Kamila Korbela
Kamila Korbela at work.
We take for granted the idea that once a painting is hanging on the wall of a museum, that’s it for centuries to come. Not so. Luckily for us Kamila Korbela and conservators around the world keep our artworks in pristine condition and when they need to be repaired (an elbow through a priceless artwork, no names mentioned…) we can call on Kamila with her incredible knowledge and painstaking passion for art to fix the problem… kindly and thoughtfully.
For the FUTURO VOL 2 edition, we sat down with Kamila and asked some questions specifically about how she became a conservator and any advice she might have for young would-be conservators.
MEET THE DELIGHTFUL AND TALENTED
ART CONSERVATOR KAMILA KORBELA
Kamila Korbela:
I am a paintings conservator from Germany working in the LA art scene. Basically my whole life has revolved around art. I wanted to become a paintings conservator ever since I was 13, when my mother introduced the idea to me. Before that I was very artistically inclined and always wanted to pursue the arts in one form or another, probably more in a creative form. And then I found painting conservation through my mother and it was love at first sight. So, ever since I pursued that path.
THE LAB MAG: Can you talk more about that? Was there a certain moment because that's a very specific choice. Conservation as opposed to making art.
KK My mother just came up with it out of nowhere, as one of her friends back then was a conservator, predominantly in paintings. I think she was just really afraid of me becoming an actual artist, which is such a hard career to pursue, and so uncertain. Painting conservation, in particular, gives you a lot more security and it’s probably better for your nervous system.
LAB Very clever mother. Was your mother's friend your greatest inspiration, or has there been somebody else in your life that really pushed you forward?
KK So, I think a lot of things happened in my life when I was younger. My father passed away in a car accident and my grandparents died, so I felt a little bit like I lost my family. And actually, having these access points to the conservation community, the whole field started to become a substitute family to me.
My first experience entering the conservation realm was relatively early. I was 17, and after school I was granted a government fellowship. We took care of castles and cloisters in the south of Germany and my mentor had a PhD in art history and a master's degree in paintings conservation. He was an incredibly brilliant man who just took me under his wing. And within the framework of this fellowship, I learned so much professionally but also interpersonally. It was quite an incredible time.
During the treatment of a medieval panel painting by Stefan Lochner.
LAB What's the best advice you've ever had and the worst advice?
KK Well, I am asked that a lot. Younger conservators and then their professors are always asking me for advice. And in hindsight I don't know if it's the best or worst advice; the advice that I gave people before is basically about persistence and resilience.
If you want to make it in this career, because it's such a niche, you have to be very persistent and resilient because you will be rejected on your path to working on the most significant artworks that are out there.
Currently I'm at a point in my life where I have pushed everything in my career really far and we work for some of the wealthiest people, some of the most important collections. And that's really wonderful. It's a great accomplishment, but it really comes at a high cost. Overall, everything's going really well and I'm happy. But also being on that high level of things means not having the safety shield that is an institution, which also will regulate your pace and also who you're exposed to.
LAB So it's good advice?
KK It is, but also it's really a lot of pressure. And I can handle it, but I don't think everybody's made to handle this pressure. Dealing with a $200 million painting for one of the richest people in the world, that's really a lot of pressure. And you can't make any mistakes because that would be pretty bad for everybody involved.
LAB Yeah, that's a lot of pressure when you put it like that, in very real terms. All jobs have pressures, but that is pressure on an Olympic level.
KK Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
LAB So being a conservator is not for everyone. Well, you are handling the pressure very well. A final question. Is there one piece of art in the world that you think future humans will need?
KK I think we really need the entirety of it.
LAB Thank you Kamila. Good advice and a pleasure talking with you.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH KAMILA KORBELA IN THE FUTURO VOL 2 EDITION.
very laboratory