Suboart Magazine March 2023 #3

The

history and artefacts that we have left behind gives us a small window into what the world was like back then, to me is really a mind-blowing idea.

- Rowan Bathurst

Rowan Bathurst - 6 -

Melissa Lyn - 14 -

Morgan Jesse Lappin - 16 -

Dunia Barrera - 18 -

Fran Gealer - 20 -

Melanie Reese - 22 -

Agata Jawor - 24 -

Adeline Thng - 26 -

Stella Lightheart - 28 -

Daura Campos - 30 -

Mayowa Nwadike - 32 -

Nadia Wamunyu - 34 -

Yuliia Chaika - 40 -

Amanda Schwartz - 42 -

Welcome to Suboart Magazine

***

Katherine Gallacher - 44 -

Marina Altukhova - 46 -

Sasha Balla - 50 -

Pinar Ture Gursoy - 52 -

Alice Walter - 54 -

Mouli Paul - 56 -

Eleanor Dunning - 58 -

Thomas Carpenter - 60 -

Hanna Dujmovic - 62 -

Arushee Suri - 66 -

NILIA - 68 -

Parme Marin - 70 -

Hallie Driscoll - 72 -

Olga Niki - 74 -

Kristine Narvida - 76 -

Elisa Adams - 78 -

Charles Eruni - 86 -

Carolina Aguirre Lestón - 88 -

Mohammad Awwad - 90 -

Chinedu Chidebe - 92 -

Molly Goehring - 94 -

Lottie Steward Anderson - 96 -

Odeta Xheka - 98 -

Josh Stein - 100 -

Jakub Pasierkiewicz - 102 -

Olivia Springberg - 104 -

Diana Bresson - 106 -

Sol Barberis - 108 -

Make the art that you want and that you want to see and that you’re happy with. Do it because you love it.

- Rowan Bathurst

My Shadow, My Friend by Rowan Bathurst, 2022 Acrylic on Canvas, 30”x 30”

Finding Power in Beauty

Rowan Bathurst

When Rowan Bathurst learned how to paint, it felt almost as natural as breathing. Fascinated with archeology, & history, and inspired by prehistoric figurines & feminism, Rowan’s paintings talk about our innate connection to the earth and invite us to treasure the history we carry within. A few months ago, Rowan and I met via Zoom to talk about her series “Girl, Woman, Warrior”, painting in the flow state and the power of beauty to escape fast paced modern life.

By Nina Seidel

Hi Rowan, thanks a lot for taking the time to speak to me today. For people who don’t know you: who are you and how did you get into art?

My name is Rowan Bathurst, I am a painter based in Baltimore, Maryland. I started painting when I was around 16 or 17 years old, which is 10 years ago now. I went to a very strict Catholic school as a child, and we didn’t have an art class, so I didn’t know anything about drawing or art, I didn’t even dip my toes into it. Then I went to public high school, I took an art class in my sophomore year. When I learned how to paint it was something so natural for me and it kind of just skyrocketed from there. It was the first thing I was actually excited aboutI wasn’t the best student and studying wasn’t my thing, I wasn’t very good at English or Math or any other of these subjects, so when I found painting it

was such a natural love for me and it went on from there. After high school, I couldn’t afford to go to a private art college, so I went to community college, which was was great. They had an awesome art program about art history, as well as photography and sculpture. After three years at the community college I transferred to Maryland Institute College of Art and I finished my degree in painting and art history there.

In your bio you mention that you’re inspired by “feminism, archaeological pieces and our innate connection to the earth.” How did these interests arise?

In school I was always drawn to old architecture, cave drawings and figurines. I think there was a spark that came to me when I learned about that.

The artist Ana Mendieta was also a huge inspiration for me. She incorporated the body into her works, mostly in nature to describe that the earth and the body are one. That inspired me when I was about 20 years old and I’ve been into figurines since then. I really love to travel as well and learn about histories of other countries, about how old the earth is, it can be so fascinating to me. Nowadays we always think about the future, now things are moving so fast, and we forget how much time has been behind us and how far we, as humans, have come to be here in this moment. We have all these ancestors, generations and generations that got us here today, and I find that such a beautiful thought. It gives more purpose to life in my opinion.

was too short or that her body was too muscular… women get so much comments on anything they do, however they look, and it’s exhausting. I always think, what if it was a man? Would they encourage him instead? I think with women, we always get looked at through a critical or perfectionist lens.

But anyway, I would be with my mum when she would do fitness competitions, watching her do all these crazy poses during a show. I thought to myself that she looked absolutely amazing, so strong and confident. And I was also really inspired by how she raised my brother and I, being a different type of mother than what movies would show and continuing her passions up until a couple of years ago. So, she’s been a big part of the inspiration for the warriors. But I see warriors in everyday life, too. I was looking at warriors in a different way. You know, warriors can be people who simply make it through the day. Women go through so much struggle, we have built a resistance to it. It might be a cat call or getting treated differently at work, and you’re still choosing to continue. Those are battles we all fight with ourselves.

I’d like to talk about your series “Girl, Woman, Warrior”, can you tell me a bit more about it?

Absolutely. So, the warrior series was inspired a lot by my mum who did mixed martial arts. She would do that for fun and she also does kickboxing. Sometimes when growing up, I felt she was like the scary parent (laughs). My Dad is a gentle soul and kind while my mum was the one who was so tough to us. I grew up watching her being so strong, opinionated, have so much discipline in her life, and not giving any mind about what people would say to her. She would get comments that she

I think it’s an understood thing among women that we go through this but it is ultimately something that you deal with and you learn how to be stronger on your own. I think that is really inspiring.

In your statement you write in regards to the Venuses, “Some art historians theorize that the unusual rounded forms are reflective of a female artist looking down at herself and sculpting a self-portrait. Though separated by thousands of years, I feel there is a connection to those female artists and the lives they lived.” Do you feel that in some way painting the warrior series was also

“The history and artefacts that we have left behind gives us a small window into what the world was like back then, to me is really a mind-blowing idea.”

creating a sort of self-portrait?

Now in a different way, I’m choosing to really paint what I love and am drawn to. I love to work out, I love to run and feel strong, I think in some way all of these paintings have a little bit of me in them. I use them as a representation of a starting point, a signal. This is where we all came from. We still have this power within us, it can be signified through a Goddess figurine or as a warrior or deity, as something to worship. But in the end it is yourself, And it’s acting as a little reminder to not forget that.

Please tell me about your creative process.

A lot of my ideas come to me when I’m running or listening to music, I have 10 ideas at the same time, and I scribble them out or jot down notes. I usually put 5 to 7 canvases on the wall at once, then I map them out. I spend a lot of time planning the composition for the paintings and I try to have a theme. Lately, I’ve been doing photoshoots with my friends to use as reference for my work. I try to keep my series separated to keep them a little organized as things go. So, I cut the canvas, I draw on it, and plan everything out which takes the longest part actually. I do a first background layer, like a coloured wash over the canvas to get the base colours. And then, I usually would spend time on one canvas until I finish, then I’d go to the next one. But there’s always many things going on at the same time.

in the back (Rowan points to the paintings behind her), they are a bit smaller than the paintings that I’ve worked on within the past year. These ones are more intimate and about solitude. There’s a figure who is in warm red light. It’s supposed to be portraying moments you share with yourself, solitary, but the Venuses subtly appear, almost as a ghost since they do not cast shadows, acting as a reminder of your history or as a guardian angel. No matter how alone you feel, you still have all of this history, even though you don’t remember or know any of it. Your ancestors are with you and have brought you here.

When looking at the paintings from the warrior series, my personal impression is that many of the women stand alone, fighting their own battles, even when they stand in pairs. Was that something that you planned out intentionally or did that just happen while painting?

At first, for those warrior paintings, I wanted to play out some visual ideas and the composition, I didn’t think too much about it. I wanted to show women fighters looking at the viewer against a very bold background. I started photographing my friends boxing, then it became more intentional, for example, okay, there are two female figures but these figures are confronting the viewers together. I wanted the figures to look directly at the viewer, playing with the idea of the “male gaze”. When you see a woman confronting you with a stronger gaze back at you.

Would you like to share with me what you’re currently working on?

Yeah, so these ones, I don’t know if you see them

Another thing that you wrote about your work and this series is that both, power and beauty, exist inside of us. Related to visual arts I wanted to ask you if you believe that beauty – the beauty that an

artwork might be able to radiate- has the power to evoke change?

I believe it can. I believe beauty can trigger a change, it has to me as an observer. I’ve seen paintings where something has been so beautiful that it has made me cry and given me goosebumps. I think pieces that stick with you are few and far between, it’s not the most common thing. For example, there are two that actually made me feel very moved just through beauty alone. One of them was Amoako Boafo, the way he puts oil on the canvas and how the figures feel alive. Seeing it in person for the first time was so intimate, it felt so personal and raw. It’s something that really moved me and stuck with me. So, I think that art definitely has the power to do that, just through beauty.

We move around through life so fast and have so many things to do, we can just get caught up in life quickly. When something is beautiful, it catches your eye and it makes you pause and reflect. We’re drawn to it for a reason.

On your website you write “Red is the mark of power, passion, anger, and love”. Talking more in terms of visual art, what would you say is your power or passion?

and that is, I would say, my power. Tapping into the body and dropping into the present moment through the act of painting.

Any advice for fellow emerging artists that you’d like to share?

I would say, keep doing whatever you’re doing. There is no rush for having a solo show or for having your work bringing in a lot of money, there is no rush for any of that. I think the most important lesson that I learned is to just make the art that you want and that you want to see and that you’re happy with. Do it because you love it. This is your world, this is your art, you don’t have to change for anybody.

Through social media it’s easy to see the other people succeeding really fast, it can seem like a hardcore race, but it doesn’t have to be that. There is a whole world outside of social media. Just keep doing what you’re doing.

And last question: what are your hopes for the future?

You know, people talk about the flow state when you are so focused on something, your mind just turns off and everything becomes automatic. And I feel that way when painting. Hours can pass by and I don’t think of anything, and I don’t listen to music or even eat.

I can paint through the afternoon, the night, so on,

My personal hope is to experiment a little bit more with video and performance art. I have done a couple of murals and I would love to do a huge mural one day. Something like 20 stories tall, something insanely big- these are my immediate hopes. As far as broader spectrum hopes, I hope that we all can slow down a little bit more. I’m not anti-technology but I do try to stay away from it. The day to day is important, cherishing friendships and families is important, too.

www.rowanbathurst.com

Instagram: rowanbathurst

Melissa Lyn Melissa Lyn

Melissa Lyn is a Ghanaian - Jamaican Illustrator and Fine Artist. She has been featured on local television and in print media, including the Gleaner Jamaica Outlook Magazine 2018. In July 2022, she received three Gold Medals and Best Overall Artist for her entries in Drawing & Collage in the J.C.D.C’s Visual Arts Competition for Adults. In September 2019, Melissa was selected as the only Caribbean artist among other artists across the world to exhibit in the 12th Annual DAMNED Exhibition of Enlightened Darkness, held in Detroit Michigan, U.S.A. Melissa also enjoys working as a Tour Guide for Kingston Creative, conducting Mural Art Walks along Water Lane in Downtown Kingston. As an avid reader, she uses the opportunity as a tour guide to share with persons the history and culture of ancestral groups that has influenced society. In the future, she aspires to be a historian or a curator. Melissa’s illustrations are done by hand. Her works consist of graphite, ink, colored pastels and often incorporates photographs to create mixed-media collages. Melissa’s works are influenced by research in Ancient Civilizations, African history, philosophy and biblical content. At age 18, Melissa discovered her Ghanaian roots after reuniting with her father. Three years prior, she embarked on a spiritual journey proclaiming the Hebrew faith. This provided her with much clarity as to the questions she had about life.

melissalyn.wixsite.com/melissalyn

Instagram: melissamelaninlyn

Reimagining Christ, Pilli Mwami, 2023 Colored pastel and ink on paper, 24 x 24 inches

Artist Statement

I find it rather thrilling through a careful selection of symbols, colors and images to transform portraits as avatars of ancestral deities, (embodying the slogan #channelyourbantuavatar) making them mysterious and intriguing enough to discuss and figure out.I recreate history through pop culture visual expressions appealing to younger audiences; whilst retaining the objective, educate and awaken. I’m passionate about using my work to help guide myself and others who are trying to discover their roots, identity and true purpose.

Channeling Maasai, 2022 Colored pastel and ink on paper, 19.5 × 21 inches

Morgan Jesse Lappin

About

Morgan Jesse Lappin, is a Brooklyn-based creator known for eye-popping collages that use nostalgic materials to comprise paper worlds with a sense of comedy and chaos. As the founder of the Brooklyn Collage Collective (BCC), found in 2013 one of the first internationally-recognized assemblage of collage artists on social media, Lappin has formed an indelible presence in the global art and music communities.

Artist Statement

For me creating art is an amazing form of therapy and self expression. When I realized I could add positive vibes to someone’s day through my creativity, it pushed me to go above and beyond what I believe is possible using the medium of collage. This creates a cycle of positivity, and expands one’s imagination taking you to places you never knew existed within your own mind.

MorganLappin.com /Instagram: Morgan_Jesse_Lappin

Sanpatsu, 2023, Analog Collage, 40 dia inches

Gary The Travler, 15.5 x 12.5 inches

Dunia Barrera

My collage work revolves around language. My main influences are my love of typography, Futurism, and architecture. For me, collage is the perfect medium to express myself. The idea of liberating letters from the meaning we give them as a society fascinates me. Most of the time, I like to challenge what we think we read by giving the letters other shapes and losing parts of the words in order to question our brains’ automatic responses. Sometimes, I use a word or a sentence in my collages as an exercise of stream of consciousness; most of the time with a pinch of irony and humor.

I am interested in found materials as I like to see them as serendipitous objects waiting for me. I then combine the found materials with Life magazines from the 40´s to the 60´s. There is something special about the feel of these magazines, their smell and aesthetic. As an artist with a background in photography, I am attracted to black and white images. They transport me to another era where light and contrast played a big role. Apart from the language elements, I am drawn most of the time to male characters. These male images from vintage magazines often exude both a sense of rigidness and elegance due to the formality of fashion of those days. Sometimes I highlight those attributes, other times I use them in a humoristic way to contrast with images of women in these vintage magazines who were seen more as decorative items than individuals. However, I don’t work with a specific plan in mind and prefer to let my work progress intuitively.

Dunia Barrera- (b. Madrid, 1979) is a collage artist currently living and working in Munich, Germany. Barrera comes from a photography background, with her work having been exhibited in a solo exhibition at Photo España in 2002. Now focused on the medium of collage, her work has been exhibited at the Carriage Barn Arts Center in New Canaan, CT in the United States and at Gallery Anspach in Brussels, among others. She has been featured by Contemporary Collage Magazine and in the publications of Fragmented Collective. Her work is in the collections of the Anthropology Museum of Madrid, the Subway System of Madrid and the Museum Cristobal Gabarron in Valladolid.

www.duniabarrera.com

Instagram: duniabarreracollage

Planning for Life, 2022, Analog Collage, 21 x 30 cm

Ich bin so froh, 2022, Analog Collage, 21 x 30 cm

Fran Gealer

About

An accomplished photographer and collage artist, Fran Gealer has worked in art and design in New York City and Los Angeles. While in New York, she worked as a photo researcher and photo editor for several magazines, including Vogue and Travel and Leisure. She has also photographed for editorial magazines such as Travel and Leisure, Bon Appétit, House & Gardens, British Traveller, and GQ. Fran now resides in Ojai, California, where she is an avid pie baker and works as a chocolatier. Fran’s work is currently in a group show at the Ojai Valley Museum until February 2023.

www.frangealer.com

Instagram: f_gealer

Artist Statement

Collage is a way for me to understand the impermanence of nature and the way society’s events can quickly shift and morph into different ideals. Existing images can be deconstructed and reconfigured to create a new vocabulary, a story, and a way to travel through time and space. It is a way to decipher and transform emotions related to the world around me. Delving into the cut-and-paste process, I can see that everything is always in motion, constantly changing, and therefore the idea of being stuck no longer exists. Turn one thing into another. Turn a negative into a positive. As a collage artist, I create tiny worlds of peace, joy, and beauty.

It is a Little Out of Focus, but I would like to be there Analogue Collage,

Ginger Land A

Analogue collage in a box, 6” x 4” x1” (tin box size)

Page 21: It’s All Happening, Analogue collage, 14” x 20”

7” x 10”

Melanie Reese

Melanie Reese is a Brooklyn-based observational painter inspired by formalism. A complex layering of abstract elements allows her work to echo the representational through symbolic formalism. Her most recent work focuses on the increasingly tethered connection between bodily autonomy and the global climate crisis. Embracing the body as the vessel and nature as the foundation of human existence, Reese seeks to generate conversations of sustainable choice through the lens of bodily autonomy and landscape. Utilizing her entirely unique painting through mono-printing process, Reese’s observations are a particular confluence of quiet distilled down forms and loud symbolic patterning that, when thoughtfully constructed, her paintings become narrative.

Reese (b. 1991) holds an MFA from SVA and a BS from Skidmore College. Reese has exhibited widely throughout the United States including Untitled Space (NYC), Maison 10 Gallery (NYC), and THE GALLERY by Odo (NYC) and is represented by Florence Contemporary Gallery in Italy. She has been featured in several publications including New American Paintings

Northeast Issue 134, New American Painting Featured Artists, Inside Artists, Studio Visit Magazine, and A Women’s Thing. Reese lives and works in Greenpoint, BK with her husband and their elderly cat, Miss Puds, who hates all of Mel’s paintings and is always her toughest & most vocal critic.

www.melreese.com

Instagram: melaniereese

Dune Sunset, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 42 in

Peaks & Valleys, 2022

Acrylic & spray paint on canvas, 48 x 48 in

Agata Jawor

Agata Jawor is a self-taught illustrator and a graduate graphic designer at the University of Arts in Poznan (Poland). She has always been an attentive observer of human daily interactions and emotions. In her sketch works, she often captures unknown people seen in trains, restaurants, and buses. In her digital illustrations, the artist tries to express her deeply hidden emotions and thoughts, treating them as self-therapy. As those artworks are intimate or even neuralgic for her, she attempts to cover them using symbolic, metaphoric, and elucidative gestures, compositions, and a soft, calming color palette.

Scattered, 2020, Digital art, 55 x 42 cm

Passing Part 1, 2022, Digital art, 95 x 54 cm Burried, 2022, Digital art, 58 x 38 cm

Adeline Thng

About

Adeline Thng is a Singapore-based artist whose practice engages with geometrical interplay of line, form and colour; as seen in her new iteration body of works that are embroidered Plexiglas sculptures – highlighting the attention to fine detail in craftsmanship, precision-making and excellent display of balance in composition and calculation of every piece of mastery. The artist explores the dialectic relationship of visual order/structure and intrinsic expressions of art. Her artistic process is elaborated as an immersion in the ‘World of Ideal’ as she views the nexus of shapes in tessellation as mathematical poetry in motion, or a beautiful dance in rhythm of shapes on her Plexiglas canvas as she stitches it all into a choreography. It is an intimate affair between the artist and her art pieces, a communication of visual, tactile language. This non-verbal and unimposing language is the key for accessibility for the audience, having the capacity to serve both the artist’s and viewers’ subjectivity.

Crossroads

CROSSROADS is a collection of artworks by Adeline Thng, inspired by her experiences of the twists and turns of existence, where every decision has the potential to change the course of one’s life. With faith as one’s shepherd, we are given the choice to chart our own paths through life, in the process telling stories that matter on a deeply personal level. The different works are visual representations of these crossroads in every way, melding modern techniques with traditional processes, at the crossroads of machine and the handmade.

Instagram: adeline.thng

Cross Road 2017 – Rebirth in Soul – Yellow Cross-stitch with thread on laser cut Plexiglas Diameter 40 cm

Cross Road 2017 – Daily Dose of Hope – Purple Cross-stitch with thread on laser cut Plexiglas Diameter 40 cm

Details from Cross Road 2017 – Daily Dose of Hope – Purple & Rebirth in Soul – Yellow Cross-stitch with thread on laser cut Plexiglas Diameter 40 cm

Stella Lightheart

Hi, I’m Stella. I paint because it’s magic. With a few brush strokes, I can transport myself to another world or create one from scratch. I paint because it’s a way to express myself and share my feelings with others. And I paint because it makes me happy. Every time I sit down with my inks, I enter a state of flow where worries vanish, and I become one with my art. For me, painting is a form of meditation. When I paint, I feel at peace and know everything is possible. I often tell people that I paint magic. Not the kind of magic that includes waving wands or speaking spells, but magic nonetheless. Working with inks, I focus on channelling the feeling of a place or state. Whether it’s the energy of a busy cityscape or the peace of a still forest, I strive to capture the subject’s essence in my work. Inks are my chosen medium because of their ability to flow and change shape. They’re also very versatile, allowing me to create different effects depending on their use. For me, art is about channelling emotion and creating a sense of connection. By working with inks, I want to create magic that everyone can enjoy. I find myself inspired by the most unlikely of things - Celtic mythology and Californian sunshine. The ancient tales of gods and heroes have always captivated my imagination, and there is something about the sun-drenched coastline of California that makes me feel happy. It could be the contrast between the two - the endless blue skies and the green fields of Ireland or the wild sea and the gentle waves of the Pacific. Whatever it is, I am grateful for both sources of inspiration in my life.

www.stellalightheart.com / Instagram: stella_lightheart

Celtic Goddess Collection-Cerridwen, 2019 Alcohol Ink, 8 x 5 inch

Celtic Goddess Collection-Brigid, 2019 Alcohol Ink, 8 x 5 inch

Daura Campos About

Daura Campos is a Brazilian, self-taught, multidisciplinary artist based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Via destruction and care, her process with 35mm film, creates photography, painting, and moving-image works that honor the experiences of sexual and gender minorities. Her selected awards include the Art Vue Foundation Yearly Prize special mention, The Alternative Art School Brandy’s Juried Fellowship, and the FORGE Fellowship. Daura has exhibited her photographic work at the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK, the Analog Film Photography Association, Orlando, USA, Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada, Experimental Photo Festival, Barcelona, Spain, among others. Her images were on billboards in Times Square, Los Angeles, Chicago, USA, and Toronto, Canada. Her moving-image work was screened at the Museum of Art of Pereira, Pereira, Colombia, Cinema Belas Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the No Nation Art Lab, Chicago, USA, and others.

Once Upon a Pink Moon

The pandemic accentuated our relationship with what we call “home.” Leading me to question the dubious relationship between the domestic space with the idea of safety: While quarantining and staying at home made us safer from COVID-19, it has also increased the number of notified domestic violence cases in Brazil in 2020*. These photographs are of the walls of my home. They were created with 35mm film that was corroded by different spices used in Brazilian recipes. The white walls anchor the photographs in a Brazilian home, at the same time as they work as a blank canvas for the creation of our post-pandemic utopia. What emerged were amorphous bodies and dreamlike landscapes. A new world derived from its degradation, under shades of pink. Metaphorically, the pink moon is uncharted terrain, a new world. In astronomy, it marks the beginning of spring, a time of transition and bloom. Ultimately, the pink moon represents Change.

*(Source: Ligue 180 and the Brazilian Public Security Forum).

Once Upon a Pink Moon (VI), 2022, Photography, 30 x 45 inches

Once Upon a Pink Moon (IX), 2022, Photography, 30 x 45 inches

Once Upon a Pink Moon (VII), 2022, Photography, 30 x 45 inches

Once Upon a Pink Moon (X), 2022, Photography, 30 x 45 inches

dauracampos.com

Instagram: dauracampos

Mayowa Nwadike

“My art is a conversation with myself about my perception of the world around me. By close observation, I draw inspiration from people’s behavior (including mine) under different circumstances we find ourselves in and notice how we often choose to act based on emotions that are either under-expressed or overly exaggerated; very rarely do you find a middle ground. My goal as an artist is to capture these various emotions expressed without a word, which most times go unnoticed by these individuals, and tell stories that challenge the societal norm on what the human mind has been conditioned to see as right and wrong. By using different layers of acrylic paint and charcoal on canvas, I bring together two bold mediums and have them superimposed in such a way that one doesn’t bleed over the other thus creating a level of reality as perceived from my close observation.”

Mayowa Nwadike (VIth) (b. 1998) is a Nigerian artist who has been inspired to create from a young age. He began painting professionally in 2018 and is a self-taught talent. Nwadike is primarily a mixed-media painter, utilizing acrylic and charcoal to create his sizable works. Focusing predominantly on realism with elements of abstraction, his works are descriptive, not narrative, driven by African stories and symbolism. Through his work, Mayowa pushes back on societal norms and toxic masculinity, provoking the viewer to consider their relationship to social issues. He hopes his works help men embrace their femininity. Mayowa is a lover and seeker of beauty in all respects, with interests in writing, interior design, and photography. He moved to America in 2021, seeking the freedom and ability to express himself and to build an avenue to continue making art.

www.mayowanwadike.com / Instagram: 6th.kl

Nwadike Chàlé, 2022, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

Nwadike Chàlé IV (Wing Man), 2022, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Left page: Nwadike Chàlé III (Borrow Pose), 2022, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

I have never sold any pictures and don’t want to. The trouble with making a living from painting is that to sell you have to pander to popular taste.

- Nadia Wamunyu

Nadia Wamunyu

At the age of eight, after partially losing her hearing ability, Kenyan contemporary visual artist Nadia Wamunyu realized she could record memories, experiences, tastes and feelings through drawing. Having made a name for herself in the Kanyan art scene over the past several years, she’s proud do keep her day job as it allows her to be unapologetic with her art, and to draw and paint what other people may call apocalyptic, depressing, or saddening.

Hi Nadia, please introduce yourself briefly.

My name is Nadia Wamunyu from Kenya, and I am 29 years old. I started drawing as soon as I was old enough to hold pencils and watercolors. My mum bought me watercolors and brushes, and I started painting casually in the house at the age of three years. It was my way of withdrawing since most children could not understand me (according to my dad). My inspiration was my dad; he encouraged me to work with my hand as I was disadvantaged by my disability. I was born and grew up in Nairobi. When I was 14 in 2010 when I first went to study with Patrick. I was in my second year at a boarding girls’ school, but I spent all my time with him during school holidays and once I completed my O-levels, I was at the GoDown full time. In all,

https://nadiavisualartistcoke.wordpress.com

I studied with Patrick for four years; but he wasn’t my exclusive source of inspiration since his studio was like an old-fashioned guild where a horde of other young Kenyans came regularly to learn from the Master, a gentleman who could rarely turn any aspiring artist away. I’m currently a member of the Kobo artists studio best known as Seven Artists along Riara Road in Nairobi and spend some days at my new gallery in south C.

Please tell us a bit more about your work, especially the women in the movement that you paint with coffee with ink.

Experimenting with ink, mixed media on paper, pastel, and photography. My recent figurative ink works on paper are studies of myself, and a

collaborative project with friends. I use my halfNubian female body as a way to express my emotions, insecurities, and past experiences as a young African woman. From a broader perspective, these works address a serious identity crisis among most young African women who are not confident in their skin color or black bodies.

Creating mixed media studies of a muscular female subject in different half-squat poses, she uses her strong black body physique to emphasize strength and boldness. She also combines the mask, unusual hairstyle, black skin color, and fashion to highlight her confidence, at the same time some of her daily struggles as a young black woman; which include anxiety, self-confidence, and insecurities. This whole concept was drawn from the artist’s reallife experiences and specific case studies in Kenyan or African societies in general.

You wrote that after partially losing your hearing ability, you realized that you could record memories, experiences, tastes, and feelings through drawing. Was there a certain moment when you realized that or did that happen over time?

I have a condition called profound hearing loss, and I can barely hear without wearing hearing gadgets. I always tell my clients to be loud when talking to me. I lost my hearing at the age of three after a strong dose of antibiotics was administered by a doctor, so my twin sister Sadia Wambui became the family’s chatterbox. The universe neglected my hearing but gave me sight and mind to work with.

I advanced my practice by exploring different mediums and forms of expression through ink, coffee, pastel, charcoal, chlorine, mixed media, and photography. My recent figurative ink works on watercolor paper are studies of myself, a collaborative project with friends. I use my halfNubian female body as a way to express my emotions, insecurities, and past experiences as a young African woman. From a broader perspective, these works address extreme cases of identity crisis among most young African women, who are not confident in their skin color and bodies. I’m also interested in narratives surrounding women, feminism, gender inequality, sexual harassment, discrimination, and mental health.

This is contrasts with the bold blues, browns, curves, and lines that form her hair and body. I think I particularly like blue because it’s the color of water, and the color we so often see is associated with healing. The wonderful brown you see is ink, bleach, charcoal, watercolors, and coffee.

On your website, I read: “I also can’t help but view artists as the third eye of society; this skill is like a pass to a special and unique dimension of the world and society, that I only can access.“ Could you please talk a bit more about that?

Please share some of your creative processes with us, from an idea to a finished piece.

My art highlights the structures, struggles, and culture of society. I can influence people’s views and opinions by making them think and feel differently. My art is an eye-opener, as I love to see people challenge themselves to think differently and be more open-minded. I’d like to see a society where people not only appreciate the uniqueness of art but that of every living thing.

How would you describe the Kenyan art scene?

The contemporary art scene in Nairobi is in the midst of intriguing change and growth. Now artists have decided since no one is doing this for us, we will have to be the ones preaching the gospel of art. The middle class will find that more Kenyans are buying art, the art scene is growing, and everything is in transition.

What advice would you give artists at the very beginning of their careers?

I am guessing that you mean earning a living from being an artist. I have never sold any pictures and don’t want to. The trouble with making a living from painting is that to sell; you have to pander to popular taste. It might sound like an easy life

selling piece, but it is like most jobs. It involves repetition and sometimes painting things you are not very interested in. I know of an artist who earns quite good money but wishes that someone didn’t have to paint yet another landscape with crashing waves, just because they sell well. So the kind of artist I would like to do not have to make things that are nice and pretty for money. I like to paint and draw things that many would find apocalyptic, depressing, or political, and reflect things that make me angry or sad. I need to keep my day job.

And last question: what are your hopes for the future?

My hope is art project would be to open a massive project for my solo exhibition and my gallery.

Girls are all Blue Sky I, 2022 Mixed media on watercolor paper, 110 x 75 cm

Venus I, 2022

Mixed media on watercolor paper, 65 x 60cm

Blue mood, 2022 Pastel on paper, 30 x 30 cm

Yuliia Chaika

I am a visual artist born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. I have been living in Spain since 2020, from the moment I ended up there during quarantine due to the covid 19. In Ukraine, I`ve got a professional education in Kyiv State Academy of Decorative Art And Design Named after M. Boychuk and had the experience to work in the main Christian church of Ukraine as a master of icon painting, that allowed me to get acquainted with all the subtleties of Byzantine sacral art. This fact of my biography greatly influenced.

I work with acrylic. In my collection, there are most portraits of people, mythological subjects, and icons. Recently, I have been drawing inspiration from the folk art of Ukraine. Living far from my homeland, I was fascinated by the study of Ukrainian history, traditions, and way of life. That is why, in my paintings, I use Ukrainian ornaments as a background. I also associate the background with the field, which I sow with ancient symbols that demonstrate our history. In most pieces, the main plot of my work is devoted to Ukrainian women. In this image, I try to reflect my admiration for the beauty, intelligence, and willpower of Ukrainian girls. Through a female image, I depict all my worries through which I look at the world.

My works are dominated by green, brown, blue and red palettes. The physics of the painting is enhanced by the accent application of red color. Despite the fact that the figures of my works are quite well outlined, they seem to be shown through the canvas of the ornament, which creates the magical effect of an old fresco that has come down to us through the centuries. https://www.instagram.com/yuliia.chaika.art/

Get in touch with Yuliia via Instagram: yuliia.chaika.art

Mara, 2022 Pastel on paper, 30 x 30 cm

Everyone does it, 2022 Pastel on paper, 30 x 30 cm

Amanda Schwartz

My name is Amanda Schwartz. I am a painter, reiki master and seamstress. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Fibers from SCAD in 2004. As a highly sensitive, empathic and dyslexic child I felt drawn to nature, spending many hours in the forest alone. I spent my afternoons hunting for four leaf clovers and sifting for trash in the creek behind my home. Music, art and nature became a sanctuary from the difficulties of being neurodivergent in a time where it was not well understood. My creativity made me stand out but it also was a source of being perceived as different. Today, I practice meditation, forest bathe, and channel most of my work from this practice of going inward. Art and the natural world has been my biggest teacher and guide throughout my life. I was trained early in oils from the age of 10 but I prefer acrylic as my main medium as it is more eco-friendly. I also enjoy working with the elements of paper collage. I find collage can be a great way to access our subconscious and work with dream symbology. Art is in essence one of the best self-awareness and therapeutic tools I have found. I often look back and find so much insight and clarity into my own psyche through retrospectively viewing my work. I always encourage everyone to try art. Art is not about being “good”, it is about being in the moment. Art is about touching what is real in us. Art is not just another consumerist product. Creativity is essential to our mental and spiritual health and it is at the very core of what it is to be human.

Instagram: spirit_oracle_art / Etsy shop: Spiritoracleart

The Sword Swallower, 2023

Twin Virgos, 2022

Katherine Gallacher

Katherine is a Scottish artist with a passion for cyanotype, the creative process where Art meets Science. Alongside creating her artwork she works as an art and design teacher in Denny, Falkirk. She loves the unpredictable nature of this process and experiments with traditional formulation by using elements such as vinegar and salt, adding them to the process to change the colour and the texture of each piece. By collecting flora from her own garden and the Scottish countryside she aims to highlight the individuality of each variety and bring wild unforgotten plants and weeds to the fore.

Katherine uses many surfaces as her canvas from watercolour paper, natural fabrics, sheet music, maps and also black and white photographic paper to create cyanolumens. She has recently experimented with x ray films, MRI scans and has also used her own ink drawings to create negatives to print with. Once the initial cyanotype process is complete Katherine loves to use metallic paints to further enhance her work and wishes to explore collage and mixed media further in 2023.

www.brawartworks.co.uk / Instagram: braw_artworks

Time to Breathe, Cyanotype

Next page: Reflected Legacy, Cyanotype

Marina Altukhova

Altukhova Marina, born 1990, is a contemporary figurative artist based in Chelyabinsk, Russia. She studied Fine Arts at the Malaysian Institute of Art in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After completing her diploma Marina returned to Russia where she continued to paint and participate in the local art fairs and group exhibitions. In 2022 she held her second Solo Exhibition “Intentional Solitude” at Larisa Depershmidt Gallery in Chelyabinsk.

Marina’s artwork often focuses on women who enjoy their solitude. Calm, relaxing and colourful portraits painted with oils and mixed media on canvas leave viewer fascinated with another side of loneliness. “Being alone doesn’t necessarily mean drama or negativity. To me being alone is a joyful occasion. It is a celebration, an opportunity to look deep inside myself and see my true colours. When you’re alone you are far away from outside noise and can clearly hear your own thoughts and discover yourself.” - shares Marina.

The topic about solitude is based on Marina’s personal experience through childhood and adult life when days are preoccupied with different tasks, responsibilities and people, leaving very little time to stay alone and understand your own emotions, feelings and preferences. Through her art Marina brings out bright and soft colours in order to create a therapeutic atmosphere. Being alone is nothing to be afraid of or despise. It is a joyful occasion that helps you recharge yourself and connect with your soul.

www.altukhovamarinart.tilda.ws

Instagram:

Dreams, 2022 Oil and mixed media on canvas, 40 х 40 cm

Sasha Balla

Self-taught as an artist, Sasha Balla originates from Ukraine but makes her residence in Toronto, Canada at the moment. During the COVID pandemic, she turned to art as a means of de-stressing and passing the time; nevertheless, what started out as a way to pass the time quickly evolved into a full-time passion and a love for her. Her primary medium is toned paper with coloured pencils, graphite, and charcoal. Sasha strives, in the works of art that she creates, to illustrate the relationships and parallels that exist between humans, animals, and inanimate objects. Putting things produced by humans in natural settings to create an impression of something that doesn’t belong there. Her most time-consuming and personally satisfying creation is The Woman in the Curtain.Fabric is used to demonstrate the human form within an artificial item. The art-work and others in this collect are meant to depict a person hiding from the harsh realities of the modern-world and being one with the fabric of nature.

“I’d have to say that Renee Magritte and Salvador Dali are two of my biggest artistic influences. I enjoy, and strive for, the ability to evoke unease and mystery through my own artistic endeavours. I enjoy making work that speaks to both the soul and the mind.”

Instagram: bxllasasha

Act Natural, 2022 Coloured pencil on toned paper, 14 x 18

The Woman in the Curtain, 2022 Coloured pencil on toned paper, 14 x 18

Next Page: Golden Fabric, 2022, Coloured pencil on toned paper, 14 x 18

Pinar Ture Gursoy

Pinar Ture Gursoy (b. 1965 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a portrait, figurative & abstract figurative painter and amateur photographer . She completed her higher education in “Urban and Regional Planning” in Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul and is married and has two daughters. Pinar also holds a BA degree in Philosophy from Anadolu University and also graduated with a MSc in Museum Management from “Istanbul University”. She has participated in many international group and solo exhibitions, in cities such as Tokyo, London, Venice, Pennsylvania and many more and her works are included in the collection of TEV (Turkish Education Foundation) and Portart by Hakan Körpi, UPSD, Museum of Tolentino in Italy for Biennial BIUMOR, and more. Some of her works are included in the collection of TEV(Turkish Education Foundation) and Portart by Hakan Körpi/ UPSD, Museum of Tolentino in Italy for Biennial BIUMOR etc. She currently lives and works in Istanbul.

www.pinargursoy.com / Instagram: pinarturegursoy

Self-Censorship, 2019 Oil Colour on Canvas & Collage, 100 x 100 cm

Emptiness, 2019

Mixed Media on Canvas, 80 x 100 cm

Alice Walter

“Weaving around notions of fabrication, illusion and reality, my work incorporates painting and elements of assemblage, on surfaces I build by hand from different components. They are as if screens into a psychedelically distorted world, and, at the same time, physical objects in themselves; I like edges, surfaces and seams to often be unkempt and exposed. Variations of forms, sometimes more figurative and sometimes less so, evolve from work to work as if in the pursuit of a familial, cyclical type of energy, connoting a sense of symbolism in presence if not label. I want to celebrate the vulnerability present in navigating the obscure, as well as, contrastingly, the vulnerability in accepting the overly obvious or revealing, such as child-like playfulness or the natural grain of unpainted canvas. As scenes are forward-facing and construction is visible, everything is tempered by heady self-consciousness, to the point where it inverts back on itself to result, conversely, in a kind of trance. There is a wild homing of ever-evolving, unknown characters and forms; entanglement, alienation and euphoria mix in equal measure. By withdrawing the full security of familiarity and expectation, but touching on notions of desire, I want to open up new possibilities for seeing and thinking about the world.”

About

Alice Walter is an artist based on the South Coast of England, graduating in Painting from the University of Brighton in 2014 and now working in a combination of painting and assemblage. Solo shows have included ‘Fruit Foole’, 2021, and ‘Paintings’, 2019, at Project 78 Gallery and ‘And the Gang’, East Sussex College, 2018. She has featured in group shows and residencies across the British Isles and exhibited in Italy in 2022. She has had her work collected by Soho House and private collectors from Europe and the US.

Easy, 2022, Oil, acrylic and wood on canvas, 29 x 37 cm Left column: Trickster Kindling, 2022, 16 x 19 cm Oil, acrylic and mixed media on various woods

The Domain, 2022, 14 x 27cm

Oil acrylic, pastel, pencil, aluminium and paper on canvas and various woods

Mouli Paul

I am a photographer from India and recently finished studying for an MA in Photography from Arts University Plymouth. Having worked as a commercial photographer for the last 5 years, I moved to the UK in 2021 to work on my project and complete my education. My work primarily centers around my own travel experiences. Currently, it has taken more of a documentary approach focusing on socially engaged photography, portraits, family archives, and mental health.

Upon returning home after a year of studying in England, I started seeing my birthplace with a different eye - the intimacies, the mystique in the mundane, various forms and shapes that defined the place for what it is. It had always been beautiful yet home needs to accept me as well. In my 10 years as a photographer, I never felt like documenting my family and hometown. It was almost like a light bulb moment when I met my father after a year. I did travel back home now and then but never stayed beyond a week. This is a continuation of the project ‘Textures of Belonging’, a work about making and activating memories of home and using photography to bring out the diaspora voices. Coming back, I realized that born right here, in this sleepy little town of West Bengal, away from the highly pretentious city life. Surprising as it might sound, even after living in the cities for over two decades, I could never feel like one of them. I kept looking for those connections and emotions everywhere I went only to find them back here. https://www.moulipaul.com

Father-1, 2022, Photography, 33 x 22 In

Father-2, 2022, Photography, 33 x 22 In

Morning Light, 2023, Photography, 33 x 22 In

Eleanor Dunning

About

Eleanor Dunning (b.1994) Studied Fine Art at Bath Spa University graduating in 2018, she now lives in Bristol working from her home studio specialising as a painter using acrylic and ink. Dunning’s themes intend to ground you in the familiarity of the everyday and encourage the viewer to reside in moments that capture human behaviour in the comfort of the home. As someone who lives with chronic illness, she finds solace in the objects that occupy her home and keeps her company whilst recovering. Her everyday rituals of drinking peppermint tea, hibernating under blankets, doing light housework or reading a magazine eventually established their way onto canvas and became the narrative of her work. With an interest in interior spaces, Dunning finds inspiration from the likes of Design studio Hay, Apartmento magazine and Artist Patrick Caulfield. Dunning has exhibited around the UK and sells her work internationally, she is currently represented by New Blood Art.

Artist Statement

A home is a place of certainty in a world full of uncertainty. Objects, furniture, and ‘stuff’ we choose to fill it with give a sense of control and allow for moments of rest, reflection, and habit, preparing us to step outside the front door each day and face the world. In my work, the furniture and domestic objects become an extension of the owner. I use composition to show human behaviour without including actual figures shown through a half-empty glass or an open book on a table. Removing the presence of a figure permits the objects to take on characteristics of a human and allows the viewer to interpret the scene and relate intuitively to the artwork.

www.eleanordunning.art Instagram: eleanordunning

Catching Up, 2022, Acrylic and Ink on Canvas, 40 x 40 cm

Fishbone, 2023, Acrylic and Ink on Canvas, 30 x 30 cm

59 -

Pile On, 2022

Acrylic and Ink on Canvas, 50 x 60 cm

Thomas Carpenter

I’m an American contemporary artist living and working in the Memphis, Tennessee area. I enjoy studying psychology, religion, philosophy and mythology and my biggest inspirations are drawn from my studies and my personal experiences. I love to explore color and texture and portray emotions that many might consider intense or disturbing. I want to captivate viewers and tap into their central nervous systems in a profound way, deeper than words. My goal is to bypass the process of reasoning and directly impact the soul. I believe being an artist is a spiritual vocation that carries with it a great responsibility, and it’s something that I don’t take lightly. My calling is to transfigure my personal experiences, good or bad, into images, and do my best to charge them with numinous power.

thomascarpenterart.com

Instagram: thcarpen3

Woman in Orange Dress, 2022 Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 20 inches

Man in Gold Shirt, 2022 Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 20 inches

Blue Man, 2022, Acrylic on Canvas, 16 x 20 inches

Hanna Dujmovic

Hanna Dujmovic (b. 1994) is an academic painter & sculptor based in Sarajevo and Belgrade (Balkans). She has received many recognitions & awards for her work. Her works have a record of more than twenty group and several solo exhibitions around the world – USA, UK, Japan, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In October 2022 she created a spectacular collaboration with a colleague & opened an exhibition called “Two painters – One love”, which was visited by more than 600 people on the opening night. Her works are present in more than 400 private collections around the globe and she is known for one of the bestselling artists from Balkans. Interesting thing is that she is an ambidextrous so she can paint with both hands. She works and creates every day in the hope that one day her work will gain recognition & appear in one of the art books.

The works of Hanna Dujmovic introduce us to a new dimension of life on earth. Through fluttering and dancing patterns, she gives lightness to the compositions. Artist focuses on the woman as a motif that has been very present throughout the history of painting, but mostly in the sense of beauty. Through the figure of a woman in her compositions, Hanna wants to celebrate female strength, courage, perseverance and existence. Each object in the composition has a symbolic meaning, so nothing was created by chance. The painter is guided by an intuitive feeling when creating. Characteristic of her works is the appearance of an open window in the background, which gives us a sense of mysticism and raises the question of what to expect next. She conceptually solves the male figure through anthropomorphic forms, where she indirectly gives men the role of predators. The artist continues to develop her style by combining past, future and present within intimate closed spaces that are full of various feelings from euphoria to melancholy. Observers are seduced and ushered into a new act of existence.

Get in touch with Hanna via Instagram: hannadujmovic

Love at Dawn, 2022, Acrylic on canvas Next page: If dreams were reality, 2022, Acrylic on canvas

Mister Cat , 2022 Acrylic painting, 100 x 80 cm

Moonbathing 2022, Acrylic painting, 185 x 155 cm

Arushee Suri

“My works revolves around the five senses, and how the sounds and smells of places bring back flashes of memories that we identify them with. I am constantly exploring ideas of incorporating the senses in my work and how they are related to each other. I started with making blind drawings (drawing without my glasses or lenses) and added textures like braille and embroidery to them. These hands-on processes enabled me to explore sculpture. My sculptures are inspired by my drawings, further using various textures including fur, beads, cloth and found objects with them. I have sometimes used essential oils on these materials. I investigate the impact that each place has on me, and the memories I create with my surroundings and the people in my life. It is always my desire that the viewer actively interacts with my work on various levels. I like to draw on examples from life for my art that encourage an audience to connect with the work on an emotional or empathetic or just simply human level.”

Suri received an MFA from Central Saint Martins, University of Arts London, London and a BFA from College of Art, New Delhi India. She is an artist and educator who has taught printmaking to underprivileged and learning-disabled in India and London. She has mentored residencies for Printmaking Foundation of India in the year 2018 and 2019. Her interactive installations, paintings, drawings, embroideries, and sculptures have been presented in curated, group gallery and museum exhibitions at Gallery Rosenfeld: London, Gillman Barracks: Singapore, State Museum of Contemporary Art: Greece, Matts Gallery: London, New Art Exchange: Nottingham, OXO Tower: London, Croydon College: London, Bomb Factory: London, Print Club Delhi: India, Printmaking Foundation of India: India, Brooklyn Art Library: USA.

www.arusheesuri.com

Instagram: arusheesuri

Then Silence, There was Howling Coming from the Unsettled Winds, 2020

Handblown Glass, Serigrpah, Sound of Wind, Varied Dimensions (left & right column)

There was Thunder, there was Dancing in the Rain, 2018 (both images) Hand Dyed Cloth, Metal, Resin, found Objects, Sound of Rain, Varied Dimensions

About

NILIA (born 1995, Norway, Larvik) is figurative artist currently taking her master´s degree at Bergen Academy of Art. Working across multiple mediums she address topics that are domestic and political, and the aesthetic is often characterized by a feminine combination of soft pastel and a loud and determined voice. When exhibiting or getting published her works are often viewed as vulgar or uncomfortable as they commonly challenges social norms. NILIA embraces the popular culture, it’s online culture and the young women’s fuck-you-finger to traditional views and desires for a quiet, polite and disciplined woman. She addresses the trends we see in the time we now live in; self-mirroring, voyeurism, sassy self-obsession and a call out culture that arose around #metoo. Her work varies in size from embroidered panties to 2-meter-long silkscreen prints.

The deep color of Red

The deep color of Red is an collection of works related to menstrual blood and sexual health. The intention of the series is to normalize conversations around female health and contribute to a more open dialog around the lack of research on women and female related diseases.

Panty water based oil on canvas. A bloody red panty on a cold white tile floor. White is known as a symbol for peace, pureness and hope. Red is a symbol for power, sacrifice and courage.

Panty,

Next page:

Mens / Menstruation water based oil on canvas. The motive of a bleeding vegina is a comment on a word filled with war and blood shead and still menstrual blood is so tabu that it´s switched out with a blue liquid when advertising for sanitary products.

niliahersdal.com / Instagram: nilia_1

2019, water based oil, 80 x 80 cm

Mens, 2018

Water based oil, 80 x 80 cm

Parme Marin

About

Parme Marin was born in Paris in 1985 and currently lives and works in New York. In 2011, Marin moved to Marrakech and collaborated with artisans - outsourcing wood, leather, and bone, allowing her work to take a new form and established key elements to her practice. In 2013, she founded her eponymous fashion line and started to design for Hermès, petit h, in 2015. In the last years, Marin shifted her practice into Fine Arts, investigating the forms of the human body. Marin has participated in solo exhibitions such as “My tribe” at The Four Seasons, Marrakech, Morocco (2014) and “Sur Mes traces”, Park Hyatt, New York, NY (2015). She has exhibited in numerous group shows including Mvvo Art at The Oculus, NY (2022), Instaselect v.2, Mark Borghi, Sag Harbor, NY (2022), “Male nude-turning the gaze”, Equity gallery, NY (2022) and “The patriot” at O’flaherty’s gallery, NY (2022). Her work has been featured in Vogue, Surface Magazine, Elle Décor It, and many more.

Artist Statement

My research focuses on accepting flaws and acknowledging a freer path to womanhood and motherhood while, also, anthropologically analyzing the body. I am deeply rooted in the tactility of subjects through skin, monotypes, and juxtapositions. reflecting on the body, its parts, people’s relationships to it, and what is imposed according to society versus the reality of it. The visual rhythm of my sculptures and paintings is enhanced by the tactile materials and textured painted surfaces. whether it be through monochromes, color combinations, or by implementing volumes, curves, and folds, the work feels tridimensional.

The bathroom, 2022, Acrylic & oil sticks on canvas, 48x48’’ Next Page: Femininity Eruct, 2021, Horse hair, thuya wood and leather, 30x5’’

Last summer, 2022, Acrylic & oil sticks on canvas, 80x48’’

Hallie Driscoll

About the Artist

Hallie Driscoll is a multi-disciplinary artist born in New Jersey, but raised in rural New Hampshire. She began her career in photography, attending The Art Institute of Boston and the International Academy of Design from 20062010. In the summer of 2017, after battling debilitating anxiety, a friend suggested she turn to knitting as a way to cope. Lacking any kind of skill with a knitting needle, Driscoll found embroidery and immediately fell in love with the practice. Completely self taught, she’s expanded her embroidery work to include paint, beadwork and lights, creating immersive installations that bring the expanse of nature closer to home. Her work focuses on the beauty of nature in all its forms and how we connect to it through the smallest of details. In addition to her fine art practice, Driscoll also runs a small pop-up embroidery and illustration business where she sells her wares at makers markets and teaches embroidery workshops to anyone interested in learning the art. She currently splits her time between New Hampshire and Providence, RI.

Becoming, 2” x 2’6” inches, Mixed Media on Plywood

Next page: Longing: 2’4 x 4’6”

She began her journey with embroidery as a way to cope with extreme, debilitating anxiety. Over time, she’s started using embroidery and her desire to work with fabrics as a way to celebrate nature through large sculptural type pieces that look at our surroundings through the eyes of a child – when things were magical and whimsical and the pressures of adulthood didn’t create anxiety within us.

www.halliedriscoll.com

Instagram: @hallie_driscoll

Preternatural, 3’6” x 2’4”, Mixed Media on Plywood

Olga Niki

About

Olga Nikiforova, self-taught collage artist from Uzbekistan currently living in Cameroon. French teacher and psychologist by trade, born and raised in Tashkent. 47 year old. 12 years ago she started moving around the world with her family. With her husband and three children they lived in Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Solomon Islands and Cameroon. Travelling around the world has left a deep mark on her life and has literally pushed her to become creative. She got access to different cultural layers rich in traditions and history, the hitherto unknown side of the life of so many people. Creativity helped not to lose herself amidst everything happening around her. On the contrary, it has brought the artist closer to herself and allowed to feel what really matters. Collage became a tool that allows her to tell the stories that she needed to tell most vividly.

Artist statement

Olga Niki makes her art in analog collage technique. In her work she explores psychological and social aspects of human life such as loneliness, inner limitations, the search for self, and how external events influence changes in a person’s inner ecosystem. Often, these are spontaneous, intuitive compositions, where the artist does not follow her conception but rather the artwork is being born following its own internal logic, where the author only follows the direction of the lines and the development of the plot, adhering to basic compositional and coloristic rules. These collages best reflect the artist’s inner state and bring to the surface feelings and experiences that are sometimes invisible in everyday life. In her work Olga tries to demonstrate everything that she loves in collage technique. The subtle play of lines, angles, meanings, a hint of provocation, the juxtaposition of spaces. When the obvious becomes quite unobvious. Where logic suggests a continuation of something familiar and predictable, there is a new meaning, an unexpected twist.

Get in touch with Olga via Instagram: olga_niki_art

Twins. Tied together, 2022, Analog collage, 32 x 24 cm Next page: Solitude, 2022, Analog collage, 32 x 24 cm

Thirst, 2022, Analog collage, 32 x 24 cm

Kristine Narvida

Kristine Narvida is a Latvian academic visual artist born in 1977. She graduated in 2006 as a Magister at the Latvian Art Academy in Riga. She lives and works in Germany in Berlin and Potsdam and is mother of four daughters. She is an active member of the Brandenburg Association of Artists. She presents and sells her fine artwork throughout Europe and globally with online galleries. Kristine prefers working with oil on linen, using models as her subjects.

https://www.narvida.com

Instagram: narvida_art

“The relationship between certain parts of the work and its entireness excites me. I shape my space of solitude and the work that evolves lives its own life, defiantly independent of me. I like to wonder how colours happen and to maintain the dimensions in constant tension. That is instantaneous awareness of fulfilment that can just as instantly disappear. My search involves clear form-expressed messages in which what is present asks for the truth. The gaze is not a simple movement of eyes, it involves knowledge, experience, and an explanation. I go through this process, overcome myself and this leads to the choice I have made and gives me joy as a creator.”

The study of annoyance

This study of aggravation is silence that becomes visible. The tension between language and the world where the existing demands its possibility, and not the possible its existence. This is a passionate look at the present, where the surface of things and the superficiality of people are so truly full of meaning and pain. The search for context, the wish to escape, and the inability to do so. The introduction of bright block colour in the work of this series is a conceptual idea to find a path to identify and to get rid of the unnecessary.

The study of annoyance 4, 2022 Oil on linen, 40 x 50 cm

The study of annoyance 7, 2022 Oil on linen, 30 x 40c m

The study of annoyance 8, 2022 Oil on linen, 30 x 30 cm

Elisa Adams

Born in 1959, Elisa Adams is an award winning, mid career sculptor from Concord, Massachusetts, United States. Creating a space to take a pause, a respite from the constant barrage of crises and hardships in the world, Elisa’s stone pieces invite the viewer to open the heart and to feel a sense of peacefulness. She’s participated in over 100 shows both nationally and internationally, among them SOFA Expo, Chicago, and her work can be found in private collections across the United States, Switzerland and Germany. Elisa and I met via Zoom to talk about the graceful movement and flowing energy inherent to her works, getting into shows without an important CV, and the importance of art as our escape from the craziness of the world.

Hello Elisa, I read that besides being a professional artist you also work as a chiropractor. Could you tell me more about that and your beginnings in the arts?

I’ve always loved art. For me that was my happy place. I came from an Albanian immigrant family, and art was not really allowed to be pursued as a career. Back then we listened to our parents! (laughs) I also really enjoy working with and helping people, so I became a doctor of chiropractic, and I’ve been in private practice for 40 years now. In 2004 I realized that there was something missing in my life, and in the mail that day came a card from the local museum saying “classes”. There was a class in wood and stone sculpting, that was what was missing…art making. The class was

By Nina Seidel / Picture credit: Jaina Cipriano

amazing! At the end of three months I had made a sculpture! I had never used tools like those before. I knew nothing about sculpting. But I made a piece, “I’m really proud of this and I want to do more.” Then the school closed, undeterred, “I’m going to buy some tools and try to figure this out on my own.”

6 months later I received a call from the teacher, “The classes aren’t happening, but I work in my basement studio, and I’m inviting a few people that wanted to be in the class. Do you want to join us?” I was delighted…It wasn’t really a class, it was a group of us sharing studio space and ideas together! Our group was made up of both professional artists and amateurs (like me.) About a year later someone in the group said, “You should

apply to a show, this new piece is wonderful.” I said, “No, I can’t do that, I’m not ready for that yet.” But I applied anyway, and was accepted into my very first show. Even now I’m still like a little kid in the candy shop every time I am accepted to shows. It’s just thrilling.

When I arrived at the opening there was a book with CV’s and bios of the artists. Many were seasoned and had multiple pages of exhibition and education. I went to find my husband and said, “Gosh, this is my only show, I have no resumé, I have no CV.” He said, “You know, you’ve got to start somewhere.” So I added mine, it consisted of my name, my address and this one show and “selftaught” and that was it, 4 lines on a single page. Our little sewing circle of hammers and chisels lasted about 5 or 6 years, and I’ve been sculpting on my own ever since.

Your sculptures have very organic, natural shapes. Has that been so since your beginnings in sculpture or did you start off making different pieces and you slowly got into these shapes?

In the beginning, I did a lot of organic shapes. They were abstract pieces, images I had seen or even dreamt. For instance, I created a sculpture from a Maori necklace, “I’m going to try and make this 3D.” For the first 5 years or so, I stayed with abstraction in my art. Flowing sculptures with openings, curves and softness. Then, one of my friends said that she had taken an art class in Europe for her 50th birthday, and I thought, “That sounds like fun.” I started searching for sculpture classes. I discovered one in Italy, she did mostly figurative work of which I had never done that before and was uncertain. Deciding to challenge myself, I

thought it would be an adventure, so off I went to the Italian Riviera. That experience opened up new possibilities for making more figurative work and then I began combining 3 motifs, abstraction, of the natural world and female forms. It just keeps evolving.

Can you please share your creative process with me, from the beginning of a piece to finishing it?

On occasions I start with a little clay model or a sketch and I have created a vision board in my studio. But mostly I just look at the stone. I tend to go to purchase my stones in person as I have a chance to choose specific ones. I look for color, size and shape and see if the stone says something to me. Once I start, I just flow with it. I’m not attached. I have an idea at first and it often shape shifts from the original thought, it is very organic for me. I just sort of move with the stone. Art is visual primarily, but sculpting stone stimulates all the senses. In hearing it, I sense the fault lines and solidity of the stone. When chiseling or grinding it, stones have different smells. And most important to me is touch. That’s something I really love about sculpture, compared to painting, I like feeling it. Because of my chiropractic work — my touching sense is honed — and in touching the stone, you can feel when it doesn’t feel right, it is more acute than just seeing it. All of one’s senses create the piece.

Could you say how long you take for a piece or is that totally different with each piece?

Oh yeah, it’s totally different. I can work for 8 hours one day and make a small piece from start to finish. I have another pieces that took me at least

a year to make. This one back here [she shows me the piece standing in the room], took quite a long time. I saw Georgia O’Keeffe painting of 3 lilies and thought making her painting come to life in 3D would be a tribute to her. It was complicated sculpture and the sanding process alone took me 50 hours. There are many stages from the beginning to a completed sculpture. It’s not just creating the shape, it’s finishing the piece as well: sanding, orienting it on the base, choosing the base, attaching it to the base. This part is more time consuming that thought to be.

Many artists think that while they are not full time artists, they aren’t really successful as artists. Is that something that has ever crossed your mind, or have you always been happy having your “day job” as well?

Right now I’m very happy with the two. I’m working part time in my clinic, and focusing more on my art, which makes me happy. It’s quite a good balance. My work life is so extroverted and my studio life is much more introverted, quiet and meditative. I’m focused in the studio. My mind doesn’t wander very much and it feels rejuvenating. Personally, I don’t equate part time with being successful or not. I am committed to both vocations.

In the visual arts, a good CV including many shows, collections, etc. has a high importance, in my opinion sometimes too high. Do you have any advice for people who haven’t had the chance yet to develop an (important) CV?

first show I was in with my one page Artist CV to now, I’ve been in over 100 shows and have sold my work both nationally and internationally. I exhibited at several art fairs in NYC, Florida and SOFA Chicago which is the premier show in the States for Sculptural Arts. You just have to get out there and grow your CV one step at a time.

I am the current president of New England’s Sculpture Association (NESA), we’re in our 75th year now. We have over 180 artists, and there are various levels regarding where they are in their art life and what they want from their art — from avocational to professional artists that have their sculptures all over the world. It’s interesting to be a part of NESA and see that range of what people create and want from their art. Some people are happy making sculpture and show in their town. That is thrilling for them and that is great, it’s perfect. For me, I want more time with my art, and I want more of it out in the world to be seen.

My art is about bringing joy. I feel like we have enough stress and angst in the world. We need to have a moment to let in calm and joy.

Building a CV is important and equally so is having your voice in your art. Understand what you are doing and why and present that. From that very

When people look at my art they express to me that they feel just that, they can take a moment — a pause to recalibrate or let go of the things that are happening in their life and in the world and just to breathe, feel joy and get in touch with that again. My message in my art is not about political issues, hardships, pushing a point or making people see something. Sometimes I wonder “Is that good enough?” Should I try to speak more to pain and suffering through my sculpture? At the end of the day, it just doesn’t feel like why I am here on the planet, so I have to stay true to myself.

I recently talked with another artist who said that she doesn’t feel the need to verbalize everything, that she wants people to experience and feel her works, rather.

That’s my other idea too, having a conversation with artworks, I think that’s what art does. But here, I’ve been really thinking: I hope you don’t think, I’m hoping you just feel. And I think that art is the only place where you got to do that, really.

There is a lot of talk about “finding your own style” in the visual arts. Is that something that has been of importance to you?

I kept hearing, “You have to have a body of work”, and I wonder, “What does that actually mean?” I’ve seen artists creating all their pieces in one style or around one theme. Personally, I would find that tedious over time. I want to experiment, try new things and I don’t know, maybe have many ‘bodies of work’. My sense is that my art is recognizable as my work. I don’t know if I should say style, but there is a certain aspect to it. The movement, flow and energy that comes through in all of my pieces. I keep honing my skill.

I wanted to talk to you about being a woman in the art world. I’ve heard other female artists say that they felt the need to work twice as hard as their male peers to be taken seriously…have you ever had the feeling that your art is perceived or valued differently because you are a woman?

I belong to the American Women Artists (AWA) and their goal is to increase the number of women who get invited to exhibit in major museums. Every year they pick a museum and work with the curators to facilitate and jury an exhibit composed of pieces from the members of AWA. The museum also commits in advance to purchase one of the pieces as part of their permanent collection. The most recent was in Tennessee at the Customs House Museum.

Why is this needed? Well, AWA shows a picture of a museum wall with all the paintings and they ask, “How many of them are by women?” In the next picture, of all the frames are empty, because none of them were done by women. So yes, I think we need to push. I think gender imbalance is real in art, in the workplace, everywhere. I was only the second female president of NESA in 75 years. I invited 3 women onto the six-member board, including one younger woman, to give them that opportunity to lead within the art world. I’m trying to do my part in this, and I’m hopeful that it will change.

Any project that you’re currently working on that you’d like to share with us?

Yes. I suspect buyers ask me to negotiate more often, or offer lower prices, than they do for male artists. Most exhibits, however, are blind juried, so that helps with gender representation.

Yes, I’m working on a big, 22 sculptural project. It is about Jungian Archetypes, the Tarot deck and the major Arcana. The Arcana are an expansion of the Jungian Archetypes. Archetypes are universal, inborn models of people, behaviors, and personalities that play a role in influencing human behavior. My plan is to represent the Major Arcana in sculpture. I am hopeful to have an immersive gallery exhibit in 2024. Other works of mine are one of the mainstays in the gallery already. One

day last summer I said to the gallerist, “You know I’m working on this project and it would need half of the gallery, at least.” She said “Well, tell me more.” In that moment, I thought to myself, “Oh my God, you are so ballsy, woman.” (laughs). She prodded me for more information, and I told her about the Tarot. “Wow, that sounds amazing, I love the Tarot Cards!” She came to visit my studio and see some of the sculptures already in progress. I told her that I was giving myself a deadline of 2024, because this is going to take me a couple of years to pull this off. I’m also expanding the materials beyond just stone. I’ve made bronze and resin pieces. I’m going to work in wood, clay, felting, fabric and some wire pieces as well. In the Tarot Deck, the Major Arcana are numbered from 0-21, the number 0 is the Fool. It is about impulsively leaping off the cliff and seeing where the journey takes you. I am starting my Fool’s journey with this project, I took the leap!

Do you have any advice for emerging artists, besides what you already said, that you just have to do it?

If artists want to grow and further their career, they should also expect to work on their business side. It is not just about the art, it is about how to get seen. How will you represent your art? What is your story? What is the PR around your story? How will you market yourself? Do you have a website? Any social media accounts? Seek help, hire someone, attend workshops and lectures, for example. Start researching and visiting galleries and decide whether that gallery is a good fit for your work. If so, attend the gallery shows. Meet the artists. Then plan a meeting with the gallerists — but not during an opening! Make an appointment

to talk to them. Artists should also have a website and be on social media, galleries want to see this. If you are in a show, you should have your online presence set up beforehand. It makes you more credible as an artist. Join organizations in your medium and meet fellow artists. Talk to people, meet people! Discover who is in the know about art. Contact them. Take a seminar with them if they are offering one.

In 2015, my friend invited me to the annual fundraiser of a prominent local museum. My education is not of the art world, so I was not aware of the status of the attendees. But I knew that there were a lot of big name people. My friend introduced me to a woman at our table who was just delightful and I chatted with her for a long time. That year, I was really at a crossroads. I was mired in thoughts like, “Is my work good enough? I’ve shown in local art associations and that’s it, nothing of notoriety. Am I wasting my time? Do I want to be seen more?” I had sold a lot of my work in my office, which was affirming while simultaneously having these doubts. Without knowing who she was really or her background, I asked her, “Would you mind coming and looking at my art and telling me what you think of it?” And she said yes.

It turned out she owned a gallery in New York, another gallery in Boston, and is revered everywhere in the New England art circle! I had no idea! And here she is coming to my office to see my art! She arrived and was instantly drawn to one of my handheld sculptures. She just kept stroking it as she looked through all my works. “May I ask you what you’d sell this for?” ( I thought she would say a couple of hundred dollars) “Oh, in a gallery,

$1200, $1500 dollars”. I just about fell over. When she left, she gave me her card, which was a small velum card which just had her name on it and she said “If you want to get into any gallery, just hand them my card.” Soon after, she introduced me to a gallerist in Boston’s SoWa art’s district and that’s how I landed my first gallery representation. The truth is get out and talk to people — you don’t know what will happen, and where it goes from there. You have to put yourself out there. I wonder if artists, in general, have a hard time doing that.

And my last question: what are your hopes for the future?

In general, art gives us balance by allowing us get out of our head. Humans need to feel more and I believe viewing and making art opens the heart— it makes you feel. Maybe that’s why we seek it out. It has a profound influence in the world and is what distinguishes us from any other species. Only humans makes art, it behoves us to honor and respect it.

More locally, thru New England Sculptors Association, one of our main goals is to bring sculpture to communities. Not to stay as an insular group only partnering with places for short exhibitions, but to go out in the communities and create sculpture parks, such as The Burlington Sculpture Park . Long lasting partnerships for years to come, to so the significance and importance of sculpture. Included with these installations are conversations with the artists about their works that are shared with community members. Growing awareness of sculpture via arts education as well. And personally, to keep creating and experimenting. Growing my art skills and visibility. As I am creating more, I am seeing that there is a rumbling of a “way” (tao) for my art that is emerging. Don’t quite have my finger on it yet, but it is there. I look forward to that discovery!

www.elisaadamssculptor.com

Instagram: eadamsart

Contemplative alabaster, 2015, 10h x 22 w x 10 d

Momentum Italian Alabaster by Elisa Adams, 2018, 9h x 9 x 9 in

Freedom Soapstone+ bonded bronze by Elisa Adams, 2022, 10h x 7 x 7 in

Charles Eruni

Born in July 2000 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria I have practiced photography for 5 years and counting now. Driven by how different our perspectives as individuals can be, I decided to go into photography because we are products of how we view the world, and I just want to be able to share my own thoughts based on my experiences and environment in a positive way through visual storytelling.

Photography for me is another way of expressing myself in relation to my everyday life and my experiences as an individual. With my work published within and outside the country in magazines and online blogs, and recent appearances in some art exhibitions, I look forward to using my skill and passion in photography to positively impact my viewers and pass messages of hope and love through my images

https://dstoryteller.mypixieset.com / Instagram: _dstoryteller

House of Slaves, 2022, Digital Photography

Previous page: The Voyager, 2021, Digital Photography

Akwa Ibom 1, 2022 Digital Photography

Carolina Aguirre Lestón

Caro is a Galician born artist based in South London. Her work is inspired by her nostalgia and homesickness from her emigration to the UK at a young age, and the exploration of her Colombian mixed heritage. She works across large scale oil paintings, photography, poetry, and short films to understand herself and bring a visual, physical expression of her inside world to spaces outside of herself. Through her fascination with regional history, she is focusing on Galician Costumbrista scenes depicting the rural life she grew up with in the North of Spain. Although she considers herself primarily a painter, Caro refuses to confine herself to one medium.

Caro loves emphasizing energies and life in her paintings. Although they are still images, her memories of those moments move and laugh, confide in her and tell her stories. When painting she brings this conversation and intimacy to the viewers of her work. She makes studies in the moment, quick paintings on canvases or colour pencil sketches as things happen. These visual memory fragments are later used in the development of realist paintings as final culminations of extensive bodies of work. She also connects with photography to gain an outside view of herself. “Who am I outside of who I have been told I am? Who can I be? A saint on a pedestal? A creature lurking behind house doors? Perhaps I am no one. Perhaps I am all of you.” For her, photography is an exploration of possibilities, alter-egos, the divine, and her body. She achieves this through ambient portraits with strong energies, intimate photoseries, and narrative styles. Her photography works have an almost silent but incredibly powerful aura to them as she leans into feminine rage and the divine feminine as creator and destroyer. A type of rebirth through images.

https://arttcaro.co.uk / Instagram: arttcaro

La Santa 1, 2022

Photography, 5846 px x 4134 px

Protect your soul by covering up- modesty, humility are what make a good woman. You will be one soon, so you need to stay pure, respectable. Sluts aren’t respectable. It’s different when you’re a man. I know how men are, they only want one thing and after you give them it, you’re no good to anyone. And I remember those words like it was yesterday, they hurt like it was yesterday. I was a daughter, a santa on an altar. Then I grew up. In his eyes a sleezy woman whit too many opinions- just like the rest.

Becoming a woman. Learning to fall in love with yourself while braving a world that wants nothing but to tear you down and crumble you into submission is one the hardest but most necessary things you will ever do. When they try to quieten you using God’s name, scream louder. there is nothing shameful about womanhood or being proud of the body created for you. Celebrate it how you love to. Decorate yourself as you wish, dress exactly how you envision. Showing the skin you were blessed with does not make you any lesser. Purity is a myth and modesty the choice of the wearer.

La Santa 4, 2022

Photography, 5846 px x 4134 px

La Santa 3, 2022

Photography, 5846 px x 4134 px

Mohammad Awwad

About

Mohammad Awwad is an artist & graphic designer located in Amman, Jordan, and a graduate of the Academy of Arts (Egypt), who finds inspiration in random motives, personal interests, colours, textures and his daily life features, gathering and using anything from detailed collages to bus tickets. His artwork shows vintage, surreal style with playful colours, contrasting over layers and textures, and mixes the various cultures that he has been exposed to. His continuous pursuit of new experiences, mediums and ideas makes his work more authentic and diverse.

Eruption, DigitalCollage

Next page: Plastic ID 1, DigitalCollage

Artist Statement

In my artworks I try to make sense, through dreamlike imagery, of such contentious issues such as power and politics, the environment and culture. With works inspired by the turmoil in Egypt, the impossible situation in Gaza, the gap in women’s education in certain cultures and the greenhouse effect, each image is a dream scenario with multiple elements. Throughout each image, my trademark harlequin kaleidoscope pattern appears giving the images their whimsical appearance and contradicting the gravity of each subject.

Instagram: mo.awwad.arte

Facebook: Mohammad Awwad

Shara, DigitalCollage

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Selfie in a dream, 2022 Graphite, charcoal and acrylic on canvas, 32 x 40 inches

Chinedu Chidebe

Chinedu Chidebe (1998) is a visual artist born and raised in Anambra, Nigeria. He studied Fine and Applied Art at the university of Nigeria Nsukka (painting major) and have acquired other formal trainings which have contributed to developing his skill. He works with a variety of mediums and have continually drawn inspiration for his personal experiences. His works can be seen as an allegory where he takes inspiration from the idea of virtual reality headset and uses it as a metaphor to explore the concept of living in one’s head and getting lost in that space which makes it difficult to accept what’s real; which is one of the problems we face in the modern world and is partly the reason why young people resort to drug use which is barely talked about.

“The figurative paintings I have made, comment upon a self-created place in the mind that becomes so desirable that it is a preferred existence. I have lived this way myself in avoidance of harsh realities. Using acrylic, oil, graphite and charcoal, I depict young Nigerians like myself whose minds are psychologically elsewhere, though they are physically present. Which is why I choose to paint over the eyes of my subjects, as I draw inspiration from the worlds that are manifested in a virtual reality headset. The protective refuge that the mind creates, however comforting and seductive, is not a viable way to live. I have begun to discern what can be changed from what cannot be changed, to adapt, and to emerge into the light in order to live more fully.”

Instagram: chidebe.chinedu.art

Not what it seems, 2022, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Molly Goehring

About

Molly Goehring is a multi-disciplinary artist who utilizes two-dimensional and mixed media techniques to explore her own life as well as the inherent drama of color. She has exhibited both locally in her home state of Pennsylvania, USA, and internationally as part of Lacuna Festivals. She has been voted Harrisburg Magazine’s Best Mixed Media Artist in 2022 and is one of the founding members of Japansylvania, a virtual exhibition of artists from around the globe.

Artist Statement:

My work focuses on a variety of themes; my experience with chronic illness, my Catholic upbringing, and a complicated relationship with the idea of traditional femininity. Each piece I create is a process of experimentation, and I often find myself with a finished product which looks entirely different from what I had originally imagined. I think that art needs to be fluid and ask what ‘could’’ be, rather than what ‘should’ be.

www.mollygoehringart.com

Instagram: mollygoehringart

PietaII, 2023 Mixed Media, 36 x 36 in

Cutting Room Floor, 2023 Mixed Media, 20 x 20 in

Cyclothymic Temperament, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 2022

Lottie Steward Anderson

Lottie is a 22-year-old artist, poet, and mental health nursing student based in Bristol. She predominately creates ethereal experiences with paint. The theme of escapism plays a large part in her practice, transferring her daydreams onto canvas as a form of catharsis. Her artistic focus centres around self-discovery, female empowerment, celebrating nature and the occult. Lottie often inserts mythological and historical symbolism in her work; taking inspiration from art styles and movements including naïve and folk art, Impressionism, art nouveau, psychedelia, and conceptual art to tell contemporary stories. Her paintings often explore boundaries and transitory states. She uses meditative yet conscious brushwork to create hypnogogic, surreal effects. Lottie’s perspective as a student mental health nurse influences both her paintings and poetry.

Get in touch with Lottie on Instagram: Lotties_kingdom

Naiade Spirit, 2022, Oil painting, 16 by 20 inches

Odeta Xheka

About

As a woman, fated to be narrated rather than be the narrator, Odeta Xheka makes art to claim her voice because art is the opposite of speechlessness. Her paintings, collages and digital art projects have been juried into national and international competitions. Her artwork is also featured in various art magazines and literary journals. Born in Berat, Albania, currently she lives in Tampa, Florida after 4 years spent studying art in Athens, Greece and another 16 years in Brooklyn, New York.

www.odetaxhekavisuals.com

Instagram: odeta_xheka_visuals

Poetics of the Body, 2022 is a mixture of pre-cut shapes, lace, paint, and re-appropriations of my own work, typically in the form of shallow relief construction, pasted and layered together to create shading and multilayered structure so the audience could feel as if they are not in front of a collage but rather walking through a memory, peeping under the layers, squinting in an effort to notice the half hidden shapes, impatiently separating the colors from the texture, reassessing the hints as truths. Each mark, crease, and indentation is meticulously chosen to impose - has Didion has it, perfectly, in The White Album - “a narrative line upon disparate images” which have the viewers mirrored back to themselves thus facilitating the dissemblance of constructs of the past in an effort to build a future that accommodates shifting perspectives from which the human body can be perceived, experienced and represented.

Poetics of the Body 1 & 2 (right column) 2022, Mixed Media Collage on Paper, 20 x 30

Artist Statement

Poetics of the Body 4, 2022, Mixed Media Collage on Paper, 20 x 30

Josh Stein

“My work creates unexpected moments of precariousness. I use metallic, iridescent, and fluorescent acrylics, textures that lift the paint from the canvas, and a variety of hot glues which add dimensionality to the surfaces. I create work which collapses clear distinctions via aufhebung, the negation of negation: both paint and sculpture, both presence and absence, both expectation and result. Movements out of flat planes create multivalent pieces: sculptural mixed media using canvas or wood as a base for horizontal presentations, painterly mixed media intended to be hung from vertical surfaces, and modular work on multiple substrates which can combine infinitely through the structural use of magnets. The goal is the substantiation of imagination: fooling the eye into seeing things it never imagined could exist, and then going beyond to ask for willing participation in a different way of seeing the world around us, externally and internally.”

Josh Stein (b. 1973, Hammonton, New Jersey; currently residing in Napa, California) is a lifelong multi-mode creative artist, musician, writer, professor with multiple advanced degrees from the University of California and the University of Liverpool, adult beverage maker, and current MFA candidate at School of Visual Arts in New York City. With formal training in calligraphy, graphic design, and color work; more than two decades as a researcher, teacher, and writer in cultural analysis in the vein of the Birmingham and Frankfurt Schools; and a decade and a half as a commercial artist and designer for multiple winery clients; he brings his influences of Pop art, Tattoo flash and lining techniques, and Abstract Surrealism and Expressionism to the extreme edge where graphic design and calligraphy meet the Platonic theory of forms.

SteinCreates.com / Instagram: SteinCreates

#396, Glyphs I, Fluorescent and metallic acrylics on canvas sheet, 18x24 in, 7, 2022

#401, Fluorescent and metallic acrylics on canvas sheet

#391 Glyphs II, Fluorescent and metallic acrylics on canvas sheet, 18 x 24 in, 7, 2022

Jakub Pasierkiewicz

I was born in 1980 in Poland and I graduated from the University of Silesia with Masters in Fine Arts in 2005. Since I moved to England in 2006, I have exhibited my works mainly in Europe, India, US and Canada which include: Foto Festival Schiedam (Netherlands), The Lenzburg Photo Festival (Swiss), Head On Photo Festival (Australia), Kolga Tbilisi Photo (Georgia), The ING Discerning Eye (UK), PABA International Photo Competition (Pakistan), NOA17 (UK), Hiii Photography (China), The Indian Photography Festival IPF (India), Berlin Foto Biennale (Germany), MIFA Photography Awards (Russia).

Artist Statement

I use my camera to transfer and materialise the emotions which develop in my mind, the excitement caused by encountered reality. Sometimes the photos can abstract from reality, showing different aspects of colours and forms, whereas other times they can simply reflect certain situations taking place in front of my camera. In my practice – be it photography, painting or drawing – I try to recreate an idea which appears through thorough observation of the surrounding world. In other words, if we agree that vision is something abstract, something that is invisible and represents an individual need to self–express, then art becomes a tool enabling to capture our ideas. Through art I try to translate my experience into the image. I can only add that in my work/practice the whole process of creation is more often intuitive and spontaneous rather than planned and posed. It is an encounter with the unknown but somehow familiar.

www.kubap.com / Instagram: jakubpasierkiewicz

Olivia Springberg

About

Olivia Springberg is a multi-media artist from Washington, DC. She is currently studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. Charged by tactility and material exploration, her work often employs sculptural ornamentation. Her pieces play off remembrances, dreams, and feelings, presenting carefully manipulated narratives through multilayered imagery. Springberg is interested in personal interpretation and individual association, crafting work that is simultaneously objective and subjective. Her work serves as a meditation, a way of dissecting and evaluating relationships, both inter and intrapersonal.

Artist Statement

Within my art, I recall and examine ambiguous memories and interactions that affected me in an emotionally profound way. These instances are often brief, some having occurred in dreams. I re-work the perspective of the moments to exhibit the weight they carry for me. The process serves as a meditation that brings the act of remembrance into my artistic practice. By investigating the duality between the realm of memory and my range of experience, I can better understand and visualize a collection of dreams and memories, fictions and realities.

www.oliviaspringberg.com / Instagram: oliviasprng

Whirlpool, 2022, Oil on canvas, 36” x 30”

Unititled, 2022, Oil on canvas, dyed wood, 13” x 11”

Diana Bresson

I have been painting since high school, and drawing for longer. I received a bachelor’s degree in studio art from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Through formal training, I was able to strengthen my artistic abilities and better understand color. Nature has always been a source of inspiration and comfort, where I feel most at ease and where my mind can rest. One of the first trees I became enamored with was the Japanese maple at my childhood home in Connecticut. Down the road, I fell in love with the massive willow trees arched over the Housatonic River. Willows have become a recurring subject on my canvases, even though the willows on the Housatonic have long since been cut down.

With the palette knife in hand, I swirl the acrylic paints (red, yellow, blue, and white) together to create new colors. I never use black paint; its depths are too dark and drastic, and muddie the vivid colors. For the darkest darks, I like to use a deep purple or blue hue. The color palette depends on my mood, from monochromatic to blues and yellows, greens and yellows, or strictly cool or warm. I look at my subject, usually out the window. The leaves glisten with all the bright yellows on a sunny day. An overcast day, and I have to stare and squint to see any color at all. I paint a fantastical tree where there are no cloudy days. The sun glistening off the leaves is translated into a bright yellow. The trunk is a deep purple, almost black. The palette knife moves with quick expressionistic strokes. It takes several layers of acrylic paint, leaving little evidence of the first. Bold, bright colors with thick applications are used to translate light and movement.

www.dianabresson.com

Tree No. 12, 2019

Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16 x 1.5 inches

Tree No. 37, 2019

Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 x 1.5 inches

Tree No. 17, 2019

Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 24 x 24 x 1.5 inches

Sol Barberis

“I am attracted by images that awaken my deepest emotions, connecting me with my own inspiring poetry.”

I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I’m 53 years old. I’ve been working in a company for more than 20 years, in an administrative position. By chance and due to the 2020 pandemic, I had the opportunity to attend a virtual collage course that helped me to get out of the routine. I had always wanted to do something creative to connect a little with my emotions. I quickly realized that the contact with paper and scissors was familiar to me, and that it transported me to a magical place with memories of my childhood. I remembered how much I liked to cut and paste as a child, and today it has become a type of therapy for me. I enjoy it a lot, it calms me down & relaxes me, and it has become almost a necessity for me. Through the images that I choose, I am able to express my attraction. Through bright colors, flowers, textures and characters, I transport myself into a dream to an inner Universe. I go there every time I need to find my true self.

www.solbarberis.com / Instagram: solbarberis

Frida en flor, 2022 Analog collage, 72 x 52 cm

Flower Power, 2021, Analog Collage, 83 x 66 cm

Next page: My heart, 2021, Analog collage, 22,5 x 31,5 cm

In general, art gives us balance by allowing us get out of our head.

Humans need to feel more and I believe viewing and making art opens the heart.

- Elisa Adams

Alice Walter by Charlie Smith

Melanie Reese

Daura Campos

Agata Jawor

NILIA

Mohammad Awwad

Marina Altukhova

Arushee Suri

Chinedu Chidebe

Mayowa Nwadike

Parme Marin

Stella Lightheart

Thomas Carpenter

Amanda Schwartz

Lottie Steward Anderson

Molly Goehring

Rowan Bathurst

Hallie Driscoll

Elisa Adams

Nadia Wamunyu

Jakub Pasierkiewicz

Josh Stein

Dunia Barrera

Katherine Gallacher

Charles Eruni

Fran Gealer

photographed by Nick Weissman

Adeline Thng

Eleanor Dunning

Kristine Narvida

Sasha Balla

Hanna Dujmovic

Olga Niki

Diana Bresson

Yuliia Chaika

Dear Rowan, Melissa, Morgan, Dunia, Fran, Melanie, Agata, Adeline, Stella, Daura, Mayowa

Nadia, Yuliia, Amanda, Katherine, Marina, Sasha, Pinar, Alice, Mouli, Eleanor, Thomas, Hanna, Arushee, NILIA, Parme, Hallie, Olga, Kristine, Elisa, Charles, Carolina, Mohammad, Chinedu, Molly, Lottie, Odeta, Josh, Jakub, Olivia, Diana and Sol, thank you, deeply, for allowing us to share your beautiful and inspiring works.

Yours, The Suboart Team ***

www.suboartmagazine.com

Instagram: suboartmagazine

Image credits for full page images

Page 12: Rowan Bathurst “All My Girls Like To Fight”, 2022, Acrylic on Canvas, 50”x62”

Page 13: Rowan Bathurst “Corashe, 2022, Acrylic on Canvas, 48”x 60”

Page 29: Stella Lightheart “Celtic Goddess Collection-Damara”, 2019, Alcohol Ink, 8 x 5 inch

Page 35: Nadia Wamunyu “Girls are all Blue Sky II”, 2022, Mixed media on watercolor paper, 110 x 75cm

Page 47: Marina Altukhova “Simple Pleasures”, 2022, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 70 х 50 cm

Page 48: Marina Altukhova “Breathe”, 2022, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 80 х 60 cm

Page 49: Marina Altukhova “Covered”, 2022 Oil and mixed media on canvas, 96 х 56 cm

Image credit cover

Rowan Bathurst “Girls Don’t Cry, 2022, Acrylic on Canvas, 48”x 60”

Editorial

Copyright artists, authors, Suboart Magazine. All Rights reserved.

Suboart Magazine is produced and published by Suboart Magazine in Lisbon, Portugal. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means digitally or manually, including photocopying, recording, online publishing, or otherwise without prior written permission form the publisher, Suboart Magazine. All images have been provided by the artists. Edition and graphic design: Ulrike Nina Seidel for Suboart Magazine

March 2023, Lisbon, Portugal.