Elke Bügler
I started my artistic career at the beginning of 2023, rediscovering a passion that I had held since my teenage years. Life has its own rhythm, and I am now wholeheartedly embracing the artistic path. The main purpose of my art is to share my thoughts, experiences, concerns and emotions with you. I invite you to discover this purpose through your eyes and intuition, speaking to the unconscious. Usually I prefer to start with nothing but a blank canvas and a chosen main colour, selecting colours and tools intuitively as I go along. The first steps, which involve applying layer upon layer of thin paint, come from within. I am working towards achieving a clear definition and value in my work. But rather than forcing or suppressing it, I allow the work to express itself in its own way. Following this approach with my art gives me the most freedom and fulfilment, and the most rewarding way to express myself.
Elke, your artistic journey reignited in 2023 after years of dormancy, yet in this short span, you've garnered multiple international accolades. How has this rapid recognition influenced your internal dialogue as an artist, and do you see it as a validation of intuitive creativity or a challenge to maintain a balance between personal expression and external expectations?
Thank you very much for inviting me to this interview and for asking me this first question.
I see recognition as confirmation that I should continue on my own path. Authenticity is central to my life, both inside and outside of art. This naturally leads to equilibrium and balance. I consider the expectations placed on me and respond to them in a way that is compatible with my personality and intuition.
Your paintings seem to capture the raw immediacy of emotion, almost like chromatic meditations on the ephemeral. Can you elaborate on how you navigate the tension between spontaneity and structure in your acrylic compositions, and whether you consider this push-and-pull essential to your creative process?
Playing with colours, textures, materials, and tools is an essential part of my creative process. Immersing myself fully in the moment, following my intuition. Emotions flow in unreflectively. They are the source of what moves me and inspires me to think, and they contain an interplay that I want to share with the viewer.
You describe your process as a 'dance of intention and instinct.' In a world increasingly driven by concept and narrative in contemporary art, how do you situate your practice within or perhaps outside the conceptualist framework?
To put it bluntly, I feel very comfortable outside of the conceptual framework, and I intend to stay there.
Everyone is an individual personality and sees the world differently. That's why I hope everyone — whether they are an artist or not — will find and live their own unique expression, undeterred by any outside influence.
In light of receiving the prestigious Leonardo da Vinci Prize and being recognized as one of the most 'investable' artists in 2025, how do you personally define artistic value? Is it rooted in emotional resonance, technical innovation, market relevance, or something more ineffable?
What is artistic value? Assuming art is a business where the market determines value, it is defined by commercial interest — art as an investment.
For me, art is much more than just a visual experience; it has been proven to have a positive effect on people's mental and physical well-being. In this respect, it is important that art is accessible to everyone, particularly in today's rapidly changing, technology-driven world.
In fact, I have been honored with several awards this year, most recently the Collectors Art Prize and the El Greco Fine Arts Award. All these international recognitions speak for themselves, and I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the curators. This enables my art to be exhibited and seen around the world, which fills me with great joy, as that is precisely its purpose.
I myself define the value of my art as personal and deeply emotional, and therefore indescribable.
Much of your work resonates with what could be described as a visual vocabulary of immediacy, bold strokes, kinetic energy, and luminous saturation. How do you ensure that such emotive expression remains authentic and doesn’t become stylistically habitual over time?
I had to pause for a moment and smile. How do I ensure my authenticity? I hope I never have to ask myself this question, because if I did, it would mean that I had stopped being myself.
Having a personal style does not require stylistics or habit. I will continue to be guided by emotion and intuition, trusting my creativity. For me, it grows in proportion to the creative work I do, resulting in a boundless reserve from which something extraordinary consistently emerges.
From Rome’s Crocetti Museum to New York’s ArtExpo, your work has traveled across vastly different cultural landscapes. Have you noticed varying interpretations or emotional receptions to your pieces in different geographic contexts, and if so, how has this feedback shaped your artistic evolution?
I take great pleasure in interacting with people from all cultures, and not just in relation to art.
The emotional response to my art is not very different around the world, as my visually clear language is universally understood. In this respect, I see this as confirmation of my artistic path.
There is an intriguing dichotomy in your work between chaos and clarity; each canvas feels both instinctual and deliberate. How does your philosophy, or even your life’s nonlinear path to art, influence this duality on the surface of the canvas?
This is an extremely interesting question that makes me think. In fact, I see philosophy as an integral part of my personality, which influences both my work and the topics that inspire me.
The clarity and apparent chaos also originate here — an analytical mind that I cannot fully switch off, but which I try to escape through meditation and creative flow. That is the dance I celebrate with myself, and which can be felt so clearly in my work.
To be honest, I am a deeply non-linear person. This is why I consider it a blessing to be self-taught, as it gives me the freedom to be completely unaffected by any influences.
Your rise has been meteoric, but not without grounding. How do you stay connected to the raw core of creativity amidst the logistical and professional pressures of the international art world: deadlines, exhibitions, awards, and growing public attention?
For me, artistic creation is of the utmost importance, and requires a clear commitment to creativity and art.
The key to balancing business is good organisation. It is also about accepting that I can not respond to every call — in other words, I can not be everywhere at once.
I will carry on asking myself which opportunities align with my path. I am excited to get stuck into different, challenging collaboration projects in the future, and I am looking forward to the opportunities they will bring.
The emotional clarity of your paintings suggests a deep inner reservoir being accessed and translated into form. Do you consider your work therapeutic, spiritual, or even cathartic, and if so, do you paint more for personal liberation or public connection?
I use artistic expression to share my thoughts and emotions with the public. My aim is to achieve a reflection of this in the viewer. I believe that viewing art influences personal development. Of course, I also enjoy it — I think you can only excel at something if you love it unconditionally.
My work is spiritual rather than therapeutic in nature because I address the issues before I pick up my paints and tools. This process sometimes brings joy or pain as I relive experiences, but I feel a sense of relief when the work is finished and reflects the emotions I felt beforehand.
As someone who came back to painting later in life, breaking free from traditional timelines of artistic development, what advice would you offer to creatives who feel it may be too late to pursue their calling? And do you believe that maturity and life experience are not just assets but prerequisites for the kind of depth your work so powerfully communicates?
For me, there is nothing in life that is too late. And I dare say that I was probably only now ready to accept my artistic calling unconditionally and fill it with life.
Life experience certainly plays an important role, especially in terms of the calmness and awareness of what defines and motivates me. This was less pronounced in my younger years. I have spent a long time observing and listening, and now I have something to say and give my voice to art.
I can only give one piece of advice: listen to your heart. If it feels right, do it, no matter how young you are or where you are in life. Do not question it, and do not let other people's opinions influence you. Stay true to yourself and follow your own path.
Thank you very much for the interview and for this wonderful opportunity to share my thoughts with the magazine's readers. It has been a pleasure.