NYMPHAINNA

PSYCHEDELIC PAINTINGS | BARCELONA

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH AINNA BOSCH (AKA NYMPHAINNA) BELOW

HOUSE OF THEODORA CHATS TO AINNA BOSCH

AINNA BOSCH, WHO ALSO GOES BY NYMPHAINNA, is a Catalan artist based in Barcelona. HER COLOURFUL, SEX POSITIVE ARTWORK FOCUSES ON ROMANTIC LOVE, RAW EMOTION AND EROTICISM. SHE ATTEMPTS TO CAPTURE moments of sexual intensity with a delicate outline of sensual energy and tenderness, AND DESCRIBES HER paintings AS an orgy of coloUrs fucking each other on canvas.

WHAT 3 WORDS BEST DESCRIBE YOUR ART?

erotic, colorful, psychedelic

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I  started a long time ago during my Fine Arts studies but afterwards I spend a lot of years (actually 8) without painting because I was traveling and living abroad. It was not until 2 years ago that I resumed my creative process as I was stable and had my art studio at home.

At the beginning when I was studying, my approach to erotic art was more with photography and video, I even made a video art about sexuality and nationalities for my final project. 

It was in the university also where I discovered the filmmaker Erika Lust and I started researching more about feminine viewpoint, sex positivity and the focus on woman pleasure. I would not expect that 6 years later I will work for her as a sales manager.

While living in France, Finland, Netherlands, Germany and Czech republic I didn't paint because I wasn't able to have my own space, I was always moving and changing. It was not until I got back to Barcelona and I found my own flat that I started again. 

After working for Erika Lust I had a part-time job so I could have more time to paint but after a while I decided to quite my job in order to be a full-time artist. I'm a freelance now.

WHAT INSPIRES YOUR art?

Everything inspire me as long there is LOVE: people, relationships, stories, movies, music, art, literature, dance, theatre. I'm a romantic so I always feel very sensitive and emotional when I see, for example, a kiss in a movie. The love theme moves me a lot. I'm also influenced by my own experiences and fantasies, as well from others. I believe in true and romantic love so everything related to that is a huge inspiration.

Can you describe your artistic process?

For my artistic process I usually start by looking at my "mood board". I daily collect love and erotic images from the internet or my own and save them in folders. I use also Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr (editor’s note: since Ainna did this interview, Tumblr has banned adult content. Read more about that here).

After this, I imagine how I would like to paint my piece. I picture the artwork in my mind with my own colours, which usually are yellow, green, blue, red and orange, and add imaginative stuff. At this moment I use two different techniques, one is playing with acrylic ink, water and line art on paper, and the other is having more control with acrylic painting on canvas. It depends how I feel I use one or the other.

In order to create I need to be in a relax environment and know that I would have plenty of time ahead. If I need to go somewhere else or do something afterwards I can't do it, as I will be thinking constantly about what time it is. I often lose track of time so I don't want to worry about that. Actually I also need to be worry free, if I'm dealing with external issues like sending my orders on time or paying my bills better leave it until all duties are done. Sometimes is hard to be creative and run the business at the same time. 

Before I start painting I meditate a little bit, as I'm usually very nervous and my insecurities come along. Then I burn some incense, light my salt lamp and play some music, I like classical piano and violin or my own Spotify list "Music for lovers". It can happen also that I listen to more animated music or any music at all, it depends on my mood. Most of the times my two cats, Klimt and Nimfa, come to the studio and give me company while painting. I take small breaks just to play with them. I love them.  

I proceed by drawing the first lines and then use the paint. When working with acrylic ink on paper I have fun playing with spraying water and seeing the ink drops going from one place to the other and being mixed with other colours. When working with acrylic painting on canvas the process is more accurate as it's about adding layers, the fun part is more towards the end when I do the painted colourful drops.

What has been your experience of being a female in the erotic, sensual & intimate art space?

Nowadays there a lot of women who create beautiful erotic art and it's getting more valued and respected but it's still challenging as you need to stay empowered and ignore all the harassment you get through online messages or comments and even in person, usually from men. 

On my first exhibition I showed a very explicit painting and one of the comments I got was "Did you paint that? You? I would never believe it, you seem so shy and innocent...". At the beginning of my career I wanted to strike back but afterwards I lost interest as it was not worth it.

Also on Instagram I got explicit naked pictures from men along with comments like "can you paint this cock which is hard for you?", I just ignore, delete and block these kind of followers. A lot of people see erotic art just as a physical arousal but for me and other artists, it's more than that. 

What are your biggest challenges in producing erotic art in the heavily censored social media age?

The biggest challenge is not to be banned and that your accounts remain alive and are not deleted. I experience a lot of censorship in the social media, especially on Instagram. Every time you post something you always wonder if it will be removed or not. Also people can report you so it's never sure. I try to avoid posting explicit work on Instagram and if I do I censor the mature content. On the other hand, sites like Tumblr (editor’s note: since Ainna did this interview, Tumblr has banned adult content. Read more about that here) or Twitter let you post mature content without censorship so it's great. But then in sites like Etsy, where I was selling most of my art prints, somebody reported me and I had to censor all my art more than three times because it was never enough censored, since then I lost most of my sales there. Even if you read the "terms of use" and the "privacy policy" of all the sites you are never certain. For example I thought Vero was ok with mature content but my account was recently suspended.  Also as I said before, another challenge is to ignore the harassment you can get from some followers.

What are you currently working on?

Right now I'm finishing a canvas which is part of the "Passionate Love" series. I would like as well to explore more about other techniques and take the love theme to another level, like more spiritual. I also recently finished to create my online shop on my website due to what happened on Etsy so now I can get my orders from there without censorship.

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