MUNTHE ART MONDAY:
IEVA BLUMA

Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do?

I’m a professional artist with 25 years of experience, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, for more than 20 years, but born and raised in Riga, Latvia, where I also received my education in art and design.

I primarily work with large-scale abstract paintings and drawings, but throughout the years I have also worked with sculpture, ceramics, porcelain, photography and animation. Body movement is also essential to my daily creative practice. I also studied yoga in India and practise diverse forms of physical training, transforming my emotional landscape and perception of my life experiences through my art.

Ieva is wearing our PEACH T-SHIRT from The Simple Studio.

Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career?

When I started exhibiting my art in my early twenties, I did not think at all about gender differences in art. I was very determined about my career.

I have experienced, and still experience, sexist attitudes from male gallerists, even though I have always been very distant and business-like in collaborations concerning my art. I am often judged by my attractive appearance and rejected before gallerists seriously look at my work.

When I became a mother of three, especially after having twins, motherhood took a lot of time and focus. A very complex divorce that exploded into a private war wounded me deeply and required healing. Resilience and transforming my painful life experiences into art have become a daily practice for me.

Ieva is wearing our PEACH T-SHIRT and LUPON PANTS from The Simple Studio.

Can you name some female artists who inspire you and explain why?

I love the vibrant paintings of Cecily Brown - playful and deep at the same time. I’m also inspired by artists like Tracey Emin and Apolonia Sokol, who transform very painful life experiences into strong paintings.

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

My creative force is a mix between the unconscious and the conscious. In this publication, I’m showing a glimpse of my two new, very diverse painting series.

In my newest large-scale black-and-white painting series, “RAW & REAL”, I explore the contrasts and contradictions of life: light and darkness, success and struggle, beauty and brutality. The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow...

In this painting series, I work with unfiltered emotions - anger, fear, anxiety, longing, desire, passion, love, shame, excitement and disappointment. I let them emerge as immediate expressions and transform them into strong visual stories.

As women, we are often taught to suppress our raw emotions and to be likeable. This series is my artistic manifesto to break free from my own forms, perfectionism, fears and limitations.

At the same time, I am deeply engaged with strong composition, layered detail and structure. “RAW & REAL” is my manifestation of female strength, vulnerability and freedom.

My other large-scale painting series, “PAIN & GLORY”, which I created a few years earlier, has a strong symbolic and abstract, semi-figurative visual language. The paintings draw on esoteric systems, embodied experience and psychological depth. These works are like colourful visual meditations on the psychological, physical and spiritual processes in my life, as well as an imaginary wonderland of the unknown.

Composition, drawing and different layers of painting are central to this series. I seek a balance between figures and forms, creation and destruction, while at the same time the visual stories emerge from my emotional experiences.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a woman in the arts?

At the moment, the challenge is to rejuvenate my artistic career after years of taking a break from exhibitions.

I’m ready with two new, diverse and strong large-scale painting series for solo exhibitions, “RAW & REAL” and “PAIN & GLORY”, which I have spent five years creating.

I find it challenging to find the right gallery match - a strong gallery interested in showing my work and collaborating with me to develop my career, which I am really determined about now. I am often rejected before gallerists take the time to look at my work. It is a daily practice not to be discouraged, to believe in yourself, and to keep working and creating art.