Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Thoth Adan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Thoth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

As far as I remember, I always new, that I would become an artist one day. This never was a question of choice for me, rather a necessity. If your personality is creative – the need to create and express is the driving force of your being, regardless the media or the field (performing, visual or applied arts) you choose to work in, you’re meant to be a creator!

Unfortunately my parents were equally convinced of the opposite. For them, art was a nice leisure activity, not a profession that will pay your bills. I already achieved minor success in my teens, when my art was exhibited regularly and collected by a museum. Nevertheless, I went to a commercial high school instead.

After graduation, my teachers wanted me to study mathematics, my parents urged me to learn ‘something solid’ and I had still nothing else in mind than becoming an artist. To be honest, I wasn’t brave enough to get my own way and to oppose my parents. I always had a fable for logic and abstraction, but math? No way! Alternatively I was thinking about philosophy, but that wasn’t really solid either …

After study preparation in a Bernese art school I landed at the Art Center College of Design to study communication design. This was as close to art as I could get and very solid.

To be honest again: This was really great! It didn’t feel as a compromise at all. The campus was in an old château, overlooking lake Geneva and I really enjoyed the international, multicultural and beautiful surrounding.

But first of all I was thrilled to learn all those art and design skills! The years passed by very quickly and I was graduated with great honor, ready to leave. An I left.

I moved to Salzburg, Austria, to work as an art director in an international advertising agency. The plan was to stay for one or maybe two years before moving on to the next challenge – but then, I met that guy, who later became my husband … and 25 years later I’m still here! The ‘annual plan’ was right though regarding my job in the ad agency. Only a few months and I knew, that working 9 to 5, in a team, doing commercial design was not the right thing for me – no matter how ‘solid’ and creative this job might be. I became self-employed.

The next 15 years I shuttled back and forth between graphic design and fine art, between making a living and creative freedom. I became a committee member of the association of visual artists Salzburg, won some prizes, joined exhibitions throughout Europe, had some loyal collectors and became a member of mensa international – I was on a very solid way!

But more and more I felt stuck artistically (trapped by my own style and technique) and bored professionally. The prospect to continue like that for another 25 years wasn’t appealing. But what else? What should I do? Math?

Life’s not going to change by itself, is it? In 2013, I stopped working as a Designer and reoriented my artistic work fundamentally – I even changed my name to start afresh. Sometimes it’s easier to take the bull by the horns and burn all bridges.

The following process of self discovery and reorientation was very inspiring and liberating, like peeling off unnecessary ballast, layer by layer. I finally made it – I became an artist!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As mentioned before it took some time to find my voice and place to be, and also some courage to leave everything behind – but it was one of the best decision I ever made!

Of course I didn’t become a completely different person, after pressing the professional reset button in 2013. I’m still interested in the same themes, have my personal aesthetic preferences, etc. I just got clearer and most important: I got back to enjoy the actual act of creating. Now, 10 years later, I am 54 years old and I’ve never felt so happy, content and relaxed in my life before.

What inspires you?
Even though I’m a visual artist myself I think music and philosophy are the greatest sources of inspiration for me. Today my work is equally related to minimal aesthetics, abstract expressionism and Asian philosophies (Zen, Taoism and other traditions) – always looking to catch the very moment. I’m particularly interested in the movement of the brush and the trace this gesture leaves on the paper. An approach deeply rooted in Japanese, calligraphic traditions (Shodo, Zenga, Bokuseki and Hitsuzendo).

Describe your creative process.
Silence is a great source of strength – while painting my focus lays on the expression, the state of mind and the final composition – this way the drawing becomes a depiction of a certain energy (Qi) at a certain time. Like a snapshot of the ongoing flow of Tao if you want, or a symbol of the theme or word I was contemplating about.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I feel very privileged to live a life as an artist – and I’m very aware that many people in this world do not have the choice or the chance to life their live as free, independent (and also self-centered) as I am able to. So I do feel sort of responsible. Not for the rest of the world, but for me, to really take this chance and to seize it.

I’m a great believer in beauty! It is in the eye of the beholder, they say – but there’s an archetypal kind of beauty, everyone can relate to; as well as there is an inner, unalterable truth in each and every one of us. That’s the kind of beauty – one could call it purity – I’m looking for.

That’s also the point, where this journey gets philosophical and spiritual. I’m no member of any religious group or institution, My weltanschauung is inspired by Asian philosophies but I’m also influenced by the Western believes of my environment, especially by the Calvinism, I grew up with in Switzerland (for good and bad).

I don’t see this as a conflict, rather a profit, an enrichment and a chance. Rooted in many years of studying symbols I can see a lot of common believes shared by most religions. I call it the spiritual core. Besides that, there are a lot of man made doctrines, that make no sense to me.

Born on a fictional border (the so called ‘Röschtigraben’, an invisible boundary between German-speaking and French-speaking part of Switzerland) in a very small, but multicultural country, the concept of borders and separation never really made sense to me (in no meaning). I prefer the idea of union and integration (in any meaning).

Literally becoming whole is the only possible way in my opinion. This is equally true for art, spirituality and social issues. As long as WE do not understand that there is nothing else than this WE, speaking one humanity on one planet, we won’t make any significant progress.

In this sense I do have a goal, a mission driving my creative journey. The mission to seek and spread (my vision of) beauty, truth and unity. Also the appreciation of simplicity, purity and Wabi Sabi (the love of natural imperfection). Most of my art represents this.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Well, coming from a background in advertising and design, I had my issues with social media … I am personally quite shy and reclusive and don’t like spreading my private life on socials but I learned that, especially for an artist, social channels like Instagram can offer you so many business opportunities and connections to fellow artists!

Today, most of my customers/collectors know me and my art from Instagram or Pinterest. So my advice is keep up with it! And most of all be patient, it’s not about getting started it’s about keeping it going!

Unfortunately, there isn’t one way to be successful on social media. I cannot hand out a manual, I only can talk about my own experience and practice. I started Insta, like most artist do with a hand full of followers. Slowly growing – and I mean slowly – in took me years to get the first 1K followers, just to realize that the algorithm changed again, and again – this can be frustrating and also tempting to pay for some ads in order to finally rise the audience (that’s what Insta and Co wants you to do, isn’t it?). For me, this solution didn’t pay off as expected. I gained a few hundred new followers just to loose them again a few weeks later. The followers that come organically to you will stay, they are way more ‘faithful’ because they started to follow you from a personal interest/initiative, not because a flickering ad was waving the way. Well, this was my experience; I know that other artist use advertisement quit successfully, especially when it comes to promote a specific piece of art, edition or an exhibition.

I realized that paying attention on high quality posts helped me more. I also learned, that focusing on my art and not mixing with to many other things can help. Don’t use your private feed for art or vice versa. Consistency, continuity and professionalism are key. Also, and maybe that’s the most important thing: authenticity. Be true to your own – everything else is a waste of time (for you and your audience).

Doing so I gained new followers continuously. Once I had 3K followers, things started to move, I don’t know why, I just kept up doing the same thing, but suddenly, I gained more new followers in a week than in a year before. Once I passed 10K, growth started to slow down (I guess they changed the algorithm once again …). Anyhow, continuity pays off. Today I have little more than 15K and we’ll see how far this will go. Good luck to you!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thoth-adan.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/t.adan.art
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThothAdan
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.at/thothadan
• Behance: www.behance.net/ThothAdan
• Saatchi: www.saatchiart.com/thothadan
• The Artling: https://theartling.com/en/artist/thoth-adan