Stephanie Bing

I have been a working artist for more than 30 years. When I was young, I tied flowers together and arranged them in different vases in an attempt to play with composition. When I was fourteen, I learned the principles of the Japanese art of floral arranging: Ikebana. That taught me a fresh and creative approach to movement, balance and harmony with the elements of line, color and mass. I grew up in a house that was supportive of the arts. My mother was passionate about pottery, and I participated in many craft exhibitions with her. My dad is also a talented painter with hints of abstract expressionism in his youth and later realistic approaches in oil paintings. At the age of 16, I started painting in watercolours: landscapes, still lifes and seascapes. Subsequently, I studied fine arts, painting, photography, art history, German, and literature at University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz, Germany. These professional qualifications gave me access to all creative techniques and provided me with a global art historical background.I started my painting career with strong references to abstract expressionism and reduced myself to almost monochrome, gestural signs in both formal language and colour repertoire. I stopped painting in 2002 and traveled around the world for 10 years to gather more inspiration. When my beloved mum died, it was a life-changing event that prompted me to start painting again. My style changed completely, as did my technique: I created environments and furnished imaginary rooms on canvas by creating new, unexpected, magical interiors which I interpret to be sanctuaries. This is the path that led me to develop my current style.What kind of experience do you have that inspires you to create a new painting?I start painting without an outside trigger of inspiration. The painting’s process itself is of the utmost importance in my daily life. Painting is comparable to breathing for me. I like to plunge into my painting process like others plunge into a pool. Creating a new painting is an effort in balance between visualizing and reflecting on my surroundings and emotions. The subjects of my work reflect a myriad of daily impressions from traveling around the world and being in motion. While painting, I get an extraordinary sense of personal and creative freedom.I want to give my audience the opportunity to look behind the basic, well known pictorial sphere by leaving behind the classically taught composition and inventing more layers within the two-dimensional canvas. Sometimes I enlarge the interior space through perspective illusions, and I also add collage elements, which I collect every day, for additional connotation. I love to break the traditional methods of spatial visualization and the physical three-dimensional illusions of room in order to make the viewer's perception of reality kind of absurd. Only by breaking the classical view I can generate a new experience for my audience, pointing them to an emotional reality.How do you make the decision to work with imagination versus more realistically? As a graduate of the academy of arts I am pretty much familiar with the theoretical background of symbols, meanings, metaphors and equivocations of art interpretation. It’s very fun for me to put these icons like vocabulary into my art to create a sophisticated composition that tells hidden stories. In my still lifes you will find a goldfinch, a fly, fruits, fish, design furniture and the offensive use of complementary colours. On a superficial view, one might say, well, a colorful composition featuring some decorative stylistic elements, such as this little bird in the upper right of the image. On a closer inspection it opens up to a more profound interpretation: The goldfinch bird is a symbol of perseverance, fertility and persistence. In Christian iconography it also represents a symbol of the passion of Jesus Christ. So it is not just a decorative tropical bird. My pictorial elements always have symbolism. I combine the bird and modern nordic furniture (design by Norwegian Arne Jacobsen who has made history with his famous Egg Chair design) and infuse these elements with the very shiny and dominant color yellow. In addition, I’ve included a rich fruit still life for a well-balanced composition, and a view of a hidden room in the middle of the picture which illustrates another plane of existence and suggests an emotional or psychological perspective. The decision to combine these elements within my picture composition arises each time anew, because the plain image or the pure abstract composition is not enough for me. I build a new environment, which relates to nothing seen before. I want my pure aesthetic energy to flow out of my composition to brighten the viewer's mind with pure buzz and delightful excitement. I don’t expect this specific background knowledge from my audience, and for this reason I offer comments on my pictures and give insights into composition and meaning. Describe the underlying theme of your work"I compose bright, surprising settings like a luxury jewel box and assimilate my interiors to unknown sanctuaries with high vibes by metabolizing my experiences, observations, and impressions into interior pictures. I compose collage elements, sea creatures, plants, and images from art history into new spatial structures and give rebirth to the classical interior. In my highly detailed paintings, with their tapestry-like designs, you will find interiors with fish, leopards, Chinese porcelain, ceramics, baroque furniture, and retro-style influences. Everything in my paintings is playful, ambiguous, and multi-layered. I love variations within a theme and image quotations. My artwork is much more than an assemblage of colors and patterns to please the eye. I build new environments which relate to nothing seen before. I want my pure aesthetic energy to flow out of my artwork and brighten the viewer's mind with pure buzz and pleasant excitement.I love to break the traditional methods of spatial visualization and the three-dimensional physical illusions of a room to make the viewer's perception of reality absurd. I want to allow my audience to look behind the bare, well-known pictorial sphere by leaving behind the classically taught composition and inventing more layers within the two-dimensional canvas. Sometimes I enlarge the interior space through perspective illusions and add collage elements, which I collect every day, for additional connotation. By breaking the classical view, I can generate a new experience for my audience, pointing them to emotional reality. I turn my motives into bright, cheering works of art, like an explosion of colors and organic shapes. Everybody is welcome to participate."Take us through your creative process"Creating is like breathing. Painting is surviving.“ The painting process itself is of the utmost importance in my daily life. Painting is comparable to breathing for me. I like to plunge into my painting process as others fall into a pool. Creating a new image is an effort to balance between visualizing and reflecting on my surroundings and emotions. The subjects of my work reflect a myriad of daily impressions from traveling and being in motion. While painting, I get an extraordinary sense of personal and creative freedom. From the basic idea of perspective, I developed the layout of the constructed space, which I am wallpapering. I overpaint my interior compositions with an old master glaze technique and a structure of shadows and complementary colors to increase the luminosity of my work. I capture detailed and precise moments that bring a fresh and intriguing perspective to the world's reality. As the viewer sees now existing in a different light, context, or resolution, familiar objects appear as something new.How would you define your artwork?It's all about the room, about space, about interiors. On a superficial view, one might say a colorful composition featuring some decorative stylistic, vivid elements with storytelling hints in a sometimes confusing 3-dimensional room. On closer inspection, it opens up to a more profound interpretation: Multi-layered, storytelling, colorful, loud, exciting, explosive, mysterious spaces. There are a lot of hidden symbols of perseverance, fertility, and persistence. When you find a bird in my artwork, like a goldfinch, it is not just a decorative tropical bird. My pictorial elements always have connotations. Courageously I put a bird or a fish and furniture and combine these elements with sometimes gleaming and dominant colors, adding a rich fruit still life to a well-done composition with hints of deeper perspective by giving a view in hidden rooms. It needs time to get into my themes. I can't expect this specific background knowledge from my audience. For this reason, I comment on my pictures and give insights into composition and meaning. The decision to combine these elements within my picture composition arises each time anew because the plain image or the pure abstract composition is not enough for me: I like to offer. Further, deeper content is not only to please the eye. I want to build environments and interiors which relate to nothing seen before. My paintings present contrasts: organic and technical, black and white and brightly colored, large and small, geometric-perspective, freehand drawing, illusion, and collaged reality. From the basic idea of perspective, I developed the layout of the constructed space, which I am wallpapering. I overpaint my interior compositions with an old master glaze technique and a structure of shadows and complementary colors to increase the luminosity of my work."What do you believe to be the role of an artist in society?"The pursuit of beauty is the socially formed role of an artist. Art and Artists reflect the known and the new, the growth and changes. Thus, the first role of an artist is to teach the understanding of beauty and to broaden our view. But to be honest, I also paint for selfish, personal reasons. Only some things in my paintings have a message or are socially significant. That must be mentioned in all. I also design and paint for my peace of mind. Of course, nowadays, I can transport my "peace of mind" via social media to the outside world. If this arouses interest, that's, of course, entirely in my interest. Culture is considered the lifeblood of society and time. Art can help to reflect the truth symbolically. Art itself has excellent value. It broadens the perspective, offers innovation and provocation, questions the familiar, and stimulates discourse. But the ideal value of art also has a price. The market value of art is an increasingly important factor in public life, which is at the expense of the content of art."What do you hope your audience takes away from your paintings?I would like my art rooms to attract the audience to take a breath for a minute, slow down, and to have an interaction with the painting. Depending on the art’s content this could mean to smile, get a boost of emotions, a sensation from color, to remember a personal story or accept my story and be filled with delightfully fresh vibes into their day, and into their lives. What is your method for navigating creative block? That’s a very funny question for me. It is like asking me how I would survive without breathing. Thank God I don't know anything about a creative block. If that happens, I'm probably dead.

S T E P H A N I E B I N GCURRICULUM VITAEBorn in 1967 in Mannheim, Germany, Bing graduated with distinction from high school in Offenburg. Subsequently, she studied fine arts, painting, photography, art history, German, and literature at Johannes Gutenberg-University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz, again graduating with distinction. Following her education, she worked as an associate professor for the Bavarian Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and the Bavarian Chamber of Architects until 2002. Bing focused on design, architecture, aesthetic perception and digital media to promote visual literacy.Stephanie Bing studied painting in the master class of internationally renowned art professor Klaus Jürgen-Fischer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz and photography in the master class of Professor Dr. Vladimir Spacek from Prague. In 2022, she won the international art prize "AWARD VIBES" in Frankfurt with her painting "Prophetia” and got the IIA 2022 Award in Photography and Digital Art as Finalist at Camelback Gallery, Arizona, USA with her stunning photography.Since 1989 Bing's art has been presented in national and international exhibitions. Her paintings are listed on international art platform Arte Laguna World. https://artelaguna.world/paintings/interior-gris/In 2018, she formed her own company #ninibing34, presenting a unique collection of colorful accessories, fashion, and interior design products produced in London. Her stylish goods are shipped worldwide. She operates a gallery and showroom in Korbach, GermanyBing is married to publisher and journalist Dr. Wilhelm Bing, a recipient of the first-class Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his commitment to private broadcasting and media. Today she lives in Germany and the Balearic Islands, or travels with her husband around the world to gather new inspiration. Painting: Through her regular stays on the Balearic Islands, in the Caribbean and around the world, she shows us her wide artistic range while being inspired by the bright southern light and color. She metabolizes her experiences, observations, and impressions in interior pictures via a classic perspective. She composes photos, sea creatures, plants, and images from art history into new spatial structures, and achieves a personal style giving rebirth to the classical interior.Her highly detailed paintings, with their tapestry-like designs, are reminiscent of Matisse, Bonnard, and Fauvism but continue to exuberant expression. Everything in her paintings is playful, ambiguous and multi-layered. She loves variations within a theme and image quotations, interiors with fish, leopards, Chinese porcelain, ceramics, baroque furniture and influences from retro styles. She composes bright, surprising settings like a luxury jewel-box, and assimilate her interiors to unknown sanctuaries with high vibes.Bing loves rhythmizations and uses complementary colors as challenging accents to make her pictorial themes exciting. Her artwork is much more than an assemblage of colors and patterns to please the eye. Stephanie builds a new environment, which relates to nothing seen before. Her pure aesthetic energy flows out of her pictures and brightens the viewer's mind with pure buzz and delightful excitement.She presents contrasts: organic and technical, black and white and brightly colored, large and small, geometric-perspective, freehand drawing, illusion, and collaged reality. From the basic idea of perspective, she develops the layout of the constructed space, which she is literally wallpapering. She over paints her interior compositions with an old master glaze technique, and a structure of shadows and complementary colors to increase the luminosity of her work.Photography: Stephanie Bing's photography is mysteriously enchanting. With her eye for every living object and spatial structure, she captures a detailed and precise picture that brings a fresh and intriguing perspective to the world's reality. As the viewer sees existence in a different light, context or resolution, familiar objects appear as something new. She presents her exciting work from all over the world in landscape, texture, nature close-ups, natural patterns and seaside impressions, which often evoke a vision of Van Gogh's brushwork. She lives half the year in Germany and the Balearic Islands, and travels worldwide to gather more brilliant inspiration. Since 1991 her work is shown in national and international art exhibitions. Stephanie Bing studied photography with professor Vladimir Spacek from Prague at the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz. Her photographic oeuvre is listed on #LensCulture, one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching resources for discovering contemporary photography talent around the world.