Interview by Corinna Heumann, Illustration by Kim Kluge — Corinna on the Move

Kim Kluge and Corinna Heumann talk about closeness, perception, and the special dynamic between two creative personalities.

CH: When I portrayed you, I experienced it as liberating to paint a colleague for a change. Our two gazes lie layered in the image without interfering with one another. It contains not just one story, but two, and an open space in between. Perhaps this has to do with a special dynamic that exists between us creatives? How does a person change in your eyes once you no longer simply look at them, but begin to portray them?

KK: I first start with the experience of being portrayed myself. At the beginning I struggled with your use of color, with the combination of pink and green. At that time I was working with color issues myself in a series called ‘Wesensportrait’. Over time, my perspective on your perspective of me changed. I could understand it more and more. Your image of me opened itself up to me. It also has to do with self-acceptance. I was able to accept your unusual view of me. It made me curious. In this portrait I see a pirate, a kind of Joan of Arc, a fighting nature. I have never seen myself that way before. I consider myself rather withdrawn. You depicted me as very present. I find that fascinating. At the same time, it frightened me. It’s absolutely exciting.

CH: What went through your mind when you began the portrait of me?

KK: The earth travels around the sun at 100,000 km/h. It rotates at 1,000 km/h, and up to 1,600 km/h at the equator, around its own axis. Movement is our nature. Stillness is an illusion. In the portrait, Corinna on the Move, everything I know about you comes to light like your esprit, your humor, your zest for life, and your constant state of being in motion. To me, you appear completely ageless and dynamic.

CH: Which emotion accompanied you most strongly while working, and which did you only discover once the portrait was completed?

KK: Emotional states are always polarizing and limited. That’s why, in art, I work with perception and fields of perception. With these, I can extend myself beyond my own emotions and transport more content. Only with distance from my own feelings can aspects reveal themselves that would escape me if I were too close to a person.

CH: Did you feel that I wanted to hide something or, on the contrary, show something that only you were meant to see?

KK: I drew the band-aid. At first, I thought it was a hint at a secret vulnerability. However, the movement in the portrait is completely harmonious, joyful. The band-aid stands for your perfectionism. The band-aid is the element that disrupts the image, your vulnerability. Band-aids represent care, helpfulness, tending. You take care of others! And you’re a perfectionist. In you, attentiveness joins with artistic professionalism, and so the “disruptor” in the image becomes a positive symbol.

CH: Did the process feel like a dialogue, a dance, a kind of listening or something else entirely?

KK: When I work, I always enter into a dialogue. In this case, in a special way, because as artists we mirror each other in our works as well as in our language. That’s what makes it exciting. Through our dialogue, I realized how similar we are in our artistic approach and in our processes.

CH: Because we notice that we think creatively in similar ways, we can talk openly about it and learn from one another?

KK: For me, being portrayed and experiencing another person’s view of me was a risk. The small, fragile ‘ego’ is pulled out of its comfort zone. You expose yourself to another perspective and experience that it does not always correspond to your ideal self-image. That has a great deal to do with trust.

CH: Did you feel observed and what role did that play in your artistic process?

KK: I find the subject of being observed very interesting. The moment you step into the public eye, you feel less observed than you actually are even though it’s a reality that one is being observed. Everyone is not only constantly observed, but also commented on. So I expose myself to the process of being observed. When I step onto a stage, that’s simply how it is. I feel increasingly comfortable with it and shape it more and more myself, because it’s fun. I’ve stopped being afraid of it. I increasingly stand by the Kim that I am, rather than trying to meet a certain expectation of myself.

CH: If this portait could speak, what question would it ask you or me?

KK: It would ask you, Corinna, whether you see yourself reflected in this portrait. It asks me nothing but instead, it has answered everything: 100% Corinna!