Paradis Vehm is a visual artist, designer, and educator with a flair for bold expression and emotional depth. With roots in the Philippines and a creative spirit shaped by life across continents, Vehm brings a unique voice to every canvas. In this interview, she opens up about her journey, artistic philosophy, and the vision behind Girls, Girls, Girls.
I am proud to say that Vehm is also a very good friend of mine.
Hello Vehm. Please introduce yourself.
I wouldn’t want to tell you my full name (because it’s irrelevantly common, LOL), but I go by Paradis Vehm as an artist, my friends call me Vehm or you can just simply call me V. I was born and raised in Metro Manila, Philippines from an average family, privileged enough to be sent to a private school, acquired things and lived in a good neighbourhood. I had a semi-normal upbringing, which taught me humility, chaos and reality at an early age. This, however, allowed me to understand a lot of things from all angles of the spectrum, which eventually became a guide on how to exist and paved a way to experiment on my creativity at the same time. I’m thirty-something years old, and I’m absolutely loving this mid-life crisis. LOL! I’m an artist and a designer and all things creative, I also recently learned about this term, Ailurophile, (lover of cats) which ultimately summarizes who I am.
What are the things you like most and least in life?
I am not a fan of people who have no empathy about animals, I just can’t. I also don’t like it when they try to lead you on without any intentions on following up. I think I really love cats and all animals (have I mentioned that already?) LOL! I am very fascinated about insects and reptiles too. I like the scent of pine and truffles and the smell of soil after the rain, I also love being underwater more than on a beach. I like the smell of bonfire and the sound of crickets. I am a music lover and composing songs used to be my biggest creative outlet, I listen to everything from classical and pop but I veer more into blues, emo, rock-metal and even hip-hop nowadays; however, I don’t understand EDM and trance music (#sorrynotsorry LOL!).
I appreciate humanity and how unique each and everyone is, and I like meeting new people especially learning new things from them. I like talking about philosophy, psychology and sometimes about the dark things too like tyranny, poverty and the unexplainable multiverse.
Tell us more about your fashion style?
So, a friend of mine and I decided to describe our fashion in three words, mine are: Bohemian, Grunge, and Colors. As a self-proclaimed color theory specialist, I make sure that they match my skin, hair color (at the time), and the scheme should just make sense. I like playing with the hint of the 90s-early 20s alternative rock vibes combined with my eclectic taste and ethnic influences. I like mixing soft and hard elements and playing with textures and patterns especially from traditional fabrics I’ve collected from different tribes and regions around the world. I like challenging myself in wearing print-on-print, but more contemporary and less of a Burning Man Festival attendee. LOL.
How did you end up in Romania? Do you like it here? And where were you before?
I have moved twelve times my whole life, from around the Philippines to East Asia (South Korea), where I worked as a Fashion Merchandiser to Middle Asia (Saudi Arabia), where I continued my venture as a Visual Arts teacher. Then I moved here in Europe (Romania), which I’m hoping to be the last, but who knows? Would you believe it if I told you that I moved for love? Haha! But I guess it shouldn’t sound so absurd, because this love is the one that makes most sense after just being a nomad and a floater my whole life. Although I still carry those aspects in my life, I feel like I’ve finally found the balance here.
What is the biggest difference from your life in the Philippines and in Romania? What about Saudi Arabia?
Now that you asked about it, I’m realizing that they do differ from one another. I grew up in a middle-class family whose both parents work in the government, so I guess, it gave us a bit of an advantage in the way we live. Despite the comfort I had back in Philippines, there was always that thing that I couldn’t figure out until I reached my thirtieth, I then finally accepted the fact that I’m not going to live the rest of my life there. I have been traveling in my twenties as a backpacker, while working corporate jobs, lived one single peck at a time just because I could, and I guess this phase in my life has influenced me on how I saw the world and how I wanted to be a part of it. I decided to become a teacher and found out how good I am at that job. Teaching deals a lot about the psyche of a person, the stories, and the abilities of an individual which has amused me most. And when I realized that this so-called most fulfilling vocation is not monetarily rewarded in the Philippines, I took the opportunity to bring my practice abroad.
Saudi Arabia has cradled me throughout the pandemic. That moment in our lives have changed every human being on this planet, and for me, it was like an awakening. Being a privileged Filipino there scarred me big time, I wouldn’t go into details, but it took away my nationalistic disposition and, for a time, even my love for my fellow countrymen. I guess when we are gathered in a big group, we tend to unintentionally practice crab mentality where success is often targeted and misjudged with envy, it has been embedded in our ancestry and history. Don’t get me wrong, it is a wonderful country, bountiful, culturally rich and very generous! Its people, like everyone else in the world, are good not because of where they are from, but because that’s who they are. In the end, the most support I got from were from the people of other nationalities, which was something I had to accept no matter how sad it is. But the world works funnily sometimes, because after feeling so alone, I met the person who would change my life forever.
In my years of traveling, I never met any Romanian, I knew two things of it: Dracula and Transylvania. It was shortly afterwards when I realize that “gypsies” are also from there, and it hit me how my friends would call me one, because of how I dressed and how free-spirited I was, and I love it! I was never a Disney princess, but I’ve always been an Esmeralda.
I came here in Romania first in summer of 2021, coming from a barren deserted city of Riyadh, getting out of the airport was like a dream I had when I was a child. It was like a luscious paradise of greens, Victorian traces and the famous cobblestone streets of Europe, but wait, there’s also those infamous brutalist architecture from its own history and the colorful inadvertent graffiti artworks around, so in a way, it was as chaotic as Manila, but better, I felt great. I remember telling my friends that it was the first time ever in my life when I wasn’t stared at because of my skin color or judged as some woman-of-a-kind because I’m from the Philippines. (IYKYK, LOL!) It seemed to me that for some reasons, everyone here has a better chance at succeeding because the gap doesn’t seem to be way off unlike how it is in the Philippines or the USA.
Are there any similarities?
Yes, there are more evident similarities in comparison. I would say that the privilege Filipinos from the middle class would live the same lifestyle as Romanians from the major cities, and even the conditions of those who live in the rural areas of both countries do not differ much from each other. However, Romania seems to be a better version at all angles. I think my answer to this is a bit politically biased as we are now currently facing strange election times, but still, I would like to keep on believing that Romania still has more chance.
As for me personally, I feel like I have the same advantage or even a bit more here compared to me being in my country, it’s like how expats in the Philippines live better lives than most Filipinos. There is an aspect of inequality as well as equity, and the more I understood this, the more at peace I have become.
What kind of artist are you? What do you create?
I started off, like any other artists, painting in realism and exact scale, my first degree is Industrial Design, so I am very influenced by straight lines and direct angles, light and shadow, perfectly mixed colors and attention to details. However, as I slowly outgrew illustration and drawing, I realized that I was not satisfied with just copying reality, I quickly became bored of it, and after heaps of internal debate with myself, I’ve decided to finally call myself a Mixed Media Maximalist. I began to veer towards more on painting and became absolutely fond of it, I would also love to explore installation art in the near future.
What is the maximalism?
Maximalism is the exact opposite of minimalism, which means taking up every space on the canvas and using it to add more details until you finally feel the need to stop. It is a term coined by contemporary artists, but a certain technique practiced by masters like Gustav Klimt, Jackson Pollock & Jean-Michel Basquiat (who are obviously my heroes). For me, it’s my way of exaggerating expressionism, which is a more known art style, and combining it with other forms of painting such as abstract art and a bit of art nouveau. I think at one point I even called it an art “vomit,” which now has a literal and modern meaning about it. LOL!
What inspires you to create?
I am a converted INFP from (E – if you know what I mean), and a Cancer-Capricorn by mind and heart. I’m not very big on the stars and astrology, but I am very much amused on the resemblances and correlations that influence and contribute on who I am as a person. I am a Jack of All Trades and a very versatile person, not just professionally, but also on how I deal with people. In my head, I draw no lines in between, I see life and death bound with each other, I think that happiness and despair as necessities to exist, and I view poverty and prosperity as just mere concepts; and it goes the same way on how I view genders, nationalities and status.
I will never forget the trip I had in India when I went to the holy city of Varanasi, I saw it (of what people would call filthiest), as an intersecting threads of life, just seamlessly detached yet intertwined with one another. It is by far, one of the most soulful journeys I’ve ever had. It made me realize that we were all small creatures that breathe, walk and float the ground with trillion other lives. It is never just black and white for me, and through my works, I am able to portray the colorful world of internal and external perceptions such as struggles and success, social dilemmas, a bit of political hints here and there, individualism, philosophical etymologies, cultural ethnicities, femininity, nature; and when I’m in a really good mood, I also like to tackle sarcasm, and absurdity.
I draw inspiration from my wide emotional landscape, dreams, frustrations and cosmic musings. I like to infuse a certain type of depth and connection into my artworks through the masquerade of my sentiments and bold experiences. My nomadic spirit is certainly a big essence throughout my art, I envision the multiverse as an infinite canvas of boundless possibilities stirred by my personal view on idealism and subjectivity. My artworks are portrayals of my emotional and mental psyche which is a balance of concepts with a nod to reality. It is through the years of experimentation, trials and exploration of heavy, vast strokes and unconventional use of media that I was able to unfold my certain type of art style. In the end, I’ve finally found my personal technique which involves a semi-action painting style, wherein the convergence of vibrant hues and intricate textures form an exquisite dance of aesthetics on the canvas.
I aim for my art to be something that makes you think twice and gives you time to decide if you want to live in that world. I’d like for my viewers to give their own interpretations and see themselves in the fantasy I create and somehow make them feel as if they can get lost in it but understand it at the same time. It is conceived from the duality within us, and the other extras ever affecting our mindfulness and stability.
My artworks will always be about me (as selfish as it sounds), and how I perceive this infinite reality. I guess it took me a lot of pain and disappointment to finally be able to admit how everything I had done was always for the sake of my being, it took me years to understand that it is okay to just think about myself. I will always respect the strength that I have to keep on living and fighting for things I may or may not deserve, because this is the only way I can help others and fully love those who allow me to be a part of their lives.
What was your favourite exhibition and your favourite painting?
I will always love Girls Girls Girls, an all-female exhibition I co-founded in the Philippines. 2017 when it started, was the year of my first ever professional exhibition as a Visual Artist and not just a designer. My artworks throughout the four installations of the event would always be about femininity and sexuality, and only until the last one in 2023 when I decided to tackle political anomalies of two opposing cultures of the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.
I also had the chance to participate in my first ever international group exhibition here in Bucharest under Cenaclul Visceral curated by Mihail Lucian Florescu, entitled I am in Training, Don’t Kiss Me, which concept I found very deep and something I resonate with as a Filipino. I was able to show an artwork that showcased the exciting life of a transgendered sex worker I personally know and to display a particular lifestyle with no bias and prejudice.
And of course, I had a privilege to be introduced as the first artist of The Compassionate Connoisseur, wherein I got to showcase my consolidated works for a year I’ve been here in Romania. It surely paved a way to be somehow recognize as an artist from the Philippines and got to work with Anca Mihalache (YOU, awesome human, you), and to be able to participate in a charity and contribute to the lives of the rescued animals.
It’s hard to really say if I have a favorite painting, I’ll try to limit my answer to my top 4 (because I’m extra) in no particular order. Haha! One of my entries for GGG 2019 would be at the top. I call it “Polymorphosis,” a series of nine heavily textured artwork morphed in between flowers and vaginas. I also like “Lurking In The Shadows,” my first ever plate (assignment) when I took up my second degree in art education; it was the first time I realized that I could paint in extreme details as well. I will always be biased about my first international work, “I’ll Erase Your Taste and Let You Go.” And I think I would always hold close to my heart my watercolor sketches and midnight musings, I found these particularly the most personal of all my artworks.
How difficult is to find clients? How do you deal with customers, especially if they are difficult?
It is hard and easy being a foreigner, who doesn’t speak the language, here in Bucharest. I tend to make more connections to expats especially and to those who have lived abroad like me as we share similar life experiences. I still consider myself new here, and I’m just starting to really thrive to make connections and get in the art scene. I think I owe it to myself to continue to persevere, that’s why I am constantly learning the language and still trying to pave my way around the art community.
As for the difficult clients/people, lucky me to have a very detached mindset. I have a talent of sulking in for a bit and moving on right away. One of my mantras is “trust the timing,” that no matter how hard we push, some things could not just be for us (for now). It was only a few years back when my rising sign was revealed to me, but it made me realized that both my signs are on opposite ends of the zodiac scale, in a way, maybe that’s how I am able to gracefully deal with balance.
Tell us about your teaching experience.
It was in 2016 when I moved from Korea as I started feeling that I might be in the wrong place, back to my country, the Philippines to avoid the soul-less fast fashion industry. I knew that I wanted to do something that matters so I started volunteering in NGOs until I eventually got a recommendation teach art in an international school. I felt that for the first time, I had found my calling. I was great at it! My upbringing definitely helped me navigate through the minds of the youth. Three years after, I moved to Saudi Arabia and it changed all my ideologies.
At first I was scared, I would like to think of myself as a very unapologetic and liberated type of teacher, it had been my strengths and it held a specific charisma to teenagers; so I contemplated very deeply as to how in the world would I immerse myself in a the most conservative Islamic country. I took it as one of my life challenges and gracefully prevailed.
Teaching was yet another creative medium I chose to do that time, instead of making artworks, I raised humans with compassion, empathy, and dignity. I believed that I was able to create a silent revolution as to how I presented myself as a Filipino educator in the eyes of the extremely rich who only have known us as their servants. Once I learned the ways to their hearts, I was able to carefully pass through their prejudice. I didn’t just teach them techniques and theories, I showed them the world, both beauty and madness, and continuously guided them on how to be effective humans and be able to use their advantages to make a difference, and although I deeply acknowledge the multiple intelligence pedagogy, I also campaign for inventive outputs and inspired creations. Up to this point (and it’s been almost three years since I left Riyadh), I would still receive messages from my students telling me how they missed my presence, and how I inspired them in creating art; some have even said that they never thought they would ever like art until I became their teacher, and how I brought out the best in them – these statements will always make my heart melt, and as long as there are students who would think of me and my teachings, I will never die.
What are your next plans?
I don’t know how good I am at planning (LOL!), but I can see myself living here in Romania and happy to be spending the rest of my life in this perfect weather and occasional snow (also with free cats on the streets).
I feel like I’ve only been getting out of the honeymoon stage, but I’m as excited to continuously face this reality. This place gives me so much hope and chances and I’m just starting to love even the things I hate about it. I am looking forward to doing things that would showcase my strengths as a creative and combining it with business, charity and community building. Probably a Cat Hotel when I retire. LOL!
I can’t say exactly what it is to come in terms of my professional development but I’m always open to opportunities. I would love to have a solo exhibition in partnership with a gallery either this year or the next, I’m also pursuing to secure an art residency. I am excited to see where it goes!
What is the hardest thing in being an artist?
This is a recurring discussion between me and my colleagues after graduating, we incessantly hoped that we were taught how to market/sell ourselves, and that is something I would consider as the hardest part in this profession (or at least for me). Fine Arts is a course based on deep conceptualizing, ideation, and execution, as artists, basically we were trained to produce products that invite dialogues, discussions, and even controversies through different forms such as painting, installation, film, photography etc., but at the end, after months of internalization, meditations and brooding within our subconscious minds, we somehow get lost at liquidizing our works of blood, sweat and tears. We depend on curators, gallery owners, corporations, or if we get lucky, personal patrons.
I’m certain that there are artists who are natural salesmen, and I have a sincere admirations and positive envy for them. Business, if also not learned, is a generative and hereditary skill that is passed on. I’m sure it is something to be practiced, and there should be a constant desire to delve oneself in. I would like to expand my connections and to be more aligned with people in that field. I think every artist should have at least one who would trust and gamble in or with them.
Tell us a few words about the events you plan to organise?
I’m currently in the middle of bringing in an art exhibition from the Quezon City, Philippines to Bucharest, Romania. Girls Girls Girls was an all-female art exhibition I co-founded in 2017. It features an all-girl lineup and a multidisciplinary roster of artists that showcases a cross-section of creative production today. We want to illustrate the different dimensions of female, their complexities, what’s on their minds and how they think, act and feel. I believe in the strength of female collectives so I started gathering artists from different parts of the world who may or may not necessarily reside here in the capital to come in for a night of collaboration and expand our community.
This year’s theme would be “Thirty Something,” a deep dive to what has been a highlight of this so-called “era” of womanhood. I will be working with my good friend, Anca Mihalache of Deals on High Heels (YOU <3) in making this event worthwhile, and writer/poet Mihail Lucian Florescu of Cenaclul Visceral, who was the awesome curator on my first ever exhibition here in Bucharest. The lineup will only be for girls, but we are extremely encouraged to bring our male friends, colleagues and families as guests. Because…
PS: This is not a man-hate project, in fact, we love all kinds of humans!
Aside from this, we are also brewing something else on the events side, as I’ve mentioned earlier, I have been contemplating on how else I can maximize my strengths as both an artist and an instructor, so guess what? ART BRUNCH! Yaaaayyy! Haha! I am deeply honored to be invited at the very first The Compassionate Connoisseur charity, wherein I gained great feedback from the guests. It would be a pleasure to share my experiences and personal techniques, and be able to pass it on to those who are willing to acquire them.
I believe that all of us are entitled to our personal art styles and as soon as we start feeling confident about it, no one else can take it away from us. These are the perceptions that we’re looking forward to present to our future guests. We want to make it all inclusive and less intimidating to the participants and make them feel as comfortable and confident as they are about themselves, it will be some sort of celebration, a nice weekend thing, gatherings, etc. We are currently in the middle of assessment and hopefully very soon, we can finally launch this fun, stress-free, and memorable events.
We would love for you to be a part of it! (meow!)
