Zena Gottholm creates visions of other worlds
Few local artworks are as poignant as the newest series of otherworldly drawings and paintings that are being produced by Chattanooga artist Zena Gottholm.
Many of these dreamlike compositions depict a cast of psychedelic characters interacting with raw design elements—geometric constructs, lines in perspective, strange alien forms, and subtle fades of color evoking empty spaces.
The collection is unified by a meditative quality, as if the artist were projecting a psychic vision from another dimension directly onto the canvas or paper, depicting images that resonate with the unconscious.
As is the case with many creatives, Gottholm has always felt a strong connection to drawing, and as a child she drew regularly.
“I collected hundreds of tiny plastic dinosaurs as a kid—on Sunday, my Dad and I would sit down at the dinner table and practice drawing them together with graphite and colored pencils,” she tells us. “He was my first art teacher and taught me the basics of drawing.”
Years later, around the age of 16, she became more serious about art and began spending hours making small pencil drawings. The subjects of these early works were forest animals, scenes depicting floating damsels in distress, and images of mysterious creatures from her imagination.
All of these characters were surrounded by narratives, as she describes, “I loved exploring their world and romanticizing their story. Once I started I couldn’t stop.”
This connection with imagination and storytelling set her on the path of surrealism. She found that she was not alone in this pursuit when she discovered the work of the surrealist master—it should come as no surprise that her first love and heavy source of inspiration was the great Salvador Dali.
“His work forever changed my life and has influenced most of my work,” she remembers. “The moment I saw his piece, ‘The Persistence of Memory’, I felt a flood in my heart.”
Gottholm’s work is reminiscent of Dali’s in style and execution, but the striking color content is more contemporary.
“James Jean is another artist whose style and prolific work ethic have always sparked me with endless ideas and wonder,” she elaborates. “And of course, Alex Grey and his cosmic bliss.”
She has always been inspired by Greek mythology, and the idea of gods co-existing alongside humans and interacting with their lives has always intrigued her. Her drawings often portray a human being whom is being contacted by mysterious forces.
“While I’m often drawing a specific legend, I love creating my own monsters as well. I’m also often inspired by fairy tales and legends, exotic animals, and the terrors of nature.”
Her work is dominated by a visual language that started mostly with drawings of wizards and eyeballs.
“I would my flood sketchbooks with drawings of eyes. After taking my first figure drawing class I began creating characters, usually just simple floating heads or a single being,” she says. “As my experience with pencils evolved, so did their environments. I began creating whole scenes in my sketchbook to create a visual story. At first they all were just small drawings, but then I began doing large acrylic paintings on canvas, and the use of colors has really brought everything to life.”This visual language is also punctuated by strange symbols.
Speaking about these symbols, she says “There is occasional symbolism depending on the story, but usually it’s a purely an aesthetic choice. It’s usually influenced by what I imagine I would stumble across in the ruins of a primordial world, a nightmare in space, or any demons of the deep. I like creating my own visual folklore and futuristic realities—as the painting grows I expand with it, adding new characteristics I deem necessary in the moment.”
By cleverly blending and incorporating bright hues into subtle grays and lighter tones, she creates a neon glow effect that causes many of her characters to look as if they are radiating, having a quality that is almost radioactive. This furthers the foreign, otherworldly, alien quality of the compositions.
The combination of surreal characters, abstract symbolism, dynamic design elements, and intense colors makes for a unique and fascinating style that is a delight to spectate upon. Perhaps this is why Gottholm has had much success showing and marketing her work—see it online at zenagottholmart.com.