Artist Talk Magazine issue 6 by Artist Talk Magazine

ARTIST TALK MAGAZINE

October 2018 www.artisttalkmagazine.com

EXPERIENCE

ENJOY

CONNECT

www.zeitzmocaa.museum

@zeitzmocaa

FEATURED ARTISTS DARIC GILL

4-9 JUCA MAXIMO

10-15 ZEITZ MOCAA

16-21 EMMA SYWYJ

22-27 SHELLEY ROTHENBURGER

28-33

M IL NE Milne Publishing is proud to present Artist Talk Magazine issue 6. Once again, I am pleased to showcase more incredible artists from around the globe. All of the artists featured within this issue have given interesting in-depth honest accounts about themselves, their work, views and ideas. In addition to the amazing images of the work they produce, which I know you the reader, will enjoy and be inspired by. We have lots of incredible talent within this issue, with a wide range of subject matter for you to explore and enjoy. The cover of this issue is from Evan Lawrence, who is best known for his profound contemporary surrealist digital art. This November, Roy’s People Art Fair is back. Roy’s People Art Fair

is founded by artists Roy’s People and Sam Peacock. Its first fair appeared in September 2017 at Candid Arts Trust in Angel and is now set to host its 3rd instalment at Bargehouse, OXO Wharf, Southbank this coming November. Thanks for reading. Grant Milne, Founder of Artist Talk Magazine

artisttalkmagazine ArtistTalkMag artisttalkmagazine

ROY’S PEOPLE ART FAIR

34-39 EVAN LAWRENCE

40-45 MARIO LOPRETE

46-51 TOMASZ CICHOWSKI

52-57 BARBARA GOTHARD

58-63 HELEN ACKLAM

64-69 DISCOVER MORE www.artisttalkmagazine.com

DARIC GILL

Learn It, Earn It When your family can turn paper shapes into a mansion, you grow up with a different perspective on what is achievable. Almost three decades ago, my parents cut out little rectangles of paper. After drawing a few rough outlines inside grids, they arranged these cutouts like they were playing a board game. That summer, our one-story home became a multi-story mansion (or at least that’s what I thought it was). In what is almost unimaginable in today’s era, my father armed my 7-year-old hands with an over-sized tool belt, a hammer, and a propane torch. Together, my family built walk-in closets the size of my current bedroom, soldered copper plumbing that led to a claw-footed cast iron tub, and built a porch that ran the length of the newly roofed house—topped off with a porch swing. Soon after, we built a club house that many in today’s world would call a tiny home, complete with a mini deck and full jungle-gym. These types of massive undertakings were normal in my childhood. So too, was the encouragement to learn anything through giving it a go. I come from a long line of Do-It-

Yourselfers: handymen, engineers, and loads of frugal people trying to enrich their lives without relying too heavily on everyone else. If you could think it up, odds are someone would learn how to do it and at least try to make it happen. This “learn it, then earn it” mindset has a certain amount of fearlessness involved. There are thousands of ways to parent and thousands of ways to learn, but I was permitted to play with raw electricity, fire, and power tools when I was a child. Sure I was shocked, burned, and cut. But today I am better for it. It was the catalyst that ignited the need for exploration that I use today. Stir into the mix 36 years of active imagination, an unquenchable thirst for learning, a couple college degrees, a few years of college teaching, and a constant desire to do something interesting. What you inevitably end up with is an interdisciplinary approach to creative thinking. Exploration And The Benefits of Inefficiency To explore is to travel through an unfamiliar area in order to learn about it. Exploration is by nature, a pursuit of knowledge directly through the most inefficient means. Learning so many things in so many areas is a long game. After all, that’s why there’s such a desire to have highly specialized fields in the workforce. It takes years of research, countless failed attempts, and laser-focused attention in multiple directions to escape the ‘dabbler’ moniker. But once there’s several sets of utilitarian skills, the art-making possibilities start to broaden and over time one has several starting points from which to choose. This inquisitive journey is my life-long pursuit, resulting in the development of several completely different professional bodies of

artwork. While these bodies of art stylistically vary, they all share a solid rooting into story telling and the investigation of familiar human situations. Though the story may be told through traditional painting, interactive robotics, or sculptural works, there’s always an urge to explore these personal moments through the interplay of natural and man-made objects. The distillation of these concepts into new expressions is a common evolution of any developing language and I continue to embrace these transitions as each body of work continues. The term “interdisciplinary” quite literally means mutual fields of research. It is a person or a team of people who use philosophies or knowledge from several fields mutually to solve problems that are outside the scope of the traditional boundaries. No dabbling here; This cross-platform approach to art making using finely tuned skills from various backgrounds. Like a triathlete, limiting their professional title to a single field would negate all the training they have in other fields. I belong to a movement in the arts that develops several professional bodies of artwork by one artist. Like planets rotating around the sun, each body of work operates on our varying cycle of orbit. Some are long sweeping paths that take years to cycle through, while others operate on a more constant frequency. Naturally, it’s not uncommon to have an overlap between a couple of these cycles at any given time, which keeps things interesting for me but still allows for clear directional focus. Exhibition opportunities, access to funding, studio space, and newly acquired knowledge are all factors that make the time and trajectory of these rotations.

SHY MACHINE

SHY MACHINE INSIDE

ABSOLUTE TOTALITY

The Bodies of Art Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an ongoing suite of still life oil paintings (The Absolutes Series) that have been exhibited in such establishments as the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum, South Korea, the John F. Peto Museum, New Jersey, the Edward Hopper House Museum, New York, Pizzuti Collection Museum, Ohio, and George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles & Chelsea, New York City. This series exhibits regularly and therefore has a fairly constant tight orbit. The Absolutes are oil paintings on reclaimed wood. They started as an exploration into the lost genesis of our pictorial language and the historical parallels between philosophy and cross-cultural linguistics. The work has grown into a full language where concepts and stories are told through visual vignettes. Like any pictorial language, an impactful story needs to be edited down to the fewest elements necessary. This minimalist storytelling ensures

that the subject matter will be full of symbolism, often blending the line between artifact and narrative display. In an equally important, yet fundamentally longer orbit is a set of interactive robotic sculptures. These are installations that invite the viewer through active participation and work differently within each space. This series applies behavioral characteristics to technology in a way that explores the relationship of humans to nature.

I just completed The Shy Machine, a motion and sound-reactive geometric pod that respond to the volume in the room through lights and movement. The brain (a programmable micro-controller called an Arduino) + microphone sensor passively listens to the sounds in the room and separates the two halves of this unequal twisted trapezohedron antiprism like a clam. Occasionally, it relearns the average sound in a space and adapts, while still maintaining its shy demeanor. A stepper motor slowly separates the halves, exposing a series of colorful lights that also react to the environment.

THE LIVING ORB ARDUINO

ABSOLUTE NOSTALGIA

Its sister sculpture, The Living Orb, has won several funding awards and it has been displayed in galleries, public parks, and other urban spaces. It too has an Arduino

THE LIVING ORB

brain the senses motion in a room. It is a 26” spherical hanging light sculpture, made from hand-bent poplar and LED light strips. When a viewer enters the space, the sculpture comes alive with a slow pulse of white light. Other orbits include an internationally acclaimed line of illustrations called The ToeHeads that can be seen in the private collection of the Center of Science and Industry Museum, Ohio. In addition, my metal sculptures and portrait paintings have been exhibited along side the works of Warhol, Picasso, Calder, Lichtenstein, and the like. Pursuit For A Lifetime Naturally, there are connections tying together the different bodies of work. Each series uses

reclaimed materials, which serve as encouragement to rethink the obsolescence built into our daily consumption. Additionally, there are constant threads of shared human experiences that range from love and loss to our desires to explore and play. There’s almost always a dichotomy comparing the light of life with an equally important darkness; contemplations between the usefulness of both good and bad. These are unshakable themes that have stuck with me through two degrees, teaching, and years as a full-time practicing artist. The questions that surround the universal human condition and our place in the world excite me. Asking “Why?” is a journey into more questions and naturally provides more opportunities for exploration. It is a trek unlike any other.

Each artist has his or her own path to take and not every journey is one of multiple disciplines. My path was one of inevitability; one of mutual research across art, philosophy, language, and science. Learning so many areas of specialty is understandably a massive and humbling undertaking indeed. Hopefully, it will take a lifetime to achieve. As you know, I love the long game. After all, sometimes it takes carefully arranging tiny pieces now to make something grand tomorrow. DISCOVER MORE www.daricgill.com

JUCA MAXIMO

who has been standing out in the international scene with a “contemporary expressionist” style. Talent is spread by other segments of the creative industry, so the artist also acts as art director, illustrator, designer and musician, which brings versatility and completeness to his work, full of delicacy.

EXPRESSIONISM 1

“I seek with my art to bring some uncomfortable interior, a feeling, something that the person looks and feels that there is something else in there.” (Juca Máximo) Plastic Artist, Art Director, Illustrator, Designer and Musician. His work consists of various techniques: oil painting, acrylic painting, watercolor, engraving, ink, pencil, digital art, clay sculpture and digital sculpture. Known for his work in illustration and publicity, he has gained a great deal of notoriety in the artistic world, mainly abroad, being published in large portals, magazines and winning prizes in international art shows, illustration and drawing. The artist can be defined as a “contemporary expressionist”: his work is dramatic, depicting an explosion of strong feelings and colors. His works usually consist of fine pencil or pen traits, complete with vigorous strokes and intense use of the impasto, on which he implants shocks of color and aggressiveness, contrasting with the delicacy of his portraits. They are feelings, secret traits and aggression on the screen.

ABSENCE 2

PORTRAIT COLOR 2

The portraits express great absences that pass in our lives, such as the absence of love, love for oneself, as the absence of the freedom to be who we are, to think and to act, by the absence of the freedom to be ourselves. In addition to the absence of identity, comes with the human faults that we have in the course of our lives. Absence of maturity, character and personality. These are photos that express absences and search for something that fills us. They are intimate portraits, which show that there is something else in there, even with some voids. Dramatic and extremely sensitive work. This is the concept of Juca Máximo, a Ceará artist

Fine strokes in pencil or pen come together with vigorous strokes, imparting total personality to each piece. The impact, a technique that highlights texture and relief through the thick layers of paint under the canvas, has recurring use in his work to take advantage of the shock of color and a certain aggressiveness, contrasting with the lightness of the portraits. DISCOVER MORE www.jucamaximo.com.br

INK THE SKIN 1

PORTRAIT COLOR 1

SUN 1

SUN 2

PORTRAIT COLOR 3

ZEITZ MOCAA

architects, and funded by the V&A Waterfront at a cost of R500million. The museum’s founding art collection, the Zeitz Collection, is on long-term loan, and forms the basis of the extensive art on display at the newly opened museum. ABOUT THE ZEITZ MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART AFRICA The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a new public notfor-profit cultural institution that focuses on collecting, preserving, researching, and exhibiting cutting edge contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora. It is the first major museum in Africa dedicated to contemporary art. Zeitz MOCAA was established in 2013 through a partnership of the V&A Waterfront and Jochen Zeitz. The Zeitz Collection acts as the founding collection of the museum. In 2017, Zeitz MOCAA will open in the transformed heritage listed Grain Silo complex, repurposed through a design by Heatherwick Studio, in the Silo District of the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. ZEITZ MOCAA INTERIOR, IMAGE COURTESY OF IWAN BAAN

Zeitz MOCAA officially opens as the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Cape Town, 15 September 2017 — ZEITZ MOCAA, the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora hosts its Professional Preview weekend ahead of its official public opening on 22 September 2017. More than four years in the making, the boldly ambitious project to reimagine the V&A Waterfront’s historic grain silo into the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora has reached completion.

From preserving the historic architectural legacy of what was once the tallest building in South Africa, to developing a sustainable not-for-profit public cultural institution that preserves, develops and enhances creativity, Zeitz MOCAA is a hugely important cultural landmark that will contribute to a stronger, wider appreciation of Africa’s cultural heritage. The grain silo’s architectural redevelopment from disused industrial building into a cuttingedge contemporary art museum was undertaken by London-based Heatherwick Studio in conjunction with local South African

SCULPTURE GARDEN

FROHAWK TWO FEATHERS

country’s grain. Completed in 1924 by SA Railways and Harbours, it has processed hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat, maize, soya and sorghum. Its location was driven by its connectivity to the docks and the resultant rail infrastructure. The building is so much a principal part of the city’s urban character that it has been heritage listed by the authorities. ATHI-PATRA RUGA-PROPOSED MODEL FOR TSEKO SIMON NKOLI MEMORIAL

ABOUT THE V&A WATERFRONT The 123-hectare V&A Waterfront blends commercial, residential, retail, cruise, leisure and entertainment within a contemporary working harbour with 22 historical landmarks. The V&A is flanked by the scenic beauty of sea and Table Mountain, and is adjacent to the vibrant city centre and international convention centre.

The V&A is jointly owned by Growthpoint Properties Limited and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), represented by the Public Investment Corporation Limited (PIC). ABOUT THE V&A WATERFRONT HISTORICAL GRAIN SILO COMPLEX

Since 2002, the V&A Waterfront has nominally contributed R335.4-billion to GDP, accounting for nearly 2% of the direct value of the entire province. By 2016, the V&A Waterfront had created over 50 000 direct and indirect jobs.

Zeitz MOCAA, a new not-forprofit institution, will be housed in the historic Grain Silo complex at the V&A Waterfront, with the V&A committing over R500million to the development required for the establishment of the Museum.

With 25 million annual visitors, the V&A remains a favourite destination for international visitors, as well as a retail, leisure and entertainment hub wellfrequented by locals.

Built in 1921, and at 57m tall, the Grain Silo remains an icon of the Cape Town skyline. This investment will further the development of art in Africa and acknowledges the important cultural and financial contribution the visual arts sector makes.

In September 2017, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) opens. This is a significant cultural gift from the V&A to Africa, housing the largest collection of contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora. The V&A is further developing a world-class cruise terminal – in

walking distance of Zeitz MOCAA –which it manages on behalf of the National Ports Authority.

The overarching vision for the building has been to redevelop and restore it in such a way that brings national and international interest in a manner that breathes new and sustainable commercial and cultural life to the building.

The Silo building has been a part of the Cape Town’s skyline for almost ninety years, and, until the turn of the millennium, has been at the heart of the operational life of the city’s waterfront dock facilitating the collection, sorting, storing and the exportation of much of the

BANELE KHOZA, TRYING TO IMPRESS

THE ZEITZ COLLECTION The Zeitz Collection was founded in 2002 by business entrepreneur Jochen Zeitz and is one of the most representative collections of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Its mandate is to collect and preserve contemporary cultural artefacts of Africa. The Zeitz Collection is held and exhibited in spaces such as Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, and through an extensive presentation of art at Segera Retreat in Kenya. The Zeitz Collection collaborates on an ongoing basis with the

Zeitz Foundation for Intercultural Ecosphere Safety. As part of the 4Cs philosophy (conservation, community, culture, commerce) the Zeitz Foundation supports creative activities that strengthen intercultural relationships and understanding, and raise awareness of cultural diversity, and inspires others to act in kind. ABOUT HEATHERWICK STUDIO Heatherwick Studio is a team of 180 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. Based out of our combined workshop and design studio in Central London, we create buildings, spaces, master-plans, objects and infrastructure. Focusing on large scale projects in cities all over the world, we prioritise those with the greatest positive social impact. Working as practical inventors with no signature style, our motivation is to design soulful and interesting places which embrace and celebrate the complexities of the real world. The approach driving everything is to lead from human experience rather than any fixed design dogma. The studio’s founder Thomas Heatherwick comes from a background immersed in materials and making. His curiosity and

passion for problem-solving matured into the studio’s current design process where every architect, designer, landscape architect and maker is encouraged to challenge and contribute ideas. Positive and pragmatic, the studio’s team are collaborators whose role is to listen, question, then lead the conception and construction of special and unusual places. Ingenuity and inspiration are used to make projects that are affordable and buildable.

WEST ELEVATION

And our client is vital, who comes on the journey and challenges our thinking; together we look for the opportunities that might traditionally be overlooked. Our best future projects are the ones that will teach us the most. The studio’s completed projects include a number of internationally celebrated buildings, including the award-winning Learning Hub at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The studio is currently working on approximately 25 live projects on four continents. Current projects include a landmark for Hudson Yards in Manhattan, major new headquarters for Google in both Silicon Valley and London (in collaboration with BIG), and Coal Drops Yard, a 100,000 sq ft retail quarter in London that makes use of two historic coal drops buildings.

ZEITZ MOCAA EXTERIOR, IMAGE COURTESY OF IWAN BAAN

Overview and Mission Launched in 2017, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is first museum of its kind dedicated to collect, preserve, research and exhibit twenty-first century art from Africa and its Diaspora. The Museum will host international exhibitions; develop supporting educational and enrichment programmes; encourage intercultural understanding; and guarantee access for all. The museum comprises of one hundred galleries, spread over nine floors; dedicated to a large cutting edge permanent collection; temporary exhibitions; and Centres for Art Education, Curatorial Excellence, Performative Practice, Photography, the Moving Image, and the Costume Institute

MARY SIBANDE - IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS, THERE IS OPPORTUNITY

DISCOVER MORE www.zeitzmocaa.museum

EMMA SYWYJ

BARBERSHOP, CHINA

I have been an artist for 14 years, 5 of those years I was based in London whilst studying photography at the Camberwell College of Arts at the UAL. From there I received a BA Honours in Photography & a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design. I have exhibited my artwork internationally in the US in New York, LA & San Francisco and

Athens in Greece and Budapest in Hungary. I have also exhibited nationally in the UK and London several times where I currently live and work. I have also been published in several independent art magazines in the UK & the USA and exhibited my video art work in international film festivals around the globe.

My artwork aims to capture and show life at it’s most vibrant & exciting. The photographs I take encourage people to see the intricacies & beauty beyond the everyday. My artwork is often centered around my immediate environment and cultural identity. I celebrate culture in all its varied forms all over the world. I have photographed Europe and Asia capturing these countries and cultures as I experience them. My work encourages viewers to feel awe and joy in the travelers quest and the rewards that experiencing other cultures can bring whilst developing my own cultural identity through photography. Barbershop, China This photographs was taken in China as part of my fine art photography series ‘China’. It is of a barbershop in a side street in the city of Suzhou. I was in the country researching my family roots and Contemporary Chinese Art.

WALL AND WINDOW, CHINA

MAN PAINTING, CHINA

VIEW OF MIRANDA, ITALY

View of Miranda, Italy

Bottles, Malaysia

This photograph was taken as part of a fine art photography series I shot in Italy called ‘La Dolce Fa Niente’ which translates as ‘The Sweetness of Doing Nothing’ in Italian. I spent time in Rome and the trip culminated in me staying in a small village in the mountains outside of Naples called Miranda where my grandmother is originally from. The trip was intended for me to connect with my roots and family in Italy.

This photograph was taken as part of a fine art photography series called ‘Malaysia’ that I shot in Malaysia. I stayed with my grandparents for a month and a half and got to know my roots and my family in Malaysia. This photograph was taken on their patio. DISCOVER MORE www.emmasywyj.com BOTTLES, MALAYSIA

SHELLEY ROTHENBURGER

THE EPIC FANTASTIC MEGA UPRISING

I am a painterly collage artist who likes to play around with ready-made photo based images and reinvent meaning and intent from various sources. I look to the internet, popular periodicals and magazines to lift and collect images that I work with. I also recycle and implement torn up paintings from previous works to help reconstruct these images. I love bringing together both images and media that have no business being together as a means of commenting on the absurdities of society. I like to convey how our culture affects how we look and act and how we are the result or product of our society. I was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada and now

reside in Vancouver, British Columbia. I began my formal studies in art in 1989 at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Art in 1995 majoring in painting. I continued my art education in 1997 upon entering Graduate School at the University of Alberta in Edmonton Alberta, Canada and completed my formal studies with a Master of Fine Art degree in painting in 2000. Having grown up in a small city surrounded by raw wilderness, I became interested in this aspect of the raw and primal nature of humanity and our place in the natural environment. I was greatly influenced by Aboriginal Art both traditional and contemporary that brings that human, animal

and spirit connection to visual images and I had plenty of access to these works in the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. Once entering art school, my influences expanded to include Impressionism and Post Impressionism, German Expressionists and Abstract Expressionism- most particularly and the works of Wilhelm DeKooning. Once I saw DeKoonings wild random markmaking my works were never the same again. I was also fascinated with Anthropology and the Archaeological dig. My images started to evolve from darkness suggesting skeletal forms.

THE FOREVER STORY OF THE MORTAL GUARDIANS

In graduate school the works became more about concept and context and they emerged into the humorous and subversive. I was living in Edmonton which is a bigger city than I was used to, and I started to look to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;crazinessâ&#x20AC;? in the urban environment for my inspiration. My subjects were based on pop culture and I did a series on the hockey fight, the Walmart shopper, men wearing offensive T-shirts, the Albertan redneck and people who ride transit. In these series, I was humorously reflecting about life in the city and its effect on humanity. In my most recent series, I am looking at 3D film culture and the

process of creation by a highly technical means. I am a drawing instructor in a 3D animation and special effects school and this access to the behind the scenes digital construction of film images has influenced my painting process in a sense that; I enjoy the idea of taking something born out of a highly technical foundation and stripping the long laborious computer generated process to the bare essentials of cutting and pasting and paint application. I use the pop film images lifted and gathered from magazines, tutorial books and the internet which I have displaced from their film intention and collaged into a traditional painting format. I am

exploring strange juxtapositions with this and creating new characters, meanings and scenarios within a 2d painterly world of my doing. The best part of this is the not knowing, the process of taking bits and pieces of past works and bits and pieces of pop images and completely denying their origin and re-imagining something bizarre and unexplained. This is the method in which I can best communicate the morphing and changing and transforming notions that keep me fresh, intrigued and in the moment. DISCOVER MORE www.mbradica.com/shelley

IRON KING RIM

ROYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PEOPLE ART FAIR

Roy’s People Art Fair is founded by artists Roy’s People and Sam Peacock. Its first fair appeared in September 2017 at Candid Arts Trust in Angel and is now set to host its 3rd instalment at Bargehouse, OXO Wharf, Southbank this coming November. Founders Roy and Sam have a long history of collaboration together as artists and have become good friends since showing at the same galleries together during their careers. Both artist having their own diminutive style inspired by the environment around them, their art careers have seen them take different paths over the years, both in the United Kingdom and overseas both with various galleries and individual projects. The fair came about in the January of 2017 after a phone conversation with Sam about collaborating together on an art fair. This whilst Roy was overseas. Both artists having had great experience of art fairs in England and Europe, both seeing the positive impacts as well as some of the issues which all artists face at fairs. It had become a chance for the pair to both do something a bit more artist driven and to aid artists build their careers, give them an audience of collectors and galleries alike, lots of which the pair knew individually

and were more than happy to share to the participating artists. The first fair came about after months of meticulous planning and promoting, everything from measuring up a venues wall space to hiring the boards and lighting needed to showcase the artist’s work, right down to the everyday items used at a fair such as branded signage and purchasing a till. Using social media to shout about the fair and tapping into the Google ad words market. The fair packed over 60 artists in to the 2 floors of the venue. Household name artists such as Doodleman who literally doodled over any spare wall space and street artist John Dolan who sketched for us on the opening night helped bring in over 2500 visitors over the course of the weekend, something the pair can reflect positively on and which helped them build for the next event at the Bargehouse during the April of this year. Working with various sponsors and partners has always been an important aspect of what Roy’s People Art Fair wish to do. Working with “Great Art” an art supplies store based in Shoreditch, has given the fair an interactive family friendly side to its ability to reach out to everyone. The pair are always looking to link up

with brands that share the same ethos as the fair. Companies such as Tagsmart have worked alongside the fair to showcase their exclusive way of certificating work. Brownhills Insurance are involved with the fair to give artists and buyers information on how best to insure their work. The Bargehouse venue is located on Southbank and is part of the OXO Wharf buildings, a historical site set in the heart of London. As the pair wanted to build on their initial success, they felt they could open up the fair to more artists and a focus on more live art, a feature of the opening fair that was well received. We also had Laura Lea on hand to help curate the event. The fair showcased a selection of live printmaking by Hooksmith Press and Hippo Screenprinters as well as artists such as Andrea Tyrimos completing of her Brick Paintings series and artist Carne Griffiths working with inks and tea. The event attracted double the number of visitors which they managed to attract to the first fair, something the pair put down to increased marketing and social media presence, as well as the name becoming better known amongst visitors and collectors. Artists enjoying the experience remains a core initiative of what Roys People Art Fair is all about. Before each fair, they host 2 events where artists can attend and network with each other. This seems to help artists settle any questions that they have with the organisers and get a feel for how the fair is going to be run. The pair want to make artists feel at ease with speaking about their work and offer tips and advice on how best to market and sell yourself. The events have from time to time bought in art industry experts to host informal discussions on how best to approach galleries, how to get articles in blogs and how best to pack your work.

MY DOG SIGHS IN HIS STUDIO

MY DOG SIGHS CREATING A NEW PIECE OF WORK

ANDREA TYRIMOS PORTRAIT AT HER “BIPOLAR PICASSO” SHOW, LONDON

The 3rd instalment of the fair is due at the Bargehouse from 1-4th November and promises to be even more interactive than the two previous. Hosting over 80 artists of varying styles from all over the world. This time the team are joined by street artist My Dog Sighs who will be installing an immersive artwork symbolistic of his subtly melancholic style within the foyer of the fair. Forerunner of the “Free Art Friday movement” his distinctive style renowned all over the world from gigantic murals in Shanghai, China and Israel as well as murals in Blackpool. Famous for working on tin cans, My Dog Sighs hints at the rejected and the unwanted by a materialistic society. Joining him will be the aforementioned artist Andrea Tyrimos. Here working with Uk based homeless charity “Centrepoint”, Tyrimos will be using portraiture and audio to capture

an ex resident of the charities life, her recent show “Bipolar Picasso” received coverage in the national papers, focusing on celebrities such as Ricky Hatton, Gail Porter and Bill Oddie who have struggled with mental health issues, A graduate from Central St Martins, Tyrimos pushes the boundaries of portraiture, uniquely combining both visual and audio elements, in an attempt to give this invisible illness not only visibility but also presence. Roy’s People Art Fair will also be holding a silent auction at this year’s fair to raise money for Centrepoint, the auction will feature work by the art fair founders amongst others. A theme that runs through the fair is that the founders want to be able to reach out to all parts of society and make art accessible to all and where possible raise awareness of contemporary issues that are part of where we are as a society.

The next steps for the fair is to cement its position on the art fair scene solidly by continuing its 2 fairs a year process. By linking up with more likeminded companies who can offer the artists we work with something which will aid them in succeeding in their careers. Roy’s People Art Fair will hold its next fair at the Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, London SE1 9PH from Thursday November 1st 6-8.30pm until Sunday 4th November. Full times and preview of the fair to be seen at www.royspeopleartfair. com or via social media at @royspeopleartfair. Applications for the 4th Edition of the fair is open to artists from October 2018, free to apply. DISCOVER MORE www.royspeopleartfair.com

EVAN LAWRENCE

Evan Lawrence is best known for his profound contemporary surrealist digital images. He is an artist, graphic designer and photographer based in Indonesia. Self-taught, Evan began to explore and turned his intricate feelings into surreal vision, mixed along with his ambiguous perspective on reality. His work is inspired by the delusion of the beautiful things until the weird moments; represents by the emotional feeling of himself. Born in 1993, Malang, Indonesia Evan has been in love with drawing since he was a child. Then his interest added in the mid2006, that’s the first time he got interacted with digital art. He began to like it when he saw movie posters at that time. There are so many visual effects on movie posters that make him curious how to make the impossibilities in one picture. From movie posters too, he becomes more understood about the importance of composition in an image. When he was 14, Evan started to learn Photoshop by himself. Learned how to crop images, adjust the light, blend multiple images and everything just from the Internet. In 2010, his sister bought a computer for his college needs. He took visual communication design as a major then soon after, he became more intense on photo-manipulation. His work The Catalufa got big attention when he published on DeviantArt in late 2011. His creative process at the beginning was only started with his desires to make impressive looks without having a clear focus about what the artwork was going to be. Early 2012, Evan bought a DSLR camera for his college needs. Thus he spared more times on camera than photo-manipulation. Thereupon his only goal was to become a photographer. He took freelance jobs with his friends as a documentary photographer;

MR NEIL

covered all special events like weddings, portraits, corporate, and others. After graduating from college, he became a photographer that focused more on product photography for one of a famous branding company in Surabaya, Indonesia. Three months later, he decided to resign from his job. “At that time, thinking that this is not what he wanted.” Since then he decided to build a home base creative studio called Edits Creative Works with his college friend that provided design services. At the same time, he got the responsibility to help his mother to continue his family business, even though he hated the job. After several months Evan realised that there was something good about his old passion, photomanipulation. During his free time he began to explore again photomanipulation, expanding his editing knowledge and skills in Photoshop and writing tutorials for some sites. His tutorial was announced as ‘The Best Photoshop Tutorials of 2015’ in one of the popular Photoshop

tutorial sites. Mid 2016 his work Mr. Neil was included in ‘The Beauty of The World Collection’ in a digital display and printed in a book that presented at Chashama Gallery, New York. That became the main reason for his decision to take more serious steps for his artwork. Surreal is the prominent theme across Evan’s artwork. He was introduced to surreal things by Michael Vincent Manalo; Filipino digital artist followed with Erik Johansson’s photos; Swedish surreal photographer. Fortuitously, he found Salvador Dali and René Magritte’s works. Their paintings developed into the biggest influence. “Why surreal? Don’t know why exactly but I just fell in love with it at the very first time. Instantly I became curious to engage with a culture that has a different perception of time than ours. For me, surreal is like a language. This movement is extremely authoritative and honestly, I’m an introvert person and find it easier to share my feelings in a surreal way.”

imaginary images that formed in his mind. His artwork probably wouldn’t have existed without it. In addition, Lightroom is one of his favourite softwares which he uses to explore colour mood.”

RELATIONSHIP

Surrealism taught Evan and the world to see art not merely visually and literally, but to appreciate it in a subconscious level as well. The primary goal of the surrealist movement was to liberate the modern mind, by demonstrating how deep psychological impulses could be explored, depicted and fused with everyday reality. Nowadays, surrealism is a familiar form of art that continues to grow globally. It’s easy for the artist to show their creativity through surrealism because this style provides them with more freedom to convey their feelings and thoughts through the canvas. Surreal art can be dreamy, gritty, optimistic or depressing. Daily things that happened are the main source of inspiration for Evan’s artwork; it’s a mix of his experiences and the world that was going on around him, from political issues to private moments in his life. “It may sound cliché, but I get inspiration from everything around me.” Every situation, every moment of the day has the aspects

that can be analysed, fleshed out and become the excellent subject for his project.

LOREM IPSUM

“The power of emotion is prior elements for his work, an erratic structure.” Transcribed his anxiety into surreal things becoming the most important process of Evan’s work. He used to draw a rough sketch first before translating into digital. Within the digital process, Photoshop is the main tool software behind all of his amazing works. “Photoshop gave him the structure for his reactions and vision of the world and the

Over the course of four years in graphic design, it changed Evan’s perspective on art. Design and art are totally different subjects. The design process is a mix of intuitive and deliberate actions while in art it is a boundless abstract form. There are no rules in art, anything is possible however, it is a messy endeavour. Through graphic design, he learns about the weightiness of composition, structure, rhythm, colour harmony and relationships, the interaction of shapes through repetition, emphasis and all the other aspect of visual communication. Yet in art he trains his sensitiveness to anything that matters in this world; nature, humans, animal, sound, texture, fragrance, etc. Photography is one of the primary aspects of Evan’s work. Photography taught him about the value of light. “Photography is not about the accuracy, for him it’s actually about recording the absence of light, or at least the differential effects of its absence or presence. Light is indispensable.” He merged all of the foundations with his photomanipulation technique blends with the contemporary twist to create and develop a new atmosphere on his work.

THE BATTLE OF ANALOGY

THE DANCING MARIONETTE

THE SPHERE OF LIFE

Marionette is about my childhood; I was so happy at that moment even though there was a big problem, but as a kid, we really don’t know what actually happened. The Sphere of Life is about my youth; terrible time, my dad passed away when I was 13 years old, so many things happened at that time, family issues and others. Sunset Lover is like a conclusion behind all of it; as an adult I believe there is always hope and a happy ending.” In March 2018 The Dancing Marionette and Sunset Lover were included in the surreal show at Specto Art Space Gallery, Virginia and became his debut for the art exhibition. Also, The Dancing Marionette received honourable mentions for the best on that show. Evan’s artwork is compiled with emotion, the transformation from notional to substantial. His work is full of investigation; his interest in invisible phenomena, constructed logic, commemoration, memory, capturing the complexity and multilayered essence of culture and social realities, along with his sentiment blends into a single image. It’s a slow and sometimes frustrating process to get the right visualisation, as time is extremely important to him. Sometimes

it takes several months or years to think it’s good enough to be presented or not. Using his exquisite art as a channel to express all his reminiscences and emotions, Evan hopes that his artwork gives people the chance to reflect on themselves, both on an individual and collective level and can make a real contribution to the creation of a better world and greater positivity among people. Through art, he began reflecting on his own experiences and encounters as a way of approaching larger questions to do with identity and representation. He sees art personally as the bridge between conscious and subconscious, between what is real and not real. He expresses and balances his ego with it. Surrealism is like an escape room for him, a self-investigation of identity. He always try’s to infuse each piece of work with his feelings, desires, moods and dreams of the moment, using art as a basic language; transliterate the noetic perceptions into explicit views. DISCOVER MORE www.instagram.com/vanlawrenc. art/

SUNSET LOVER

One of Evan’s favourite series, Fatamorgana explains his life cycle in a short way. The nuance of this series was inspired by one of Salvador Dali painting, The Meditative Rose (1958). “I really love this series; same place, different stories. This series means a lot to me, it’s full of mixed emotions. Literally, this series is about my life memoirs as a kid, teen and adult. The Dancing

GRAVITY

MARIO LOPRETE

My name is Mario Loprete, I only live nine hours from New York, which is the duration of the flight that takes me from my home to New York, the ‘Eldorado’ for art/ artists. I see the Big Apple as being the start of an art career and then encouraging one to depart and to go on producing art in an individual, professional manner. I live in Catanzaro, a small Calabrian City in the South of Italy. It is a most beautiful place to live in. Geographically it is a great place however, the same can not be said from a cultural point of view, in my opinion. The ancient Greeks called the area ‘Magna Grecia’ rich of culture and history, but having bad political administration, being a sterile and incompetent ruling class, that never wanted to take up the advantages of its great potentials. I believe that during the last years there has been a positive movement. Some forward looking/ thinking entrepreneurs have comprehended the importance of valorisation, using the history that has been passed on to us. In my city there are great artists, some of them receiving the rightful acknowledgement, where some will achieve this in the future, but almost all of them plod on, inevitably suffering from the total absence of sales. That’s because Catanzaro it’s greedy with its sons. The collectors from Catanzaro buy a lot of contemporary art. They attend art shows and national art galleries, but the artists that get supported by their shopping are not from Calabria. The collectors from Catanzaro have an awful conception of the local artists and prefer to invest elsewhere, this is unfortunately the tragic world in which I always lived in and immediately urged me from the beginning to show my work somewhere else, where it gets judged for merit or demerit and not because it’s made by a “local artist”. I travel a lot. The proximity to the international airport makes traveling a lot easier.

When I rent accommodation out, for a period of at least two weeks within European Cities, I find it gives me a wave of inspiration and helps me consolidate working relationships with art collectors, gallerists, internet users to name a few. The Italian art system is I believe is doped with false auctions that make prices of unworthy artists work rise up and breaking the wings, dreams of those who live and breathe art but are in economic discomfort. In front of this reality, the artists have only two possibilities: they can adjust to what the market and the artistic operators ask for, perverting their own way to make art, or they commit to finding work that will make them economically emancipated, but free to continue to take forward their personal art project. Artistically, I formed myself as self-taught, studying the history of art and the great Master of art, aseptically without external contamination. I went to a art shop of a Calabrian Master for six years, from whom I learned a lot until 2002. I strayed into Calabria in order to paint from reality, with the main objective of speeding up my hand and acquiring the technique, fighting against time that changes lights and colours. Then I became aware

that I was missing something from within, I felt a void-like sensation. So at the age of 34 I decided to attend to The Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro, aware of that if I wanted to give more depth to my work I needed to confront myself with other artists, to share experiences and to search new goals. February 2007 I finished my studies and I ended up enriched and very motivated. I think that this kind of formation is necessary for every profession, in art it is even more important. Ten people that study to become surgeons, when they finish their studies they will be better in their profession, in measure of how close they get to their best achievements. In art it’s different, you need to know and to know that you don’t know. An artist needs to be unique and to be it, he has to know the history of art and who preceded him. The will of doing this is incredible. I get up in the morning and I want to paint. At night I go to sleep and I feel satisfied because I think that another day has passed, a day dedicated to the research of the strength in my work. I never wished to be a painter of fashion of the moment. In stead I strain myself to linger on the pictorial quality of contents.

SFERA EBBASTA

ANYA

B-BOY

always searching to transmit my message, makes me a complete artist. Why Hip-Hop? ...........

jay-z olio su cemento armato 25 x 30 2012

JAY-Z

My art is always dedicated to who can recognise it. To who can see a message. To who sees my message. Art is bought for passion, for pleasure, to invest. I like to think that whom ever buys my work, also buys a temporal in order to enter and be conduced in to my world, getting to see and feel how I work on and produce art. It is not the man that chooses to be an artist, but it’s the art that possess them. When I find myself on the road, my brain automatically traces the prospective of what I see. I mix the colours on a virtual tablet, searching for the right shades. As soon as the painting takes form in my mind, the landscape has already changed and I start over again. This is what makes a man an artist, as I see it. I live in a world that I shape to my liking, throughout a virtual pictorial and sculptural movement, transferring my experiences, photographing reality throughout my filters, refined from years research and experimentation. Painting for me, is my first love an important, pure love. Creating a painting, starting from the spasmodic research of a concept, then transmitting my message, this being the base of my painting. The sculpture is my lover, my artistic betrayal to the painting. That voluptuous and sensual lover that gives me different emotions, that touches prohibited cords.... Alternating picture and sculpture,

At some point in my career, I felt the need to utilise a theme that could be comprehended by everyone. In Hip-Hop I found the solution. It’s a philosophy of life, without geographical borders. Rap music always gave me company in my study. It was the soundtrack of my work. Music is art and it’s a part of my work. I prepared a beautiful series for an imminent art show composed of a musical CD, covered in concrete, on which I painted some B-Boys dancing. These are contained in their casing of plexiglass. Nowadays the musical lector could never play the music of a CD, but the music on the inside is there and it will always be there. Looking at an egg, you already know that there’s a yolk in there, without the need to open it. The subjects of my portraits take form from a picture that I take then I download from the net. I elaborate them on the PC and I eliminate what I consider to be superfluous, creating that important equilibrium to impressions that the subject must make. I have a database of five thousand different photos per artist, a photographic cut, social theme, projects for future art shows, etc. I like to portray: Ja rule, Xzibit, The Game, Mary J Blige, Beyonce and 50 Cent along with the resto of Italian Hip Hop scenery, closer to me. But I like painting disadvantaged people even more as they are way more real, who live their lives away from photography sets, free from authors. These are the subjects that I find more emotional. I exceedingly like to paint everything that symbolises Urban Style because I think that the task of the artist is to tell the world the story of what surrounds him.

About 10 years ago, I felt that my work was of need of a promotional push. Visiting cities like Milan, Basel, Rome, I stumbled upon some advertising signs as big as palaces, that had promotional messages. So I asked myself: Why don’t I paint real and recognisable metropolitan views, substituting the advertisings with my B-Boys? The result had a lot of success, I insinuated doubt on the truthfulness of the sign, or on the fact that I managed to paint that painting with such dimensions? The new series of works on concrete gives me more personal and professional satisfaction. How was it born? It was the result of an important investigation of my work, the research of that “quid” that I felt was missing. Looking at my work over the past ten years, I understood that there was the semantics and semiotics in my visual speech, but the right support to valorise the message was not there. The reinforced cement, the concrete, was created two thousand years ago by the Romans. It has a millenary story, made of amphitheatres, bridges and roads that have conquered the ancient and modern world. Now it’s a synonym of modernity. Everywhere you go and you find a concrete wall, there’s the modern man in there. From Sidney to Vancouver, from Oslo to Pretoria, the reinforced cement it’s present and consequently the support where the “writers” can express themselves is present. The successive passage was obvious to me. If man brought art on the streets in order to make it accessible to everyone, why not bring the urban in galleries and museums? It was the winning step to the continuous evolutionary process of my work, in that “quid” that I was talking about before and that is what is making me expose in prestigious places and is making me be requested by important collectors. The artistic process in which I create my works

LOVE

In my series “Words” I use reinforced cement in all of its LOVE essence and elegance. I build letters in reinforced cement with which I compose the words that I transmit my message with. They reach the viewer like a scratch, but they are in line with my work and my research. The abstract concept of the word presents, materialising itself with the concrete. In this period I am working with Roberto Talarico, an entrepreneur from Catanzaro and elegant art collector at an ambitious project: a permanent art museum on one of the most beautiful beaches of Calabria. The works that I’m creating are all made in concrete, proposing the rejection of the senses and of the logic that would see the cement and the sea at the antipodes of the rationality. I empathised the extravagance, the derision and the humour that objects of common usage were all in concrete. Paraphrasing the DADA artists, who were deliberately disrespectful , whimsical, disgusted by the traditions of the past; I trick in creativity and in concrete all of the materials and the available shapes. concrete sculpture 22 cm x 120 cm

UNTITLED

is classical. After I have traced the the brain directly, like a cold and very detailed draw, I put the oil devastating bullet. So, feeling that colours on and the glazes reaching inside me a tile of my mosaic was the final result. When the painting missing, I created a new series of has completely dried off, I brush works. it within a particular way that not only manages to unite every colour and shade, but it also gives to the art work shininess and lucidity. For my Concrete Sculptures I use UNTITLED my personal clothing. Throughout my artistic process, in which I 40 X 40 2016 use plaster, resinCONCRETE and cement,SCULPTURE I transform them into hangable artworks. My memory, my DNA, my memories remain concreted inside, transforming the person that looks at the artwork a type of post-modern archeologist studying my work as if they were urban artefacts. I love graffiti, I really like to study their communicative methods. I know absolutely nothing on how to do a graffiti, I tried, but with awful results. But with that experience, I understood that the usage of words is fundamental to make the art. The words arrive to

In the past few years, I freed myself from all of the work relationships with galleries that I collaborated with. I think that my work has reached the maturity to covet and to be represented from an important gallery and I would like to use these pages, in order to make it be known to who sees this in my project. DISCOVER MORE www.marioloprete.com

UNTITLED

TOMASZ CICHOWSKI

My name is Tomasz Cichowski and I’ve been a visual artist for over 20 years now. My main areas of interest are photography, filmmaking, painting and drawing. I’ve earned a Master’s degree in Photography at the Poznan University of Fine Arts. As a child, like a lot of my classmates, I used to hate art classes. The constant emphasis on painting in watercolour over small, thin sheets of paper was simply frustrating. As soon as the paint was dry, all colour would have faded, leaving me with deformed shapes on an ugly, wrinkled piece of paper. Fortunately, my grandfather was a painter and I used to spend a lot of time with him. It was in his studio where I first smelled oil paint and created my first drawings under his watchful eye. I wasn’t very happy with the results - maybe because I thought my creations weren’t as cool as grandpa’s? Still, I was always interested in watching him work and I think that this period in my life has left its mark, as drawing and painting reappeared in my life years later.

UNTITLED, OIL ON CANVAS, 146 X 146 CM , 2017

Despite the initial dissatisfaction with my early drawings and paintings, I’ve always had the drive to create and play with images and I soon discovered photography. My father occasionally dabbled in it and he was the one who showed me the ropes. At the time, it seemed almost magical to me: sitting in our improvised darkroom, watching black and white images appear on sheets of photographic paper. My family, trees, houses they looked exactly like in real life... Or did they? I started taking my own photographs shortly after. At 16, I even had my own, large darkroom in the basement of my parents’ new house. Creation became something natural to me and photography and filmmaking completely absorbed me for many years to come.

UNTITLED, OIL ON CANVAS, 64 X 36 CM, 2017

In 2011 however, I suffered a serious fracture while skiing. During convalescence I was not able to drive or carry my photography gear. This inability was the main reason why I came

back to painting and drawing and I honestly did not expect what started as a way to pass time, to become a long-lasting fascination. Since then, I’ve painted dozens of works and even though I never abandoned photography, painting became just as important to me. I never describe myself as a photographer, painter or filmmaker. I’m interested in all kinds of visual arts and techniques. Speaking in musical terms, I’m a kind of multi-instrumentalist. In this section, however, I’d like to focus

UNTITLED, INK ON PAPER, 26 X 18 CM, 2016

questions about harmony and chaos, chance and planning. I try to stray away from predictability and search for energy in interactions between different colours, shapes and textures. I believe that a great painting is visually self-explanatory and evokes the viewer’s emotions in a way that’s more akin to music. Sometimes only a small impulse (i.e. a moment of curiosity about a certain shape) is necessary for me to begin working on a new artwork. I never approach a painting with a clear plan in mind. I try to focus purely on the act of painting and act upon changes I see on the canvas. Every new addition to the painting is a suggestion regarding the next step and it’s not only difficult to predict how the end of this road will look like, but also when it will happen. It’s a mystery which takes time to solve, but ultimately the resulting image is the most important. DISCOVER MORE www.tomaszcichowski.com

UNTITLED, OIL ON PANEL, 30 X 23 CM, 2016

on painting and the way I approach new artworks. One of the advantages of painting for me as an artist is the ease of creation. I have the ability to quickly start painting, or continue where I left off at any moment. I can easily modify my artwork countless times, using simple tools and minimal amounts of paint and the end result is always one-of-akind. Speaking in terms of art theory, my drawings and paintings belong to abstract, or non-figurative art. I’ve only ever painted figuratively to pass certain classes at university. I aim to find my own language within painting, using my imagination and avoid representation of reality or similarity to it. I feel

uncomfortable referring to what I see to confirm my choice of shape or colour. I don’t condemn this kind of creation and have great respect for many figurative artists (such as the early XXth century expressionists), but my path is simply different. That said, I do not always paint purely from imagination. As is likely the case with many abstract artists, I subconsciously refer to real-world objects and “borrow” them. Such objects occasionally make their way to my paintings and while I try my best to not reflect reality and often make spontaneous changes to counter this effect, I ultimately don’t have any control over what the viewer sees in my art. I want my paintings to “speak” to and surprise the viewer; to explore the human condition and pose

UNTITLED, OIL ON PANEL, 50 X 40 CM, 2018

UNTITLED, OIL ON CANVAS, 146 X 146 CM, 2017

BARBARA GOTHARD

As a California based contemporary-surrealist artist my work was described by Samantha Matkovsky in the Huffington Post (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ entry/58bdf0fce4b0aeb52475f e70) as “a kaleidoscope of desert scenes, organic subjects, vast perspective and a thread of personal history. Her paintings themselves are phantasmagorical, shattered images clearly reflective of her own Palm Springs’ desert surroundings. It is not just the sandy color that works its way into many paintings, but it’s this incredibly boundless visual aspect that immediately instills optimism and a sense of release in its viewers.” My creative Path, the course or direction in which a person or thing is moving, has been full of twists and turns, impacting the way my art is driven by things outside of my vision. For example, growing up amidst land locked agricultural communities in Illinois, the mountains and desert-like landscapes in my earlier paintings were influenced by surrealistic imagery, not by the fields and forests of Illinois. Then, I never imagined that I would live in the desert surrounded by mountains. Today, my art is fueled by the influence of the expansiveness and the incredible light of my Palm Springs,

California desert environment. The ever-changing nature of the desert-- it’s mystifying, malleable and inviting—affects the way my artworks are moving from very structured, surrealistic architectural landscapes to softer, more mystical elements with an interplay of reality and dreamlike qualities. Other surrealists inspired by the California desert were Dorr Bothwell in Joshua Tree, Helen Lundeberg, in Palm Springs and Death Valley and Agnes Pelton in Cathedral City.

PATH 1

The focus of my artwork, alluded to by Matkovsky’s kaleidoscope analogy above, is contradictions. Life’s ups and downs are implied in a mystical realistic way, encouraging viewers to relate their story with the artworks’ story of hope and expectations—the everpresent options. Ann Japenga

WHAT’S NEXT - A GLIMPSE INTO THE JOURNEY

in California Desert Art (https:// www.californiadesertart.com/ barbara-gothard-surrealism-andthe-desert-of-dreams/), observed that my “big optimistic canvases, many with architectural beam-like elements . . . draw [the viewer] from an interior space confined by bars, toward openings and into a spacious sky.” Contradictions also play a role in my use of color. My fascination with color theory continues. I’m always seeking ways to produce a richness in the colors of my palette. I never use black. I develop my darkest tones by combining color opposites, always discovering new and exciting colors. I’ve been accused of being supremely focused, possibly due to being a practicing Buddhist. Other artists who are Buddhist practitioners, like Herbie Hancock and Tina Turner, note there is no separation between their art and spiritual practice of the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism. In moments of self-doubt or adversity I reflect on the source of my creativity and inspiration knowing contradictions naturally arise from the impermanence and ever-changing aspects of life - a basic precept of Buddhism. This reenergizes me and facilitates visualizing—the way my artworks start to come alive. Since I rarely do preliminary sketches for my work, visualization is key. The natural (metaphoric) images evoke contrasts with the abstract, confronting the viewer by their interdependence. I draw directly onto the surface, watching the shapes and colors evolve and change as the dynamic of the contrasting elements take shape. This unfolding mystery of complex spatial systems is what compels me to continue creating, anticipating viewers’ responses to the concept of dramatic challenges of change, infused with great expectation. Quieting the many thoughts and ideas for my artworks is the biggest challenge that keeps me up at night.

I always wanted to be an artist. The impetus to do so evolved in both tangible and intangible ways. Tangible: my mother was very perceptive. After I won first prize for a drawing I did in second grade, she enrolled me in Saturday morning art classes. I used to think that she did this to get me out of the house, but in hindsight I am so appreciative that she recognized my creative interest and facilitated a way for me to nurture it. My father’s insistence about learning how to use carpentry tools properly demonstrated the importance and value of good craftsmanship. And intangible: art provided a way for me to communicate visually rather than through the spoken word growing up in a tension filled household environment. My creative drive has been an integral part of my life ever since, although the degree to which I was able to implement it was dictated by family and business circumstances. Zig-zagging is the way I describe the path of my artistic to global business life and back to my art. In addition, I’m driven by a commitment I made to myself to return to my art after a career in business. As my reemerging artist process began, I was confronted with several challenges: I lost most of my possessions due to a combination of mold and asbestos exposure following rain storms; I returned to using watercolors, which were easily transportable; and I had to learn how to use Winsor Newton Water Soluble oil paints. Simultaneously, I was dealing with the uncertainty surrounding my son’s liver transplant operation. I did not view these obstacles as tragedies, but rather as an opportunity to refocus the way I approach and confront each blank canvas with a new kind of urgency, courage and excitement—all at the same time. As with these drivers, my work continues to be somewhat autobiographical. While this

is not a term that most would attribute to my work, the paintings’ concepts are often related to occurrences in my life at the given time. Creative challenges or mistakes lead to my growth and result in my artworks evolving into something better. For example, one of my older paintings was water damaged by leaks in the ceiling during a rain storm. My mistake was assuming it would be cleaned by the hazardous matter company. Instead of rolling the canvas in a tube, the company rolled it and placed it in a box. The canvas had so many creases and cracks that the painting could never be displayed in its original form. I tacked the canvas to a wall for almost a year. Then when I was exploring the exhibit galleries at Space 4 Art in San Diego, California for a solo show, the smaller of the two galleries was ideal for an installation, which I’d never done, but knew I wanted to do. Voila! I cut the damaged canvas into strips of varying widths and, maintaining the continuity of the original image, hung the strips using fishing line from three wood planks mounted on the supports for the light fixture, using a conelike shipping material to cover the planks. The strips of canvas were hung low enough for viewers to walk among them, experiencing the water damage. In addition, the images the shadows created on the floor and the surrounding walls became an integral part to the installation, especially as the canvas strips moved when air circulated around them.

BEYOND THE EXTERIOR

ENTANGLED NO. 4

My work evolves from one series to another, Evolution, Hurdles, Expansion, Entanglements. As a contemporary surrealist grappling with what seems like borderline surrealistic environment of politics and public life in Europe and the U.S., today, the question for me is, “What is the next Path?”

UNGUARDED

INTER ALIA REPURPOSED

A new direction often arises when you least expect it. Just when I thought I was moving productively along the then-current path, I was introduced to the ProCreate app during an iPad session at the Apple Store. I discovered an entirely new and exciting way to create - a method so alien to my painting process on canvas, yet

familiar, even though very different. As with any new venture, it takes time, patience, persistence and remembering that obstacles are gifts. It was humbling to create my first digital painting, a single apple, as a way to learn how the program worked. My daily painting practice is guided by my personal and professional motto to ‘Never Give Up’. Paraphrasing an adage: if you’re on a ten-mile journey and stop at nine miles, you’ll never know what the rest of the journey might have held for you. My new Paths series is coming into focus with an unanticipated benefit. Having developed asthma post-flooding episode, working on ALONE IS NOT ALWAYS LONELY my iPad is free of all allergens and odors associated with some of the *Daisaku Ikeda, President, Soka Synergy: Joshua Tree Art Gallery other artists materials. Gakki International presents 15 Artists 5 - 31 January 2019 Hangar Galleries My oeuvre is guided by the “When we create or appreciate Santa Monica, CA continuum of traditional art art, we set free the spirit trapped training--Bachelor’s and Master’s within. This is why art arouses such Senlis Sacred Art Festival, in degrees in art - and a Ph.D. in joy.” conjunction with Galerié MétanoÏa educational administration with 21 -28 April 2019 a non-traditional career path **The Rose That Grew From Espace St-Pierre - Chapelle from education to multinational Concrete (Posthumous 2000), St-Frambourg business. My historical influencers Tupac Amaru Shakur Senlis, France are Hieronymus Bosch - “his use of fantastic imagery and Did you hear about the rose that Contributor, Art Patron Magazine placement”, the Dutch Masters grew from a crack in the concrete? www.artpatronmagazine.com and Vermeer in particular - “…his Proving nature’s law is wrong it masterly treatment and use of learned to walk without having feet. Gothard’s work is in private and light”, Gustav Klimt - “elegant and Funny it seems, but by keeping its institutional collections in California, decorative elements”, Georgia dreams, it learned to breathe fresh Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, O’Keefe - “contoured forms that air. Long live the rose that grew New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, are replete with subtle transitions from concrete when no one else Wisconsin, France, and South Africa. of varying colors”, and Magritte ever cared. “his ability to place ordinary objects in unfamiliar spaces…”. My inner DISCOVER MORE vision as an artist continues to www.barbaragothard.com evolve from this backdrop. gothardfineart@me.com From modest Midwestern U.S. #barbaragothardart roots to pursuing what I love—as Daisaku Ikeda* said, to “…free Jorge Mendez Gallery, the spirit trapped within”—my www.jorgemendezgallery.com journey is exemplified by contradictions, a “…Rose That Joshua Tree Art Gallery, Grew From Concrete**, and by the www.joshuatreeartgallery.com opportunities to share the artworks’ “story” of introspection, reflection JTAG Artists Studio Show and hope, on the part of artist and Joshua Tree Art Gallery viewer. 13 October - 4 November 2018 and

HELEN ACKLAM

I spent my childhood in Bridgend, South Wales and now live and work in Bristol. Following a career in design and a lot of life experience, I returned to full time study and did my MA (Fine Art) at the University of Brighton in 2012. I am a network member of the RWA Bristol https://www.rwa.org.uk/artists/ helen-acklam , member of Baby Forest, Ireland. www.babyforest. co , Synecdoche Art and TAPS, www.theartistprojectspace.com in Bristol. I applied to do a residency at a local hospital, to coincide with the course, in order to spend focused time exploring my experiences and memories as a mother and a carer. I thought I’d return to my career in design afterwards - I didn’t. I spent most of my time during the hospital residency in a ‘mothballed’ block of wards. Once a Victorian work house, then a maternity and children’s block, it hadn’t been used for a decade and was frozen in time. The wards seemed to hold the emotions experienced there, silenced and suspended. I made a range of work during this period using video, photography, casting, installation and painting and became interested in the painting as an object, questioning my relationship with the traditional surface and support. Exploring an expansion into sculpture and installation, my canvas became a collage of children’s and adults’ hospital gowns and pyjamas, with their protrusions of buttons, ties and pockets, primed and stretched to splitting point.

ALL IN IT TOGETHER

ALL THAT REMAINS

Through the research I was doing during the course, I discovered the psychoanalyst and philosopher, Julia Kristeva. Her key concept is ‘the abject’ which she views not in terms of the gory and grotesque, but rather as those vague instincts, feelings and sensations that hover somewhere on the border of consciousness, inaccessible to the world of language. Here was a theory that advocated the freedom to explore things before articulating them. Directed by my biographical experiences, I’m interested in the possibility of describing things I’m barely conscious of - vague instincts, feelings and sensations that hover somewhere on the border of consciousness. Kristeva’s ideas made sense of that moment when I recognize some thing or some otherness in my work, or the work of others, but am unable to put that into words. This was a theory I could recognize - not as a top-down

feed from the power systems of academia and institutions, but as a useful resource that encourages spontaneity and freedom first; thought, organisation and articulation afterwards.

RING A RING A ROSIE II

Although the search for meaning and expression comes from personal experiences and memories, the ideas for work can be triggered by all sorts of things – film, music, books, something

someone has said, an exhibition I’ve been to. I organise my work into projects in order to anchor different ideas and research. The title of a recent project, ‘betwixt & between’, came from a book by Jeanette Winterson, ‘Why be happy when you can be normal’. It’s a moving account of passion, dysfunction and the human spirit, and has been the starting point of several on-going projects. ‘Ring a ring a Rosie’ is part of a series of figurative abstract works, inspired by the reading.

FREEFALL

RING A RING A ROSIE I

Maybe all work is about the personal in some way, but I’m drawn to the work and writing of people who have been open about mining themselves – people such as Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Jo Spence, Tracy Emin, Cecily Brown. I’m also interested in artists who want at least, to describe something other and not entirely human; to try and achieve a sense of the sublime. From the artists through history who were stimulated by the writings of Kant and Burke, to painters today dealing with the chaos and awe of the contemporary sublime – such as Willem de Kooning, Dorothea Tanning, Julian Bell, Julie Hehretu, Barnaby Furnas, Wade Kuyton, Peter Steir.

SKETCH RING A RING A ROSIE

In my own practice, I’m consciously looking for tension and unpredictability. Once something feels safe, or a process is known, I have no desire to repeat - but I do have constants in my practice. Typically I pull ideas together from photographs, drawing, collage, quick 3D work (with plasticene or fimo) before moving onto the painting process. This incubation period enables me to think.

MOTHER SKETCH

rigid and recognisable – the structure, the surface, the borders and the materials. I’m not sure what my intension is when I’m actually painting and making. I know that I don’t want something to feel too familiar, that I’m thrilled when something exciting happens and that somehow I know when something is finished. I know that some things just don’t work. Parallel to my practice is a research into ideas and questions that emerge with an exploration of the personal. At what point does the private become public? When does the past become part of the present? Moving between figuration and abstraction, space and flatness, the conscious and unconscious mark, when is there some order within the chaos? It seems to me that its at the tipping points between these binary positions, like very top of a breath, that something has a chance to emerge.

In one space were recognisable, presentable art works – a painting and an installation. In the other, I wanted to shift the gaze beyond the borders and the surface, to what lies underneath. I’m looking forward to pushing further and blurring more of that line between painting and sculpture. DISCOVER MORE www.helenacklam.com

NEST I PAINTING

For a recent exhibition (September 2018) I made a series of work, titled NEST, based on the theme of absence and presence. Nest: a resting place, home and an assemblage of things lying or set close together. The exhibition took place in two identical council vestibules.

NEST IV DETAIL

MOTHER FIMO

Although I want to have the freedom to choose any means and method of expression, painting seems to hold the most possibility and unpredictability for me at the moment. It’s an exciting place, a temporal event where random acts meet planned decisions, and meaning can be found in unexpected places. All this contained in something certain,

SEITIES EXHIBITION SHOT

PERFORMANCE COMES FROM INSIDE

POW ER RESERVE 120 hours - 5 days

ACCURACY -4s/+6s per day

ANTIMAGNETIC to at least 1500 Gauss

D URABILITY service > 5 years

Clifton collection Steel, 40mm

www.baume-et-mercier.com

HOTEL TALK MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2018 www.hoteltalkmagazine.com

772515

658007

Artist Talk Magazine issue 6

Articles inside

Juca Maximo