Artist Profile: Bettina Forget
By Angela Roberts
Dec. 13, 2010
We first encountered the works of Montreal artist, Bettina Forget, at Montreal sci-fi convention Con-Cept and were immediately blown away by the imaginative quality of her art. Her most recent project, Somnium, is inspired by the first-ever science fiction novel by Johannes Kepler of the same name. We contacted her for an interview, and she was kind enough to share some of her artistic insights with The Gloaming.
Angela: How did you get started as an artist?
Bettina Forget: Art is the "family business". There's an artist in every generation in my family, and I was trained in drawing and painting as soon as I could hold a pencil (and not poke my eye out).
A: What is your preferred medium?
B: Painting will always be my first love. I've branched out into video art, I do a little printing here and there, and I do enjoy creating installation pieces, but there's nothing like squeezing a dab of vivid dioxazine purple onto a tray and smooching it around with a big, fat brush. I first started painting with oils, but I just don't have the patience to wait around for stuff to dry. And I like to work with texture. So for the last eight years I've switched to acrylics. If you buy the good brands the quality of the pigments are just the same.
A: Is there a medium you've always wanted to try or that you would like to try but haven't gotten around to it?
B: I really would like to get my feet wet with animation. Either bare-bones stop-trick animation or the more complex varieties which you can create with Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro. The added dimension of time can really help you get your point across, and it allows you to experiment more than you can with paint and canvas alone.
A: What are your influences?
B: I really love contemporary art, especially the challenging, avant-garde stuff. Drop me at any art fair - Documenta, the Armory Show, or any biennial - and I'm in seventh heaven. But my first experiences with art, my first influences, were with more traditional artworks. I still have a big soft spot for Caspar David Friedrich.
A: Do you have a favourite piece of artwork? One that you still look at and think, "This is amazing"?
B: When I lived in Singapore, the Tyler Print Workshop had just moved there from New York, and their first exhibition was a series of prints by Frank Stella. His wild, exploding colours and patterns are amazing! I took all the money I had earned from the sales of my first solo show and invested it into one of his amazing prints. It hangs in my dining room now and I see it every morning for breakfast. The piece is so complex and deep, I don't think I'll ever be finished looking at it. It's the best investment I ever made!
A: Can you tell us about your first professional sale? How did it come about?
B: My first career was as a graphic designer; I ran a small studio for a few years. Even though I loved it, I chose to change track and went back to art school to earn a degree in fine arts and to continue my life as a visual artist. This meant that I had to "fire" my clients. But one of them was very supportive, and after I graduated, they commissioned three paintings from me for their offices. I've always been grateful to them for allowing me such a solid start in the art world.
A: Do you get ideas from texts or just from your imagination?
B: Most - if not all - my ideas come from reading, conversations, and academic work. My We are Stardust series, for example, is based on an astronomy course I sat in on. Each canvas was inspired by one of the classes. My current series Somnium is based on the first ever science fiction book, written by Johannes Kepler about 400 years ago. If you have any interest in science whatsoever, you'll never be short of ideas!
A: Do you have any advice for new or young artists?
B: Work. The more you work, the more you'll discover, the more ideas you'll get, the more you'll improve your techniques. And experiment. Try out new processes, set yourself up to fail. One of my favourite lines from art school was, "There are no mistakes in art. Only unforeseen results."
A: Can you tell us anything about your current projects?
B: I always have a few projects going at once. I'm still working on the Somnium series, you can see some of the prints on the Art+Culture Editions site (www.aceditions.com). And I'm working on a rather indulgent self-portrait series (think Cindy Sherman meets Halloween), which is a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll have time to update my blog again soon, so you can stay up-to-date.
Some more of Bettina's work:
Somnium Part 1-2
Silhouette-Pleiades from We Are Stardust
To see more of her work, visit her portfolio or visit her page on Art+Culture Editions.