Interview with Marieken Cochius

Meet NUNUM's Winter 2020 Contributor: Marieken Cochius

2/16/2021

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with Marieken Cochius

To start I just have to say thank you Marieken. We've been fans of your work here for a while so finally being able to have your art in our pages has been a thrill. Having said that I'm also dying to know the first book you remember sitting down and reading all by yourself?

Maybe not the first, but one of the first was Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.

Another new one for the list. I'm always amazed at the variety that question produces. So let's get a touch more contemporary, what is the last book you read that made you think: Damn that is a good book.

Marieken Cochius by Patrick Oehler

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Exuberance by Marieken Cochius

Ah, I have heard of her but haven't had a chance to read her work. Thank you for the reminder. What about on holiday Marieken, who are your go-to writers when you need something to read on holiday?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, China Miéville.

The classics, nice. Let's pivot to art for a minute, are there any contemporary artists you admire?

A tough one, Anselm Kiefer.

What about in your local community, is there an artist that you would recommend people check out?

Dietmar Busse.

Are there any artists who have influenced your current artistic direction?

For me I'd have to say that my main influence comes from being out in nature.

River 14 by Marieken Cochius

What advice would you give someone who is just starting to send their work out to journals?

Motherboard by Marieken Cochius

It is a numbers game. Apply and forget, and do it weekly. I look at it as throwing pebbles in a pond; at some point the rings will come back to shore.

Very well said. I've heard you have a rescue German Shepherd dog in your life, any importance behind that we should know about?

I love their energy, sense of play, intelligence, warmth and aloofness. Over the 20 years I have lived with them, they have given me courage to travel without other humans and taken me out on numerous daily walks that clear my head.

Do you collaborate with other artists?

Yes I do, sometimes in different disciplines. Contact me!

I'm sure the emails are already on the way. And just before we go, are there any new projects you are working on?

Learning to weld in the next year, and many more collages and sculptures.

Water Series Nr 3 by Marieken Cochius

Artist's Statement by Marieken Cochius

I am fascinated by growth-forms, root systems of plants, movements of microscopic organisms, seedpods and animal architecture. In those I see a sensitive chaos that contains and propels the origins and energies of life. My paintings capture fleeting moments in this organic world dominated by chaos and change. The energies that natural forms temporarily contain yet inevitably transform particularly inspires me. Evoking the mystery and power of nature through intensely materialist and tactile forms and imagery, my work explore the porous boundary between what is seen and felt, where perception and experience merge.