Ina Gerken
The In-Between, Gouache, acrylic and silk paper on linen, 2025, 180 x 120 cm, courtesy the artist

What the artist says:
When I start a painting, I have no plan, concept or idea of what it should look like in the end. The painting actions resemble a dialogue between me and the picture. In the act of painting, I let myself drift, circle around something unknown, discover how the invisible becomes visible – how the work emerges from within itself.

I work intuitively and try to view an image impartially during the process; I try to sense what it needs next, usually quickly, so as not to think too much and allow the images to emerge from my subconscious.
When a picture is finished, there is a moment of recognition – a recognition of something I can name that has a connection to the visible world, or a recognition of something invisible, such as a feeling, a mood, an inner landscape.