It was well past midnight when I finished this piece. I often work late into the night, because the world around me is finally quiet, the lights are low, and there are no distractions. That’s when I feel most focused and creative.
I was in my studio at home, the same space where I work on most of my pieces. From my desk I can see out into a quiet courtyard, and sometimes when I need a break from staring at dots, I watch the neighborhood cats walking around below. It helps me rest my eyes and reset my focus.
The room was silent. I rarely listen to music while I work, especially on pieces that require so much concentration. I need the silence so I can really hear what’s going on inside my own head.
When I finally looked at the finished piece, which took me approximately around 20-25h, I felt a mix of emotions: relief, exhaustion, pride, and a strange kind of euphoria. It felt like taking a deep breath after holding it for hours. Right after, I made myself a midnight snack, curled up in bed with my laptop, and passed out shortly after. My wrist was dead, but I felt oddly at peace.
When six/nine was shared with the world, its captivating visuals and rich thematic tapestry resonated with over 3 million people on Instagram and almost half a million on TikTok. Viewers from all over the world found that it spoke to them, that they were able to interpret it through the lens of their own experiences.
The piece was therapeutic and cathartic in many ways: the piece helped Nadine express complex emotions she didn’t have words for – conflict and control and unknowable things – while also helping her slow down and wear away patiently at the monumental task of placing tens of thousands of black dots in exactly the right places.
All About DAZEE.art
Nadine’s art helps her express things that she doesn’t have the words for. Her surrealist pieces are full of dark symbolism and hidden meanings, and are created through elaborate processes, including stippling and layering. Every piece feels like a story, a journey: it grabs your attention, takes you to places in time and space informed by your unique experiences, and makes you feel things. Her style has evolved over time, from aesthetic playfulness to something that’s much more raw and personal.
With almost 90,000 people following her art across Instagram and TikTok, she has built a community of people for whom her art creates portals to self-examination and healing, like tens of thousands of personalized cathartic mirrors.
six/nine
six/nine is a “stippling work about conflict, control, and what simmers beneath the surface.”
The core of the artwork is a close-up on part of a rabbit’s face, drawn on a neon orange post-it note. This segment had its genesis in an earlier drawing made during Easter 2024, and the square panel was pasted into a larger canvas, where the main rabbit character’s face looks pensively on while two other rabbits claw at each other against a black background, with a stylized number 9 prominently pictured.
And the emotional weight of the piece is amplified by the fact that it’s not about rabbits at all, and that it can connect to different viewers’ lived experiences in different ways. It might ostensibly be crafted with Copic multiliners and a highlighter, and finished with ink stippling, but it harnesses raw emotion in a way that very few pieces do.
six/nine: Themes
The beauty of DAZEE.art is in its infinite dimensions in the eye of the beholder. No two people have exactly the same experience with one of her pieces, and it’s the same with six/nine; even the title was carefully chosen to allow for multiple perspectives. She likes that her own point of view on one of her pieces is just another way of looking at it, and all other interpretations are equally valid.
For me, six/nine is an emotional outlet. Like most of my pieces, it’s a way to release deep-seated emotions and trauma that I carry with me. The piece has a deep tension, something violent, something forceful but also very vulnerable about it. A sense of something being imposed or pushed onto someone. It speaks to inner conflict, survival and the raw, instinctive side of that. There is a strong undertone of hyper-awareness or even paranoia, framed by a feeling of finality.
Symbolism
Numerology, visual codes, gestures, and embedded meanings all play a part in making every piece a layered experience, one that you can come back to again and again, and still discover something new. One question that she gets asked a lot about six/nine is about the big numeral 9 in the top right of the drawing. This is a numerological reference; 9 (as the last single-digit number) stands for the end of a cycle, for letting go, for closure. She stresses, of course, that this isn’t an absolute truth and shouldn’t influence viewers of the piece from their own lens of understanding.
The rabbits are unique symbolically in that they clearly aren’t just meant to be rabbits, but the shapes they take on in the minds of the viewers may vary widely. There is an undercurrent of unease, of conflict, and those things will coalesce into very different shadows for different people.
Impact
This piece hits me emotionally when I look at it. It’s intense, even for me. I think it shakes people a bit, even without knowing the backstory. That’s the power of art, it lets me say things I can’t find words for. That’s also why answering what it “means” is hard for me. If I could say it, I wouldn’t need to draw it.
Among the thousands of comments on the various reels documenting the process of creating six/nine, there are many who talk about being inspired to draw, to create art. There are others who marvel at the level of patience required to create such a detailed masterpiece using the most simple building blocks: black dots. And others relate the piece to their lived experiences, coming together with strangers to create a comprehensive look at how it impacts people across the world.
Eyes
Eyes are the windows to the soul, and this piece has many more than two, with an unprecedented level of emotional honesty and revealing symbolism, all signified through the eyes of the rabbits: shining, open, glinting with remembered pain and a lifetime of healing. They are always present – looking back at you, giving you the courage you need to confront your inner self with the same clarity that they have.
Geometry
Another recurring theme in her work is the usage of geometry; it can be readily apparent (as in the case of the stunning 3D landscape of ‘Drowning Rage’) or more implicit (six/nine is made up of tens of thousands of dots – the most simple geometric building blocks). The shapes and their repetition transport you to a parallel architectural universe, one that is within and virtual rather than external and tangible. There is also contrast – sharp angled geometric shapes and softer gradients.
Emotional Depth and Catharsis
Multiple interpretations and emotional depth are hallmarks of every DAZEE.art piece. Not only are her pieces deeply cathartic for herself; they also enable audiences to embark on their own healing journeys, customized to their personal experiences.
six/nine: Process
Like with all my work, this piece started with a strong emotion. My brain automatically translates emotions into visuals, and from there, I try to sketch and construct the image as clearly as I can. I always start my concepts digitally, on my iPad, where I do the groundwork : layering sketches, trying different variations until it feels right. Things shift in that process, of course. I try to stay true to the feeling, but sometimes the visual has to evolve until it clicks emotionally.
1. The Genesis: The trigger is always a strong emotion; something she can feel but not put into words. After that, a process of alchemy takes place in her head, where this feeling is automatically translated into a series of visuals. She finds this part fascinating, especially because it often takes place without conscious decisions.
2. Concept Sketches: Once her brain zeroes in on a set of visuals, she tries to construct the images as clearly as possible. The first concept drafts are always done digitally, on her iPad. This step can take time and the sketch goes through multiple iterations; many layers, different variations till something clicks and everything falls into place.
During this phase, the visual identity of the piece might shift slightly from the initial vision, but the emotional core remains constant, even as she combines references and drawings like a collage to bring the structure as close as possible to the image in her brain. For six/nine, the concept sketching phase took around 6 hours.
3. Creating the Physical Piece: Again, this step varies slightly depending on whether the medium chosen is ink, watercolor, or acrylics – depending on the destination for the piece (in her sketchbook, on paper, or on a large canvas). However, she uses elaborate techniques for each piece – stippling, layering, etc.
The process of creating six/nine was an exercise in patience, and the slow stippling took nearly 20 hours to complete. During the rendering of the artwork in her sketchbook, she felt that she was literally drawing her emotions; the process was meditative and cathartic. As she got deeper into the piece, time seemed to fold in on itself, the hours disappeared, and she lost track of time.
As her most recent work (as of May 2025), six/nine reflects a moment in time in Nadine’s career. It holds a lot of the symbolic language, emotional tension, and layered meanings that run through much of her work.
Evolution as an Artist
Art has always been part of Nadine’s life. As a child, she loved drawing, especially anime characters, and learned a lot by watching her older sister sketch. But for a long time, it was just something she did for fun, nothing deeper. It wasn’t until after university, during a period of high stress and emotional numbness, that she reconnected with art in a completely new way. That’s when she realized: creating could be more than just a fun activity. It could be a way to process emotions, to release something buried, to understand herself better.
Looking back, it also kind of runs in the family. My grandmother was a watercolor artist and introduced me to the medium early on. My other grandmother was a seamstress and designed clothes, so creativity was always around me. On top of that, my parents were huge fans of Surrealism and had Salvador Dalí prints hanging around the house. As a kid, I used to stare at them intensely, totally captivated by their strangeness and depth. I think that early exposure definitely shaped my fascination with symbolism and the surreal.
Ever since she started taking art seriously, her journey has become one of both exploration and healing. Each piece is an odyssey of self-discovery; with every single work of art, she understands more about what she wants to express, and what she needs to let go of. There has been constant evolution, and her current art practice is deeply personal, while still being universal. It is a language for emotions that cannot be put into words.
There’s also a strong connection between my art and my dreams. I’ve always had pretty overwhelming and often recurring dreams, even as a kid. They always were very intense, symbolic, and emotionally charged. Just like the recurring themes in my art, they circle back until they’re acknowledged, understood, or resolved. For me, both dreaming and creating are ways to process what’s beneath the surface, quiet ways of facing what’s loud inside.
Over the years, she has learned not to trap herself in rigid rules or expectations, especially self-imposed constraints. Even though she tends to be a perfectionist, she tries not to limit herself anymore: not by style, medium, or theme. Now, she just follows what feels true in the moment, while creating in whatever way allows her to express her most authentic self.
What I love most about art is that it allows me to be fully myself, more than I often manage to be in real life. It’s the one space where I can be vulnerable without needing to explain myself. I can simply be, without any mask. And on top if someone else sees their own story in it too, feels seen and heard, even better.
Links
DAZEE.art – Website: https://www.dazee.de/.
DAZEE.art – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dazee.art/.
DAZEE.art – TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dazee.art.
DAZEE.art – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dazeeart.