In this Episode, I Interview the painter Antonia Wetzel aka Tonja. I was super excited when she agreed to jump on the podcast with me, and I believe there is a gem for everybody in this conversation. Tonja is not your typical artist, in her most recent project she decided to investigate social phenomena like exhibitionism, voyeurism and online nudity. Her work, in my opinion, is breathtaking.

In this episode, she talks about her ongoing project; drawing and painting tinder-matches who agreed to masturbate while being portrayed.

Antonia Wetzel does an amazing job of playfully explaining what painting means to her and why she decided to pick up the brush.

I decided to pick Antonia Wetzel’s brain because I am fascinated with people who found their purpose and who are doing what they love., this to me is success. And Antonia Wetzel’s view of sexuality, happiness, and art definitely helped me to expand my view on what it takes to be human.

Listen directly here, or on Itunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud.

Who is Antonia Wetzel? Antonia Wetzel, aka Tonja was born 1989 in Munich, Germany.

She relocated to Cairo, Egypt with her family in 1998 and grew up there until the age of 16. After high school, she proceeded to study psychology at the University of Bremen and got her Bachelor of Arts in 2013. While studying she had already started working as a freelance illustrator and designer and therefore decided to pursue a second degree in Integrated Design. She graduated from the University of the Arts, Bremen in 2016 with excellency.

Tonja today is a full-time designer and painter, living and working in Hamburg. She is fiercely fast when capturing moments in a single stroke of her brush. Illustrating movement of the body through time and space in one single image are the focus of her work. Everything happens at the same time. She is working on different projects, revolving around intimacy, vanity, exhibitionism, and voyeurism.

What is this episode about? in our wide-ranging conversation, Tonja and I cover many topics, including:

Why she decided to become a painter Why she decided to paint naked people Why guys send Dick picks The psychology of naked The importance of trust The importance of failing in life Why shame is a psychological catastrophe Being ok with not being ok What her morning routine looks like Her most Unusual Habit And what she would cook if Nicolas Cage would come for Dinner!

Check Out her work! www.antonia-wetzel.de