Interview by Jimon

1-Where were you born and where do you currently live and create?  I was born and raised in a small village in Netherlands. Because of my study I moved to Rotterdam at the age of 19 and never left. I currently live in the city center and work from my home studio.

2-How would you describe Sophia van der Meijden?  I am continuously searching for myself, reflecting about the past and using those insights to guide me into the future. Talking philosophically with my friends or being on my own with my cat Vector.

3-What was your first experience with art as a kid?  My parents are real art lovers. During my childhood, Sundays were spent being dragged around museums. That is how I came in contact with art at a really young age. My father is an architect, so family holidays were planned around visiting buildings and churches, to the annoyance of the rest of the family. Looking back on my childhood, I am very grateful to my parents for my (art) education that I am now building on.

4-Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not or did not want to stop looking at?  I was quite impressed by the work of Joan Miró. On one of our holidays my parents took me to his museum in Barcelona. His work is simplistic yet powerful. His use of colors in combination with small elegant lines makes for perfect balanced pieces of art.
For my birthday I got a watch from the Miró museum’s gift shop. I still have it although it doesn’t work anymore. A small reminder of the first artist that moved me.

5-How did your collage series start? What made you do collages?  I used to create a lot of art when I was younger, so after some encouragement from my teachers and parents, I went to art school. After the first year I was kicked out because I was an “enfant terrible”. Art school and I were not a good fit. I had lengthy discussions with my teachers about the concept of art, and was too stubborn in what I would like to create versus what school expected from me. Also, the sleepless nights, endless studio hours and the few opportunities that awaited after graduation, weren’t quite appealing at that time. I left the art world behind and started working in the IT industry. My interest in collage art started after I was searching for a new background image for my phone. I used to have The Sunflowers of van Gogh, but it was time for something new. After a Google search I ended up on the website of Jesse Treece, a famous collage artist. His work really got my attention for its simplicity, effectiveness and gorgeous shapes. After reading several interviews with him and browsing through his Instagram, I was curious if I could also create a collage. In the summer of 2018 I temporarily ended up in a wheelchair. I was no longer able to leave the house by myself. It was as if life told me, “Stop what you are doing and start what you would love to do, but never had the time for.” I began collecting old books and started cutting. After I posted the first collage online everything went quickly. Within a couple of months I had my first exhibition, and within a year a contract with a gallery in NYC.

6-What was the First job you ever held?  My first job was handing out newspapers, every morning from 7 a.m. till 10 a.m., at Rotterdam central train station. It was not the most inspiring job, but it was nice to watch the flow of business people going to work every morning.

7-If you had to watch one movie on repeat for eternity, what would it be?
There was a video rental store in the village where I grew up. Because the village was very religious, the good movies were not often rented out. Therefore, they soon ended up in the ex-rental bin. My DVD collection grew rapidly. From PI to Requiem for a Dream. I watched them over and over and over again. I don’t have a specific movie I love. I recently saw the movie “The Biggest Little Farm“. I found this story very inspiring. It’s about a couple who bought a farm, and over the course of 8 years turned it completely self-sufficient with love and dedication. This is a great inspiration for all people’s passions; not everything works out immediately, but with the right love, dedication and patience everything is possible.

8-Where/when do you get most inspired?  When I cut out a subject, like a ferris wheel, it sometimes takes hours because of all the small details in the picture. When cutting, my brain shuts off to the outside noise and I start to get into a creative zone. Random new ideas about how to use the subject to create new alienated worlds, just pop-up. But, sometimes they don’t. Then the subject will lay on my desk for weeks until I find a good purpose for it.

9-The future is _________.  Open. It’s like a beautiful field full of flowers that I can walk through and discover new one. Even more colorful and crazy shaped with every step I take.

10-First thing you think/do in the morning? And Last thing at night?  Probably feed my cat. He wakes me around 7 and doesn’t stop meowing until I give him attention. I take a shower and go to my office job. When I come home I either hang out with friends or create art in my studio. I try to have a healthy balance between social and ‘me time’. When I have trouble falling asleep, I try to ease my mind by listening to boring radio shows.

11-What is your least favorite part of the day?  When I have to cook dinner. I’d rather just eat out or eat with friends, because cooking dinner gives me a lot of stress.

12-If you weren’t an artist, what would you have liked to be?
My daytime job is Project Lead for an IT company. I love the combination between being creative and analytical.

13-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Jesse Treece, Joan Miró and probably Anish Kapoor.

14-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Books, music and red wine. When I create, I try to make myself as comfortable as possible. I turn on some good music, heat up the studio, burn some incense from Danny the Cactus (one of my favorite local stores) and try to get into a creative zone. When this happens, I forget time and space and can work for hours. These are the best evenings in my life.

15-What forth-coming projects and/or exhibitions do you have scheduled?  Currently I am in contact with a gallery abroad to exhibit some work. I don’t have to live from my art, I can just cherry pick the nice opportunities. I try to limit the exhibitions, because when I do something, I do it well. Although showing my work gives me a lot of energy, it can also take a lot of my energy. To make it easy for myself I also sell my work via Instagram. The price of my art works is based on the amount of likes they get. The popularity sets the price.

16-If you were asking the questions what question would you ask and please follow it with answer?  What music do you play when creating art?
I have this amazing playlist. I only select the best songs that represent my mood. Check it out: ‘Random music I like’ by Sophia van der Meijden.