Anne Bengard
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Music On Walls had the chance to meet with Berlin based artist Anne Bengard while she was painting her Tooth Fairy mural for the Free Urban Art Exhibition Wandelism that has opened for the past two weeks in Berlin.
As her work caught our eyes, we wanted to know more about her art and by chance we discovered that some of her previous works were inspired by great musicians.
What did inspire you to create artworks inspired by music?
Pastel Manson is the first musician I ever painted. I’ve been hugely inspired by his work since my teens, mainly by his stage shows, performance and water colour paintings rather than his actual music. It took me a long time to get into the music but also learned to love it once I saw the messages in his songs.
His style of watercolour painting and provocative stage shows were actually what initiated my love for the medium and led me to develop to the style I have today.
Pastel Manson was an exploration of depicting one of the biggest goth icons to date devoid of using black, the signature color of goth, in my color palette. Inspired by the pastel goth sub culture and aesthetic, where gore meets cute and black meets pastel,
I wondered what other goth icons like Robert Smith and Souxie Sioux would look like in a pastel goth style. And so the Pastel Goth series was born.
A few years later I was asked to produce a similar series based on rappers. I like my works to be imbued with a sense of irony and decided to make the series a play on words and called it Pastel (w)Rappers. Each rapper is linked to a type of candy. I feel that a lot of musicians in that industry take themselves far too seriously so I wanted to to add a sweet note of humor.
I’ve had the great fortune to create a portrait of Jennifer Weist from the german band Jennifer Rostock and have recently styled and shot reference images of Dorian Wood and Sean Haefeli.
I saw Dorian play in Berlin last year and his stage presence and songs touched me to the point where I was nearly in tears. That never happens! Sean is an incredible vocalist, pianist and composer and writes some brilliant lyrics. His sound is in a category of it’s own...jazzy vibes with a hip hop flow and a deep, dark voice that’s smooth like butter. I can’t wait to create portraits of them both!
The Jennifer Weist piece was produced in 10 prints and auctioned on Ebay. All the proceeds were donated to Frauencenter Schokofabrik in Kreuzberg which is a Support Centre for women, run by women.
What is your favorite song of each mentioned artist?
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
The Cure - Love Cats
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Happy House
Kanye West - Golddigger
Eminem - Stan
Jennifer Rostock - Hengstin
What is on your playlist right now ?
Top 5 on my playlist:
Kidkanevil - Inakunaru feat. Phasma
Dorian Wood - O
Pogo - Forget
Sean Haefeli - Rise
Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom
About Anne Bengard
Berlin based artist Anne Bengard explores the relationship between people, expression, objects and imagination within her work. With an open minded and free approach, she explores and questions social norms and prejudices, encouraging the viewer to adopt an unrestricted attitude and question their preconceptions. Her works are imbued with a knowing irony and playful sense of humour that utilise juxtapositions and elements of eroticism and the grotesque to create provocative yet sensuous images. Characterised by a distinctive soft-yet-intense pastel colour palette her work draws inspiration from Japanese manga and pop culture, particularly from the female empowering 'magical girl' genre. Further sources of inspiration include her colourful friendship circle, contemporary pop culture, classic and contemporary portraiture, pop surrealism, super realism and a desire to push the boundaries of watercolour.
Anne was born in Leipzig, Germany and moved to England at the age of 9 resulting in a dual upbringing between England and Germany. Since graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in 2010 with a BA (hons) Performance Design and Practice, she has also worked in the fields of set, prop and venue styling and design for corporate events, night clubs and fashion shoots. These multidisciplinary collaborations with other creative practitioners further develop her personal work and ideas. She now divides her time between Berlin and London, frequently travels to Asia, particularly Japan and Thailand and enjoys dying her hair many shades of blue.
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STAY TUNED WITH ANNE BENGARD HERE :
facebook.com/anneblondiebengard
instagram.com/anne_bengard_art
