The archives contains a significant collection of Berni Stephanus’s collage works.
Born January 31, 1941 in Hannover, Germany, Berni Stephanus is a German-Russian artist whose life and work are deeply intertwined with a rich tapestry of cultural influences. His father is from Germany, while his mother's roots can be traced back to a Russian Jewish family from Kishinev. Stephanus' artistic journey began with a diverse background. After completing his studies, he pursued translation studies in Geneva, Switzerland, before immersing himself in the world of painting at the local academy. It was here that he began to explore his creative impulses and develop his unique artistic voice. From an early age, Stephanus displayed a penchant for expressionism, with his first paintings emerging at the age of 15. Over time, his style evolved from figurative depictions to more abstract forms, reflecting his ever-changing perspective on the world around him. The turning point in Stephanus' artistic career came in 1967 when he began experimenting with collage as a means of expressing his political beliefs. Inspired by the tumultuous events of the era, including the Vietnam War and the Prague Spring, his collages served as powerful vehicles for protest and dissent. Over the years, Stephanus focused exclusively on creating collages, marking a break from traditional painting methods. He considers himself an outsider and rebel within the art world, free from conventional norms or expectations. See also: archives.stephanus.com, Instagram, @bernistephanus FB: Berni Stephanus, bernistephanus.blogspot.com/Conversation…
June 23, 2024
[CT] So, first off,
At this point in your creative work, what continues to get you out of bed in the morning and into your studio? What is you typical daily schedule as an artist?
I love it that you are starting this year to reflect on the individual works at https://bernistephanus.blogspot.com/ that is a great idea. Your work especially seems to be very story oriented.
June 25, 2024
[BS] For several years, I have followed the same routine: After breakfast, I start looking for the starting image. I always work standing. Once it clicks, I continue until completion. It takes about 2 hours on average. Towards the end of the afternoon, I resume collage, even if it means completely transforming it.
There are several reasons for this way of doing things:
1) inspiration comes more easily to me with a fixed-hour job.
2) the time limitation protects me against the danger of remaining stuck in my image - something I learned in therapy.
3) taking a break makes me see my image differently.
4) My social life is preserved.
Obviously, I have only been practicing this routine since my retirement. There are also sprains when we go out in the morning or on vacation. I then catch up either the same day or the next day.
Another routine is going out for a walk. I then make in camera double exposures from billboards, showcases etc. The images I obtain have points of convergence with collage, but more with photomontage, it seems to me. Moreover, the patterns are “objets trouvés” randomly during our walks in town. (samples below)
June 25, 2024
[CT] Thanks for that great answer Berni. OK I am going to try to lay this out as conversational. So I am going to take your statement (above) and break it down into bite sized parts and talk about what you said and ask related questions in BOLD and otherwise converse about what you are saying.
[BS] >>>For several years, I have followed the same routine: After breakfast, I start looking for the starting image. I always work standing. Once it clicks, I continue until completion. It takes about 2 hours on average. Towards the end of the afternoon, I resume collage, even if it means completely transforming it.<<<
[CT] So are you saying you usually make one collage a day?
[CT] Yes I know what you mean about the "starting image". When I am making a collage I will often do the same thing, find a bit of composition that is the centerpiece of the work and then build out around that initial impulse or as you say the 'starting image' You are typically working with figures and characters or personages, myself, more abstractly, but also still thinking in figure/ground relationships. I am thinking of the visual flow of those relationships - what does the eye see first? Where is the eye led to and at what speed? I think in musical terms in that sense; what is the melody, what the counterpoint or the twist, etc.
[BS] >>>There are several reasons for this way of doing things:
1) inspiration comes more easily to me with a fixed-hour job.<<<
[CT] Yes I agree, I think we train our mind, our intuition to open up when we maintain a predictable working routine. This helps to prevent distraction and to stay attentive. When we accept by rote that it is time to work we don't resist getting started, we just begin, it is not a choice, it is an assumption.
[BS] >>>2) the time limitation protects me against the danger of remaining stuck in my image - something I learned in therapy.<<<
[CT]So you have employed therapy? Is that ongoing? I have gone to a therapist a couple of times over the years for maybe a few months at a time. So when you say "something I learned in therapy" do you mean that the limited time a person spends in a session, say one hour, that you feel compelled to deal with an issue in that short span of time? Or are you referring to some other sort of 'phycological stuckness' like indecision? That is an interesting thought, the idea of being stuck in an image which might mean getting lost in an image and not being able to stand back away from it and consider it from a wider viewpoint.
I used to work on sound or audio collages on the computer sometimes maybe 15 or 20 years ago and I would definitely get lost in that audio soundscape as if disembodied. Putting a limit on the time was very helpful. Otherwise, I might forget my life and just keep working on it for endless hours and never find the edges or the completion point. Sometimes that used to happen when making a complex painting. I would just get lost in it for days and days and not get to a finish point. I imagine that is a serious problem for a composer working on a symphony or a writer working on a long novel that will take a very extended time to bring to a conclusion. That problem of getting lost in it requires a strategy. But as a creative you have to find yourself in the middle of that kind of problem before you can start to strategize a solution of how to keep going in a sustainable way.
[BS] >>>3) taking a break makes me see my image differently. <<<
[CT] Yes, those are things that a creative must figure out and keep balancing. It definitely took me a long time and many disasters to figure those things out and knowing when to take breaks and how to take breaks. There are different ways to do it. Sometimes you just need to rest, but sometimes you can just change to a different activity or a different rhythm and that can give you rest from the thing you are working on.
[BS] >>> 4) My social life is preserved.<<<
[CT] For an artist there is also the balancing of one's social life and one's solitude. We all need both of them. Sometimes a person can get too involved in the social aspect and at other times one can get too involved in one's solitude depending on one's personality. An artist should consider it as a discipline to maintain both aspects and figure out the balance of it. The same with the professional aspect if one needs to make a living from one's creative activity. It can't be all business or creativity suffers nor all creativity and then business suffers. They have to be combined the right way to strike the balance.
[BS] >>>Obviously, I have only been practicing this routine since my retirement. <<<
[CT] What did you retire from? And how long ago?
[BS] >>>There are also sprains when we go out in the morning or on vacation. I then catch up either the same day or the next day.<<<
[CT] Considering the Herculean amount of collage art you have made over the years, what would you say is the driving force that keeps you going in such a consistent way?
[BS] >>>Another routine is going out for a walk. I then make in camera double exposures from billboards, showcases etc. The images I obtain have points of convergence with collage, but more with photomontage, it seems to me. Moreover, the patterns are “objets trouvés” [found] randomly during our walks in town.<<<
[CT] So are these walks you take with your wife? Is she involved in the arts too? Or does she just resign herself to your 'creative preoccupations'?
Till the next time…
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Wow! Really interesting life and collages.