Divide Magazine - The Contemporary Art Magazine - Issue 4

03 The Contemporary Art Magazine

ABOUT Divide Magazine is a global centric, bimonthly contemporary art publication focused on showcasing works from emerging visual artists and interviewing established creators. Divide Magazine is one of the only publications committed to representing all disciplines in visual arts including Mixed Media, Illustration, Photography, and Street Art. We strive to constantly push and provoke the boundaries of art. Divide Magazine and our team does not judge artists by their education, race, preferences, or backgrounds, simply the artist’s talent.

For more information please visit www.dividemagazine.com

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FEATURED ARTICLES 134

EXHIBITS

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LIFE, DEATH, AND SHADOW Zaccheo Zhang is a photographer and explorer of new images and death through the lens of a camera.

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COLOR AND CHARACTER The personas portrayed in April Winter’s self-portrait photography project, ‘Chromatopia’.

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SEX, PLASTIC, AND THE VIRUS Lisa McCleary’s hyper-realist and mixed media artworks explore some of our most intimate moments: sexting, and sitting in the back of an Uber..

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X, Y, AND Z The pursuit of knowledge is limitless for Seitaro Yamazaki when nature, the essence of beauty, and relativity are questioned through the medium of art.

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LOVE AND HUMAN NATURE Find joy, pain, and subtle moments of the mundane world in the playful curiosity of John Taylor Wagner’s paintings.

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SUGAR, SWEET AND SOUR Christina Leslie depicts the untold chronicle of the hands of the colonized Jamaican sugar industry through her sugar photo portraiture.

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NEEDLE AND STYLUS Robyn Jade tattoos art onto the modern canvases of the human body and the digital screen, using pieces to connect to viewers.

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COVID AND FLOWERS AND PHONES (OH MY) The turbulence of the modern world turn fantastical through the eye and digital brush of Nigel Follett.

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DREAM, ENVISION AND, COMPOSE Wild colors and surreal concepts populate the visualized dreams and thoughts in the collage work of Abdo Hassan.

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GAS, MASKS, AND CONFLICT ‘Gently Seeping’, the photography project of Ashley Cheatham, explores the contradictions of war abroad and war within.

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78 CURATED ARTISTS

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WIND, WATER, AND THE WORLD Self-taught painter, Kayan Hamadeh, portrays dreamy, scenic landscapes of private moments.

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SMALL VISIONS AND MASSIVE STYLE The Popovy Sisters create custom dolls that miniaturize human beauty.

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COPY, CUT, AND PASTE Photographs of people and the tension between them become digital art, and, on occasion, a step further into collage in the hands of Tamara Zibners.

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BRONZE AND SLIVERS OF GOLD Moments of humanity, frozen and cast with bronze, bring life into the studio of Spanish sculptors Joan Coderch and Javier Malavia.

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PHOTO, VIDEO, SCULPTURE...

The name of the game is “interdisciplinary” for Lidija Ristic, who uses a bi-cultural past to express the human experience.

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SUN, SEA, AND SAND Sally West is drawn to the ocean and capturing its beauty, amongst other beautiful sights seen on many travels, in paint.

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BITS, BYTES, AND BEAUTY The procedural art of Ryan Bell brings organic life into the chaotic functions and digital world surrounding the rise of NFTs.

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EMOTIONS AND FEELING HUE Color drives the world of Erik Minter’s art and is the essence of portraying memories and in paint for others to understand.

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HEARTS AND HAPPINESS Beautiful glimmers- little moments of positive, calming energy- are the focus of Ingrid V. Wells’ whimsical, mood-changing paintings.

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BLACK AND BLUE ALL OVER Black identity and stories are told through the distinct blue skin and haunting red-eyed portraiture of Annan Affotey.

Letter from the editor Art is forever, and it’s ephemeral. It is pushed by imagination but based in reality. It’s for everyone, and it’s personal. There’s a lot to say about it, and it does a lot of the talking on its own.

The whole world has been on pause this past year with people staying safe inside their homes as every step outside is an uncertain adventure. The need for a break from the mundane is at its highest. Some find that all this time in solitude is the break they needed, but for others, the lack of daily action is completely dull. When people get together, they generate stories. Those stories create lasting memories, they drive conversation, and as a whole, they make life what it is. We need these stories to thrive, and with people kept apart, the making of these stories is at an all-time low. That is where art comes in.

07 Art is such a key vehicle for stories. Art, in many different ways, is a transitive medium, in that it takes stories in one form and turns them into another. Artists take experiences they’ve had, they’ve heard, or they’ve fashioned from their imagination, and represent them in paint and sound and pixels on a screen (amongst other things). We get to see and hear their stories and encounter them on our own. It is a considerably different way to be exposed to these stories when compared to actually living them, but great artists can use their craft to make you, the viewer, feel like part of the story as well.

The art in this issue is a collection of a lot of different stories told in a lot of different ways.

The untold stories of unheard voices, intimate moments frozen in time, and the color of experiences populate the pages of Divide. In the digital age, it is so much easier for artists to share their stories, and we at Divide are very happy to be a part of that process. I am so thankful to have gotten to speak to some of these artists, and even more thankful to be able to present their art to you in this magazine.

From

Daniel da Silva Assistant Editor

ZACCHEO ZHANG

09 Ziquita Riberdy: When did you first become interested in art?

Zaccheo Zhang: Learning how to play the drums when I was three years old was my first contact with art. During my teenage period, my parents let me try different art categories, including painting, music, and sculpture. It was not until I went to high school that I finally found my interest in photography.

ZR: You mentioned you moved from China to study in the United States, what led you to make that decision?

ZZ: During my undergraduate study, I was assigned to the UK by my University for an exchange program. At that time, I felt different about the learning atmospheres and teaching methods, which made me really interested in foreign education. After graduation, I had two years of work experience. Although I had made some achievements, I still believed that I had a long way to go. At that time, I decided to continue my studies and come to the United States.

LEFT: ZACCHEO ZHANG ‘Tombstone of Heaven’ Series Fine Art Photograph www.zaccheophoto.com

11 LEFT: ZACCHEO ZHANG ‘Tombstone of Heaven’ Series Fine Art Photograph

ZR: Can you explain your inspiration for your pieces?

ZZ: As early as 2015, I had a group of works to discuss life and death.

The project Heaven Tombstone is more like an in-depth discussion of the topic. It's not a new exploration, but more like a question about life and death. If I was discussing "how to define a person's death" in my early works The Death of Lu Zhishen (2015), then that project is more like asking "how we define a proper death"? I think my inspiration comes from life. From the beginning of college, I have been forced to accept the departure of my relatives, and there are too many regrets, reluctance, and helplessness. After a seemingly "optimistic goodbye" to them, I always flash back some remorse in some segments of my life. The emotion reminds me that everything has not passed. So I put these emotions into my works.

I have to say that part of Chinese traditional culture nourishes my works. For example, "shadow", "Zhuangzhou Dreaming Butterfly" and so on can find relevant elements in my works. I didn't mean to do it, but after the completion of the work, or even after other artists pointed it out, I found these facts. The culture I grew up in subtly stimulated my creativity.

13 ZR: What inspired you to create artwork focused on death?

ZZ: My father's mother died in 2013 when I was in England. When I got off the plane, my mother took me to the funeral. I was caught off guard by the sudden loss. Although my reaction seemed very calm, I had the illusion that my grandmother was still there two years after I lost her. My mother's mother died in 2018, just one month before I went abroad. At that time, I was working in Paris.

She just got better before I went to Paris, and she was gone when I came back. I didn't see her and say goodbye. It's hard for me to describe the bond between my grandmother and me. She is an old countrywoman living in a rural area, I grew up in the city, so sometimes we have a language barrier. However, she plays such an important role in my memory. It is still very painful to think of losing her. Sometimes I know that I would make the same choice if I went back to the past, but I can't give up this kind of pain because it reminds me how irreplaceable these people who left are to me.

LEFT: ZACCHEO ZHANG ‘Tombstone of Heaven’ Series Fine Art Photograph

ZR: Can you explain your process for creating artwork?

ZZ: It's not my style to set a framework for myself. I will not prepare a template to complete my works. Sometimes I use historic processes, sometimes I use cameraless photography, sometimes I use digital cameras, even more, I have works created with materials found on the internet.

When I created this project, I first determined the theme and then designed my pictures. All the props, lighting, and shooting techniques are used to achieve an accurate and effective expression of the theme.

ZR: Which artists are currently inspiring you?

ZZ: I'm a very dedicated person, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Sebastião Salgado are the two I admire! My new project 'One kind of Touch' is inspired by Sugimoto, 'Lighting Fileds' is the work that I referred to. Other great artists such as Adam Fuss, Chris Bucklow, Matthew Brandt, Claire A. Warden, and Meghann Riepenhoff are so supportive. I should recommend the writer Lyle Rexer's book 'The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography', and 'Lights, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography' by Virginia Heckert, these two books give me tons of references.

LISA McCLEARY

15 Ziquita Riberdy: When did your artistic journey begin?

Lisa McCleary: I have always been consumed by art. My artistic journey began when I was a child. All I wanted was to play with any art set I could get my hands on and to spend my time creating. I had a little table in the kitchen, and I would sit there for hours drawing, painting and exploring different mediums. I watched art shows on TV and tried to follow along with my favorite painters’ instructional DVDs. I loved studying art in high school and would take any out of school Summer courses I could to learn more. I was very fortunate to be encouraged to follow my passion and do what I love by my parents.

After finishing high school, I continued to pursue art at Sallynoggin College’s yearlong portfolio course in Dublin, Ireland. I then moved to Sydney to undertake a Bachelor of Fine Arts at UNSW Art and Design.

LEFT: LISA McCLEARY ‘Untitled’ Oil on Panel 36” x 24” www.lisamccleary.com

BELOW: LISA McCLEARY ‘Untitled’ Oil on Panel 36” x 24”

17 ZR: How does your Irish-Australian background translate into your artwork?

LM: I feel that my cross-cultural background has helped me to broaden my understanding of the art world at large. Both cultures are very open so I have been fortunate enough to engage with and learn from many artists during my travels between both homes. My pieces are often inspired by conversations and engagements with people from all walks of life. As artists, I believe that everything we do, the way we move through the world, the people we meet, the way we spend our days, all feeds back into our work.

ZR: How did your studies at Parsons help shape the artwork you produce today?

LM: During my studies at Parsons, I was introduced to new ways of making and thinking. I was able to select electives from any of the schools under The New School umbrella to push my work both conceptually and formally. I undertook courses on gender, sexuality and the body as those themes drive my practice.

I was also introduced to the metal shop and wood shop which helped me to explore 3-dimensionality within my work. I am interested in the meanings we assign to materials and our experiential relationship to different mediums. Class trips to major exhibitions and museums introduced me to work that I had only seen through images online. It was a great experience.

ZR: What was your inspiration behind your most recent pieces from 2020?

LM: My current series is inspired by the struggle of Essential Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Our imagery of the every day in New York City transformed into a dystopian reality.

COVID-19 brought about a heightened awareness of the social, political and economic disparities between the races and classes worldwide.

‘You Can’t Even See Your Face’ Tapestry 30” x 15” 2015

LEFT: LISA McCLEARY

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RIGHT: LISA McCLEARY ‘I am’ Oil on Panel 18” x 24” 2016

The Pandemic changed the way we recognize and categorize privilege. These paintings capture silent moments shared between myself and rideshare drivers. During the height of the Pandemic in NYC, these Essential Workers had created make-shift screens and installed them as a protective barrier in their cars. For me, the screen functions as a surface of mediation, protection, isolation, safety and fear. It acts as a barricade and charged index that both separates and unites us.

These paintings are about socioeconomic cognizance, selfindictment, community and longing.

21 ZR: What was your inspiration behind your pieces created in 2015/2016?

ZR: How has COVID-19 affected your work as an artist?

LM: The overwhelming nature of the past year made my practice shift from abstract realism and anthropomorphic sculptures to a focus on the pressing issues of the time, that were being experienced globally. I painted these current works photo-realistically as I felt that the imagery captured of everyday life in NYC in 2020 was surreal enough. I think after the world experienced such a communal trauma, there has been a real return to care and community. I wanted to acknowledge the courage of our Essential Workers during these unprecedented times, and their protection of and service to the community at large.

I believe that a lot has changed for artists over the past year and a half. The way we share and experience art has been confined to the screen. I feel that this often flattens artworks or means that they are consumed at a much faster rate. People can now conflate art shared online with social media “content” which I think puts more pressure on artists to produce. On the other side with everyone online, it means that people are consuming more art and engaging with more artists. I am excited that we can visit art in real life again, I have missed going to exhibitions in person.

LM: That series of work examined sexting navigated through ephemeral communication technology and evaluated the act of subverting private sexual transmissions. It explored the development in temporal communication technology during that time, placing focus on the application Snapchat and how it had affected cyber-sex culture. The work interrogates whether altering the outlook of the viewer from intimate and isolated to one of mass consumption can affect our response to and understanding of the image.

Elements of this series contrast and complies with characteristics of the application, engaging with themes of privacy, anonymity, constructed identity, temporality and the manipulated image.

I employed laborious traditional methods including collage, embroidery, tapestry and photorealist painting to render these private ephemeral communications public and permanent and to highlight the temporal nature of this online discourse.

LEFT: LISA McCLEARY ‘Fuck’ Oil on Panel 18” x 24” 2016

23 ZR: In the age of digital art, do you feel pressure to transition from oil paintings to some form of digital medium?

LM: I feel like the move towards the digital and the imposition of screens on our everyday lives has made us long for the tactile and the physical. After a year and a half of consuming everything through flat screens, there is a desire for the tangible and experiencing the presence of art in person. I have worked in video before and believe it has a lot to offer so it depends on the concept of the piece. But for me there is nothing like standing in front of a painting, looking at the way the light hits each brushstroke and trying to understand how someone painted it.

ZR: What three artists are currently inspiring you?

LEFT: LISA McCLEARY ‘Kissing’ Oil on Panel 18” x 24” 2016

LM: I appreciate Richard Estes hyper-real paintings that capture the every day in America with incredible detail.

Marilyn Minter’s grotesque and seductive realism has always been an inspiration to my work. I am also currently drawn to the tension in Jeff Muh’s concrete sculptural pieces.

JOHN TAYLOR WAGNER

25 Ziquita Riberdy: What inspires your work?

John Taylor Wagner: Witnessing subtle moments in both human nature and the natural world births all of my work. In most cases, ideas are sparked from moments of tenderness and deep listening.

It's spacious moments like that where I feel most alive. Our bodies and gestures communicate so much in each fleeting moment if we are paying attention. Some moments are uncomfortable, awkward, and painful, others are sweet, joyful, nostalgic, playful, and familiar. I use color and composition as tools to emphasize the gestural communication of my work. The subjects of my paintings are people I know and with whom I have connected deeply, which inspire such moments. During my process, I have begun asking myself, "what can I add to this painting that is an edge for me and that I never would have thought of." That question is living with me in all aspects of my life these days.

LEFT: JOHN TAYLOR WAGNER ‘Regents Park, London’ Oil Painting 24” x 36” www.johntaylorwagner.com

ZR: What made you decide to simplify your style after having trained in classical realism?

JTW: After 3 years of studying classical realism, I traveled to Florence, Italy to look at a well-respected art school that I had envisioned myself attending. I toured the grounds and the studio spaces and I was overwhelmed by how perfect and sterile the atmosphere was. Don't get me wrong, this place was a dream for most artists.

I saw rows of students' works that all looked very similar. Each one was impressive and powerful, yet again looked similar. They were all incredible, really. This isn't a dig on classical realism. I have tremendous respect for the artists and I actually teach realism. I realized it brought out a quality in me that I could not allow influencing my own creative nature. It invoked a desire to control the outcome of my work and abandon curiosity. I actually had to quit painting for a little while to rediscover a joyful connection to my work. When I picked up my brushes again, I became less interested in technique and more interested in expressing that freedom and curiosity I was beginning to feel again. I was trained to approach figurative work with precision and strong

LEFT: JOHN TAYLOR WAGNER ‘I Stand Tall And Feel Nature Quietly Holding Me’ Oil Painting 48” x 38”

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technique. What interests me more these days is approaching my subjects with a playful curiosity. It’s enchanting to witness what can be conveyed with less. I experience it as an opportunity to listen in a different way without getting preoccupied with perfection and technique. I have no idea what's going to come out of my paintings. I don't usually have a plan, other than an occasional reference photo that I loosely follow and typically only use to help me outline my subjects.

BELOW: JOHN TAYLOR WAGNER ‘Flight From The Community For The Wild’ Oil Painting 44” x 36”

When I am painting I seek a tender balance of a conscious and abstract experience to remain in a liminal space where inviting such a place of witnessing can exist. A major part of the American experience that I'm tremendously grateful for is being exposed to Native American culture. I have had profound opportunities to expose myself to indigenous rites of passage work, council circles, and living in a self-generated ceremony which brings me deeper connection, awareness, and expression.

ZR: How does being American and the American experience translate into your art?

JTW: What comes to mind immediately is how we have replaced ceremony and ritual with consumerism. I don't experience it as only limited to consuming resources, goods, and services. It's ubiquitous and feeds ghosts of inequality, power, and domination (to name just a few). Over time, I had suffered a loss of relating to the land, water, and a sense of myself. It has been a journey to rediscover these relationships and go through various initiations to find my role in our culture. Art can be the antithesis of consumerism as it is an invitation back to the present moment and the most honest versions of ourselves. Time seems to freeze and transform me from a consumer to a witness. The more I take on the role of a witness the more space I have to heal and connect with my community and the natural world in a healthy way.

29 ZR: Is there a tool or object you can't live without?

JTW: There's not much I can't live without. At the risk of objectifying the intangible and going yawn-inducing esoteric on you, I can't live without love. I don't mean love in the sense of how the word has appropriated it as individualistic, I mean love in the form of freedom, autonomy, nurturing integrity, connectedness, and interdependence. The more I learn about love the more it continues to definitively explain life.

ZR: Describe the art scene in Boulder, CO. Does living in Boulder help or hinder your art career?

JTW: There are heaps of artists here. I meet an artist on my walks around town almost every other day. Most often I see landscape paintings and photography, abstract, and craft work. We also have a growing population of muralists. The front range of the Rocky Mountains defines the landscape here and inspires a lot of our local artists. I don't know if it helps or hinders my career because it's all I know at this point. I am seriously considering the idea of moving to the Los Angeles area, or even Australia as the art communities, diversity, and culture there interest me quite a bit.

ZR: Any upcoming projects you can tell me about? What inspired those projects?

JTW: I am working on a few commissions at the moment as well as developing a cohesive series of works inspired by the crosssections of connectedness, our natural world, and modernity.

Those paintings will continue to roll out on my Instagram feed and website.

LEFT: JOHN TAYLOR WAGNER ‘Papaya’’ Oil Painting 16” x 12”

ROBYN JADE

31 You’re a tattoo artist, how does that translate into your digital art?

Tattooing to me is largely about the connection the artist has with the client and being able to create clear and concise images based on emotions and ideas. Similarly with art, be it digital or traditional, the final piece is about the connection between the art and the viewer. Being able to understand a connection to a person through the lens of tattooing allows me to connect through a piece to a viewer.

Tattooing has helped me to develop certain style traits as what should work on skin should work on paper and vice versa.

What made you decide to become a tattoo artist?

I have always had a fascination with tattooing as an art form. I was initially drawn to the unique concept of working on the human canvas as you are creating something that becomes a living part of a person. I always admired the relationship and level of trust that must be formed collectively to create a meaningful piece. Historically tattooing has represented a rite of passage and an expression of who we are as individuals. Being able to be a part of this sort of tradition was and always is an honor.

LEFT: ROBYN JADE ‘Digital Hydra’ Digital Illustration www.tokentattoo.ca

ZR: What was your inspiration for this piece?

ZR: How does social media play a role in growing your career?

RJ: This piece was born through observing the swiftly evolving landscape of the digital world and our connection to it. Despite our own ability to change and evolve I wonder at what point do we realize how much control we have over the digital world versus how much control it has over our lives. It is the beast we do not know.

RJ: Due to the nature of social media being an open platform/free for all, it allows you to become more accessible as an individual and to be able to be seen without having to invest when you may not have the means to do so. The other positive part of social media is the connections you can make through different platforms and the community that come from those connections.

ZR: How has COVID-19 affected your work as an artist?

RJ: For the past 10+ years, I have been primarily driven by tattooing and growing within that as the main medium I work in. With COVID-19 shuttering the business for months on end, it allowed me uninterrupted time to focus on digital as well as traditional art forms again.

ZR: Any projects you’re working on at the moment?

RJ: I am currently working on further exploring the concepts and themes presented in the digital hydra piece and hope to present a series at some point. I have also been working on another series of pencil sketches centered around the exploration of our emotions through light and dark aspects of nature.

BELOW: ABDO HASSAN ‘Faith’ Digital Collage www.abdo-hassan.me

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ABDO HASSAN

Ziquita Riberdy: When did you gain interest in art?

Abdo Hassan: I started doing digital collages 7 years ago. I loved doing them because there were no rules. I would just collage images with artistic vision, making artworks with wild colors and surreal concepts, I feel free doing this, and I guess this kind of art has no boundaries, that's what I love about surreal and collage art.

35 ZR: You mentioned you live in Cairo, can you describe the art scene there? Are there any benefits or disadvantages to living in Cairo when it comes to your art career?

AH: The Art scene in Egypt is not on the map yet, still, there are a lot of young artists like myself who are creating the new wave and forming the shape of the art scene in Egypt. Finding ourselves and proving our talents. After the revolution 10 years ago, it created a new generation of people that do not fear failing, a brave new form of artist.

Living in Cairo is full of disadvantages actually, but I try to turn it into an advantage. I live in a folk district in Egypt, full of culture and people, I guess that is what built my vision. Every day I see different people, a lot of them, I see crowds, but feel comfortable, like my artworks.

As I said, the art scene in Egypt is not yet that powerful, it means that I can't live as an artist, I can't make money out of my artworks, so I'm working as an art director in advertising, doing commercial projects. Besides that, I'm doing what I love, the artwork and projects that represent my thoughts and feelings.

TOP: ABDO HASSAN ‘Rules’ Digital Collage

ZR: You described your art as “a reflection of what’s going on inside your head”, can you elaborate more on that?

LEFT: ABDO HASSAN

AH: Every day I take the same route to get to my work, it takes 2 hours, the same crowded streets, but there are new details I look at. I see new people, I see this as meditation for me, daydreaming and visualizing in my mind details and applying them to my artwork.

ZR: Can you explain your artistic process for completing a piece?

‘Fate’ Digital Collage

AH: I try to visualize my dreams and my thoughts, I imagine the visuals in my mind, then I collect the images and 3D objects to make the composition that I dreamt of in my mind.

APRIL WINTER

37 Ziquita Riberdy: What is the inspiration behind your project “Chromatopia”?

April Winter: Looking into my old sketchbooks, I was interested in anything that seemed perfect or Utopian at first but with closer inspection seemed off. My inspiration board included petting zoos, lawn culture, gated communities, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Wonder Bread, and those fake grass garnish in takeout sushi. I was also drawn to a photograph from the television show Teletubbies, one of the characters was photographed without their head. It's equally Utopian as it is unsettling.

ZR: Is there one of these personas that you identify with?

AW: I don't specifically identify with any of the personas except how the collective conscience of our cultures sort of accepts certain colors with certain activities, professions or lifestyles. That being said, I very much enjoyed playing the purple character because it was thrilling to wear the platform heels and pasties, that I had never worn before.

LEFT: APRIL WINTER ‘April Showers Bring May Flowers’ Photograph www.aprilwinter.com

39 ZR: Do you face any stereotypes as a female artist?

AW: Anytime a female uses her body in her work I find stereotypes and judgements follow along the lines of “ you’re using your body for sex appeal to gain attention” or “you’re using your body and nudity for the shock value” but really, I am comfortable in my body and I feel the most comfortable when I am alone. In the end, I want to make the work that I want to see and if nudity captures that then I’ll use what is at my disposal. I don’t see it as pornographic as some people may see it.

ZR: You have a very distinctive style when it comes to your photography, how did you find your style? And how has it evolved?

AW: I’ve always been a very solitary creator. I feel recharged from being alone, especially when I'm creating or experimenting. Because I was always there, self-portraiture was a natural direction for me. With it, I can directly process the things in my life into my work. Anything from a cool color palette I saw, learning a new skill, hearing an entertaining fact or finding out about new material. I just sort of let my senses absorb the world around me and some things stick. Over the years my mind has gotten excited about different things. I piece these ideas and objects together until my mind is satisfied. Puzzle complete.

LEFT: APRIL WINTER ‘The Tortoise and The Hair’ Photograph

41 ZR: Any upcoming projects you’re excited about?

AW: The project I am currently working on is tentatively called “Rituals”. It's another film photography self-portraiture project but here I am focusing on costume design. I’m mixing historically significant clothing with potential futuristic clothing. I'm imagining if humans colonized an asteroid what cultural artifacts and ideologies would they bring with them and how would they be changed by the environment. Climate change and air pollution are major inspirations for this series.

ZR: How has COVID-19 affected the way you work as an artist?

AW: Having more time to spend on my work because I haven’t been wasting time overly socializing. In 2020 I also used materials that were more readily available. I was working at a hardware store at the time, I used paints, plumbing parts, pieces from heating systems, wood, cardboard and some broken things out of the trash. It certainly focused my viewpoint on my immediate surroundings.

LEFT: APRIL WINTER ‘You Are What You Eat’ Photograph

Seitaro yamazaki

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LEFT: SEITARO YAMAZAKI ‘Nameless Portrait’ Installation www.seiyamazaki.com

45 Ziquita Riberdy: Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Seitaro Yamazaki: I camp in the summer and snowboard in the winter, spending most of my free time in nature. I also enjoy reading literature. Nature and literature are my two inspirational sources.

ZR: How does living in Japan impact your work?

SY: I spent a few years studying in New York but most of my life has been in Japan with family. Japan is gifted with nature and is believed to have infinity gods. Being that my work accepts diversity, this idea very much aligns with my philosophy.

ZR: Tell me more about your position as Creative Adviser for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. How did this position help your career?

SY: I am grateful to have been given this important and honorable position at this young age. It taught me the complexity of our society and system and how they intertwine while both having their justice.

To creatively problem-solve these issues, I find it key to look at the root matter. As an artist, I like to have a clear approach as such. My experience with Tokyo 2020 pushed me to pursue my career as an artist.

ZR: Tell me about your solo exhibition at J-Collabo in New York.

What work was featured?

SY: I showcased a series called UNIT FOR Y-AXIS. This work experiments the relationship of the three axes, X, Y and Z when the Y is released from gravity. It was a memorable experience being that It was my very first solo exhibition in New York and I received many great comments.

LEFT: SEITARO YAMAZAKI ‘Nameless Portrait’ Installation

47 ZR: You have an extensive educational background. Why was it important for you to experience different teachings and how have they impacted your art career?

SY: I guess I’m just full of curiosities.

I have the desire to express everything with my own hands and I'm always hungry to elevate my knowledge. That’s where my reading habits come from. What I learned after studying different subjects is that all academics progress towards humans. It taught me that the subjects are only a segment of our society and what’s most important is to express your true desires.

ZR: What artists are inspiring you at the moment and why?

SY: Leonardo da Vinci. From my understanding, his foundations were driven by curiosities and the segments are what gave him the various titles as an architect, artist, designer, and doctor. His ability to continuously create value for society while progressing as a human being is truly inspirational to me.

LEFT: SEITARO YAMAZAKI ‘Music For The Margin’ Installation

‘Sugar Bound’ Portrait Produced with Sugar www.instagram.com/clphoto83

LEFT: CHRISTINA LESLIE

Christina Leslie

49 ZR: Do you face any stereotypes or boundaries as a Canadian artist competing on a global scale?

Ziquita Riberdy: How did you start creating art using sugar?

Christina Leslie: This past year, I have been interested in the geopolitics of food and the history of the sugar industry within the Caribbean diaspora. Generally, the middle- passage is associated with African-American slavery and history. But there was a whole other group of captured and enslaved Africans used for “free” labor brought to the West Indies that were brutalized for capital gain by White Europeans. Being of Jamaican heritage, I thought it was important to speak about this as the West Indies was developed to expand our colonizers reach. Sugar and rum were two of the most popular exports during this time and Jamaica was considered Great Britain’s “crown jewel” in the sugar industry. Yet so important and integral to the West Indian Black Diaspora, this is a chronicle that is rarely acknowledged as it has been lumped into the larger tale of the enslaved Africans in the Americas.

CL: I have not faced any specific stereotypes as a Canadian artist on a global scale, but in retrospect, I do think that early on in my career opportunities were limited when trying to get my photographs exhibited in my own country as I had many galleries turn my work away for being “Too Black”. However, with the right mentors, curators, and supporters, I overcame many of those same initial obstacles.

Since I am currently pursuing my Masters in the States, I do believe there can be a disconnect in how the viewers understand my photographs that surround ideas of the Caribbean. But other than that, I’ve been fortunate for including themes that most people resonate with.

BELOW: CHRISTINA LESLIE ‘Sugar-Free’ Portrait Produced with Sugar

51 ZR: Tell me more about your experience with the “Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival”.

CL: Held each year in Toronto ON, during the whole month of May, the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival features a sizable number of photo-based exhibitions and outdoor installations by both international and Canadian artists. It generates lots of interest from the public and photographers often gain more exposure for participating. Throughout my photographic career, I have had a few exhibits as part of the festival.

However, in 2020, my “Morant Bay” photo series was highlighted as one of the primary exhibitions to see and was included as a four-page spread in the catalog.

ZR: How did that experience impact you and your career?

CL: As a result of being in the festival, the series was featured in other art institutions like PAMA in Toronto. I have been invited to give several artists talks about the series the past year, which has further spread my reach to a larger audience. It is slated to possibly tour next year internationally. Lastly, a number of the editions (prints) have sold, which has generated more revenue for me.

ZR: Walk me through creating an art piece out of sugar.

CL: While I do not want to give away my methods, I will provide the following: I have always been interested in “process” and experimentation in making photo-based work. I am now exploring the materialism of sugar in its bleached granular form to speak about this concept.

Using my personal archives of Jamaica and intermixing them with new images, I am producing photographs that are a combination of specialized photo paper and sugar. The process is painstaking and speaks about the “hands” behind the history of this trade. Fascinated by the tactility of sugar, the viewer can imagine the texture without ever touching it. Sugar is so sweet but the tale behind it is so sour.

ZR: Why are you inspired by themes such as immigration, identity, marginalization, memory and, race?

CL: It is essential for me to make work that reflects my life experiences and others that are close to me. All our collective narratives are inspiring, and I believe it is important to display them visually as representation matters and these histories are important to acknowledge since they have been absent throughout much of art history.

ZR: Which three artists are inspiring you at the moment? Why? CL: I have a long list of artists that inspire.

Presently I am finding inspiration in films and their makers. One is director Barry Jenkins, who created this amazing video titled “The gaze”. Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is another piece. Both films are cinematically gorgeous, and each frame reminds me of a photograph. And of course, I must include Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker and Carrie Mae Weems all of who are amazing female artists whose work addresses similar themes as mine.

LEFT: CHRISTINA LESLIE ‘Sugar Strapped’ Portrait Produced with Sugar

NIGEL FOLLETT

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BELOW: NIGEL FOLLETT ‘Rainbow's End’ Digital Painting www.nigelfollett.art

Ziquita Riberdy: When did you first gain interest in art?

Nigel Follett: At secondary school. It was all down to an inspirational teacher, Vincent Wilson, who is an extremely talented painter in his own right. However, it was his ability to connect with an unmotivated schoolboy that made me remember him for the rest of my life. ‘I can’t paint, sir, I’m rubbish', weren’t words he understood or accepted, so he put a great big paintbrush in my hand, pointed at a sheep’s skull and told me to paint it as I saw it through squinted eyes, and only with that brush. That single act ignited a passion for art that has never gone away.

ZR: Why do you choose to create digital freehand paintings instead of traditional oil or acrylic paintings?

NF: It’s a rather sad, nevertheless uplifting reason as to why I set off on a digital path.

I’d painted in oils and watercolors on and off for years after leaving full-time education but lapsed because of family and career demands. As the years passed, my brushes and paints deteriorated from being left stored in garages and attics, from house move to house move.

The catalyst to start again came eight years ago when a very close friend lost her grown-up son to a brain tumor. I found it difficult to comprehend just how much emotional suffering this caused her and her family, and I wanted to do something positive that she’d never forget – to do something more than offer kind words.

I decided to paint him in happier times, and so from a really poor photo I downloaded from her Facebook page, I set out to do a free-hand portrait; the problem was that I didn’t have the means to do it anymore. It was then that I noticed that there was a painting program in Adobe Photoshop and although I didn’t have a graphics tablet at the time, I decided to try and paint the portrait using a mouse.

It hurt my wrist a great deal and took over 70 hours, but it accomplished two things – the first was that I successfully managed to paint her boy, and the second was that I was hooked on the capabilities of a digital medium. I realized that I could paint anything I could imagine or see and that has been the case since then.

ZR: What was your inspiration for “Rainbow’s End”?

NF: The COVID-19 pandemic was the inspiration for this piece. I wanted to use an iconic figure to draw the viewer in and they don’t come any more memorable than Judy Garland’s ‘Dorothy’ from the ‘Wizard of Oz’. What helped was that the transition from one reality to another – black and white to color helps to tell the story of the before and after the impact of a deadly virus.

The fact she is also on a path; the yellow brick road is a metaphor for mankind’s journey. To connect the dots, I painted a Pangolin in her basket (whose merciless exploitation is widely connected by scientists to the source of the virus) to suggest that she is trying to protect it but is too late and instead of a pot of gold at the bottom of the rainbow, a shower of virus particles rain down on her. Finally, there was no single source image of Judy with the right facial expression, so I painted her body from a publicity photo and her head from a movie still.

BELOW: NIGEL FOLLETT ‘Oblivious’ Digital Painting

ZR: What was your inspiration for “Oblivious”?

NF: This is inspired by the fact that in a world where we are connected to everybody, all the time, we have never been more isolated, introspective or insular. The specific incident that gave me the idea was seeing my twenty-year-old stepdaughter for the first time in around a year. Mid conversation(s), she would just slide away into a sort of mobile phoneinduced trance and it was as if she’d disappeared, completely oblivious to where she was, the person she was with, or that her behavior was somewhat insulting. I wondered if she’d notice an earthquake or an alien invasion whilst in that state of ‘mobile rapture’. It crystallized what I see so often and it isn’t only young people who are affected: We’re sleep-walking into catastrophe as a species and the mobile phone and social media have much to do with this, in my opinion. Happily, there is a remedy for this, but it doesn’t apply to the masses, unfortunately. I work as a volunteer in a charity for young people: it teaches them music skills; rock instruments and vocals and everything in-between. I just never see any of them with a mobile in their hands – they are far too absorbed in learning something life-affirming and they will readily converse with anyone, without diving into their pockets for their mobiles.

ZR: Has your smartphone had any negative impact on you?

NF: Happily, not much. I recognize when it’s doing to me what I’ve criticized in others, so I make a conscious effort to limit what I do with it and I never ignore someone I’m within favor of someone who isn’t physically there. It’s been a boon in these times of isolation and I always need to know if there’s a client wanting to talk but never has it become an addiction and never have any of the social media apps succeeded in disabling my critical-thinking ability: I check anything that looks populist, racist, or sounds like hate speech. I suppose the negative it has delivered to me is that I see that many of us are switching off to anything that contradicts our beliefs; there is little to no balanced debate on things that are hurting all of us (climate change, intolerance in its various forms, etc.) and reason just doesn’t prevail. On the upside, it’s fertile ground for an artist who likes painting statement artworks!

ZR: Why do you choose to address political, environmental, and, social issues in your art?

NF: A picture speaks a thousand words and I’ve deliberately set out to create a lot of provocative pieces. I realized that I

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could make a difference and cause debate when early on in my digital art journey, I donated a painting to activist organizations Rainforest Action Network and Orangutan Outreach. They used my artwork in a campaign against PepsiCo, one of the worst offenders for rainforest destruction in Indonesia: It reached millions of people. Other works relating to the environment were shown at a huge trade fair in Beijing and made it into a magazine there – reaching 30 million people. The reason I create these artworks isn’t for the benefit of my ego, it’s to make a difference in drawing attention to some of the existential threats we face and which we are inflicting on other species.

ZR: Name 3 artists that inspire you. Why do they inspire you?

NF: Waterhouse; I love his romanticism and often paint nonprovocative works that reflect this.

Chris Jordan; because he’s a photographer getting to the heart of the environmental damage we’re causing.

Salvador Dali; when I paint fantasy, there’s often a nod to this genius. If anyone ever says, ‘That painting reminds me of Dali’ (or Roger Dean), I’m in seventh heaven. Looking at the world differently; deconstructing it, seeing beyond the physical world; wonderful!

Ashley Cheatham

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TOP: ASHLEY CHEATHAM Ziquita Riberdy: What compels you to depict “things that ‘Environmentally Friendly’ are hidden away” such as uncomfortable emotions and Fine Art Photograph conflicts within ourselves? www.ashmargaret.com Ashley Cheatham: I have always been fascinated with how we present ourselves and what we choose to suppress or show to others. I feel people are so much more complex than they are comfortable admitting. In everyone's lifetime, facts change, opinions change, we grow physically and emotionally. The depth of what makes us “who we are” scares a lot of people as we like to see things as right and wrong, black and white. In reality, we are made up of a lot of “grey” that we don’t want others to see and are unaware of within ourselves.

ZR: The project seems to be inspired by the ‘50s, why did you choose that period instead of the present?

AC: I wanted to give this series a timeless and indistinct feeling. I was inspired by ‘50s costuming and props because I feel the ‘50s as an era for women was entirely contradictory. Women were asked to “step up,” help with the war, and work while the men were gone, but as soon as the war was done, women were expected to go back to the house duties and play perfect housewife again. I thought LEFT: ASHLEY CHEATHAM it was the perfect match to mix vintage with a modern aes‘Gaslight Whisper’ thetic, combining for an almost post-apocalyptic feel with Fine Art Photograph a cross-processed quality.

TOP: ASHLEY CHEATHAM ‘GMO Picnic’ Fine Art Photograph

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61 ZR: Where did you get the idea to create your project “Gently Seeping”?

BELOW: ASHLEY CHEATHAM

AC: My project depicts delusions of things we do to take care of ourselves & yet simultaneously destroy. We often do something that makes us feel good about ourselves and in the same motion contradict without even realizing it. I notice examples of this in lots of everyday interactions: taking great care in how we look and getting nails done, then having a cigarette.

Ordering a Big Mac at McDonald’s with a diet coke. Get behind the wheel drunk while buckling the seat belt.

These contradictions started to gnaw at me. I was packing boxes at my costume store in 2019 and I saw the gas mask.

The ideas started flowing with the mask being the center of it all. I knew I needed to use it to depict this series.

I purposefully chose the gas mask without its big filter to portray the relentless bare minimum mindset society continues to display. The mask illustrates a positive action someone does to better themselves or their life but is then often rendered useless a midst the other choices

they continue to make. The smoke in some of the images represents the danger we allow to seep into our lives while feeling protected with our faulty gas mask.

Some scenes are focused on a specific contradictory concept. Several represent those content with an out of sight, out of mind mentality, willfully ignoring the suffering of others or our planet.

The pandemic has only exacerbated the delusions even more. COVID has displayed a dramatic divide between those who live completely unchanged and those who have locked themselves away. When COVID-19 ambushed our lives, I saw first-hand the "save yourself" mentality that has left us at war against each other. Where is the line drawn between pleasure and risk? I wanted to press into those invisible boundaries that we place on ourselves deep in our subconscious.

LEFT: ASHLEY CHEATHAM ‘But First Let Me Take A Selfie’ Fine Art Photograph

‘Safe Lovers’ Fine Art Photograph

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PAGE 62: ASHLEY CHEATHAM

PAGE 63: ASHLEY CHEATHAM

‘What To Expect’ Fine Art Photograph

‘Pretty Boy’ Fine Art Photograph

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ZR: How was your experience at Oakland Community College, how did it help shape your style today?

BELOW: ASHLEY CHEATHAM ‘Woman’s Work’ Fine Art Photograph

AC: I loved attending Oakland Community College. I had access to all kinds of film and print processing, a huge studio, and large format cameras. My studies were primarily analog with only a couple of digital classes.

I was told it was one of the biggest darkrooms in MI, with both black and white and color enlarging/printing areas. You don’t have the instant gratification when taking the shot to know exactly how it turned out. When the final image appears it feels like such a triumph when you got it right. We were encouraged to experiment with developing techniques like using color infrared film, pushing, pulling, and cross processing slides. The color shifts and tones from alternative film processing heavily influence my digital work today. Learning with film on a manual camera taught me to be a better photographer. You have to really think about your shot and know what you are doing to get it right. From exposure, to the type of film, to aperture, it all has to be spot on. I still use that foundation today with my digital work, and I don’t have to do a lot of post-processing on my computer. I hear a lot of photographers say, “I’ll fix it later in Photoshop,” when it’s not necessary. I still take the same amount of care and time with each shot as if I only have 36 in the camera.

ZR: During your studies, you practiced film and digital photography, which one did you like more and why?

AC: There is something magical about manually processing your own film and paper. Taking it from start to finish and watching the chemistry develop the paper is always exhilarating. Practicing film and printing yourself is a whole-body experience. It takes a lot more time, effort, and care. I feel more accomplished whenever I use film. I am currently building a darkroom in the home we just purchased a month ago, and I am very excited to get back to it for a few projects I have lined up.

The ease of digital is quite addicting though!

The quality of digital has come such a long way, and not having any darkroom access for quite some time, I am very grateful for my digital camera and computer. There is freedom in shooting digital without having to plan whether it’s black and white or color, adding filters after the shot, and correcting exposure has been really awesome. I like each for different reasons and for different applications.

Don’t make me choose!

would absolutely love something and the next person said that the very same thing needed to be omitted or changed drastically.

While some might find that frustrating, I love that my work is invoking powerful emotions.

I want this series to speak to others. My images are doing what I wanted and causing people to react which is a huge success in my book.

ZR: What are some of the challenges you face as a fine art photographer?

AC: I have found determining how to get my work out into the fine art world challenging.

The easy parts for me are the ideas and execution, but getting in front of the right people or the right contests has been hit or miss. No one teaches you how to submit your work or art etiquette when dealing with galleries. Another challenge I’ve faced, with my Gently Seeping series specifically, is some of the critical feedback has been paradoxical. In my last portfolio review, a few incredibly well-respected reviewers had opposing opinions in regards to some aspects of the series. One

RIGHT: ASHLEY CHEATHAM ‘Acid Rain’ Fine Art Photograph

Kayan hamadeh

69 Ziquita Riberdy: You mentioned you were self-taught, is there a book or resource you relied on during your journey?

Kayan Hamadeh: Art has been a huge passion of mine since childhood and I've always been a very artistically inclined person, so I have always found pleasure in learning tips and techniques on my own. My main resources have always been Youtube and Google. I spend a lot of time watching painting process videos on Youtube, and pick up tips as I watch and observe artists paint their pieces. Whenever I have a question or am having trouble figuring something out, I Google it and find an abundance of information and help! I strongly believe that if you love something enough, it's 100% possible to teach yourself and figure it out.

ZR: What location was “Afternoon Breaks on the Coast” inspired by?

KH: "Afternoon Break on the Coast" was inspired by an image of the coastal cliffs in Malibu, which reminded me so much of the Mediterranean coast in Lebanon, where my family is from. Both California and Lebanon are two of my favorite places on earth and I find so many similarities in their coastal landscapes, which is why I like to think of this piece as a combination of both places.

LEFT: KAYAN HAMADEH ‘Warm Stillness’ Oil On Canvas 18” x 24” www.kayanhamadeh.com

71 ZR: Do you find that being a self-taught artist is an advantage or disadvantage?

KH: I find that being self-taught offers both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages being that I have been able to learn at my own pace, dive deep into the elements of art that I adore the most and, feel prideful that I have been able to accomplish so much on my own. The disadvantages involve lack of opportunity -- going to art school practically guarantees connections for the future because you get to attend with other fellow artists, make friends along the way and meet people in the field. Of course, there are opportunities for those who are self-taught, but I have found that it takes a lot more work to make those connections and open doors.

ZR: Why did you decide to pursue a self-taught journey?

KH: I never imagined myself pursuing art as my career; I always kept it as a hobby because I never imagined it possible for me to build a successful career as an artist. When I began learning how to work with oil paints for pleasure, things started happening naturally. I started casually selling a piece here and there, and the next thing I knew people were inquiring about commissions, so I just went with it. If I knew that this would end up being the path I take in life, I would have definitely considered going to art school!

Do you travel often and how has travel impacted your art practice?

Before COVID, I would try to travel at least once a year, even if it was just a short trip to California or Montreal. Travel has had the biggest influence and impact on my artwork by providing me with more culture, inspiration, beauty and change of scenery. Every time I come back home from my travels I feel like a completely different, more complete person, and I think this is consistently shown through my artwork. Fun fact: I started painting landscapes after my first visit to Palm Desert!

LEFT: KAYAN HAMADEH ‘Afternoon Breaks on the Coast’ Oil On Canvas 18” x 24”

ZR: Where do you plan on traveling when the COVID-19 restrictions lift?

KH: This is my favorite question! I would love to kick off my travels in Paris, it's a dream of mine is to create an entire collection inspired

by Paris, painted Pleinair on the cute streets of the city and, visit the quaint cafes that the Masters used to frequent. Another location that I would love to visit is Phoenix, Arizona. Although very different from Paris, a piece of my heart belongs in the desert and from what it seems, Phoenix has gorgeous desert-scapes that would serve as a tremendous inspiration for my work.

TAMARA ZIBNERS

TOP: TAMARA ZIBNERS ‘Moonlit Pincher’ Inkjet Collage 9’ x 9’ www.zibners.com

73 Ziquita Riberdy: What is your process for creating an art piece?

Tamara Zibners: I start every piece with a simple photograph, usually taken with my phone. I’ll select a photograph because of the tension between the characters - myself and my son - or because of the composition. I then make a loose contour drawing of the photograph in Photoshop, which becomes a line drawing. I fill this line drawing in with color, using the original colors from the photograph as a source, and then crank up the saturation. The result is an image that is recognizable as a domestic snapshot, but is degraded, cartoonish and abstract. Some drawings are finished works, and others I rework into collage pieces of various sizes, each an amalgamation of the myriad of colors and moods that are present in the digital drawings.

I slice up my drawings by following the positive or negative spaces found within the images, or I cut them up based on color. I assemble the cut pieces with matte medium, which functions as a glue and a surface protectant, and as I’m shaping and wetting these large pieces I do feel transported as an artist - suddenly I am a quilter or a baker, - it is no longer "just" paper and glue. These materials now move and fold and ultimately get caressed into their final position.

ZR: What inspired you to create the pieces in “Hold You”?

TZ: When my son was three months old I badly broke my shoulder, landing myself in the emergency room for two days. I couldn’t nurse my baby because I was on narcotics.

I couldn’t hold my baby because I was in too much pain.

About a week into this horrific debacle, I took a picture of myself and my child…him sleeping on me, me with my bandages and scar. I realized later that this photograph was a different conversation I was having with my camera and my child. It reflected on our relationship. It also showed my distant vanity, crushed by nurture. Since then, I have turned my camera on us a lot, focusing on the moments that I can touch, hold, and care for my child through physical contact.

I wanted to build a body of work about this fleeting period during early motherhood when my son and I are physically connected. I also wanted all of the sentimentality attached

to mothering, but also the honesty of the day-to-day grind - my relationship to my body being a vessel of milk, or how the constant touching gave me wounds on my body.

Most of my work over the years has been loosely autobiographical. I believe I can make the strongest work when it is born from something I know personally. This said, I really want my work to be universally read. I’m not interested in specifically telling the story about me and my son, rather, I want to explore concepts that many parents experience. Additionally, I also don’t mind if the concepts within this work ultimately disintegrate in front of the viewer, allowing the viewer to be viscerally affected by the colors and the scale of the work.

ZR: Explain how becoming a mother changed how you work as an artist and your career.

TZ: I wanted to have a child even though I knew it would make my life more difficult. I, like most female artists, thought a lot about the doom bestowed upon the woman artist who becomes a mother, but so far this major life shift has caused me to be more productive in the studio than in recent years past. For one, upon having a child, my husband and I made changes so I didn’t end up returning to work as a full-time high school art teacher. As a stayat-home mom, when my workday is done, I have hardly used any of my adult brain and absolutely crave getting into the studio.

Although I struggle with child care help and often have no choice but to hang with my kid and not be productive, the desire to produce work has only intensified since having my son.

Before I was a parent I continuously had this existential crisis about “what mattered” and “why I was doing the thing I was doing”, but now that I'm a mom my ultimate concern in life is my child, and that prior existential suffering has dissipated.

Ironically maybe, because so many artist tropes involve the struggling artist laboring with their mental health to produce the best work of their life. And though I certainly struggle with mental health, I also feel free, the dragging weight of “why should I be doing this” is gone. My new “why” is ultimately to be the best version of myself so I can model that for my child. I am at my best when I am creating work, and so if I can keep at it, I know my son will see me as a happy, productive person and hopefully he can translate this guidance into being his own awesome person in the future.

ZR: How has the pandemic changed how you work as an artist?

75 ZR: Tell me more about the “Roswell Artist in Residence Compound”.

What impact has it had on your career?

TZ: The Roswell Artist in Residency is a residency program based in Roswell, New Mexico. The artists who are selected for the residency - six a year - have a three-bedroom house, a stipend, a large studio, and access to facilities (a woodshop, metal shop, ceramic studio, printmaking studio and a digital lab) for a whole year. This is a serious artist residency, it is very competitive, and it is awesome.

TZ: The pandemic has changed all of us, in ways I still don’t think we fully understand. I keep wondering what cultural shift will happen post-pandemic among all creatives, but we are still inside of it, and I think it is too soon to reflect on what this cultural trauma has done to us.

My practice didn’t have to change much - my studio is at home, I continued to have access to all the facilities I needed, and I continued buying materials online which I had been used to since moving to a rural American town.

Probably the most poinginet change came within me and is found in the work. I drew pictures and cut and reassembled paper while listening to hours upon hours of news, taking my anxiety out with an X-acto blade, and gaining some semblance of control of the chaos around me by manipulating my artwork.

LEFT: TAMARA ZIBNERS ‘Creamsicle Gonna Get You’ Inkjet Collage 9’ x 9’

I am not actually on the residency grant. My husband, artist Larry Bob Phillips, was hired as the residency director three years ago, and for this time we’ve lived on the residency compound as a family. I have been able to stay at home with our son and essentially have all of the benefits of the other artists in residence - a large studio, a house to live in, and access to facilities. I have been able to create a lot of work since we’ve been here, because of the incredible resources available to me at this residency. It also helps that my neighbors are excellent international artists who inspire me and help me.

ZR: What artists are inspiring you at the moment?

TZ: Louise Bourgeois is a guiding light for me right now. Her themes connected to life’s most fundamental struggles - birth, death, mothering, our relationships with our parents, our sexuality, our mind, are explored throughout her work in what feels like every medium, hundreds of times. I love her repetition, humor, and confidence as an artist.

The tapestry work by Erin M. Riley (shows with PPOW Gallery, NYC) is absolutely incredible.

The vulnerability that she shows in her photographic depictions of herself, dealing with sexuality and self-destruction, all in the intricate process of a woven textile, simply blows my mind. The prolific amount of work she makes always verges into the political, making clear what she stands for, but is also entrenched in her own story and struggles as a human.

Natasha Bowdoin is a former Roswell Artist in Residence (represented by Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX) , who I was able to meet when she came to give a workshop at the local museum in Roswell. She invigorated me to take risks within my practice which has ultimately led to my current body of work.

Natasha’s absolutely amazing large-scale installations of cut out gardens are immersive -

in the same way that Louise Bourgeois’ spiders envelop the viewer. All of her cut paperwork in the past gives me the chills with their intricacy and attention to detail, but her newer work is completely immersive in terms of scale, which I absolutely love. Her work is also happy, at times creepy, but mostly happy, which I want more of, I need more of!

Lastly, I’m really excited about being a part of an artist community or tribe of like-minded people. In my daily life, I am inspired by my friends who are artists, and from these friends, I peripherally learn about artists who inspire me. I yearn to be solidly part of a tribe, not to look at and admire other artists, but ultimately, to share and learn from each other.

RIGHT: TAMARA ZIBNERS ‘Suck it Mountain’ Inkjet Collage 9’ x 9’

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LIDIJA RISTIC

79 Ziquita Riberdy: Tell me more about your artistic background and your growth as an artist.

Lidija Ristic: The trajectory of my work revolves around playing with dimensions and experimenting with materials and approaches. As an undergraduate, I studied both painting and sculpture. Those two disciplines influenced each other in my practice, and I found that kind of crossover a very fertile creative ground. This led me to keep looking for new dimensions to explore and kept me asking how new and old knowledge would/could inform one another. As a result, I now fluidly work between/by combining 2, 3 and 4 dimensions. I utilize a kind of “in-out” workflow where, for instance, I make an object, shoot, or photograph it. That material then becomes part of video work or, a digital collage and then those photographs or stills get applied to future sculptures that then, in turn, become subjects of further shoots. And so, the process keeps going and layering on itself much like with the endless mirror effect. Most often these elements come together as part of an installation.

LEFT: LIDIJA RISTIC ‘Mirror Box’ Series Digital Image www.lidijaristic.com

What processes do you go through to create a digital piece?

My digital pieces are very layered works. Even if they seem to be fairly unified once completed, I often go through many steps of digitization and then bring multiple elements together in Photoshop. In the case of Red Blooded and Sugar Coated and Let the Bloodless, they were composed of 3D scanning files, still from video pieces and digital photographs.

These completed works also went on to be referenced in other pieces through further forms of digitization like screen grabs that were used as footage for collage video pieces.

PAGE 82-83: LIDIJA RISTIC ‘Mirror Box’ Series Digital Image

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ZR: How does living in two cities influence your art practice?

LR: Bi-culturalism has always been a part of my life. Even when I lived full time in the USA, I felt like I lived between worlds.

This experience is common for many immigrants and children whose parents are from different cultures. As a result, I have found that I have a unique vantage point from which to understand both cultures. There is always a counterpoint that gives a broader context to whichever place I happen to be. Much like multilingualism, bi- or multiculturalism broadens one’s scope and understanding of the world.

This is invaluable for an artist because our profession is the pursuit of expanded interpretations of the human experience.

Now that I am actively working between the two cities, New York and Belgrade, this dual perspective has become all the more deeper.

LEFT: LIDIJA RISTIC ‘Mirror Box’ Series Digital Image

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ZR: How does your color choices inspire the direction of a body of work?

LR: I learned early on that no element present in the work should be a result of arbitrary choice and that has influenced my method of color selection. This is the case for this series in particular, which is highly tied to its color palate.

‘Mirror Box’ Series Digital Image

LR: My practice is interdisciplinary, which at its core means that I practice everything and anything that best fits the project at hand. My primary forms of expression are sculpture and video, but I also utilize photography, performance, sound, and some traditional craft skills like sewing/fabric construction.

But experimentation is the driving force behind my work, so I am always trying new techniques and mediums and new ways of mixing and blending them.

TOP: LIDIJA RISTIC

ZR: What other disciplines, besides digital art, do you practice?

There are two elements that all the pieces are made from. Digital photographs of slime dyed with red food coloring and a 3D-scanned lollipop. By choosing these two starting points, I was preselecting not only the direction the body of work but also the narratives embedded in it. Two of the major themes are processed foods and our relationship to the body and bodily functions. The color palette is directly derived from the materials that represent those themes. Nevertheless, it is still very saturated/aesthetics-focused. This too is part of the narrative of the work. I strongly believe that “beautiful” work is not just simply decorative but can carry very compelling meaning(s). Furthermore, I like to use the social constructs inherent in our relationships to color to convey ideas. For this reason, I like to not just incorporate vivid colors but to actually build the work around them.

ZR: Tell me more about your collaboration with Paradice Palase.

LR: Paradice Palase is a wonderful artist/member-run space in Brooklyn, NY. Lauren Elise and Kat Ryals are committed to supporting community building and accessible collecting.

I too am very passionate about those missions, and I am very grateful to be able to work with a space that looks for ways to break down the barriers that often make artmaking and appreciation challenging. Our first collaboration was in January of 2020 when they hosted the show, Mess/MESS, which I organized with food artist Salimatu Amabebe. After that, I participated in their “wearable art” collection in which artists produced original work that was printed on t-shirts and sold through the gallery. In May of this year, they hosted a virtual walk-through of my installation The Space That We [Keep] Between Ourselves at 80WSE Gallery, New York, NY. One of my pieces from that show will soon be available at their space as part of their affordable art initiative/collection.

BELOW: LIDIJA RISTIC ‘Mirror Box’ Series Digital Image

87 What was your inspiration for "Red Blooded and Sugar Coated"?

Both these pieces were part of my installation, The Space That We [Keep] Between Ourselves, that was exhibited at 80WSE Gallery in New York, New York. Red Blooded and Sugar Coated: This piece is composed of three elements: a digital photograph I took of slime which I made and dyed with red food coloring, a screenshot I took while using a 3Dmodeling software to augment a lollipop I scanned, and the jpeg file of the color texture taken from the outside of the original lollipop through the 3D-scanning process. Although, strictly speaking, this is a (digital) collage, I have chosen to call it a painting. By doing so I am highlighting the fact that this is an example of pure digital expression. The digital aspect of the work is a vital component of the piece and is in and of itself an important layer in the dialog of the composition. The digital media here is intentionally used as a form of processing. Through each stage of digitization, the original objects get further translated and transmuted. Similarly, the lollipop I used went through extensive phases of industrial processing before arriving at its final form. However, this final form it took was an integrated whole. Such is the case with "Red Blooded and Sugar Coated". Unlike classic paper collages, which still retain traces of the individuality of the components that comprise it, here the lines between the elements are significantly more blurred.

Another reason I wish to call this a painting is that it is informed by traditional approaches to painting. Most notably being the centralized vanishing point. A prime example of this tradition can be found in Pietro Perugino's "Christ gives the Keys to St. Peter", 1482. In this fresco, the artist quite literally utilizes a grid structure (the plaza's paving stones) to accentuate the vanishing point at the center of the image.

The advent of perspective drawing/painting was a huge technical leap, and, in his depiction, Perugino celebrates not only his mastery but the new technique itself. In "Red Blooded and Sugar Coated" I am also using a very intense linear perspective to create the illusion of depth in a medium even more inherently flat than that which my predecessors used.

Moreover, I too am celebrating the possibilities born from the advances in digital innovation and indeed carrying on the

tradition of incorporating new techniques into a fine arts practice.

The connection to the 3d-print is twofold. Firstly, the original photograph used here as the background was incorporated in “Red 40 Blood Letting” as its surface layer. Secondly, the objects in the foreground of this image are screenshots of “Red 40 Blood Letting” taken while it was being generated in a 3D-modeling softwareitor.

“Let the Bloodless” again achieves something I have been continuously striving towards: giving weight and substance to digital expression.

PAGE 88: LIDIJA RISTIC ‘Red Blooded and Sugar Coated’ Digital Image

PAGE 89: LIDIJA RISTIC ‘Let the Bloodless’ Digital Image

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RYAN BELL

91 BELOW: RYAN BELL ‘Aerial Machina’ Series Digital Image www.instagram.com/iryanbell Ziquita Riberdy: NFTs are a relatively new thing, how did you hear about them and why did you decide to start making them?

Ryan Bell: I became interested in blockchain applications when I understood the leap in potential from Bitcoin to Ethereum and was able to dive into the Web3 stack that's being built on top of the Ethereum network. These tools make it easy for anyone with some familiarity in web design to integrate financial logic, ownership, and unique decentralized mechanisms into their projects. Along the way, ERC-721s and ERC-1155s (NFT token standards) became a part of the developer vernacular. Once marketplaces began to spring up, the value and utility of NFTs blossomed, though we're still early in our adventure.

The NFT / DeFi space feels like a new frontier to me, still wide open for us to define as artists and engineers. Fintech is becoming more cyberpunk each day, and bringing with it an underground sort of magic that's reminiscent of an earlier internet, back when sites like GeoCities & Angelfire kept it wonderfully weird. There was a lot less polish then because the systems, norms, and restrictions had yet to be established. We're back in this renaissance period of collaboration and expression without rules, building fast, and making things.

ZR: What are some of the challenges and advantages you face as an artist that creates and sells NFTs? RB: I work more in the area of platform design than graphic design, as I've found greater resonance in what I'm able to build through that medium. My prints and portfolio is a largely unsold collection, with single digital copies auctioned off more for experimentation than bread. Nonetheless, there are weekend nights when I enjoy nothing more than staying home and writing GoLang code, rendering abstract computation as a thing of symmetry, chaos, and beauty. As they say, the journey is the destination.

ZR: Where do you find inspiration for your work?

RB: In a sense, procedural art feels like a microscope into the computational fabric of the universe. There's a level of irreducibility, where the outcome of a recursive or iterative function is unknowable in advance. In this chaos, you discover an organic life within it. One that can be infinitely deep. It's the difference between creating a single work and defining the bounds for all possible works and sampling points along the curve.

ZR: What’s one tool you can’t live without? Why? RB: My favorite tool is my Mac. A true bicycle for the mind. Through that screen, I'm able to reach in and create wild graphics, soundtracks, and interact with a global community of fellow makers.

93 ZR: Are there any other trends that you’ve seen pop up, in the art sphere, that you may try in the future?

RB: I'm bullish on AR/VR. We're still years out from the hardware being comfortable and accessible at scale, but the experience is so immersive and unique, that it's bound to catch on in some form. I plan to invest some time into learning the tools needed to create something of value with an augmented reality component.

ZR: Where do you see art heading in the next 10 years?

RB: We're going to see massive creativity unlocked over the coming decade as society becomes used to the idea of respecting artistic IP again. We're exiting from this post-Napster dark period where digital has become synonymous with free.

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) feel like the next big thing to take the stage after NFTs. Where NFTs can be used to represent the ownership of any resource, DAOs can be used to organize collectives toward common goals and allocate resources. I can envision DAOs that incubate & fund new projects at greater efficiency than we've seen with typical grassroots or corporate structures. Quadratic funding is something that I hope to see take off, as a way to tip financial incentives toward prioritizing public goods. Seeing more artists able to utilize the power of this new financial web we're building and direct it toward philanthropic efforts is going to be a thing of beauty.

TOP: RYAN BELL ‘Aerial Machina’ Series Digital Image

INGRID V. WELLS

95 Ziquita Riberdy: How did you find your style/voice as an artist?

Ingrid V. Wells: In college, maybe younger, I began to actively ponder my own visual delight, by noticing and collecting my favorite items/ visual references. Through writing and research, I would make connections about why this collection of imagery/ objects/ music/ theater/ etc. resonated with me and how it might resonate with others. I actively try to indulge myself in the studio, which recently led to a 60” painting of nothing but giant pink sprinkles (part of my upcoming solo exhibition). I methodically pursue having fun.

LEFT: INGRID V. WELLS ‘Pretty Expectations’ Oil On Canvas 36” x 48” www.ingridvwells.com

ZR: What inspires you to create such whimsical pieces?

IVW: In coming across Ingrid Fetell Lee’s and Gretchen Rubin’s research on happiness/ joy, specifically how design and visual elements (like color) can affect the mood of the viewer, I became interested in utilizing these tools in my paintings to positively adjust the mood of my audience. Now when I begin a painting I think about pleasure, both my own delight in the painting process and the pleasure of the viewer. I enjoy making artwork that attracts attention to a concept/ idea that I’m working with and I use bright colors and shiny objects to reel in my audience.

ZR: You’ve exhibited all over the globe, is there a gallery you’d like to exhibit at? Why?

TOP: INGRID V. WELLS ‘Superpowers’ Oil On Linen 48” x 36”

IVW: I’m curious about exhibiting work at an art fair. That would be a new experience for me and I’ve heard it can be a great way to connect with art lovers.

ZR: What led you to decide to start teaching a painting course?

IVW: Teaching is such a fun way to help others along their artistic journey, share my knowledge and engage with students. I was a double major in Art Education and Painting as a BFA, so after earning my MFA teaching was a logical next step.

‘Glimmers’ Oil On Linen 60” x 48”

TOP: INGRID V. WELLS

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ZR: Tell me about your experience with Teen Vogue and how it impacted your career.

IVW: My work was featured in Teen Vogue in 2017 as a part of a group exhibition that was curated by The Untitled Space in New York. There were quite a few press mentions about that exhibition, which included work from Rose McGowen and had to do with the Me Too movement.

Though I don’t know for sure, I believe it led to my painting being printed as a full page in the newspaper El País along with an article on the Spanish political movement “Hermana, yo sí te creo” or “Sister, I do believe you.” This was a similar movement to Me Too, centered in Spain.

It was a dream come true to have my work give power to an international feminist movement and I’m grateful for the experience.

99 LEFT: INGRID V. WELLS ‘Perky Petals’ Oil On Linen 24” x 36”

ZR: What goals do you hope to accomplish over the next few months?

IVW: Currently, I’m working towards my upcoming solo exhibition with Voss Gallery in San Francisco. I’m excited to present 20 new oil paintings in Fall 2021 with this exhibition. Conceptually I'm working with the psychological idea of "glimmers." Glimmers are micro-moments that emit positive and calming energy. They move us into a ventral vagal state of safety and connection.

Glimmers are the opposite of sympathetic or dorsal states of response (triggers) according to Deb Dana, LCSW and Ruth Buczynski, PhD. From an aesthetic standpoint, I'm investigating monochromatic and analogous color schemes and their calming effects on mood. Repeated simple shapes create visual rhythms that disrupt what might be the beginnings of a pattern in a surprising and intriguing way. Imagery includes rainbows, lollipops and shiny stars, as research shows that these types of shapes, textures and images induce happiness in viewers (Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, Fetell Lee).

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Popovy sisters

103 We have been making fine art dolls since 2004. And for us, this activity has transformed into a special thematic kind of art. Together with fashion, it has given us the freedom to express our contemporary and cosmopolitan vision of beauty. We believe that our mission is to tell the viewer a story and each time it should be a new one, allowing them to dream and escape into a world of unfettered imagination. Inspired by history and nature we always try to transcend the humdrum and commonplace.

We invest a lot to get an authentic look with our dolls. In 2012 we started our BJD line called “SISTERS”. Beginning with sketches we created everything by ourselves: mold prototypes, makeup, body blushing, wigs, whole outfits and shoes. Within many years we had developed our well-known technique using a wire-frame design for wigs and clothes. Now we've accumulated a rich experience in working with different materials. To reflect the ongoing dialogue between past and present we use natural, high-quality traditional and modern materials. You can find fur, antique silk of the Edo period or mica in our collections. All our dolls are limited edition and unique.

LEFT: POPOVY SISTERS Dolls Used: Tawny Owl Albino and Little Owl Fine Art Dolls and Photo www.popovy-dolls.com

PAGE 101: POPOVY SISTERS Doll Used: Tawny Owl Albino Fine Art Doll and Photo Images Courtesy of The Popovy Sisters

LEFT: POPOVY SISTERS

Doll Used: Tawny Owl Albino Fine Art Doll and Photo Images Courtesy of The Popovy Sisters

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TOP: POPOVY SISTERS Doll Used: Quetzal Fine Art Doll and Photo Images Courtesy of The Popovy Sisters

TOP: POPOVY SISTERS Doll Used: Tawny Owl Fine Art Doll and Photo Images Courtesy of The Popovy Sisters

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TOP: POPOVY SISTERS Doll Used: Tawny Owl Fine Art Doll and Photo Images Courtesy of The Popovy Sisters

TOP: POPOVY SISTERS Doll Used: Peewit Fine Art Doll and Photo Images Courtesy of The Popovy Sisters

CODERCH & MALaVIA SCULPTORS

111 BELOW: CODERCH & MALAVIA SCULPTORS ‘Gigante De Sal’ Clay Sculpture Images Courtesy of Coderch & Malavia Sculptors www.coderchmalavia.es

Daniel da Silva: What is an important thing people should know about each of you?

Joan Coderch: I was born in Castellar del Vallés (Barcelona) in 1959 and studied at the Department of Fine Arts of Barcelona.

When I was very young I was lucky enough to find a teacher of Plastic Arts who saw in me the love and sensitivity I had for volume. He supported me and helped me by teaching me the basics of modeling. He took me to the house of Manuel Hugué, a famous Catalonian sculptor of the early twentieth century.

This was a turning point for me. I discovered a whole new world and I realized sculpture, and art in general, was the perfect way to express my ideas and feelings.

Javier Malavia: I was born in Oñati, a small town in the Basque Country, in 1970. When I was a little child I moved to Valencia with my family, there I graduated from the Department of Fine Arts of San Carlos.

I've always liked to draw and I've always loved nature, the human body, chemistry and physiology. Before I started my university studies I didn't really know whether I wanted to follow one or another. Suddenly something clicked in my mind, just like when inspiration comes to you, and I realized that I wanted to study fine arts. Once in class, the first contact I had with sculpture, especially the modeling, was like a crush. . . it was love at first sight.

RIGHT: CODERCH & MALAVIA SCULPTORS’ ‘The Little Tin Man’ BronzeSculpture Images Courtesy of Coderch & Malavia Sculptors

DS: Where do you go to find inspiration for your sculptures?

JC & JM: Literature, poetry, theater, photography, cinema and ballet, all serve as inspiration. We are always working from live models. From the first sketches on paper to the final pieces, teamwork is essential; From the first modeling in clay to the final bronze´s patina, we control the whole process of our pieces. Everything is relevant because in the final piece the emotions experienced during the creative process are condensed.

DS: What is your favorite part of the sculpting process?

JC & JM: Starting a project from a dual dynamic requires a lot of previous work.

We start from several brainstorming sessions in which we put all the cards down on the table. During this process we share our ideas, no matter if they are good or bad, to get a point where we understand what is important to us and what it is that we want to develop. This is our favorite and the more complicated part of the process.

DS: What motivates you to freeze these action moments in time within your sculptures?

JC & JM: The human being is three-dimensional. This is probably the main reason why we are attracted to sculpture, it is the closest artistic representation of ourselves. Sharing the creation of a work of art is complicated, there must be a predisposition to fit together artistically.

TOP: CODERCH & MALAVIA SCULPTORS ‘Clio’s Dream’ Bronze Sculpture Images Courtesy of Coderch & Malavia Sculptors

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The fact that a work of art can emerge from the collaboration of two different sensibilities and our motivation to do it catches people's attention.

Our obsession is to transmit the best of ourselves through our work.

We try to achieve excellence in what we do.

DS: How do you decide when to utilize color in a new sculpture?

JC & JM: As in a continuous thread, the pieces themselves reveal the different layers in which to delve into the shadow, the balances and the textures of the matter to move the sensitive viewer.

The sculptures respond to light and color by invoking the gaze that is trapped in them.

TOP: CODERCH & MALAVIA SCULPTORS ‘Ashia’ Bronze Sculpture Images Courtesy of Coderch & Malavia Sculptors

DS: What are you most excited about moving forward into new projects?

JC & JM: The world is a work of art, we should not become mere spectators of what happens. We should get excited and reflect on what surrounds us just as we do with a piece of art. This process of reflection is, without a doubt, the basis for changing things and that is why we are focused now on getting our sculptures near people, showing them in public areas without barriers.

People have to touch and enjoy them freely.

Sally west

BELOW: SALLY WEST

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‘Beach Bondi Study 3(29.7.20)’ Oil on Paper A4 Images Courtesy of Sally West www.sallywestart.com

Daniel da Silva: How have the many places you have traveled to had an impact on your work?

Sally West: During much of my 20s which was back in the 90s, I traveled as a backpacker through Europe, Asia and India. It was incredibly eye-opening and shaped me as a person and painter. For a while, I also lived in Italy and Florence. Such wonderful experiences and creative cultures. Because I was traveling I did a lot of drawing as it was easy to carry just paper and ink or charcoal. When I settled in places for longer I would then work with paint. I also did a lot of portraiture and life drawing in my sketchbook during those traveling years as I was meeting so many interesting people and faces.

DS: What draws you towards the beaches and waterscapes you have painted so often?

I have always felt drawn to the ocean. As a child, I grew up in the outback. I couldn’t understand why we didn’t have a beach on our farm. We would holiday after harvest every year by the ocean and I never wanted to leave it. After leaving school I have pretty much stayed close by it. It just calms me and inspires me.

For well over 20 years I have walked along the beach every day. If I’m not painting it I’m walking it, sitting on it, lying on it. It’s part of almost everything I do now.

TOP: SALLY WEST ‘Beach Bondi Study (18.7.21)’ Oil on Canvas 24” x 24” Images Courtesy of Sally West

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DS: How have the many places you have traveled to had an impact on your work?

DS: How has your painting style evolved over time?

SW: That first show as I mentioned was mostly pastel on paper, which allowed me to work with color and experiment with form. Moving into oils was terrifying and incredibly difficult. Something that drove me crazy for years. I stuck with it because I just love a challenge. Now it feels like part of me. I love oils and work with them every day. I also moved from using a paintbrush to a palette knife about 20 years ago because I was living on a farm and my brushes wore out. I just happened to find a palette knife and it has evolved from there. Especially the texture.

DS: What is the typical process of a painting from start to finish for you?

SW: When I am painting Plein air, I arrive at the studio, pack all my gear into my car, including canvases. Of course, the days and location are decided upon after watching the weather and waiting for the right times. I drive to my location. Unload all my gear. Set up the easel etc. Layout paint on my palette, paint, then load the wet paintings into my racks in the back of my car. Drive back to the studio.

Unload again! Then it's a tricky process of finding a drying spot for each work. Lots of shuffling works around - that’s a daily ritual!

SW: During much of my 20s which was back in the 90s, I traveled as a backpacker through Europe, Asia and India. It was incredibly eye-opening and shaped me as a person and painter. For a while, I also lived in Italy and Florence. Such wonderful experiences and creative cultures. Because I was traveling I did a lot of drawing as it was easy to carry just paper and ink or charcoal. When I settled in places for longer I would then work with paint. I also did a lot of portraiture and life drawing in my sketchbook during those traveling years as I was meeting so many interesting people and faces.

DS: What draws you towards the beaches and waterscapes you have painted so often?

I have always felt drawn to the ocean. As a child, I grew up in the outback. I couldn’t understand why we didn’t have a beach on our farm. We would holiday after harvest every year by the ocean and I never wanted to leave it. After leaving school I have pretty much stayed close by it. It just calms me and inspires me.

For well over 20 years I have walked along the beach every day. If I’m not painting it I’m walking it, sitting on it, lying on it. It’s part of almost everything I do now.

TOP: SALLY WEST ‘Beach Manly Study 1(4.3.21)’ Oil on Canvas 9” x 5” Images Courtesy of Sally West

TOP: SALLY WEST ‘Beach Bondi Study(18.1.21)’ Oil on Canvas 36” x 48” Images Courtesy of Sally West

121 DS: What is a moment in your career you are exceptionally proud of?

SW: Having my first show was a huge achievement. It was in Bondi and it was mostly artworks on paper (pastels). I had a job at a framer's at the time so I framed the whole show myself. There were about 45 works in total.

Up until that point, I had been producing work consistently for several years but hadn’t believed they were any good. Most of the works had been stored under my bed. But I had friends and flatmates who encouraged me and I am so grateful for that.

DS: What are some challenges you have faced building your career in art?

SW: During that first show at Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach, we were hit with a massive storm that lasted well over a week. I kept the gallery open every day even though there was not a soul on the beach or anywhere, the swell was huge, it was so windy that trees were being pushed over. It was hard sitting there in that gallery with all the beautiful lighting. My dream show with no one there. Just me. So many memories of pacing around that space.

DS: What is an important thing people should know about you?

SW: I’m a very shy person. Quite reclusive. I find it very challenging to go to my own shows and speak about my art. It’s something I am constantly working on to improve myself.

DS: What are you most excited about moving forward into new projects?

SW: I never get bored of painting. Every day is a new opportunity to explore the practice further. I am excited by traveling more as a Plein air painter. I think the only way to evolve as a painter is by doing it. The evolution of your style comes naturally if you are consistent I think. I am excited about seeing where the paint takes me.

ERIK MINTER

BELOW: ERIK MINTER ‘Yolo - Did We’ Acrylic & Spray on Canvas Images Courtesy of Erik Minter www.erikminter.com

123 DS: How do you feel your style has developed over time?

TOP: ERIK MINTER ‘Got Any Deep Fake Left’ Acrylic & Spray on Canvas Images Courtesy of Erik Minter

Daniel da Silva: How do you translate emotions into color and what do they mean to you?

Erik Minter: As you might notice in my work, color is very important to me. It is part of the essence of how we perceive a feeling and capture a feeling from a memory. Color for me is like a language, every color is dependent on its relationship to its neighboring color. When I start to think about our own human expressions, I like to think in color, maybe I have chromesthesia because I spend a good period of time tinkering with how colors talk to each other on swatches. More recently, I’ve been loosening up in the way I paint, and I've allowed more intuitive impulses to break some of those color norms that I find in sketches and I think that's where chance becomes integral and allows for new meanings to come out of the work.

EM: I'm constantly evolving somehow, breaking my own rules if I even have any, and reusing tendencies that work for now. So, I’m not a big proponent of the idea of style, it's kind of this fleeting concept to me, today I might like this artist and this approach in my work, tomorrow it's completely something different that I might be into. But the thing that ties whatever I’m doing together, is my attitude towards how I’m doing it. Maybe style is just the overall attitude the work conveys, it's that personal language within, that's reflected in the outcome of the piece. Perhaps, subconsciously my mind works like a filtration system, the energy of my surroundings may or may not affect the outcome of what gets poured onto a canvas.

DS: What does your typical creative process look like?

EM: It doesn’t always start out the same way. I tend to get inspired by images and events that offer up something in relation to how I feel about the world around me at that moment. I’ll do sketches, digital or analogue, to figure out a composition that helps me set the tone for the gestural statement I’d like to make. Sometimes this process is more thought out and introspective, it's when I start painting onto the surface - Continued on page 125

125 DS: What is your most important tool?

How does it help shape your art? and I let chance and the moment dictate the color and expressive outcome of a piece, I let everything learned subside, and just paint, I think that's when the work gets ignited.

DS: What is a notable experience you have represented in a piece?

EM: I don't necessarily know if I can say that I'm reflecting on one experience in my piece(s). When I was doing my abstracts before I pivoted into the more recent abstract figurations, I would often use a memory, a palette that reflected an experience once had, and I would use color and gesture as a way in my mind to get that memory out. I think with the recent works as I mentioned, the characters in them are strangers that exist amongst us. Based on their expressions, I'm hoping the viewer wants to understand them more, where they come from, what they are thinking about. It's that curiosity through one's expressions that I feel tells us a lot more about a person than what is said by them.

LEFT: ERIK MINTER ‘Moto’ Acrylic on Canvas Images Courtesy of Erik Minter

EM: There are two types of tools, there are the physical tools used and then there is the psychological tool that imagines it all up. My work is done flat on the floor, when I’m working larger I like to think that my body is a tool. It's the movements in my wrist from my elbow, everywhere in between, and down to the toes that ground me to the earth. Sometimes I use a custom bridge that allows me to float across larger surfaces to help me get into areas for more refinement.

DS: What are you most excited about moving forward into new projects? Currently, I'm really excited to be working on pieces for an upcoming solo show. Typically, however, on a day-to-day basis, I don’t like to plan too much ahead. With everything in my personal life that I’ve been through, I’ve learned not to put high promises on expectations. I work best in the moment and have found that everything from that point usually falls into place.

DS: What is an important thing people should know about you?

EM: I’ve been told by a few close to me that I'm an old soul. I’m not a very complacent person, but sometimes I wonder what if I was.

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LEFT: ERIK MINTER Erik working on ‘Eye Wonder’ Acrylic on Canvas Images Courtesy of Erik Minter

Annan affotey

129 BELOW: ANNAN AFFOTEY Images Courtesy of Annan Affotey & Ronchini Gallery www.annanartgh.com

Oxford-based artist Annan Affotey navigates black identity through portraiture. His paintings focus on women and men of color with vibrant dark skin and soul-filled, red eyes. He surrounds his figures in negative space allowing each subject to tell their own story. Affotey’s paintings highlight the nuances of the facial expression and examine a story that goes beyond the surface level.

Affotey was born in 1985 and graduated from Ghanatta College of Art and Design in 2007 with a degree in Drawing & Painting. In 2013, Annan Affotey helped found the African Young Artist Organization (AYAO), a group dedicated to supporting African youth in the arts through education and exhibitions.

His paintings are influenced by two main factors: growing up in the presence of strong women and the cultural diversity he’s experienced through living in Ghana, Europe and the United States. The combination of these experiences brings a diverse narrative to his work, exploring the nuanced stories and meanings behind his subjects’ faces and bodies.

131 BELOW: ANNAN AFFOTEY Affotey brings everyday experiences into intensely colorful, textured and expressive compositions.

Earlier this year Affotey had solo exhibitions at Ronchini Gallery in London and Danny First’s Cabin in Los Angeles. His work has also been exhibited in New York City, London, Miami and Accra.

LEFT: ANNAN AFFOTEY ‘Windows To The Soul’ Exhibition Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas Images Courtesy of Annan Affotey & Ronchini Gallery

‘Windows To The Soul’ Exhibition Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas Images Courtesy of Annan Affotey & Ronchini Gallery

LEFT: ANNAN AFFOTEY ‘Paul and Norma’ Acrylic and Charcoal on Canvas 180cm x 150cm Images Courtesy of Annan Affotey & Ronchini Gallery

My “red eye” portraits hold a haunting beauty that invites viewers to question the emotions and really look into the stories behind the faces. The concept is one of misinterpreted identities. When I moved to the US from Ghana, I was often questioned why my eyes were red and whether it meant I hadn't slept or was doing drugs, neither of which was true.

And it became a symbol for misinterpreted identities. Facial expressions are important because they speak to a person's emotions. The first assumptions made about people are based on sight. So things like skin color, clothing, accessories, background, setting, and pose dictate emotion.

There's no guarantee those things match the character underneath.

We're often identified by what we're compared to (or against). My work is a social commentary on this, asking the viewer to take a second look at what they read from my por-

traits and why. This is the reason why I add a bright backdrop against the Black subject - to highlight the contrast between the two. I often paint people around me, including family and friends (and myself). But I also take inspiration from public figures and models who use the power of body language and expression.

exhibits

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exhibits

exhibits