EAST, WEST, 'OHANA BERLIN AND A SENSE OF PLACE WITH ARTIST JANETTA NAPP
by Gordy Grundy
Artist Janetta Napp is back home in Hawaii, after spending the majority of her life in Europe. She paints, draws and creates objects.
Quietly whimsical with a childlike curiosity, her range of interests is wide and actionable. Always inquisitive, Napp is a perpetual student. Ancient Hawaiian ferns became an artistic study and as a result she often treks deep into the local forests for conservation work and inspiration.
As a scuba diver, she has a few harrowing tales to tell. Typically, she is under the sea photographing whatever fascination catches her eye. Her life underwater has produced two exhibitions, which could only be accessed with a scuba tank, fins and a dive mask.
The demure Napp is a dervish of activity, curiosity and art-making. Her sensibilities, distinctively and organically Hawaiian, have matured and been galvanized by her adult life in Berlin. This dichotomy and union is the subject of her new show "'Ohana Berlin" at Art Report Today's virtual Paddock Gallery. See the show by clicking here.
Art Report Today: How much does 'place' influence your work?
Janetta Napp: I think a lot, especially if one lives somewhere an extended period time. The obvious, of course, is the color palette, which is influenced by one's surroundings.
It may be what one sees or it may be a reaction to what one does not see, but I do think it has an influence.
The history of place can add a presence or an influencing factor. Sometimes that is more subtle, but it does influence the artistic decision making process. 
What took you away from Hawaii?
I left the islands for personal reasons. I married young, moved to Germany and raised three children. Basically, I started my professional career there, in Europe. To this day I still keep family and career separate.
When did you first decide to call yourself an artist?
After I finished my studies, although I had worked as an artist and submitted pieces in shows since high school. I wanted to be an artist even before I started kindergarten.
Growing up in Hawaii on several islands, did your family travel much?
Yes, my family traveled and lived on numerous plantations on various Hawaiian Islands. My dad was an engineer for the sugar industry, which took us also to Puerto Rico and Peru as sugar, at that time, was also grown there.
What was it like to grow up in Hawaii?
As kids, we always played outside. We just had to be home by six or sundown. I remember on Kauai, because of the red dirt, my mom used to dress us all in red Buster Brown shorts so stains would not be visible.
As an artist, it took me a long while to embrace the color red, and I was never sure if that played a factor.
You had your life as an island girl... and then you were in Berlin. What was that adjustment or contrast like?
I actually lived in various places in Germany. Berlin was just my last stop. In general, besides missing the ocean, I think not using the English language on a daily basis took a while to get used to. But don't get me wrong, I found it all to be a fascinating adventure.
Except for the cold, I really, really enjoyed the seasons. The element of time became more prominent compared to living in Hawaii, where it usually sits on a back burner. I had never seen all the deciduous trees without their leaves, so all that skeletal winter architecture were intriguing dark lines.
And speaking of winter, my first snowfall was an educational shock. In our family travels, I had seen snow before, but never falling. So, I had taken it for granted that snowflakes were going to be as large as plates, like those scissor cutouts we made in grade school.
Tell us about Berlin.
Berlin is just a fun city. As an adult, I found it to be a great place to live. The metropolis exudes excitement, potential and possibilities. Things would be popping up everywhere and everyone was out trying new things, realizing dreams.
What and who were your influences?
Of course, nature with all its magical wonders, the plethora of forms and color combinations, the nuances.
If you are speaking about artists, there are many that I have admired but Alberto Giacometti and Phillip Guston are two that immediately come to mind.
Obviously you saw a great deal of art. Any exhibitions that blew your mind?
There once was a surrealist show in Dusseldorf. I believe it was K20, a large venue. The enormity and extensive research that went into it was just amazing. A series of photographs from the 1920's detailed exhibitions and happenings long before the performance art of the 60's and 70's.
Another, the Prinzhorn Collection, which at the time one rarely got to view, had such intensity.
The other major shows I found impressive had to do with the extensive presentation of a single artist, all painters. I was enthralled with what they did with paint. Lucian Freud, Rothko and Rembrandt's self-portraits were all major exhibitions that left lasting impressions. But there are many more individual pieces of an artist and parts of shows that have been breathtaking, Beuys's drawings or a small Morandi are always a joy, as are the full rooms of Ilya Kabakov or those of Louise Bourgeois that were once presented at the Serpentine Gallery.
How did you grow as an artist?
It is hard to judge which moments in time are the transformative ones. I do not think there was a special exhibition or colleague that made for any specific notable artistic growth, but I do think studying the fine arts at the university level did make a great supportive change: the immersion and constant discourse teaches one to focus a lot better.
How have the two places, Hawaii and Berlin, influenced your work?
For me, being born and raised in Hawaii, like most local artists, brings an almost exclusive use of organic shapes and structures. I do think my joy in forms and creating new ones stems from the abundance found in the vegetation of the island forests or the unusual creatures one finds on the ocean floor. I am always amazed while scuba diving at the myriad of bizarre forms that I come across.
Berlin, on the other hand, or it may just be German city life, has greatly influenced my themes or subject matter. In general, there is always an element of humanity that meanders through all my work and that comes from urban living. So, yes, I do think place greatly influences my work.
At one point you did an underwater exhibit off the Waikiki coast. Can you tell us something about that?
There were two shows, one in 2008 and one in 2014. They were just fun. Both were a row of drawings floating and moving with the current. Anchored by rocks and tethered with string, the drawings were made on plastic signboard, which floated upright. The thrill was seeing them all sway in the exhibition space of no walls and just an immense expanse.
I was playing with the concept of art and the viewer: is art only for human beings? As I said, it was just fun.
Believe it or not, I did have to bribe the fish with food to show up for the opening.
Movement is always a reoccurring theme through your work. Do you think physically moving, living in different places, traveling is a reason for that?
That is an interesting question. It very well could be a factor, as change and not standing still, is a very important element in my practice. I always thought it was the organic and interest in natural forms that caused it, as they are constantly growing, evolving, decaying, and forever changing.
But without being conscious of it, maybe my own travels and physically moving and adjusting to new environments went directly into my work.
What does the title of your new show mean to you?
'Ohana literally means family in the Hawaiian language, but here it is used in a broader sense of comfort and security that one has being at home among loved ones.
Berlin is the contrast to that, going out, the adventure away from home.
Janetta Napp's "'Ohana Berlin" exhibition and curriculum vitae can be found here. Napp is currently working on a new series of paintings.
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GORDY GRUNDY is an artist, arts writer and currently editor of Art Report Today.
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