Last fall, the Four Seasons hotel group celebrated World Kindness Day by highlighting a series of its artist collaborations. In Los Angeles, that unfolded through the work of the Los Angeles-based artist Camilla Engström at the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. On view were works by the artist that reflected her ideas of kindness, including one large-scale piece, River of Stars. After being on display for six weeks, that specific work was then auctioned off to support International Child Art Foundation (ICAF)—an organization that has provided no-cost art programs to children for over 25 years.
Artist Camilla Engström Presents a Meditation on Kindness
River of Stars was partly, as Engström recently shared with Whitewall, “a meditation on the essential interconnection of art and kindness.”
Camilla Engström, River of Stars, courtesy of Four Seasons.
“This work is a meditation on the passing of seasons and essential interconnection of all actions. Nature teaches us that every action has a reaction, our choices ripple outwards. The things you give energy and attention to bloom and grow,” Engström added. “I used nature as a visual to communicate the stories of kindness through my own visual lens while also incorporating colors that played up emotions within each piece. I hope the works invite those to pause and have a chance to reflect on the power of nature and kindness.”
Camilla Engström, Lotus Island, courtesy of Four Seasons.
In addition to the physical works, Engström also created a series of smaller, digitzed artworks that interpreted a few of the hotel’s guests’ stories, showing the acts of kindness they experienced at Four Seasons properties in Costa Rica, Seoul, Las Vegas, Istanbul, and Montreal.
Curious about how these works were made and how the artist celebrates kindness in her personal life and local art studio, Whitewall spoke with Engström.
Camilla Engström, portrait courtesy of Four Seasons.
WHITEWALL: We’re in Los Angeles this week for Art Week, but you live and work here. How would you describe this environment, and how it guides your creative practice?
CAMILLA ENGSTRÖM: My creative process is very intuitive. I am greatly affected by my environment and often draw inspiration from surrounding nature, even dreams and transient emotions can find their way onto my canvas subconsciously.
I like to paint alone and really dig into the process. While I enjoy upbeat music for dancing when I paint, I often work with something repetitive or soothing, so that I can get into a flow state.
WW: After your work was on display for six weeks at the Beverly Hills hotel, it was auctioned off to support the International Child Art Foundation, an organization that taps into children’s creative resources to foster empathy. Tell us about this piece.
CE: This work is a meditation on the passing of seasons and essential interconnection of all actions. Nature teaches us that every action has a reaction, our choices ripple outwards. The things you give energy and attention to bloom and grow.
Camilla Engström, portrait courtesy of Four Seasons.
WW: How did auctioning your piece off to support ICAF make you feel?
CE: As someone who has been creative since I was a child, I know how art can be used an outlet for our thoughts and emotions, and I am so happy to support an organization that helps children process through creating art.
WW: For the digital works, what was it like to recreate a guest’s experience, based on kindness?
CE: It was enjoyable to pull natural symbolism from each story and find a resonant way to communicate the emotion nonverbally.
“My hope is that my art instills a greater sense of positivity, calm, and kindness,” —Camilla Engström
WW: How do you share similar values to those of the Four Seasons brand? What emphasis on kindness do you aim to share through your work?
CE: As an artist, I put a large emphasis on kindness in my daily life, similar to the Four Seasons. Working on creative projects gives me time to process feelings and the subconscious using a new prompt or inspirational source. The best part of what I do is hearing the impact that my work has on audiences. My hope is that my art instills a greater sense of positivity, calm, and kindness.
Camilla Engström, Mountain Dreamer, courtesy of Four Seasons.
WW: Your latest exhibition in Paris was a solo show named “Valley of the Moon” at Over The Influence (OTI). Can you tell us a bit more about the exhibition?
CE: These works were painted in Ojai during the extreme summer heat so that the environment made its way into the work. I was thinking of how powerfully the heat pulls your body to repose and ended up painting these semi-mythic female forms. It was the first time I really explored figuration and it was an enjoyable challenge.
WW: What’s next for you in 2024?
CE: I am very excited to be including sculptures for the first time in some upcoming shows. I am currently working towards a solo show in London with Carl Kosytal which will open this May, as well at Marfa Invitational. I just returned from a residency with Ceramica Suro through Exhibition A and I feel very excited by the potential for exploration that clay offers as a medium.
