Anna Schulz is happy about her studio in the Fat Cat: “I think it’s great to finally have the space here to work on a large scale and to have contact with many different artists who are brought together in one place – which is really great is unique for Munich.” In keeping with this, Anna dedicates herself to combining different arts: music and painting, for example.
Anna actually studied pharmacy and learned to paint self-taught. She maintains her scientific curiosity in her creative work and sometimes investigates questions such as: “How do colors work on a chemical level?” The color blue can often be seen in her pictures: “Blue is a color that I feel very comfortable in because it is all-encompassing for me.”
In her current project, Anna is experimenting with the connection between music and painting: “What does it do to my painting if, for example, I listen to a song by an artist that I ideally know personally on a continuous loop?” She painted a series of nude pictures of women to songs by the Hamburg musician Silent State – and listened to exactly one song per picture for hours.
How do music and painting depend on each other? Anna found out for herself: The individual songs had an impact on her brushstrokes, but also on her mental moods while painting, which in turn influenced the atmosphere of the pictures. Anna has also collaborated with Munich artists: She listened to the song “Weinen” by the musician “Fahrlænd” on a continuous loop and created its cover image.
Many of the women in Anna’s pictures appear strong and self-confident. However, there is also a nude painting of a woman in a curved position. “This is actually the most personal picture in this series,” says Anna. “We women are often expected to appear strong and upright on the outside, and yet life is bombarding us. But we can give ourselves the protection we need. That’s what I wanted to show with the picture.”
In her next project, Anna wants to use a device that can both grind and drill to sustainably process bottle caps in order to turn them into art. “I want to interweave bottle caps with my art, for example with canvases or sculptures, just as I try to combine music and painting.”