Denise Fort
Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga exhibiting artist
Home Is Where Your Heart Is (2018) 20x20cm mixed media on embossed cotton paper
Denise Fort lives by the sea in Raglan in New Zealand. She graduated with a degree in Industrial Design at the University of Applied Science in Munich, Germany in 2007.
Denise worked in the design industry as a concept drawer, illustrator, and graphic designer for several years in Europe and New Zealand. 2009, in NZ, she started to work as an artist, and from 2013 until today she is a full-time artist. Well-traveled, she left her mark in Asia and Europe and exhibited in several countries around the world. 2014 she opened her gallery in Raglan, NZ. Getting itchy feed and seeking new inspiration she left for Canada in 2017. She bounced around for the past 3 years between Canada, Europe and New Zealand.
In Canada, she picked up the brush again, inspired by BC West Coast Indigenous culture, flora & fauna and Vancouver Streetart Art Szene Denise's art style experienced a new evolution. She loves to expose her mind to diverse cultural aesthetics. It's not enough to just 'see' Denise needs to feel a place. By living in different places she experiences a culture profoundly. She enjoys the process from the initial inspiration influencing her artwork until diving under the surface where she finds her style of abstracting her environment. She loves to create her own worlds.
Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga 2020
Images on Social Media with a person locked into a small space, with no windows, sitting all day, operating every task over a screen from socialising, working or buying groceries are trying to foster the fear about technology. But thanks to the internet I can live close to the ocean in the New Zealand bush surrounded by nature and bird songs. I can connect with my friends all over the world, I can work from home. Sometimes I choose to spend the day outside, in the garden or to go for a walk to the beach. At night time I start to work. Since lockdown, I put even more effort into staying in touch with friends from all over the world. My experience is that it enables me to live a healthy lifestyle, to be more in nature than ever. In my art piece, I want to create a positive image of how technology influences our lives while staying in our bubbles and being surrounded by beauty.