Today we’d like to introduce you to Ilse Duijn.
Hi Ilse, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started out as a corporate girl back in Amsterdam. I worked for a big finance company and managed social campaigns for the retail products for years. When we moved to New York in 2019, everything changed. It created an overview over my life, the rolls I have played in it and I knew I wanted to start walking on a path that was more authentic, more me. I have been painting since I could hold a brush but now I started to paint to work something out of me. It was all over the place at first; It was about motherhood, connection, navigating life and taking charge over your life.
A year after we moved to New York we moved to LA. This is were I got inspired by the tropical botanicals that were so wonderous and strange to me, a Dutch girl from Amsterdam. In 2021 my art started to change. I had finally found my style, the message I wanted to spread. It felt like I had cracked the code. I started being more bold; doing more sales, writing to people, made lots of content around my art. In the meantime I had joined the Southbay Artist Collective and did many artshows in the Southbay. People seemed to finally see something in my art; they felt what I was trying to say.
My art is about flow, introspection and connection to others and nature. I feel deeply that we need to un-engage in this time of living. Create stillness, spend time in nature in order to hear what our hearts want. We need to get in touch with ourselves, our core talents and our wishes in this life to feel purpose and fulfillment.
I got my work shown by galleries like Roam Homeware in San Diego, Garel fine arts Gallery in Manhattan and interior design communities like House No 23 in Longbeach. Now I work with Interior Design firms like Salthouse Collective, Christine Vroom interiors and Vital Design House and it makes me so happy to be able to spread my art, my energy into homes where people are trying to live with love. This summer I will be the highlighted artist of the Hermosa Fine Arts festival and I am so thrilled about it because I love the Southbay communities and it is such a great opportunity to connect with others over all the beauty that art brings to this community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There are always struggles. And there are always insecurities; Is it fair to put everything on the line for this? Shouldn’t I just take a normal job? What if I fail? ‘People never like my postings, what if they laugh about my art behind my back?’
All of these voices talk to me. Yet I hear a louder voice that tells me ‘this is it’ . You need to tell these stories. You need to paint your energy into this world and remind people that they are whole, that its all here. That we just need to remember who we truly are, and be brave enough to commit to that. Every day. Every step. In the end my art helped me with this. There simply is no other way for me. We all make sacrifices, but as long as these sacrifices forge my commitment to my main purpose, it is worth it.
But off course I too need to earn an income. I started a small art school for kids and I teach kids multi disciplinary arts after school. Something I deeply enjoy because it forces me to open my gaze to imperfection and unregulated creativity. Children just create, they have not been around long enough to be shaped on the concept of beauty; to them everything simply ‘is’, they are happy when they see a color becoming another color. The process is more important. And that energy leads me back to the core of my paintings.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I paint and I sculpt my artworks in monochromes. Mostly tan and white, almost all of my artworks have women as their main center. I simplified the shapes of the female body, some call it ‘Matisse- like, or picasso-ish, or childish hahahaha. However; my style is not like anything else there’s out here, so I invite you to take a look.
I have just launched a new line of artworks that are sculptural 2 D- representations of my former line ‘Paradise Talks’. I wanted to simplify the shapes I work with and let the shadows of the sculptures on the canvas do the talking. I wanted to create a more primal sense of essence. A distilled version of the message I am trying to sent.
There is serenity, empowerment and connection to nature and/or people in every artwork.
I want to remind you with my art that it is not up to somebody else to see your potential or to give you an identity- it is up to You. Plant your seeds in the right soil. Commit to it, Commit to you. I hope one day, we all have a feeling like this artwork projects: A feeling of empowerment, a feeling of pride in who we are, a feeling of bravery for taking on life’s challenges in our own way and a feeling of serenity because as long as you choose You, you will be at peace.
I am proud of creating and of every step I take into making my art more visible in this community. I am proud that I am committed to myself, to my given talents and to my children. I spend every spare minute I have on my art and on getting it out into this world. That takes a lot of energy; It forces me to deal with insecurity on many levels.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was an odd child. I had a weird overview over life, even as a child I would contemplate society. I did not understand why we had to fit in this machine we called ‘the economy’. We did not even know clearly who came up with it; somehow we got dealt all of these rolls and we had no other choice than to play along because of money. It was like a play to me and I never felt like I could fit in.
I love reading, writing and spending time in nature. I always have. Whenever a storm would come I would climb the highest tree across my parents home and would climb it all the way to the top to feel the violence of nature. I loved that thrill. That she’ll always win.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ilseduijn.com/art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_by_ilse_e/?hl=en
Image Credits
Images by Ilse Duijn.
