An interview with v? on flow, color, and the balance between her inner and outer worlds
V is an Indonesian-Vietnamese-Australian artist exploring intuitive abstraction and fluidity as movement. The first thing I noticed about V’s artworks was the rhythm and dance of the composition. I wondered what sparked the intuitive dance and flow of her works. “I could never necessarily attach myself to distributing things in industry, some sort of religion, or even Buddhism in such ways”.
v?, moon~water(2026) acrylic on canvas.
Brigitte:
How do your inner world and subjective experience translate into your art? Are you consciously focused on making them come through, or does it occur more naturally?
v?:
I must be an ideologist. And so in that way, I’m moved by this sense of intense introspection. I don’t crave to know the entire truth, I have more of a fascination with the relativity of experience. I really do believe that our experience is whatever we believe it to be. It begins in my inner world, comes out through reality, then through my art, so it ultimately just reflects my inner being. I’m fascinated by the way personal experience and interpretation shape people’s worlds. Everyone’s method of thinking is different, some are empirical thinkers, others are more intuitive. My art reflects the formless, abstract nature of intuition and feeling, which is really my main way of being.
v?, Blue Passage, (2026), 36"x48", Acrylic on stretched canvas, oak framed.
Brigitte:
I’m curious about some more technical things like when do you personally consider an artwork to be finished? What does that mean for you?
v?:
I think especially with abstract art, there's this sense of unknowing because art is never really finished, but it definitely is this distinct feeling for me. I think much of my process is very immediate, visceral, kind of cathartic. So in that nature, the knowing of when it's finished is also in that same rap, where I might have this feeling build up over time where I'm like, “okay, I think it's about done”... but not quite. And so over mediating and meditating on the actual artwork, I’ll add some small changes here and there. I think that's how I know. It's just truly based on intuition and feeling, and the intensity of this feeling. The urgency and intensity tell me when the work is finished.
Brigitte:
What does the meditative state of creation look like for you?
v?
v?:
[The state of “flow”] is very much something I achieve where I have to keep painting, keep going, and I'm not necessarily ever searching for it or waiting for it to happen, but it is something that I kind of surrender to when it comes. It comes when I am painting for a long time. There are some pieces that aren't necessarily aligned with me and I can tell that they're not made in that state of creative flow. But when they are, which I definitely would say at least all of this series (“Portals”) was, it's like this feeling of warmth and resonation. In that way, I like to think of “flow” as this state where there is no concept of time. It applies to creating anything in life. I think people “flow” in so many things in life, whether it is through performance, whether it is painting, or even watching a really beautiful movie, it's just this complete detachment from time, its passing, and then you really are surrendering to the experience itself, and that's what I think I've always gravitated towards when I'm painting.
v?, distal orbit
Brigitte:
And surrender is a very important element in creation. How do you think that plays into your art?
v?:
Funny, actually, when I was in high school, I used to go to the art room with my best friend, and we would always make this joke, and I think it still lives with me now, that when we’re painting, it's where we’re almost praying to the masters, or we’re letting that kind of be translated through us. I recently heard an artist say something similar, how her art is just a daily translation of a higher power’s ideas, and she reflects what it may be trying to communicate. And in some ways, I think that too, because, obviously, I love that my art is originally mine. It is something that came truly from me. But at the same time, I do believe that no idea is completely original. Everything comes from somewhere, and in that way, we're all translating what feels most true to us. And that translation is an art in and of itself.
Brigitte:
What would you say is your favorite piece?
v?:
I guess from this collection, definitely Halcyon days. That would be the aquamarine gray one. I've always known that color is my ultimate language, because that is how I start a piece, and then I just figure out how to maximize the color’s expression with the form that it strikes. But color is the guiding point for me. I really like Halcyon days because it came from a point in time where it was a bit bittersweet, this feeling of serenity, because I was feeling kind of helpless in the world. There's so much noise and confusion and disorder and polarization going on, and you want to escape to a sanctuary, but you know that it's just a form of escapism. So, I think the artwork really translates this feeling of escaping a storm out there and finding an oasis. In the back of your mind you know that it doesn’t truly exist, but you still find beauty in it. I'm finding that balance can be very difficult, and we can lean towards hedonism, or we lean towards escapism, but at the end of the day, we all just kind of want to feel a sense of safety.
v?, halcyon~days, (2026) acrylic on canvas.
Brigitte:
Do you believe that a sense of safety and belonging can be found in a place for you, within yourself or a certain thing that you're doing?
v?:
I think definitely within... I think safety is a state of mind, but humans can't only exist in the mind, just like we can't exist only in the external reality. It's very much a balance of duality, like yin and yang. I do tend to live inside of my head a little bit. But, sometimes I think, as much as I would love to create a sanctuary in my mind, I also understand that it needs to be balanced on the outside. Whether it is through what I'm expressing and what I make, or where I build my world. I think my goals in life have always been around building that inner world, and my own outside-world in a balanced and thoughtful way. Being so aware of and present with what I am doing for myself and my life, I think, is ultimately the goal.
