! 

What would you wish to change (or not change) if you can have everything your way? For me personally? 

A greener, quieter, larger space for living and working. A wonderful collaboration with a good gallery owner. A stable financial situation so that I can focus primarily on painting and get the best out of it because I'm in flow. To develop myself artistically to inspire and touch. 

For the world? That people have the opportunity from early on to learn things that make them happy, easy, social, tolerant, loving and creative. 

Where can our art fans or readers see more of your work, where do you showcase or exhibit your work? 

I currently have no exhibition - canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis. But I have an extensive website. www.artxs.de 

If somebody have questions and want to get in contact with me, it´s easy over the contactform on the website. Or you find me on Facebook or on Instagram.  

You can also visit me in my studio. You can also find my work on the delicious wine bottles from exNicrum.