A Curious Spirit

Art and science are often viewed in opposition. Yet creative minds have always been responsible for technical innovations the world over: from Leonardo da Vinci’s Renaissance anatomical studies to Olafur Eliasson’s climate activism. Kendra Troschel also believes in these similarities: she worked as a microbiologist for many years and is now a practising painter. “It might seem a little far from art,” she notes, “But I think there is an innate curiosity shared between the two fields.” Troschel describes herself as a “magpie”: picking, adapting and combining various visual tropes from art history.

It’s this spirit of inquisitiveness which drives her practice. “I try to absorb a lot, so I’ll flick through images, movies, poems until I find one particular thing that interests me – a motion or a position of a figure. I’ll think about it and what it means to me: the feeling or essence of it. The rest of the painting is done subconsciously, adding colours and objects that feel right and trying not to overthink anything.”

Article link only in English: https://aestheticamagazine.com/a-curious-spirit/