I’ve explained in a previous Blog, about creating space and noise for all creatives, and how that is important to me, albeit I don’t spend as much time doing this as I would like to. As such I’ll be creating regular blog posts about other artists that are a part of the non exclusive “Small voice” community.

So here is our first Artist Erik…

Erik, please could you tell us a little bit about yourself, an introduction for us?

Sure, I’m 40 years old, I live in Chemnitz, one of the most underrated cities in Germany. I’m father of a lovely son and beside painting and drawing, I try to do some sport regularly like bouldering and cycling. I also love riding my motorbike. When I think about it, it seems that I have far too many hobbies for so little free time beside a regular 40 hours a week job.

Creatively or culturally, what is Chemnitz like to live in?

Chemnitz is a city in the east of Germany that was shaped by industry. During communist times the city was renamed “Karl-Marx-Stadt”, although Marx never has been there. Anyway Chemnitz shared the fate of many other cities in the East after the fall of the Berlin wall. Unemployment, emigration especially of the younger generations and vacancy.

It still has a comparatively old population, but it also has a university with round about 12000 students and a lot of creative people who know how to take advantage of the (decreasing) vacancies and the comparatively low cost of living. So it’s a perfect place for creatives, because there is still a lot of open space and more possibilities as in other more famous but overhyped cities in Germany. And by the way, we are European Capital of Culture 2025.

I note from the artworks you sent across that portrait seems to be your focus? What is it that draws you to portraiture? Do you paint any other subjects?

Yes, that’s true. The human face is the subject which interests me most. Maybe because it’s the part of our body which defines like nothing else our visible uniqueness. I prefer strong expressions when I chose references and the face is where our emotions are expressed most clearly.

And from a technical point of view, drawing faces is also quite challenging, because the viewer notices immediately if something doesn’t work, if proportions are not right or if certain parts of the face are not at the correct position.

But at times I also draw or paint other subjects, like architecture or sometimes motorbikes for my little boy. I've also recently started doing life drawing once a week to improve the skill of sketching something in very little time.

So would you say for you to be happy with something you have created, it is more important for it to be technically more accurate, or that you have conveyed the emotion you aimed for? Or neither, it could be about the experience of creating?

When I began, I was far more focused on working accurate and very often I became frustrated because due to limited skills the final drawing didn’t look like as I wanted it to look like. Now I'm trying to approach the matter a little less head-on. And I definitely love the experience of creating. The exciting thing about painting is, that you never know, how the result will look like. The pictures do whatever they want and everybody who draws knows, that the process of drawing and painting, very often is like a ride on a rollercoaster. You have an idea, you begin, you doubt, you adapt something and if it works there is this magical moment, when the picture begins to live somehow and if you don’t overdo it and stop at the right moment, you will have created something beautiful.

What type of Art inspires you and what type of Art do you enjoy seeing, do they differ?

For art to inspire me, two requirements must be met. Firstly: when I look (or listen) at it, it must have a strong impact on me and trigger some kind of emotion. Secondly: a modified implementation for my own creative projects must be realistic. For example, I recently saw an artist "painting" pictures with a typewriter. The first requirement for inspiration was met. I was incredibly impressed at how something like this was possible. But the second requirement was not met. For me it is unimaginable to create art in such a way. That would be the case of art I like to look at, but it doesn’t inspire me.

A more famous example is Jean Michel Basquiat. I always admired his art and this admiration only became stronger when I saw his pictures for the first time in an exhibition in Vienna two years ago. It`s incredible what an impact these paintings have in their original size. But at the same time I noticed, that this is totally different to the things that I do. It takes self-confidence and a free spirit to create art in this way. I very often feel chained to certain expectations, which I often don't even know whether they come from inside or from outside.

I adore Basquiat’s work as well, but sadly haven’t seen it in real life? I admire his intuitive approach as well.

Can you elaborate a little more about “chained to expectations”? I understand what you mean and I think there are both internal and external influences in my own work… but how do you think that impacts what you create?

It is quite obvious, that our aesthetic sensibilities are shaped by our cultural environment. Because we know this, we often produce things that meet these expectations and maybe what comes out of it is quite nice and pretty. But artists like Basquiat broke with these expectations and created something no one asked for. People don’t actually know what they want and so for artists it can lead to a dead end if they just try to fulfill worn out expectations.

I feel these invisible chains very much and I wish I could paint more freely, especially because in my case there are no such external expectations, because I’m not famous. I just have a hobby and so I should draw and paint just the way I want to, but it’s not so easy to let go. And of course the result should be beautiful, but it also should be more unique, more me.

Why do you paint? Draw? Create?

I started drawing really late, for I never thought that I would have some talent for doing things like that, although I always liked watching at certain artworks. I was never particularly good at art class in school and also had no interest in drawing or painting.

But one day I saw an interview with Karl Lagerfeld in which he drew scenes from his life. I was fascinated by how he could create images with just a few quick lines. And I will always remember when he said that 90% of his drawings go straight to the trash can. I realized two things in that moment: firstly: a drawing doesn’t have to be perfect, to be beautiful and secondly: even professionals can’t do everything right away.

This motivated me to start drawing. Thanks to a lucky coincidence, there was someone in my circle of friends who was an art teacher herself and she encouraged me and gave me valuable advice.

Since then drawing and painting has become my favourite hobby. Why? Because I like the process about it. You have an idea, you chose references, you chose the medium and materials, then you draw or paint and maybe something beautiful will come out of it. It is a holistic creative process that we hardly find in normal working life anymore. And for that reason, it is very fulfilling.

I completely agree that creativity is disappearing in our normal working life and in the UK our education, and find it very distressing.

You mention the word “talent”, do you think that being creative is a talent?

When I began to draw, I overrated the idea of having talent for something. Now I’m convinced that you can reach a very high level of skill in everything, if you have three things: interest, passion and perseverance. If you have the first two things, the third will not feel like a burden.

To come back to Karl Lagerfeld: he once said that he couldn't remember not drawing and that he was born with a pencil in his hand. His ability to create an expressive fashion drawing with just a few quick lines is the result of a lifelong passion for drawing and a cultivated imagination.

So if my son would come to me one day saying “I don’t have talent for this or that”, I would say, if you don’t have the passion to learn it, it is not the thing that you are really interested in.

If you had to choose, would you rather paint the same reference for the rest of your creative life, or create with just one medium for the rest of your creative life?

Just the idea of both alternatives drives me crazy. I'm far too curious to spend my whole life doing the same thing, but if I had to choose something, it would be one medium and preferably oil paints.

Creativity doesn’t like to be caged!! I don’t use oil paints, so for people like me can you explain why you enjoy them.

I like them because you can still modulate them a lot on the canvas, because of the long drying time. You can take a break and cook dinner or do the weekly shopping in the meantime, but when you come back you can still change the colours by mixing them directly on the canvas.

I tried acrylics one time, but because I’m used to work with oil, I’m completely messed it up. But I think it's mostly a matter of habit

Thank you Erik for volunteering to be a part of my Blog, it was genuinely really interesting finding out about another artist and their journey. Erik and I went back and forth with questions, to hopefully create what feels like an conversation rather than just question answering. I’d love to speak to people in real life one day or create a blog, to allow us to dig deeper into conversations, but nonetheless this was super interesting doing it this way.

Please feel free to go and support Erik and give him a follow on Instagram @esck.art

if you are interested in being on a future Blog, please follow @smallvoiceco on Instagram. I post weekly on a Wednesday, and i’ll post again when I am ready to accept new volunteers.

With Love and thanks

Flo x

Small Voice Community- Artist Spotlight- Erik Siegert