INTERVIEW | REBELLICCA – drifti.space

REBELLICCA is an artist and wordsmith based in the Netherlands. She creates 3D surrealist visual poetics that gravitates around the concepts of consciousness, freedom, time, and love. Her journey reflects a gradual shift from the abstract to the conceptual and the surreal. Her art can be considered a dialogue with the subconscious. It is born from visions she sees as complete in her mind before rendering them into tangible form, with 3D as her preferred medium.

She has exhibited globally, including Milan, London, Valencia, Toronto, Seoul, Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Lisbon, and most recently, Melbourne.

REBELLICCA – Portrait

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/rebellicca/ | Personal Website : https://www.rebellicca.com/

Twitter: https://x.com/rebellicca

Explore and collect her artwork on SuperRare : https://superrare.com/rebellicca

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My art emerges within a fractured paradise of destruction and rebirth, spilling fragments of longing for deep connection. The pieces are suspended in a liminal stillness where symbolism and emotion converge in unresolved tension. Light lingers on the edges of the impossible, where time is sentient. In every canvas, a paradox unfolds: essence eclipses into silence while collapse hints at serenity. Through these visions, I invite you into the delicate architecture of consciousness unraveling—a glimpse into the vulnerability of being and the defiance of becoming in the sandbox of time and beyond.

The surreal is the only real. Meet me there.

“When Time Realized My Forever Was…”, 3D render, 2024 © REBELLICCA

1. How did your journey evolve from abstract to conceptual and surreal art, and what prompted this gradual shift?

My journey began with abstract and floral forms, inspired by the poetry I was writing at the time—a space that felt free yet not entirely integrated. I’ve always loved the hybridity of my mind, the way it allows me to express myself through both words and visual art. Over time, I started seeing visions of complete artworks in my mind. Perhaps the imagination has its own course, and abstraction no longer seemed able to capture what I saw and felt. The visions felt strange and mystical at first, and it took time to surrender to and fully embrace them. But eventually, they became undeniable, leading me to surrealism and 3D as a medium. I remember discussing this shift with fellow artists, who found it bold and risky, but I felt compelled to follow this path. For me, art is not a choice—it’s a calling, an instinct I follow with faith. Surrealism, with its connection to the subconscious, allowed me to reach emotional depths that abstraction and poetry alone could not. It became a way to explore themes like the fragility of time, love, and the beauty found in darkness, inviting viewers to uncover layered meanings within each piece.

“A Million Second Chances”, 3D render, 2024 © REBELLICCA

2.Could you walk us through your creative process, from envisioning a piece to its final 3D rendering?

My creative process starts with a vision—a complete image forms in my mind, vivid and full of symbolism. I take these mental snapshots and translate them into notes or a quick 3D draft to capture the essence of the vision. I’ve noticed that when an artwork wants to be made, its vision won’t leave me until the piece is created. It feels inevitable, destined. So I listen to it. From there, I begin building the scene in 3D, arranging each element to match the vision as closely as possible. Light and texture are layered in to add depth and realism. The rendering process is where the piece truly comes to life—light falls, shadows gather, and what began as an intangible concept in my imagination becomes a little universe others can step into. The final stage involves refining the piece until it feels true to that initial, dream-like mental image, ensuring it’s technically well-executed and resonates with the essence of the original idea. At this stage, I sometimes post-process the image, if needed. 3D is a phenomenal medium for me, as it engages me in a delicate balance between technical precision and the freedom to let the artwork gradually reveal its true form.

“The Unframed Longings of Water”, 3D render, 2024 © REBELLICCA

3. Could you elaborate on the “dialogue with the subconscious” in your work? How do you access or interpret these subconscious visions?
My work is a conversation with the part of the mind that speaks in metaphors, where logic surrenders to intuition, thought surrenders to feeling. Tapping into these visions often requires a moment of inner stillness. I could be anywhere, even surrounded by people, but I’ve noticed I need to feel a certain calmness within. It’s like drifting into a liminal space between waking and dreaming, where anything feels possible and effortless. If I have to describe it, I’d say it is a state of relaxed alert presence. I let these visions guide the process, even if I can’t fully grasp their meaning at first. In this sense, I trust what I see in my mind without questioning it or trying to understand it immediately. Sometimes, it feels as if my art emerges through me, rather than from me, yet it still carries my essence, my raw energy, my presence. Interpreting these visions becomes an act of listening—trusting the symbols that appear and allowing them to take shape without imposing rigid meaning. My art becomes a portal into the depths of my being. And from the incredible responses I’ve received, it seems to open a doorway into the inner worlds of others as well.

“Beyond The Last Dome of Shattered Fear, Love Me Unafraid”, 3D render, 2024 © REBELLICCA

4.How do concepts like consciousness, freedom, time, and love influence the specific themes or imagery in your pieces?

These concepts feel like the silent pulse of my work. Freedom finds itself in the open landscapes I create and in the breaking of constraints—shattered objects, broken chains. Consciousness unfolds as layers in my compositions, revealing hidden and often unresolved narratives, suspended in time. There’s a certain liminal stillness to it, as if caught in a state between confession and prophecy, memory and imagination. My art both witnesses and holds space for these moments—the stillness between heartbeats, the quiet between breaths. The unspoken, the unseen that can only be felt. Time is sentient, elusive, breakable. It obeys nothing but immortal love, appearing as fractured clocks, shattered moments, and endless horizons. Love is present not just romantically, but as a persistent longing for deep connection and an unstoppable life force. To me, love is when one’s shadows are willing to dance with another soul’s light, and fear dissolves into the wholeness of being. I believe that when you find that soul, you’ll know. It’s unmistakable. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Its presence transforms you, leaving a beauty forever imprinted within. Each piece I create becomes an exploration of these layered themes, inviting viewers to co-create through their own emotions and interpretations.

“The Dawn We Found Each Other”, 3D render, 2024 © REBELLICCA

5. Your artist statement mentions a “fractured paradise of destruction and rebirth.” What personal or universal experiences shaped this vision?
I think my fractured paradise of destruction and rebirth is exactly where personal mythology meets art. It reflects the duality of the human and the divine within us. Life teaches that paradise isn’t a distant place—it’s here and now. It’s fragile, layered with bliss and longing, and often hidden in the spaces we don’t readily show others. There is an Eden within us all, a sacred ground of beauty and peace, yet marked by the scars of what we’ve endured, which is what makes it real, tangible, and unique. We long to share this inner paradise with another soul, to let someone see the parts of us we both protect and yearn to reveal in safety. To be seen in our completeness— scars and dreams. To be honored. To be desired. To be loved. For all that we are, as we are. In my art, destruction becomes fertile ground because I believe we’re born many times within a lifetime, through both pain and love. Shattered clocks, fractured glass, and objects hovering between the ruins of light and the rebirth of the self are symbols of how I view existence: life continuously erodes and reshapes itself. Love remains as both a force of preservation and transformation.

“Eden Spellbound”, 3D, 2024 © REBELLICCA

6. How do you achieve the balance of “unresolved tension” within your pieces? Are there specific elements or techniques that help you create this effect?

Unresolved tension in my work is achieved through contrasts—light and shadow, sharp and fluid forms, serene compositions interrupted by seemingly chaotic elements. But entropy always has its own rhythm and order, and I simply allow it to meet the serenity of open space. These contrasts draw viewers in, inviting them to linger on details that seem at odds, creating a sense of anticipation, as if something profound is about to be unveiled but never fully is. Or, if it happens, it’s meant to be a personal discovery for the viewer, emerging through their imagination and dialogue with the piece. This same tension is present in my poetry as well. I seek an unusual harmony between words and concepts that wouldn’t typically coexist. In my artwork, it’s the
tension between longing and safety, exactly within that fractured paradise, where light and darkness touch—just after destruction and before rebirth.

7. You’ve exhibited in cities worldwide—how do you feel different audiences connect to your art, particularly with its surreal themes?

I believe art connects people in ways nothing else can. In some cultures, my exploration of time and existential themes resonates as philosophical or even mythological reflections, while in others, the poetic and emotional undertones provoke more personal responses. Whether encountered through an exhibition, or online via my art community or website, the
messages I’ve received over the years have blown me away. I’m continually amazed by the diverse interpretations of my work. Take, for example, the shattered clocks piece When Time Realized My Forever Was…—my signature surrealist work. It’s meant as a bold love confession, where time renders itself obsolete because a soul has found its match. Alongside the romantic responses, I’ve heard interpretations such as “time is up, if not now, then when?,” “when time shatters, infinity begins,” or “YOU” seen as the divine, not the beloved. As an artist, it’s also deeply humbling to hear from people I’ve never met that my art heals them, brings them back to wholeness, and makes them conscious of something they weren’t ready to
confront before. When someone tells me my work helped them emerge from darkness, it’s the ultimate reward.

8. What does the phrase “the surreal is the only real” mean to you personally, and how does it reflect in your approach to both art and life?
“The surreal is the only real” suggests that the most authentic truths are often found beneath the surface, beyond the noise of easily digestible wisdom. It also prompts the question: what is real? In both life and art, what lies beyond the tangible holds the most meaning—the emotion, the experience, the energy, the presence. The surreal is the intimate discovery of our deeper layers. This line encapsulates my approach to creating: I invite the unseen to take shape and defy the conventional to reveal deep truths. It also blurs the boundaries between the mundane and the extraordinary, between what is seen and what is felt, capturing the raw, unfiltered aspects of both being and becoming.

9.How do you view the role of symbolism in your work, especially when dealing with themes as abstract as “the architecture of consciousness”?

Symbolism to me is the bridge between the seen and the felt. In exploring consciousness, I see symbols as markers guiding viewers through complex ideas and emotions in a visual language that words alone cannot capture. They allow me to construct the tangible, visible ‘architecture’ of consciousness, where each object, shadow, light, and fracture becomes a clue. Much like in architecture, it’s about playing with space and organizing it around the objects, in a way that creates layered meanings and a presence that invites the viewer to engage. This interplay of space and symbolism lets viewers piece together or unravel meanings that resonate with their own inner worlds, drawing them into a deeper exploration of self and (sur)reality.

10. In your view, what is the importance of “light lingering on the edges of the impossible”? How does this notion influence your artistic process and final pieces?

The idea of “light lingering on the edges of the impossible” brings me back to the unresolved tension I spoke about earlier. My art captures moments of fractured paradise suspended in time. I mean those moments when what we yearn for feels within reach, when the shadows reveal traces of beauty or possibility. In my work, light serves as a bridge to the unseen, illuminating not just objects but the feelings they evoke. This interplay of light and darkness creates a space where the viewer’s imagination leaves its imprint upon the artwork. It writes its own narrative, lingering on the edges of what seems unattainable but somehow is only a dream, a heartbeat away. And it’s exactly there, where we meet.

Thank you for having me!
REBELLICCA