Gloenn is a German artist and musician with an inventive process of creating art from splotches of color. Since these splotches are unpredictable they lend that characteristic to each of his paintings. Viewers will be intrigued and mystified by each new piece that comes from Gloenn’s creative mind.

ToonariPost (TP): When you first started did you ever hit any bumps in your art process? How did you overcome them?

Gloenn (G): When I think about it I can’t recall any specific thing. I can just say that I’m really overstrained when I see all these confusing laws about taxes that I have to remember if I want to sell my art. I really don’t know anything about this topic, regardless of how often I read something about it. It just gets more and more confusing to me. This thwarts me a lot, because I don’t know if I have to pay taxes after selling a work. So I’m very scared to sell my art via internet. All these rules really piss me off.

Maybe another point is that I feel depressed when I see the flood of amazing artists that you can find all over the internet (especially on DeviantART). It’s motivating on the one hand, but on the other hand it’s quite mind-blowing and daunting. I really respect all of the awesome artists out there!

TP: Who or what are your inspirations and why?

G: The thing that inspires me the most are color splodges. Mostly I do a mess with my colors on paper and then I look at which freaky faces or creatures I can see in these splodges. Animal books are inspiring for me too, especially books about insects or water creatures. There are so many incredible life forms with extraordinary body shapes that fascinate me.

I think it’s remarkable that I’m a fan of Alex Pardee. His art is really inspiring. I have never tried to copy what he does. I drew monsters before I saw his art, but there is still a lot of his influence in my art. Additionally, I’m a fan of pop surrealism, there are a lot of awesome artists in this genre!

TP: What artists would you consider working with to do a piece? Why, and what type of work do you think would come from this partnership?

G: Well, I would like to work together with a lot of other artists, there is not any one who I  prefer at this moment. Maybe because I only think about what can be done together and not who the person is that I could possibly work with. Sure there are some idols, but I think most of them are unreachable for me. A really cool thing would be to create some great wall paintings with artists from different genres, or some experimental paintings. Another idea is that one artist creates a concept for a painting and another artist implements it. Some shirt graphics can also be created in collaboration. There are a lot of artists who can create together. I’m really open to teamwork. This would be a great experience and something new for me.

TP: If there was any art medium that you wish you could master, what would it be and why?

G: I wish I had the time to learn how to work with oil paints. I like the color gradient that can be made with oil colors and the fact that they dry slowly which allows you to edit the painting for a long time. You can create such real looking paintings, that’s incredible. I think oil colors are difficult to use, I will try them out as soon as possible, and then I will see if they are really as challenging as I believe them to be.

TP: What are your goals in life?  Do you plan to continue art as a hobby or make it a career?

G: Definitely art as a career, but also as a hobby. I mean it this way, that the fun of making art should be in the foreground and money in the background. I don’t want to become rich because of it, but my dream is that I can live from art and music. I cannot imagine myself doing a “normal” job in the future, this wouldn’t make me happy, it just wouldn’t be me.

TP: Do you feel that your culture has influenced you in some way that makes you different than other artists?

G: If you mean the German culture in general, the only thing that comes to my mind to answer this question is that Germany is a fulsome bureaucratic country. Everything has to be well-ordered, for everything you need a permission, contracts everywhere, so that everybody nearly loses sight of  real life. This sucks a lot. I hate this controlled atmosphere. Maybe this is the reason why I hate to draw according to known “art-rules”, if you know what I mean, something you learn in art-education or from “how to draw”-books and stuff like that. Additionally an important component of the German culture is beer… you can think of the rest.

Image Courtesy of  Gloenn

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About the author

Kala Istvanek
Presently, I am attending Carthage College in Kenosha, U.S.A. I will be graduating with a degree in Asian Studies, with a minor in English and Studio Art. I have been a bookworm ever since I could read and I can never turn down a book. Art is also one of my loves and discovering new artists is always a thrill for me.