These initial sketches evolve as they are translated into painting, where her focus shifts toward the exploration of colour. Through subtle gestures and quiet tension, she creates images that resist fixed narratives, inviting viewers into a space where intimacy unfolds and meaning remains open.
What has the most influence on your work? Are there any specific experiences?
I read a lot and I find myself quietly observing. I find myself being influenced a lot by the environment that I’m in, though of course that goes for everyone I believe. My work revolves around quiet, intimate moments. Currently, it is shifting toward what lies underneath these intimate relations, the vulnerability and the violence that linger within them.
Many of your works explore intimacy and the female figure. What draws you to these themes?
Intimacy is such a core part of being. It’s about being vulnerable and connecting with others and with the world around us. And it occurs in everything, it exists in the space we inhabit, the way we perceive the world around us and how we connect to it. The bonds that are created between people and within communities. It feels core to our existence. Nothing grows in isolation. Intimacy is the hidden thread in how we relate to one another, ourselves, and our environment, and without it the meaning of the things we do is lost.
How does it feel to recognize yourself in your own work?
First, I often use my own body as a reference. I wouldn’t define most of my work as self-portraiture, my intention isn’t to depict a visual representation of myself. Rather, I use the body I inhabit and express it within my visual world. For me, it’s not about depicting myself; it’s about exploring the intimate bond I have with my environment, social structures, and the people around me.
I think we are shaped by the environments we inhabit, whether it’s about physical spaces, emotional or relational ones and that makes it difficult for me to reproduce a single, coherent style repeatedly. I also felt the need to adjust how I work depending on the topics or series I am exploring. In hindsight, I do recognize myself in my work, as I see them connected to me as a whole. Yet in the moment of creating them, they feel new and uncharted, something I still have to familiarize myself with. But again, I think this is also something that might change. I feel this way now, but who knows, how I would answer this question in a year.
How does one of your pieces develop? From the initial idea to the finished painting? What role does color play in your work?
It starts with a period of collecting and observing, reading, feeling drawn to a certain mood, topic and colour scheme. I draw and sketch compositions and usually start with one colour as an underpainting. From there I work my way through, adding layers while leaving space for the colour underneath to come through.
I’m drawn to exploring colour and how they relate to each other and the mood they create together.
Are there techniques you haven’t tried yet but would like to explore in the future?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Painting is a practice so close to me, and it will always be a core part of who I am. Lately, though, I’ve noticed a curiosity to explore other parts of myself and different ways of expressing, through other media and forms of connection. I imagine the painterly approach will carry over into new areas as well.
For example, I’d like to explore moving images, especially film. I’m drawn to analog film because of its colour and the unexpectedness of an outcome that it can have. There’s a component of serendipity you can’t fully control, which I’m feeling curious about. I like the idea of moving images, little moments, subtle gestures and glances, stillness, close ups and play with color and light. And mood. Creating narratives or leaving space to interpretation. It makes me think of “The Taste of Tea” by Katsuhito Ishii, a film I can highly recommend.
What projects are you currently working on, and when is your next exhibition scheduled?
I am currently participating in the group exhibition “A House the Size of a Shell” at Galerie Kandlhofer in Vienna, which focuses on miniature painting. The show runs until April 2nd.
I have begun a series of larger-scale paintings, exploring the theme of anger and the structures of violence embedded within intimacy and relationships. Alongside this, I am also focusing on learning and experimenting with new media. I have had a Super 8 camera at home for years, and I have filmed some sequences with it. I am very curious to see what the outcome will be and whether the film is still usable. I want to follow this curiosity and see where it takes me.
Magdalena Herzog – www.magdalenaherzog.com, www.instagram.com/magdalena__herzog/
Magdalena Herzog (*1995, Salzburg, Austria) is a visual artist currently based in Vienna, Austria. After studying Fine Arts at the University of Art and Design Linz in the class of Ursula Hübner and Anne Speier, she is currently studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the class of Daniel Richter.
