Quick hello Norika, can you tell a bit about yourself?
My name is Norika Nienstedt and I’m a painter, drawer, and collage artist.
In the 1970ies I studied painting at the Städelschule in Frankfurt/Main, and after the studies, I moved to Düsseldorf in the early 80ies. My first friends in Düsseldorf were the musicians of “Der Plan”, an electronic avantgarde art band, and now and then I was asked to do some artwork for music, like several record covers for “King Rocko Schamoni” and upcoming the collage “Löffelprinzessin” will be the cover for the new record of the Düsseldorf electronic musician Stefan Yuerke.
My favorite topic is a kind of portrait, sometimes distorted, or also mixtures between person and architecture, person and animal, and person and plant…. When I had a time of more being into drawing, I started to cut out pieces from magazines to cover the part of the drawing, I didn`t like. But soon found out, there is a special quality in this mixture, and sometimes the result can really be a surprise. While working more and more with collage, it took me neck and crop, and now I´m addicted to it, and it`s surprisingly endless possibilities.
What are you doing/working on at this moment?
I work in the moment, don’t plan very much, to feel free, to take the next inspiration and surf on its wave. But I have a few topics, I come back to again and again… like “2-D-Sculpture” when I make a collage as if it was a 3-dimensional object, or my series Becoming Permeable”, when I try to merge persons into landscapes or rooms. At the moment I reduce the person more on the outline and only use some hair or an eye, and all the rest is clouds, or landscape, or something else.
What inspires you the most at this moment?
Nearly everything can inspire me, animals, nature, old masters, and other artists, I love books, and I read a lot of 19th-century stuff, like in the moment “Vanity Fair“ by the wonderful William Makepeace Thackeray, and, as everyone can see I also like fashion magazines.
What’s your favorite personal work at this moment?
At the moment my favorite is “The Disbeliever” because it nearly created itself. I mean, I had a page of a fashion magazine with a profile head and cut a few pieces of a colorful dress and its reflections (I love reflections, especially in water), put it on the face, added a butterfly nose, and it looked perfect. Sometimes it`s this easy, sometimes not, of course.
Any future plans/happenings you want to share?
At the moment I take part in the international collage exhibition “Kaleidoskop“ in the Wiesbaden Frauenmuseum, curated by Maria Elisa Quiairo, which can be visited till the 5th of May 2023.
In May and June, there will be a little window show here in Düsseldorf, just next to the studio, I have two big windows to show collages and give them a weekly change.
In June and July, I take part in the big Group show “Die Grosse”, a yearly show from artists for artists in the Düsseldorf Museum Kunstpalast. this year I`m only part of “The little ones“ but last year I was the winner of the “Artist`s Prize”, and they offered me a large museum wall to show collage.
Follow Norika on Instagram, @norikanienstedt
