Anna-Belén Siegmann

About

Anna-Belén Siegmann, born in 1997, Hamburg, Germany

Painting, for me, is an act of authorship, identity, and intention. In a metaphorical sense, I see my practice as alchemy: the disassembling, extracting, and reassembling of materials to refine them and turn them into „gold.“ Therefore, the process of my work is as important to me as the finished painting.

My practice is informed by my earlier studies in psychology. I question reality in a dialogue between philosophical and spiritual themes, which I respond to on a physical level in my paintings. This, in turn, leads to new spiritual insights into reality, which I then react to again in my works. Hence, there are often many layers on top of each other in my work, and since my time at the RCA, I have started working in series and experimenting with painting in the expanded field.

I work extensively with liquid colours and experiment with combining them, allowing them to run into each other, then separating them by cutting up the work and putting it back together in a controlled order. This non-traditional way of painting creates a dialogue between the freedom of experimentation and the precision of control and intention. In this way, my work transforms into a dynamic conversation between the tangible and the intangible.

Artists who have influenced me on a thematic, intellectual, and expressive level are Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, and Helen Frankenthaler.