Berlin based artist Anne Bengard challenges the viewer to question their preconceptions within her watercolour portraiture. We love the colour, expression, and imagination in these pieces.

More: Website | Instagram | Facebook  | Twitter

I work from home and have dedicated a room to it – my studio. I tried working for a year in a studio a short walk from home in Gothenburg, but it didn’t work well – I still did more and better work when being at home. I really enjoy working from home as long as the room is separated from the rest of the apartment. When not working I hardly spend time in my studio – on weekends and evenings I close the doors to it to get some distance and let home feel like home.

Important to me is to dress well before entering my studio – I always wear clothes I feel good in and would wear if there were colleagues around. Personally I don’t feel very professional if I’m working in my nightgown, and I never work in my bed. A good start of a work day is to get dressed and go out for a walk; it doesn’t have to be a long one, but at least to get out of the house and get that feeling of taking a walk to work.

I don’t make plans to meet friends during daytime on weekdays. I need everyday, after breakfast (breakfast dates with friends are amazing), to be a tabula rasa that I can fill with whatever pops up. I never really know what will come to my inbox workwise and inspiration & flow are things that are really difficult to schedule. I do however sometimes meet my husband or friends spontaneously during the day if I all of a sudden need a change of environment. An unplanned lunch date can be very refreshing.

Sandra wrote more about how she works and what she’s up to in her own blog. Read all about it.

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

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Claudio Pfeifer lives and works in Berlin in different fields of visual arts. After studying Photography & Video at Art School, he moved to Berlin to study Cinematography at German Film School. His Photographic work is abstract, constructed and focuses on movement in still images. He has shot several experimental short films, documentaries and also worked as Director of Photography for Feature Films and Music Videos.

For the past two years, Claudio Pfeifer has been publishing art books and zines with an emphasis on photography. He founded the Publishing House PogoBooks which is the tangible representation of a very vital existing community of young artists.

PogoBooks understands itself as part of a long and rich tradition of other DIY projects and self-publishers. This includes offering publications at low costs. In this way, PogoBooks has already managed to publish 40 titles since 2010.

“This kind of publishing requires handiwork and heart. Nonetheless, the books have to be affordable. That’s what Pogo means to me,” says Pfeifer.

Find out more:
Website | Flickr | Facebook | Twitter

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

B. Hovens is an artist and self-taught freelance web/graphic designer living and working in Berlin.

We like the dark presence and patterns of A.T. which is dedicated to Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, Andrei Tarkovsky.

More: Website

Since the beginning of my artistic adventure, i have been extremely excited by the human form.

The idea for my latest project “Weight” comes from my own personal experiences and from my curiosity with how we co-exist with one another.

I began Weight by first setting up for a photo shoot. I already had the idea in my mind so the trick was to try to represent the same ideas through photography first and then create the artwork. Normally i use either myself or my girlfriend for the modelling.

To start it all off, I set the camera to a 10 second timer and just go for it, randomly trying different poses so that I can have more references to choose from later.

When the photo shoot is finished, I upload the pictures onto my computer and begin editing them to the desired shape, size, colour, etc… When I have found the desired picture, I begin to draw. Weight is drawn on 5mm Plywood.

This is the first time that I have drawn on Plywood so it is very exciting. The surface of plywood is very soft and smooth so the pencils take very well to it.

Using my computer helps me to achieve the extreme lights and dark’s that are so dominant in my work. I use the photograph only as a reference for the line drawing and the overall structure. As the piece progresses, I allow myself the freedom to change, distort and go crazy on it so that it is not a complete replicate of the photo.

I admire Photo realism and the skill involved but for me i feel i could just as easily be looking at a photoshop picture. Realism for me has to be precise but still keep the look and feel of an artwork. I like to see that it has been painted or drawn by somebody, not something.

Here is a video of the complete making of “Weight” part 1 here.

Enjoy my artwork and remember to keep drawing as much as possible!

Little bit more about ‘Weight’

Weight is a two piece project that is drawn and painted on 5mm Plywood with Arcylic and Coloured Pencils.

Weight as a term, refers to the amount, quantity, mass or heaviness of any given object that puts pressure on another object. When translating this metaphorically into the relationship between a man and a woman, it is as though each of them are sitting on their own base plate, trying to balance the weight of each other.

The term “weight” does not describe anything about the delicate substances that our weight is made up of, instead, it gives us the possibility to balance each other’s experiences, outlook on life, ability to learn, acceptance or non-acceptance and our strengths and weaknesses.

I would encourage the viewer to recall their own way of how we balance one another and also their reasons for keeping or not keeping the balance.

You can find more about Glenn and his work on his website & blog.
He’s also on Facebook and Twitter.

As promised, we have two cash prizes of £500 to give away. These are: the Judges Choice Award, and the Self-promotion Award, given to the featured artist who made the most out of their social media spaces to let people know about the feature and promote their work.

The Judges Choice was selected by:

Mutley – Director, SWG3
Lara Moloney – Director, The Skinny
Ravi Amaratunga – Media Project Manager, Channel 4
Damien Smith – Partner Director & Co-founder, ISO

And the winner is…

The work of Vienna-based Atelier Olschinsky was universally admired by the judges. They felt the quality and range of work from this small studio was extraordinary. From illustration and photography to print design and typography their projects display great depth and beauty and as a body of work were felt to be incredibly distinct.

See more work by Atelier Olschinsky on Behance & on their website.

And the winner of the self-promotion award is…

On Day 34 we featured Nick Cocozza, and for many, many days afterwards we would notice tweets from Nick linking back to his feature. Then we’d notice Nick commenting and supporting other 50×50 artists on Facebook. And then we noticed that Nick’s feature on Day 34 was getting more and more views & more and more comments. Nick was doing something right. And Nick has won himself £500 for being pro-active and getting noticed not only by us by the public. Congratulations Nick.

See more work from Nick Cocozza here & here.

A special mention should go out to Coll Hamilton, Jessica McDermott, Liz West & Laura Barnard who also made fantastic efforts to bring attention to their feature.

Thank you to everyone who participated in 50 Artists in 50 Days, and to everyone who has become a member of our community during the promotion. Remember, we will still be selecting artists and work to feature so if you haven’t yet, connect with us and show us your work!

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Take a look at the full list of the 50 creatives we featured during our first 50 days here.

‘I am sure we’ll see some day. We are here waiting for you.’

Packing and Mourning is a project about departure, journeys, the destination, and arrival.

The life of any artist involves travelling and moving, and in turn the unavoidable but complex necessity of safely packing and storing belongings, while mourning the loss of friends made but revelling in the excitement of the new possibilities created on arrival. Our blog documents the thrill of departure, the best way to pack, the nature of transit, sadness of leaving and the impact of place on work produced.

Four artists: Penny Anderson (via Manchester England, Bilbao Spain and Berlin Germany) Eija Hirvonen (via Oulu Finland and Kracow Poland) Shelton Walker (via Copenhagen, Denmark, New York and Virginia USA) and Youngjoo Yoo (via Seoul South Korea, London England and Bilbao Spain) document the process of living, leaving and being drawn back to Glasgow, where they will show work based on their experiences of packing, mourning and moving on as part GI 2012 courtesy of The Mutual Charter.

The artists involved have in common frequent relocations, as tourists, visitors, travellers and artists. The title emerged as I texted Eija to say goodbye as she reluctantly left Glasgow. When asked what she was doing, Eija replied: “I am packing and mourning.”

Some of the artists have met only briefly (if at all) but readily agreed to work together. Meanwhile we are all slowly returning to Glasgow for an exhibition of work inspired by our travels and the blog we have been writing.

Visit the Packing and Morning blog here.
Follow Packing and Mourning on Twitter here.

Nick Cocozza is an illustration graduate from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee who is now based in Berlin.

We noticed this work by Nick on our Behance community and thought it should be shared.

Here is what Nick has to say about it:
“This pop-up book was a piece that i produced in response to a live brief from the German Embassy in London as part of a design competition for DAAD.

Following the brief to create a modern day fairytale, i chose to put a modern twist on my favourite childhood fairytale; ‘Hansel and Gretel’.”

See the full book here.

There are 16 days left – get yourself featured in our 50×50 promotion and in the running for cash prizes. Find out how here.

Ideas and movements change direction here as rapidly as new Berliners arrive at Tegel Airport.  The huge migration of creative blood in Berlin’s direction over the last 10 years has acted as the oxygen flow that allowed Berlin’s unique cultural landscape to blossom.  Berlin exists in a perpetually restless, unmade state. Contrasted with London or New York,  which are oft-referred to as the art world’s market place, Berlin would rather see itself as a laboratory. A place to experiment where the usual financial pressures of a capital city are looser, and the gallery system places less commercial expectations on the artist.

Berlin’s turbulent history is too long, too complicated and involved to delve in to here, but it is clear it has provided a vacuum with fewer rules and conditions than most creative centres, a vacuum that creatives have endeavoured to fill over the last two decades. I’ve been living and working here for just over a year, and during that time I’ve found myself continually redefining my expectations.

Instead of writing a vague sweeping reduction of what Berlin is today (Something someone who has spent a lot more time here than me, could do a lot better) I thought i’d talk about a few of my favourite cultural spots.  Spaces, groups and exhibitions that have become highlights of my cultural experience in Berlin.

MMX is an open art venue run by a small group of artists, lead by Berlin photographer Jonathan Gröger. Existing for one year only in one of the last un-renovated buildings in Mitte’s gallery district, the non for profit group host exhibitions, film screenings, lectures, and performances on a weekly basis.  MMX really reflects Berlin’s increasingly social focus on exhibiting, creating an environment where people eat, drink and interact surrounded by work of all kinds.

Their recent show “Out of Control” has attempted to draw connections between the artist-curator relationship, leading the gallery in some unexpected directions.

Each week an artists exhibits, the week after, the same artist selects and curates their replacement, for six continuous weeks. Each artist justifies their decisions and motivations for their work, and the choice of artist they selected to replace them.  Leading to some bizarrely appropriate and irregular matches from week to week, eventually finding a synchronous logic by the end.  My favourite being Ivonne Dippmann’s colossal wall illustrations in the court yard area seen below.

The fact MMX will exist for one year only reiterates the temporary nature of Berlin’s art scene, rarely providing opportunity for complacency.

‘Salon Poppulaire’ is a bit of a Berlin secret. An exclusive meeting point for conversation on art and neighboring topics, for the convergence of different ideas, positions and contexts. Organised by the curatorial group ‘The Office’,  they Invite a host of different speakers to extrapolate on a theme, be they artist, curator or writer. They not only provide interesting speakers and topics, but the setting is one of west Berlin’s most renowned galleries.  Topics such as ‘Discussions on friendship’  or “Faith and Money in art” take on a new surreal value when discussed in a space casually populated with artworks by Berlin’s Zeitgeist.

One of Berlin’s more blockbuster attractions over the summer was  Olafur Eliasson’s huge show at the Martin-Gropius Bau, ‘Inner City Out’ .  A grand homecoming of sorts for Eliasson in the most auspicious of locations. Although not a Berliner by birth (Like a great deal of Berliners), Eliasson has lived here for some fifteen years and not only helped define the art landscape of Berlin in that time, but has instigated and guided the redevelopment of Berlin’s more traditional Art School, UDK, in to a more challenging and relevant education institution.

The Exhibition is comprised of 28 individual works that vary in size and scope, most of which are specifically created for the Martin-Gropius Bau. Focused on a playful dialogue between the confines of the interior, the expanse of the city, landscape and architecture, the body and how the self is experienced in these contexts.

Site-specific works within the gallery are tied to a variety of associated pieces scattered throughout the city, amplifying Eliasson’s central motif, the mirror.  When walking through the show (which can be experienced from two different beginning points) there is a moment where you become suddenly aware of how confounded, and inside out your senses have become. Reaching a climax in the form of a gargantuan kaleidoscope, from floor to skylight, that pulls the viewer into a dizzying architecture of infinite reflections.

Inner City Out proved to be one of the Martin-Gropius Bau’s most sucsessful shows of the last few years showing that the Berlin population has an appetite for block buster contemporary exhibitions, alongside the usually safer more traditional shows like their recent  LeCorbusier or Frida Kahlo exhibitions.

Auto-Kino! a show developed by British artist Phil Collins and Siniša Mitrović featured at the Temporäre Kunsthalle this summer,  presented a rotating program of artists’ videos and a varied selection of classic films. The difference being that the temporary gallery space was transformed by a graveyard of second hand cars creating a stationary indoor drive-in cinema.

The set-up playfully reevaluated the form in which video art is typically encountered, replacing its austere contemporary trappings with an almost extinct format of engagement. Featuring over 100 separate video works that take a tour through every major development in the cinematic language from the 1920’s onwards. Focusing largely on the base emotional wiring of the moving image and the notions of representation and authenticity that are intrinsic to the cinematic mode.

It was one of my favourite shows of the summer, and along with the his work in the Berlin Biennale and his recent film “”I Am My Mother” shown at Daadgalerie, Phil Collins has really transitioned well from Glasgow to his new base, Berlin.

I hope that small selection of my favorites of the last few months gives you a small idea of the scope of what is available on a weekly basis in Berlin.  This city continues to be a supportive habitat for artists of every level. The vacuum shows no signs of being filled any time soon.

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My Creative Scene is an insight into different creative & cultural happenings in cities where your members and readers live. Browse through more insider guides here or contact us to write about the arts scene where you are.