Fiona Hernuss MFA, visual artist from Vienna, Austria

Fiona Hernuss describes the classical, academic education that she received at the New York Academy of Fine Art as “fundamental and most significant to both my personal and professional growth and development as a person and visual artist”. Hernuss learned to see and comprehend form and function through the intensive study of the human figure. This has lead to a clear recognition of impression, emotion, idea and thought. As an artist, her core work involves packaging these findings into concepts and implementing them in order to reach a final realization. This is what makes up the daily ‘bitter-sweet struggle’ of an artist. This is also exactly what gives the work of Hernuss its precious, typical and deep ‘expressiveness and impressiveness’.

Her paintings, no matter how gigantic or minute, have strong and monumental character. Each one can easily stand alone. Every painting is clear and stable, be it the empathetic oil portrait of a loved dog or the painting of the beautiful legend of the Emu egg that was thrown high into the sky to shatter into thousands of pieces, hence creating planet Earth…..or the happy, featherless rubber chicken dangling from a kitchen string. In addition, Hernuss has subtly yet purposefully chosen uncomfortable ways of pointing out and calling attention to critical social and political issues.

Hernuss explains, “95% of my work as a fine artist consists of discipline and diligence. The remaining 5% is free and available for spontaneous inspiration and the famous ‘kissing muse’. Many people assume and claim it is all about talent, etc. Well, I believe this is wrong. From nothing, nothing comes. This is also valid for the profession of the fine artist. Anyone who is successful in what they do in a fairly lasting and stable manner must usually work and fight hard with lots of endurance. If a piece of art looks (or sounds, feels and even tastes) ‘easy’, feels ‘natural’ and ‘logical’, when people think and claim, ‘I could have done that, too!’ – that is when you have won as an artist! That is when you have sweated enough, when you have brought home all of your thousands of sheep from the pastures! And that is when so many people say they would love to have your talent, and if they had it, they would also paint. Therefore, the main secret behind good art is very hard work and dedication to what you have chosen to do with your life.”

“Do you paint only animals?“ This question is posed constantly to Hernuss. She has always felt uncomfortable with this question, mostly due to the ‘only’ part of the question. For Hernuss, the animals are so deep and full of everything one can possibly need that she questions how people can say something like this. Hernuss has never really understood the question. In her eyes she does not paint ANIMALS- in her eyes, she PAINTS. She never actually realized that she had changed from extensively painting the human figure to painting ANIMALS. The day she realized this was a revelation that felt like an enlightenment. She suddenly understood that she painted animals to better reach people. The animals are the bridge from her, the artist, to the viewers, the people. Hernuss found that animals do, indeed, build bridges between people.

“People these days are so often blunt and indifferent. Probably they have always been like this, but surely this must be a sort of self-protection mechanism to block out the extensive negativity that surrounds us, and it always has functioned in various forms. Sadly, people often don’t see what is happening right in front of their wide open eyes!” Hernuss has found a way around this human firewall via the (com)passionate depiction of animals. She often paints to first shock and, through this, open the mind of the viewer to the issue she wants to address. “I take the good out of the evil and try to turn it around to make it good again. I try to save what can be saved, even if the chance is miniscule - but I try.” This can be seen in her new project in support of sharkproject.org, which is dedicated to saving the dangerously declining shark populations worldwide.

Picture this: a photo of chopped-off shark fins. It looks unreal. Now is the moment you actually feel ill, now that you realize what you have just seen. But what next? Hernuss knows. She will paint it. She paints the smelly, foul, poisonous flesh and fat that peek out from within the chopped-off shark fins. (Chopped off the living animals!) She paints what cannot be put into words. She takes what seems to be lost and turns it around to point at the situation. (More information can be found at sharkproject.org

Hernuss has always been fascinated by different viewpoints. Early in her painting career, she almost fanatically depicted the beauty in ugliness, especially with her portraits of the so-called ‘fighting dogs’ such as bullterriers, American bulldogs, Rottweilers, etc. The portraits show dogs with hanging, drooling fangs and cuts and bruises of unknown origin. Did these cuts come from dogfights, from accidents or from being mistreated? What is the story of the scar…. the story of the dog? These questions might be banal to most, but they are a tribute to the individual animal. The portraits represent a bow by the artist to the simple beauty within the ugly dog with the ugly scar.

The fascination with such detailed and small (but large) issues has led Hernuss to a deeper understanding of the issues and concerns that might be raised by an individual. This comprehension could include a plant or a human being, of course. Today she frequently paints to raise social consciousness and awareness of the needs of our planet. Her language is not screaming, not loud, but it is monumental, no matter how huge or minute the format. It stands by itself. You may look at it, and you may look away again. Or you might start to see...

“In any case, the mills might grind slowly, but they grind...!”