Oil on canvas painter Margaretha Gubernale creates mystical worlds with the source of her inspiration being nature and philosophy. She has worked for nearly 30 years as an international artist and her work has been exhibited widely including Suisse Arte, Basel, Switzerland, AGORA Gallery, New York, and Museo Civico, Palermo, Italy. It has been said that her world is “consumed with the romantic and the mystical, imbued with vivacious colors and wrought with emotion” According to the artist herself, Gubernale explained that she “pursues four elements [in all of her paintings]; the intellect as air, fire as self-confidence and will, water as feeling, and earth as material execution.”

A: Your work is with oil on canvas, tell us about your inspiration and working in this medium.
MG: For my symbolic and magical paintings I prefer oil on canvas, because I like a full palette of colours to give the correct respect to the things I paint and to focus wholly on the important ideas which to me, manifest themselves like notes on an organ.

A:The narratives are very strong in your work and the world you create appears before your eyes, how do you choose the stories you tell?
MG: Before I take up the paintbrush there comes “The Spark of Gods of Elysium“, inspired and motivated, I select an idea from many thousands others. I am inspired by nature and read through many books of anthroposophy and it generates a deep awakening in me. After that I discuss how I will create, and for me that is a matter of aesthetics. The next question is, how I do get my abstract thoughts clearly across and without fragmentation for the viewer. For this I use symbolism as a victory over the abstraction, because my silent mission is to reach into the viewer’s soul.

A: Are there any artists that your influence your work?
MG: There are a lot of painters I like, but notably Salvador Dali for his surrealism, Edward Munch for his emotive painting, Gustav Klimt for his decoration and Ferdinand Hodler for his simplicity. It possible that they influence my work in this sence.

A:You have been working as an international artist for nearly 30 years, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?
MG: My last work is always my greatest achievement, because my painting is a development both figuratively or spiritually. I am aware that every work of mine is an individual being that has an influence- I believe each one to be an achievement. If you ask me about my exhibitions of work, I believe that each one in turn has been my greatest achievement. My work was on display in October 2014 in the La Grande Exposition Universelle on the Tower of Eiffel in Paris, in the Salle of Gustave Eiffel in the presence of the son of Salvador Dali, Josè Van Roy Dali and it was also show in January 2014 at the Biennale Internazionale d’Arte of Palermo under presidency of the celebrated curator Vittorio Sgarbi.

A: Your work comes from your love of fantasy, story-telling, and poetry, what is next for you and your work?
MG: My next work is a continuation of my way. Like the proverb of Nietzsche I answer, “Chickens clucking before they lay eggs”, but in my mind the embryo of the next work is already very present.

Margaretha’s work can also be found on her website at www.margarethagubernale.org. To see her listing in the Artists’ Directory in Aesthetica Magazine issue 63 pick up a copy at www.aestheticamagazine.com

Credit:
1. Holy forest with Yggdrasil Courtesy of the Artist
2.The Magician Kenaz with the Tree Algiz