In pursuit of veracity It is the honest and unvarnished side of humans that Anna Bülow seeks to uncover in her drawings. With a love for the simplicity of a pencil line, she digs deep into the core of human nature. By Lisa Maria Berg | Photos: Tor Erik Sagvolden
It is with the woman at the centre that Anna Bülow tells her stories: her own story, tales of people she meets and often, something else – something deeper, a feeling more than a thought. “I often sit down with something almost unrecognisable inside of me that needs to come out – a sensation, a feeling or a memory that starts to take shape. It’s like my drawings begin as a state inside 18 | Issue 127 | August 2019
of me and then end up as shapes on the canvas,” explains Bülow. The Swedish artist, residing in the rural, lush and secluded outskirts of Oslo, has always had a love for the pen and paper. “I was very young when I realised I loved drawing. For me, there was a sense of freedom connected to making art. It was liberating and empowering to make a
choice of sticking to a path which one is often told might not be the easiest to follow,” she continues. Today, her path has grown wide and the Swede’s honest and sometimes heartaching art is found on walls all over the world.