Art Reveal Magazine
JANE RAINEY 40
EMILY REBECCA 46
JASON ISRAEL REPOLLÉ 52
EVIE ZIMMER 62
JOHN ZOBELE 68
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MEGAN BROWN Philadelphia, USA
2014
Participant: "Dear Fleisher -4 x 6 inches of Art" Exhibit-Fleisher Art Memorial Philadelphia
2010
Participant: Valentine's Art Show Gleaner's Café, Philadelphia
2009
Solo Exhibit: Gleaner's Café, Philadelphia
2009
Solo Exhibit: 12 Steps Down Bar, Philadelphia
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Solo Exhibit: 12 Steps Down Bar, Philadelphia
Art Reveal Magazine
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TOON GRID
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Art Reveal Magazine
YELLOW HAIR
Megan Brown is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer residing in Philadelphia. She has been drawing cartoons for as long as she can remember, and earned a BFA in Illustration from Moore College of Art and Design. Most of Megan's drawings are pen on paper which are scanned and colored in an ancient version of Photoshop. She has various portfolio subjects which you can view on her website, including the graphic design/photography project "Fake Album Covers", and a collection of over 500 cartoons, which began a few years ago as a daily blog. Most recently some of her newer illustrations were featured in Fleisher Art Memorial's biennial exhibit. This year, Megan also selfpublished a book of cartoons titled "When You're Wearing Mittens". She is always looking for new fun projects to broaden her pen strokes and horizons. She can be reached at meganbrownart@gmail.com.
Art Reveal Magazine
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When, how and why started you creating? From as early as I can remember, I was always drawing on something. It did not matter where I was: in a car, church, in line for a fire drill at school, I would be doodling. On placemats at restaurants, my homework, you name it. There was one time I was very young I even drew a cartoon on my clothes. Sitting in class I would fill pages of notebooks with cartoon characters. By the time I moved to Philadelphia, I learned more about the terms of illustration and that it was actually a major in college, a subject you could study and practice and learn about and share. I was thrilled to discover that creating illustrations was something you could make a career of. What is the most challenging part about being an artist? In practical terms, making a living off of being an artist can be difficult. Many of the artists I went to school with have jobs that are not in the artistic field. Finding a place to market your specific style of work can be tricky. While there are countless publishers of books and greeting cards for example, it can take a lot of time and money submitting your work and dealing with rejection. I think if you are committed to putting your work out there and don’t set a time limit for yourself- then someone, someplace will see your art someday, and recognize your talent and success will arrive. At least, that is my attitude about it, since I’m still waiting for that moment! If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why? When I was little I thought it’d be fun to be an art teacher. I still think about it sometimes, though managing a ton of kids at once seems terrifying! I’ve always had day jobs that are not art-related; mostly in customer service, and from the time I’ve spent in them I’ve learned that if I could find a position that is closer to what I would like to do as an artist it would be much more fulfilling. I’d love to be able to work in a library, around so many amazing children’s books and be inspired every day. A place that I could come home from with new ideas every night. What is your creative process like? The foundation of anything I create is simply pen on paper. I begin with what is usually a spontaneous idea, something I overhear, a joke, a line from a song, a picture in magazine, anything. And from there I create characters. Or a page of characters! Most times I will sit down and just draw, and the cartoons turn up later in bigger projects. In some of my larger pieces, they come together in a “scene”, such as the Amsterdam Districts and Bus Stop piece. I like to find interesting photographs for the background and posterize them a bit in Photoshop. Then the characters are all plunked in from different sketchbooks. What’s the best art tip you’ve ever received? My favorite artist and writer Shel Silverstein said- “If it’s good, it’s too good not to share.” That comes to mind when I look at my piles of sketchbooks and illustrations, and how they should be out in the world. I was also recently reading an interview with the creator of ‘Mad Men’, a perfect show- who spent years as a struggling writer before finding success. He said- “You should want it so badly that you don’t have a choice...Any contribution you make on a daily basis is fantastic.” And I think about that whenever I’m feeling a bit lazy. Even if it’s just an hour, take what time you can to create something. What are your future plans as an artist? There are so many projects I’d like to start, the first step would simply be picking one of them to sit down and work on! I created a book of themed cartoons and have been sending it to publishers for consideration. I also wrote a children’s story that has been on the shelf for years, waiting to be illustrated. There’s a series of greeting cards I’ve drawn that I’d like to market, and there are countless other little ideas that pop up all the time. To put it simply though, my goal is to be able to successfully share my illustrations with the world and make a career out of that. If I can make a difference in someone’s day when they see one of my cartoons and laugh, I’d be completely happy.
Art Reveal Magazine
DETECTIVE
WWW.MEGANDRAWS.COM
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Art Reveal Magazine
LI WEI CHEN Bebington, UK
2015
Wirral Art & Wirral Open Studio Tourshowing at the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead, UK
2015
Chinese family art event,mask making at National art gallery London, UK
2014
Williamson art Gallery 2014 wirral photograph and paint exhibition, Birkenhead, UK
Art Reveal Magazine
A TENDER SPOT
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Li wei Chen, born in the city of Kunming in Yunnan province, south west of China, which province has 25 nationalities. A Chinese traditional paint artist,her work is Chinese free hand brush painting ,Chinese fine art on silk.and also do Chinese Calligraphy.She paint flowers ,birds, bamboo, landscape...... Her calligraphy always write poems, beautiful and peaceful. Her Chinese fine art on silk. She was teach at multicultural centre at Wirral at 2011. She also doing a lot of workshops for schools, cultural events and elderly residents.
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When, how and why started you creating? When I got my degree in art and design, I started my own art work in 1994. I have been learning calligraphy since I was 5 years old with my dad, who was a Chinese teacher.I came to love the smell of Chinese ink while I was learning. So when I finished University, I had the opportunity to start my own work.
Briefly describe the work you do. I practice traditional Chinese fine painting on silk and free hand painting with Chinese ink and also calligraphy on rice paper. I paint flowers ,birds, bamboo, landscape...... With calligraphy I always write poems, beautiful and peaceful stories. Tell us a little about your background and how that influences you as an artist. I was born in the city of Kunming in Yunnan province, south west of China, which has 25 nationalities. We have a variety of cultures. While I was learning calligraphy with my dad, he was very strict with me and my brother, just like any other Chinese father. When we practiced calligraphy every day when other kids were playing out, we always asked him "why?" and he always just said: "you will know when you get older!" and now I'm extremely thankful for what he taught us.
What is the most challenging part about calligraphy? Chinese calligraphy, like any other art, has such a lot of great artists in history, I have learnt a lot different styles, but it was hard to find my own style and not go totally against tradition as well as myself.
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Art Reveal Magazine
Has your practice change over time? Yes, it has changed a lot since I started to find myself as an artist. Also, since I moved to England the landscape, flowers and trees are so different to what I was used to that I have had to adapt my painting style.
What do you believe is a key element in creating a good composition? What inspires you is very important so that you have passion about it, daily practice is the key to achieving creating something that you love.
If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why? I would love to be a fashion designer, because it is also very creative and connects to people who can share your ideals.
Art Reveal Magazine
HTTP://LIWEIOHARE.WIX.COM/PHOENIX-
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BIN FENG Savannah, USA
Top-Low Building #5, TOP Events - Escape Plan, Shanghai, China Hidden Treasure Art Magazine Year Book 2014
Green Point Gallery, Spring Fling Juried Salon Show, Best Artist of the show Art Association of Jackson Hole, 4th Annual Jackson Hole Photography Competition, 1st Place MUSEUM - 100 Contemporary Artists Showcase, Publication
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THE AMERICAN DREAM – 26TH BIRTHDAY
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Art Reveal Magazine
THE AMERICAN DREAM – AIN’T NO TROUBLE WHEN SHE’S GONE
The American Dream The photo series continues to explore the idea of “American Dream” from an eastern male gaze. By staging the moment of daily life, the artist performs as an actor and jumps between the fiction and reality, which essentially conveys the notion of the history of a man is mobilized by images.
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THE AMERICAN DREAM – STARRING JACKIE CHAN AND JOHN CUSACK, DRAGON BLADE 3D IMAX WILL BE RELEASED IN FEBRUARY 2015
Bin Feng was born in 1989 in Shanghai, China. He received his BFA from Shanghai Institute of Visual Art in 2012. At the same year, he started the MFA program of Photography in Savannah College of Art and Design, where he currently resides. Being a photographer, he also makes video installations, sculptures and large-scale oil paintings. As the result of the language barrier, he becomes an outsider in United States. However, he takes the benefit of it and he is dedicated to act in the gap between the cultural differences.
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Art Reveal Magazine
THE AMERICAN DREAM – APPROACHING THE WHITETAIL
When did you start to be interested in the photography? Tell us about your artistic path. I started practicing traditional Chinese ink painting and calligraphy when I was 4. At that moment, Photography was not popular in China, but my mom got a 35mm camera and I became her only subject matter. As a result of being fascinated by the frozen moments captured in the images, I picked up photography as my major in college and got my
first digital camera from my uncle who’s a famous photographer in China. Currently, I am pursuing the master in photography in Savannah, GA United States.
What most affects your approach to art? I am not limited to a particular medium. I also make video installations, sculptures, performing and large-scale oil paintings.
Collecting everything, pins, receipts, magnets, magazines, beer bottles, then turned them into art works becomes a strategy. Regarding the American Dream photo series, I would say it directly comes out of my daily experience and certainly has a sense of collection. The desire of communication converts the language barrier into motivation, which inspires me to visualize the experience of being an alien here. To sum up, collecting affects my approach to art the most.
Art Reveal Magazine Tell us more about "The American Dream" project. The photo series continues to explore the idea of “American Dream” from an eastern male gaze. Iconic elements such as "white picket fence" and "golden retriever dog" are employed to reconstruct the spectacle. The true character concealed as the relations between classes is revealed by showing the capability of purchasing, and a social necessity has been secured in constructing the new spectacle as such an illusive representation. By staging the moment of daily life, the artist performs as an actor and jumps between the fiction and reality, which essentially conveys the notion of the history of a man is mobilized by images. I collaborate with film crews. Before every shot was made, I have a long period of preparation including casting, wardrobe, set designing and
lighting plan, which enables me to obtain the maximum of control of every details in the image. No accident is allowed.
How would you describe the art scene in your area? I agree with the notion of no one could make any art outside the mainstream. It becomes all about networking and marketing, the interwoven relationship between artists and businessmen challenges the way photographers deal with their photographic commodities today. It seems impossible to make any significant work without any financial support. Major galleries and collectors are seeking large works, which at some level determine the artistic practice. The materials they provide us with are too distracting that prevent us from recognizing our own art.
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If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why? I would say, maybe a hunter living deep in the jungle. That’s the only escape plan I came up with in the reality.
What advice can you give to those who are just starting out with the photography? Keep shooting till you find some repetitive patterns in your image bank. This is a self-investigation of your identity. You will find a clue in analyzing your works from a statistician point of view. What good about photography is that we save money on diet pills by going out with a camera, and we don’t have potato quality Instagram selfie!
WWW.BINAND.COM
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Art Reveal Magazine
PHILOSOPHICAL CARTOONS, THE 4TH TIME, STILLS
JOAS NEBE Staufen, Germany
2014
Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2012
Les Instants Video, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Cairo, Egypt
2011
Letters From The Sky, Durban UN Conference on Climate Change
2008
Edingburgh Art Festival
2008
Intrude Art And Life, Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
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PHILOSOPHICAL CARTOONS, THE 4TH TIME, STILLS
Gaming into Mindfulness Interview with Joas Nebe by Rebecca Schoensee (excerpt)) “It’s a never-ending game of disintegration. I challenge the viewer by not living up to his or her expectations. I am denying the satisfaction of solving the riddle, hidden within the depth of my artwork.” By turning his filmic cabinet of curiosity into an intriguing jigsaw puzzle of hybrid geometric patterns, Joas Nebe teases the viewer into accessing his game. He believes: “Riddle games of this kind spark creativity and pass on the role of the artist to the viewer.” Taking the Reason Prisoner To Nebe, “fantasy and creative intelligence are important survival skills today.” So is chess, an analogy he keeps referring to: “Chess exemplifies my game with the viewer. In a world of shortening attention spans, it’s an ideal concentrationpractice. One always has to think a few steps in advance.” By screening the insanity of our daily chase towards evolutionary bankruptcy, Nebe in a clever move takes the reason prisoner, only to appoint reason to be the king of his game of chess. He calls for a close review of the encyclopedia of our philosophical and cultural foundations. In his opinion reason has the potential to direct a path away from the horror vacui he is depicting: “The model of enlightenment has increasingly been discredited, wrongfully I believe. Today survival and coexistence are only possible if governed by the faculty of reason. Labeling and connoting intellectual categories help to bring new relations into sight and to gain unexpected terms of knowledge.” The interview essay "Gaming Into Mindfulness" has been published in Humanize Magazine, issue 11, p. 20-31.
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Art Reveal Magazine
ENCYCLOPEDIC CARTOONS, LETTER H-HOSPITALITY, STILL
When, how and why started you creating? My first artistic creations are from my childhood. As every kid i loved to draw and paint. My parents used to take me a lot into museums. Everywhere we went they took me into a fine art museum. I remember most the visits in Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. That´s where i met early the great dutch painters like Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Peter Paul Rubens, van Gogh. Next to this i was fascinated by the exhibitions at the contemporary department of the Rijksmuseum. At that time the curators made an exhibition with art pieces that were in fact machines, driven by an engine showing senseless motion and making noise. I remember me being fascinated by
that moving objects. Maybe this is where my fascination for moving images comes from. They had a kids education program at that time at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. So i could work with colors and paper in order to express what i have felt seeing all that masterpieces before in the gallery. I learned to exercise my motorial abilities and to get an feeling for color. That was the start. I guess, at that time i understood that i had something to say. At least i never stopped doing art from that time. How has your work changed in the past years? I started with painting. The first important series of my art work used to be huge canvases without frame
and dancing figures in bright colors. Two of this paintings are still presented in the hall of a musical theatre in Hamburg that stages Disney´s „Lions King“. The figures are not only human. They don´t have all two hands and two legs. Some of them have strange colored skin, blue or violet. I suppose some of them are ghost intermingling with humans in a strange odd dream. When i painted the huge creatures i built „light tents“. That means i created a four wall space with a bright light source inside. The walls of this space where covered with transparent figures in different colors. Some of this figurines had been made of different parts. Each part used to be a separated body part of the figure which allowed a player to move the figures, to play them like figures in
Art Reveal Magazine shadow theatres which is common in asia or turkey. Another artistic format i was working in was sculpture. Complementary to the figures covering my canvases and light buildings i started working with machine models. I collected empty oil cans, cut them into parts, made some cut-outs which i re-fixed with a filament. The result was a flee of tin car models big enough to cover the floor of a room altogether. A few years later another form of expression was added: film. During my education at university i felt in love with movies. Not only Hollywood movies, but also experimental pictures. It was the time of big pictures made by great directors like Mika and Aki Kaurismäki, Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch and others. I started working with a camera and later the original footage became less important when i was making what i call „cartoons“. From that time derive a few film series that have the word „cartoon“ in it´s titles, e.g. „Philosophical Cartoons“, „Climate Change Cartoons“, „Encyclopedic Cartoons“. In this films the shot footage is less important because the fantastic scenery is what i needed to express my thoughts. The reason for this might be that i always try to combine very abstract ideas with entertainment and fun. This is easier when you create your own visual world. Like i did with the huge paintings by introducing strange ghosts and monsters, i made some odd sceneries populated by senseless moving machines or body parts shaking by a non visible power. Meanwhile my style of film making has changed again. Now i am creating huge screen puzzles. These screen puzzles- as i put it- are thought to be a landscape on it´s own where the audience is caught and invited to live for the moments they watch.
How has your style changed over the years? The best way to put it in a line is to say: i got better in creating my own visual world. Some of the elements that are important to the visual cosmos of my work i mentioned already. I started creating my visual world by putting some figures on canvas surrounded by a plain color background. This color background was covered with enigmatic „senseless writings“ like the scribbles you can find next to your phone or on the walls of a toilet room. Some writings were combined with line drawings of another figurine that worked like a caricature of the big monsters next to it. With the light tents i introduced movement to my work. Suddenly the figures fixed on the ground of the canvas started dancing. Another element of moving- at least on a symbolic level- was working with car models. This tin models were not supposed to move at all. Even the strange thing with them was that they had nothing which usually make a car a car: no engine, no technical interior. When i started making pictures, i had to find an substitute for what i was working with in painting and sculpture format. The main characteristic thing in film formate is the motion. That´s why motion picture have motion in it´s name. The basic elements of my new cinematographic creations i had already developed: the strange figures that can be set in motion by an external power, the motionless unmovable car models, the odd creature that were in part human and in part ghost. I found out that best fitted to what i wanted to express was the animated style. Although i say „animated“ i don´t mean what is usually understood by animation. My films don´t tell a story. They have no main character experiencing adventures
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and finally end happy or unhappy. This is different to what i did when i paint or draw. In my handmade works you see characters living in one or other way, even if this „life“ might be more a life of the other side. If you want to speak about a „main character“ in my films this is the scenery. The scenery is inhabited by strange moving elements, sometimes cars, sometimes old aircrafts, sometimes simply animals. But all of them are ephemeral to the scenery, which is always most important. What used to be the background of my canvas paintings covered with secondary writings and drawings compared to the main figurines, has enter the stage in my pictures. Some years ago i changed my style again by creating huge collections or puzzles of different screens that have the potential to cover whole house facades or big screen sets in a park. A good example is my work for Arcanum Arts Festival or Beacons Festival last year. In both venues the multi channel works were presented to the audience on a few big screens put into a nice garden setting. There was a correspondence to the content of the films shown because in the films pigeons and pelicans were moving from the right screen to the left one etc.. Another multi channel work will be presented this year on the independent square of the city of Netanya in Israel showing marry-goaround horses moving forwards and backwards and pignons flying from the center of the screens to the corners. The horses on the left screen are shaking their heads to the right and the wooden horses on the right screen are shaking their heads to the left. This motion is supposed to be a loop and accompanied by a little outof-harmony music which is known from the wooden mary-go-arounds of the penultimate turn of the century. There must be always a correlation between the place where the
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Art Reveal Magazine screening venue takes place and the content of the film presented. This is important because it adds to the message already conveyed in the picture another dimension. Maybe this point is more important for my multi channel videos, the cinematographic cosmos i spoke about, than for my single channel pictures. The reason is that my multi channel work has more in common with my sculptural work than my older films. Maybe you can say i am back to where i have started much earlier in my career by creating the light tents. What is your favourite experience as an artist? My favorite experience as an artist is when people open their mind and try to understand what i want to express with my work, even if it is not so clear in my art work everytime. All the more i really appreciate when a spectator tries to solve the riddle that maybe has no single solution and don´t turn away if there is no single and simple outcome. If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why? I have a master degree in psychology and i used to work at university for a few years giving lessons about film analysis in the department of psychology at the University of Hamburg where i used to live at that time. It made sense because i used to be specialized in film during my education. One of my subjects next to psychology was media science. My graduation work in psychology was about film success and when i graduated i had already written a few articles about the latest tv format of that time called „Big Brother“. So it made sense in every way to work as a film teacher.
How would you describe the art scene in your area? The art scene where i live now is completely diverse from that of Berlin where i used to live for the last five years. Since last year i live in an area where three country borders meet, the border of Switzerland, the border of France and the border of Germany. Each of this countries have their own traditional culture and each of the cultures is very accessible and not melted with that one of the neighbor country. Basel e.g. is one of the biggest cities of Switzerland, just 50 km away from where i live now, offering a wide variety of fine art museums, theatres and events. Mentioning the city of Freiburg means quite the same. As biggest German city of the region it offers interesting theatres, museums etc.. On the french side you have Colmar regarding the biggest towns with cathedrals showing the famous works of medival painters like Matthias Grünewald. So far about the traditional cultural influences all around here. The contemporary art scene is living in the shade of this high culture inheritance. There are a lot of private run galleries and museums even in the small towns around here. Some are funded by entrepreneurs. A lot of artists who are sad of big cities found their retreat in the area doing their work on the quiet country side. Not all of them are good connected to the worldwide art world. Some are doing their art work in the face of a small group of collectors coming from Switzerland, France or the Breisgau area. It is of course difficult for artists working in large scale to do a show in one of the art hot spots. Nevertheless this artists find their home in one or the other of the small galleries. Some artists run their own space creating shows for themselves or other artists.
In this regard the art scene is very similar to that in Berlin, Hamburg or Shanghai. Nevertheless it´s important to be good connected to the professional art scene if you decide to move to the country side as i did because it isn´t that easy to get some attention on your work if you live on the country side, it is if you live in a big city like Berlin or New York City. What’s the best art tip you’ve ever received? The best art tip i ever received was visiting the so called „Morgestraich“although you probably wouldn´t call it an art tip at all. The „Morgestraich“ (maybe you can translate it with „morning strike“) is taking place a week after shrove tuesday in the city of Basel in Switzerland. It starts at 4am and ends two hours later. When the Morgestraich starts the city center of Basel where the event happens is completely dark. All public lightning is switched off and even the business owners are asked to switch off their window lights. When everything is dark, groups wearing strange costumes enter the streets, rolling drums and blowing small flutes that give a sharp tone. Some members of this groups pull a cart with them on which a big laterne is mounted. The sides of the lanterns are covered with images and text lines explaining what is shown. The issues of this images are mainly local political incidents of the past year. When these groups with strange masks of huge clowns or police officers etc. enter the place in front of the town hall, their music and appearance suddenly create a completely different world. The town squares and streets are turned into a stage of a strange theatre play which is not completely understandable. If you can, go and see yourself next year!
Art Reveal Magazine
TOTEM TOONS, ANT, STILL
TOTEM TOONS, PREACOCK, STILL
TOTEM TOONS, GIRAFFE, STILL
HTTP://WWW.JSNEBE.DE/
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SAHELI KHASTAGIR New Delhi, India
2013
Touring exhibition organized in Chile as part of the Jornadas Internacionales Albert Camus, Chile
2015
“Winter Blues� Exhibit to be held at Tye Johnson Artistry at the Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago, USA
2015
Torche Gallery, Belmar NJ, 2 Year Anniversary Spring Exhibition 2015, Opening on April 11th.
2015
International Art Fair of contemporary art and modern art in the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris on 14-15 June 2015. To be represented by PAKS Gallery, Austria. (upcoming)
My paintings are mainly psychological explorations. They are often surrealistic, seeking the fantastical hidden inside A TENDER SPOTthem in the everyday ordinaries. I try to grasp at subtleties in emotions and thoughts through my work, by depicting often an outrageously concrete way. I look at and depict life as fluid and transferable from one form to another.
BREATHING DOWN HER NECK
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THEM WINGS
Briefly describe the work you do.
What’s your background?
I am a visual artist. I am not sure what kind of school my art would fall under. And I am shy of setting too tight definitions on what I do, because I want to keep myself open to the changing influences on my work and new kinds of artwork that I can churn out of me. Overall, my paintings are generally filled with strong imagery and symbolisms. I paint the way I think and see the world. I don’t know any other way to do it. I find myself exploring the merging boundaries between different life forms and between the ordinary and the extraordinary and my paintings, like my psyche, often battles or harmonizes conflicting images, thoughts and colours.
I did my undergraduate and my masters’ in Psychology. I found Psychology opening new doors in me that tried to find urgent outlet into forms that I started calling “art”. I don’t have a fine arts background. But I have been lucky to have been born in an environment that was filled with poetry and music, which I think has had a strong lasting influence on me. What themes do you pursue? Mostly emotions (as of now), and sudden images that comes to me. I try to hold intangible spurts of thoughts and feelings into a tangible form, often using startling images and bright colours to make concrete
something that I am struggling to understand or explain. What is the most challenging part about being an artist? Everything has its challenges. I don’t want to harp too much about the pains of an artist, because really it is such a beautiful thing, and I am so grateful to have found something like art that constantly enriches me and takes me on its own ride. But since you ask about challenges…well I think, by opening the extremes in us, the ones who practice art has to often battle with extremes in emotions. The more you give free reign to the instincts and the emotions in you, the more they try to catch hold of you. And while the
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THE ROAR SHE HID
“ups” are gorgeous, the “downs” can be debilitating. Also, as a visual artist, I find practicing art can be extremely lonely sometimes. When I am making something, I am going at a pace and tangent completely of my own. The outside world (even the people I am closest to) is just able to see the product, while art is most importantly about the process. But the successes and failures that you go through in your studio is your own private world. This can sometimes make you feel very isolated from everyone else. But then again, I think these are small price to pay. I won’t talk about the challenges in finding recognition or worth or money or other such thingsthose have been too often talked about. And like I said, art gives a continuous reward so great, that I am constantly fortified in continuing the struggle for art by art itself.
How would you describe the art scene in your area? Please don’t ask me about commercial art scenes in India. Art so often becomes commercial products that is bought and sold by elitist few, so far removed from the great majority of the population, that I am not sure if it should be called the scene. But I know that’s “the scene” that pays most artists, so I won’t complain. I am happy to see new ideas and forms being produced and even appreciated in India. Contemporary Indian art is seeing new forms and renewal in style by new artists. International events are being organized, and increasingly galleries are participating in events organized in other countries, slowly establishing India in the international
art scene. But India is still highly underrepresented and has a long way to go in that regard. And the “scene” while slowly opening itself to new talents, is still closed to most, and for entering it you need more than just talent. But the art scene in India, at least in Delhi, is quite exciting right now, and maybe because visual art is often enjoyed by just a few (or at least considered that way), it finds the freedom to explore controversial topics and outrageous expressions, without much fear of censure. For me, my “art scene” is the art that I see pervading the everyday life of local people around me- the colours they wear, the motifs they use in their garments and drawings, the materials they use in making different products, the symbolism they use in their language, the stories they tell, the
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Art Reveal Magazine rangolis and henna drawings they make, the flowers they wear, the songs that are sung, the way they decorate their houses and gods, and all the other artistic spirits that surrounds me. I would like this, more than anything else, to constantly influence me. What art do you most identify with? For me, music is the purest form of art and that’s what transcends me and has the most immediate and direct impact on me. In terms of visual art, I am moved by imagery and human figures. I love Arcimbolodo’s strange portraits for instance. I like anything that makes me stop and think, or stops me with the intensity of emotions it arouses. Jogen Chowdhury’s paintings are one such example. I love works which are honest and simple, that tells you just like it is- Maira Kalman’s illustrations for instance. I like anything with fishes or fishtails and anything with insects and wings. I could go on. What’s the best art tip you’ve ever received? Well there are two (as of now). Both are indirect tips. 1. When I was about 9, I went to this neighborhood art teacher for about a year. She and her husband were professionally trained artists. During the weekends they would tutor young
kids, most of the time giving us some object to draw, while they finished their own paintings. One time I was watching her paint and she was adding colours to a tree. Just a simple tree. What really fascinated and is something that I keep going back to is that I saw her adding the colour “blue” in the leaves. That completely challenged my idea at that time of how leaves should be green and sky should be blue and apples should be red, etc. etc. But I saw her add a bit of blue and yellow and green to the leaves, and then the same colours to the sky, and yet have such different results. I know it sounds like such a simple and obvious thing to do. But I think it’s from that that I realized, the magic of colours. How nothing is a simple yellow or blue, and every colour we see in nature is an amalgamation of different colours, how there is a yellow hidden inside a brown , or a red in another shade of brown…this is what brings the countless shades and combinations. I learnt that I don’t have to be so strict with colours, I can let in some yellow into the red of my apple, I can add some orange into the blue of the sky. 2. During Masters’, one of my professors said something that has really stuck with me. Although, her advice wasn’t for my work as an artist, but it is something that I have since then been conscious of in everything I do, especially in my paintings. She said that genius or
innovation shouldn’t always be in doing something completely new and extraordinary, I should learn how to bring my creativity or insight into the ordinary things as well. It’s easy to run from ordinariness or normality and try create new structures, but the real challenge is in bringing innovation and newness into the ordinary moments and formations and in trying to to transform them. Maybe, I will have a greater reach or impact then. I think these two tips/ learnings impact most of what I do as an artist. What are your future plans as an artist? I want to experiment with different mediums. I don’t want to be limited to just visual art, but create synergies between different art forms. I would like to work with artists working in different media and create collaborative projects. I am right now working on a project where I illustrate my poems visually and then let the audiences watch and hear it, instead of just reading it. Later, I would like to create joint projects using music, movement and visual art incorporating poetry and having a wider connectivity with the public. I want to engage with a larger audience. And I don’t want to be limited by one particular medium or platform in expressing what I want to. I want the audience to use as many senses as possible in experiencing my art.
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WHEN A FISH MET A BIRD
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JANE RAINEY Belfast, Northern Ireland
2015
“Wet”, Hive emerging exhibition, Waterford.
2015
“New Talents” Market Place theatre and arts centre, Armagh.
2014
John and Rachel Turner Bursary award, awarded from the University of Ulster, Belfast.
2014
Scholarship awarded from the National College of Art and Design Dublin, to study a Masters in Fine art
2012
Deans list award from the University of Ulster, Belfast.
Jane Rainey is a painter from Northern Ireland; in 2014 she graduated from the University of Ulster Belfast with first class honours in Fine Art Painting, and upon Graduation was awarded the John and Rachel Turner Bursary A TENDER SPOTof Award from the University. Jane is now currently studying for her Masters in fine art at the National College Art and Design Dublin on a scholarship basis awarded from the University. Currently Jane has been working on a series of works that explore the boundaries and boarders (or lack thereof) that separate man nature and the liminal spaces between objects. The works utilize strong juxtaposing styles of abstraction and figuration, as a way of entering into and disrupting the landscape, and the connotations that traditional landscape painting hold. This disruption opens up room for narratives and explorations of these new painted worlds. The landscapes are inhabited by figures often unaware that they are being watched, they occupy and interacting with the spaces and abstracted forms, in groups and singularly, leading to an intriguing play between space and figuration. The strong visual contrast of aesthetics opens up the landscape enabling the viewer to explore and enter into these believable space that are only made possible through paint.
DISILLUSIONED PARADISE
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CAN’T TAKE ANYTHING WITH YOU
When, how and why started you creating? I have always been creative, and I have been blessed with a very supportive family who told me from a young age I could be whoever I
wanted in life, so I decided I was going to be an artist. Although it wasn’t until I reached university that I started to explore and understand what I wanted to say as an artist. I attended the University of Ulster in Belfast from 2010-2014, whilst there
amazing and supportive tutors surrounded me, this made it a fertile environment to explore my creativity in. For the first few years of university I experimented a lot, although one thing remained constant I loved paint; paint was my medium.
Art Reveal Magazine During this time I also had made a transition from spending a lot of time in a rural area, to spending most of my time in a city. I had lived in a small town on the coast of Northern Ireland for all of my life and being in Belfast was very different for me, therefore a lot of my work reflects this transition. My work explores issues of the landscape, the figure in the landscape, and boarders and boundaries that surround us. Recently I have moved to Dublin City to peruse a scholarship to study a Masters in Fine art at the National College of Art and Design, living and making art in a larger city has helped me to explore these themes even further. What art do you most identify with? I love looking at landscape painters such as Constable and Monet. I feel they had a chance to experience the landscape differently than we do. Today the natural landscape is considered as being separate from everyday life as we live in a very industrial and build up environment. We associate the landscape and countryside with holidays and leisure; therefore it is not part of day-to-day life anymore it is seen as something separate, for majority there is a boundary between culture and nature. I find by looking at these artists I can clearly see how they considered and viewed the landscape completely different to how we do today, and this inspires me. What kind of subjects has your paintings? Nature and the landscape are the main subjects of my paintings. Nature if left untouched has the power to destroy and ruin everything made by humanity. Today we control and restrain nature to fit our societies ideals. Areas we consider wild and natural such as forests and the countryside are controlled, contained
and sculpted by humans for humans. Natural areas within the urban landscape are also considered and controlled; cities are interspersed with botanical utopias for our leisure. This control we seek to obtain and hold over nature interests me. The earth itself cannot be controlled as we live on a very delicate and unstable surface. The thought of the earth being ‘ungrounded’ and falling away is terrifying although it is very much possible. In my paintings you often get the illusion that the earth is falling away or there is a glimpse that there is something underneath the solid mass we inhabit. I create this illusion through juxtaposing strong styles of abstraction and figuration, and by the use of abstracted, fragmented and globular paint application. The way I apply the paint opens up the landscape enabling the viewer to explore and enter into these believable space that are only made possible through paint. Paint is also a huge subject in my work; sometimes the painting is as much about paint application, and illusion as much as it is about the image. I think paint itself is a magical medium and for me it is not absurd for paint to be as valid a subject as the landscape is. What is your favorite experience as an artist? The feeling that I love what I do, I never dread going to the studio. I am very privileged to be able to say that I love what I do, and that I get to do it on a daily basis. How would you describe the art scene in your area? Belfast and Dublin both have a very strong art scene, and are very creative and inspiring cities to be making art in. Belfast is a small city in
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comparison to Dublin but Belfast defiantly holds its own with a lot of fantastic creative business, galleries and artist. The Mac gallery is also amazing for Belfast offering huge shows of international and local artists. I feel that it is a very exciting time to be an artist in Ireland. What are your future plans as a painter? Currently I have just completed the first year of a two-year masters at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, In-between returning to college I will be a resident artist at Studio Souk in Belfast from June to September. While I am there I hope to keep creating and exploring my current body of work. I have currently been taking a more mixed media approach to my work so I hope to develop this idea more before returning to Dublin in September to complete my final year at NCAD. What’s the best art tip you’ve ever received? It maybe isn’t specific just to art but the best tip I have ever received is that you need to put a lot of hard work in. I grew up in a very hardworking family and this work ethic has been something that has been passed onto me. I work very hard and treat my studio work as if it was a 9-5 job. It is easy to get disheartened when a painting isn’t working out the way you hoped, and you think to yourself ‘ I will just not go into the studio tomorrow,’ but you don’t know what is going to happen when you make the effort to go in and create something. That day you didn’t go to the studio could have been the day you worked that painting out, or it could have been the day you did something amazing and unexpected to push the work on. Every day is important, the good days and the bad.
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PRESSURE FROM A UNKNOWN SOURCE
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CONSPIRARY AT SUNRISE
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SUNBATHERS
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EMILY REBECCA York, United Kingdom
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SUNBATHER
I have grown up within a city of culture and have been influenced throughout my life by artists close to me and the artists at the many local art galleries I visited throughout my youth. I always knew my life would revolve around art and have spent 5 years educationally dedicated to the practice and theory of the artist. My chosen medium has varied over the years but I have discovered I’m most comfortable with collage and mixed media. The possibilities are endless and the surrealism can be controlled or can be totally abstract in nature. I create collage art both digitally and by hand, each technology has its advantages. My art consists of surreal situations or landscapes, usually involving the female form. As a starting point, my art usually begins from a situation or image I create in my mind of something I think will be either interesting topically or aesthetically pleasing. I like to create art that conveys a social message, but often my art can just be subjective. The art I create is unique because of the endless possibilities I am able to portray using my imagination and creativity.
Selected achievements: Translated Thoughts 2014, University of Lincoln Empire of The Sun: Freedom from Fear 2013, The Tower Bar, Lincoln Post-it, University of Lincoln BA Hons Fine Art from the University of Lincoln Foundation Award in Art Therapy from British Association of Art Therapists
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Art Reveal Magazine Briefly describe the work you do.
What art do you most identify with?
I create fantastical -surrealist, dreamlike but aesthetically pleasing collages digitally and by hand using a mix of vintage and contemporary photos.
The natural surrealism in Frida Kahlo’s body of work helped me establish a connection between the reality we see and how it can be perceived in totally unique ways that can be translated into art. Her art helped me realise surrealism doesn’t have to be stereotypically cartoonish and can really be a translation of the artist’s reality, as her work was. I also use the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood’s obsession with beauty as a basis in a lot of my work. Each generation of artist has an individual view of what beauty is and how it should be represented in art and I have looked to the Pre Raphaelites for inspiration on how to imitate the idea of beauty, but also parody it as I am a firm believer of body acceptance.
When, how and why started you creating? I was brought up in a creative household, my grandfather was an artist and my mum was always invested in creativity. Myself and my sister were often encouraged to be imaginative by painting or being given our own furniture to paint in any way we wanted. Because of this upbringing I ended up dedicating five years on art based education. I started making collages after I left school and went onto higher education. Collage seemed to be something I was totally comfortable with, any other media I would struggle to find a creative sequence in which to work in. After being creative in an educated and structured environment it’s become easier after three years of university studying Fine Art to create art with no pressure of judgement that could affect my future.
If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why? I’m starting my Masters degree in Contemporary Curatorial Practice in
What themes do you pursue? I often base my collages on body image and the female psych but I won’t always stick to a constant theme in my body of work. Feminism is often in my work in some element, often parodying the idea of beauty our society and media has created for us. If I have an idea completely different to anything I’ve done before, of course I will indulge it. I’ve had many occasions where I spent hours meticulously trying to work with a theme that just doesn’t mesh with the aesthetic of the piece, but trying things out is all part of the process and eventually leads to a successful art work.
career that involved art but wasn’t necessarily based on it. I have a foundation award in Art Therapy and that was a potential interest for a while I’d still like to pursue one day. What advice can you give to those who are just starting out in the arts? Practice your craft until you’re totally happy with the result you’re aiming to achieve, there are no mistakes only learning curves. Always keep a notebook or even your phone nearby for when inspiration strikes and you want to write ideas down. And most importantly engage in artist networks on social media sites. Instagram is amazing for visual inspiration but also coming into contact with other artists and getting your art noticed, and Twitter is fantastic for making contacts. What are your future plans as an artist? I’m hoping to start making stained glass windows in the same style as my surrealist collages, but until then I will continue to be creating by hand and digitally. I will also be starting my Master degree studies late summer and will active in the curating element of art.
PUPPET
September so I’m hoping to one day soon be a Curator. It was never exactly a plan to be an artist professionally, I always wanted a
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http://emilymusgrave.wix.com/emilyrebeccaart
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JASON ISRAEL REPOLLÉ Highland, NY, USA
2015-2010
Pierogi Gallery, Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York
2013
“The Power of Place”, Hudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art
2010
“in-flec-tion”, Hudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art
2010
“AbstrACTION”, Arts Westchester
PERMANENT COLLECTION: "Sermon on the Mount" Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York
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REPOLLÉ AT GALLERY
"Like the cartographers of old who explored new worlds on earth, charting their course in artistic and detailed maps, my work helps me navigate and explore layers of the cosmos to connect and immediately build on a dialogue and conversation that is older than our own memories. I use high-quality, archival grade paper, watercolor, ink and oil paint; as well as precise tools – rulers, compasses, protractors, brushes-that allow for extremely detailed drafting of space to meld with an easily transportable medium, to trace my journey. It's a way of actively engaging in play, the kind of play that inspires me, captures my heart, and reconnects me with the gift of life. Listening to the pen move across paper, I can hear the silence of existence, and looking at where the pen went, I can see a graphing of the timelessness of my own course. By diving in and dissecting it all at 2X, 10X, 50X, 100X magnification, perspective is shifted and connection is forged – that same connection that is seen when rocks form, or blossoms are pushing forth to the light, in tune with our growth rings. I trace the journey in a way that is balanced enough to be digested, and in the angles and spaces that are formed, I see reflected a place of possibility and safety: home. A place to rest while journeying through formed and formless chaos."
Art Reveal Magazine When, how and why started you creating? If I were to answer the question literally, it would be that the beginning started early, harking all the way back to my sand-box days. Creating art transported my mind from the reality imposed by the the adults around me, to the reality of the world that I was perceiving. There were a lot of art supplies and tools I was exposed to before reaching even kindergarten, and probably shouldn't have been [laughing]: oil paint, exacto knives, scissors, fairgate rulers, rapidographs. I learned to use the stuff because my father was a draftsman, and he would show me the basics which I combined with more organic forms of childhood exploration. Learning those fine motor skills at a very young age is something that sticks with you. That compelling need to start creating, to see the inner truths that reveal themselves to you, starts quite young if you are aware of it, and from there it becomes an effort not to lose what is revealed. I started by using the natural resources available to me, and engaging in trial and error to see how materials show their basic properties. From there, it's been an on-going dialogue with materials as I meet them. A good example: my brother had a Match Box collection, and I decided at a very young age that all those little cars needed to be painted (even though they were already nice colors!). Clearly, that did not go over well! When I was told not to paint them, I decided it would be OK to melt my crayons on them using matches instead. As an artist, you are using what you learn to construct a reality that has not existed before, and the media you work with limits, or enhances, your ability to move and your ability to make mistakes.
I realized creating art was one of the most stimulating experiences I was having in my young life, so I ran with it, because it felt right. It is process that is in constant motion and evolves at a very fast rate. You are almost able to look into a different direction, and through that different direction, you are able to start to make connections that carry you on your own path. And then before you know it – boom! You are running.
Briefly describe the work you do. As a fine artist, it's difficult to put into words the nature of my work because it's meant to exist in the visual plane. It's odd to talk about something that is meant to be seen and groked. The work that I currently do offers me a way to engage with the material universe where I am not limited by anything other than my own pure expression, and my own willingness to push beyond my comfort threshold. The more you practice at it, at least with what I am doing, the easier it is to break down the the superficial barrier that directs us away from our own inner voice. It's about engaging in the boundary between the everyday mundane, and that phenomenal world which is pure thought, pure movement. It maps the human condition and the interplay of relationships between the formed and formless. Or in other words, the perceived form, versus the limitation of a manifested form. I am the type of artist who is good with many materials, and I had the option of choosing how I would move through the experience. I use paper because I wanted something in my life that was opposite what I was doing for work. I started an apprenticeship in 1998 carving 500 lb blocks of granite stone from Barre, VT. It goes back to the point I made before: the media you work with
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limits, or enhances, your ability to move and your ability to make mistakes. In having to carve the granite for the artist I was working for—using hydraulic systems to move a stone into place, or at times rolling the stone using my own muscle and sinew—I realized quickly that paper is the opposite: you can fold it, roll it, carry it, and run with it with ease. Granted, it won't last as long as stone, but it has many amazing properties and a great texture just like stone does. Paper is spirited and sprightly, versus the heavy, dwarfish feeling of granite. Honestly, I like both. I wouldn’t have been so attracted to the flighty nature of paper without having immersed my self so fully in the structural qualities of stone. I blend the whimsy of that which could be created, and the fanciful coloration of what could be painted, with the hard forms of life around us: bridges, architecture, and the grid-ing of the streets, etc. By taking what's been created by others and filtering it through the artistic lens, I map the interplay of space and energy with all objects within my perceived memory over time, to create layers of visions and patterns that are compelling and deeply harmonic. It's a little bit like like walking on the beach towards the water, steadily working yourself much further in to the point where you no longer can touch the sand, and you are moved by the ocean because you become buoyant. You start to really feel the power of the ocean because you are no longer affected by the same sort of gravity, but you are being affected by the medium of the water. You are learning how to be in control, while at the same time unlearning how you were in control when you were on the sand. The best way to put it is that it's a different way to think.
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What is your creative process like? I think the most important thing that I have found is to be engaged with my material. Now, there are steps obviously, but once I have accumulated my materials, the main thing is that I am consciously willing my movement into the material, and at the same time consciously listening to the material. As the vibration and forward momentum harmonize, I become a vessel: trained where the mind tunes in, but at the same time tunes other parts out, to be present enough to do the work. It's an act of intelligently giving myself over, and at the same time intelligently keeping a finger on reality, so I can keep going in, keep going in, and keep moving. That is where the power is: innate universal energy moving forward.
So, it's important to have hands on the material, and from there I take flight. For the most part it is always extremely detailed work, and some may call me a mad man because the the level of detail I do is so out-ofthis-world that it either aggravates or delights people. Few are on the fence as I ask a lot of the viewer, and I ask even more of the collector—mainly that they are well versed and athletic in their ability to devour art. Personally, I find it's not possible to give my art just a surface glance and move on, though I've tried, but I always have a feeling of seeing a buffet in front of me and not being able to taste the lovely things I see at once. It's about controlling the mind as it starts to salivate and wrestle with the senses that are being aroused. That is one of the reasons I like my art to be so clean and precise . I think
these relationships fall, lie, and grid themselves in a certain way, I don't think it is all haphazard. My platform is always of the now, the concept of the zeitgeist, and every artist finds their way in. For the most part the act of creating is what sticks with me. Doesn't matter if the piece takes me a year to make (which it has!). The reality is that we humans are only here on earth for a brief time, and it has taken many years to create the style I have developed. It's also really important to remember that the creative process is cyclical, especially living in the upper North East quadrant of the USA, where we have four distinct and profound seasons. Yearly, I face a guaranteed four smacks on the head when each season thunders in. This has a big impact on my personality, as the extreme
Art Reveal Magazine weather qualities directly affects my artistic ability to perceive reality and how that perception is directed into my art. I am not saying anything new, just what I have realized as I've walked my own path.
If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why? It doesn't matter at all what I do. I've been a stone sculptor, I've been an architectural metal fabricator, I've been a handyman, I've been a school teacher. That whole perceived reality of “my existence is my job and my self worth” is bunk. I have to play in the world, to perceive the world. From my limited perspective, it is much more about having experiences, sharing those experiences, and finding places where I can do good. All at the same time while watching where the savings and checking accounts are, and where my finances are allowing my mind to go, because there is a direct relationship between my level of comfort, and my ability to keep the bill collectors at bay. For the most part what I really do is use my creative ability to affect change, and I've been trained on how to do this in many fashions. First, I went to school for sculpture and learned how to carve stone which I am very good at. I also learned to bend metal into forms that now sit in luxury buildings in New York City. Then, I got bored with both and went to back to school to learn to teach children and how to sculpt young minds by means of a very rigid curriculum in order to to allow them the best chance of accumulating usable knowledge. Currently, I work with institutionalized adults where I help them learn to navigate through the severe disabilities, mental illnesses,
and physical handicaps they are encumbered with. In a way, my experience there has been a very extreme type of painting. It is all energy based, and is beautiful in the embodiment in which it manifests. I am watching raw, unfiltered aspects of personalties engage vibrantly, and sometimes violently, in life. In many ways the men I work with live life more fully and purely than you and I ever will because their grasp of social constructs are limited. The pure emotion flowing through them is so strong that it supersedes any training that might be introduced. My greatest joy is to take something from its pure state and bring it to life, in whatever form that is. So, circling back to my art, a good example is having a blank canvas and being able to start from emptiness and push it through to completion. It's rewarding in all aspects.
What art do you most identify with? When I was going through art school I was attracted to architecture, as well as certain works by Wassily Kadinsky and Paul Klee, along with anything that had to do with the spiritual in art. I was also very interested in sculpture because of its ability to last through time, while fascinated by the manipulation of that material into a chosen form by the artist. Now, my process is no longer so academic. I am all about the art of every-day existence; seeing the art in the minutiae of life. I like the interplay of light with objects, and how important light is with our perception of what we are looking at. Looking at the time of day and the position of the sun, and how it has a total effect on what we are seeing and the emotion that emanates from what we are seeing, and whatever we are working on. I am a contemporary, abstract artist who uses the information that is
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constantly coming at me to map it, grid it, layer it, and organize in order to fundamentally show what a beautiful, complex time we live in. At least here, where I am living, we are moving into a place where everything is becoming very “cookiecutter” and poorly constructed. To live and create in the here and now, I need to allow a part of myself to be comfortable with that, while at the same time seeking out that which is lasting, those pure forms of existence that predate modern lifestyles. It's a real problem with our society because we are in a culture that throws everything away. Think about it: we are in such a backward time that we have to spend a significant amount of time trying to read labels just to try to find something pure to eat. That is how far we are removed from center. The level of insanity where you see society feeding the weakest members the most polluted and carcinogenic prepackaged food. Poison wrapped in a pretty bow. Creating art has a lot to do with stepping back and saying it is not about me and my opinion, or them and their opinions, but documenting the reality of what is happening on the ground, in the trenches. My work has a lot to do with my brain's ability to perceive that reality, and my need to put it into a manifested, archival form while paying attention to the art that has come before me and at the same time, the art that I am able to perceive in the current manifestation of this generation. But I am quiet about it now. As a result of being quiet, I am able to hear a lot more because people are a lot more willing to share when you don't share anything about your own perception, but when they are given freedom to verbally create the patterning. It's patterning that I am really sensitive to. In a sense, our modern-day world is being taken to a place where there is no respect for the interplay of energy between things.
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It's more about a relationship with oneself, and I don't find it very interesting to see a person dance by themselves. I find it more interesting to see three, five, one hundred, or one million interact. That complex patterning to me looks a little bit less like insanity than the dance of one. That's part of the reason it is important for an artist to share his work with the world. Eventually the art gets to a point where it just exists on its own and its far more than the art – it is just speaking.
What are your future plans as an artist? I am going to make a lot more paintings and I am going to carve a lot
more stone. I think it is really important to put things into the strongest stone you can find. In my area it's granite. Papers burn, paintings burn. Stone is pretty resilient and will hold up quite well if exposed to the elements. Ultimately, systems break and it's important to manifest the patterns in many forms. Also, my initial phase of art making was learning to manifest into form and manipulate the chosen media. Now that I am getting to the point that I feel confident in my ability to manipulate my chosen media, I face two things: one a little bit of complacency; but then on the other side, a quickening where I want to get it down quickly. I'd also like to continue to stay open and not become numbed out because I am constantly
seeing people who have stopped caring and it freaks me out to see young people who have numbed out and are proud of it. I plan to continue to follow my path, to keep creating, collecting, sharing, manifesting, and generally having faith in creativity along with the institutions that touch upon that word. If creativity is the hub on a wheel, all the spokes are intertwined and connected, and they are all fascinating. At this point it's about doing good work, and having work that is highly trade-able. Work that is made to such specifications that it will last quite a while, that is profound, and that is not directly touched by computers. Something's really important about that – to keep
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Art Reveal Magazine technology off. My work is all hand done, which takes a long time, and there is something about that that needs to keep going. It’s important to protect that which you cherish. The concept sort of falls in line with the slow-food movement: i.e. making conscious effort to not eat genetically modified organisms, and to not suck on silicone tits [laughs]. It's just really important to consciously live how you want to slowly die. On your terms. And that is a big part of being an artist. There isn't necessarily a right way; it's being in tune with that which is migrating, and sharing it. A big part of the reason I became an elementary school teacher was that I realized the importance of being there for the students and their parents, because you want to take those truths and share them in a constructive way as an on-going dialog. Our students are our next herd of geniuses that will make their way out onto the prairie. And they will have to find the balance between a computer-mind and an earth-mind. Part of my job as an artist and educator is to show that there is a balanced way through.
What is your dream project? I would like to do a series of paintings that map human consciousness in a visual format. I'd like to target 70 or so states of human consciousness – limit it to that – and be able to immerse myself into each one of them, manifest each one as a painting, make it about the hear and the now, and the layering that we are being exposed to with our current age of existence. And I don't want to use a computer to do it! I want to use traditional art-making tools on archival material, and I don't want an ink-jet printer anywhere near at least the original print [laughs]. I think that would be a good project. I think it has
social ramifications and would be of some use to the betterment of society. The other project would be to just create based on the news of the day, to immerse myself in that, and ride that wave. There are just so many causes that need attention – and it's important to give everything insight. I am also in the mood to renovate an old home while making art inside of it. I find the combination of the two to be very much living your art, and the realization that life is art. I am also feeling the need to teach [shrugs] and kill the occasional flea.
What advice can you give to those who are just starting out in the arts? I guess the best advise I can give to a young artist is to remember that at the end of our lives, we all die. So with that said, it's not about making the wrong decision or the right decision right away, it's just about jumping in. If you've decided to jump in by doing something arty—or not doing something arty—whatever you do, become a master at it. For a young artist the initial years are very much about acquiring skills to construct realities that only exist in the mind. That is a hard thing to do because it is a slow process that you want to accelerate, but can't. It just moves at a steady pace. One thing that I did that helped, was that I was very conscious to put my thoughts into journals and to not be afraid to journal in public, and to doodle in public. I was not afraid to bring that, in a sense, map, current map, with me where ever I went. did that for years where I was constantly adding to the diaries. That helped me break free of my inner self doubt. That's a big part of what happens, at times that self doubt can get so big you can't see behind it. The diaries and sketch book helped me move past the bullshit and see the beautiful realization all around me.
It's also a very easy way to quickly share what you discovered, page by page, with yourself and those in your community. Part of the problem of living in this age is that the movement of information is so fast, at practically the speed of light, that we don't even pay attention to it anymore. We are evolving at a rate that we haven't evolved at ever before. As a young artist you will have to deal with that rate of evolution, with your own perception of your art, and what you are supposed to be creating because it is valid. And to all those young artists who are worried about selling out at a young age—for the most part, nobody has a real choice over any of that. It's all about whether somebody else perceives your ability to be a business game for them. It is a business and your art is a trade-able commodity. And as much as your artistic ideas will give you freedom, they will also give you the ability to buy groceries and put a roof over your head. To the young artist – make sure to take a few business classes while you are in school. And as far as knowing what’s hip and whats trending: it's youth. It's that ability to rise above and sit on top of the water – that's what they are after, that's the serum. That's what they are constantly moving to ingest. I was lucky to find a few mentors and take what I could from them that was really cherry or precious, but in hanging out with them for extended periods of time, you start to see how our own bullshit brings us down regardless of who we are and our abilities Prepare yourself for other people's level of insanity. It's going to be greater than you can ever imagine. And you're not going to meet these people in a mental institution. You're going to meet them on the street looking like everyday people because they have enough money to stay out of the institutions. So, prepare yourself
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SUN EQUATION
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EVIE ZIMMER Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2014
Spectrum Miami, Art Basel Week, Miami, Florida, USA
2014
The Butler Institute of American Art 78th National Midyear Show, Youngstown, Ohio, USA
2014
Book publication, 2 pieces, “Present Tense: Contemporary Art in Ohio, A Juried Exhibition in Print�
2013
Ingenuity Fest at the Cleveland Lakeshore Docks, USA
2012
Ohio Arts Council at The Carnegie Gallery, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio, USA
As early as I can remember I have been drawing and painting. It was a comfort during a difficult childhood and my quiet meditation now. My early work focused on portraits of loved ones and gradually evolved into colorful A TENDER SPOT abstracted faces. From that, my work matured into a visual expression of the non-visual; music, energy, thoughts, and emotion. I am very meticulous and meditative in my process. Similar to the creation of sand mandalas by the Buddhists, I express my gratitude and sincere appreciation for life and love while I work. New ideas blossom from this reactionary process where I try to balance the polarity of nature and the human experience; often combining geometric patterns with organic shapes and cool colors with warm.
DRAGON FLOWER
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Tell us a little about your background and how that influences you as an artist. I grew up wanting to be a hippy; a colorful free spirit, praying for world peace, wanting everyone to love one another, and expressing it through the arts. My older friends were all wearing tie-die and painting flower power on everything. I loved it and wanted to be part of it. I remember when my mother asked me to paint our mailbox while she was at work. I didn’t realize she meant all one color! Why would anyone want to do that? I was so proud of my creation and couldn’t wait for her to arrive home and see it! Unfortunately, that wasn’t what Mom had in mind. When I got older I fell in love with op-art. I appreciate the precision and logic behind it. I carry this idea into my own work, which I consider to be op-ish. I purposely bend perspective and alter the symmetry, and mix up organic forms into a more geometric foundation.
What is your creative process like? I often begin my paintings with a plan, although I seldom follow it throughout. Sometimes I use computer programs or I sketch with pencils, and sometimes the plan is clear enough in my mind that I go straight to the canvas. Once the painting begins, the process becomes a form of meditation for me and the painting seems to take on a life of its own. During this time I concentrate on the paint, the line, the color, and a deep feeling of gratitude for all that I am and all that I have. I believe this feeling of gratitude helps create a sense of energy and movement in my work.
What are your future plans as an artist? I plan to continue doing what I’m doing! I love being an artist and want to expand my current style; experiment with mixing bits of realism into my colorful abstracts. I also plan to get even larger with my work. I feel like I have something to say and want the world to hear it. I exhibited work in Miami during Art Basel Week last year and will be returning this year. But I would also like to explore the art scene in other parts of the world, particularly London.
What do you dislike about the art world? There isn’t much I dislike about the art world. The art community is so very supportive of each other. It really is wonderful.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? I think Chuck close said it best, “Every idea occurs while you are working. If you are sitting around waiting for inspiration, you could sit there forever.” This is so true. Inspiration and ideas for future work comes out of the process of working. You must each day, do some action towards your dreams
BLOOM
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THE BIG SPIN
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INTO INDIGO
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JOHN ZOBELE Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Film student in Pittsburg PA, with a passion for conceptual, new media and video art. Working mostly a digital medium like video, graphic design and websites, I tend to dabble in analog mediums such as VHS and Betamax.
RRRECYCLE BIN (Online Gallery) Founder "RRRECYCLE BIN IRL" Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA (Curated) Group Show "Technigarden; from Powrplnt, (Ryder Ripps: Alone Together)" Red Bull Studios, New York, NY, Group Show "The Thrift Show" Glitter Milk Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI, Group Show
VHS GHOST A
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When, how and why started you creating? It all goes back to when I was a little kid. I always enjoyed drawing, painting and putting on little performances, but it wasn't till 2006 when my father died of cancer that I took a turn towards digital media. My father was an IT guy and was always tech-y so since I was the only one in the family who had any idea how this stuff worked, I inherited most of his things like his old laptop, software, video camera, and even his stereo system. It started a new chapter in my art career. The summer before I entered high school me and my friends would go out and record little videos and music videos, It was then that I fell in love with movie making. All throughout high school I created short films and finally decided to go to film school in Pittsburgh.
Tell us a little about your background and how that influences you as an artist. I love music. Music inspires me to create a scene from a track. I love the audio – visual experience, when you mix two things together to get the perfect emotion. Most of my work has audio attached to it, especially my work on tobe (to.be/mrhappyface). Another big influence is VHS aesthetics, something about the transitional period between analog and digital, I just love. I find myself working with VHS footage a lot in recent years.
Tell us more about your "still life" video Originally it was part of a class project for my experimental film class, seeing the opportunity to showcase something that represented my style of video art; I wanted to make it something special. Recently I had went to a gallery show, where they had up “bad art” found in thrift stores and at garage sales, and there was this one painting, a still life that was really not bad at all, but it was bunched in with all these other mediocre at best pieces. That’s where the idea of a still life came from. Something that most artists do at least once in their careers, and is seen as bad art and make it more relatable for today. I wanted to make a updated still life, for a new generation, one that wasn’t made with paint, or just with fruit, I wanted to make one on video with the things we use every day in our modern world, and a poke at new media art in general.
ENVIOUS WEIGHT
STILL LIFE STILL
Art Reveal Magazine How would you describe the art scene in your area? While I’m at school, in Pittsburgh, it’s always moving, I live right down the street from at least four art galleries, it’s great, every month or so there’ll be a new show and I’ll make a day of going on a gallery crawl. Other than that we have VIA (which I hope to attend this year) as well as some other pop up projects scattered across the town.
What do you like/dislike about the art world? I don’t like how almost one sided it is. It seems that digital art is only now becoming accepted, but only by the youth of the world, and even then, most of the people I associate with, my peers, at school and home look at some of it with the “I could have done that” idea, and don’t understand the craft or the thought going into it. Thinking that art is only painted on a canvas or chiseled out of marble, is what I don’t like. But what I do like is that many artists have each other’s back. That friends will help out one another to promote, collaborate or curate each other’s works.
What are your future plans as an artist? I’d love to go to a graduate school, and study new media arts, but due to how much school is now I’m already neck deep in debt. My hope is that after school, and after working to save up cash, I’ll move to the big apple find a day job editing and spend the rest of my time with freelance work and furthering my internet art career.
What’s the best art tip you’ve ever received? “Don’t let the law get in the way of your art.” –Friend on using copyrighted material
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