The Art of Stella Im Hultberg

By: Maxine Hurt | all paintings by Stella Im Hultberg | January 30, 2009 | Art Profile

MM: What other exhibits are on the horizon for 2009?
SH: After the February exhibit, I have a solo show coming up in L.A. in July at Thinkspace Art Gallery (thinkspacegallery.com), one painted wooden doll in the Kokeshi show that month at the Japan American National Museum, also in L.A., and another smaller solo show in November at Copro Nason Gallery in Santa Monica. I believe there are a couple of small group shows in between.

MM: So you’ve forsaken the West Coast for East Coast living. How is Brooklyn treating you?
SH: Brooklyn is great; I love the depth of history, the sense of community, the awareness in people, the attitude, the seasons, the diversity. I’ve always felt like oil floating on water anywhere to a certain degree, but I feel at home here. I’ve been a nomad all my life, constantly moving, so it’s hard to say that I’ve exactly settled here in Brooklyn.

MM: What was it like for you growing up in multiple countries?
SH: Growing up in different places makes you a constant foreigner, constant observer, an outsider. There is much confusion, but also the excitement of learning something new. But deep down inside, a lot of time is spent trying not to stick out, to blend in, to conform — especially having been raised by Korean parents, most of whom prefer their children to have “normal” lives. Only much, much later into my adulthood did it occur to me that conformity is not the best option for me. This is why people with strong roots below their feet seem so amazing to me to this day.

MM: What inspires you to create your paintings?
SH: It’s kind of a obsessive-compulsive thing. The images, thoughts in my mind after reading books, hearing stories, watching films, are purged out through my paintings.
The sad emotions are probably what compel me to paint them, and because I don’t know any other way to better express what is on my mind.

MM: Who are the women in your paintings?
SH: I don’t really know who they are. They are just manifestations of ideas in my mind, I think.

MM: Some of your paintings include surreal elements such as dead creatures, skulls, exotic animals, etc. What is the significance of these items?
SH: I think they’re mythical elements that are up to the viewer’s interpretation. Honestly, I just love bones, skulls, anatomy, medical things, so adding them into my paintings is natural for me.

MM: I sense despondency, dissatisfaction and displacement in your work. From where do these emotions stem?
SH: I think I connect with those emotions in some ways, or with people who feel that way. Those are the emotions that make you most vulnerable — like refugees of your own life. I don’t know if I can explain this in words. I mean an emotional refugee: feeling uncomfortable in your own shell, that sensation of wanting to evaporate from your own life, wishing you weren’t you ...something like that.

MM: Do you have a favorite painting (one of your own)?
SH: Recently Eclipse. It’s usually the process that makes it special for me.
I think I had another kind of understanding and breakthrough personally with the painting. Some paintings in progress will lead me (instead of me leading it) onto its own path ... it just happens, clicks, and I’m all of a sudden learning something new and different. It sounds kind of heady, but it was one of those paintings that just surfaced from the canvas naturally for me.

MM: What would you change about the art industry?
SH: I’m not too familiar with the “industry” to know to change much. But in general, I’d like people in it and viewers in general to be a little more respectful of each other and creations. There’s a lot of copyright and theft problems online, and a lot of unsavory flipping of art going on — taking advantage of the weaker, getting rich off others’ hard works. Just a little respect should probably do some good.

MM: What words do you try to live by?
SH: There are many words I try to remind myself of every day — mostly humility and consideration. Albert Einstein said, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” And one of my professors said in college, “Whatever small actions you make will affect the humanities and the world as a whole, so take caution and pride in your life.”

MM: Whom do you envy, if just a little bit?
SH: Mostly I envy people who have sturdy feet on the ground, who have a color of their own and people with absolute pitch.

MM: What song would you choose as your personal anthem?
SH: I have never thought of a personal anthem. I’d feel too self-important to pick an anthem — but maybe Like a Rolling Stone by Dylan.

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