ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue

ART

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

A r t

R e v i e w

LARS VILHELMSEN ONYINYE ALHERI AGNES NEUFELD MARIA GIVNER LOI NGUYEN DUC MARTA FREI KONSTANTINOS VEROUTIS ALEXY BERTHELOT LENORE DELGADO (LEDELA)

ART

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ART

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

Konstantinos Veroutis

Lars Vilhelmsen

A r t

Maria Givner

R e v i e w

Agnes Neufeld

Loi Nguyen Duc

Onyinye Alheri

Greece

Denmark

Israel

Canada

Viet Nam

USA

I was born in Athens and grew up in Aspropyrgos a city close to Elefsis. My love for painting along with a strong desire to express myself as I wish drive me to conclude in 1993 my studies in art restoration. I have worked at the Ministry of Culture for many years on icons and frescoes of the 13th18th century along with the organizing of Ecclesiastical Museum’s in the Cyclades island’s region.I have worked abroad in a conservation studio in Nantes, France, and I have participated in conferences on image. My studies in painting have to do with the icono painting and freehand drawing. My theme’s are anthropocentric, based on humans both as a unit and as an entity. From the moment of their concieve, humans have the right to live equally in the universe with their other fellows.My concerns revolve around the dipole shape of "appearances" and "real" - around the essence of things versus the artificial or plausible. The "appearances" that may result from the imposition of social rules and 'real' on the equality of people without discrimination.

Between "we should" and " we feel", up to freedom of thought, freedom of choice, on a human basis.It is a dialogue between me and the viewer on an emotional level, recalling unconscious values, identifying equality with others alike.

A key aspect of Lars Vilhelmsen’s working method is the fact that he works ‘in the moment’, very quickly arranging objects to create a tableaux and then snaps the shutter. The finished pieces therefore become stories rather than sculptures; lingering too long over an arrangement would defeat the purpose altogether.

Once the photograph is taken, the objects go back into circulation, being delivered back to where they were found, or sometimes given away, to continue their travels, leave their traces, perhaps make more stories. One can imagine the artist hiding objects here and there, so that they can have a journey, collecting and leaving traces and stories along the way, and it is this wonderfully imaginative perspective that comes across in the work.

Then I was a child I was frequently asked who I want to be, and I always answered – “An artist!” actually I have no other dream – and I fulfilled it. But it is just a beginning. I think that I always was interested in hidden side of things, in the words that were not said, in the other, dark side of human`s personality. The “real”, material issue of visible world is far less attractive for me, though I`m fascinating by its harmony. So I can say that my art is about Man as a part of the Universe, about his connection and relationships with different aspects of reality.

Actually I`d like people to become perceptive to the whole surrounding world as they used to be in the past, then technology was not established as a new religion.

But as an artist of visual arts I`m very sensitive to the beauty and power of our world. I`m yearning to express the overall fierce harmony – of colors, movement, bodies. This is my visual language that I combine with abstract elements and structures. Actually I try to find and compose the lost parts and to create some kind of “divine” pictures like icons, to make people think about spiritual part of themselves. I don`t believe in destructive art. For that reason I often take religious subjects like Passover Haggadah or Jonah the Prophet, but try to discover a hidden problem and to find an alternative meaning.

Food and how it is managed is a recent theme in my work. This shift in my practice from my usual portrait photography occurred as a result of my reaction to what I discovered in my garden after a frost. To my dismay the abundant produce was not just frozen but ruined.

Although I was unable to salvage the produce, I felt compelled to photograph the damage. I was overcome with emotion by the loss and neglect.

The image of Jean Francois Millet's "The Gleaners" came to mind. This reflection and experience led me to research about how food is managed; the excess, the loss, the lack, distribution, environmental concerns and so on. In this ongoing series, I gathered up the remnants from my garden and began to photograph. In my experimentation, the results were unexpected and expected.

In my process, I was thinking about the value of food was like precious jewels. As I was working in various processes, including a camera-less approach, the results from my food scraps were surprising in how they transformed into unidentifiable gem-like images of beauty. This was my intent.

Painting is a means. To give me have freedom to express views, think about socially of me. Personally I see there are many problems and paradoxical contradictions in society today. My works are seeking some imagery lampooned on the human condition in the context of Vietnam now. with the impact of global contexts, cultures collide, between the old and new. This is my the process of work and explores my creativity many recent years. I try refine and built up a special image of my own, I wanted to find get a form condensed that it fully reflects Social realism. I think every artist has certain “obsessions” which are red threads running throughout many of their works - sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously.

Such works as "Happy Design" or "Broken Believer” clearly reflect this aspect: You can easily see that there are ominous shapes looming and chaos in the work, everything is intertwined. It flows like sewage peppered with many rods stabbing into the painting.

I have a strong fascination for conceptual and theoretical physics, especially in relation to how shapes and sounds influence human perception.

Both sounds and images are expressions by which we understand and connect with one another and our reality.

But yes, our Western society favors visual logic, because half the work is already done for us. We don’t need to imagine because a screen does it for us. But I think the same can apply for sound, especially with music being as abundant and disseminated as it is today. The point I’m making is that both sound and images bombard the average westernized human, and I do not care to alter or question that per se, but rather to use that phenomena of bombardment for the spiritual benefit of the masses.

Solfeggios frequencies have an incredible psychic effect, that many of us can not easily understand, because we are not trained to see, touch or manipulate vibrations. But our subtle energy bodies do that work for us, and we are lucky enough to no longer have to seek that out. It is a gift.

Recycled objects play an important role in Lars Vilhelmsens artwork. Found objects,recycled ‘everyday’ objects such as an empty container and even plants or flowers collected from a cemetery or crime scene find their way into his work. These nod towardsmassproductionbut more importantly, they become vehicles to unfold stories of lives lived by the mundane, everyday traces we leave behind.

In this issue

Marta Frei

Onyinye Alheri Lars Vilhelmsen Maria Givner Agnes Neufeld

Konstantinos Veroutis Marta Frei

Alexy Berthelot

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

Slovenia

Switzerland

Venezuela

I live with colors. Colors are not only the matter which allows to create a pictural image, to visualize art ideas, emotions and experiences, but are also a medium in which I present, where my emotions are reflected and where inner energy is synthesized. The palete is wide open and enriched with new colorful combinations, layering, synthesizing, streaming and owerfolowing. It gets stronger with positivism and annealing. The color, which is the core art element of painting, is also the source of energy. I translatet it from inner self onto painting surfaces and like that, I gives in artwork exceeding value, special power and mission, energizing effect and donfirmed healing influence. My paintings reach beyond aesthetic experiences and messages.

They become a beautiful and pleasant art intended for the good of manking.

I am self-taught artist, my workshop is situated in Geneva. I present a series of works in oil, called " LEVITATION ". As a starting point, the white sheet, and universal common object that contains all possible. I model with my hands abstract forms, often misty, sometimes compressed. The moment of a photograph, I capture and freeze the aesthetic, the movement of an ephemeral work. I then use the oil painting, my favorite medium, inspired by the traditional painting and photorealism.

Transparency, opacity, texture, are obtained by successive layers of glaze and by adding material. I transcribe unique shapes on monochrome backgrounds.

The use of contrasts and composition reinforce the idea of feeling, of timeless and precious object. By lines and colors each work invites us on a personal imagination.

I believe that all the creation has its own life. I consider Art as freedom ... My proposal is to make a refined approach exploring the blurry boundary between Identity and Experience, as well as my insightful exploration of Nature's beauty establishes a deep involvement with the viewers, both on an emotional aspect and on an intellectual.

The fact of living in the tropics has allowed me to enjoy a wide range of colors generated by the sun throughout the day. It is magical appreciating the game of lights and shadow through the vegetation, enjoing the nuances painted in the sky at sunrise or sunset behind our stunning and peaceful Caribbean Sea. Art for me is beauty, magic and life. I think our expressions of art should bring possitive changes and if that happens in us, our duty is to spread it to others to experience these changes and thus a chain of solutions is generated, especially in children who have a future ahead.

Alexy Berthelot Loi Nguyen Duc

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

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

ART Habens

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Lars Vilhelmsen

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An interview by and

, curator curator

For me, painting is a great ritual. That's the freedom of it, that's why I like painting, because I can take off. The image that results from such a painting process is a homogenous mixture of chance and intuitive, instantaneous decisions, a conglomerate of form and content, most often acheved with color as the principal building block of the image.

Marta Frei

My works might here appear an emotive, subjective, irrational way of enjoying the act of cration, in my private fantastic visions, in the fleeting impressions of every

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Marta Frei

day events. I get my inspiration from my attitude. My artwork is an expression of how I think, or rather, how I feel. My paintings are actually like a miror, and in them you see me. I plan what or how I want to paint. My artworks are a piece of me. You see all my feelings and emotions in the paintings. My energy, my passion gets reflected in my artwork. My art is a part of my life. There are plans which sometimes work immediately and other times need corrections and changes. I practice a lot. Enjoying the proces. I am an abstract expessionist, creating my own form of abstract expressionism which makes in contemporary.

The main point of these works is always, above all, a sensuous and emotional investiment, both on the painter and of the viewer enjoying the painting. Such art is unique in its individual manifestation, but nonetheless based in now already traditional concepts and ideologies of art with its origins in fomanticism and it's elated search for the sublime in nature and the world, in proposed empathy as the aporopriate way of enjoying a painting. In my case, nature is transposed both in color and material, like into an optical effect and a state of psychic and physical ectasy, the mental picutre of a landscape, an inner psychic landscape. Abstract art is besically a different perspective of objects and an attempt to reproduce an ilusion of visible reality. Every artist has obviously different ways to create art. Techniques, feelings,

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Marta Frei

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Marta Frei

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Marta Frei

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emotions and experience all play a role in the finished product.

Colors and correct combination of colors are very important. Lots of emotions are evoked through my colors. For me as an artist, I simply love color. Every color is used for different reasons and tied to different emotions. I try to use colors in my work to express my feelings and I use colors specifically that will wooth, calm, excite, and inspire.

The paintings are amested moments, uncertain equlibriums of form and silence, unique, fragile and feeting insights into the painter's presistent attempts to conquer his own visions and mental picutres. Our spiritual intelligence making things happen, synchronistically.

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Marta Frei

I want my works to take the viewer on a journey through their own imagination and stimulate their own emotion. I have hoper when I create each piece that it will hit the person it is meant to be with and leave them speechless because they have connected to it.

I live with colors. Colors are not only the matter which allows to create a pictural image, to visualize art ideas, emotions and experiences, but are also a medium in which I present, where my emotions are reflected and where inner energy is synthesized. The palete is wide open and enriched with new colorful combinations, layering, synthesizing, streaming and owerfolowing. It gets stronger with positivism and annealing. The color, which is the core art element of painting, is also the source of energy. I translatet it from inner self onto painting surfaces and like that, I gives in artwork exceeding value, special power and mission, energizing effect and donfirmed healing influence. My paintings reach beyond aesthetic experiences and messages. They become a beautiful and pleasant art intended for the good of manking.

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Marta Frei

21 4 06

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Marta Frei

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Marta Frei

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Color harmony hasically creates balance and engages the viewer by creating a sence of order. I like things that flow together and not things that shocked the viewer. For some people, the most important issue in art is that it expresses of stirs emotions. I like to keep those motions positive. I'am really positive person to begin with so my art really reflects my personality. A lot of artists try to schock viewers by playing with colors to break the traditional harmony. To me, art should be pleasing and comforting. If you don't have a color harmony, it will create chaos.

I just want to be successful. I'd like to sell my artwork internationally, but I would also like to ultimately show my work in leading museum worldwide.

An interview by and

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, curator curator

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Lives and works in the Bay Area, California

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Lars Vilhelmsen

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Onyinye Alheri

my practice. Specifically the notion of liminality, of existing in between multiple worlds (be they physical, cultural or imagined) is one that I am constantly exploring.

Thank you for offering me a platform to explain my practice and its motivations.

Firstly, just to correct one thing: I did not actually receive any formal art training, aside from a few classes taken here and there. However, I can say without a doubt that the experience of growing up as both a racial minority and an immigrant in the United States has influenced my perspective as an artist, though it is only one aspect of

Whether I want it to be this way or not, my status as a “foreigner� in this country will always be evident in my body and my name. I recognize the place that identity

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Onyinye Alheri

politics has in creative expression - every piece I make is in some way informed by my lived experience as a queer black woman living in 21st century western society - yet I can not help but question how identity contributes to notions of distinction and separateness. This is something I still struggle with. For I believe it is the difference in each human being that makes life so vibrant, challenging and beautiful, yet I loathe the fact that one is expected to “identify� with their designators (be they racial, economic, physical, etc) when we know that all being is dynamic and ever changing.

This is where there is a clash between material and metaphysical. For in this life I am a woman, black, bisexual, working class, etc. But I know in my core that I have been so many other types of human, animal or mineral, and all of those existences mattered just as much as this one. All of those lives led to the being that I am now, inhabiting this particular flesh. However, as I am someone who has battled and continues to battle intersecting oppression, it is important for me to document the life lived in this flesh for others who share those identities; to let them know that they are not crazy, not alone and not doomed and that they too belong.

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Onyinye Alheri

I don’t limit myself to one medium for the simple fact that it allows for a more free expression. My ideas manifest themselves in many ways and a multi disciplinary

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approach to creation is the best reflexion of process. I have always tasked myself with working with whatever medium is most readily available, so that lack of money

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Onyinye Alheri

doesn’t have to be a hindrance to creative production. When I started painting, I couldn’t afford to buy canvases so I used found pieces of wood that lay abandoned in

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the streets, nail polish & food coloring.

Painting was my original medium but as I became interested in digital media I shifted to film (using a dinky old digital camera). It

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Onyinye Alheri

ART Habens

would be better accessed by the audience through film than through paintings. There are several painters who have the ability to make their pieces “move” and seem alive, but for me it was about exploring and playing with film to create pieces that still “acted” like paintings but more easily induced a trance state, more readily inciting a breakdown of the “veil”.

Certainly. Canticle was originally a poem I wrote while I was in high school. It was a sluggish summer day and the poem came to me without much effort. It was written on a small piece of paper that I didn’t look at for another six years. At that time I was thinking more seriously about making films but had only a cheap digital camera and the film editing software that came with my laptop. Like I mentioned earlier, true artistry for me involves using what is available, so I took some videos that I captured on evening walks and solo trips to nature and started playing around with software. As with all of my pieces, I focused less on an end result and more on the process. Art is meditation for me, and the magic is found in the mistakes, so I was learning to edit not for sound or visual quality but rather in order to find and manipulate the moments in each clip that best captured the feeling of the poem. Those little details make all the

wasn’t that 2-D work had exhausted its usefulness, but film opened new doors to explore subtle movement and the dynamism of the spiritual realm, something I thought

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Onyinye Alheri

me, but I have learned to accept those mistakes as a blessing and a reminder that the journey is more important than the destination.

difference. One pretty basic part of film editing there is the ability to trim clips, and there would be times when I had certain intentions for a clip but would make a mistake that was actually more authentic and engaging than what could have been done on purpose. This happens all the time in my work, and at first it would paralyze

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Onyinye Alheri

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Onyinye Alheri

I really struggle with this question because I feel it is for each artist to define and live by what they deem to be their role in the age and political landscape they live within.

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These factors are too nuanced for outsiders to determine. So I speak for myself. I live in a western industrialized nation, in a body that is often considered corrupting and

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Onyinye Alheri

dangerous. When I think about my role I think that it is first to keep existing, solely because I once felt and had been

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conditioned to believe I that I didn’t deserve to. I’m not here to prove the validity nor material worth of my being here, or to

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Onyinye Alheri

ART Habens

awareness is not enough. You can not say “oh now I know” and keep living as you were. Nothing will change and the art will become stagnant and empty. If you see a work of mine and are inspired to do, think, or see differently, I will feel satisfied with the piece. There is a great quote I saw written on a sidewalk that read “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” That is exactly how I think about art and it’s merits within a political discussion.

Symbols are everywhere and they permeate my entire body of work. They bear special importance to me because of my interest in the occult. Symbols both convey and protect sacred knowledge. They play tricks on people and stimulate our many minds. I am interested in symbols for their ability to transcend spoken and written language and capture universal concepts. I work with and revel in ambiguity, making use of symbols to both trick and inform audiences, challenging them to create their own.

Archetypes are another area in which I have much interest, and in my research have come to understand how symbols can represent different archetypes and transmute their power into the material realm. In the video poulet roullete I was trying to show how two completely different cultural systems, with no initial history of contact could convey the same archetypes.

For me that piece was a lesson, that the truth is already available and we all have access to it (through what some may understand as the collective unconscious), though we may express our understanding of it with completely different pictures and strokes.

change anyone’s mind about my culture or otherness. I changed my own mind and now I must celebrate. My role as an artist is to challenge and to question the pervasive principles by which so many of us live our lives; some may call it tradition, some may call it conditioning. Not disruption for it’s own sake but for the sake of creating a world where there is less fear, judgement, and separation. I do believe that art can make people more aware of the issues that their societies and people face. But

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Onyinye Alheri

In a time & place where hypervisibility dominates, I am aiming to capture the movements and bodies that a camera or microphone can not: a slight movement in the corner of your eye, the voice(s) in your head, that haze you sensed with the back of your head, vivid songs heard in dreams.

However, I recognize that this practice walks the line between contributing to the overdocumentation and consumption of “things” and asking you to give greater consideration for those subtle hints of another world that surround us. My hope is for the latter.

I have a strong fascination for conceptual and theoretical physics, especially in relation to how shapes and sounds influence human perception. Both sounds and images are expressions by which we understand and connect with one another and our reality. But yes, our Western society favors visual logic, because half the work is already done for us. We don’t need to imagine because a screen does it for us. But I think the same can apply for sound, especially with music being as abundant and disseminated as it is today. The point I’m making is that both sound and images bombard the average westernized human, and I do not care to alter or question that per se, but rather to use that phenomena of bombardment for the spiritual benefit of the masses. Solfeggios frequencies have an incredible psychic effect, that many of us can not easily understand, because we are not trained to see, touch or manipulate vibrations. But our subtle energy bodies do that work for us, and we are lucky enough to no longer have to seek that out. It is a gift.

Honestly, I don’t know how much I speak to the viewer’s experience, as someone who creates art, it is hard to distinguish the viewer and the producer. By being present both parties contribute to the understanding and exploration of the piece. Art is something that comes to us as a gift, a flash

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Onyinye Alheri

of existence that is up to us to replicate.

With that heady nonsense out of the way, I’d have to admit that I do aspire to shock value for the sake of eliciting a response from viewers, whatever that may be. Let’s leave it there.

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I am currently taking a bit of a hiatus on my visual arts practice to focus more in depth on political projects. However, I do have visions for future video projects and am starting to play with sound and thinking of how to best use that medium in an inventive way. I am working on a series of audiovisual meditations and performances, though how and whether or not they will be exhibited is yet to be determined. Aside from that my main projects for this year will include ritual cloths and a tarot deck that make exclusive use of an ancient and secret west african symbology called Nsibidi. The African continent is wealthy in all ways, and I am excited to keep exploring and reclaiming the richness of spiritual, mystical knowledge that is hidden there. In terms of evolution, I would like to learn more techniques so as to build upon my mental toolbox for production. Thank you all for considering my work, and thank you, reader, for your time and thoughts.

Hmm, I started to touch on this in the beginning but let’s go deeper. The quick answer is no, I do not consider audience reception to be crucial in my decisionmaking process, at least not initially. I always make a piece under the assumption that no one (or very few people) will ever actually see it. This is for two reasons: 1) Art is a meditative and healing process, not an opportunity to garner attention and 2) I care too much about others, and if I were to consider how an audience would receive a piece I would never finish it. I’d get too stuck on making sure my point gets across, making sure the piece is not offensive, on and on. Now once the work has been completed and I’m asked to showcase it, then the audience regains importance, for the reasons I mentioned before. Whatever they see is a raw production, and the critiques and conversations that follow are free to take whatever form the viewer wants.

An interview by and

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, curator curator

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Lives and works in Rehovot, Israel

Passover

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Maria Givner

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video, 2013

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BeastsIssue Special

Maria Givner

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Maria Givner

years in Israel, I`m still watching on jewish history and religion from a distance, because I haven`t absorbed it with my mother`s milk.

And this is why I`m feeling free to discuss all this issues, to give my own interpretation to prescribed rules and to show it in my art in my own way. This is a kind of alienation, but a freedom also.

Actually we have here 2 aspects – my background as an interior architect and my cultural background as a russian repatriant to Israel that is much more important, I think.

I`ll begin from the second one (“Begin at the beginning”– as it`s said in Alice in Wonderland ) -I was born in Russia, and though my parents were jewish, we had nothing in common with jewish traditions and I knew nothing about religion or jewish culture. Actually we were one step from being assimilated. This is why now, after 25

What about my architectural education – this was a kind of compromise between my own desires and between the reality as my parents see it. My mom is an architect, so it

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Maria Givner

Blood

-Frogs

seems very natural for me to choose something like that. I liked studying and I`m grateful to the Institute for the information and knowlege about design concepts and other things that are headstones in all visual arts like composition, color rules and so on. It also was the time of creative freedom, I was occupied with abstract problems (of art and architecture) and experimented with various materials. I also gained my love for architecture and interior design, and though I`m not working in this field now – it`s in the sphere of my interests.

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Lices

Darkness

Maria Givner

ART Habens

Boils

Diseased livestock

I think my works are about relationship between the Man and the World, in some spiritual meaning of the word. And about a Dark side of it. All of us have this dark side and this dualism is a great axis of our world. We need this tension between two poles to live, to create. But it has to be in a balance like an enormous balance pan.

In Hebrew we have an idiom – One man – one universe. So I think that there is a whole universe inside of every man and numerous ways and possibilities to evolve. Actually I`m very positive about people – I think that everything we do in this life is a step to a better incarnation. I believe that we are learning and becomming.....better? I believe that at the end everyone could be like god, like a divine creature. For this reason I choose subjects like Choice, Solitude, moments of silent heroism of a Man as a Personality.

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Maria Givner

Hail

Locust

Well, I think my work process looks like this by other artist or designers. I`m studying the theme,reading written materials, looking on what is done for it before by other people. I`m creating a kind of moodboard for inspiration and also gathering visual references for my work. I`m doing many small rough sketches by hand and after the main composition is set – I scan it and continue working on computer.

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Firstborn Death

Burning Tree

Maria Givner

In the case of “10 Egyptian Plagues” – at the beginning they had to be a part of a commissioned work for Passover Book, but were rejected by the author. At this time I have already illustrated couple of Haggadah Tales, but they were very traditional and I wanted to express my own opinion of the famous story and my own vision. So I desided to continue this project for myself. It takes about three years to finish it – I worked on it between my commercial projects, every time changing or adding something according to my own creative evolution.

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As you noticed I borrow my inspiration from a fantasy and mystical sources, from fairy tales, legends, fantasy books and music. And my aim is to show another worlds behind this real visible one. As I understand the Universe it`s combined from various spheres and layers of reality. Some people can see different parts of it and to communicate with it. This doesn`t contradict my faith in God because I believe in the complexity and endlessness of creation. I`m glad that now people turn back to the fantasy, mystic and unvisible side of the world, that technology and science can now go together with magic and spiritual experiences. In my art I want to express this side of the world, to travel behind the line.

It`s an important question. I used to think the artist should stay away from a politic and to be a kind of objective viewer. But it does not mean he shouldn`t think about human, about wars, about all that is happen around. OK, there are no rules and if you like to paint landscapes or naturmortes – you are welcome. As for me – I try to express in my art my ideas about all of that – about us as a part of Universe, our role in this life and what happens after, and who need it all. This is nothing about politic, but this is about a Man and himself. And I feel it`s a kind of my creative duty and my theme in art for now.

Although it`s hard for me to absorb a pure abstract art, I realize that there are not enough visual tools to express spiritual subjects in a realistic way. If you are talking about unvisible things, sometimes you have no words and no images for it. So the abstract vocabulary is the additional tool in this conversation. It takes you to the world of feelings that doesn`t need explanation. The

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Maria Givner

use of decorative or geometric foms or color spots is a part of modern art language for a long time, and now computer programms take it to another level. From the other hand, I like to use figurative pieces to make it understandeble and closer to our life and to bound it with common cultural traditions. For this reason I also like to use asosiations and links to various cultural sources in my works.

Actually I don`t think much about colors, not as about composition for example. This comes naturally during the process of painting and could be changed several times.

I`m not making a very detailed line sketch or color sketch – I like the painting process to be flexible, I like to invent things and to give a picture to guide me.

I prefer deep, saturated tones as in Old Masters pictures. I like to use gold in the way old gothic painters used it. It gives to a piece some abstract, irreal touch. My favourite color pallete is of blue tones, I guess. For me blue is the color of mystery, night, magic, universe.

Colors are very important to me, although I `m making black and white graphic also. I`m feeling colors in a material way, like wine – so exhilirating and tasty. Sometimes I`m dreaming about colors, seeing unusual and fantastic color harmony that I can`t reach in reality.

I can say however that my color vision is in a certain way affected by living in Israel, by a very strong bright light and deep shadows, by a very contrasting color tones. It`s a lot of

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Maria Givner

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Chaos 21 4 06

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Maria Givner

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Maria Givner

ART Habens

yellow and white colors here and very few halftones, so sometimes it looks very graphically. And I can`t avoid it in my art. As for the textures, so this is a very important part of the artwork because it makes the image look real, gives depth to a space.

Thanx to Photoshop I can achieve any texture I want. I mean that you not only have plenty of ready textures on stocks but can easily combine your own from your own materials and stuff. Digital elaboration of a hand drawing picture allows you to create a space and effects that you could hardly achieve by hand. In my hand made paintings and collages I use layers of papers on painted cardboard, sometimes I add foils or textile and other small 3D pieces like beads for example.

Well, of course I need an audience, as most of artist, I guess. I need a response from a viewer, not only a positive feedback but a serious review. It`s very important to me not only to talk about relevant problems of the day (because I`m usually not talking about that) but to make him think about more abstract problems that however determine his life – problems of freedom, choice, responsibility. Ideally I`d like a viewer to discover in my artworks something new

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ART Habens

Maria Givner

about himself and the world around. In one of my exhibitions were was a viewer, that came almost every day to see one of my works, it was a kind of a surprising prize for me.

But though I need a viewer`s response, I don`t want to capture his attention by subjects like rude sex or violence. I mean that I don`t want to be provocative in this way.

I`m also not taking upon myself to teach people or say them what to do and who believe. There were many periods in art history then art was one of political tools , be it in Soviet Union (Russia), Germany or North Korea. And I don`t think it was a good for art.

I belive that art – is something between artist and viewer and maybe – God, it`s something very personal.

Every artist wants people to love his work....and to buy it. So if they like your current style you might think – well, it`s a good direction, I`ll continue doing things like that. Or sometimes you see some art is on fashion now and trying to do the same...

To say frankly – I tried to be “updated”, tried to work in a manner that is on the top, but...I realized I can`t. I simply are working in my own current style and manner and – be it good or not – I can`t change it just by a wish.

Of course my visual language has been changed during the years – I was inspired by various artist , places and was going through

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Maria Givner

ART Habens

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Maria Givner

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Maria Givner

ART Habens

different periods of my life. In the fact I can`t repeat even my own manner if I`m feeling it`s not actual for me now. It`s like you can never step in the same river twice. And it doesn`t matter how successful this manner was.

So I think, that though the issue of audience reception is important to me, it never inspired my creative process in a great measure.

Today I`m at the end of my 8-years period as freelance illustrator. It was a very prolific period, but very arduous – I took part in various projects – book illustration, animation, postproduction and theatrical shows. Besides I was occupied with my own projects – books, exhibitions.

But now I`m feeling exhausted. I feel I need to make a break to renew my creative recources and to fill up again a well of my imagination – to travel, to see new places and artworks, to read new books.

I`d like also to try some other direction – maybe multimedia or animation (as animator and not as illustrator only) - last year I studied After Effect and made some short movies. It`s very interesting and attractive path for me, so maybe this will be my next step.

To the end I`d like to thank you for your interest in my art and for the questions – it make me think about what I`m duing and understand more clearly what I want.

An interview by and

21 4 06

, curator curator

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Lives and works near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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Agnes Neufeld

ART Habens

video, 2013

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Lars Vilhelmsen

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Hello and thank you for the interview.

Agnes Neufeld

I have always been creating art, mostly in drawing and painting. I was interested in art history and gain technical skills. This led me to art school. During my studies, I had a curiosity for printmaking but was equally captivated in photography. Working with film and with the hand process techniques, became enticed. I am grateful for the abilities and the knowledge I have gained, and continue to learn in my practise. I have more possibilities in expressing my concepts.

captivated my memory, of its beauty in colour, texture, forms and so on.

My background has influenced my work in various ways. Growing up in a tropical environment in South America, then moving to a harsh climate in Canada, has exposed me to diverse ecosystems. No matter where I lived, I explored and always been involved in gardening. Seeing the produce transform,

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ART Habens

Agnes Neufeld

topic, look at art, search for a deeper meaning.

Then I plunge into the field.

My work usually begins with an experience. If I can't get the idea out of my mind, I pursue it further. I research and read articles on the

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I shoot a lot of images without any particular outcome in mind. I'll sketch a bit, but mostly to organize the composition. I allow myself a

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Agnes Neufeld

ART Habens

lot of freedom. I want to respond to what's in front of me. I'll print some test images and study them, and then edit. At times the process is agonizing and take a break from the work. But it's quite thrilling to push through it and accomplish a satisfying outcome.

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Agnes Neufeld

The degree of openness in my work is crucial.

I appreciate what I have discovered in the work, but I don't want to project all of it onto

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Agnes Neufeld

ART Habens

the viewer. Everyone will experience something different when they see the work.

They come with their own cultural backgrounds, experiences and values.

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Agnes Neufeld

feel drawn to express. So far, my everyday experience is what has influenced my work. In the Garden Series, the work came about unexpectedly.

I was in the garden after a frost. I was

In my practise, I don't seek to create work based on one concept, either the real or the imagined. I keep an open mind as to what I

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23 4 05

Agnes Neufeld

devastated by what I saw and felt compelled to document the loss.

The Portrait Series, was a similar experience.

The series came about when my daughter was completing her high school education. I was

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interested to "freeze" this stage in her life as she was transitioning from youth to a young woman.

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My personal experience in my agricultural background has influenced my art process. I

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Agnes Neufeld

have been fortunate to be involved in agricultural production for several decades. I have grown to respect the operation and understand how crops are grown from seeding to harvest. I have seen the highs and lows. I

ART Habens

understand losses in both the operation and in my garden. Had I not had that shock in the garden, this work would not have happened. It has motivated me to research about food and the issues that surround it.

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Agnes Neufeld

The art making process is more exciting to create when it has a personal experience attached to it. From the incident, the emotional connection and the memories give the process a vitality that is lacking otherwise.

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There is not one central idea but several themes. The idea in the garden series and the

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Agnes Neufeld

portrait series reference stages of transition.

In the garden produce, all are in a state of decay. In the young women portraits, they are in a state of change from youth to young womanhood. The concerns in the Garden

ART Habens

series, further draw on the global environmental issues on how food is managed.

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Agnes Neufeld

ART Habens

images circulating in mass media. This has impacted straight photography as it cannot exist alone. Photography, in particular has to continuously develop new innovations and techniques to stay relevant as an art form.

Working as an artist, I am exposed to the challenges of the new media in global communications. There is an abundance of

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Agnes Neufeld

I would agree that symbols alone in the art process can be limiting in interpretation. They

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23 4 05

Agnes Neufeld

can lead to another meaning but lack psychological and narrative elements. These elements are essential for art to go to a deeper level. Metaphors and memories on the other hand, are useful devices to probe deeper meaning.

ART Habens

The audience reception is not a crucial component in my creative process. The fact that the work exists establishes that it has a place in the world.

With metaphors, when comparing two unfamiliar objects or ideas, then can bridge the gap for better understanding of the concepts in art making. Is also true of present experiences and future new ideas. Often our recollections are not retrieved with accuracy.

This inconsistency can be beneficial in deconstructing and reconstructing our memories, then impact psychological and narrative understanding.

After the work is finished, as a lot of energy and time has poured into the work, I am satisfied because it stands on its own. But at the same time, I want my work to impact an audience because there is a purpose behind the work. But how the audience receives the art is out of my control. My goal is for the work to illicit certain responses; raise awareness, joy, delight, inspire and so forth.

But how the work is received is determined by the viewer's own experiences and background.

Several photographers and painters, have inspired and influenced my work. Eugene Atget's images of parks, storefronts, and streetscapes are technical and compositionally impressive.

August Sander's simple but deep portraits and painter Jean Francois-Millet subjects peasants in the fields, are striking in their mysterious light. I am inspired by Alice Neel's honest portrait paintings of friends and Giuseppe Archimboldo's unique portraits of produce.

Contemporaries, Rinette Dijkstra's and Thomas Ruff's intense portraits and Ruff's large experimental images remain highly engaging.

It has been my pleasure to share my thoughts.

I am currently working on a photographic project that explores midlife. This work explores issues of identity, body and aging. I intend to experiment with historical techniques and innovative explorations.

An interview by and

21 4 06

, curator curator

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Artist – Conservator painting

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Konstantinos Veroutis

ART Habens

video, 2013

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OBSERVER 84x70 cm oil on pvc Special Issue

Lars Vilhelmsen

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Hello and thank you very much for the invitation. The maintenance of artworks as you know has to do with the preservation of their materials. Instantly you get the picture of its construction and its condition in the years depending on the prevailing environmental conditions. There are artworks that have been made with strong materials following the classic lines of painting that are difficult to destroy during their conservation process. I have

Konstantinos Veroutis

encountered artworks that you can not touch because of poor technical construction and use of inappropriate materials. My aim is always to create artworks that are preserved over time. Greece, apart from its richness in antiquity

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PRAYER 100x50 cm acrylic on canvas

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Konstantinos Veroutis

BELONG 60x50 cm oil on canvas

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Konstantinos Veroutis

ART Habens

PRAYER 100x50 cm acrylic on canvas

SPIRITUAL WORLD 110x170 cm oil on textile

and sculptures, has a tremendous wealth in Byzantine art.

(and especially those of the Cretan School) to the shaping of artworks based on three basic stages: that of premedication, that of sarcoma and that of illumination. In fact, we are talking

The simplicity resulting from the symbolic character of an illustration led the hagiographers

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Konstantinos Veroutis

CAPTIVE 125 x 103 cm encaustic and oil on wood Special Issue

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Konstantinos Veroutis

about a light vs shade game with an intermediate cohesive tone. So the eye learns the simplicity of the line and can thus easily understand a wide range of depictions, ranging from the redfigure vases to the folds of an ancient statue. It is essential to decipher and understand where the correct lines and the appropriate strokes should be placed. This way you comprehend the history of art, from the rock paintings and frescoes of Santorini, Crete, Pompeii all the way to the renaissance and modern paintings. You read the harmonic engravings of the artwork and discover the golden number φ you already know unconsciously because it is within the structure of anyones DNA and in the whole of nature. So the artwork is part of it. This is being my second influence.

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Yes, there is. It the Human nature.

I am interested in this because it includes everything. I believe that every person should have the choice for his "modus vivendi".

The common basis of our existence is equality. Every human being wants the same things in his life on a material and emotional level. And there comes the social framework that divides the people with the necessities and the "manifestation" and categorizes them to control them.

And from here on, all the manifestations of mankind begin to radiate, which are infinite depending on individuals thinking and its leaving environment. So you have a plethora of issues to deal with and communicate them in your paintings.

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Konstantinos Veroutis

his need, his shelter. And the motto of the project is "Whatever religion you have chosen do not forget that you are human," a motto with many extensions.

The source of my inspiration is from our times. We live at a time when the social system is beginning to show its weaknesses in the world. I belong to a generation that has seen with its own eyes the before and after of an era of the rapid development of technology. Using the internet has made us break space-time being present anywhere on the planet we may wish, knowing what exactly is happening. The images of war and the great movements of people with different habits and religious and beliefs are a reality. Religions have played and continue to play an important role in all seasons.

As is well known, a fundamental element of every religion is prayer. Words, languages ​and names are changing. Regardless of the way in which everyone realizes his own religious truth and progresses through it, prayer is a superior point of a mankind’s grasping with the divine element,

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My artworks in general have a symbolism. Its not just the topic but it is also the choice of the materials I use that play their role.

My studies in the preservation of my artworks have offered me knowledge in the use of a wide range of materials and ways of construction. My palette is influenced in most paintings by hagiography.. The use of fourcolor, an ancient color choice based on the four elements of nature (white-air, black-water, red-fire, ocher) is another element of symbolism. All these are placed in different materials depending

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INCARNATE ANGEL 117x80 cm oil on pvc

WINGS 66x47 cm oil on pvc

Konstantinos Veroutis

on the subject. For example, in the "Absence" project, trying to show something ephemeral, I painted oil on kraft paper. Paper being a sensitive material becomes an accomplice with the issue of time wear.

ART Habens

observation. Comprehending these observations filtered through these two elements is also the result of his optical angle.

Memory, in my opinion, is divided into two parts: brain and emotional. It is dynamic parameter when comparing these situations. It is Nemesis that leads you to the ultimate result of inspiration and creation of a painting.

The nature of an artist is enthusiastic. Tradition gives him wings and makes him travel safely where he wants. It is a unconscious treasure that lies in harmony, and in the golden word of the number φ that is scattered in the universe and comes out in every one of your artworks regardless how modern it is.

Tradition is an integral part of painting. It is the springboard to

Painting is an artist’s own optical angle statement. So it is a personal testimony that derives from his experiences, always in line with the values ​and beliefs that everyone has in mind. One of the basic principles of painting is

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Konstantinos Veroutis

help one develop in arts in whatever form he want’s and to evolve into the modern age. The intense presence of tradition I felt personally, to all extent, on modern works such as the "Mississippi of Avignon" where Picasso, among other things, used African masks as elements of the tradition as opposed to the works of Salvador Dali where, To refer to your previous question, indelibly dominates the element of dream and emotional memory.

Although for me the fictional one we have to redefine it after accepting the theory of relativity and quantum. Can the fairies be nothing more than a parallel universe ... with this reason I interpret everyday life (through anthropocentrism) with a more universal inner interpretation.

Abstraction is something I like.

The game of the form in the depiction is something magnificent. The knowledge of the placement of a brush and a specific color to highlight the result is the acquisition of painting. The wings belong to my latest works and are painted on parallel slides PVC in a distance from each other giving a threedimensional performance. The deconstruction of one-dimensional painting in three dimensions is a bet of conquering myself. It is a challenge for my next creations.

Da Vinci's symbolism, the expressiveness of Michelangelo's faces, but also the light in the works of Constable and the Bill Viola video art have been particularly admired by me. As a viewer, I have a lot of influence on my internal communication with a painting or an installation. I try to be open to the emotional stimuli that a project emits. I would say that I am inspired by both.

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INCARNATE ANGEL 117x80 cm oil on pvc

ABSENCES 150x100 cm oil on paper

Konstantinos Veroutis

ART Habens

it in its entirety. In the process, the viewer can keep a distance from his own body and as an observer to realise the situations more clearly, choosing the best for him and others around him.

My study of three-dimensional depictions with traditional techniques rather than digital (a kind of resistance in our era) is my main goal for the years to come, trying to perfect it. I have already planned participations in various exhibitions in Greece and abroad with an important exhibition titled Mythology in June in Mykonos, where I would be delighted if you could visit it. I would also like to thank you as it has also been a special honor for me your invitation to include me in your magazine.

Art for me is a channel, a dialogue with the viewer. It's a harmonious conversation, a punch in the stomach to wake the viewer up. I try to retrieve from my unconscious values ​that govern primitive feelings. To redefine "the way things look" and "the way they are", the absolute responsibility of a persons personal choices. In particular, the viewer will come into contact with the concept of freedom of the spirit and travel within it, knowing

An interview by and

21 4 06

, curator curator

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Lives and works in Geneve, Switzerland

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Alexy Berthelot

ART Habens

video, 2013

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Deca Torres

4 03

An interview by and

, curator curator

Alexy Berthelot

Thank you for this opportunity to present my work. I am 32 years old and my first pictorial shock goes back to my childhood by "meeting" Salvador Dali ... it was then already obvious that I was going to spend the rest of my time

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Alexy Berthelot

ART Habens

exploring the mysteries of painting...

My mother initiated me to the world of painting, although she does not know how to draw herself. Painting "classic", primitive Italian and Flemish, Dutch, Spaniards and Italians, Impressionist, Matisse ... I begin painting about 13 years old with my own imagination very marked also by Greek mythology, without imitating anyone but inspiring of course. I follow drawing classes in college, and later I read, go through libraries and museums of all kinds and I begin to travel ...

In my work I feel balanced on a thread ... I rarely explore the past and do not take into account the events of my life or the world as an integral part of the creative process, but I consider the evolution and the feeling Common to man. I would say that I am rather listening to my feelings and my desires but there is always a thread, an inspiration, a theme to explore that brings me closer to men. The beginning of my journey was rather expressionist and liberating, sign of adolescence. I was in a moving picture of life. In the present period, I am in a more mature, more controlled, more peaceful creative research. The more I progress in technique, the more precision my painting becomes interior and silent. Each painting or project painting is studied before being put on canvas or wooden panel ... in the first place I use essentially photography as a basis for my projects. I realize myself most of my photos thanks to a mini studio that I installed.

I did not study in painting school .... I was supposed to learn a practical trade rather than follow the school of Fine Arts. I regret it a little. My job leaves me little time, so all my leisure has always been devoted to painting.

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ART Habens

Alexy Berthelot

figurative representation, to reach a sort of organic abstraction. I later use light, air, water to stage what is present is only ephemeral structure. Crumpling and nonsculpture staged to sublimate its light. Like a cloud, there is a very brief and magical moment when matter becomes vision. Every spectator can freeze his gaze on this moment. Thanks to the photography I capture and chose my point of view which allows me then to reveal the invisible and the vision of new forms that give me emotion. Then intervention and digital processing that will allow me to subsequently accentuate and reveal all the subtlety of matter.

My production process takes place in several steps, first the choice of the texture and the color of the basic material. In this specific case the desire for a universal material, and basic to any artist such as a single sheet of paper.

Finally, I reproduce on wooden board my drawing and then begin to paint with oil colours. Nice pretext to paint between transparency and color, personal technical challenge, fluidity and matter, realism and abstraction.

The personal vision is reinforced by the voluntary choice of a neutral background and a suspended framing, levitation, levitation.

I needed a simple and symbolic object, that of the white sheet, the one you look and just wonder what you are going to draw in it. Then it is the sheet itself that becomes the subject. Then comes a sensual and manual game of sculpture, crumpling, folding of the tissue paper without falling into the

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23 4 05

ART Habens

Alexy Berthelot

I obviously separate my series and works but it can be seen that in my painting often there is an intimate and dreamlike dimension.

The guiding thread in all my work is that of ambiguity ...

Often androgynous, fragile, static, sensitivity retained. Murmured painting. But mastered. In the abstract expressionist, I have a very instinctive way of working, I add up the elements, I correct the random.

I would like to render a timeless image of life. In my figurative painting, I try to transcribe, to interpret, to freeze for a moment, a universal feeling in an indefinite time ... It seems essential to me that my figurative work be focused on the intimacy of the person and not on the place of it in society.

The more I advance the more it seems essential to purify the emotion. By this I mean that in my work I do not seek to produce an illustrative or too narrative painting of an era or to make an action or a feeling. Neither a movement. I just want to stop time.

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Alexy Berthelot

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ART Habens

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Alexy Berthelot

23 4 05

Alexy Berthelot

ART Habens

I am mostly inspired by my dreams, I want to make them real and accessible. Place them and develop them on the canvas with the material that is painting. They can only come to life by my

21 4 06

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ART Habens

Alexy Berthelot

photographs. I am rather lonely, so in general my own moods are expressed ...

emotion. Of course the technical difficulty is there, transforming the cerebral image into tangible and visible reality. And that it generates emotion, whatever it is, tenderness, fear, love, desire, pride ... Sometimes the dream is simply that of color, of matter, projected, wrapped, twisted, or on the contrary posed, Defined, reflective, graphic, and only the abstract will know how to render it. I need to express myself with these two modes, abstract and figurative, I would not be complete if I painted only in one of these styles.

There is necessarily a reflection of oneself in what is drawned on the canvas. But it is not manufactured. In truth I evolve with the painting and I put some of my flesh and my soul, sometimes as if I was playing my life. It is the part of doubt and fragility; will I reach my vision? It is the so difficult link to create between the brain and the hand.

My inspiration is based on the imagination and the cultural and not on the vision of the real like a landscape, a scene seen in the street. I want to explore a theme, a subject, often also from what I saw in the museum, in a book, a set of photographs on the internet and of course my own

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In the painting "the waiting", the notion of time and the object the representative was indispensable .... Several options then offered to

23 4 05

Alexy Berthelot

ART Habens

a good spectator, I love to visit the museums, but also to mingle with people, to contemplate the landscapes, to feel the grains of sand of the beach ... I appreciate all the paintings and works of artists, famous or less known, I never feel better or less. What is extraordinary with art is that everyone can manifest his own expression.

me after all .... The watch, the pendulum, but too mechanical to my idea for a picture supposed to represent the timeless and especially too common, hourglass, clepsydre ... but there was a notion of end ... so the sundial seemed to me the most adequate and poetic .... The "Vanity" is rather a classic literary reference, but who is not confronted with this idea? As long as we have something to say we have something to live on.

"Pride" perhaps represents my taste for precious objects, an image of the things I would like to surround myself, beautiful and rare. The artist also has his share of pride.

I like the idea that things are not fixed that an object or any other forms can be both ... The idea is that the elements are proposed as an invitation to the viewer and not as a commandment. It is essential that my painting is not given or imposed ... everyone to bring his vision I like that people can appropriate my painting as an extension of themselves and not just as an aesthetic relationship. It is nice that there remains a little mystery behind the door half open.

I have, of course, much respect and admiration for the masters of painting. But I do not have any precise reference that would allow me to cite this or that ... Of course, Dali protected my adolescence, but I feel more symbolist than surreal. I feed on what the world gives us, what others give us. I am

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ART Habens

Alexy Berthelot

Yes, in the series levitation the colors are raw and saturated and yet I wanted to give a transparency effect. In fact I started with black and white, then grey and finally the brightness of the color as a metamorphosis, as an outbreak. It was important that colors reveal the simple structure

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23 4 05

ART Habens

Alexy Berthelot

of the original sheet, with pure and primary colors, blue, yellow, red,

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green, violet, which have their own end, expression of their material,

23 4 05

Alexy Berthelot

tissue paper, wrinkled or white sheet more rigid and folded over

ART Habens

and over again. The background is deliberately neutral, leaving no

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ART Habens

Alexy Berthelot

room for anything but the main subject. It was important that

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these paintings be representative of my positive energy state.

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Alexy Berthelot

ART Habens

instinctively before being reflected.

I have in project a series of abstracts on the study of forms in chance and diffusion, propagation of light and sound, waves on water ... random colors ...

I also work on portraits where the essence of my work lies in the ambiguity between innocence and desire .... I hope to get closer to the essence of the human spirit, but it's a long-term job ... I still have a lot of progress to make technically, but each work represents a step towards mastery. This will be my freedom to create without physical constraint.

My greatest pleasure is that people are touched and my paintings send back part of them.

All the comments posted on my work touch me, someone took time to send me what he felt. It is very valuable.

Afterwards I never take into consideration the expectations of either. I paint only for myself and satiate my own inner search, but I inevitably enjoy showing my evolution. I am not against criticism of course and I accept it, but I cannot invent anything else that what I am. That's why I love painting: you can always try to give yourself an intellectual direction, but ultimately, I let myself be guided by what I feel, I

Thank you for your interest. And I hope to be able to present you this evolution in the near future.

An interview by and

21 4 06

, curator curator

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Lives and works in Viet Nam

Happy design / 120 x 160 cm/ oil on canvas/ 2016-2017

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Loi Nguyen Duc

ART Habens

video, 2013

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Loi Nguyen Duc

portrait 45"c / 80 x 80 cm/ oil on canvas/ 2016-2017

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An interview by and

, curator curator

Loi Nguyen Duc

I use the basic artistic techniques and principles which I’ve learned throughout my time in university and build upon them with my own style and ideas.

I had to learn a lot from books and the internet. It’s a constant process of searching and tossing and turning in bed, to find a path for myself.

My paintings are based partly on my "instinct", partly on geometric schemes in a systematic manner, and also somewhat fueled by my “obsessions” from my design work.

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broken believer / 120 x 160 cm/ oil on canvas/ 2016-2017

ART Habens

Loi Nguyen Duc

trash 10 / 120 x 160 cm/ oil on canvas/ 2016-2017 Special Issue

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Loi Nguyen Duc

ART Habens

I think every artist has certain “obsessions” which are red threads running throughout many of their works - sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously. Such works as "Happy Design" or "Broken Believer” clearly reflect this aspect: You can easily see that there are ominous shapes looming and chaos in the work, everything is intertwined. It flows like sewage peppered with many rods stabbing into the painting. It is also my personal feeling about the current state of our living environment: a loss of faith in the future and the lack of respect for our habitat and natural environment, which is being slowly smothered by “progress”. Everything is sold under the table for money, our resources pimped by those in power.

It can be said that the key idea of this type of painting, is "Garbage".

"Garbage" is not only an environmental message but also cultural. You can see from around 2016 until now I still harbor an image of chaos in my paintings, with many things mingling, overlapping each other.

In fact, this is a very difficult question to answer. In a world of war, violence and instability like today, what can art do, what can art change?

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ART Habens

Loi Nguyen Duc

I am not optimistic or arrogant enough to claim that art can directly change the world, but I think that a true artist cannot ignore the chaos taking place over the world. In my opinion, the role of art is to help people understand themselves and the world in which they live. Therefore, the role of Art is to

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awaken people and help them to find their own path through the labyrinth of life.

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Loi Nguyen Duc

ART Habens

The creative process cannot be separated from direct experience.

I am inspired by daily experience; however, the experience of “inner self� is also necessary. We must understand ourselves in order to understand others.

Of course, personal experience is absolutely indispensable during the creative process.

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ART Habens

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Loi Nguyen Duc

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Loi Nguyen Duc

ART Habens

This work talks about a rather complicated story which disturbs me so much. This is a love story between my married cousin and a divorced girl (I don’t want to talk much about them) but the story precisely reflects the greed of certain Vietnamese women. (Sorry, I am not refering to all Vietnamese women whom I know; in fact, there are some good and some bad). But this story clearly expresses women’s greed for money and for material possessions. What do I think of the virtue of Vietnamese traditional culture? Yes, this is a problem that gives me a sense of despair and shame, as shown in the color used in the paintings. An ancient temple and a harlot is lying above it, a series of small pictures of sexually suggestive positions and a cloud drawn in a traditional style ... In this work, I have used pictures cut from fashion magazines and I also have used acryliccolored newspapers as a background ... During the process of drawing this painting, I let my personal feelings wander freely, unpremeditated. The painting was shaped by thinking freely.

My main source of inspiration comes from the society where I live. In the art milieu, I drew heavy inspiration from Francis Bacon. I was influenced by him for a short time. I like the space in his paintings, with irregularities and

21 4 06

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Loi Nguyen Duc

23 4 05

Loi Nguyen Duc

uncertainty, but the composition in Bacon’s paintings has influenced me very much.

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Each painter must maintain his or her own aesthetic ideal. If that ideal matches viewers’ trend, aesthetic ideal, there will be sympathy between the painter and viewers - and that will be an optimal response to the work of a painter. If a painter’s works are not appreciated by viewers, it will be a pity. But, a painter should not "follow popular tastes", and give up his/her aesthetic ideal.

[In the history of music, Wagner is typical: his opera Parsifal was staged after 25 years. In fact, this work is very valuable, but the audience’s tastes could not catch up with its avantgarde, strange and outstanding contents. There are a lot of examples: Whitman's “Leaves of Grass” was ignored and criticized by readers when it was published. But now, it is considered a pearl of American literature ...]

In short, the viewers’ cold or warm acceptance can only show a painter’s success or failure in the terms of finance (the paintings are sold or not). But that success or failure does not show the intrinsic value of a work. [For example, a book referred to as "bestseller", only shows that it is "consumed" in a large number, but a bestseller does not show that it is "valuable".]

Initially, I was interested in activating the perceptions of viewers, then I sent the message inside each work.

In the coming days, I will continue to think and work on new ideas for new paintings, I intend to combine graphic art and 3D renderings in my new paintings and illustrations, adding a new dimension and perspective.

It would be incorrect to state that the viewer's tastes determine completely the use of the language, the art style of a painter.

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In my opinion, the painter must be steady, must not be dominated by viewers’ tastes.

21 4 06

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Lars Vilhelmsen

Lives and works in Denmark

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4 03

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Lars Vilhelmsen It is a mix of all kinds of experiences.

I can’t point no specifics one - I see it more like a lived pattern with no clear beginning.

But if I must point out some lines in relation to experiences in “the pattern“, it could be: fir and hedges, maps, greaseproof paper, flakes, ribbons, bones, smells … all moods which is a part of the pattern.

I'm glad, that I have search in every nooks and corners - I haven’t set any limits for myself - I follow and work on what I find interesting, regardless of tendencies and currents.

I have worked in different themes and directions and tested different artistic media - from classical graphics to confrontational political activism in public spaces.

My artistic place today has been the same for the last 5 - 6 years - the longest time I have been in the “same” study area.

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I think it’s a kind of a “sign” for me, telling me - that this area - in which I work in now - contains more depths, and it requires concentration and absorption. Nothing is certain, but I find that my art has found some kind of a resting place, and that my work contains more layers and artistic quality - for me it is the essence of my practice for the past 20 years.

into new spaces - and for a time I restore the founded objects to “alive”.

I am interested in all sorts of gatherings, both literally and figuratively. I am interested in culture - sociology and anthropology. I want, that my works can be experienced as a kind of meeting place - a “structural-stop” where viewers forms possible relations.

I am a collector.

I collect mental moods. I call it my mentalwall-papers with meaning, which can not be defined, because they are individually experienced.

The selections are difficult to explain.

I bring these modes and moods into the work context in which they are maintained in the work.

It is a fairly long process to pick and choose and sometimes it goes really quickly.

I use my intuition, when I'm looking for objects and topics.

I catch from different thousand places in Denmark and abroad in the connection of travelling. It’s for exsample objects from landfills, deserted villages, abandoned houses, cemeteries, plant-houses and so on.

I know if the items I find, are suitable as soon as I see it - I use my “mental-wallpaper” in the collection process - objects should be able to contribute with either concentrate or expansion - hard to explain as it is a proper personal process..

If I should try to describe it into one sentence, it will be: I collect aftermaths from people.

I bring my collected material together in new constellations and structures - inserted

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Yes, my work is characterized by construction and deconstruction. My object-

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Lars Vilhelmsen

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oriented and installational works, found objects, objects, plants and various artifacts are assembled in a series of configurations, that simultaneously construct a context and deconstruct the meaning of each element.

How natural is nature for example? And where does the culture begin? Can nature and culture be completely separated?

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something. Tell a new story, creating renewed reflection, something for thoughtrelated to his contemporaries - and create comfortable disturbing questions. I'm not interested in works exclusively appear aesthetically and photo technically "beautifulness". There must be more at stake. I hope my works can be experienced psychological narratives, this is the thought.

Earlier when I was working at street level with installations in the public area, I had very close contact with the audience - it was exciting, but also confrontational - it was very demanding, but so it had to be at that time.

My work in recent years has become more "quiet". I don’t have that contact to the audience, I had before. You can say that my works today must be "on their own" - and it's both natural and satisfying.

My works must contain a vacuum to the reader and viewer of achet. I am very aware, that there always is "empty spaces" in my works. My life and my art is sometimes completely melted together and at other times they live more of a separated life - and that is how it should be.

When I have worked intensively for a long time I understandable need a break.

It is important for me to get away from my work for later on to be able to relate to the artproces again.

Only by pulling my self away - out to a new vantage point - I notice, what I haven’t been able to see before.

My works - or my art must have something to say, it is totally central. Art must want

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Lars Vilhelmsen

I do not make art for myself. I hope, my art is relevant out there in our time. I hope it can be co-creational for new mental landscapes, personal shifts and inspiration - maybe a “metting” for a person - a push to a direction that was unaware.

I'm not interested in “the pure photography”. on the contrary!

I'm not interested in the camera's tectonic ability, and I`m not interested in tensile processes in frosted for induction.

I only use the camera as the instructional module to be used to freeze new objects and objects.

I am currently participating in the

I am interested in art - and have never been interested in a specific direction or media - many people will maybe catagorize my work into photography - but for me - it has no value what media I use - I am much more interested in the story, that I tell in my artwork. If I was told to catagorized I find my work in the zone of mix media artworks.

international exhibition "Objectified" with a series of my photographic works called the Sacttoldingmental collection at the Institute of Contemporary Art - CICA Museum in Korea.

Then I participate in exhibition in Oslo, Norway and in the end of the year I am involved in an exhibition project in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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Response and feedback is so important.

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Lars Vilhelmsen

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MURAL HORIZONTES DE LUZ 3

Lives and works in Venezuela

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4 03

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South America. Since I was a child, with the support and example of my family, I asked to God for let me to develop a lot of proposes for help our planet. My parents, with an enterpreneur spirit, was the first team of teachers of Informatic in Yaracuy State, since 1988.

They are always studying and learning about the things they consider as important and everyday they are developping a new project. So, my brother and I, enjoyed a very creative and technology home. Yaracuy is a very green place, with beautiful views and high temperatures. The sun shines a lot and shows the most beautiful colours in “trinitarias”, “araguaneyes” and “apamates”.

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During my chilhood, my parents invited me to make and learn about a lot of differents fields. One afternoon at home was between homeworks, painting, learning about informatic, going to Academia de Danzas Bolivarianas Martha D’Lima (dancing joropo), playing a piano, meanwhile i was enjoying a concert of guitar played by my father and brother and my grandmother was careing the garden.

So I love learning about very different fields, I love to dedicate my spirit to develop my skills. Everytime I am in a constant thinking about creating and finding the way to develop any king of creation. I understand the importance of creation, because this is the way I can express my feelings and enjoy the opportunity of life.

Firstable, I want to congratulate and express my gratitude to Art Habens team for this great opportunity. I was born in Venezuela, a magical and beautiful country placed in North of

4 04

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Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

During my life, I have traveled and enjoyed between mountains, Mar Caribe, Los Llanos, Desserts of Coro and wonder places. Years ago, I went to Kerepakupai Vena, this is one of the most beautiful experience I have lived, not only for the views, the people, the exotical nature, but the sensation that everything is possible. I felt that the most important thing is to live: walking in the direction and rithm that you choose with help of your hearth, enjoying with people, getting the best of people humanity, and sharing your experience with world.

My experience in Kerepakupai Vena, known as “Angels Falls�, was wonderful.

I returned with the idea to invite the whole world to life this experience, toward our actual tecnology. I focussed on childhood, because I feel that this is a treasure that has to be known for everybody.

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23 4 05

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

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CANAIMA 21 4 06

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EXOTICA

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Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

CANAIMA Special Issue

23 4 05

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

ART Habens

In 2015, I decided to develop my website for showing my experience there, exhibiting my VirtualGallery called “Kerepakupai Vena”. Also, I developed a link called “free time”, dedicated to show this beauty, its history, videos and more. In 2015, Dora Roman, interviewed me for RevistaMitoCultural from Spain, in which I had the opportunity of been known out of my country. This interview also was published on line by Revista Venezolana and by Fundacion Bordes.

In 2016 I received the invitation to exhibit the colection “Kerepakupai Vena” in Maracay, in Fundacion Huellas del Arte, with sponsor and support of Aragua State.

Recently, I developed an app inspired in Kerepakupai Vena, my virtual exhibition, games and more. This is free and it is not necessary to download. In January, I received an invitation for “Personal Structures” in Venecia for may. I am so pleased with GAA Foundation for this unique opportunity!. Everytime I am watching and perceiving the beautyies pleaced arround myself. The pink skies, the game of lights and whadows, the infinity paletts of colors placed in nature. So this is my inspiration. Then, I choose the tool to express my creation and I started to develop it, with the grace of our creator.

21 4 06

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Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

CARRAO

shadows. Thanks to him, arts became in very real images and sculptures taken as an exact copy from nature.

Renassaince was a revolution in all aspects. In Venezuela, I have to mention our Armando Reveron, who is considered our most important artist and he was based on lights. He used to say that every our has a color. This is because the sun, in Caribe, during the day, is moving and creating different sensations in people. I also have to invite you to know about our Carlos Raul Villanueva, who played whith this sensations of lights and shadows in

Light is life, light is love, light is all. The most important artist of world is Da Vinci, he studyied and discovered the importance of lithg in arts. Thanks to him, now we know about lights and

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23 4 05

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

Architecture. I invite you to live the experience of being in Ciudad Universitaria at Universidad Central de Venezuela.

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me, is marked by spontaneity. Art for me is Live. I would like childhood arround the world enjoy the gift of creating with spontaneity. This is the best part of bing children, and this is the best part of being a creator.

I love spontaneity when creating. I think our creator is present in spontaneity. I feel as if our creator is guiding my spirit and enjoy to make my works. I perceive spontaneity as a gift, a real way of give my creations a personal touch. Art, for

In Venezuela we have a lot of artists for admire. I admire the tropical paints made by Carlos Rojas, from Mochima

21 4 06

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LLUVIA

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Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

National Park. I admire the sweet art of portraits made by my Teacher Leonardo Arellano, from Merida. I admire the real portraits made by Miguel Herbonniere, from Bolivar. I admire the strong constrats made by Wilfredo Brazon, from the Airport of Barcelona. I admire the spontaneity in the works made by Patricia Van Dalen, from Caracas. I really appreciate the work of Roberto Nunez, who explores geometry, colors and transparences. I admire the work of CARLOS BRUSCIANELLI who represents very real pictures of reality.

I admire artists who are working with communities. Avap, on 2016 worked with artists for the activity called “La Capacidad del Arte” (www.lacapacidaddelarte.com) in honor of children of Fundacion Paso a Paso.

Patricia Benfele is a multifascetic artist who has participated in a lot of activities with children in Caracas and Vargas. I admire her because of her inspiration of making very different fields and her passion of sharing with children and learning them the meaning of art.

Amarillo Pina, also has developed activities with children from Miranda and Caracas. He focusses on recycling and creating art. In this order of ideas, I have to recognice my admiration to Coral Sanchez who works recycling pieces and tools. I love the work of Monna Gutierrez who has develop the “eco-taller” based on recycling.

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23 4 05

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

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MORICHALES 21 4 06

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ORQUIDEAS

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Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

KEREPAKUPAI VENĂ

several aspects. You need to explore yourself, your experience, your background, your history, your past and present for receive a grace for get art for future, with a preview placed in your heart, your soul and your humanity.

No, a creative process could not be disconnected from direct experience. A creative process is a conjuction of

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23 4 05

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

My color palette gets inspiration on nature. I prefer the hours that show magical colors in skys. The nuances of tones i decide to use are based on my point of view. I love to show the beauty, with lights and shadows, getting the best of the laws of perspective. I love natural scenes and getting its beauty as an all.

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Yes, for me is important to invite the viewers to live an experience. For this reason, everyday, I work not only in arts, but getting tools for shareing and creating ways of get in touch with souls.

21 4 06

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REFLEJOS

OBRA ORQUIDEAS

EXPO KEREPAKUPAI VENA

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

ART Habens

Yes, I consider that art may be a complete experience. I think that art has to envolve the soul of audience and get the best of them. I think art is a languaje of humanity to get a better humanity, a better future. I know how importat is art for the future, because art has been the first step that humanity made for socialize. Art has accomplished humanity during our history and our stories.

My future projects are based on work with children, specially with special children. I want to work with three concepts: children, art and ecology.

Thanks so much for this excellent opportunity. Please receive my best regards from Venezuela.

An interview by and

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23 4 05

Lenore Delgado (Ledela)

ART Habens

RELAX 21 4 06

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