The Journal of Creative Arts and Minds is a publication of Jumbo Arts International. This electronic publication is free. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.
Summer 2025
TABLE OF CONTENTS
President’s Message – 8
Editor’s Message – 12
ARTISTS
Anj Anum Rana – 16
Avinash Chandra Little – 31
Chhavi Sharma – 42
Deepali Sharma – 49
Gina Gibson – 60
Gopakumar Ra – 77
John Antoine Labadie – 89
Nitasha Jaini – 125
Rajendra Kapse – 136
Message from the President
We have come to the end of this journey we call, The Journal of Creative Arts and Minds. I can barely remember a time when we weren’t either proofreading the latest submission to arrive or choosing the cover art for the next issue. What amazing milestones the JCAM has seen! Artists and writers from Argentina to Belgium, Greece to Indonesia, Ukraine to Taiwan, the United Kingdom to Venezuela and beyond. Dancers from India have graced our pages while the stanzas of American poets have inspired us. We have always let artists speak for themselves about their media, their craftsmanship, and their passion to make art. In our pages, it has been our goal to empower creative individuals by providing the space they needed to say what was important to them. Artists and poets should not be defined by a single poem or painting. By including many examples and myriad art forms, we have allowed our readers a wider viewing experience and a deeper, more thought-provoking read. We hope the JCAM has done justice to our international contributors and expanded our readers perceptions of artists around the world.
In the future, we wish for a world at peace.
Margie Labadie President, Jumbo Arts International Onancock, Virginia USA jumboartsinternational@gmail.com
Digitally combined pen and ink drawing with sheet music
Margie Labadie
Blue Heron Symphony
Margie Labadie
Onancock Creek at Sunset
Photograph
Winter 2025
A Message from the Editor
Some history: In the summer of 2014, my wife Margie Beth Labadie and I conceived, and committed our resources to, publishing (what became) the JCAM. Our first issue was made available online 10 years ago – in June of 2015. This Winter 2025 publication will be our 15th, and last, issue.
We can share that many remarkable things have happened in the last 10 years: our retirement from academic life, the publication of our (4) text books on digital art and design, our move to the unique (and wonderful) Delmarva Peninsula, and the founding and evolution of our new creative arts studio and business Steppingstone Arts. You can find us online here: https://www.steppingstonearts.com/shop-art
As a direct result of our JCAM project, since 2015 we have corresponded with literally hundreds of artists from more than 50 countries. It has been challenging; but big fun as well. To date, in 14 individual issues, the JCAM has published the creative work of nearly 200 visual artists and writers. Taken altogether these issues total nearly 2500 pages, all of which are all available to read (for free) at this link: https://issuu.com/jumboartsinternational
Please know that we intend to keep these issues of the JCAM available online for the foreseeable future.
All that being said, we know it’s simply time for us to move on to other things. We thank everyone for their support for this incredible ride!
John Antoine Labadie
The Brotherhood
John Antoine Labadie
D-Arts Gallery at the annual International Conference Information Visualisation
Tampere, Finland
Digital Image 2023
Rhetorical Argument - Persuasion
John Antoine Labadie
D-Arts Gallery at the annual International Conference Information Visualisation
Darmstadt, Germany
Digital Image 2025
Anjum Anj Rana
Ms. Anj Rana has been called “The Queen of Pakastani Truck Art.” In 2008 Anj Rana was awarded the “Seal of Excellence in Handicrafts” by UNESCO. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan and still lives there today.
JCAM asked Anj Rana to describe how she brought “Pakastani Truck Art” forward as a highly sought after mode of craft design and an internationally recognized style of artistic activity.
JCAM: What can you tell us about the artform of Pakastani Truck Art?
AR: The exuberant and flamboyant style of Pakistani Truck Art is a legitimate and distinct folk art, which represents the values and aspirations of vast majorities of ordinary truck drivers and artists, who originated from the Northern mountaneous areas of Pakistan.
As the transport industry grew painters are now to be found all over the country and from every province. The artwork differs slightly from one area to the other but cannot be defined commonly by viewers unless you are well versed with the art.
I, Anjum Rana, represent the new Pakistani woman entrepreneurial and creative with an eye for the extraordinary in ordinary everyday life. I have made it my goal to bring this ft into the mainstream, into our homes and work towards giving it the recognition it so richly deserves.
I admire all the beauty and colour in these designs on a truck or bus which most people would dismiss or take for granted at best, since it is common and easily seen on streets on every vehicle passing by.
I have employed and trained artists also direct them in painting their richly textured motifs on everyday objects such as kettles, buckets, trays, salt pepper shakers, mugs, plates, lanterns watering cans, garden furniture, ceramic tiles, diary covers, walls, fans and many other objects.
Many of these painters were giving up his art due to lack of patronage as modern photoshop advertisements are becoming more popular on buses and vans. Some artists were unable to continue painting since climbing these buses and trucks became physically challenging due to old age or bad health. Today these painters are able to paint and train apprentices due to this new arena developed by the “Tribal Truck Art” initiative.
Almost all items are one of a kind and reflect truck art rooted in longstanding cultural tradition. Tribal Truck Art has made a positive impact on he life of the artists and their families. With each item that is sold the appreciation of truck art grows, and it is a positive change. Each purchase
helps the artists and supports the mission of Tribal Truck Art to foster economic and cultural sustainability for truck artists and truck art worldwide.
Truck Art is a very visible and colourful manifestation of street art in Pakistan , which was created mainly by truck drivers and their conductors and apprentices travelling long distances and being away from their homes and families. To keep themselves, happy, busy, occupied and to fight loneliness they would paint scenes reminding them of home, or war heroes, popular public figures, or scenes depicting the current political situations.
The truck became a canvas of love and longing as well as a space for venting political and literary expressions. These painted trucks and other vehicles are now a part of the vibrant and colorful Pakistani road landscapes.
I have held exhibitions in U.S.A., Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, France, Indonesia, India, Newzealand, Scotland, and we will hold two shows in Europe in the coming months. A book on Tribal Truck Art, authored by me, with sketches by various truck artists, is being printed by Tara books, Chennai, India. This will be launched in late 2015.
JCAM: Can you talk a bit about your inspiration and the idea of creativity?
AR: Truck art inspires me. Ideas come to my mind when I was doing a piece and hence one project has grown (in terms of painting) to over 50 different objects. This style gives of object a new look and dimension. My team of artists live in Karachi, we are influenced mostly by the frontier province where I grew up.
Truck art first started in the Frontier province , the scenery is about the winding roads, fir trees, lakes and small cottages. Where most of the artists came from when truck art started after partition. The artists and truck drivers mostly came from the North, later the industry grew and now we have truck drivers and painters from all over the country. These painters make a difference in my life, as I was impressed by their unique art and the bright happy colours. Today I work along with them as a team and travel the world. They have a better living, their families are now able to be much better off.
JCAM: What was the first piece of artwork you ever sold, and did it change how you thought about how you might make a living form your work?
AR: The first art work I ever sold was a trunk made of metal. It was my first piece of truck art and more of an experiment which was immediately sold. Since this was the first time in 2000 that truck art was transposed onto other objects. It is my hobby even yet. I am passionate about my work. The painters are given objects to paint, they are paid for each item, and I sell it as and when the port unity arises. Truck art has made a positive impact on lives of the artists and their families.
JCAM: What can you tell us about the process of making this artform?
AR: We usually do free hand and do not stick to one pattern or a fixed design. Every artist has his own way of drawing a flower or bird or arabesque designs. Mostly I design where we can draw a particular pattern, what colours to use, but as I mentioned earlier we do not deviate from the original truck art.
The artists use paint brushes made of real hair, paints, radium or reflective colours and tapes. For hand beaten steel we use hammer nails and reflective sticker tapes. I don't want to modernise this artwork and lose the authenticity of truck art. It is a distinct and legitimate folk art from this region which represents the values and aspirations of ordinary truck drivers and artists.
I grew up in Peshawar and Nowshera in the North of Pakistan, where these heavily decorated and painted colourful trucks was a common sight. We used to stand infront of our gate every morning waiting for the school bus to arrive , as I stood waiting I used to notice each passing bus and truck laden with sugarcane, vegetables, and other goods being tranported to the rest of the country.
My eyes used to follow the eyes on the truck and colourful scenery. It made a long lasting impression on me. So many years later, I got a box painted by a painter who I found painting a truck by the roadside. The box was liked by everyone who came to my home. Then it started rolling, I would think of all the items I could design and get painted. Then there was no stopping.
Most people did not appreciate what I was doing, but I was consistant, determined to continue getting artists to paint on different objects and experimenting all the time. Gradually I worked my way up, working with the truck painters, giving the original truck art some finesse. Although I have not strayed from the real artwork or designs.
It has developed in many ways, we now paint on furniture, walls, fans, teapots, lanterns, buckets, trays, porcelain plates and platters, We also do handpainted ceramic tiles for indoors and outdoors, and many other items of decoration and daily use.
I love all the items and designs we create, I have a passion for this work and take great pride in this unique art from Pakistan. My aim was to bring this art into the mainstream to foster economic and cultural sustainability for truck art world wide.
JCAM: Can you tell us about your future?
AR: My goals for the future is to take this art all over the world so that the art work is seen and appreciated. This will give the artists an economic boost which will improve their living conditions, give them exposure, and hopefully their children get a better life and education. Also to create intercultural exchange opportunities that unite the people of the world.
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
“Pakastani
Anjum Rana
Anjum Rana
Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana “Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Painted Object
Abdul Qadir Memon
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Abdul Qadir Memon
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Abdul Qadir Memon
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Abdul Qadir Memon
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Abdul Qadir Memon
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Anjum Rana
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Abdul Qadir Memon
“Pakastani Truck Art” / Photograph
Avinash Chandra Little
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?
ACL: I was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Yes this place has always influenced me and still does.
You should also know that I come from a family of artists, my father was an artist, my brother is an artist and I also have many artist friends, they all have always been in support of me and have been inspirations too at many stages of my life.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art?
ACL: I initially started making art by copying drawings/ portraits made by my father when I was a young kid of 12-13 yrs.
I was always interested in art from the very young age so creating them was natural, after joining Arts College as student to learn professional techniques and approaches I started making art works and shaping them into creative art works of my own creative vision with the experience of years passed by mastering them till now with my distinctive style.
JCAM: Why do you make art now?
ACL: To be precise I make art to satisfy my creative hunger more than anything.
JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?
ACL: It depends on what topic I am working on in particular or what is my creative expression towards common objects around in general at the moment. I try to bring forward an unseen or unexpected world before the eyes of common people.
JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?
ACL: It is a never ending process, Say for example if I am looking at a leaf, flower, building, human being whatever it may be my eyes concentrate on my creative mind willing to convey inner thoughts creatively through my lens using light, color. texture etc Art is something which is always in momentum. It changes with everyday experience, reading, seeing and honing your skills.
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making?
ACL: No, nothing as such, artistic process is something which comes spontaneously. If it is done by following set pattern, routine or rituals then it will become static and their will come a stage when it will be tagged as typed will fail to impress public further, so in my view an artist should flow with the creative wind that way with every changing direction will come a new creative work but yes with my own signature style.
JCAM: What is your most important artist tool(s) and why?
ACL: My camera is my tool as a whole, the focal plane of the camera is my canvas, Viewfinder is my perspective connected with my mind, the lens and light are my brush to blend the colors available everywhere all around nature or to turn them in monotone.
JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished?
ACL: When my eyes are fully satisfied with beauty and mind stops playing from overdoing.
JCAM: What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
ACL: So far so good and satisfied with my current medium did not think of changing the medium.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally?
ACL: If you truly want to be successful as an artist stop copying and following other more successful artists. No harm to get inspired by them but try to set your own rules and creative style.
Following and copying others you can be a good copy master but can never leave an individual foot mark for others to get inspired by you. So aim yourself to set as inspiration for others.
JCAM: What interesting projects are you working on at the moment?
ACL: Black & White Landscapes and abstracts.
JCAM: What are your artistic goals for the future?
ACL: I have already mentioned earlier that try to be an inspiration to others above all to the students/newcomers
JCAM: What or who inspires you?
ACL: Any one or anything with a different unique creative eye.
JCAM: What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
ACL: Moon Rise by Ansel Adams the famous landscape photographer.
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work?
ACL: It is all around me. Nature is the biggest provider of materials.
JCAM: What does being creative mean to you?
ACL: A real creative person does not work for other’s ideas, he works for himself by his creative mind.
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have affected the way in which you make art, or changed the direction of your art?
ACL: With the advent and advancement of digital media I have also started making digital paintings.
Sensuous Lips
Photograph
Avinash Chandra Little
Beauty in Drops
Photograph
Virgin Beauty
Photograph
Blooming Glory Photograph
Cool Shower
Photograph
Hot Beauty
Photograph
Divine Light
Photograph
Avinash Chandra Little
Photograph
Avinash Chandra Little
Rhythm of Water Pearls
Young One With Family Photograph
Avinash Chandra Little
Chhavi Sharma
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making?
CS: I was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan (India) in 1993. I like this place as this is the place where respect, sacrifice and belief in God is immense important so it influences me.
I still live in Jaipur and like it very much due to the living atmosphere with peace and beauty of architecture of this city as well as intact traditional values. I am a member of the family of five members including my grandmother, father, mother and my elder sister.
There is no one who have the experience of art except by elder sister who is post graduate in visual arts. She guides me and advises me at every step of life and art. In fact my family members are the backbone of my life who have dedicated their life to make my life better. After the 12th standard I met to Smt. Poonam Mathur and Guruji Sh. Ram Singh Ji who converted my life with the art of painting.
JCAM: Why do you make art now? What are you trying to communicate with your art and how has your work changed or developed over time?
CS: I started making art in 2012 after the completion of my school education of 12th standard. Initially I tried to make the images of every element of nature like animals, human, creatures and plants.
Gradually I changed my art with imagination making my paintings original. I communicate the importance of nature and its parts for the human kind and whole world.
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
CS: Generally I use to make the imagination of a painting then get it outlined on paper. After that I get it on canvas or paper with other steps to finish it. I don’t feel the painting finished until I feel the message is conveyed by my painting and it is completed with all the special effects; I like to involve in it. I would like to connect my paintings with sculpture to make it more unique.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally? What interesting projects are you working on at the moment and what are your artistic goals for the future?
CS: Although I do not yet feel myself a successful artist I may suggest to other artists that they be dedicated and hard working with their art. Most importantly, the painting should be original, not copied from other sources.
For example, I am currently busy with a painting project which focuses on the importance of water on earth. Additionally, my artistic goals for the future is to make a solid platform for persons with disability and become an eminent artist in the world of art.
JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist? What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
CS: Though I am influenced and motivated by the art of numerous artists. In fact I am inspired by the artists of cubism and the artists who create the art in different way, thus I also create my paintings with some unique qualities.
When I see the Influential living artists then I may indicate Marco Grassi of fabulous Italian artist who creates figures with hyperrealism in motion and Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor, is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art.
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
CS: Generally I find ideas from the prevailing situations and circumstances of the world and use them in my paintings with some suggestions. Creative means to have some unique ideas and pattern of art and special angle to see the problems.
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have affected the way in which you make art, or changed the direction of your art?
CS: As a hearing impaired person, I was effected with the problems of hearing in early years of life. After hearing aids used by me I started my life with lot of hard work and dedication in my academic life. I studied in commerce but in college I preferred the visual arts as the main subject and got myself very satisfied with this art.
Woman With Apples Oil Paining on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
The Advance Flight Mixed Media on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
The Bull Strength Oil Paining on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
The Cow Catastrophe Oil Paining on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
The Peacock Flight Oil Paining on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
The Roots of Entertainment Oil Paining on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
The Dream Horse Oil Paining on Canvas
Chhavi Sharma
Deepali Sharma
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making?
DS: I was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan in 1989 and am influenced with this place due to the architectural and religious history. It is the place which spreads the idea of living peacefully with its culture.
I am the part of my 5 member family: My father, mother, younger sister and grand mother. My whole family is supportive to my art and do the needful at every step of requirements. They help me all the time and I make my art with my imagination and creativity.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Why do you make art now? What are you trying to communicate with your art? How has your work changed or developed over time?
DS: I started making art in the childhood but due to disability of hearing and the pressure of academic education, I take it with the involvement after the schooling and got admission in visual art section in college. Now I try to make my art with the uniqueness of themes as well as the color balance with imagination. With my art, I try to communicate the viewers that there is no problem or hurdle which may not be solved with hard work and patience.
Yes, over the time my artwork has been changed. Gradually from the simple copy work is now got the form of imagination and surreal artistic quality with good colour theme.
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
DS: I try to begin my painting work with the imagination which attract me the most. Then I assemble the figures and elements of imagination in the space of the available surface. Thus by using the required color palate, I complete my painting with the full zeal.
If I mention about the most important artist tool then it is knife which attracts me a lot. I feel the completion of the painting when my thoughts are well expressed in my painting.
I would always love to pursue the Surreal art in new creative medium.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally? What interesting projects are you working on at the moment and what are your artistic goals for the future?
DS: To become a successful artist is a long way to go with hard work and dedication and I am the beginner as an artist. Still to be successful professionally, one has to explore the numerous styles and their process and finally adopt one or two to proceed. Then it will reach at the point of success after a long time.
My artistic goal for future to establish an organization which may provide the opportunity to the artists to spread their talent all over the world.
JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist? What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
DS: All the famous artists in this field inspire me very much. But I may mention Vijendra Sharma of Delhi, India as a favorite living artist. The paintings of Vijendra Sharma are very unique and original in nature. His style, theme and subjects are very peculiar and presentation of the figures in various forms attracts me a lot.
Casey Baugh is my favorite artist. His application of dramatic and cinematic quality of lighting and attitudes for his figurative paintings and charcoal..
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
DS: As I am impressed by the Surrealism, I always try to do some new in my artwork. To think something different in the scene of any situation is the best way to be creative in our work.
After looking my dreamlike creativity, the senior most artists advised me that, ”You are doing very nice work, you should maintain it by not be guided by anyone in your thoughts. The creativity and art have to be alive always to spread and heighten it all the time in life.”
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have affected the way in which you make art, or changed the direction of your art?
DS: Once I experienced the art of Vijendra Sharma in an exhibition in Jaipur. Then I was transformed by that work which is influenced with the surrealism. In this way the style of the paintings of Virendra Ji was very influential on me and my way of working.
Captivity II Mixed media on paper
Deepali Sharma
Light of Education
Acrylic on Canvas Deepali Sharma
Power of Meditation
Acrylic on Canvas
Deepali Sharma
Surreal Apple
Acrylic on Canvas Deepali Sharma
The Childhood Fantasy Mixed Media on Canvas
Deepali Sharma
The Happiness Acrylic on Canvas
Deepali Sharma
Surreal Car Acrylic on Canvas
Deepali Sharma
Captivity
Acrylic on Canvas Deepali Sharma
Gina Gibson
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?
GG: North Carolina
JCAM: Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?
GG: I live in Spearfish, South Dakota. My current work is the result of my experience as the first Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) Artist in Residence (AiR). The SURF AiR program provides opportunities for artists to create work inspired by SURF, which is set in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.
SURF’s unique location and history make it an ideal place for creative work. At 4,850 feet deep, SURF is the deepest underground laboratory in the United States and is located in the former Homestake Gold Mine. The facility houses experiments in physics, biology, geology, and engineering.
The SURF AiR program leverages the unique characteristics of SURF and the science experiments it hosts to create awareness and encourage interdisciplinary work. This residency is modeled after various programs offered by government, science and industry including the National Park Service, CERN, and Fermilab.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Why do you make art now? What are you trying to communicate with your art? How has your work changed or developed over time?
GG: It may sound cliché, but I believe I started creating art as a child. I remember the joy of mark making as soon as I could hold a crayon. I spent hours with pencil and
paper, in the pursuit of learning how to draw a cartoon character and eventually items in my home or in nature. As an adult and practicing artist, I still find that joy when focusing on art making.
As an adult I have gone through several seasons in my practice. I often work on a series and won’t stop until I feel I need to move on to something new.
I’ve been making work about science and history for the last five years. I have plans to continue this work into the foreseeable future. I work with researchers to learn about physics and engineering. This helps bring inspiration.
I am often searching for answers to the same questions. Where do we come from? How does all this work? Curiosity being our great connector.
My early work was about people and relationships. In many ways that isn’t far from what I do now. I often find the history of place and people make their way into my work no matter the theme.
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
GG: I tend to work in bursts. I will have several months or a year of intense art making followed by a period of less output.
Deadlines are often what makes me say a work is finished, although I have returned to earlier works and revisited them and reworked them.
My work is currently at a scale that I can manage on my own physically
I would be interested in making more modular pieces to vary the scale of my artwork in the future.
I work in both found object and digital tools. I mix media. I don’t like the constraints of sticking to one medium.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally? What interesting projects are you working on at the moment? What are your artistic goals for the future?
GG: I have been working on science-based artworks for about five years. My work is currently focused on physics. I have been working with researchers around the globe for inspiration.
My advice, keep making things. And just because you don’t get one opportunity doesn’t diminish your value as an artist. A better opportunity may be just around the corner. I think my “failures” often lead me to more interesting opportunities.
JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist?
GG: I have found Georgia O’Keeffe to be of particular interest the last few years. Her boldness as a women living virtually alone in New Mexico. Her clear vision and way of seeing. I adore many of her works, particularly the images of bones as windows to the landscape around her.
I visited her home in Abiquiu years ago. Rocks, sticks, sculls adorned her space. Her studio overlooking a beautiful vista. I have often thought she seemed like a kindred spirit.
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
GG: For me, being creative does not mean you are an art machine. I have found that there seems to be some guilt and shame when someone isn’t currently making work. I think understanding one’s own process might help eliminate this. I find that even when I am not in an officially active period working on “fine” art, I tend to be using my creativity in other ways.
I have also found that connecting with nature and other people is a very important part of my process. I am a bit of a sponge and find interactions with the world around me to spark creativity
Keep making “more and better” – my favorite professor told me that one.
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have affected the way in which you make art, or changed the direction of your art?
GG: I took care of a sick parent for over twelve years – in my mid-teens to my late twenties. This had a drastic impact on my artwork. Much of my work was about the difficulties of illness and the complexity of life and death. It also made me serious in some ways very early in my adulthood.
With that said, it made me try to focus on stability and a seriousness for my artistic practice. In many ways, this period was a gift.
Title: A Piece of the Puzzle
Medium: Enlarged image of Dr. Ray Davis puzzle, printed on Masonite.
Medium: Wood and metal from SURF, mixed media.
Title: Mining for Peace
Medium: Plastic gold pan, metal miner, plastic doves.
Title: Sifting
Medium: Plastic gold pans, Google Earth image of Lead, South Dakota.
Digital image of SURF core sample, acrylic print.
Title: The Search for Gold Medium: 1933 Homestake Mining Co. blueprint, image of bacteria from the 4850-foot level at SURF.
Title: Noise
Medium: Digital image of bacteria from the 4850-foot level at SURF.
Title: Red Earth
Medium: Digital photo manipulation from SURF underground.
Title: Rings
Medium: Digital image of copper and silver rings from SURF.
Gopakumar Ra
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?
GR: I was born in Ochira, a small village in Kerala, India. That area has always influenced me, Nature, Music, Art Forms, Culture, Rituals, and so on.
JCAM: Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?
GR: I am currently living in Bahrain in the Middle East, and I have been influenced by the culture and technology of that country. I'm a creative design manager here at an IT company, and I don't want my art to be confined to a product of one area. I insist that my art be universally perceived.
JCAM: Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making?
GR: My parents, brothers and sisters, my wife and family support me. Later, when I took art as my first subject, my teachers and friends supported me. While I have focused on digital art, I have had Dr. John Antoine Labadie, Colin Goldenburg (Founder of Techspressionism) and Lidia Chileri (Co-Founder Immagine and Poesia) support me in many important ways.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art?
GR: I have been drawing since I was very young and after schooling, I took up painting as an elective. At that time, I learned basic art education from two gurus namely Madhavan and Sudhakaran (Chitralekha Art institute, Karunagappally, Kerala, India.).
Later I completed five years national diploma in fine arts (Specialized Painting) from Govt. Raja Ravi Varma College of Arts, Mavelikara, Kerala, India.
Later, I received training for History of Art Diploma, London Art College, UK; Contemporary Art – Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA; Catalysts: Artists Creating with Sound, Video, and Time training from Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA; ART of the MOOC: Merging Public Art and Experimental Education, Duke University.
JCAM: Why do you make art now?
GR: What I want to say to society using my creative talent, I say through art. It is often for the good of the society.
JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?
GR: I believe the work of art should change the existing visual, intellectual and aesthetic sense and experiment with finding new visual phenomena. I use art and technology to discuss and expose the environmental, social and political issues of the society.
JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?
GR: I am trying many different types of making methods like Generative Art, AI Art, .net Art, Digital College, so on. However, I want to be known as a multidisciplinary artist.
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making?
GR: As for an artist, I am still aware of his artwork and its progress. I always find time to learn new things and create new things.
JCAM: What is your most important artist tool(s) and why?
GR: I don't work with a tool regularly, however, most of my digital art work is done with Adobe Creative Cloud, ActionScript, Open Source Algorithms, AI tools, etc. This will change from time to time.
JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished?
GR: All my artworks are based on a pre-determined concept. That means changing mediums, tools, and methods often. So, I am sure the output of each work. However, sometimes the medium opens up new directions for me.
JCAM: What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
GR: I never stick to a medium, however I am more interested in generative art.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally?
GR: Continuously research and practice, explore new avenues, participate in exhibitions and collaborate with other artists, publish the articles.
JCAM: What interesting projects are you working on at the moment?
GR: I currently practice works combining Ai and generative art. Also, I am part of Techspressionist art group, USA. Techspressionism is an artistic approach in which technology is utilized as a means to express emotional experience.
JCAM: What are your artistic goals for the future?
GR: Planning to create a collaborative partnership with Engineers, Musicians, Scientists, Dancers and Theorists to create more Conceptual, Techspressionist experimental Immersive art.
JCAM: What or who inspires you?
GR: Many contemporary digital artists have inspired me, such as Bill Viola, Universal Everything, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Andreas Nicolas Fischer, Refik Anadol, FIELD, LIA, Overlap, Maxim Zhestkov, Fuse*, John Antoine Labadie, and many more.
JCAM: Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist?
GR: Refik Anadol is my favorite living artist.
JCAM: What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
GR: I am the first largest Digital Art Collector from India. In my digital art collection includes more than 300 digital artworks from 150 renowned international artists. Few list here; Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Universal Everything (Matt Pyke), Mat Collishaw, AES+F, Shepard Fairey, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Andreas Nicolas Fischer… All List Here: https://gopakumar.in/digital-art-collector/
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work?
GR: Experience, Reading news, articles, roaming, research, and innovation.
JCAM: What does being creative mean to you?
GR: Creativity is the ability to generate new, original ideas and expressions.
JCAM: What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
GR: Embrace curiosity and stay open-minded.
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have affected the way in which you make art, or changed the direction of your art?
GR: I've been trying to learn more about the great media artist Bill Viola lately. Then he learned that in his childhood he had fallen into a pond and miraculously escaped from it, and that water had unwittingly become a main element in his later works. I have had two similar incidents.
During my youth, while at play, I nearly drowned in a nearby pond. My eldest sister rescued me from the still waters on seeing my beloved toy (Eastern Brass Pot) afloat, which had caught her attention initially, then to my little hand trying to reach the surface. As a child, terrified at the truth in the incident I was determined to try always to convey that truth, and I still have water phobia while I see the underwater scenes.
Great Indian Portraits
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
An Urban Tapestry
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
Artificial Fog Series
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
Between Man and Nature
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
Echoes of Vanishing
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
The Birth
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
Ephemeral Void - Elements Digital Art Gopakumar Ra
Parametric Portrait Series - Details - Arundhati Roy
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
Parametric Portrait Series - Details - Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
Parametric Portrait Series - Details - Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi
Digital Art
Gopakumar Ra
John Antoine Labadie
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?
JAL: I was born in Seattle, Washington in the great Pacific Northwest.
At that time my family lived on Whidbey Island near the border with Canada. My father was a United States Navy pilot. Due to his work we moved from place to place in the USA: Pensacola, Florida; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio, where my parents divorced.
The Pacific Northwest: My earliest memories of natural landscapes are the snowcapped mountains that towered both to the east and the west, the roughly cut timbers from logging projects that ended up as giant piles of driftwood on the rocky beaches, the crystal clear tide pools that teamed with life in the cold water, and the seemingly endless landscapes to the north where the islands in the San Juan archipelago seemed to float on the water off into the distance. Growing up in that part of the USA was visually dramatic and has (I’m certain) influenced the intentionally open spaces that are populated by the highly detailed objects present in much of my artwork.
Education in the Midwest: I spent most of my 20s and 30s in Ohio and earned all three of my University degrees from institutions there: University of Dayton, Wright State University, and the University of Cincinnati. Those academic programs provided a solid formal education in the arts and humanities and the years spent pursuing educational goals most certainly changed the arc of my life dramatically. I’m grateful to my many mentors and feel very fortunate to have been able to be involved in such life-changing activities.
Even so, as a location, Ohio, and the region of the Midwest surrounding that state, did not seem provide much influence from a cultural or environmental standpoint. I spent so much of my time there in classrooms and libraries and did not ever travel as much as I would have liked. But, perhaps there I did absorb a sense of the urban decay that was so much a part of many Midwestern cities at that time. My recollection of that region now is populated by decrepit business facades, empty factories, and entire neighborhoods of run down domestic architecture from the previous century. I left that area in the early 1990s and have only returned a couple of times. I feel no sense of home there.
Work and travel in the USA: As a young man I was fortunate to work and live in a number of places that I am certain have influenced me in a wide variety of ways. For example, my first salaried position fresh out of undergraduate school (with a fine arts degree in painting) was with the US Federal Civil Service as an industrial engineering technician. (How I fell into this position is a story for another time.) For a number of years this job required me to travel and work away from home, for sometimes months at a time. So, for nearly 10 years I took in the local culture of a diverse array of locations across the USA: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Rock Island, Illinois; Biloxi, Mississippi; Atlanta, Georgia; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas; and Sacramento, California. These experiences widened my eyes about American culture and greatly expanded challenged my notions of what could (and could not) be expected from those around me.
Central America: From the late 1980s through 2000 I worked on site in Central America, mostly in Belize, as a scientific illustrator and photographer with grant-sponsored archeology projects for several different university research groups. I was primarily tasked with producing graphite, and later inked, drawings of ceramics and lithics excavated from burials near sacred sites in Belize. The trips to visit Mayan sites included breakdown-prone local on local buses in Guatemala, and river trips in small boats where iguanas regularly jumped from trees into the water ahead of us, and slippery slides down narrow roads in the rain driving old British army surplus Range Rovers. These sometimes nerve-wracking activities were exhilarating and made a deep impression on me. So did my time spent camping next to rivers and lagoons, sleeping in the jungle in the back of our trucks, and being plagued by the many pests common to the environment there allowed for the opportunity to grow in new ways and experience things that I’d only seen in movies up to that time. That kind of work in that particular kind of place was challenging, and it changed me for the better. My sense of what was difficult, or simply what I could tolerate, expanded exponentially.
Clearly, it was that way of working that launched me into a professional space that made many other things possible that had been out of reach before then. Here is a short list of a few of the things that were derived from simply doing my job and constructively interacting with archeologically-focused colleagues: being included in repeated opportunities for fully funded international travel; being offered significant artistic commissions, including book covers and illustrations in juried scientific publications; being connected into a viable network of creative professionals that bridged the arts and sciences; moving into creative computing projects that regularly resulted in peer-reviewed publications; understanding the steps and processes involved for obtaining significant grants … among many other things. Also, just understanding how utterly cool jungles are is truly remarkable.
Academia in the rural Southeast: In 1993, after completing an interdisciplinary doctoral degree at an urban university of more than 50,000 students in the midwest I was offered a faculty position in the rural southeast on a campus that had barely 2,000 students at that time. From 1994 though 2021 I taught full time and developed creative digital programs at the university level. My home campus was the University of North Carolina
Pembroke, a small Master’s Level I institution founded in the late 19th century by and for the Native American population of Southeastern North Carolina. The county where the campus was located was geographically the largest, and poorest, in the state. More than 80% of the population of that county identified as Native American; primarily members of the Lumbee tribe. The culture, climate, food, and traditions of that region were hugely different than anything I’d ever experienced before. From the numerous and extensive swamps, to the ubiquitous Spanish moss, and massive magnolia trees, the deep south truly began there on the border with South Carolina in Robeson County, North Carolina. The red dirt roads we traveled on our explorations of the regions will be forever etched in my visual memory.
Asia: In the mid-2000s I had the wonderful opportunity to live and work in Taiwan and travel to China as a Senior Scholar with the US State Department Fulbright Program. From 2005 through 2008 I spent more than a year and a half teaching, exhibiting, and traveling in Asia. The sights and sounds of Taipei, Hualien, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Nanjing – and so many other locations – were mesmerizing and deeply influenced my way of working and artistic imagery. I simply cannot communicate how profound these experiences were both philosophically and artistically.
For example, in 2005 my wife Margie and I were assigned to an apartment in a building that housed foreign visitors on the campus of National Chengchi University. The campus was in Muzha, in the Daan District, just south of the capital city of Taipei. On the mountain that towered behind the university was the remarkable, and very famous, Zhinan Temple complex. What an amazing place! Every day, from the back balcony of our apartment, we would see the smoke rising from temple’s fires where various offerings were brought by devoted followers. When visiting the temple one was presented with brightly colored buildings all constructed in styles that dated back literally thousands of years. The powerful visual aspects of the temple were amplified by the nearly constant sounds of gongs and bells as was the aroma of incense and the chanting of the faithful visitors. Walking through the temple grounds was an entirely transcendental experience.
On the other hand, down on the street in front of our apartment, the noise coming from traffic was constant with a howling drone emanating from the scooters that made up the majority of the vehicles. Packs of dogs ran free through the streets and into the alley ways, while cats prowled the tops of walls and roofs everywhere. On a regular basis, we would hear loud blasts from hundreds of firecrackers and see the rising smoke clouds that announced the launch a new business or local event. We would also often hear the blare of loudspeakers placed on the roofs of cars, or in the beds of truck, as these vehicles slowly led mourners in a funeral as they wound their way into the hills where large traditional cemeteries dotted that landscape. In the neighborhood where we lived hundreds of orchids hung from the windows and and on the walls of many residential buildings, and the tantalizing aromas coming from the many traditional restaurants reached out to us as we walked along the streets toward the campus. Needless to say, on a daily basis, we were regularly amazed, and almost always surprised, in many positive and enjoyable ways.
Exploring and working in India: From 2007 to 2017, by invitation, my wife Margie & I were able to participate in a number of fascinating projects on site in various locations in India: Jaipur, Amedabad, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, and many other places. Here we taught, offered workshops on digital art, and exhibited our art at various universities, colleges and institutes. We also took as many opportunities as could be engineered to travel with local friends to temples, historical sites, markets, and to generally experience India (as much as that was possible) from the point of view of the population of that ancient and widely varying country. From these hands-on adventures by tuk-tuk, cab, private automobile, airplane, bus, and train we got to know the sites, aromas, every day practices, and ceremonial practices that make that remarkable country so unforgettable on so many levels. In fact, I’m certain that my previous sense of potential color combinations, and attention to surface detail were shifted to something more dramatic and elaborate by those trips.
Retirement on the Eastern Shore of Virginia: In 2021, after a total of more than 40 years years teaching traditional studio art, art history, digital art, design, and developing interdisciplinary media integration projects and academic programs, my wife Margie and I moved to the Delmarva peninsula, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We now live in the small town of Onancock which was founded in 1680. This historic town has a population hovering around 2,000 and offers boaters a deep water wharf on a wide creek that connects to the Chesapeake Bay just 4.5 miles to the west. And, remarkably, only 5 miles to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. The Shore, as it is known, has 2 coasts!
The history of this unique and beautiful region is very much related to the activities conducted on the Bay and in the Ocean and most of the numerous small towns consist primarily of homes and business buildings constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries. At this time we are in the process of restoring an early 1890s Victorian home in the downtown and have begun to transform our large corner lot into a series of herb, vegetable and flower gardens. Taken altogether, our move to the Eastern Shore postretirement has allowed us the time and space to refocus our creative energies, to explore this fascinating place, and to spend time along the dual coast lines experiencing the environment, the culture, and the wildlife of the region. The night skies here are dramatically clear and the sometimes nearly fluorescent sunsets over the Bay are legendarily beautiful. Natural wildlife is abundant and the shoreline along the Atlantic side contains the longest stretch of undeveloped shoreline on the entire East coast of the USA.
Summary: All that stuff having been shared, I can honestly say that each place I’ve lived has had a certain kind of influence on me both as a person as well as an artist. I suppose, that in making my artwork I am, in some subconscious way(s), reconnecting with the most significant moments experienced in all those places. Not sure … but probably. And, in the end, I have striven (most days) to live according to this maxim: Be one upon whom nothing is lost.
JCAM: Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making?
JAL: Yes, over the years, I have had a number of very supportive people who are (or were) professionals involved in the creative arts. This would include not only visual fine artists, but also photographers, writers, designers, sculptors, painters, videographers –and many more. Not so surprisingly, early on in my career some of these folks were very senior to me at the time we interacted. These sages often provided that kind of view from the mountain top that comes with life experience. I benefitted from their perspectives in many ways.
The most influential person in my adult has been my wife, of nearly 30 years, Margie Beth Labadie. She is an accomplished visual artist and is also highly skilled in different forms of creative work such as writing, editing, curatorial activities, teaching – among many others. Margie and I have worked together on a wide array of creative projects in locations in the USA, Europe and Asia. Her energy, drive, social skills, and high ethical standards set her apart from nearly everyone with whom I have ever worked. She is my best critic and most successful and inspirational creative life partner.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art?
JAL: From what my parents have shared, my tendency to draw appeared very early on. Neither of my parents had any significant artistic training but they did what they knew how to do to provide me with things to draw with and draw on. For example, I’m told that many of my early drawings were done with ballpoint pens from my father ’s office and made on the brown paper bags that had been brought back from trips to the grocery or hardware stores. None of these have survived. Probably a good thing.
My first actual training with art media was in 11th grade (in Bishop John Carroll Roman Catholic high school) in a hygienically clean classroom where drawing, painting, printmaking, and mixed media works were produced as our required course projects. Perhaps more importantly, some additional, and I think very important artistic encouragement and technical instruction, was regularly provided by the mother of my friend Harry Campbell. Mrs. Molly Campbell was a professional who did photo retouching (of chemical photography prints). I remember her work as being highly detailed, flawless, and simply amazing. Because of her work Molly had a large collection of watercolor paints, brushes, and many kinds of multi-media papers. She shared with us generously and encouraged us to experiment with the media provided. And because of this free bounty of artistic media my friend Harry and I become locally well know as those guys who had produced this or that poster or design for a school activity or small business. Interestingly enough, we both went on to art school, probably in no small part due to the kinds of works we had learned to create in the basement of Harry’s family home. Thanks Molly!
After high school in Ohio my stated purpose in life was to volunteer for the US Navy. I
traveled back to the West where I hoped to join into military service via an early enlistment that would make me a United States Navy sailor when I turned 18 years of age. For a variety of reasons (none of which need to be shared here) that enlistment did not happen. I was too young to be drafted into the military so, with the assistance of my grandfather in the state of Oregon, I took a job on a sheep ranch situated on a mountainside in northern part of that state (but that’s also a story for another time). A few months later, on trip to visit old family friends in Seattle, I had the opportunity to do some projects in graphic design (I did not know the term up to that time) for a poster printing and T-shirt shop near the sprawling campus of the University of Washington. The shop had a steady flow of customers and the workload for producing new designs was never-ending. Soon project followed project and I photographed what I thought were the best of those. I mailed a few of those Polaroid photos back to my younger brother. He shared those with my mother (by then a university college professor of rhetoric, logic, and literature) who then shared them with her (apparently) wellconnected friends.
Late that year, on a trip back to Dayton, Ohio for the winter holidays, and accompanied by thick pile of sketches of my designs, I was told by a friend of my mother ’s that she had arranged a meeting with a friend of hers to talk about my art. Her friend was the Director at the Dayton Art Institute (DAI) – then still a diploma granting institution. After a review of my sketches, and a long conversation, over cups of tea, the Director asked if I might be interested in studying at DAI. My response: What do I have to do? His response: Quickly prepare and present a portfolio.
After hurriedly locating a severely limited range of art supplies (I had no money), I spent the next week or so working on a small portfolio and then submitted same to the Director’s office. This was just before classes began in January. Another meeting with the Director was quickly arranged. Question: Would you be willing to accept a workstudy position (aka: a job) with the institution as part of a scholarship? Reply: Hell yes! On the spot I was offered a scholarship, and thus began my first significant academic level training in the visual arts.
JCAM: Why do you make art now? What are you trying to communicate with your art?
JAL: I make art now for a variety of reasons: First and foremost, I have a need to make creative works; next I have an insatiable urge to experiment with art-making tools and materials; I get great inspiration from my readings of published research in the sciences; I have an inescapable sense – a deep awareness – that there are many more interesting things and ideas to explore than my time on Earth will allow.
As to my art being a vehicle for communication, that’s something that is far less interesting to me than the acts associated with researching and making my artwork. If I were challenged to state what specifically it is that I was trying to say with my creative work, my response might be more like this, “Hey, check it out, this might be something that might change the way you think, plan, or perhaps act in some meaningful or useful
way.”
JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?
JAL: This is the easiest question to answer thus far. My bachelor’s degree in art, focused on painting, was granted in December of 1973. This degree program was focused on traditional studio activities as those creative activities as those skills had been taught for generations: Photography was still laboriously done in dark rooms using chemicals; serious painters still used mostly used oil paints, many of which were highly toxic; stone carving with hammers and chisels, and lost wax casting in bronze still dominated sculpture programs. Those practices have not disappeared, but times have most certainly changed!
Since then, and mostly after the early 1990’s, my activities related to fine art (and design as well) have been driven by the ever-evolving tools sets offered by a wide range of digital technologies. Simply put, my more mature artistic practice has been almost completely driven by different forms of creative computing. Computer art, data art, digital art, whatever the term that is used, has changed art-making process and the way in which art is consumed, forever. Today, with the rapid advent and adoption of AI (artificial intelligence) in computing the way(s) in which creative types can use computing tools has been exponentially expanded and offers ways of working never before available to anyone. I’ve been a part of this paradigm shift and it’s been wonderful to surf that ever-more-powerful digital wave. And there’s no end in sight to that either!
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
JAL: Nope. I have no particular patterns, etc., associated with my art-making.
Currently I have two important artistic toolsets: my sketch pad and a pencil; my computer, peripherals (scanner, tablet, and camera), and a wide array of imaging applications.
When is a work finished? Hmmmm. I have no idea really. Sometimes I think this can be judged … other times it’s a complete mystery to me. But, I do know that when someone wants to purchase a piece it’s time to let it go out the door.
A new creative medium I would enjoy pursuing is robotic sculpture. This process would be driven by my original 3D scans and models. These processes would include waterjet and laser sintering technologies. New developments in this areas are seem to come to market almost daily. I’m still looking into the specifics of this way of working and I’ve
been learning various 3D apps for some time now.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally? What interesting projects are you working on at the moment? What are your artistic goals for the future?
JAL: I think that someone looking for a career in the visual arts should simply do what they do best – whatever that is. Work hard; see what happens. Reboot. Work even harder. Get better. Do more. Repeat as necessary.
The projects I am working on now are wide-ranging: grants for international work with ocean scientists on site in northern Europe; setting up my new physical workspace and website for our studio in the Historic Onancock School; producing the final edition of the Journal of Creative Arts & Minds – a product of our non-profit Jumbo Arts International. There are other things in process as well.
Some of my artistic goals for the future are related to achieving the goal of converting our two-car detached garage into a viable, year-round, production facility for a wide range of creative activities. We have already done much to make that happen, but there are many more steps yet to take to make this a reality. Perhaps later this year we’ll get there.
JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist? What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
JAL: Fortunately, I am inspired by many things. Some are of the natural world … some are the inventions of humans. Some people are inspirational too. But not too many.
I find the work of many artists to be of interest. There is no particular living artist whose works speak to me loudly. But, of the historical artists, it would be the works of Max Ernst, Roberto Matta, and Yves Tanguy that still inspire me.
As to wanting to own more works of art, that is not really much of a motivation at this point in my life. Why? I’ve been acquiring artistic works since my early 20’s and have a wonderful collection of work that ranges from small Japanese woodblock prints, to large Indonesian and African sculpture, to contemporary paintings, and digital prints. I live with these works daily. I’m surrounded. That’s more than enough.
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
JAL: For the most part, I do not find ideas for my art work. Ideas seem to find me. By this I mean that many, perhaps most, of the visuals that drive my creative work arrive,
almost complete and intact, someplace in the visualization part of my conscious mind. I see these things just as clearly as looking out a window into our back yard to watch the birds come to the feeders. Since my earliest days in art school this has always been the case. I see my job as a visual artist as this: to find a way to transform these visions into something that can be shared with others.
Creativity! What is it? How can it be taught? Honestly, to me being creative means being a problem finder and problem solver. It’s just that simple.
How can someone become more creative? My advice would be this: Don’t be afraid to fail, because it is through failure that we most often learn to be better – at anything and everything.
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have changed the direction of your art practice?
JAL: I would suggest that there have been a number of things that have been significant change agents in my life. Some of those situations have been already shared in this interview. But, I don’t think it’s possible (or honest) for me to list a single thing, just one event, that is the most significant thing in this regard.
But, of this I am certain, working as an artist, not just making some skillfully produced stuff, is more of a life way than it is something that is easily learned in a technical workshop – or even a graduate degree program for that matter. Further, I’m pretty sure that there are as many ways ways to live a creative life as there are people living their lives. For precisely this reason, personally meeting, working with, and learning from so many artists making so many different types work, has been a significant factor that seems to consistently move me down my own creative path. To know from seeing, from observing, from doing, and from listening to others is, and always has been, very important to me.
Arrested Development
John Antoine Labadie
Bosch’s Brushes
John Antoine Labadie
Image
Sullivan’s Way
John Antoine Labadie
Song of the South
John Antoine Labadie
Image
Lenses, Version 22
John Antoine Labadie
Hexane
The Lurker, Variation 6
John Antoine Labadie Digital Image 2002
The Lurker, Blue (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
Crabs 2 (Detail)
New
John Antoine Labadie
Family Group 4a
John Antoine Labadie
Digital Image 2007
John Antoine Labadie
Homage to Gaston 11
A Statistical Error 3
Flame Work 13 (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
Migration 12 (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
John Antoine Labadie
The Ghost of William Morris 23 (Detail)
The Ghost of William Morris 32 (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
Meditations 13 (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
Virtual Garden 27 (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
Digital Image
Virtual Garden 52 (Detail)
John Antoine Labadie
Virtual Garden 144
John Antoine Labadie Digital Image
Solid Geometry 18
John Antoine Labadie
Digital Image 2021
Solid Geometry 32
Solid Geometry 45
John Antoine Labadie Digital Image
Year of the Dragon - Chinese Zodiac Poster Exhibition
John Antoine Labadie
Digital Image
False Dichotomy
John Antoine Labadie
Digital Image 2025
Nitasha Jaini
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making?
NJ: I was born in Punjab India,I carry the vibrancy of that culture in my soul. Today I live in Delhi capital of India , and this city has taught me , moulded me, given me opportunities to explore new grounds, and question old methods.
I feel privileged to be a third generation empowered woman, education for women came into my family 50 years before I was born. My mother is a well known educationist and my father is like a solid rock that bore my burden.
My parents realized the predicament of my artistic path quite early in my career, and bravely they decided to financially support me. They bought me a studio –my sanity /my retreat. This alone held me together and helped me create art year after year, show or no show, art production has not stopped.
Married to a sports person, and mother of twin daughters, the pressures were many, but thanks to the ideas of gender freedom my husband became the bigger man when he stood beside me. He adjusted when he every nook every corner every cupboard in our home being converted to art holds.
My first two shows in Delhi were initiated by fellow artist Narenderpal Singh there art critics Prayag Shukla and Vinod Bhardwaj saw my works. There was a lot of discussion –debate and questioning during those years. Each work was discussed threadbare, and new ways to express were explored.
The discipline to create art, the sheer determination to just do that was sown into my system during those years. These 7/8 years proved to be the solid base on which I was
to continue creating art. During this time I received a national scholarship to work in studios in the city of Lucknow. After this phase ended, I knew my path ahead would be more me as I discarded the influences of other artist work and deliberately sought out my own language.
My sister an American proved to be a great support of my art, she generously bought my art and kept my art supplies coming from Pearl in New Jersey. Two women friends of mine, took upon themselves to buy my art regularly, keeping my safe from sinking.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Why do you make art now? What are you trying to communicate with your art? How has your work changed or developed over time?
NJ: I was 12 years old when Dr. Baldev Gambhir, a well known professor of art in Amritsar, came to our house , and my drawing copy was shown to him. He looked at a full page fairy’s drawing and said, “She has movement in her drawing, she should continue art.” its as if I can still hear his words.
I got my art education, did my masters in fine arts, and then spent time unlearning the rules. The struggle to understand why I make art now was deep and long. I chose not to take up a job, decided to taste all shades of an artistic struggle, which today at age 61, I can safely say, been there done that, to every nuance of a artist struggle.
Slowly I began to understand that my art journey will be along the less trodden path, since 1995, my art is centered around the theme of the “Male". The male as model is present very much in context, of the female Artist. The form gives me a sense of freedom, to express my emotions, through his sensuality. Being a 21st Century woman, with innumerable feminist movements behind me, today I can use this form to give my personal reaction an overall aesthetic experience.
My research continues and the desire to break the aesthetic barriers which the content of my paintings pose. I first showed ‘male‘ nudes in 1995, over time the image has changed, the content and the reasons to work on the ‘male ‘ remain the same. It is also my sincere desire not to create uneasiness amongst those, who find themselves subject of my scrutiny.
The materials have also changed from traditional paper/canvas /paint I have moved into work with cloth, mannequins, plastic flowers stainless steel laser cut work , acrylic sheets.
My work has certainly changed over time, in 2004 a, the office going stamp entered my work, the sameness of an office going male in any part of the world , got replicated on my canvas. The subject matter remained the same, but the visual changed. The muscular structuring of the form gave way to a more quieter drawing, the repetitive male stamps were everywhere, application of color changed, I was making a flat colored
base, and putting color through rollers, the work was being made in layers.
In 2020, I was the happy participant in an online show curated by Judy Chicago called –Solstice: Create Art For Earth. I sent a digital work for this show, and was selected. The online show was hosted by Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe.
JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What new creative medium would you love to pursue?
NJ: My art making is an intrinsic part of my being. My rituals are gathering silence. I need to quiet down from the chores of living.
My studio space has the power to take me inwards. slowly then art making unfolds. The physical tools I use in my art are stencils of all shapes and sizes, I also get stamps specially made, with images to be used on my art piece, I use this stamp multiple times till the art is ready.
My paintings build slowly, layer upon layer of paint are rolled on, then images stamped on it, until finally I sit in front of the work and the work says, “I’m ready”. I can never predict in terms of time or number of layers when the work will be ‘ready’. When it is I just know. It usually takes more than a week for small works.
The evaluation of my art work is a slow process, I need to stare at it for a long time before tweaking it. Works which have not been shown ,may get tweaked 2 years after being made. Once am ready, then showing my work gives me joy.
Over years, I have worked with wood, steel, papier-mâché, clay, photography, acrylic and waterproof inks. Materials are chosen according to the art, I want to create. For instance the photographic works are landscape based, the storage is digital. I wanted photographic exactitude, referencing to our specific time and space, so photograph served that purpose best. it was creatively processed by merging two photos as a montage, the result was direct and relatable. Today materials can be used more freely by artist, the information explosion that has taken place on the internet, has brought every material within all artists’ reach.
In my studio are incomplete works of papier-mâché, which I would like to pursue in the future. papier-mâché holds my interest, as it converts waste into art.
JCAM: What strategies could you share with other artists on how to become successful professionally? What interesting projects are you working on at the moment? What are your artistic goals for the future?
NJ: Covid has taught us that we all live in glasshouses, success, life ,living ,survival and the end ,one can not know when one slips into another. Professional success in visual arts can be assured if one takes up a job.but if one takes the path I took, success is not a surety. The path less trodden is unpredictable.
At the moment am working on paintings which will have laser cut mdf (Medium-density fiberboard) as frame. The technology of laser cutting with its finish and detail has worked well with my painting as a outer frame. It gives finish to my rough strokes and layered colors it reflects today in the final art piece. Using contemporary technology to enhance life experience expressed in painting.
Covid has taught me, not to plan any futures. Its one day at a time for me.
JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist? What work of art do you wish you owned and why?
NJ: About 90% of all the art I have ever produced talks of the MALE. The man in my life. That’s it. He was what I had celebrated on paper, he was who I was angry with, he was who I was in love with, he was who made my heart miss many a beat . He was what I wanted to talk about, he as a unwilling, sometimes abusive partner of a strong woman. The urban male is my muse.
Being in Delhi I have had the pleasure of being exposed to the works of the best artist of India, international shows have shown me the works of many greats. My personal favorite is Arpita Singh, I also enjoy the works of Subodh Gupta. In an ideal world I would like to bring home – Michelangelo’s David. No male sculpture can be more perfect sensuous as well as innocent at the same time.
I value art, the art making, writing about art, or creating awareness about art.i believe in its originality , and I know the price an artist pays to create original art, out of my respect for art, I have a rule. My rule is – whenever I sell a work of art, I use part of that money to buy someone else’s art. I bought a work by Mr. Gurmeet Marwah, which I am very proud of. My intention is to buy as I go along. In the future I hope to own works by a lot of contemporary artist of India.
JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?
NJ: I think artists seek adventure in art making.The mundane, the repeated makes an artistic person bored. As a visual artist , the explosion of visual material on the internet can keep me enthralled for hours.
As one looks thru creative journeys of other people, new ideas spark within the head. Experimentation and trials help me narrow down on what I want to engage in. recently
on one of my travels I did a small drawing of a handsome young man, the size was 5 inches by 8 inches. Doing the drawing with pen gave me so much creative joy, that I did one drawing after another, creating a series of 11 drawings. These were unpredictable creative and pleasing.
JCAM: What other events in your life, if any, have affected the way in which you make art, or changed the direction of your art?
NJ: This question is very relevant to my art journey ,because my art is directly based on my life experience. Born a woman, I’ve tasted patriarchy up close, on my travels through India, I’ve studied the lives of women in tiny villages and big metros. Patriarchy is deep-rooted, it is all enveloping, invisible but there.
My art talks about men, it’s a lifelong attempt to shift focus on men rather than women when it comes to discussions about interpersonal relations. The direction of my art gets validated each time a woman hides her scars under her colorful sari.
City Love 1 Mixed Media
Nitasha Jaini
Mixed Media
Nitasha Jaini
Mixed Media
Nitasha Jaini
Man Trapped Mixed Media
Nitasha Jaini
Man Trapped Mixed Media
Nitasha Jaini
Rajendra Kapse
JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?
RK: I am living and art practicing in Mumbai city its capital of Maharashtra state.
Mumbai is also the financial capital of India, Mumbai is not just a city. It's life.
Mumbai is the sweet, sweaty smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it's the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love.
The Source of all things, the luminescence, has more forms than heaven's stars for sure.
Mumbai hides all its blemishes in the night. Many different religious people living happily together,
Mumbai also has Bollywood, many drama theatre, art activity and all the time some happening is going on.
That’s why Mumbai city is always influencing and inspiring me.
JCAM: Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making?
RK: Yes, I m very lucky to have family’s moral, financial support in my struggling time & many friends who support me in my work, life and art making. I feel proud & privileged for this.
JCAM: When and how did you start making art? - Why do you make art now? - What are you trying to communicate with your art? How has your work changed or developed over time?
RK: I was impressed by the humorist approach of Charlie Chaplin and all artist who portrays themselves in all media, that's strong influence on my art.
I wanted to do away with the heaviness of intellectualism generally convey. Art is an expression that is considered to be an intellectual property so, I came up with the term "Funtellectual" to express myself.
My art is inspirations from theatre presentation, like acting, posturing, miming, drama, movies rather than tradition.
In my art I have created my own style called "Funtemporary art" in addition to drawing attention the genre highlights a recent development in the Indian art. the irony is the highlight of my expression by portrays myself to play different characters on canvas, like one act play theatre.
I am using images of my body to create different visual. So, it's not just self-portrait it's more beyond that. The expressions are not merely contemporary but rather "Funtemporary" and the satirical annotation that emerges from it is particular.
To date I have done eight solo exhibition and participated many group exhibitions in India and abroad.
Amazing Imagination
Rajendra Kapse
Medium – oil on canvas Size – 54X54 Inches
Year – 2024
Clowns World 2
Medium – oil on canvas
Size –3’H X 4’W
Year – 2024
Clowns World 2
Spiritual Dilemma
Medium – oil on canvas
Size –3’ HX 3’ W
Year – 2024
Banana Republic
Medium –Acrylic colour on canvas
Size – 4’ H X 5’ W
Year – 2023
Mad Orchestra
Medium – oil on canvas. Size – 4’ H X 4’W Year – 2022.
Political Punishment
Medium – oil on canvas
Size – 4’ H X 3’ W
Year – 2022
Medium – oil on canvas
Size – 4’ H X 3’ W
Year – 2022
Adenoid Hynkel
Medium – oil on canvas
Size – 5’ H X 5’W
Year – 2022
Somatic Narcissism
Just Relax & Accept Crazy Medium – oil on canvas
Size – 5’ H X 5’ W
Year – 2021
Waiting for Godot Medium – oil on canvas Size – 3’ H X 3’ W Year – 2021.
Religious Nut with Spiritual Fruit
Medium – oil on canvas
Size – 3’ H X 3’ W
Year – 2021
Tribute to Labour Medium – oil on canvas Size – 3’ H X 3’ W
