ART Habens Art Review // Special Issue

ART

H A B E N S C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

AMANDA GRAHAM POYA RAISSI YORAM CHISIN DIONE RABELO AUGUSTINE TELLEZ SHABBIR KHAMBATTI EKATERINA KOLESNIKOVA CAMILLE DANIELLE WORTMAN JOHANNES BOEKHOUDT

ART

ART

H A B E N S C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Amanda Graham

Johannes Boekhoudt

Dione Rabelo

Ekaterina Kolesnikova Shabbir Khambatti

USA

USA

Brazil

Russia

USA

Iran

My work is composed of exuberantly whimsical abstractions, where color and organic forms prevail. Using every-day observances and experiences as an influence, layers of paint construct layers of meaning. By considering personal moments and interactions of the universal human experience, the spectator is drawn into a fictitious and heartwarming universe that emerges bit by bit. Works appear as dreamlike images in which past and present merge; nostalgia, sentiment and romanticism often play a role as a means of adding poetic value to everyday life. As an artist, I enjoy the exchange between the artwork and the viewer, and I encourage the viewer to make his or her own connections to the work. As such: my works do not reference an identifiable form- thereby allowing the imagery to facilitate fluidity in meaning and multifaceted interpretations based on the life experiences of the viewer.

Aesthetically, I am influenced by a broad range of styles: the line work of the Ancient Mayans, the bright colors and compositions of Pop Art, the fantasy of Surrealism and our Postmodern visual culture.

Time-Image and Movement-Image series are practically an attempt to capture live Butoh dance performance into the continuity of movement contained within a single image plane rather than such movement being described through a succession of discreet and static moments or images.

Being receptive to chance and accident opens possibility for the production of the new experience of the in-between stages of movement as a whole. Timeimage is an image which is infused with time. In order to invite discovery, creative discourse must bridge multiple areas of interests and fields of study, and I use everything that I know and record. I begin by looking at options, which is different from acting at random; learning to see by thinking and feeling more complexly about visibility… While representational techniques may be part of my skill set, for me, artmaking is a "flexible instrument," a developmental tool, a way of mapping thinking that can be circuitous, improvisational, or highly structured. Drawing helps me to record events and ideas and share them with someone else. It can be a container for curiosity, banking undeveloped ideas to percolate into something later.

I observe in all my works the presence of some nuances that are common in almost of them.

For example: a strong tendency to use saturated colors and very movement.

However, I use different materials and techniques to express different opportunities of my artistic experience. I studied in Stella Maris College, built and administered by German Franciscan nuns. This was a magical place where saints, angels, and madonnas embellisheld the environment and conveyed a sense of peace and harmony. My mind wandered from the sacred to the profane in seconds. There were the “Caretas” with their fiery colors and electrifying movements in the steep city streets and also a heavenly court in my school, displaying shapes and colors, sweet and soft. My eyes caught all this and these elements were prominent in my works. But all this was left behind. I left tiny Triunfo and moved to the capital of Paraíba, where I graduated in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraíba.

My life followed a normal pace when one begins to work.

For some time I have been researched the notion of the Sublime and the Contemporary Sublime in visual art. My research aims were direct toward landscape painting and the role of a figure in it. As the Contemporary Sublime has many bridges and ideas, I am personally interested in the aspect of memory, which can be read as the sublime. There are many ways to explore memory, both intangible and physical. It could be suggested that photographs can represent the physical side of the memory.

Memory is an intangible feeling, which reproduces previous experiences in the mind, as well it can invent or confuse memories, then trees become taller, the wind stronger and mountains higher. Through the paintings I want to show my memories and to share my interpretations about one actual place in the Austrian Alps. This place is a protected area where in winter people can ski and snowboard only during a daytime, as after 5pm everything stops. I am interested in that period of time when the sun sets behind the mountains and with the help of colours, paint and personal photographs I depict imagined narratives. In my practice I use photographs from my archive, however images are a starting point.

It’s difficult to put Shabbir Khambatti into a slot as to be an artist, adventurer, art teacher, landscapist or all of these! The common denominator is that he is an extremely creative man. While in the merchant Navy, he sailed around the globe, missing no opportunity to visit places of art and heritage. As an artist he has had no formal training and is entirely self-taught. He likes to think of art as a hobby but dreams of international recognition.

Shabbir does not adopt a single style of art. His work reflects touches of abstract, nature studies, charcoal sketches, still life, pointillism, impressionism and some spiritual overtones. This is no ivory tower painter, secluded from the rest of the world while he focuses his energies on canvas.

Throughout his life, he strives to make order out of chaos, to invent, examine and combine the various ideas that float through his mind. The process brings feelings of artistic satisfaction and discovery into the unknown in wonderful creative adventure. As he makes this pilgrimage into his inner self with no maps, he feels alive in the labyrinth of forms and colors; creating a harmonious balance with objects and shapes on the canvas – balancing colors effectively and dramatically – creating movement and vibrant texture – bringing mental and spiritual relationship to the viewer.

In my idea, there is a long way path to pass for becoming a artist and I believe that I should pass that way to deserve calling an artist, thanks to you for introducing me this way. I studied theater at B. A grade and now studying Television producer (dramatic subdiscipline) at M.A. Also, I have some activity in performing arts, all these works and activity have led me toward art. as you mentioned persian roots are effectual, we have had many great artists, poets, painters that I can remark from the contemporary Asghar Farhadi in cinema, I always try to join my cultural substratum to a universal language; specially in my theater plays. I'm that not much satisfied with my photography works yet, but actually I tried more to focus on universal language in my published works at this magazine. Art history and aesthetics in the East passed a different development and evaluation, but mybe in post modernism we can say combination of all items affect the artist not just the history and the cultural substratum.

Poya Raissi

In this issue

Johannes Boekhoudt

Shabbir Khambatti Yoram Chisin

Poya Raissi Augustine Tellez

Ekaterina Kolesnikova Augustine Tellez

Camille D. Wortman

Yoram Chisin

USA

Israel

France / Israel

I breathe creation. I have been a I consider myself a painter local artist in Arizona for about of this century,although I 6 years now. My name is do not follow the Dadaisme Augustine Tellez and I love to movement which, I feel has paint. It began as a hobby and has grown more into a passion. I left too much of an impact and for too long. I live in a have no formal training and very privileged corner of honestly I can't tell you if I'm using the materials right or not the universe, on a kibbutz but what comes out takes my between the sea and the breath away. it's like a static golden sand dunes, but this shock when an idea comes doesn't stop me in any way without thought or reason. to think about those less

lucky thant me! I didn't choose to be born where I was born, I didn't choose to be a woman or to be born in a jewish family, I have accepted myself as I accept everybody else.I am very aware of what is happening in our world . I am a freek of world news, and I very often get the feeling that the planet has taken a wrong turn and it saddens me very much. I have had my share of sorrows and My inspiration? Everyone I have joy, just like anyone else, I ever met. We find ways to have had to fight against become at peace with our women discrimination in my surroundings. My peace.... I paint. I'll keep painting till my own family and have had to learn to fly without wings, last breath. I'm in love with creating art. Creation is LOVE. as they were broken off me.

I displayed in the Phoenix Art Museum and several shows in the south west such as Las Angeles, San , San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. I am currently displaying in Gallery Celtica, I have been there for 6 years. Every artist needs a home. I believe in painting each painting a little different.

Printing is not for me. Why not have something original. I am continuing my work on dancers, wild life, and other ideas that float around in my mind.

He left Toulouse with his parents, an in 1973 arrived in Israel. He served in the Israeli Army Forces in the “Golani” Infantry Division.

His life’s journey is set out for us as spectators of his art in its multiple settings: settings of pain, settings of a powerful joy, settings of despair all framed with utopian idealism grounded in a love for the aesthetic. The presence of a maternal grandmother, a hard and elegant lady, an intellectual who survived the concentration camps and who left an indelible mark on him of the nightmare of the holocaust. His paternal grandfather, also a survivor of concentration camps and a Zionist imprinted on Yoram his love for Israel. His father, the ever present brilliant man, university professor in medicine, a leftist intellectual and always a reference point from whom Yoram had to escape – Freudian tensions seem clear.

The presence of an aesthetic of powerful colour reminiscent of the French designer Christian Lacroix – operating in a world of sensitivities inspired by the source of Yoram’s intellectual and visual inspiration – the genius of Rothko!

A golden triangle of love and of thrusting and thirsty energy where Yoram Chisin needs to learn how to be reborn, how to see and how to savour life.

Dione Rabelo Amanda Graham Camille Danielle Wortman

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Special thanks to: Charlotte Seegers, Martin Gantman, Krzysztof Kaczmar, Tracey Snelling, Nicolas Vionnet, Genevieve Favre Petroff, Christopher Marsh, Adam Popli, Marilyn Wylder, Marya Vyrra, Gemma Pepper, Maria Osuna, Hannah Hiaseen and Scarlett Bowman, Yelena York Tonoyan, Edgar Askelovic, Kelsey Sheaffer and Robert Gschwantner.

Lives and works in Dallas, USA

Johannes Boekhoudt

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Defeat Your Inner Demon, 2012

The Process Of Believing Beauty Special Issue Clay, 9 x 11 x 10"

Deca Torres

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An interview by and

, curator curator

Johannes Boekhoudt

Well, I come from a family that unfortunately experienced and survived domestic violence. This significant experience revealed my own demons and continues to weigh heavily upon me.

I, in turn, adopted these feelings by transforming them into a positive vision.

My cultural background is as colorful as my paintings. I was born on the island of Curacao, Netherland Antilles. Therefore, this strong caribbean influence in my formative years, cemented color as a

central part of my life. Even the island itself was a mix of African, Caribbean and European cultures. Then, in 1976, with my family’s immigration to Costa Rica, I learned and embraced the Latin American culture which has its own rich and colorful culture. I am now a product of these cultural influences and draw

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from these roots inspiration to convey my messages.

The artwork arises from a necessity to communicate and later this communication will manifest through pain and emotion. The stark white canvas in front of me is similar to the confrontation between the bull and the bull fighter. The canvas speaks to me and challenges me by taunting with the phrase “Go ahead, what is it that you can impress upon me?�. Then, the work begins. As I begin, the sketch is already a vision in my mind which I project and elaborate directly from my mind to the canvas. I do not prepare my creation, my tools are all around me. The brushes and colors stand in an array of readiness waiting to be called upon and if the right color is not present, then I will blend them until the right hue appears. I do tend to have available canvas prepared but in different sizes to choose from depending on the needs of the original image. From the beginning, drawing was and continue to be the base of all my artistic creations, whether it be abstract or not. I place emphasis in this because it

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is a basis for my own interpretation. The process of the artwork should not continue alone, it should evolve as my interpretation and emotions blend with it.

When I started to draw at a young age in the 1980s, I began to draw portraits of whomever was available and would also draw imaginary landscapes as my mind travelled to an age of horses and carrousels, possibly placing myself in the age of European Romanticism. I started to practice creation of images in my mind as I became more and more aware of the history of art masters. Naturally, I searched through pointillism, impressionism, abstract, abstract expressionism and others. Through this journey, you expose yourself to different ideas and techniques in search of your own means of expression. Finally, one day I started to draw brushstrokes while creating a painting and began to combine them to form crosses in recognition and thankfulness to God for my natural gift which had been repressed and rejected by others for so many years. Today, this technique has remained as my signature technique and style. However, I do not start with the technique, I start with an inspiration that forms a mental image and sometimes the idea is so big that it incites a series.

In the elaboration of the work itself, the process of expanding on the original image is the methodology. Beyond this, I feel my specific methods are a secret that I will not reveal.

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The artwork beings with an impulse, a feeling that is generated by a current or past event that continues to influence our

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daily lives. I seek and try to understand social occurrences throughout the world and then try to document them and convey this understanding. As an artist that denounces injustice, I want to lift my voice by means of my art with the sole

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intention of empowering the audience and thereby generate some type of positive change. On many occasions, I will rescue an emotion from my past and mix it with the present.

Johannes Boekhoudt

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each person will interpret the work based on their own experiences and ideals. I do not want to have the last word or have never pretended to do so. I sincerely enjoy when I overhear someone from the audience discussing or voicing opinions about my works. I want everyone to be able to involve themselves in the work and take the maximum appreciation of what they are viewing, whether they like the message or not. The art gives way to criticisms of all types and they are all welcome. This is crucial for me. When the ultimate goal is to convey a message, I respect my audience and I believe that I can feel their needs and concerns. By the same token, I try to allow the space necessary to comprehend me, the message and ultimately themselves.

For example, The Little Girl is based on my own experiences of domestic violence. Domestic violence also forced itself into my life as a young child and so I wanted to make clear that these scars do hurt forever. These scars are the permanent and living catastrophic result of a dysfunctional family. The girl is leaning against the wall. It is unclear if she is crying or is hiding. But what I do know is that she has suffered for many years. Her transparency and almost faint image, imply that she is no longer among the living. She does not live, she suffers.

Going Home is a work that represents the forced mass disappearance of the 43 students of Iguana, Guerrero, Mexico on September 26, 2014. These students were kidnapped and killed and to this date, there has been of signs of any remains or justice. These children will never go home.

The Last Time is an artwork that arose when I saw the necessity of dedicating a painting to my father in which age does not forgive and time slowly consumes us until the end. Creating this artwork was a catharsis for me. This painting in particular signifies the art of forgiveness and thereby, accepting the consequences of this forgiveness.

Definitely, I feel that my criticism is directly oriented in search of justice and peace. Nonetheless, I cannot overshadow the political undertones that contribute to many of my themes,

I feel that it is important to leave the interpretation of each work to the imagination. I do not intend to impose an idea or emotion onto the spectator since

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whether positive or negative. I do not know the ultimate truth or justice in many instances; however, I do believe that we should criticize inhumane political choices that are implemented by governments around the world. We have to do this. I have never hidden behind a neutral screen, I convey my

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message in bold black and white. If I paint a critical piece based on a strong theme, this intention is to incite both negative and positive commentary.

Discussion generates the acquisition of knowledge and knowledge, in turn, creates power and drives change. I do not believe in a painting that does not

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have a meaning; these paintings are mute and passive. I do not create art to decorate, my format is simple criticism, not decoration. The decoration I leave to those that want to produce these type of works, that is not me. My artwork is for art collectors and connoisseurs, people that want to be a part of history and its message. The artist Ai WeiWei, in my humble opinion, has been successful in continuing loyal to his message and straying from vanity despite success; this is critical as not to lose sight of your message. With respect to Jennifer Linton, I appreciate and am drawn to the drawings that are oriented specifically toward the abuse of women and children.

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Of course I am inspired by various master artists of the past such as: Monet, Manet, Pizarro, Dali, Picasso, Miro, Basquiat, DeKooning, only to name a few. The inspirations taught me that there are many forms of expression and thereby opened my imagination to absorb my surroundings, my pain and powerful feelings so that I could later express on the canvas and evolve into the modern artist that I am today.

I do not know if I am classified as a sociopolitical critical artist, but I can confirm that I believe myself to be a journalistic artist that documents current and past events that affect me greatly.

Since I am not an academic artist and I am self-taught, I leave the categorization of my work to the critics and art curators.

Because of this, I do not participate in art fairs, since in general these venues are more focused on commercial art rather than emphasizing art appreciation.

The dynamics of each stroke bring an energy and rhythm that complement the balance that I am trying to achieve. The colors only flatter and complement areas of the brain that are fed by the lenses of the eye. Whether an art piece is abstract or not is irrelevant, the coherence of the drawing with the other elements beneath the painting itself is what drives the idea and creates this balance. Whether a painting may contain red or blue is not important, it is the dynamic and the playfulness in which they interact that creates meaning.

In terms of the modern artistic role, we now are called upon to reinvent ourselves as an active part of society. We are not to continue to drag the past into the present, we have to enlighten and strengthen the humanity that is slowly being dulled by progress. Ultimately, art is a pure form of communication, not meant to be the ultimate truth but to contribute to our search for the same.

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I do not separate myself from the painting, I feel that we are on the same plane. I give myself entirely to the theme at hand and leave behind my energy and tears in the constant dichotomy that is the boldness of strong actions and the frailty of emotions. Now, when a spectator approaches an art piece, I can see in their eyes a myriad of provocative

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emotions. I want the public to know, see and understand what I am exhibiting and bringing to light. The image feeds the spectator with images of current themes so that he may share these with others.

As I have said before, I only wish to encourage and empower the audience to make the changes that inspire them.

Despite all that has been said, I must convey something important. The art itself is a lie, it is not an absolute truth.

The artwork will always be interpreted as the opinion of the spectator and not as the true idea of the creator.

individual perception and not everyone may understand my language, but I must convey the idea in my own manner. I do utilize the crosses as part of my language, as symbols of my message and a manner to express my demons.

My hope is that the spectator can still understand enough of my language to incite a spark, an idea that they can take with them.

I will continue to show my works in museums that allow me to do so. As a future project, I am inspired by the idea of a world tour exhibition. I am intrigued as to how the same theme would be received in different cultural settings; however, only time will tell. As my work grows, new ideas will also flourish. Of course, I do not foresee any silencing in my art. On the contrary, I hope to lift my voice even higher and allow time to judge the validity of my work. I do not expect immediate social change with my work, but rather the permanence of the idea that we can change.

I believe that the direct involvement is important to me; however it does not play a role in the creation of the work.

The artwork arises in its purest form from the original image and inspiration and thereby communicates its idea by means of the interaction of colors, shapes and strength of brushstrokes. It is a balance of these that incite a response in someone’ s mind once it is a finished product. The individual parts that form the work are secondary and not specifically constructed with the viewer in mind. I express my idea with my

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In terms of this interview, I will send my best wishes to you and your readers who are worthy of my respect and admiration for their interest in the world of art.

Thank you for the opportunity to share with your audience.

An interview by and

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, curator curator

Living Waters, 2016 Watercolor, Graphite, and Acrylic on Paper, 14”x11”

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Shabbir Khambatti

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video, 2013

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Deca Torres

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An interview by and

, curator curator

Shabbir Khambatti

“Be simple. Do not try to do many things at one time; think before you do anything.

Be present in the moment, immerse yourself in it completely and let it take you where you need to go. Trust the process, always. My late wife, Nafisa, was the driving force in my journey into the world of art. She had the perfect insight into my senses, my emotions, my intellect and my intuition. Her words of encouragement guide me even today to activate my artistic energy which is translated through my paintings. In my

As a child, I felt I could never fathom the wonders of the Universe. As a result, I would spend most of my time imagining things. Owing to the limited resources in my family, travel was only through the books I read. It was through these books that I could immerse myself in the realm of creative ideas that cross from one medium to another. My mother played a big role in shaping my character and my thinking process. She would often say –

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youth, during my travels as a seaman, I was fortunate to see the works of famous artists which ignited the desire to pursue art in my life. I was also shy at that age and so content to stay within myself and occupy myself in creating art. Learning came to me as I created more and more art. It didn’t come easily because making art is hard! However I learned that creating art doesn’t mean doing things flawlessly – imperfection is not only a common ingredient in art, but an essential tool. It is through imperfection, that I try to bring harmony, creating my art from the heart. My next artproject is born from the imperfection of my current piece.

I believe art is expression. The ideas for most of my paintings have come from my dreams. I think they are my reactions to things that happen in my life and around me. A reaction to the happiness, sorrow, chaos, miracles that constantly surround me. I prefer making art alone, especially at night when there is silence from disturbing phone calls, door bells and other intrusions. I do not create thumbnail sketches.I paint directly on the canvas.

An empty canvas always arouses the

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feelings of fear and anxiety. The material I use do not guide my hands, but they do precisely what my hands make them do. I let my hands be guided by the angels, choosing forms and colours and creating beauty beyond my imagination. Once my art is complete I often wonder in

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amazement at the creation – the choice of colours and its composition. The image comes to life and speaks to me about the transformation it has made in my life through art. Plato maintained that art making is a gift from the gods channeled through the artists who are “out of their

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minds�. Control is not the answer in making art, I am open to embrace mistakes and surprises along the way.

There is uncertainty in my desire to making art. Over the years I have also gained much from my interaction with my students in my art and Warli classes. I

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draw energy from young minds. It gives me new ideas as part of my process of being an artist. I continue to teach children, while at the same time I am a student of their new ideas.

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feelings and responses to emerge. That for me brings a feeling of gratification of having made something that seems just right.

According to me, Tribal art and Contemporary, senitiveness coexist in both within the medium used to create them. For Instance, I try to access my personal creative expressions through Tribal Warli art. Its soul is imagined as locked inside a self that does not realise its potential for expression. Expression emerges from the body, movement and the rhythmic engagement of the tribal people through their dances and routine activities of daily living. This rhythmic immersion in the expression is the primary source in the renewal of the Tribal Warli art form. The symbiosis of traditional and contemporary art is incorporated with different cultures that relfect the universal cycle of life, death and rebirth.

My experience with art has convinced me that creative expressions generate rays, energies, vibrations, forces and spirits that influence people who contemplate them. It has been what I call “art medicine�, as art always has a healing impact on an individual or a group. Aesthetic experience has a powerful effect on us, but we tend to go through life without being fully aware of its place within our lives. We don’t contemplate even though we might experience these beneficial qualities on a daily basis. My realization is that everything I do with art and creative expression flows from a common source of inspiration and renewal, even though I may not always be aware of it. Each of my paintings is intended to generate wellsprings of possibilities for reflections.

These possibilities could be associative so that the viewer experiences unique relationships through the process of contemplation. All I desire is that he/she looks with sustained attention and let

A woman has always played an important role in my lfe. My mother and my wife

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have been the driving force in my life to create art. Though they no longer exist in this world, they both continue to inspire

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me to create beauty each time I touch the canvas. I always attempt to portray the myriad qualities of feminity through my

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paintings. As depicted in the Wings, a woman is like a butterfly – beautiful, caring and always sharing. The different elements in this piece bring out each of her qualities. The water shows her ability to adapt and provide comfort. A woman is the most exhausted and multi-tasking person in the world. The world that is demanding and forever looking up to her.

She becomes a mother, who is caring, loving, a guide, a pacifier, caretaker and much more. In the 3 Women, the painting talks about the symbolism of virtue in a woman. The urban woman is modern and educated but her eyes are closed to the world. The rural woman is simple innocent and has her eyes wide open to the beauty of the world. The one wearing a crown looks far ahead into the future to bring about a balance in life. The fish is used in the picture as the feminine symbol of fertility and a simplified image of a woman’s womb.

materials and place them into new relationships with each other. Visual art is similar to the spectrum of sources in music, movements in dance and expressive opportunities in drama. In my art-making activities I create objects from

The array of art resources and materials available to the artist are endless. I use a broad selection of media, both new and traditional, while creating my work. There are infinite variations of style and applications. I try to take standard

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expressions are more individual than universal. We can make general distinctions between warm and cold colours as well as airy and earthern hues.

I have found black to be mysterious, attractive but never depressive. Colours

pre-existing images with raw and unformed art materials. My art methods explain how art influences our emotions in ways that correspond to their expressive qualities. My experience with personal responses to colours and their vibrational

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are substances that generate qualities of expression. In my practice, I strive to use

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an extensive colour pallette while exploring the different ways they act

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upon me. My experience indicates that the psychic significance of colours varies

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from person to person. There is a spiritual being in every colour, we can compare

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our relationships with them in our interactions with other people.

My appreciation of art was inspired by the works from Pablo Picasso, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Kandisky and Jackson Pollock. Their works motivated me to be liberated as an individual.A free man is a creator. Diversity in style, in forms and techniques was found in Pablo Picaso art works, which I admired the most. He states that different themes require diferent methods of expression. It is the matter of following an idea one wants to express, and the way in which one wants to express it. Creation for Hundertwasser is simple, elementry, endless rhythemic continuity of birth and death. Art making was driven by inspirations and provocation; understaning of the past was altered by his experiences in the present.

Hunertwasser art is autobiographical. His brush srtokes are in direct response to hs emotional feelings. Wassily Kandisky abstract works is spiritual, showing inner beauty – it was the central aspect of his art. He indicates that borrowing of method by one art from another can only be truly successful when the application of the borrowed methods is not superficial but fundamental. Jackson Pollock is another artist who inspired me to plunge my whole body in my art work, engaging my whole body with the art materials.

View the art making activity as an

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opportunity to express my energy, feelings and emotion. Art by famous artists and their techniques gave me confidence and courage. My fears are disarmed as I embrace their art process and artist’s kindled spirits. I view them as as healing in terms of stress reduction, relaxation and overall integration of body,

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mind, and soul. Exposure to their style had a powerful effect on me – we need others to help us see what we are doing in the world and how we are influencing people. I began to look more closely at my images, examining how they might soothe viewers. I want to incorporate healing qualities of artistic contemplation

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that can be appreciated and used.

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individual definations; they relate to something significant in our daily senses of the world and evoke meanings and The real and the imaginary all have an

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references independent of each other. I

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seek both the real and the imaginary world. The artwork is “total imaginative experience”. In creating or enjoying art work I unite elements associated with different senses into one experience My artistic images make me more like them, to incorporate their expressive and imaginative traits. I adopt a more imaginative attitude that translates the real and the imagined as a step ahead of the reflecting mind. It acts as a guide that shows me where I can go and what I can be. I also realise that when I meditate on my paintings and write about them, I communicate differently, perhaps more in keeping with their spontaneous or physical expressions. Or maybe their personl idiosyncratic and original nature encourages me to create in a corresponding way. In the Cosmic Energy, I have portrayed the sun and its cosmic aura as the real and the imaginative image of a woman at the centre as the core strength of the Universe. (in reference to your absract works, here we have reserved space for Cosmic Energy)

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Art is a delightful way through which one can record a child’s growth as a creative imaginative individual. Just as wrting and reading improves with age, so does artwork. Offering children variety of materials gives thema vast choice that teaches them to choose and solve problems. Every step involves planning and they also learn how to use their imagination. Through art, children create something that was hitherto only in their imagination. For some children, art becomes a means of communicating ideas, feelings and solution in a way other than verbal or written. For me, the involvement of the viewer is of prime importance. I am guided by the power within me to convey a message through my art. I strive to create a connection with the viewer to develop the sense of oneness of humanity. There are infinite possibilities for actions and transformations. I believe that I must connect strongly to my experience, believe in it, delve into it, dramatize it, learn from it, transform it and reach it to my audience. I must not be afraid of approvals and rejections, for I see that nature is strongest, most passionate and at her best when expressing radical extremes. The skills in being an artist each day lies in the ability to place all my transformative energies into the moment in such a manner that I move sensitively from one relationship to another, from this moment to the next. In Hinduism, Aum is one of the most important spiritual symbols. In “Aum with Ganesha”I have used the symbol to depict the soul, the self within. Here, I left my artwork open to the viewer’s perception. They

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Shabbir Khambatti

may see Aum as the medium for vitality and the symbol of the synergy between heaven and earth depicted by the colours used. In my painting, “Harmony in Music”, I used some strong imagery of musical instruments, but a viewer may also gravitate towards the human elements as a way to depict harmony in relationship too. Nietzsche wrote, “Art is alchemy. It makes one thing from something else. It takes the worst experiences and turns them into life enhancing expressions.” As an artist I am expected to make each piece uniquely new and different. (here we have reserved space for Harmony in Music and Aum with Ganesha)

personal, yet alluring and easily grasped by an audience that has not known me personally. Wanting to be understood is a basic need – an affirmation of humanity.

This is why I want to share may art with everyone around me.

My art brings out within me satisfaction and the discovery of a wonderful creative adventure. I aspire to continue with this experience and to bring art into this world as a medium of healing. I belong to a nation of diverse cultures where art has been an integral part of our heritage.

There are various forms of art that exist in my country and some of them have become non-existent. My introduction to Tribal Warli art has transformed my life to a higher level of enlightenment. It is my desire to enhance and promote the Indian Tribal warli art through my book which I have published (“Master the Art of warli”, in 22 Easy step). I would like to develop this art further and bring other forms of art from my heritage to the world and its people. I want my paintings to speak both to me and to others about the beauty that exists in this world. I do not want to capture images with my brush; rather with careful colorful strokes and textures, I want to give beauty to society. I want to continue with my future art on subjects that bring inner peace, happiness, and joy.

The audience is an important aspect in my decision-making process. My work is meant to be viewed, appreciated, interpreted and to transform thinking processes in the viewer. Language can be flexible. It assists us in seeing what an image has to offer. There is never a final and fixed label or meaning through words attached to my work. The words and pictures continously interact like dance partners generating new ways of appreciating their respective expressions.

I want to create art that is intimately

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An interview by and

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, curator curator

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Yoram Chisin

ART Habens

video, 2013

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Yoram Chisin

ART Habens

An interview by and

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, curator curator

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Yoram Chisin

ART Habens

My family background of Holocaust survivors, as well as the untimely,terrible death of your beloved first wife strongly manifest themselves with raw pain and displacement in your works.

Moreover, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the notion of beauty in general?

Being that you come from a highly intellectual and cultured family, your reference to sophisticated design and understanding of what is pleasing and balanced has been influenced by some of the great designers of our time.

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Yoram Chisin

Your influence for color and subject come from many stimulants, you are constantly being inspired particularly by fashion, your first true love!

ART Habens

You actually work with a combined process of mentally having a vision of what the work will look like, but as your progress, the painting takes on a life and form that develops.

In particular, would you tell our readers something about the evolution of your style? In particular, are your works painted gesturally, instinctively? Or do you methodically transpose geometric schemes from paper to canvas?

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Yoram Chisin

ART Habens

You specifically gear towards happy and vibrant colors to contrast with the intense mood of your works.

Purposefully maintaining a sense of hope and joy for life despite the powerful emotions that are ever present in your works.

Alessandro Mishele, the creative director of Gucci, your hero!

And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develope a painting’s texture?

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ART Habens

Yoran Chisin

To begin with the very materials that you choose set the base high on

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texture. You use raw linen as well as oil paints on which you compose

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Yoram Chisin

ART Habens

multiple layers of depth through color and paint combinations.

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Yoram Chisin

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Yoram Chisin

ART Habens

For the most part the works are abstract without name or subject matter that can be represented in figure, the emotion is the subject and is represented through the layers and colors. The juxtaposition of contrasting as well as complementing colors is the language of the work!

It is the role of the viewer to decide and interact with your work, to decide what is real and what is imagined, your job as you see it is to express and hopfully move or provoke.

Yes, it is the universal language of pain, sadness, hope and joy in these particular works that engage and move the viewer, and in essence, isn’t that the purpose of great art!

It is imperitive to the work’s charm and appeal that the viewer is determining his own association with the piece, a great work can have this effect by leaving room for one to enter into the world of the artist through their own emotions and experiences as their guide.

You are very excited to be working with some new materials and computer generated techniques to mark your new series that you are currently working on.

An interview by and

21 4 06

, curator curator

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Poya Raissi

ART Habens

video, 2013

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Deca Torres

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An interview by and

, curator curator

Poya Raissi

We have entered into our new year in Iran, which is registered globally as Nowrooz, I wish a year full of health, abundance, joy and treasured moments for all people specially Iranian around the world.

In my idea, there is a long way path to pass for becoming an artist and I believe that I should pass

First, I want to say hello and pay respects to this magazine’s reader.

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ART Habens

Poya Raissi

that way to deserve calling an artist, thanks to you for introducing me this way. I studied theater at B. A grade and now studying Television producer (dramatic subdiscipline) at M.A. Also, I have some activity in performing arts, all these works and activity have led me toward art. as you mentioned persian roots are effectual, we have had many great artists, poets, painters that I can remark from the contemporary Asghar Farhadi in cinema, I always try to join my cultural substratum to a universal language; specially in my theater plays. I'm that not much satisfied with my photography works yet, but actually I tried more to focus on universal language in my published works at this magazine. Art history and aesthetics in the East passed a different development and evaluation, but mybe in post modernism we can say combination of all items affect the artist not just the history and the cultural substratum.

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Poya Raissi

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Poya Raissi

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Poya Raissi

ART Habens

The initial inspiration was the idea of “metamorphosis” which many artists like Kafka have paid to. This is how humans, values even truths deforms and changes by the time that they are normals. I tried to bring this metamorphosis to a family members and somehow show a relation. The Relation between human and personal stuff, human and technology, human and thoughts and ... I should mention that “metamorphosis family” was a theater play directed by me and named as PSDR that presented in Iranian artist forum, Entezami playhouse in 2016. There were some differences in characterization in the photograpy seri indeed and in my idea it becomes two separate things. My usual process is having a story telling startup idea and special forms simultaneously. After finding the line of the story and the form which i try to make it specific and particular, I start developing it, pre producing and then producing it.

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ART Habens

Poya Raissi

Choosing a subject isn't a structured and regular way for me.

Sometimes it begins with that story telling idea or a different visionary form. Metaphors or existence of any semiotics dimensions has primacy for me because it can evoke the viewer's mind more and involve it into discover meaningful elements. I spent some time at university studying theoreticians like Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco, such great semioticians.

Surely every day life experience influence the creativity, but it's not all the process, it was important the facial features of characters show a deep depression and wistfulness that I had inspired from the daily routine, but this influence doesn't incorporate entirety and completeness of the work, I take streak elements and ideas from life as raw materials and then bring it to the development process, I try to not just represent it, according to theories in sociology of art, the relation of an art form with its society and conditions aren't disconnected. We can talk more about the “intensity� of this direct experience independently.

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I think that a quality arises when this combination occurs , in which some subjects become more attractive from their normal states.

Paykan is a vehicle every Iranian from the world knows it and probably have some memories with it, producing it is ceased for many years but still you can see it in the streets. At the current time

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Poya Raissi

and in normal state Paykan hasn't any superior feature than modern vehicle, either the photography of it, but when it settles with combinational elements it gains more visionary aspects of the viewer. Long shot is a simple photograph of a man and a woman in its normal state, but with this combination it seems as beautiful moments in galaxy takes place which are not observable in the normal state.

ART Habens

There are some characters, art works and thoughts that have been influential for me, but since one of them passed away in the last year I want to use this opportunity to remember him in this magazine.

Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) He was a film director, screenwriter, photographer, and absolutely one of the most influential film maker in the world.

More than the aspects you mentioned, I pay attention to what color photo needs and essentially which color suits well for that. By considering the atmosphere, texture and subject of the photo I think about the color palette. I do not impose my favorite color to the work, from the happiest colors to black and white, the concern quiddity of the work then I measure the colors and choose from them.

I completely agree with you, viewer role is really important and essential. Even in the

21 4 06

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Poya Raissi

ART Habens

transformation and evolution of contemporary art they play a great role and they are not just a simple viewer. In professor John Fiske words, they are active audience. I never try to impose something on viewer, their perceive and personal viewpoints are more important for me.

Thanks to you, I want to extend well wishes for you and the readers. The new Photography project is not yet on my schedule, but I'm busy with theater rehearsals these days, I hope that I can present it in the near future, I'm also in pre-production of a short film. I'm really interested in continuing my studies in Ph.D in a European country especially England and I am interested to get scholarships. I hope that it comes true.

An interview by and

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, curator curator

23 4 05

Poya Raissi

21 4 06

ART Habens

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Augustine Tellez

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video, 2013

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Augustine Tellez

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An interview by and

, curator curator

Augustine Tellez

techniques. I asked him if he would take a look at my work just to see what he thought. A 2 layered stencil of my niece stood out to him. “This is it. This is your style.� he said. Since then I constantly try to push the boundaries of single layer stencils. I think tying in a cultural aspect to your work is very important. It gives the viewer another chance to connect with me. With every new city

When I started painting I kept it mainly to myself. Going out late nights with just a few friends to paint in the canals and freights around our town. Later I became an art instructor for an after school program. Howie Burnstien often came in to teach the kids new

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Augustine Tellez

and every new face we change. For better or worse it will affect us from that day forward. Adding to the emotion i put into my art.

It starts with an urge. The necessity to paint. The subject of my paintings comes to mind in some of the less practical way. I make sure all paint I am going to use is ready to be sprayed. I work relativity quick applying layers rapidly as I go along. I found using out of the ordinary tools gives me a chance to reach results without compromising my time. I use spray paint the way most would use an airbrush. In no way am I a very cleanly artist. As soon as my headphones are in the music sets the pace. I like to walk into a painting with less of a plan and more of an idea of how i would like it to turn out. It's rare for my sketches to turn into paintings.

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23 4 05

Augustine Tellez

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ART Habens

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Augustine Tellez

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Augustine Tellez

ART Habens

We all interpret the world around us very differently. Each work holds a different meaning. We might not always agree on the message I am trying to

21 4 06

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ART Habens

Augustine Tellez

convey, but to know something I

the under line message in my work. To

created has reached passed your eyes

make you feel is the greatest reaction

and touched your soul. Regardless of

to receive. It drives me to push new

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Augustine Tellez

ART Habens

boundaries. In the end it really is about the viewer thoughts and emotion in my art. I already had my ties.

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ART Habens

Augustine Tellez

Not at this time. I have a few different

expressive and represents the beauty in this world. I do feel that people can spot my work from across the room.

styles i am continuing to explore and build upon. Letting it purely be

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Augustine Tellez

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Augustine Tellez

I look for a cohesiveness of colors and textures. With spray paint dry times vary depending on brand. Trying to find tools that allow me to work seamlessly without allowing too much of a break between layers. I love trying new materials. It only broadens the spectrum in which I create.

ART Habens

Absolutely. From a young age, I loved the Victorian style, but fell in love pop art. I grew up around a lot of local graffiti artists that helped shape my creativity. Any chance I get to explore other artist’s work I do. As artist we all have something that makes us unique.

We have to build off the stepping-stones that were set in place before us. Till this day i follow a lot of muralist and fine art.

Trying to find a combination of both street and contemporary.

I try to keep my paint collection with a variety of color and subjects. I learned at a young age that black and white will be my erasers and my shading. I prefer to touch on tones that will draw the eye and make you focus on a new color each time you look at my work. When working in monochromatic it's important to have a tone to draw the eye. I believe with each interaction of our day-to-day routines plays a huge part of what colors come into play. Even the way paint gets flicked onto a canvas. I work best when the air is thick around me. I let the painting find the direction it plans on taking.

I like to find a balance between reality and inner self. There is a piece of me in each painting. It might not be noticeable to the naked eye, but I can tell you what I was feeling when I was painting it. It's impossible to be the same person as yesterday. As we constantly change so will my art. Emotions play a major role in how I paint. To paint something directly from an image can be done.

Many artists do it very well, but to take an image and turn into something new.

That's where it's at.

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ART Habens

Augustine Tellez

I believe without a reaction there will be no opposite or opposing reaction. As much as I need to paint. I need the viewers to appreciate what I do. With each work I am completely open to the idea of someone's own translation of my work. I try to keep in touch and remember everyone that has taken a painting home. I prefer to meet all that come to the shows. Good conversation and good people tend to surround me when I stay positive. I try to keep people engaged as much as possible.

The only reason to create visual art is to be seen. For a long time hardly anyone saw my work. I think the viewers opinion and participation is huge. Not often do I get a chance to hear from the viewers. Even if someone isn't really feeling my painting it's fine. We all like different things it's ok. It only drives me to create something to attract another set of viewers. I honestly love to hear people's interpretation of my work. I paint to connect with people on a whole other level.

Of course. I plan on continuing my work with wildlife, flowers and dancers. Find bigger projects such as murals to work on. Also, revisit some of my older works and giving them an updated spin. Push a little more to focus on details and colors. This year I'm trying to expand in each of my styles. I believe “You are only as big as your environment.� I plan on evolving my style with each new painting. Constantly updating and trying to grow as an artist. You can't be the biggest fish in the sea if you stay in your fish bowl. Again, thank you for this opportunity.

An interview by and

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23 4 05

, curator curator

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

ART Habens

video, 2013

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ART Habens

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Deca Torres

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Ekaterina Kolesnikova

balance, as it helps me to develop my works in context and skills. There are many aspects of life, which influence my work like place where I live and places where I travel, the music I listen. As well as cultural heritage and a contemporary view on different things, however the main impact comes from Nature.

Hello and thank you for the interest in my works and art practice!

Studying in British Higher School of Art and Design gave me knowledge of Fine Art from professional side, to be responsible and to have independent thinking, as well being in balance with theory and practice.

After graduation, I try not to lose this

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ART Habens

Ekaterina Kolesnikova

While I was researching the Sublime and Contemporary Sublime, my practice also developed. I began to study the Sublime from the 18th century and further on the time line until it reached the present time. At first, my paintings were natural in terms of composition and colors.

Then my work became bolder in composition and color palette brighter or darker, so I came out of comfort zone. I think, I conceive my works more instinctively, as I work with my memory. I can`t predict what situation, experience will remind me of something that happened in the past and to which image it will lead me.

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23 4 05

Ekaterina Kolesnikova

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

ART Habens

I suggest this journey to the viewer where they can meet with mystical and have different questions and reactions. In the painting Into the woods I, there is a group of figures standing in one line crossing a trail without any movement, so the viewer will have some thoughts, and questions could be: who are they?

Why they are standing there? Is it a good idea to come closer? If the viewer come closer, there will be more details like scratched faces of these figures, an abandoned house down the trail with a yellow light coming through holes on the roof and cracks between boards. As a result, these narratives will lead for further questions. However, in the next painting Into the woods II the viewer will be faced with more confusing surroundings and a figure that is hiding behind a tree and looking straight to the viewer. In this painting, the viewer will have other questions, for example: why he is looking at me? What should I do? Is he lost? The landscape looks natural, but with the addition of details everything starts to look different, ordinary things become unusual.

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ART Habens

Ekaterina Kolesnikova

I think this is one of the interesting part of my analysis – a viewer`s reaction. I can provoke viewer for further thoughts with the help of title, colors, composition, show a direction. However it is viewer`s decision to follow my suggestions or not.

Memory have an important place in my work, it is a beginning in my research. While I am looking for some events, places or situations in my memory, I refer to a physical side of it – photographs. In my personal archive I look through images that will help me to remember or refresh those experiences, thoughts and ideas. Once I find some photographs, I can compare them with what I remember. Memory is fascinating, as

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

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ART Habens

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

ART Habens

you never know where it will lead you, as well, it can invent or confuse, then trees and mountains are higher in memory. I am interested in one actual place in Austrian Alps, a protected area where during winter after a sunset ski lifts stop, people descend to the valley and I ask myself some questions ‘What happened in the mountains after 5pm? If I will go there what I will find or meet someone?’ Then imagined narratives appear in my works in the form of figures and surroundings.

Once I start to paint I always remember that my aim is to create a mystery, eye-catching atmosphere and not to scary, but immerse viewer`s attention. Thus, the painting looks transparent and dense because of the amount of layers that I put on surface. Before going to work on a canvas I constantly make several sketches with different color palette and composition and after some analysis, I choose an appropriate one. I try to make

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

different composition in each painting, sometimes I need to make accent on surroundings, then it will be zoom-out, or a figure, then it will be zoom-in. My palette mostly consists of dark shades with small amount of bright colors, which is allow me to make an emotional background.

ART Habens

I consider these two aspects complement each other. When I study photographs, I follow the idea of a real environment, a specific place, and when the memory is oured into the process with the layers of paint, then I try to use equally both of them and not to lose this balance.

I think the role of direct experience helps me to fully represent the idea of what I want to show to the viewer and I have more confidence in my decisions. Well, I can define this relationship as a reflection. Nature has the power to push to thinking process, to contemplate; and thoughts, which evoke in the mind, can be about something familiar to everyone or it may be distant and intangible.

I think the role of a viewer is an important part of my art, as I share my personal memories, imagined narratives with the audience. It could be suggested that it is turn into a dialogue and painting is a link

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Ekaterina Kolesnikova

ART Habens

between artist and viewer. I can only suggest, show some directions however I am curious about the viewer`s perception and sometimes I have a chance to hear those interpretations.

The viewer share with me memories and stories and I can say with certainty that people see landscapes differently, as one element can be read from different perspective.

Thank you for this interview and for such thoughtful questions! I continue to research the notion of the Sublime and Contemporary Sublime and the role of a figure in a landscape painting. Since I am at the beginning of my journey and there are many ways where to go further, I want to continue education and spend some time in art residencies.

In May, I am going to International Art Festival in Georgia “PAINT for Georgia� and while I am waiting for this trip, I`m working in my archive and in the sketchbook, searching for new ideas.

An interview by and

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, curator curator

23 4 05

Ekaterina Kolesnikova

21 4 06

ART Habens

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THE HAND

Dione Rabelo

ART Habens

video, 2013

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ART Habens

THE HAND Special Issue

Deca Torres

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Dione Rabelo

I was born in the city of Princesa Isabel, in the State of ParaĂ­ba, Brazil. I lived there

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ART Habens

Dione Rabelo

until the age of thirteen in Triunfo, in the State of Pernambuco. There, in the early days of my childhood, I generated my passion for colors, shapes and movement.

My direct contact with the “Os Caretas de Triunfo”, a traditional event in the festival of Momo, influenced the exuberant forms that you can view in some of my renowned works.

I studied in Stella Maris College, built and administered

by German Franciscan nuns.

This was a magical place where saints, angels, and madonnas embellisheld the environment and conveyed a sense of peace and harmony.

My mind wandered from the sacred to the profane in seconds. There were the “Caretas” with their fiery colors and electrifying movements in the steep city streets and also a heavenly court in my school, displaying shapes and colors, sweet and soft. My eyes caught all this

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23 4 05

Dione Rabelo

ART Habens

THE GLOVE 21 4 06

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LUANA

Dione Rabelo

and these elements were prominent in my works.

ART Habens

and merge different techniques into a single work.

Already expressed through mosaic, encaustic painting, and a multitude of techniques.

This year I began to work in ceramic. My hands shape the clay, creating sculptures with their own life and meaning. As things new are attractive to me, this year I also entered the domain of ex libris.

But all this was left behind. I left tiny Triunfo and moved to the capital of Paraíba, where I graduated in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraíba.

My life followed a normal pace when one begins to work. But my time in a business office was ephemeral. I left my confortable situation to dive in today was I believe to be my true calling… Art.

Coin, invent, transform , elicit, communicate, model, live, make art; for me these words epitomize not only the reason for my living; indeed, art … is my own life.

Initially, screen printing, then painting on canvas and lithography… simultaneously.

In 2000, I completed a course of woodcut. I found myself in wood, a fantastic raw labor. In addition engraving, I also used wood for urban pruning. Each branch cut to avoid crashing the electric grid brings a new possibility, revealing the existing natural art in each stubble.

Feelings and Thoughts of the Artist. Book excerpt Contemporary International Ex-Libris Artists – Lisbon, Portugal, 2014.

I am an artist who loves to learn, uncover new horizons

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ART Habens

Dione Rabelo

I observe in all my works the presence of some nuances that are common in almost of them. For example: a strong tendency to use saturated colors and very movement.

However, I use different materials and techniques to express different opportunities of my artistic experience.

EVA

In photographs that are crafted from images of Nature, my work is totally gestural and spontaneous. I create in top of what nature suggest to me. At the moment, I do the

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23 4 05

POPPY

ELISE

MILA

Dione Rabelo

ESTER

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ESMERALDA

photography, I begin to perceive some form mentally, but I still have no results, I will work and create it.

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Dione Rabelo

POPPY

THE PARK

I use various tools available on my computer. Each photo requires a greater ou lesser amount tools. Usually around ten or more.

I realize the existence of an associated creation or a simultaneous effort and cooperation.

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Dione Rabelo

ART Habens

THE MAGICIAN 21 4 06

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CHARLOTTE

Dione Rabelo

ART Habens

It is impossible for any artist to totally disconnect from everyday experience. Because we receive information all the time around the world, but I make a point of forgetting and seeking my inspiration in my inner being.

The equilibrium arises spontaneously as the work is performed. The already accustomed look allows me to work in a balanced way, without major concerns. It’s something we can only do enough training. There is no rule ready to use.

Viewers make their reading from their own cultural values.

My work allows for different journeys, there is a world with many paths and not just a route.

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Dione Rabelo

It is very difficult for me to make projects for the future, because art always allows us to find new horizons and I consider myself a great adventurer, I am always creating and inventing something new. I intend to evolve more in my research with photograph and interference, it is a very rich and pleasant visual universe.

When I started interfering with the photos, in 1999, I used solvents on the negative film themselves or worked with the paper photo. It was very complicated and expensive.

But, today digital tools have made work a pleasure and with immense possibilities to be explored.

I do not work thinking about the reception of my works by the public. I do what I understand to be the correct one for that moment. In some cases, when I submit my work to a jury trial, I have to follow the rules, but they are no hindrance to my creative process. I follow only the dimensions and the technique suggested.

An interview by and

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23 4 05

, curator curator

SEMÃŒRAMIS

Lives and works in London, United Kingdom

That Girl

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Amanda Graham

ART Habens

video, 2013

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ART Habens

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Deca Torres

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Amanda Graham

most of the time however there was always sense of lost and longing. Never contented with my environment the urge to create my own became paramount.

I taught myself to draw and became attached to art because I spent the best part of my youth alone. As a child I frequently travelled between Trinidad, Tobago and London which made me the new kid, in a new school and in a new environment. I became isolated and never really connected to friends and family. In hindsight the repeated travelling was harrowing. Largely, I stood out all I really wanted was to blend in.

As time went by I slowly became introverted, spending a lot of time by myself. All things changed when to share who I was with others. My earliest memory of being liked by my peers began with a picture I drew of Michael Jackson. I had gone from being the weird kid with the foreign accent to the kid who can draw and just like that my love affair with art had flourished. Always the reseacher I

My childhood was far from traditional. As a child of a fatherless home I was happy

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expanded my knowledge of Art through my love for books, museums and galleries and experimented with typography and different forms of drawing styles.

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My work today draws a lot of references from my childhood. The child still lives within me and every year she learns a new ways to express her inner thoughts to the

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wider world through her various art forms.

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There are several different methodsI used

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to create a piece of art, depending on the type of art I am creating. I paint or draw directly on canvas, paper and sometimes, fabric that I have created. The procedure comprises of a series of layering techniques using acrylic paint until the particular piece is finished.

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opposite position of the background artwork.

The fluidity to the communication with the piece means that the viewer has access to the multiplicity of meanings of the piece. I wanted different viewers of my work to arrive at different understandings of the artwork.

I usually have a rough idea of what I want to create beforehand. When I usually go into a zone and then the painting or design takes me where it wants me to go.

Yes defintely the common denominator is balance.

I am fascinated with repetitive pattern and geometric shapes, I allow a week prior to beginining the piece to research the presentation and structure of the work. I usually draw influence from architecture – I love details on mosques and churches in particular geometric patterns, I tend to base the textile patterns on previous existing methods.

I constantly seek balance in my life and due to the lack of it I tend to gravitate towards creating it within my pieces.

Einstein was once quoted saying ‘Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep balance you must keep moving’. I believe I continue to create art work because it is my keeps me balanced.

What a person lacks, often is what we obsess about. What a person represses usually shows up in real terms whether it be either positive, negative, creative or destructive either way it will come out.

I am very grateful that I have an outlet where I can demonstrate my ideas. Whilst doing so, I am stretching my hands out to others in similar situation.

The idea behind ‘In the beginning’ is based upon a previous piece of work that I had created called Adam and Eve, which involved a similar concept. ‘In the beginning’ looks at the possibility of Adam and Eve being of African descents and living in an imaginary post-apocalyptic Garden of Eden surrounded by a mix of old and new features. The whole piece is based on the traditional view of balance (Male/Female). The trainers are also male and female but they are placed in the

I categorise people into two sets of personalities. There are people who are afraid and in their fear they comply with most, if not all of social norms as a form of

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coping stragergy. Then they are the other set of people who are afraid but instead of hiding they ride the wave. They confront their fears and perform, the show must go

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on. When I create art based upon draw Michael or Frida I am trying to relate to their compelling, tenasious energy. These people who we idealise often experience a

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fair amount of pain to get to the destination of celebrity or Icon. We only see their success and not really there struggle or the demons they face on a daily bases. I am

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more impressed by their defiance not to remain quiet and their pursuit to share their stories with others through their chosen art form.

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For me, somebody as iconic as Muhammed Ali is almost fantasy like because their life stories are so far removed from the average lifestyle. I paint people with these levels of success to provoke the normal and make you remind you that anything is possible when reaching for your personal goals.

There are a quite a lot of artist that I admire, some known as many unknown but the top four would be in this order. My fourth choice is Laolu who is a Nigerian artist based in New York, he paints on everything but he is known as painting the scared art of the Ori. The blend of traditional African art and his New York flavour creates a new and fantastic dynamic art form which utterly adore. Yayoi Kusama would be my third choice, she is also one of the mothers of surface design.

A true pioneer and an inspiration to women artist across the globe. In second place is one of the greatest minds in the Italian renaissance period. He was such a brilliant mind and his work was fused with science maths and engineering. The legendary Davinic is creator of Mona Lisa, The Virgin of the Rocks, Vitruvian Man and the last supper are just some of his amazing works.

I am in awe of the structure of his work which is irreplaceable, nonpareil and exceptional. Finally my favourite artist of all time is Esther Mahlangu the South African Artist who has dedicated her whole life to promotion and evolution of Ndebele painting. I love the geometrically, traditional and simplicity of her works through her repetitive cultural designs.

‘I like light, color, luminosity, I like things full of color and vibrant’ Oscar de la renta The above quote from the famous fashion designer is quite similar to the way I choose the colour palette of my art pieces.

The colours I adore and the particular shades are chosen to make the viewer feel alive. In keeping with this theme, I would blend colours together, which would give an illusion of movement.

When it comes to the issue of colour and vibrancy I love my work to be alive and through the process of painting there comes a point where the art takes a life of its own. I also love the use of repetitive patterns and the beautiful shapes, that are created the more you repeat a pattern. The process is all to do with a layering effect and a build-up of patterns, designs shading and precision.

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I adore the traditional art form, detail and complexities are important aspects of my

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work, however perhaps as a reflection of modern society I am heavily influenced by simplicity of contemporary art. As artist of the present day I think that it is important for our work to reflect the temperament of today’s norms. I believe my art is somewhere between the traditional and contemporary, rather like blurred lines between the two areas. It is always better to find a common ground, merging the difference between each discipline usually is where the magic lies

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I don’t think that you can produce something without an audience, it’s rather like a tree falling the forest will it make a sound scenario. An audience actually makes the art, their energy and how they react to your work encourages me as an artist to construct pieces which meets the audience needs or expectation.

Sometimes as artist I think we tend to forget the importance of the audience, when that happens we have usually lost our way. Connection is key, do understand that sometime the message can get lost or misinterpreatated to the level of noise and information overload. However it he connection which keeps things moving.

I think I have stated previously that I am a very introverted person. In my natural state I am very quiet and would prefer to observe a situation rather than actually play a part in it. I read somewhere that artist are extrovert introverts which means that their art form demands attention yet as a person behind the work prefers to be left alone, I actually think that explanation is suited to me well.

Did you remember when I said as a child my first experience of acceptance was when I drew that picture of Michael Jackson and then the other children though I was amazing? That 6 year old in a funny way is driving current my passion for art. I also read somewhere that the creative adult is the child who survived. I believe this to be true for me my work defintely comes from within.

I think it is very important to consider the viewer when creating a piece of art.

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Positive or negative, human connection is the essence of human life. We need to connect with each other so that we can make sense of things around us. This is why the creative industries is so important to shaping a better world. There is a definite need to express ourselves but with every expression there is also a need for understanding. I believe to truly understand something there has to be participation between others. When I create artwork I always consider how others would perceive the message.

I recently participated in a group exhibition in London and the best thing about doing events like these is generating real connection with real people. Artist today can connect with people all over the globe because of the internet and social media.

However, deep connection can be lacking on-line and you never truly get a sense of true intention of the viewer. To connect with people in the real world is incomparable and I believe only exhibitions and produce that kind of relationship.

I have created Murals past and I am looking forward to produce more also would love to see my surface prints on clothes.

An interview by and

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, curator curator

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Camille Danielle Wortman

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video, 2013

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Camille Danielle Wortman

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, curator curator

as I was a girl. I read a lot, looked after my small brothers and learnt how to cook.the only luxurious things I met as a child were the precious objects in the synagogue, the blue and red embroidered velvet covering the book of the thora,the silver and gold oil lamps that girls and women were not allowed to approach or touch. I remember women adoring the thora from far, throwing their hands towards it and this image has remained with me. And yes blue is a recurrent colour in my paintings, especially ultra marine. And of course I carry with me the arabesques in the forged iron on the doors and windows of my home town, the white terraces, the blue and green shutters, the arcades of the market, the special tiles in our half broken home, the domes and the minarets, the palm trees and the camels... they all come alive in my paintings as do the lines of the poems that I learnt by heart. Those poems made my life a happy and rich life in spite of everything . I saw in every pool of dirty water the lake of Lamartine.It helped me escape into a dream world, I was no longer living in a poor and dry street without any blade of grass, but in a garden full of flowers , the river was running through it and the roses were climbing on the windows of my room.

Yes, I owe a lot to the french education I received, but also to the proverbs in arabic that my grand parents loved to use for every situation. The fact that I heard many languages as a child helped me learn

I have had a difficult childhood, as I was born during the war. Being jewish my family had to hide in an arab village and my mum gave birth to me in the tranches during an alert.. Of course I cannot remember any of it, but I must have suffered a certain traumatism as my mother’s milk dried up and that I was often hungry as most people were in those terrible years during the war. After the war we were very poor and we lived in a house that had been half destoyed by the bombing in a street strewn with rubble. Our neighbours came from all parts of the world, from Sicily, Malta, Tripoli, Italy etc.. Right in front of our house lived a bedouin family in a roofless house, together with their camel, chickens and their goat. I recall the naked little children, in summer and winter. Those were very difficult years for everybody. I went to kindergarden before I was three years old and I remember loving it. I still have an image of huge drawing of leaves on the wall in the class room and those same leaves still come back in my paintings.My mother valued education very much and in order to make us study she used to invite the neighbourhood kids to sit and study with us around our dining room table.Also,our neighbourhood was a dangerous neighbourhood , dark at night with prostitutes on the corner of the street and all sort of shady people hanging about, so she didn’t let us go out in the street.Especially me,

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languages with ease and opened my mind to people different from me. And yes, I have seen women covered from head to toe in their white veil, but I have also witnessed their freedom when President Bourguiba came to power and this is the reason why I feel so much anger in front of the regression in the attitude towards women.Well, I have tried to answer this first question to the best of my ability. As you know, English is not my mother tongue and I am sure that my style is far from good, so I beg you to take that into consideration. Thank you.

I Paint most of my free time. I have set up my dining room –lounge-kitchen in a certain manner that enables me to paint as much as I want and to have everything I need to do so at hand and ready to be used! My husband has set a large board against the wall,thirty centimeters away from the large dining room table, and underneath that board, the floor is lined with thick brown paper where all my material is set. I live with my work. I usually have no clue of what the outcome is going to be when I start:I scribble with one colour or another,another colour calling another and so on. I am just playing! It can take a few hours, and then when I give it a rest and can look at the result from the other side of the table, I sometimes see something that is emerging out this chaos, and often it is linked to a verse, mine or someone else, and then I know that I have a direction and I start the battle seriously. Time flies,I am glued to the canvas, apparently unable to see all of it, and yet, after a few hours, when I move back, it does make sense and I am left wondering what in the hell happened, what moved my brushes and who chose the colours! I work and I work laying layers of paint, after layers of paint before anything is dry, and honestly I don’t know how It gets done. I use my hands, my brushes, the tubes of paint, and I always remember what my mum used to say to me whenever I was helping her in the kitchen:”balbaza”, an arabic word that meant”mess maker”! Yes, I am a mess maker! I wish I knew the formula for making a good painting, but I don’t and I grope in the dark untill I see the light!No, I

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don’t transpose geometric schemes from paper to canvas,although I have some triangular shapes in my paintings, I use masking tape,once I can see what is beginning to appear.So, yes I paint gesturally and instinctively most of the time. When I paint on acrylic pads and I have in my mind the photographed details of a big painting, I try to stick to it, but, not for very long, for I stop being in control very fast and the painting goes where it chooses to go! I also love doing sketches of people and this I do using” the right side of the brain “ method, which means that I draw without looking at my paper for most of the time. I always have a sketch pad with me while waiting my turn in hospital and people that I sketch are usually very pleasant about it.

During the last war this occupation kept me sane, I was unable to paint as usual, but I spent my time glued to the television and I sketched all the time, the politicians, the reporters and the commentators, and that really helped me through this nightmare! 3) For this special edition of ART Habens we have selected The joy of living and Freedom of a woman, a couple of stimulating pieces that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic inquiry is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: we have appreciated the way you allow an open reading, a great multiplicity of meanings: associative possibilities seems to play a crucial role in your pieces. How important is this degree of openness?

I paint and I cannot control the way people read my paintings, this is the beauty of art. I am sure that when Lamartine wrote his poem, “the lake” he was not thinking that a little girl, back in tunisia will imagine a marvellous paradise while looking at a dirty pool of water... and when Victor Hugo wrote:”c’est le moment crépusculaire” he did’nt have me on his mind, admiring longingly” the last hour of the day”, or see me connecting one of my crazy paintings to “le moment crépusculaire”. Once, I paint or I write a poem or a book it is no longer mine and actuelly I don’t beleive that it ever belonged to me! A poem or a painting are like dreams, they just happen, or at least this is what I feel. I beleive that different people associate a painting to different things according to their culture and the richess of their experiences and their life. When I see a lamb I think of the sacrifice of Isaac in the bible, someone else will see a farm in his country and another one will imagine a juicy rib on a plate! I was lucky for I was born in an arab country, my grand parents spoke arabic and at the same time were traditional jews imbued with the thora, the talmud and my grand father was a well of kabalistic stories .I was very close to him

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and he will tell me all these stories and at the same time as he studied in a christian school he would also tell me the daily prayer:”notre père...”He beleived in the coming of the messiah any day now, and I beleived everything he told me... My grand mother used to tell me stories of princesses locked in castles, in arabic of course. It always

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started like that:”ken ou ma ken”,”ounce upon a time” my mother ,valued french education more than her life and I remember her, a broom in her hand, or washing dishes while reciting verses from Racine’s or Corneille’s tragedies, my dad loved to read with me stories from the bible, like the” vow of Jefte to sacrifice the first thing that came

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towards him.....”. And then, at school everything was different and rational and totally cut off from my family life and I had to navigate in and out of these very different universes. I received the best education in the french schools,my teachers were dedicated to their”mission” and this helped me escape from the squalor of my street, the poverty

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of my family, the chronic sickness of my dad and the death of two of my young brothers. The song “à la claire fontaine” is for ever linked with the sadness of my little brothers’ death as I remember singing it in class just after the little coffin had left our home! So in my mind the bird is always sad, he has always a broken wing... Well, what can I say,

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life is a miracle and I suppose that I have benefitted from everything it threw at me!

connect the past with the present, I don’t want the children melodies of my childwood to fall into oblivion, I don’t want to see earth destroyed, I don’t want people to die of hunger and disease I don’t want women to be oppressed and discriminated upon...As I said before, each one of us is just a link in the human chain and we owe it to future

I really cannot tell,one thing I am sure of is that I want to preserve the european culture, I want to

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generations to saveguard the earth and to pass on all the achievments of the men and women that have preceded us!We are just the guardians for a very short time of such an infinite miracle, life on earth. (5) I seem to have misplaced the fifth question, but as I recall it, it has to do with me being a women and the centrality of the

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discrimination of women in my work.Certainly, the fact that I am a woman, the fact that I was agressed many times on my way to school,in Tunisia, the fact that my dad practically jailed my mum in her own house because of his jealousy, the fact that I married a jealous man myself, thinking that I will change him and do better than my mum

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did, the fact that I saw women covered from head to toe, treated like mere possesions , then freed by an intelligent man and the fact that the attitude towards women has regretfully regressed awfully has a very strong impact on my work! The more men want to hide women, the more I want to shaw them, the more they want to keep them away from the sacred place, the more I want to put them in those very sacred places, whether mosques synaguogues or churches! Women are not impure, they are not the devil ,tantalysing men into perdition, enough is enough! We are neither saints nor satan, just human beings , made of flesh and blood and if men have a soul, so have we!

I never know what colour I am going to use while I paint, all my jars of paint and my tubes of paint are laying at the feet of my work and end up on the dining room table as I use them straight from the jars or the tubes, I don’t mix my paint on a palette but straight away on my canvas or pad , and depending on my mood, I suppose, my colours are quiet or intense or both on the same painting because of the dichotomy that is in me at the time . I wish I knew more about the process of creation, but it just happens. And yet, I know most of the time, when the painting is finished, and the work done.. weird isn’t it?

I am influenced by what I have studied and admired I am impressed by the art in Pompei as much as by Picasso or Modigliani, or Degas. I admire the art of the cave man as well as the egyptian art and as well as the more modern art, but to tell you the truth I am not impressed by the new classical music... and yet, I am a lover of classical music, I am not impressed when I go and visit a contemporary art exhibition, I am not too impressed by nonsensical writing either... What can I do, Dadaisme has had its time and it is time to move on, enough of gimmicks and games and all the

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craziness to create attention. I would like art to elevate us,to make me smile in complicity, to make me feel good to be part of the human race. As a contempory writer I love Helena ferrante . I live in a kibbutz, far away from the art scene and I haven’t got too much to say about contempory artists who seem to neglect the visual esthetics of art which is still very important in my eyes.

I love working on large canvases, almost square, If I could afford it I would love to use 140x 140cm size canvasses the whole time. Why? I couldn’t tell, it is almost physical. I feel good in front of a square ! I know this is weird, and yet this is the way I feel. My husband, a fan of my work, always tells me that there is plenty to see there. Maybe I want the viewer to navigate in my paintings as I am navigating through life... I don’t know, as everything I do while I paint is not totally done consciously. I have seen some paintings of mine a few years after I had painted them, at the homes of people that had acquiered them and I looked at them like a stranger wandering how and why I painted them that way... Reading back some of my poems , I feel about it in the same way, and yet , yes my work is all linked to me, but who on earth is me! And yes, big canvasses need to be viewed from a distance, and maybe in a public space!

Wow! As soon as something is transposed on a pad or a canvas it becomes an abstraction, obviously. I personnaly never paint outside, but I internalise the outside in me! All the landscapes I paint are made of my memories of Tunisia, of zikim, of the fall in Canada,but it is all imagined anew on my work , and without any conscious decision of mine. It just happens! Even when I start by wanting to make a painting out of a detail of a big canvas, pretty soon my painting takes a new direction independantly from me and from then on it has a life of its own.As a matter of fact many paintings

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are born of just one single photograph of a detail, like the serie of the dunes.

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We must first of all agree on what is the meaning of visual art! Sure , whatevever one sees in any exhibition is visual, as we wouldn’t be able to experience any of it without our eyes, but I feel uncomfortable when labelling contemporary art visual,as most of the time there is very little to see and without a very long and hermetic text I don’t see anything! I am sorry, but I feel that the art scene is bare, the museums are bigger and bigger, their architecture is absolutly fabulous and grand, but I find that the emperor inside is naked! I will most probably make a lot of artists angry, but I don’t get excited by ropes and knots inviting me to crawl inside a labyrinte, and I don’t get excited at looking at two planks of wood posted against the wall! I need more and I would love art to be more than a gimmick!I don’t have to touch something or crawl inside it to be moved! Rotko’s abstract paintings move me to my very core ,Veuillard my dear friend makes me smile in complicity, the nenuphars of Monet make my heart beat faster....I also love the work of David Hockney. Yes, I have a problem with the provocative work of Damian Hirst, and I don’t care much for Bansky political work! Sorry, sorry!

As I have already told you, I live in a very small village , away from a big city, I sometimes show my work at different exhibitions in Tel aviv or just in the region I live,and I use facebook and my blog as a platform to show my art, but I cannot say that I have many followers... I paint because painting and writing stem from my need to express myself! Of course , I would love it if everyone loved my work, everyone read my book and my poems, otherwise I would not try and make them public. Does this wish influence my subject matter or the way I paint or write? No, I don’t think so! I write and I paint just like I talk, impulsively, it just comes out of me, a” me” that I don’t really command. After being told that I had cancer , when I decided to write my book, I just did it, the text pouring out of me! I never reread it and my daughter in law was the one who sent it to Amazon publishing! I don’t even own a copy of the book ! One of my brothers baught it ,read it, loved it , found it very strong but said that it needed editing! O.k! maybe one day this will happen! I just didn’t have the money to do it! Whenever I write my poems, it is the same thing that happens. They just happen, short like a passing thought,

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like a passing dream. I wasn’t allowed to play as a child, now, I spend my time playing and playing is a very serious business I suppose!

Well,I hope that I will beat the cancer and carry on living for a long time, I am teaching a eight year old little girl : painting and everything I know about art history, culture, and mainly how to be a human being, empathic to the others, as I tried to do with my three boys. I didn’t look after a teaching job; this little girl saw one of my paintings in her grandma’s house and started to copy it and begged her grand parents to ask me to become her teacher! Which made me feel very honoured! I did teach in the past in the regional school, but most of the children were not really interested in art and I felt that it was a waste of time to carry on with my teaching job, and that it would be much better for the good of the communauty if I went back to work in the children houses with toddlers, to give them the warmth and love that they needed at this early age.

And this is what I did, mainly working with children with special needs in groups of regular children. As I said earlier, I don’t work any more, and apart from a few hours teaching elderly people and a couple of disabled friends, I spend my time playing...And now, I feel very lucky to have a follower , eager to learn everything I can teach her! So this is already a huge project.I intend to carry on painting and writing poetry and I have started to write my second book, this one under my real name about “getting old on a kibbutz”.

Many books have been written about childhood in a kibbutz, but none about aging on a kibbutz and I think that this is an important issue in a changing society.

Most kibbutzim have already changed and look more like a village than like the originak kibbutz, ours is in a great hurry to follow this trend and this is worrisome for the old members... Still, this is life and instead of going mad with worries about the frightening changes I am writing about the way old people feel! And , as I have already said the world would have been a paradise if everyone had what we have! I don’t know how my painting will evolve, I have never thought about what my next work is going to be about; Life has a way to lead me forwards” Chi sara, sara”, what will be will be! I love life and life loves me and this is more than enough! I thank you for taking such an interest in my work, please bear in mind that my mother tongue is not english but french and this could cause my style to be rather akward.I have tried to answer this interview as best as I could.

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