Anne von Freyburg
Anne von Freyburg is a Dutch artist based in London. She received her MA Fine Art from Goldsmiths, graduating in 2016. She holds a BA in Fashion Design from ArtEZ Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Von Freyburg is the winner of Robert Walters UK New Artists Award 2021 and exhibited at Saatchi Gallery London. She was nominated for The Ingram Prize 2021 and took part of the PLOP x Cob. winter residency in London with an end of residency show in November 2021. In 2019 she was awarded a residency at the Florence Trust in London, and was shortlisted for the Art Gemini Prize. Anne has exhibited in London, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. Her work has been published in Art Scope magazine (US), Embroidery art magazine (UK), Textiel Plus magazine (NL), Art Plugged UK, Art Verge, PAN and the dream magazine (US) and many others. Von Freyburg’s work is in several private collections all over the world.
Anne von Freyburg
1. Hi Anne, tell us about your background. How and when did you first start to create?
I come from a creative family. My mother has her own part-time art school in The Netherlands and has worked for many years as a trend adviser for textile companies. My late father was a fashion designer and my stepfather is a painter. My parents have always encouraged me to create and for as long as I can remember I’ve been drawing and making things. Every fashion season my mother made textile trend Leporello books that where printed and published for presentations for textile companies. I remember that she gave me the opportunity when I was around seven years old to make a drawing for one of the pages.
The feeling when I saw my drawing printed in these books and the idea that other people would see my creation was magical and empowering.
I guess this planted the seed for wanting to be an artist and sharing my creation with others. This realization came many many years later of course. Even though throughout my youth I was always drawing and painting, after doing an art foundation course I decided to apply at the famous fashion department at ArtEZ university of art in Arnhem. I wanted to explore another discipline than painting and also at the age of 17 I didn’t have a clue what fine art was about. I think that I was always drawn to fabrics and fashion as an art form because of my parent’s background.
Because my mother taught figure drawing in art school next to her trend adviser job I met a lot of fashion students when I was a child. They looked so interesting, free and individual that until this day I still find inspiration in how people dress.
2. What is your process like? How do you begin to work?
Since a few years I am using Photoshop as a tool to digitally manipulate images of old masters paintings, especially works from the Rococo style period. That serves as a starting point for my textile paintings. When I start searching the Internet for works to manipulate, I look for expression in the face, posture and the subject of the work. One piece I just finished is a take on ‘The Toilet of Venus’ by Fragonard. I am interested in obscuring the image but keeping what makes the painting iconic. For instance changing the color of the original piece into a more vibrant and urban looking palette. With digital tools I warp the painting towards an image that gives you the feeling as if you are on a psychedelic trip. I aim for the image to look like its liquefied and the subject is dissolving and swirling into different shapes and forms. I use this digital sketch as a reference for the acrylic ink painting, which is the blueprint for the final textile piece.
The painting is is done quite quickly and functions as an under-painting. Next I start concealing the ink painting with various kinds of fabrics. I choose the fabrics by color, texture and pattern. Similar as with making a collage, it’s a trial and error way of working. By using pins to attach the fabrics I can try different possibilities and see immediately if something is working or not. Moving around and pairing different kinds of fabrics is one of my favorite parts of the process. It is exciting for me to see a vintage tapestry fabric next to a tacky black glossy fabric, an aesthetic that reminds me of techno club culture or BDSM. The fabric collage is stretched on an embroidery frame and then hand sewn onto the canvas. When that is finished I add the polyester wadding and use a quilting technique to create a puffy effect. Then I paint the fringes, which are the last element to add.
3. What does your artwork represent?
My artworks represent the social constructions and stylized ideas around feminine beauty. By turning Rococo paintings into fashion fabrics I am challenging these constructions not only through its concept but also through its material and technique.
I see the Rococo portraits as selfies of their time. They present a similar obsession with self-image, the body, appearance and beautification.
I like my work visually rich and exuberant in its materials and at the same time to be critical about over-indulgence, excess and consumerism. By using woven tapestry, snake print, lace, fake leather and other fashion fabrics I want to link the artwork to the present day.
My use of textiles in the work is not only a conceptual way to make a statement about craft and its feminine associations, but I also want to reveal its artistic possibilities and material qualities: That all materials are equally important and permissible to make art with.
4. How do you connect textile, fashion and tapestry to femininity and female identity?
The overall connection is that they all are part of female history and culture. The materials that I use are traditionally considered to be feminine, domestic, decorative or design oriented. I am interested in taking a new angle on these materials by placing them in a fine art context.
Femininity is a construction made by society and taught through female culture. It has been imposed on women and has a suppressive and dark history. The fashion and advertising industry play into those gender roles and use it for marketing purposes.
On the other hand, clothes are also a way to express your individuality and style.
Through overloading the work with decorative, fashion fetish materials I am pushing this stylized femininity to the grotesque.
Historically textiles have been associated with the decorative, domestic and women’s work; think about quilts and embroideries to decorate the home with. I use a quilt technique to create a puffy and wobbliness with which I refer to cellulite skin and cosmetic fillers.
The hand-painted tassel fringes are a reference to paint drips used in modernist paintings, but also a wink to theater curtains and burlesque shows. Tapestries used to be very expensive and made as isolation material to keep the cold out of castles. They were replicas of master paintings and were made by women weavers. By re-using reproductions of tapestry wall-hangings from the 70’s, combined with painting techniques, I aim to evoke a dialogue between painting and tapestry. I use these cheap Rococo style tapestry reproductions in an ironic way to draw attention to the stereotype idea of feminine beauty and behavior.
5. Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?
In August 2019 I visited Saigon and came across The South Vietnamese Women Museum where they display traditional women’s clothing. At the entrance of the museum was a room where they exhibited a ceremonial costume that caught my eye. It looked more like an art piece for the body than clothing with its 3D hand-embroidery and bright colors. The sequin embroidery was done on top of a padded shape that gave the costume volume and firmness. It was a really inspiring encounter that refueled my love and need for the sculptural, something that I had longed for but hesitated to make. Seeing this beautiful ceremonial piece gave me the courage to pursue my need of the sculptural in my work again.
