INTERVIEW with Andrea Kraus
Carmela Loiacono talks with Andrea Kraus who takes part in the International Art Exhibition NATURAL FLOW – Exploring water’s essence in Matera, at cultural hypogeum Lega Navale Italiana Matera-Magna Grecia.

Carmela Loiacono – Please introduce yourself and talk about the selected videos animation about the creation process of the “Unveiled – immersive”: “Nathalie” and “Veronika&Olivia” you presented during the exhibition NATURAL FLOW – Exploring water’s essence.
Andrea Kraus – My name is Andrea Kraus, 54 years old, living in Germany. I feel like I have been an artist my whole life. After my college of design in Würzburg I completed a private study with the hungarian artist Dr. Arpad Bari for about five years. He teached me all his knowledge about technique, composition, colours and the secrets behind artworks. After that I started to work as an art teacher for many years. Parallel to my job I had many single and group exhibitions, primarily with oil and acrylic paintings. After a while the performance art came along and I started to paint at many events, on stage and in front of an audience.
2022 I developed a kind of portait art called “unveiled”. In this performance art I painted visitors, who sat down next to me. I didn’t know them, we didn’t talk at all. We were just looking in each other´s eyes.
I didn’t paint their physical appearance rather than their effect on me. I portayed a feeling that they gave me about themselves. I call it a “portrait of the soul”.
After 10 events and 150 resulting images I finished this art 2024. But I had a following idea: I wanted to show – via video animation –  the process of creating these inner portraits as it happened in my head. 
And so, the video art “unveiled – immersive” was born.
The artwork “Nathalie” was such an emotional process!  This young lady sat in front of me and I felt her immediately. Her deep feelings, her fears, her hopes. It was like there were no distance between us, just flowing emotions.  Im my imagination a lonely person appeared out of a blue light. She carries a light inside, which she protects near at her body. After a while I felt that she don´t want to keep this light for herself anymore. She wants to share this light with the world. This portrait was one of the most emotional and deepest process of all my 150 portraits.
The artwork “Veronika & Olivia” was rather an exception, because I rarely portrayed two people in one picture. But in this case I took it as a challenge because I was curious to discover the similarities and differences between these beautiful twins. I felt their strong connection right away. They came out of one tree. But developed into very different personalities.
Olivia, sitting on the left side, seemed to me introverted, serious, rather reserved, self-assured and very self-confident.  She appeared to me like a beautiful blue rose.
Veronika’s energy felt completely different to me. She was a shining angel. Curious, positive, bright, open to the world, positive, warm-hearted. Thats why I painted her as a bright shining diamond.

Carmela Loiacono – How would you describe your creative process? What or who influenced or is influencing your work?
Andrea Kraus – I would describe my creative process as an intuitive, spontaneous process, which is influences so much more by my subconcious than by my concious. The decisions which I make during the process of painting is influencend by my inner world just in this moment. Or, in case of the portrait painting “unveiled”, by the inner world of the portrayed people.
I thought about the question, who influended my work. I think, there is no specific artist.
But I admire all artists, whether contemporary or from the past, who were committed solely to their art, who were authentic and made their inner world visible through their art. Artists who paid no attention to the current needs of the art market, who were merely pleasing or simply wanted to make money.

Carmela Loiacono – What do you think about shared art on social media? Could it be an alternative way of communicating contemporary art?
Andrea Kraus – Of cause sharing art on social media is a great opportunity to reach many people. Social media platforms are particularly well suited for video art.
When it comes to paintings, I’m a little more critical. Because even the best digital platform can’t replace seeing a painting in person.
If you’ve ever seen a Marc Chagall or a Francis Bacon painting in real life, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Carmela Loiacono – What are your future goals and/or projects?
Andrea Kraus – One of my future project is called “THE STATE OF PLAY”. It describes a performance art that interacts with the audience.
The visitors to the exhibition receive a sheet of paper with the sentence “The world is full of…” written on it. They are asked to complete this sentence with just one word.
All sheets will be collected. One sheet after the other is drawn and the term mentioned on it is now depicted on the canvas.
Over time, the canvas will fill up with all the terms that come from the audience. The individual motifs merge into a total work of art.
The interaction in “THE STATE OF PLAY” creates a closeness that breaks down the barriers between artist and audience. The visitor decides on the motifs of the picture through his terms.
My intention is to create a work of art that shows a cross-section of all the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, fears and hopes of people.
I want to portray a view of society from here and now and manifest the state of play in a work of art.
Also I want to implement this concept in different countries, exactly one picture per country. In this way, I want to reveal both the similarities and the differences that arise from the different cultures, mentalities and perspectives in today’s world.
The other project will be a serial of seven oil paintings which I call “Under Trees”. I love the nature, i love forests and I love standing under a tree and looking up or out of it.
This energy fills me anew every time, and I want to capture this energy in my paintings. The first two pictures are already finished and I love them

Carmela Loiacono – We had the pleasure to meet in person in Matera, during the opening of the exhibition, did you enjoy cooperating with me? Did you like to stay in Matera? 
Andrea Kraus – Yes, I had the pleasure to join the opening of the exhibition NATURAL FLOW and to meet you wonderful person, Carmela. You curated this exhibition with so much love and sense of the effect of art on the visitor. Every artist had its own place in the gallery, chosen by you with great feeling! I felt very welcome and I’m still happy and proud to know you.
The venue was perfect! Both the gallery and the beautiful city of Matera. I would love to cooperate with you again and exhibit in this exceptionally beautiful city!