{"id":23545,"date":"2025-07-23T09:16:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T09:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/?p=23545"},"modified":"2025-07-23T23:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T23:51:10","slug":"josephine-florens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/2025\/07\/23\/josephine-florens\/","title":{"rendered":"Josephine Florens"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"23545\" class=\"elementor elementor-23545\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-466f3a0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"466f3a0\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-faef5e6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"faef5e6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.21.0 - 22-05-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>Year of birth: 1988<br \/>Where do you live: Currently based in Germany (originally from Odesa, Ukraine)<br \/>Your education: Master\u2019s degree in Civil Law, Odesa National Law Academy; Master\u2019s degree in International Law, Odesa International Humanitarian University; Individual studies in classical painting at Art-Ra School (Odesa)<br \/>Describe your art in three words: Poetic, symbolic, quiet<br \/>Your discipline: Oil painting<br \/><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/josephineflorens.com\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/josephineflorens\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-eb799f4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"eb799f4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1398ad5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1398ad5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23547 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634.jpeg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634-199x300.jpeg 199w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634-681x1024.jpeg 681w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634-768x1155.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634-1021x1536.jpeg 1021w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Img-0634-600x902.jpeg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><\/h4><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You originally studied law. What inspired you to make the leap into the world of painting?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Art has been with me since childhood \u2014 I constantly drew, attended art groups, and imagined magical worlds. But for many years, painting remained just a part of my inner life. I chose law under my parents\u2019 guidance \u2014 they wanted stability and a secure future for me. My creative side continued to live in silence until a turning point came: the loss of my mother. It was an enormous personal tragedy. In the depth of grief, I instinctively turned to painting as a way to express pain, love, and memory. That was the moment when art became not just a comfort, but a true path. It offered me a language beyond words. Since then, painting has been my refuge, my purpose, and my response to life itself. It wasn\u2019t a leap \u2014 it was a return to who I\u2019ve always been.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How did your background in law influence your artistic perspective or discipline?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legal education taught me discipline, structure, and the ability to analyze complex human stories \u2014 all of which deeply influence my art. In law, you learn to look beneath the surface, to see contradictions, motives, and hidden dynamics. That same mindset allows me to build psychological layers in my paintings. I&#8217;m especially drawn to unspoken emotions and internal states \u2014 and law gave me the tools to recognize and translate them into visual language. I was fascinated by forensic science, especially under Professor Iskenderov, whose real-life cases taught me to observe closely and think deeply. That habit of attentiveness transferred to the canvas. Also, legal writing helped me structure my ideas, which now helps me construct visual compositions with clear yet subtle meaning. In both professions, the goal is empathy: to understand the human condition in all its complexity.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23548 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-The-Evening-Pond.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"843\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-The-Evening-Pond.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-The-Evening-Pond-300x241.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-The-Evening-Pond-1024x822.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-The-Evening-Pond-768x617.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-The-Evening-Pond-600x482.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Josephine Florens | The Evening Pond<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You describe your style as \u201cmodern vintage.\u201d Could you elaborate on what that means to you?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cModern vintage\u201d for me is not just an aesthetic \u2014 it\u2019s a worldview. I seek to combine classical compositional balance, muted palettes, and a sense of timelessness with a contemporary emotional depth. I\u2019m inspired by the warmth and quietness of mid-century interiors, old fabrics, faded photographs \u2014 but I reframe them through my personal experiences and emotional landscape. My paintings often reflect stillness, memory, and fragility \u2014 but not nostalgia. I\u2019m not trying to recreate the past. Rather, I use its textures and forms to say something about the present: about resilience, tenderness, and survival. \u201cModern vintage\u201d allows me to build emotional bridges between then and now. It is a way to speak softly but deeply \u2014 to invite the viewer into a moment that feels familiar, yet resonates anew.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23549 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-A-Man-And-A-Dog.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"877\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-A-Man-And-A-Dog.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-A-Man-And-A-Dog-300x251.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-A-Man-And-A-Dog-1024x855.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-A-Man-And-A-Dog-768x641.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-A-Man-And-A-Dog-600x501.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Josephine Florens | A Man And A Dog<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What role does symbolism play in your paintings?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Symbolism is essential in my work. I rarely depict anything literally. Instead, I use objects, gestures, and light to create emotional and psychological subtext. A tilted chair, a shadow across a face, a window left slightly open \u2014 these become symbols of absence, longing, or silent strength. This approach reflects how I experience life: full of layered meanings and quiet signs. Painting allows me to say what can\u2019t be said directly \u2014 especially as someone who has lived through grief, displacement, and war. I want my viewers to feel something before they \u201cunderstand\u201d it. My symbolism is intuitive rather than intellectual \u2014 it comes from personal emotion. For me, a painting is successful if it lingers inside someone like a memory, not like a message.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your works often reflect quiet, poetic moments. How do you choose the stories or feelings you want to depict?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don\u2019t plan themes in advance \u2014 they emerge organically. Often, it begins with a small sensation: the curve of a child\u2019s hand, a quiet beam of light, a half-forgotten dream. I carry these moments with me until they ask to be painted. I\u2019m drawn to emotions that are subtle but strong \u2014 quiet grief, inner strength, tenderness, waiting. Much of this comes from personal experience: my childhood in Odesa, the death of my mother, becoming a mother myself, the experience of war and emigration. These layers of life shape what I depict. I want my paintings to offer space \u2014 space for silence, for breathing, for emotional recognition. The stories I paint are not linear \u2014 they are emotional atmospheres. I let each image grow like a living thought, slow and sincere.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23550 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon-1024x1017.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon-768x763.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon-600x596.jpg 600w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Art-Lemon-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Josephine Florens | Art Lemon<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What draws you to oil paints as your exclusive medium?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oil painting feels like a living material. It allows slowness, thoughtfulness, and subtle layering. I can return to a canvas days later and continue the dialogue with it \u2014 no rush, no pressure. It holds memory in every layer. Oil also lets me create depth, softness, and light in ways no other medium can. It\u2019s tactile, sensual, and emotional. I often say it breathes with me. There\u2019s also something timeless about oil \u2014 it connects me to a lineage of artists across centuries. I don\u2019t try to imitate the old masters, but I feel I\u2019m in quiet conversation with them. Oil paint offers not just beauty, but dignity \u2014 and that\u2019s what I try to express through it.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-23551 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Frau-BroTchen-And-Boris.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Frau-BroTchen-And-Boris.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Frau-BroTchen-And-Boris-242x300.jpg 242w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Frau-BroTchen-And-Boris-826x1024.jpg 826w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Frau-BroTchen-And-Boris-768x952.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Josephine-Florens-Frau-BroTchen-And-Boris-600x744.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Josephine Florens | Frau Br\u00f6tchen And Boris<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Which artists (past or present) have most influenced your work?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m inspired by artists whose work radiates warmth, softness, and a sense of quiet wonder. Carl Larsson\u2019s harmonious interiors and depictions of family life shaped my sensitivity to beauty in the everyday. Beatrix Potter and Jenny Nystr\u00f6m taught me how gentleness, imagination, and storytelling can come together with sincerity and heart. I\u2019m also drawn to the magical realism of Friedrich Hechelmann and Jean-Baptiste Monge \u2014 their fairy-tale atmospheres echo the quiet mysticism I often aim to express. Petrus van Schendel\u2019s glowing candlelit scenes, Emile Munier\u2019s tender portraits of children and animals, and Albert Anker\u2019s peaceful domestic moments all showed me that realism can be infused with emotion, light, and soul. These artists remind me that painting is not only about technique or style \u2014 it is about generosity, about preserving light, memory, and a sense of goodness. That is what I try to carry into my own work.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Year of birth: 1988Where do you live: Currently based in Germany (originally from Odesa, Ukraine)Your education: Master\u2019s degree in Civil Law, Odesa National Law Academy; Master\u2019s degree in International Law, Odesa International Humanitarian University; Individual studies in classical painting at Art-Ra School (Odesa)Describe your art in three words: Poetic, symbolic, quietYour discipline: Oil paintingWebsite | [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23545"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24109,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23545\/revisions\/24109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}