Open for Projection.
My best fitting garment.

Exhibition of 16 pieces of the series „Stor Inklings“

 

Siri Berlin:

„I like to say that when I draw a human body from life, I fall in love with everyBody. Meaning, the concentrated investigation of the lines and forms presented in front of me, as well as the vibe, inspiration, and personality I receive through the model's presence, gives me a feeling of excitement and joy. 

 

Each drawing of this series describes a unique world. A world made out of lines, words, and a final figure drawing. And music as inspirational tool. 

 

I see the connection between model and artist as the most important part of my artistic creation. 

 

While I seem to receive information about the model during the session, about who they are, what they might think, how they feel in the moment, I also feel mirrored. All I am receiving - and all I am putting down on paper - can be the message or reality of the model - or my projection.

 

To be mirrored can be a very vulnerable state.

Especially when „the mirror“ is naked. 

 

Now, as the consciously or subconsciously mirrored person (and as the artist, observer, or visitor of this exhibition), you have the option to see this vulnerability as something precious, something you can open up to. Something which can show you something about yourself and has the power to heal you, something which opens you up for all the presents to receive. - Or it can make you hide your vulnerability, push it down, try not to feel it. To protect what might be seen if someone looked too closely.“

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About the exhibition

 

In this exhibition, you find 20 charcoal portraits from Siri Berlin’s ongoing series „Stor Inklings“ done during life drawing sessions with models posing online or at her studio in Linköping. Currently, the series comprises approximately 100 drawings. (Stor = Swedish for big, Inkling = gist the painter / viewer gets about the other worlds)

 

Every Drawing is inspired by the model posing, the artist’s inner thought process, and music that sometimes is cautiously curated for a life drawing session.

 

The drawing process:

„Most life drawing sessions start with shorter poses and end with longer ones. The shorter poses build the background (or backstory) of the drawing. During the first poses, I turn the paper several times clockwise or how I see fit and also start writing words which come to my mind onto the paper as another graphic detail. The last pose is then set onto the line drawings. When I have sketched out the last pose, the underlaying line drawings serve as „coloring“ of the main figure drawing as I smudge the charcoal inside the last figure. I finish the painting with a brush and deep black compressed charcoal.“

 

Material:

Willow charcoal, soft -hard compressed charcoal, 300gr Hahnemühle Watercolor paper hot pressed (100x70cm), additions of fake gold leaf, watercolor,

(and loads of fixative to protect the drawings from smudging.)

 

About the artist:

Siri Berlin has been drawing from life since 2015 and she had the chance to participate quite a range of exciting sessions all over Europe.

„ Since 2020 a strong online life drawing community has formed, which gives me the chance to connect with artists and models from all over the world. This allows me to have access to a wide variety of excellent models and humans. This practice has definitely enriched my artistic practice, and I also love the relationships and cooperation forming out of these cooperations.“

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Your Thoughts:

If you like to contribute, leave your answer to these questions:

 

1) What story or feeling arises when you look at these drawings (or a specific drawing)?

2) What does the exhibition make you feel?

So if you like, take a pen and a piece of paper and answer the questions above.

Put the paper in the „letter box“ I provide in the exhibition space.

Every now and then, I will empty out the box and anonymously publish the contributions on my social media and homepage.

My thoughts:

While creating this exhibition based on my series „Stor Inklings“, I was thinking about my experiences here in Linköping with people reacting to my life drawings. More precisely, people reacting to my nudes, my artistic depiction of naked people. 

 

• Sometimes, people take a business card during an exhibition, realising there is a nude on the back, and then putting it back on the table. 

• People who want to model, but only for women, or only if the drawings will not be put on social media, or I hear stories about partners not allowing them to be drawn fully nude. 

• Visiting my studio, some people lower their eyes, focusing on something other than my drawings and paintings of nudes covering my walls.

• And most recently someone said: „Is the library aware of what you are exhibiting?“

 

Nudity is still taboo. Sexualized.

This raises my curiosity as an artist and a sex therapist.

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If you are an interested collector, send a message with a photo of the piece to:
Email: siri@siriberlin.de