Artists At Home And Abroad
International Artists at Home and Abroad Airco Caravan Amy Cohen Banker Anna Maria Grill Borislav Varadinov Dimitri DrJuchin Donna Butnik Ed Morris Fabricio Suarez Jasnica Matic Jenni Lombardi Mae Jeon Maria Eugene Martin Wohlwend Mary Lee Lombard Nacera Guerin Pari Ravan Shigeo Sato Tulin Gozukara Veronika Szkudlarek Zachary Bako Charlotte Wensley Chris Mayse Eileen Berger 104 NY ARTS
Elizabeth Colomba Elizabeth Uyehara Gerry Mayer Gina Lucia Horacio Cardozo Jamie Sunwoo Karen Brailovsky Keita Yasukawa Kim Davison Kimberly Becoat Marianna Venczak Mark Mawson Mayuko Fujino Melody Owens Mirit Furstenberg Neil Wyatt Nina Dreyer Henjum Robert Piersante Sukhi Barber Sylvia Tupper Timo Vuorikoski Vaananen Seppo
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Airco Caravan “At what point does the fine balance tips over from a sweet swimming pool image on a summer day to everything wiping out nuclear meltdown?”
Cuddly or cruel? Nice or nasty? Airco Caravan is always looking for the thin line; exploring the edge between sweet and sadistic, power and freedom, religion and emancipation, free choice and oppression, peace and war, life and death. Caravan juxtaposes worlds of kindness and truth and explores the friction between them. The images appear to be friendly faces and cheerful scenes in bright, vibrant colors. On closer look, maybe they are not so nice at all. At what point does the
Courtesy of Airco Caravan.
fine balance tip over from a sweet swimming pool image on a summer day to everything wiping out nuclear meltdown? Airco’s work is often called iconographic or Nu Pop Art; simple, strong, colorful images invite the viewer to take a closer look. They are sweet and harmless but subconsciously disturbing. The images confront the viewer with existential, hidden questions, and leave it up to you to find the answer, if any.
You may only find harder questions and confusion, or, if you choose, the soothing reassurance that nothing is wrong. Airco Caravan graduated at the Academy of Arts in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and studied painting in New York and currently lives and works in Amsterdam and New York City.
www.aircocaravan.com Spring 2011 105
Artists At Home And Abroad
Amy Cohen Banker “Process, time, lyrical movements, sumi-e, and palimpsests are all revealed and articulated.” Amy Cohen Banker has a “painterly,” colorful/colorless style that carves out shapes and forms (synthetic realism). Life is reconstructed as reality and imagination is processed to become a portrait and landscape as layers upon layers of meaning are revealed or concealed as the viewer sees new objects take shape on the oil/acrylic/crayons on canvas. Process, time, lyrical move-
ments, sumi-e, and palimpsests are all revealed and articulated, inspired by moments from nature, music and, poetry. She is always thinking of “metaphor.” A native New Yorker, Amy resides in New York City and Massachusetts. She collaborates and exhibits in multimedia and fine art projects, local and worldwide, including the
Smithsonian, MOMA, Whitney, Hermitage and the Chelsea Art Museum. A Cornell University graduate, she studied design, art and business. Banker was an art instructor at the MOMA.
http://www.amycohenbanker.com/
Courtesy of Amy Cohen Banker.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Anna Maria Grill
Courtesy of Anna Maria Grill.
My painted and photographic (bw) art works come to life through light and space: The contrast between light-airy and earthly tones of representational closeness before spatial depth. My preferred themes besides urban and time-critical sujets are growth and transience.
http://www.annamariagrill.de
“My preferred themes besides urban and time-critical sujets are growth and transience.”
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Borislav Varadinov “My art stems from my dreams. I constantly dream of a garden where all the colors, sounds, smells and invisible spirits are changing constantly. Someone is stirring up impressions of this garden while I’m trying to steal a picture of it.”
http://www.guddah.com
Courtesy of Borislav Varadinov
“My art stems from my dreams.”
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Dimitri Drjuchin “My work channels different points of reference from my Russian background.”
Courtesy of Dimitri Drjuchin
My work channels different points of reference from my Russian background, from pop culture, to comic books, to fine art, to spirituality, to the occult. I can’t truly say that it’s a commentary on anything, because I am not interested in judging anyone or any thing. I believe it’s more
http://www.avrodesign.com/dima/
of a reflection of multiple influences that get filtered through my mind and come back out all at once on my canvas redefined to my own liking.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Donna Butnik “My inspiration is drawn from the natural world and dreamtime.”
My inspiration is drawn from the natural world and dreamtime. My best creations happen when the painting paints itself and I get out of the way.
http://artpaintings4decor.com/
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Courtesy of Donna Butnik.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Ed Morris “Born, raised & still residing in Jersey City, the name T.DEE became a wellknown & well-respected moniker in the graffiti/street art community in the early 1990’s.”
Ed Morris aka T.DEE has been actively expressing himself through his art for over 20 years. Born, raised & still residing in Jersey City, the name T.DEE became a wellknown & well-respected moniker in the graffiti/street art community in the early 1990’s. From 1992-1997 T.DEE produced & published Under Cover Magazine; a full color graffiti art publication, with the intention of giving prominence to the culture in the dignified & professional fashion he felt it deserved. Since this time, T.DEE has broadened his range of expression to include fine arts, tattooing, photography, & a host of other artistic mediums.
Courtesy of Ed Morris.
http://tdee.virb.com/
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Fabricio Suarez “Each one of my paintings is a continuation of observed shapes, formed by washes of color.” My ongoing practice of Plein-Air painting takes a turn to the abstract and surreal. In studio, the immediacy of the landscape disappears, as memory and old photographs take on a dominant role. The combination of Pieter Bruegel and George Innes inspires the use of light and mood, bringing tragedy and drama to the landscape, expressing conflict both violent and peaceful, be it by man or nature.
Each one of my paintings is a continuation of observed shapes, formed by washes of color. While exploring and romanticizing the light in an expressionist way, I embrace a process of both uncontrolled and manipulated brush strokes. The subject becomes a rich environment that holds a narrative of spontaneous mystery.
http://fabriciosuarez.com/home.html
Courtesy of Fabricio Suarez
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Jasnica Klara Matic “I believe that joining these healing materials with healing motifs can help artists to attract more positive energy and intensify the complete affect of a painting.”
I am a Healing Artist. My artistic purpose is to heal others and myself through the process of painting. I use salt, incense, wax and medical herbs as painting materials because they were used for centuries to heal men and the outside world. I also use archetypal pictures from our unconscious like angels, love couples, cosmic eggs and the tree of life as painting motifs because they have extremely positive effects on our attitude and atmosphere of our living space. I believe that joining these healing materials with healing motifs can help artists to attract more positive energy and intensify the complete affect of a painting.
www.jasnica.com
Courtesy of Jasnica Klara Matić
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Jenni Lombardi “My work with clay has allowed me to bring my subject matter and the dynamism of my imagery to life in three dimensions.”
Through artistic endeavor, I have found that I enjoy working in a varied array of mediums. I have long regarded myself as a painter; however, as the years have progressed, my technical abilities have evolved, and I’ve become more suited to work outside of the 2-dimensional realm. Although working with vivid color and manipulating brushstrokes are still my primary passions, I feel that experimentation with found objects and clay have proven to be equally satisfying. I tend to create work that exhibits animallike imagery and subject matter, but also explores human emotion and expression. My personal taste tends toward the distortion of the realistic with the addition of a personal twist, ultimately resulting in the bizarre or satirical. My work has always had an illustrative quality. Until recently, these very qualities have only been brought to life on canvas and wood panels. Experimenting with ceramic clay has allowed me to explore a new approach to my work. My work with clay has allowed me to bring my subject matter and the dynamism of my imagery to life in three dimensions.
Courtesy of Jenni Lombardi
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http://jennilombardi.com/
Being that I have discovered a personal new method to communicate my thoughts and ideas, I endeavor toward the creation of a harmonious bond between the second dimension, and the third.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Mae Jeon “Surreal and stylish, Jeon’s images incorporate the sensuality of the flower into fantastical abstractions within synthetic environments.”
With heightened color, dramatic compositions and a multiplicity of visual textures, Mae Jeon creates Digital Art whose subject matter is an icon of organic beauty, the flower. Surreal and stylish, Jeon’s images incorporate the sensuality of the flower into fantastical abstractions within synthetic environments. By contrasting the naturalness of her subject matter with the highly digital medium used in its depiction, Jeon calls attention to the eternal question of the real vs. the unreal, and of the complex relationship of technology with nature.
Courtesy of Mae Jeon
http://www.gallerydir.com/art-web/ARTIST/data/ID/63
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Maria Eugene Z. Aniar “I consider the viewers part of the story that I create; each interpretation adds an interesting twist to every work being presented.”
My works are usually narrative by nature. I consider the viewers part of the story that I create; each interpretation adds an interesting twist to every work being presented. I also like mixing all sorts of things: the real, the imaginary, the opposites and all else in between. It’s through the whole wide eclectic diversity that we become aware of the contrast and see the beauty of things.
Courtesy of Maria Eugene Z. Aniar
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http://www.artmajeur.com/
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Martin R. Wohlwend “My paintings are reflections of human nature, the creation of the universe, our environment, and today’s society.”
Courtesy of Martin R. Wohlwend
My paintings are reflections of human nature, the creation of the universe, our environment, and today’s society. Born in 1969 in Liechtenstein, where I currently live and work, I have developed a painting process that allows me to channel both my empirical and intellectual persuasions on to the canvas. By a surrealistic method, I first create chaos on the canvas, until I arrive at a point where I detect forms and shapes in the painting, which speak to me. I then consciously work and
http://www.martinwohlwend.com/ refine those forms and shapes and mold them into an organized composition. I create order in the chaos. I studied Fine Art Painting at the San Francisco Art Institute in the mid 90’s. Since then, I have exhibited in America, China, Germany, Liechtenstein, Spain, and Switzerland.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Mary Lee Lombard Since age five, Mary Lee Lombard had extensive training in a vast number of styles, ultimately emerging as an American Abstract Expressionist painter. The artist’s paintings exude her feelings, emotions, imagination, visions, and dreams of a subject, space, and time unlike
paintings by Impressionists, who record what they see visually. In Pink Abstract, Lombard richly executes her subconscious expressions of a real time and space using masterful brushstrokes and texture.
www.LombardArtGallery.com
Courtesy of Mary Lee Lombard.
“In ‘Pink Abstract Lombard richly executes her subconscious expressions of a real time and space using masterful brushstrokes and texture.”
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Nacera Guerin Nacera is a French Algerian-born professional artist who has also lived in France, Switzerland, Colorado, California, and England. She has had many solo exhibitions in the U.S., including at Stanford University. She has participated in several group shows internationally. Nacera was selected for and participated in the Florence Biennials in 2005 and
2007. She had the honor to be invited by the Swiss Gallery Del Mese Fischer to participate at the Art Miami Convention in 2007/2008. Most of her work is a reaction toward injustice. She uses all the media she can get her hands on and loves every step of her learning process.
http://www.nacera.com/www.nacera.com/Welcome.html
Courtesy of Nacera Guerin.
“Most of her work is a reaction toward injustice.”
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Pari Ravan “The painter is like a mirror in associates. Therefore I paint what I see and feel.�
Courtesy of Pari Ravan.
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http://www.pariravan.de/3.html
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Shigeo Sato “If I feel a sweet smell, I will make a sweet color. I’m playing it on a canvas and making the groove.” I’m picking up the wastepaper, the sounds, the smells, the words and the landscapes on any street as my motifs. Those motifs change into one shape with big undulations though it seemingly looks confusing. It looks like the Jazz Session. If I feel a noisy sound, it will become noisy drawing. If I feel a sweet smell, I will
Courtesy of Shigeo Sato
make a sweet color. I’m playing it on a canvas and making the groove. And a one-eyed character, The 3rd Eye Man, who often appears on my art has the ability to watch contemporary society from another angle without rolling in human’s whirlpool. His objective viewpoint is a very important thing for me as an artist.
http://www.shigeosato.com Spring 2011 121
Artists At Home And Abroad
Tulin Gozukara “I am trying to focus on what I believe as the ‘eternity’ within me and produce my artwork solely with the inspiration of it.”
Courtesy of Tulin Gozukara
http://www.tulingozukara.com/
I am trying to focus on what I believe as the “eternity” within me and produce my artwork solely with the inspiration of it. I believe that artwork expresses the intention with visual elements where everything that I cannot put into words comes back to life in the forms of the visual references in the paintings.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Veronika Szkudlarek “The works reveal nuances or variations in lines and colors of objects or nature.”
Courtesy of Veronika Szkudlarek
web.mac.com/vszkudlarek It is through abstraction that fragmented stories come to life. Translucent, layered brush marks and distinct color combinations characterize the work. I am fascinated with oil paints’ physicality, in particular the transparency of each color and the combinations of its hues. Contrasts—thick, thin or opaque as well as shape, direction, size and texture—inform my decisions. The works reveal nuances or variations
in lines and colors of objects or nature. The repetition and differences in window-panes for example or the slight variations in the cracks between floorboards articulate a broad scope of ideas and content. The paintings are colorful, expressive and adhere to an economy of form. The work’s discursive quality interprets a world that is vibrant yet sensitive.
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Artists At Home And Abroad
Zachary Bako
http://www.zacharybako.com/
Courtesy of Giancarlo Romero.
“I began this series because of my attraction to the journey one must take in order to finish a piece of artwork.” I am interested in the creative and mental process that leads to the completion of a finished piece of artwork. In October of 2010, I followed five contemporary Chinese artists in Beijing, documenting a single day out of each of their lives. This exhibition denotes my time spent with Oujin, an emerging artist. As Oujin spent his day creating, his wife Cai Qian focused on his well-being. I began this series because of my attraction to the journey one must take in order to finish a piece of artwork. Each artist’s approach is dif-
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ferent; motivation and style come at different speeds. Regardless of lifestyle, each artist consistently possessed a strong personal drive. For example, Oujin’s ability to create artwork successfully is relative to his ability to focus. All of his attention and energy was directed towards his current project, while Cai Qian focused on their domestic responsibilities.
only introduced to fellow artists, but to genuine family men and women and to people of extreme talent and motivation.
Observing the connection between artist and artwork is fascinating and inspiring. Being able to witness the progression of a single day with artists gave me insight into who they are and how they work. I was not
This project began in Beijing and I will be traveling back in the fall of 2011 to continue my documentation.
My main objective was to document the day’s progression to observe habits, to identify with personal characteristics, and to examine the way of life of a diverse group of Chinese contemporary artists.
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