Author Archives: Imke Rust

About Imke Rust

Multi-Passionate Being & Investigative Creator (aka artist) Living, creating and playing in Berlin and Windhoek.

Berlin Stages

The shoes you wear… and how they are connected to my art

Many years ago, back in my early student years, I had this really fun idea. Some found it a bit morbid, while others gave me worried looks… but I am used to that.

For some reason, I cannot remember exactly why, I chose to use shoes as my subject matter. Shoes as packaging of the human foot…. and packaging which eventually shapes its’ contents. Not being the biggest fan of high heeled shoes, I developed the idea of the high heeled shoe eventually shaping the foot, very similar to the old Chinese tradition of keeping women’s feet small and childlike, through tortuous means. (Ok, now I remember the reason…)

So this is how I imagined your foot would look like if you would continuously wear the common high heel shoe:

Sketch of horse-shaped foot by Imke Rust (c)

Different stages as documented in my sketchbook, eventually turning into a kind of horse-like hoof. (Mind you, horses are very elegant, so maybe nothing wrong with women striving to have feet like them?)

I even worked the idea into a life-size clay-sculpture (one of my first objects done in clay) based on one of the imaginary middle stages of the deformed foot:

And now the reason why I dug up these old sketches and the sculpture for you and why I am writing about it in my blog today: Recently I found this in the newspaper:

found in The Namibian 18 March 2011

I always like it, if I find that somebody’s thoughts, somewhere in the world, are similar to mine. Isn’t it amazing? And often with a tiny little envy I wonder why their thoughts make it to the newspapers, great art shows or into designer shops with huge price tags, and mine don’t….?

And I know the answer: because my sketches stay safely tucked away in my piles of sketch books, my sculptures are catching dust on my windowsill and my personal confidence still needs a lot of nudging and pampering and support before I can truly believe in myself and take my ideas and art work to the next level. And I also know: the idea was cool, but far away from resolved, my sketches were fun, but not great and my sculpture was a beginner’s object, which got damaged before it could ever be shown… fortunately I have come a long way since that horse foot idea.

Besides: the designer horse shoe idea is cool – but honestly: have you ever seen somebody walking around in those? Or are you secretly wishing you could afford such silly designer hooves yourself? Or know anybody who does? Naaah – me neither, but I know quite a few wonderful people, wearing comfy, good-looking shoes, who have my art on their walls or at least know somebody who does. And hey – you are reading my blog and not theirs! Da! ;o)

Thank you for your support of my art and ideas! And if you enjoyed this post or if you like my art or ideas, please subscribe to my blog and please recommend it to your friends. It would make my day!

Art in the Park (Berlin)

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Summer has arrived in Berlin, with lovely warmth and sunshine. So it is the ideal time to get out and make some art outside. As i still do not have a studio, working outside is another great way of being creative.

There is a small community park just around the corner from where we live, so while the others played Badminton I kept myself busy with this…

For a change, not so much text and rather more pictures. Enjoy!

Untitled land art intervention by Imke Rust.

(Gemeindepark Lankwitz, Berlin, 7 June 2011)

And sometimes they tell me their names…

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And sometimes they tell me their names…

There is something begging me

To give it a life.

A face.

A form.

Something it can relate to

So that it becomes part of our human world.

Again and again they urge me.

I know they need me.

I hear them calling, begging….

But often I am too busy with less important stuff.

Or too scared, doubting if I can do them justice,

Too scared of trusting the process….

But when I allow myself to follow their calling

Opening myself up to their wishes

Having enough faith to just get going

Having enough peace to listen to their soft voices

Speaking in no language known

Trusting what I do not understand

And following even the faintest notion,

Then they guide me softly, intensely

Telling me about the exact way

In which they would like to be made manifest.

I follow their instructions as best I can.

Sometimes we are finished after a few exciting moments

Sometimes they keep me waiting forever before each new step

Occasionally it seems so simple, so obvious

At other times it is a long struggle

But in the end we always agree.

Now they have a chance to meet you

Talk to you

If you care

To listen to their soft humming.

In a deep inner dialogue

I am standing in front of them.

Amazed and intrigued.

Grateful that I could help them to come to life in our reality

Giving them a shape to be recognized by

Or a line, a colour, a texture…

However much or little they need.

I am humbled to be their midwife.

Mystified actually.

Although they tell me many of their secrets

I still cannot grasp them,

Or fully understand their complexity…

Yet they are part of me.

They tell me all I need to know

and sometimes they tell me their names…

(c)Imke Rust

(Thoughts on how my artworks come into existence)

Portrait of a Dog

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Bolle

In his fearless quest to protect my brother and father on the farmstead, Bolle, the dog pictured above, has killed several snakes during his life. Unfortunately during his last fight with a vicious black mamba, he got bitten so badly, that unlike previous times, he did not survive the venom and died in September 2010. The loss of the dog was a very sad event for my brother, as he has raised Bolle from being a tiny puppy and the two were inseparable.

For my brother’s birthday this year, I have painted this portrait of Bolle from a photograph which I had taken some time ago. Through the artwork, at least the memory of this special dog can live on in a “physical” form.

Although I have painted many dogs, it was a personal challenge to paint the portrait of Bolle. This was not just any dog and it was meant as a gift to my brother – so it had to really look like him and hopefully also somehow catch his spirit and nature. I am happy, that somehow, while I painted, the trusted magic has happened once again and my brother was overjoyed with his gift. The painting was done on an aluminium printing sheet, which was used to print newspapers – that explains the text which shimmers through the background ;o)

My brother with his painting

Many people know me as “the artist who has painted the red dogs”, due to my firstpublic success with winning the Standard Bank Namibia Biennale with the “Bitumen Dogs” in 2001. I have often worked with images of dogs, usually as a metaphor for different human relationships, most notably for my “Power & Politics” series. I like painting and drawing dogs, they have interesting and versatile forms and shapes. And yes, I love dogs, but not more than other animals. And no, I do not have a dog myself. I am more a cat person. (Click on the links above if you like to view more dog artworks.)

Kiddo & Shiwoohamba exhibit in Berlin

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Works by Paul Kiddo

Barely in Berlin and already I had the pleasure to view an exhibition by two Namibian artists, Paul Kiddo & Elia Shiwoohamba. On top of that, I could witness some of the positive results of the ‘shared experiences’ project, which I have co-founded four years ago and co-managed till the end of 2010.

Both artists have been on a two-month ‘shared experiences’ artist residency in Berlin in 2010, all expenses paid. During this time they got to know the exciting city of Berlin and its lively art scene, created new artworks and were able to make many valuable contacts. One such contact happened almost by chance when Paul Kiddo walked into a small gallery in Rigaer Str (Friedrichshein) and got talking to the owners, Lars & Ingolf Neumann. Later also Elia Shiwoohamba presented his works to the gallery. And now, only a few months after this meeting, the Grafik Studio Galerie is presenting the exhibition: Paul Kiddo & Elia Shiwoohamba – Grafik und Malerei aus Namibia (11May -13 June 2011)

The tastefully curated exhibition shows numerous works of both artists in their respective signature styles. Paul charms the audiences with his naïve realism oil-paintings of Namibian landscapes, Kolmann’s Kop buildings, wild animals and the tongue-in-cheek homestead sceneries, while Elia, who works mainly in cardboard prints and lino cuts, uses people and Namibian animals as his subject matter, with many interesting renderings of owls. The works are for sale at very reasonable prices (between 35€ and 420€).

If you are in Berlin anytime before the 13^th of June, do plan in a visit to this exhibition. The gallery can easily be reached with the public transport system, situated only a short walking distance from the Frankfurter Alee S-Bahn Station.

What great achievement for these two artists! I hope you make it even more worthwhile by supporting them with your visit and hopefully by buying one (or more) of their works! Also a warm Namibian “Thank you” to Mr Neumann of the Grafik Studio Galerie, who made this exhibition possible and for promoting Namibian art in Berlin.

: Opening Speech

: Guests at opening event

: Works by Elia Shiwoohamba

: Works by Paul Kiddo

Still Weeping – Four Years Later

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Shortly after completion 2007 – still standing tall

Transformation, change and a tribute to an old myth were the central topics of my land-art installation “Weeping Women” (2007). Based on the San myth about the origin of the huge salt pans at the famous Etosha National Park in Namibia, the artwork consisted of seven tall figures made out of rock-salt. The figures, representing the women who have cried so much for their murdered men and children, that their tears collected into a huge salt-lake, which eventually dried out, were intended to symbolically cry every time it rains. The pure raindrops would mix with the salt and create a natural tear solution, while at the same time also wear away the figures. The “Weeping Women” were meant to cry for all the sadness of the world and slowly wash away. Once they are gone, I hope, enough tears have flown and the world will be a better place.

By recreating the myth through my artwork, I hoped to raise the awareness about the myth, the violence we inflict on our fellow human beings and the pain and sadness of this world in general. But I also hope to offer a solution: although we need to be aware of the history, we should not get stuck in it with blaming and revenge, as this continues the vicious cycle. And just like the Christian myth of Lot’s wife, who could not let go of her past, we will turn into rigid, dry and bitter salt-pillars, unable to move forward. Through acknowledging our pain and emotions and releasing them through the salty tears we cry (and not through calls for or acts of revenge), we can mourn and heal.

The “Weeping Women” have now mourned for four rainy seasons, most of which were unusually heavy rains, with record rains recorded in Namibia during the past four months…. Maybe the world needs to cry a lot in our current times? Most of the “Weeping Women” have “done their duty” and have transformed, cried away and returned to the soil. One is still standing about 50cm high, hopefully crying her last tears during the next rainy season, after which the artwork will have disappeared and with it, hopefully also the need for further tears. I know, I am an eternal optimist and idealist…., that’s just me, but maybe I am not alone?

The last “woman” standing (17 April 2011)

To see more pictures of this work and its transformation, please click here.

Indigo Spider: Why Do We Have Art?

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Storm in a Teacup

Wow, it is always great to know that people like what i am doing. It is such a honour and it gives me the inspiration to continue, even when sometimes the road seems to be just a bit too treacherous (like poison honey – as Wilma Stockenstroem would have said in her book: The Expedition to the Baobab Tree. Which, by the way, is my all-time favourite book).

A blogger, called Indigo Spider, has used my artwork to illustrate a beautiful point she is making on an important subject: Why Do We Have Art? Go on, just click on it and have a look! What a pleasant surprise!

Also, since I am fairly new to the world of blogging, putting up my own webpage only last month and even got lured into using twitter, it is great to see how cool this all can work.

I must explain: in order to figure out how Twitter works (and gee, i am still not very literate with it, but please bear with me…) I looked up a friend of mine, who is using twitter and is blogging too (Andrew Robson – Check out his blog here) and looked around. He again is following the mysterious Indigo Spider. When I tried to sign up for Twitter, I seemed to have pressed on the “Get signed up to Follow Indigo Spider” instead of “Sign me up” or something like that…. So, being signed up, destiny already had set up one person to follow and I decided that maybe i should check out the blog of this stranger… even if i do not like spiders, but Indigo… well that sounds cool. Ok, Indigo Spider is no spider after all, but a real person blogging about cool stuff in a funny and warm-hearted way and was kind enough to return the favour and follow me on twitter and visit my website.

And so the circle closes…. the Indigo Spider has been looking at my webpage, liked my art and has decided to use one of the works to illustrate her point, on which i totally agree.

What a beautiful world we share and how great that we can linked up with so many great spirits!

Thank you Andrew, thank you Indigo Spider and thank you, to all my friends who follow and support me and cheer me on!

Missing Artwork

Please help! This artwork of mine was last seen in October 2010 at my joint exhibition with Silke Berens “New Works” at Studio77 (Windhoek, Namibia). Unfortunately it has since disappeared (lost? stolen?) and I have never received it back.

Missing Artwork

Has anyone seen this work anywhere? I would really like it back and would be very grateful for any information about it!

A reward is offered to any information leading to the successful recovery of this artwork. Please send me a message on Facebook, my blog or twitter.

Would anybody steal an artwork in Namibia? That seems very unlikely. But on the other side, it seems very strange that it just disappeared into thin air… so I am still hoping that it will be found somewhere.

The work has a special story to it… ok, most of my artworks have, but this one is even more so. If I have time, I will write it down and share it with you on my blog soon.