Astrid Strahm

AnnaAsche 93 posts

“Somebody showed me how to use a Palette Knife… this was probably the most important influence in my style… the rest is what happens in my life and the special moods I am in”

1971 born in Berne, Switzerland 
1971 – 1986 Childhood in Switzerland with lot’s of milk and chocolate 
1986 – 1991 Adolescence in Spain with lots of chocolate too, but more the smokeable kind…  
1991 – 1997 getting inspired by real life, beginning to create very colorful art using Watercolors 
1997 getting married with a real man – Beginning to develop a new art style 
1999 Degree in economics 
1998 – 2003 building and developing my own marketing and internet company 
2000 Baby time! My son is born. 
2003 sold my own company. It began to drain too much energy out of me.
2004 – 2012 working part time as an IT consultant and project leader for financial well being,  
2006 degree in IT  
2008 – 2012 working as a semiprofessional freelance Artist for mental well being, having some nice single and group exhibitions and from time to time even a nice sale.
Future Perspectives: Exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney… hopefully…. ;-)

The initial motivation for Astrid Strahm to keep creating her outstanding artwork came when, years ago, she produced something she liked having as decoration in her own house. It was fun to do and others liked it. Since then creating is an ongoing process every day for her.
Astrid likes the “pre-production” which often happens only in her head. She spends ages developing an idea by just hanging around doing apparently nothing and then enjoys it most going to the workshop with an exact picture in her head to just materialize it.
But she also likes to create without any preconceived idea by just trying out different textures or materials. This is what she does to let out some uncertain thoughts or energy.
Astrid Strahm describes her style as energy-driven and made by an evolution-driven technique.
The materials and products Astrid uses in her art are often things she finds casually, but she also goes to flea markets and looks for something specific. They are associable to an emotion or the meaning of her work.
As an example:
The barbwire used in Finding a Way out expresses the wish of freedom.

The antique eyeglasses in Do you need glasses?. The figure in this work is supposed to bring them to god in order for him to see better what’s going wrong in the world.  

But there is also a technical aspect to her work. The material has to be light, lasting and flat enough to be fixable on the canvas. Astrid attaches most of the things hand sawn (not glued!), which shows off her technical skill and the requirements for technique and quality she has for herself.
Technique is especially important to her with the semi realistic series like bodies and faces or horses and riders.

For her collages is the content more important, most of all the ‘recognizability’ of what she is trying to express with the work.

At the present Astrid has several very big canvases in her Workshop and she is thinking of something new to try with them, maybe with another kind of material such as tar, sand and glass.

Enjoy Astrid Strahm’s fantastic works, click on any image to view in large and leave her a comment or two:)