Platform Alumni Artist Focus – Janine-Chantal Weger
8th Jan 2019
Janine-Chantal Weger graduated from the University for the Creative Arts – UCA Canterbury in 2017, and was exhibited in the Platform Graduate Award at Turner Contemporary that same year.
“I create spaces from memory. The colourful abstractions come from the view onto my urban environment through the camera lens. The photographs document amongst other elements colour, light, shade, shape and structure. As medium I use dammar resin to create a glossy and transparent surface, which brilliantly echoes colour. For my large scale paintings I build the canvases and the brush-tools myself.
“What drives me to be an artist is the fact that you can say anything you want in the language of art. There are no borders and you can do something good in making things visible, beautiful and interesting to people.
“The best part in participating in Platform was to exhibit at the renowned Turner Contemporary gallery in 2017. It was awesome because the wall I was showing my paintings on was pointed right to the seafront and the light there was amazing. Platform has opened up the confidence in myself to exhibit in a great space like this. It also made me more confident in my art in general.
“I showed some of my works a few months later in a group exhibition in the Copeland Gallery in London. That was a great opportunity after Platform. Since then I have moved back to Austria, and I have spent a lot of time painting in my studio. Right now I feel, that a further journey onto a postgraduate course would may be an advantage for my development in art.
“At the moment I am working on a solo exhibition which is going to be held in February 2019 in Innsbruck in Austria. I will show my works in a gallery owned by the Innsbruck City Council. After this I would like to work on group projects focusing on the medium painting with other artists, as I feel that painting should be greater appreciated and showcased. I also want to do an Open Studio in the next couples of months. In general I get a lot of inspiration from the countries I travel to, which most recently have been America and Japan.”
Image: courtesy Janine-Chantal Weger.