Love, Passion, Energy and Colors: Art of Dodo Newman

Dodo Newman.

Interview by Ummuhan Kazanc

Dear Dodo Newman, I want to start our interview with your striking Words about Passion and Love: “Passion cannot be learned, cannot be faked or copied. It is something that burns like fire, and if not kept alive, it soon can burn out. The source of my Passion has always been Love, Love from people being inspired by what I create and what I can give back.” Can we say that these sentences are the main idea or philosophy of ​​the art of Dodo Newman?

That is exactly what I would say! The main energy that fuels all that I create is Love for what I do, why I do it and what I get back. This is the cycle of energy that creates worlds.

This energy has to be taken care of and nurtured every day, which doesn’t always happen. I have also had many phases on my journey when this flame faded or I thought was completely gone.

It took me a while to realize that it is never gone actually, it is there but we need to reach out to and bring it to the surface, and then use it wisely. We only see this light when we are in the dark and we learn how to do it only when the light has faded.

Love is joy and freedom, which are my main energies I need to create in every part of my life.

Dodo Newman, Dance of Joy, Acryl, Öl auf Leinwand, 120x160 cm.

You have grown up in a diplomatic family and you have traveled all around the world. You have been to many countries: India, Iran, Italy, England, USA, France, and Monaco. You were born in Hungary and live in Germany. It is like a colorful photograph from a mystical world. Can we say that colors of your paintings have roots from all around the world?

Definitely. I love to imagine myself as the One who brings back colors to those who left them behind or forgot about them. It is so easy to blend into our everyday life and forget that we all have colorful imaginations, unique visions, traits, characteristics and life experiences that no one has ever had or ever will have.

As much as diverse we are all over the world, so much so we are connected and one. We are different in are uniqueness and yet we are interconnected, interlaced.

What affects one, effects everyone else and everything: people, animals, plants, nature, our planet and the unseen. Since we are all connected, we have to take care of all this.

My intention is to bring back this sense of Oneness that makes life so special.

It is a paradox, because we are different and yet One, not separate, united by a Life energy that connects us. It is this mystery and wonder that I bring back through my art, my writings, my talks, speeches, and videos, in whatever form of expression I choose.

Dodo Newman, Life energy II, Acryl, Pigmente, Öl auf Leinwand, 80x100 cm.

At what stage of your life did you decide to be interested in art? When was the breaking point?

As a child, I was always in my imagination and very creative. I was always creating something, whether it was drawing, knitting, and sewing, putting things together. As I grew up, I went to several art courses, summer schools and learned the basics from artists themselves.

Even though the form of art always changed - I first wanted to be an animator, then I started to learn to become a fashion designer - it was always something to do with creativity. There was never a doubt in me that I will follow something creative.

I had some phases in my life when I faced challenges and did not make art, burying it deep inside, and I seemed to have lost this direction in life, and yet art surfaced and found me every time.

I think the breaking point when I decided to really focus fully on making art was when I came out to Berlin, Germany in the end of 2008. I had this determination in me that no one could take away and, notwithstanding challenges and obstacles - I moved to Berlin to make and give art.

But then again, I had other breaking points on this path, like the one when I really hit rock bottom some years ago. Following a personal life situation of break that resulted in everything fall apart around me, I almost gave up art and found back to it step-by-step. As someone living from my creative energies, it is linked to my life closely and so I had to come back to it in a way as I built back my life from scratch, brick by brick.

This is why I wrote the Book “Creating Again” during the pandemic, which is planned to come out this year, to give back to other artists and creatives who have or are going through similar challenges and obstacles - especially during these tough times - from my life experiences and learnings.

I also created recently an online course on it, which gives practical guidance as well to those who might feel lost in our world, believing they have lost their creative energies as well.

Art is not only something that I do because I love it, but somehow I believe it is part of my life purpose to contribute to transformation through my art and its message, there is a deep energy that pushes and guides me to follow this path.

I always say that I don’t do art, but art is me and through it I can give and be part of a bigger creation.

Dodo Newman, Swimming in calm and joy, Acryl, Pigmente, Öl auf Leinwand, 80x60 cm.

Bold colors and forms, use of space and light are very striking in your works of art. They are full of energy. What is your secret? Can we easily define your style as Abstract Expressionism?

I believe that is the style that it can be categorized into, at least that is what my master-teacher told me when I first learned techniques with him. I also felt more inspired by the Abstract Expressionists. But my art is also lyrical and full of movement, expressing energies.

The space and energy has an interesting story and meaning in my path and art I create.

I never had the chance to learn art academically, but at one point I was approached by a well-known artist at that time in Hungary. He said he wanted to teach me all the possible techniques that can help me express myself through art.

When I first took my paintings to him for consideration, he said he could see that I lacked the skills that you can learn through discipline in a school.

But he said I brought out the sense of space and spaciousness in my artworks that no one can learn, because it is something we are born with, it is within. He found that this inherent and naturally expressing space was my main characteristic of my art.

This has been my main moving element ever since. I was always fascinated by energies, the movement of things that we cannot see with our eyes, the unseen universe. For example, our emotions inside are all energies that move in our inner space. The ideas and thoughts we have is energy form, Life itself is energy Source, from which all humans, and everything on our planet lives through.

I express this energy through the dance of light and colors, forms and textures that are in contrast and that sometimes fall apart to then come together in a sort of dance.

Dodo Newman, Layers unfolding, Acryl, Öl auf Leinwand, 100x80 cm.

You have ties with Monaco and Royal Family. Could you tell us about this exciting project?

I wouldn’t say ties, but I had connection to Monaco through one of my symbolical artwork that I created for Princess Charlene of Monaco. Since my life is interlaced with the art I create, this project was also a reflection of my life then when I created it.

I was pregnant with my daughter, when I envisioned this project as a symbol of love and union for the Princess of Monaco. As I was often visiting Monaco for private reasons at that time, the piece of artwork was linked to Monaco as well.

The whole artwork is a piece full of symbols. It is created with resin and pigments on Plexiglas, cut in the middle by a wave that divides the two piece. The two parts are connected and yet divided, meaning our lives and people we meet are connected too and yet we are unique.

The main colors are various shades of purple, the favorite color of the Princess, and oyster colors, which are fable-like and mysteriously changing. I love this play of colors as they change during the different times of the day and seasons.

There is a big piece of coal on each part of the artwork, surrounded by many small diamonds. This symbolizes the cycle of life and death that is part of our human lives.

One side of the artwork was donated to the Princess and the other was bought privately.

For me, this artwork is more than its obviously luxurious materials and links to Monaco. As I was pregnant then and while I was creating, I was looking forward to bring forth a new life into the world.

My daughter is another gift from life, through her I have discovered more of my true Self, and have deepened my meaning for life. In that period I experienced immense joy and also pain, sorrow. Both of these parts of emotions are present in our lives. We cry and laugh, and then we laugh again.

Expecting her gave me new beginnings and a knowing that life is a wonderful adventure if you look at it and live it that way. So, that piece of project is linked to life, love and my daughter.

100th Anniversary of the Titanic Cultural Commemorative Project was inspired by you. Could you share your experiences?

Whenever I have a project, a vision in mind they all have meanings behind them. Just as the piece for the Princess of Monaco, this project dedicated to the legendary ship of Titanic also had a deeper meaning.

There were 43 nations on board the Titanic ship, all seeking out a dream and envisioning a new start in America, a new land. They were filled with hope, people from an incredible variety of backgrounds, gender, cultures, life experiences, guided by faith and hope, all in one boat.

We are all in one boat, just as those people then and there. We are all One, no matter where we come from. We are joined by hope, life, death and the dreams of creating our lives.

What I enjoyed most is that I collaborated with 13 embassies in Germany, with nations who were also onboard the Titanic. They collaborated on the Publication we created for this project and I also had my works displayed at some embassies. My art can be found also in some of these embassies.

It was very interesting to see how these embassies contributed with cultural knowledge to the project even though they were different. We all worked in harmony because of the story, the meaning it had. I love stories that uplift, because they teach and inspire us.

This project is dedicated to my grandmother, who was my hero. She was a Holocaust survivor and yet she was an amazingly uplifting and wise person. She was strong and full of energy all through her life.

As you see, my art reflects my life as well because as I said before, art is me.

What are your next, future project plans?

Since space is something I have been contemplating since I am a child, I am planning to create around this theme, the inner and outer space or universe. Whatever we see around us is within us as well. The journey outside starts with the journey within. The more we discover of our external universe, the more we realize that all that is inside of us as well. Somehow, the outer and the inner universe is connected, again a mystery that opens up new visions.

I am also very interested in combining the traditional techniques with the new, digital ones. Respecting the past and combining it with innovative elements is exciting and can speak and reach to more people.

You have works of art in very important collections like Saudi Royal family, Monaco Royal Family. What do you feel when you sold your works? What can you tell art lovers who are planning to buy your works?

For me, it does not matter who buys my art, who decides to live with them and who collects them, whether it is royalty or not. What really matters is what my art makes you feel.

If you feel different, reminding you, taking you somewhere else, moving and making you contemplate on deeper things, then I have given you something through my art.

Buying is an important element, because it keeps the energy alive and contributes to making more art. I live through this cycle of energy.

Bringing someone joy as they see my art and imagine and put it in their environments, living with it is a special bond between artist and buyer/collector.

I have collectors all over the world and I love to think that pieces of my story, imagination and vision are spread over in different homes, places in different parts of the world.

Art is more than decoration, it brings a piece of inner world to life. When someone decides to buy my artwork, decides to have a piece of this inner energy as well, and makes it their own.

Just as every artwork I create has a story around it, every artwork that someone buys has a special story, meaning linked to it. This link is special and it is its real value.

FOR MORE INFO

www.wohnenetwasanders.de