Vivian Greven
<0> IV, 2024
Oil on canvas.
95 x 71 inch.
Photographer: Ivo Faber.
Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
One look at the work of Vivian Greven and you are hooked forever. Her work simultaneously pulls you in while keeping you at a distance. We caught up with the artist via zoom and spoke about intimacy, Grecian art history and the universe for FUTURO VOL II.
In this online interview which is an edited excerpt, Vivian kindly shares memories from her childhood that made her the painter she is. A fascinating conversation. Enjoy.
The Lab Mag Thank you for speaking with us. Let's start at the beginning. Can you tell us about your childhood?
Vivian Greven I grew up with a powerful urge to express myself. I felt there was no space to be heard or words to express my feelings. So, I started to draw when I was very young in order to find a world where it was possible to speak without words.
My mother was a single mother before she met my stepfather. So when they got together, I got siblings. And one of my siblings was heavily disabled. And then I had twin brothers. So the whole family was very packed and very busy. As I was already an older child, I was always outside the family system, observing what was going on and caring for the little ones. So, even though it was a very busy family, I always felt lonesome.
So, when I was seven, there was a huge break in my identification of what life is about. Everything changed. We moved, a new family, a new house. And I felt as if my childhood was over from that point on.
I was nine when my brother was born with brain damage; that was another very big breaking point because then I realized life is not stable, being healthy is not something which is just a given, and I realized death is part of life at a very early age.
Mari, 2022, oil on canvas, 150 x 220 cm (59,1 x 86,6 in)
Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
THE LAB MAG What did you imagine the future would look like when you were a child?
VG This is interesting because I was in my fantasy world and very much in the moment of being just day by day. I didn't make up my mind so much about the future. It wasn't very important to me. The present moment was more interesting. I mean, I did think a lot about what it means to be human in general. What does it mean to be? At the end. Do you have a spirit? Are there other spirits around? Am I a fairy in my fairytale life? So I just imagined a lot of things going on, playing in the garden all the time, speaking to flowers, collecting ants and things like that. I was a nature girl. I loved it. So no thoughts about the future.
THE LAB MAG As an adult, do you think about the future?
VG Sure, I started to think a lot about the future and also with a lot of sorrow, especially since I have a toddler. I started to think about the climate and the world in general, the politics, where we are going, and what is necessary to improve humankind.
I know that we're changing. We are going through a huge phase of realizing that the old world based on patriarchal structures is no longer working out. We know that we have to change something, and I'm aware that it's probably mostly in my bubble and my surroundings, but I believe it's a bigger thing. I hope that this is something that is realized step by step by every responsible human being.
So I would love to have a world where we feel much more connected, where human beings feel again, the connectivity and the connection of all so that we see that everything we do has an impact on the world in the end. It is equally important to see that we are just little instances of beings in a huge world.
Wh Ole I, 2024.
Oil and acrylic on canvas. 95 x 71 inch.
Photographer: Ivo Faber. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
THE LAB MAG Who or what is your greatest influence?
VG I'm very much interested in developing my personality or maybe getting rid of it. Becoming aware and present is something I'm working on a lot. So I'm searching for influences regarding that, more than painting. I have huge influences from the painting world too, like some mega star painters. But more importantly, for my work, it is how I feel in my person. So my biggest influences are there. I read a lot. I'm very interested in psychology and I have some people who I find very inspiring. Yeah, so it's not a big name but it’s the little things, every day.
THE LAB MAG Can you share something that's influenced you recently?
VG I listened to quite a lot to podcasts by Byron Katie. I very much admire her work. I love to listen to the podcast where she's just speaking to other people and they're doing the work. I found that so interesting to listen to, and it always opens up a space inside of myself, too, because I see where the people are and I can identify myself with them. So I see what the work does to their mind when they get rid of their thought structure and see that these thoughts make them suffer and that they can change their thoughts about reality and then their feeling about reality will change too. It just shows that we are very fluent beings and we can change our whole being in an instant.
Her clients would bring one sentence which is making them suffer every day. For example, "My mother is not taking me seriously, and she should change that." Byron Katie always says, "As soon as you have a 'should' in your mind, you're not accepting reality as it is, and then you suffer from having different expectations.”
LAB MAG And finally what is the best advice you've ever received and the worst?
VG The worst advice seems more easy: "Don't be so sensitive."
The best advice, at least in this moment is "Stop doing too much."
Wh Ole II, 2024.
Oil and acrylic on canvas. 95 x 71 inch. Photographer: Ivo Faber. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
very laboratory