Gretel Warner: Selfie Reflection
Artist Gretel Warner uses her art to work to challenge her own anxieties and a social media obsessed society
The issues that the social media obsessed world continues to throw up aren’t going away anytime soon.
In fact, they are being manifested everywhere we look.
“My work is just influenced by what it is like to be a young woman in today's society,” says Gretel Warner. “Instagram is a huge influence on my work as well.”
Through her work, Gretel has brilliantly represented the dichotomy that so many young people find themselves within; a fear of how they look, but in a society that urges them to share their looks to a critical audience.
A Swanley native, Gretel is on a journey of self reflection. She is open about the direct link that her diagnosis with body dysmorphia has played in developing the body of work she started while studying at the famed Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design in Whitechapel, London.
“I find art therapeutic, and my work is probably predominantly a sense of therapy more than anything,” she says. “I do sell a lot of my work. It is weird, because they are, whether I admit it or not, me, really. More recently I’ve been working from imagination.
“My work is just influenced by what it is like to be a young woman in today’s society”
“I had a project called ‘Send Nudes’, in which people would send me images of themselves naked and I would paint them in this way”
“Before that it was pictures. I had a project called ‘Send Nudes’, in which people would send me images of themselves naked and I would paint them in this way.
“But usually it was pictures of myself. I went through a period of taking a picture of myself every single morning. And then I would work from that at uni.”
In asking whether Gretel was taking a picture of herself everyday as part of the art project or whether its roots came from her insecurities, the answer is tough.
“Hmmm. Probably initially it was me being obsessive with whether I looked skinny that day. But that then fueled the project and leant itself to it,” she explains.
Now an art technician at Rochester Independent College working with students, Gretel has piercings, tattoos and a proviative sense of style - a million miles away from an introvert.
It’s something she puts down to her paintings and something she would like to pursue.
“I want to be an art therapist. You train as a psychotherapist and then specialise in treating people through art. Maybe it’s people who don't want to talk or are non-verbal, and the way you get through to them, or how they express themselves is through creating art and then talking about it.”
Through creating her artwork, Gretel has established a powerful tool of communication that allows her to expose and address issues both for herself and others.
“For years, I would self harm,” she explains. “I was really unhappy with my body and couldn't talk to anyone about it. I am now open about it. And I get messages from people thanking me for talking about it. I would like to think through my work has helped someone in a way. Just getting people to talk, even if it's just to me.
THE ART
The polar notions of having body dysmorphia, but using it as your muse to show the world, makes Gretel’s work even more intriguing.
Gretel ‘s seeks to teach herself and others to be unconditionally and unapologetically themselves, whilst closely considering her fundamental aim: to redefine the relationship that one has with themselves.
“All of my work is figurative. It became predominantly bodies, but they have become more skewed and weirdly shaped,” she says.
“I’m always adding bits... I almost prefer things to be unfinished. Because I like the fact that it hasn't got to the end goal. I don't like saying things are done. I don't like the pressure.”
Gretel makes use of materials associated with street-art, often starting with spray paint then moving onto acrylics and others.
“Tippex! That's my secret weapon. I came across it by accident; I was trying to get rid of something, and realised how fun it was and rolled it around, and I always use it now.”
Using vivacious colours and accompanied by neon lights when being displayed, her artwork has varied influences, and not normally things you would put together.
“Weirdly, my favourite artists are probably really classical, like Lucian Freud and Jenny Saville, but I love street art, too. Like the street artist Voyder. I love his work.
“But also my work is influenced by raving. I love going raving, all the colours and the UV lights.”
Down in the basement at Rochester Independent College, ‘cene asks Gretel to be the focus of a quick photoshoot.. and she is a natural. Ask her on a different day and the answer would be very different.
“Probably the most profound thing in my work is the idea that you have one body, but each day you could feel entirely different. It changes, and as I change the painting changes.”