Artist Talk Magazine issue 14

ARTIST TALK MAGAZINE

January 2021 www.artisttalkmagazine.com

AVAILABLE NOW

LIMITED EDITION SIGNED PRINTS

The Moon, by Christian Azolan. Only 15 limited edition prints are available VIEW ALL AVAILABLE PRINTS HERE - www.artisttalkmagazine.com/limited-edition-prints.html

FEATURED ARTISTS CHENESAYI MAKURIRA

4-9 THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

#MetSketch by JEDIDIAH DORE NINA CHAVCHAVADZE KEN GOSHEN CHETAN SINGH KUNWAR DEBRA ZECHOWSKI STEPHEN DAVAN QINGSHENG GAO #METSKETCH BY GRANT MILNE

M IL NE Milne Publishing is proud to present Artist Talk Magazine issue 14.

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 Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606-1669 Amsterdam). Self-Portrait, 1660.

Oil on canvas. 31 5/8 x 26 1/2 in.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

New York, Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913, which is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 964. Rembrandt was a dedicated self-portraitist all his life, and roughly forty self-portraits by him survive today. Along with this painting, we have also included some fantastic examples within this issue from #MetSketch Thanks for reading.

Grant Milne, Founder of Artist Talk Magazine

artisttalkmagazine

RANA GHARIB

12-29 MÓNICA CASANEGRA

30-35 CHRISTIAN AZOLAN

36-41 teamLab

44-55 é VERONIQUE KATHRINA JONASSEN

62-68 DISCOVER MORE www.artisttalkmagazine.com

ArtistTalkMag artisttalkmagazine

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CHENESAYI MAKURIRA

CHENESAYI MAKURIRA

My name is Chenesayi Makurira, I was born in Zimbabwe; Bulawayo to two traditional hard working parents. I remember the garden in our family home being surrounded with tropical plants and one of my favourite trees is the Jacaranda tree. I have nostalgic memories of the shedded purple leaves covering the path, where I would play with my siblings and our dog.

JACARANDA TREE

We moved to Manchester when I was around 12 years old with my elder sister and younger brother.

I found safety and solitude in my artwork at a very young age, I was

was too exhausted and began to neglect my passion for painting.

This changed in April 2020 when myself and my partner both contracted Covid -19, I was sick for around 6 weeks and still feel as though I haven’t fully recovered from it now. It was during this time that my partner and I found our passion in creativity again. I started painting again; it felt like a recovery. It gave me the hope and strength to get up each morning. I am a true believer of ‘everything happens for a reason’, and despite this being one of the most difficult times of my life, it made me take a step back and look at things transparently and realise how important it is for my wellbeing to paint.

a very quiet, shy child growing up and I found my voice through my paintings.

Being born into a traditional African family, I was understandably frightened discovering I was gay and used my artwork to express myself and ease my worries at being different and fears of opening up to my family.

To my surprise my family were and have been truly accepting and amazing and it has made me so proud to come from such open minded, beautiful people. Not that it wasn’t a difficult journey and surprising for them, however it was a journey we accomplished together and I truly understand how blessed I am for that.

I continued to study art throughout high school and thoroughly enjoyed it however, I then followed in the same steps as my mother and sister and decided to pursue a career in nursing. I graduated in Adult Nursing at The University of Salford in 2013 and have continued in this profession since, in various departments in Manchester. I love nursing and helping others however, due to the demands of nursing and heavy shift patterns; I found I

SCOPELLO ‘18

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THE CALLA LILY

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with friends, my partner and even alone. I have a passion for photography and nature, which has led to some of the most serene places that will always have a place in my heart. This positive energy is something I try to incorporate into my paintings.

SUNFLOWER

I am fortunate enough to have seen some of the most beautiful countries and places in the world, this is one of the main inspirations for my artwork. I am extremely independent and have travelled

I have experimented with many different types of artwork, I have taken part in live drawing, pottery, silk painting, oil painting and oil pastels however, my favourite is working with acrylic on canvas, bringing day to day captures to life through my paintings. Some of my future goals are to collaborate with other artists and have the opportunity to display my work in an exhibition. My dream would be fulfilled if I was a full time artist, travelling the world, inspired by my captures of nature. I always seem to have conflicting feelings about a finished piece; for some reason it

gives me a feeling of vulnerability. ‘It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction.’ Pablo Picasso DISCOVER MORE Instagram: @chenesayiart

CALATHEA PLANT

BOTANICAL TRIO

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THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART THE MET’S FACADE - IMAGE CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.

Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures. #MetSketch Be inspired by artists and original works of art!

Experience The Met collection through drawing and respond to creative challenges in the galleries or at home.

The Met’s weekly Sunday Instagram series #MetSketch invites followers to showcase their

THE MET 360 PROJECT - IMAGE CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

own drawings of Met works of art, created either in the galleries or at home wherever they are in the world. In March 2020, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art was temporarily closed, the Museum reopened on August 29, a lineup of newly developed content was announced to complement its existing selection of online materials, offering audiences at home the opportunity to engage with the Museum. While you can now visit the galleries in person, you can still engage with the Museum online through its #MetAnywhere campaign, which features videos, 360-degree tours, publications, and educational resources, as well as popular

activities like #MetSketch on the Museum’s social media channels.

Virtual content includes live and interactive programming, performances, and conversations with curators, educators, and artists, and provides an opportunity for the global digital community to share important stories and the power of art and culture through the lens of The Met collection.

Furthermore, if you are aged between 13 - 18, The Met’s Teen group @MetTeens has a Saturday Sketching series. Join on Instagram from 1:00 - 1:20 P.M. to get inspired by works of art from The Met collection and experiment with different drawing approaches.

Tag @MetTeens to be featured on the Met Teens Instagram account.

Max Hollein, Director of The Met, commented in April: “The Museum’s mission is to connect people, wherever they are, to creativity, knowledge, and ideas—an effort we’re especially committed to in this time of isolation and uncertainty. We strongly believe that art can bring people together—even remotely— by helping to share our stories and our reflections on the world around us. Art has the power to engage our minds, to provide comfort and respite in times of suffering, and to feed our spirits and strengthen our resolve. The Met is not just a place to visit, but a provider of cultural experiences, narratives, and educational offerings for people all around the world.”

SKETCHING IN THE GALLERIES - IMAGE CREDIT: COURTESY OF PAULA LOBO

DISCOVER MORE www.metmuseum.org

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#METSKETCH BY JEDIDIAH DORE - @JEDIDORE

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#METSKETCH BY NINA CHAVCHAVADZE

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itself Benin’s principle commercial commodity and it helped attract the Portuguese traders who also brought wealth to Benin.

The mask is a sensitive, idealized portrait, depicting its subject with softly modeled features, bearing inlaid metal and carved scarification marks on the forehead, and wearing bands of coral beads below the chin. In the openwork tiara and collar are carved stylized mudfish and the bearded faces of Portuguese.

Because they live both on land and in the water, mudfish represent the king’s dual nature as human and divine. Having come from across the seas, the Portuguese were considered denizens of the spirit realm who brought wealth and power to the oba.

QUEEN MOTHER PENDANT MASK: IYOBA

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba 16th century Edo peoples On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 352 Dimensions: H. 9 3/8 x W. 5 x D. 3 1/4 in. (23.8 x 12.7 x 8.3 cm) This ivory pendant mask is one of a pair of nearly identical works; its counterpart is in the British Museum in London. Although images of women are rare in Benin’s courtly tradition, these two works have come to symbolize the legacy of a dynasty that continues to the present day.

The pendant mask is believed to

have been produced in the early sixteenth century for the King or ObaEsigie, the king of Benin, to honor his mother, Idia. The oba may have worn it at rites commemorating his mother, although today such pendants are worn at annual ceremonies of spiritual renewal and purification.

In Benin, ivory is related to the color white, a symbol of ritual purity that is associated with Olokun, god of the sea. As the source of extraordinary wealth and fertility, Olokun is the spiritual counterpart of the oba. Ivory is central to the constellation of symbols surrounding Olokun and the oba. Not only is it white, but it is

As a Fashion Institute of Technology’s M. FA student, I was assigned to depict the favorite object and space. I knew that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was the place that everyone will find inspiration. I immediately appreciated this beautifully carved delicate portrait and was inspired by it. The mask is studied to be created in the early sixteenth century for the King of Benin or ObaEsigie, to honor his mother, Idia.

I planned out the composition, forms, designs. I envisioned creating delicate, elegant lines, recreating the shape and form of the sculpture.

I chose Ink and a brush to design long, graceful marks that will capture the lights and shadows with its movement. I was drawn to the sculpture’s exquisite details.

I gained an admiration for the artist and its subject. I realized that I was standing in front of the mask that experienced four hundred years of history and still delights us with its uniqueness, elegance, and beauty.

DISCOVER MORE Instagram: @ninasartspace

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#METSKETCH BY KEN GOSHEN

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nothing more than to incorporate his wisdom into my work. I find that the more I copy his paintings, the better I understand his mind, since the process forces me to observe and take measure of every mark on the surface.

I highly recommend the practice of master copies, as closely studying the masters of one’s field is the most prudent activity for a student of any discipline. Just as a basketball player studies the moves of Michael Jordan, or as a boxer studies the moves of Muhammad Ali, so too should painters study the moves of Titian, Rembrandt, Velazquez, etc. Much like a boxer attempts to mimic the moves of Ali to incorporate them into his style, so too should painters attempt to mimic the methods of the Old Masters and incorporate them into our own practice.

SELF-PORTRAIT BY REMBRANDT

Dimensions: 31 5/8 x 26 1/2 in.

(80.3 x 67.3 cm)

varnish has revealed more of Rembrandt’s working method, showing for example how he flipped the brush to incise with its butt end the rough curls spilling out of his cap.

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 964

This self-portrait by Rembrandt is one of my favorite paintings.

Rembrandt was a dedicated selfportraitist all his life, and roughly forty self-portraits by him survive today.

It weaves together so many contradictions into a wholesome and harmonious compositional fabric. Bright lights alongside deep shadows, sharp against soft transitions, clarity meets ambiguity, areas sculpted in paint confront areas of almost bare gesso. Every moment is both the likeness of a pensive living soul and a storm of wild brushwork.

Self-Portrait 1660 Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)

In this example, painted when Rembrandt was fifty-four, the artist was unsparing in depicting the signs of aging in his own face, building up the paint in high relief to convey his furrowed brow, the heavy pouches beneath his eyes, and his double chin. The recent removal of a synthetic

Painters should question the cultural stigma that encourages them to be original before they are skilled. We are expected to “express ourselves” before we know how to properly hold a pencil.

Master copies are optimal for building skills in part because they lift the burden of originality.

It is also the case that even the greatest masters of all times copied each other in an attempt to hone their skills: Rubens copied Titian, Velazquez copied Rubens, Goya copied Velazquez... They form a chain of influence and inspiration, and it is incumbent on us to become a new link in that chain. It’s as Isaac Newton said: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”

DISCOVER MORE Instagram: @kengoshen

When I am confronted with Rembrandt’s portraits I want

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#METSKETCH BY CHETAN SINGH KUNWAR - @ITSCHETS

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#METSKETCH BY DEBRA ZECHOWSKI

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neo-classical female nudes. These ladies were sculpted to memorialize grand themes of Greco-Roman antiquity while passively absorbing the male gaze. Fatigued by this trope, I continued searching.

Suddenly, inspiration struck in the form of, “Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii”.

NYDIA, THE BLIND FLOWER GIRL OF POMPEII BY RANDOLPH ROGERS

Dimensions: 54 x 25 1/4 x 37 in.

(137.2 x 64.1 x 94 cm)

attempt to lead two companions out of the burning, ash-covered city. Her closed eyes and staff allude to her blindness, while the hand raised to her ear refers to her acute sense of hearing.

The destruction of Pompeii is symbolized by the broken Corinthian capital beside her right foot.

“Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii” was the most popular American sculpture of the nineteenth century. According to Rogers, it was replicated 167 times in two sizes. The subject was drawn from “The Last Days of Pompeii” (1834), a widely read novel by Lord Edward BulwerLytton, which ends with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d.

79. Rogers’s evocative portrayal of Nydia highlights her heroic

On a Saturday I entered Gallery 700 of the American Wing with a drawing group called “Artists of the Met” (@artistsofthemet). We were gearing up for a forty-fiveminute drawing session at the end of which we would reconvene to share our work. I could feel the pressure of the ticking clock as I scanned the natural light-filled room. A sea of marble and bronze figures glowed before me. Briefly, my eyes rested on several idealized

Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii 1853–54; carved 1859 Randolph Rogers On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 700

Nydia stands in stark contradistinction to the aforementioned sculptures.

Although she is a fictitious and highly romanticized figure she resonates with overwhelming truth. She embodies the very human dichotomy of strength in vulnerability. Her social status as a slave and her blindness, on the surface, render her weak and powerless against the dangers that surround her. Yet, she has managed, as many of us do, to use this “weakness” to her advantage.

Her acute sense of hearing guides her towards the sounds of her loved ones and to refuge. Whether or not she makes it there is of no consequence to the power of this figure. In the moment that she is depicted she is an active participant in the glory and tragedy that is her life. Nydia is her own hero.

In my personal artistic practice, I portray my heroes. I am a largescale figurative painter focusing on working-class representation, and I exclusively render my family photographs. When I chose a photo to paint, I seek out female family members who display an oppositional gaze-a look back at the viewer that simultaneously acknowledges and defies voyeurism. Similar to Nydia, in the midst of the adversity linked to her sex and economic status, the women in my family portraits pose strongly. In my paintings we are firmly rooted in our identity and in a place of unapologetically knowing and being ourselves.

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#METSKETCH BY STEPHEN DAVAN

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BOATING BY EDOUARD MANET

THE DANCE CLASS BY EDGAR DEGAS

The Dance Class 1874 Edgar Degas On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 899 Dimensions: 32 7/8 x 30 3/8 in.

(83.5 x 77.2 cm) This work and its variant in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, represent the most ambitious paintings Degas devoted to the theme of the dance. Some twenty-four women, ballerinas and their mothers, wait while a dancer executes an “attitude” for her examination. Jules Perrot, a famous ballet master, conducts the class. The imaginary scene is set in a rehearsal room in the old Paris Opéra, which had recently burned to the ground. On the wall beside the mirror, a poster for Rossini’s Guillaume Tell pays tribute to the singer Jean-Baptiste Faure, who commissioned the

picture and lent it to the 1876 Impressionist exhibition.

I’m a set designer by trade, and in my parallel career as an artist and illustrator, it shows. Take a look through some of my paintings and drawings and you’ll find rows of footlights, old wooden scenic flats, stagehands in the wings-I respond to these things the way a dog responds to a Frisbee, and I return to them again and again in my art.

I proudly lean into that theatre designer cliché when I say I adore Degas. And one of the spaces I adore most in the world is the little suite of Degas galleries on the second floor of the Met, where “The Dance Class” hangs.

A common first impression of Degas (it was certainly mine, once) is that his ballet scenes are merely picturesque. It’s true that they are almost always carefully composed and pleasingly lit. But the longer I work in theatre, the more deeply I

appreciate what Degas was really studying at the Paris Opéra: the not-terribly-glamorous nonspectacle of theatre artists putting in a hard day’s work. I’ve found myself many times in rehearsals just like the one in this painting, watching not only the soloists practicing gracefully en pointe, but also the winded dancers recovering between brutally difficult steps; the ensemblist fixing her shoe just offstage; the ballet students alternately goofing off and bored stiff; the diligent stage manager; the impatient choreographer.

Those same characters are all here in “The Dance Class”—their strained muscles and pouting faces frozen in time on a canvas 150 years old. It’s these small, relatable gestures that obsess me about Degas’s work.

This is especially true of the foreground dancer in “The Dance Class.” She’s clearly the star of this busy composition, stealing focus even from the impressively balanced fellow dancer over her left shoulder. But what’s she up to?

Nothing very flashy; something in the back of her tutu needs mending, and she awkwardly bunches up the tulle of her skirt to let her friend lend a hand. It’s an ungainly, very human moment to single out for our attention. Classic Degas. I love looking at it.

I’ve brought my sketchbook to the Met’s Degas galleries many times. What was I trying to capture on this visit, with this particular dancer? The delightful shape of that tutu, for a start, but beyond that, I was after some sense of how charmingly mundane the moment is-this brief slice of a dancer’s day on the job. It’s a documentarian quality I keep aiming for in my own paintings and drawings of the theatre. I don’t know if I caught it here quite as well as I hoped to.

But I do know I’ll be back at the Met soon to try my hand again.

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#METSKETCH BY QINGSHENG GAO

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but more for the celebrated European Paintings Collection.

It encompasses more than 2,500 works of art from the thirteen century, through the early twenties and its holdings of Spanish painters like El Greco, Goya and Velazquez’s the finest out of Spain. As most of Velázquez’s work was carried out for the king, it remained in palaces, where few people saw it. It was not until the nineteenth century that his paintings made an enormous impact upon artists and to the present day, Velázquez is remembered as the painter’s painter and a giant of Western art history.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN, POSSIBLY A SELF-PORTRAIT BY VELÁZQUEZ

Portrait of a Man, Possibly a SelfPortrait, ca. 1635 Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez)

artist, a preparatory step such as this would have made it easier for Velázquez to transfer his likeness to that large painting.

Dimensions: 27 x 21 3/4 in. (68.6 x 55.2 cm)

I began learning to paint from a young age but the first time I saw Velázquez’s painting was in high school. My teacher showed me a print of the Portrait of Innocent X, it captured my mind immediately. Unlike other portrait paintings, I can read many emotions from this one, especially from the way he painted the eyes, every brushstroke telling a story. Studying Velázquez’s work encouraged me to paint from reproductions or original paintings.

This is probably the “portrait of Diego, clothes to be finished” listed in an inventory of the artist’s possessions. The sitter relates to a figure in Velázquez’s Surrender of Breda (Museo del Prado, Madrid). Scholars have questioned whether the painter would have dared to include himself as a bystander at such a historic military victory, and the surviving evidence suggests that he rarely made studies for his larger works. However, if the figure in that composition is the

The MET is one of my favourite’s, not only because it is located in the heart of New York City,

Sketch after Velázquez’s work certainly is not only for learning portrait painting skills but also for figuring out what happened in the picture, it’s like a conversation with the artwork and the artist.

Sometimes the real subject is hidden by the artist consciously or subconsciously. Like the breathtakingly beautiful painting Las Meninas, the artist stands before an enormous canvas on which he is painting the king and queen, who are reflected in the mirror in the background, but the real subject of the picture being the infant who has come to watch Velázquez at work. The way he composed and handled the relationship between figures really fascinated me. Especially the scenario in the reflection, like a bridge between what I can see and things beyond: a butting up of reality and illusion. That inspired me to use exploration to depict my perception of surroundings with reflection as the subject.

Reflections create an enriched blur to my vision, as I wade through my own consciousness, a window with foliage as an entrance into another space; an illusion of interior and cityscape, while something looms between, or a conversation through time past to present.

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#METSKETCH BY RANA GHARIB - @SKETCHESBYRANA

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MÓNICA CASANEGRA

Hello, my name is Monica Casanegra. I was born in Calgary, Canada and I currently live in Santiago, Chile. I have been a professional architect since 2008 after completing my degree in Santiago. I went to The Netherlands to pursue a Master of Science in Architecture, at Delft University of Technology.

Nowadays I work as a freelance architect and I also enjoy giving time to my paintings.

I would describe my work as spontaneous, experimental and sensitive.

My work varies from translucent watercolours to oil textured landscape paintings. Even though they are exterior landscapes, I express my inner self, through shapes, vibrant colours and brush strokes.

Landscapes inspire me to create.

I feel whole with what I look at,

giving me different memories, emotions and sensations.

Mountain landscapes have been a fundamental source of inspiration.

In Santiago where I live, I have the privilege to see every day part of the Los Andes mountain chain.

It’s a delight for me as an observer to witness such a natural wonder.

Nature has inspired my work as an integral part of my eagerness for life. It brings me balance, joy, truth, sensitivity and peace. Places where I travel must have natural surroundings and hiking trails, where I can immerse into the beautiful sites and witness what Mother Nature has to offer.

The process I use within my paintings depends in what I want to create. If I already know what to paint I just do it, without any previous sketch. Sometimes I paint from photographs that I have taken from places I have travelled and other times I paint from memories and sensations

from a place. The materials I use are watercolours on paper and oil on canvas, depending on my mood and what I want to express.

My favourite landscape which I have painted is a watercolour called “skies”. It is about a memory from a trip to the south of Chile.

I remembered the vibrant dusk sky with the mountains and the colour reflection from the sky in the lake. While I was painting, it surprised me that the flowing process between the water and the pigment, created a melting colours effect, which I loved. I’m planning to go to Patagonia, at the southern end of South America, Chile. It embraces the south part of The Andes Mountain chain with lakes, fjords and steppes. I am eager to connect with this beautiful and remote location and allow the quiet of the landscape to permeate my senses, giving me a moment to reflect and create in my own way.

SKIES

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gratifying to me. I have met artists with an incredible career path and experience. For me it is a community where you learn and receive feedback, from people all over the world.

BETWEEN PURPLES AND ORANGES

My favourite piece of art is a watercolour called “between oranges and purples”. I was inspired by the Atacama Desert in Chile.

The result was a vibrating colour scheme, with different translucent layers and forms where it seems to disappear, giving me a personal experience. I can describe an oil painting called “reflection”, a memory from the mountains and the lakes at the south of Chile. I remembered the mist

I usually select landscapes at random, depending on how I feel and the way it connects with me.

I love when the light, the colours and shapes surprise me while I am painting it. If I plan too much, I get disappointed. A perfect landscape for me to paint would be from a remote location. For example the Atacama Desert, at the north of Chile is a place where I feel I could relate to. I went there a couple of years ago and the landscapes are breathtaking. The earthy colours combined with the turquoise salt flat and the changing sky, is a perfect spot to be inspired by.

If I were able to collaborate with an artist throughout history, I would select Georgia O’Keeffe.

She played an important role especially as a woman artist in the development of modern art, in America during the 1920’s.

She was a pioneer in her unique style to painting nature. I could collaborate with her because of the way she combines abstract and realism from remote and distant landscapes, expressing meanings, feelings and ideas.

With reference to the impact of social media on the way I work, I began my instagram art page this year and it has been

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RAINBOW MOUNTAIN

coming down off the mountains and making a perfect reflection through the lake, giving me a sense of peace and truth. This painting is the result of my sensations from that meaningful experience.

When it comes to constructive criticism, I see it as being a way to grow and evolve. Taking the time

to consider others opinions with an open mind is important for any artist. There is always, in every feedback, a piece of information that you can acknowledge and use to move forward. For my future plans, I am looking forward to creating more art and being inspired by my surroundings and feelings. The creative process is

something I enjoy, especially the experimental part. Right now I am eager to travel to the very south of Chile and absorb its unique landscapes. I’m also getting in touch with local galleries where I can exhibit and share my work.

DISCOVER MORE www.mcasanegrart.com Instagram: @mcasanegrart

REFLECTION

FLOWERING DESERT

EMERALD LAGOON

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CHRISTIAN AZOLAN

INTO THE SUN

Hailing from the small Indian Ocean island Mahe in the Seychelles, Christian is a visual digital artist who specialises in illustration, abstract and low-high polygon art.

He is known for his ability to capture detail in polygon that push boundaries to merge drawing and illustration into a new visual art form.

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Christian was educated in the UK and calls London home. After completing a degree in fashion design at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication he entered the corporate arena, working for large global companies as a brand marketer and content specialist.

‘I spent my 20s working the corporate publishing space, it’s where I developed my love for paper and all things printed’.

At the start of the UK pandemic lockdown when the world was thrown into disarray and confusion, Christian decided to take the leap and pursue a full-time career creating and telling visual stories and ideas through his art.

‘The UK Lockdown in March 2020 gave me the space and time to really think about what I was going to do next, my mind said just find another job, while my heart said, now is the time to follow your dreams and become

an artist.’

Christian’s art is heavily influenced by the complex mesh of 3D, line drawing, bright colours, and tonal matching. His current work is inspired by people, environments and nature and his new limited edition series titled ‘The Birds’ released on last October plays on the themes of freedom, fantasy and escapism in flight, against the backdrop of the ongoing global pandemic and lockdown measures.

ESCAPE

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NEW ADVENTURES

Many of us felt scared and having this feeling of not knowing, not understanding what was to come as the pandemic took its grip over the UK. As I sat there watching the Hitchcock film (The Birds, 1963) a film I’ve seen many times over, I started to reflect on the horror of this pandemic and how quickly our homes became our cage of refuge and safety.

‘There have been times in my life where I wish I had the wings so I could fly away, and flow with

the ever-changing wind to a new destination and live out new adventures.’

Many artists want to be Internationally acclaimed, have their work in big galleries and being noticed or even famous. I truly believe that art should be affordable for the many, I just want my art on your walls in your home.

Christian has been featured in national, local, and international business news publications like the Metro, Channel 4, BBC, Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Mail

Online, Business Daily and Reuters International.

‘I believe that we should always be looking closer at our surroundings to really see them, things are far more complex and complicated than we could ever imagine.’

Christian Azolan DISCOVER MORE Instagram: @christianazolanillustrations Website: www.christianazolan.co.uk Email: info@christianazolan.co.uk

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teamLab CONTINUOUS LIFE AND DEATH AT THE CROSSOVER OF ETERNITY

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab SuperNature, 2020, The Venetian Macao (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

teamLab (f. 2001) is an international art collective, an interdisciplinary group of various specialists such as artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects whose collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world. teamLab aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world and new perceptions through art. In order to understand the world around them, people separate it into independent entities with perceived boundaries between them. teamLab seeks to transcend these boundaries in our perception of the world, of the relationship between the self and the world, and of the continuity of time. Everything exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous, borderless continuity of life. teamLab has been the subject of numerous exhibitions at

venues worldwide, including New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Silicon Valley, Beijing, Taipei, and Melbourne among others. The permanent museums teamLab Borderless opened in Odaiba, Tokyo in June 2018, and teamLab Borderless Shanghai in Huangpu District, Shanghai in November 2019. The massive body immersive space teamLab Planets in Toyosu, Tokyo is on view until the end of 2022. The large-scale permanent exhibition teamLab SuperNature opened in Macao in June, 2020. teamLab’s works are in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Asia Society Museum, New York; Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, Istanbul; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Amos Rex, Helsinki. teamLab is represented by

Pace Gallery, Martin Browne Contemporary, and Ikkan Art International. teamLab Museums & Life-Work Exhibitions teamLab SuperNature The Venetian Macao Cotai Expo Hall F, Macao, The exhibition is currently in its “soft-opening,” featuring a selection of artworks open to the public, but will have a grand opening sometime next year. teamLab’s latest permanent “body immersive” art space in Macao grand opening soon. The 5,000 square meters of labyrinthine floor space and cavernous ceilings 8 meters high throughout creates an extremely complex, three-dimensional space with varying elevations. Challenging the conventional notion of the “physical,” teamLab unveils several never-before-seen massive, immersive artworks.

THE INFINITE CRYSTAL UNIVERSE

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab SuperNature, 2020, The Venetian Macao © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

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FOREST OF RESONATING LAMPS - ONE STROKE, FIRE

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab Borderless, 2019, Huangpu District, Shanghai (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

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UNIVERSE OF WATER PARTICLES ON A ROCK HILL WHERE PEOPLE GATHER

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab Borderless, 2019, Huangpu District, Shanghai © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

teamLab Borderless Shanghai Huangpu District, Shanghai, November 05, 2019 - Permanent

in its inaugural year, becoming the world’s most visited single-artist

museum as featured on artnet News.

teamLab’s monumental permanent museum in Shanghai opened on November 5, 2019.

The intricately-structured “museum without a map” features approximately 50 artworks, including several large-scale installations such as “Light Sculpture” series using over 1,000 moving lights, as well as a massive group of running sculptures that make up the complex and unique spectacle of “Microcosmoses”.

MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless Odaiba, Tokyo, June 21, 2018 Permanent teamLab’s award-winning permanent “museum without a map” welcomed 2.3 million visitors

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PROLIFERATING IMMENSE LIFE - A WHOLE PER YEAR

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab Borderless, 2018, Odaiba, Tokyo © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

teamLab Planets TOKYO Toyosu, Tokyo, July 7, 2018 - End of 2022 teamLab’s temporary museum where visitors “walk through water” which welcomed 1.2 million visitors in its inaugural year. teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu, summer - fall every year teamLab’s annual signature exhibition in the forest where nature as is becomes art.

FLOATING IN THE FALLING UNIVERSE OF FLOWERS

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab Planets, 2018, Toyosu, Tokyo © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

DRAWING ON THE WATER SURFACE CREATED BY THE DANCE OF KOI AND BOATS - MIFUNEYAMA RAKUEN POND​ Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2020, Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

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MEGALITHS IN THE BATH HOUSE RUINS

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, 2020, Mifuneyama Rakuen, Takeo Hot Springs, Kyushu (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

How was the collective born? How did it evolve? teamLab was founded in 2001

by Toshiyuki Inoko and several of his friends to create a “laboratory to experiment in collaborative creation”, i.e. “teamLab”. teamLab’s interest is to create new experiences through art, and through such experiences, they want to explore what the world is for humans. teamLab has been creating art since the beginning. Their aim has always been to change people’s standards of value and contribute to societal progress - this has not changed since the very start.

In the beginning, teamLab had neither the opportunity to present themselves, nor could they imagine how to economically sustain their art creation. On the other hand, teamLab believed in the power of digital technology and creativity, and thus kept creating something new, no matter which genre it would turn out to be.

While teamLab took part in various projects to sustain themselves, the collective increased the number of technologists such as architects, CG animators, painters, mathematicians and hardware engineers.

As time went on, while teamLab gained passionate followers among young people, they were still ignored by the art world. Its debut finally came in 2011 at the Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Taipei, as the collective was invited by the artist Takashi Murakami. Since then, teamLab has gained opportunities to join major contemporary art exhibitions in cosmopolitan cities such as Singapore Biennale 2013.

Also in 2014, New York PACE Gallery started to help promote teamLab artworks. These fortunate factors allowed teamLab to expand rapidly. Finally in 2015, the collective was able to organize its own exhibition for the first time

in Tokyo. These situations further accelerated their evolution and gave them opportunities to exhibit internationally; New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Silicon Valley, Beijing, Taipei, and Melbourne among others. As of today, teamLab has welcomed over 28 million visitors to its art exhibitions worldwide.

How does teamLab define its work? teamLab believes digital technology can expand art and that art made in this way can create new relationships between people.

Digital Technology Releases Expression from Substance and Creates an Existence with the Possibility for Transformation Digital technology enables complex detail and freedom for change. Before people started accepting digital technology, information and artistic expression had to be presented in some physical form. Creative expression has existed through static media for most of human history, often using physical objects such as canvas and paint. The advent of digital technology allows human expression to become free from these physical constraints, enabling it to exist independently and evolve freely.

Expansion and Space Adaptability No longer limited to physical media, digital technology has made it possible for artworks to expand physically. Since art created using digital technology can easily expand, it provides us with a greater degree of autonomy within the space. We are now able to manipulate and use much larger spaces, and viewers are able to experience the artwork more directly.

Digital Technology Has Allowed

Us to Express Change in Itself The characteristics of digital technology allow artworks to express the capacity for change much more freely. Viewers, in interaction with their environment, can instigate perpetual change in an artwork. Through an interactive relationship between the viewers and the artwork, viewers become an intrinsic part of that artwork. teamLab believes everything, including beauty, exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous continuity of life. The collective aims to create an experience through which visitors can recognize this continuity itself as beautiful.

How does teamLab create as a collective?

Once the large concept of the artwork is set, specialized members related to the work are gathered to think more finely. For example, the Forest of Flowers and People: Lost, Immersed and Reborn piece, which is on view at teamLab Borderless museum in Tokyo, was created by a group of specialists such as 3D CG flower model & animation creators, 3D software programmers, engineers who design equipment such as projectors, software programmers who localize and integrate dozens of projectors within the exhibition space, architects, and so on. teamLab artworks are created by a team of hands-on experts through a continuous process of creation and thinking. Although the large concepts are always defined from the start, the project goal tends to remain unclear, so the whole team needs to repeat the process of creating prototypes, experimenting, and thinking more finely as they progress. teamLab’s organizational structure seems flat at first glance, but it is also extremely multidimensional, with an underlying layer that is unclear and undecided.

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FOREST OF RESONATING LAMPS - ONE STROKE, METROPOLIS

Image Credit: teamLab, Exhibition view of teamLab Borderless, 2019, Huangpu District, Shanghai (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

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teamLab: DIGITIZED KAIRAKUEN GARDEN

Image Credit: teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden, 2021, Kairakuen Garden, Mito, Ibaraki (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

teamLab: DIGITIZED KAIRAKUEN GARDEN

Image Credit: teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden, 2021, Kairakuen Garden, Mito, Ibaraki (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

teamLab’s Latest Digitized Nature Project to Open in Mito, Ibaraki teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden transforms the garden and its 3,000 plum blossom trees into an interactive art space from February 13 to March 21, 2021. teamLab brings its works to Kairakuen Garden, transforming the garden and its 3,000 plum blossom trees into an interactive art space that responds to the presence of people. Held together with the 120-year-old Mito Ume Festival, ​teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden​will run from February 13 to March 21, 2021 in Mito, Ibaraki.

Kairakuen Garden was created at the end of the Edo Period (1842) as a garden centered around a pond and was designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty.

It is considered to be one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan alongside Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa and Korakuen Garden in Okayama. Kairakuen Garden is home to 3,000 plum trees of around 100 varieties, and it is

well known for its plum blossoms.

Because of this wide variety of trees, the plum blossoms bloom over a longer period of time. teamLab’s art project Digitized Nature explores how nature can become art. The concept of the project is that non-material digital technology can turn nature into art without harming it.

teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden​will transform this garden, where various types of plum trees bloom in spring, into an interactive art space that changes due to the presence of people.

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teamLab: DIGITIZED KAIRAKUEN GARDEN

Image Credit: teamLab: Digitized Kairakuen Garden, 2021, Kairakuen Garden, Mito, Ibaraki (c) teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

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OPEN CALL FOR ART ART IN ISOLATION, YOUR RESPONSES CREATED DURING COVID-19

Submission deadline: Wednesday 24th March 2021 (Please note we will be monitoring the amount of entries we receive. We are confident this will not be the case. However if we find we are getting an unreasonable amount of applications. We will consider shortening the application deadline.)

FEATURE IN ARTIST TALK MAGAZINE

Open Call for Artists: Art in Isolation, your responses created during COVID-19

We are asking anyone who has created art in response to COVID-19 to submit to our Open Call, which could be included in Issue 15 - Thursday 29th April 2021. All-mediums are accepted. We will be dedicating the full issue to the theme - Art in Isolation, your responses created during COVID-19. Anyone who has produced a piece of work during this time can apply.

Selection Criteria • • • •

Artwork must be created in response to COVID-19 All-media are accepted Everyone is welcome to apply Worldwide submissions welcome

Dates and information • • • •

Submission deadline: Wednesday 24th March 2021 (Please note we will be monitoring the amount of entries we receive. We are confident this will not be the case. However if we find we are getting an unreasonable amount of applications. We will consider shortening the application deadline.)

Artwork must be emailed before Wednesday 24th March 2021 Magazine release date - Thursday 29th April 2021 Submission fee: £10 per work

Application Process • • • •

Anyone can enter this Open Call We do have a submission fee: £10 per work Once you have purchased the submission fee. You will receive an order number.

You will then need to email your submission to grantmilne@artisttalkmagazine.com You will need to include, your name, order number. We will also need no more than 125 words which is roughly 635 characters without spaces. Your title of your submitted artwork, your name and blurb talking about your submission and how it relates to the theme - Art in Isolation, your responses created during COVID-19. After this paragraph feel free to provide more text talking about your work and entry. However please make the entry paragraph highlighted.

Selected artist • • • • • •

Selected artist will be notified before 14th April 2021 Selected work will be placed on a single page or a double page layout Please note your image may be cropped to fit within the layout We will promote every selected single page or a double page on our social media 113 artworks will be selected to be featured on a full page 5 artworks will be selected to be featured on double page spread

Unfortunately we will not be able to showcase every entry.

We will also create x20 artwork montage pages, which will also be included in the magazine. This will showcase a maximum of 320 artworks. Size of each piece will be confirmed, minimum size will be W:4cm x H:6cm. We will also include some landscape format pictures within this, which will take 2 spaces.

ENTER AND PURCHASE YOUR SUBMISSION FEE - HERE www.artisttalkmagazine.com/open-call-for-artists.html

é VERONIQUE KATHRINA JONASSEN

I am a half-Norwegian, halfFrench artist currently based in Hong Kong. I was raised in a multicultural environment in Europe, Africa and the US and I have lived in Asia for 12 years. I have always been passionate about art, initially in the form of dance, where I have a strong background in ballet. I discovered painting after surviving a life-threatening horseback riding accident in 2010. My art today focuses on movement, light, and emotions.

Painting is my personal form of meditation, a way to enable my thoughts and emotions to flow freely from my mind into a material shape.

The way I would ask people to approach my art work, if seen for the first time, is to not try analysing or rationalising with logic as you will miss the point I am trying to make. When painting, I feel free of thinking and free from expectations or boundaries.

My work could be described as a visualisation of emotions. These emotions being those which are difficult for me to process or express in words. Hope is a main one I explore with loss, change and bliss. When viewing my work I would simply advise to just experience the painting and let it speak to you. What do you see?

How do you feel when you see it?

Does it trigger something in you, a memory, a thought, a reaction?

If that’s the case, then my work is done. You may not experience the same emotion as the one I had while painting; it doesn’t matter. If you just see plenty of nice colours it’s great too. It’s all about sharing, connecting with someone, trying to express ourselves and overall making us all a bit more human.

Multiculturalism is present in most of my work, in terms of how I experience cultural differences and how it has shaped me. Every thought, every topic is to me like a prism with an infinity of sides from which you can look at it and there is never one correct answer.

Misunderstandings, surprises, the feeling of having multiple identities depending on the environment, are all elements of my work, as well as connections, similarities but also war, fear, peace and possibilities.

The need for flexibility and the need for framing. I grew up in icy northern lands and in vibrant hot cities. I love the cold and I love the heat. I need loud and I need quiet. These are not preferences, these are what I am. My life has been a melting pot of colours in all senses, in terms of people, in terms of thoughts and I wouldn’t have it any other way. A number of my paintings are touching upon the topic of conflicting thoughts. I find it very fascinating how people always find ways to segregate from each other, whilst we are all so similar at the end of the day.

Society always pressures us to fit into a tiny little square box. I guess it’s reassuring for some of us.

Hong Kong where I am currently based is a place which allows you to try. Most people here are from somewhere else, they are not home or have had significant international exposure. There is no one thought and that’s where the magic of creativity starts. It enables for a unique experience which, in a way, corresponds to what I know and what makes me feel at home. Hong Kong has enabled me to learn excellent techniques from extremely talented painters and the endless possibilities the city offers, pushes me to never rest and settle with one thing, but to keep trying and exploring. I have also learned to work in very small spaces and to create the space in my mind, not in my environment, which is always a good lesson.

Outside of painting, dance has always been my first passion.

What I love about ballet is the technique, the physical effort, the strive for perfection, pushing your own limits always a bit further.

Concentration, control of your balance, of your space, overcoming physical pain. I find incredible calmness and peace in this level of deep concentration. Intense distraction is a bliss that I need to counterbalance with long moments of undisturbed concentration, otherwise I can get very stressed.

Dance is also a wonderful way to express your emotions. After my accident, where I almost had to be amputated, I believed I would never regain full mobility. I can still dance today fortunately, but I will never be able to get back to my previous level. Painting has been my saviour during my time of recovery. It allowed me to express my pain and fears, frustration, anger, hope, gratitude. Painting has a wonderful way to open the door to entirely new worlds, where you can travel as much as you want in never-ending imaginary or realistic spaces, very much like writing. Which is a blessing when you can’t move. In many ways painting has enabled me to find my source of concentration and calmness again. My favourite piece of work is ‘China Home’ which is definitely very close to my heart, as I painted it during my hardest months in recovery.

NEW BEGINNING

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CHINA HOME

Light is a core element of my work.

It is what brings depth, movement, life. When I first started painting, I would focus so much on trying to create light, until I realised that there is no light without shadows.

Where you want to create light, you need to go in the opposite direction, you need to create darkness first. Maybe that’s the key to happiness as well. Currently, I mostly use acrylic paint but my preference is always oil and I wouldn’t be able to do anything without my beloved palette knives.

My process is very simple - just sit down and paint, you won’t achieve much if you keep running around !

As for social media and the impact it may have on my work, I don’t really spend time focusing on social

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media, I just use it when I need to and that’s about it.

INTO THE WILD

BUTTERFLIES

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DIVENIRE

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I love colours but black and white can sometimes bring surprisingly stunning results. I don’t have any specific rule on that front. That’s the beauty of painting, the world can be in any colours you want, although I think I wouldn’t get far without my beloved Prussian Blue and Stable Violet.

When asked if my work incorporates any hidden meanings that the viewer may not be aware of, my answer to that is some paintings do, like these secretly representing heated moments with my former love...but you won’t know more about that :) Over time my technique has really improved especially on the abstract front. I now feel I am totally free when I paint, I’m not afraid of it anymore and the quicker drying time of acrylic

really allows for a more impulsive type of work, which I love. I think my style has remained the same through the years though. I haven’t experienced the need to “find my style”. I like to explore anything and keep the right to let my mind wander where I want it to and where I feel at a specific moment.

I can sometimes be very surprised at the result after a session of painting. When asked what memorable responses I have had to my work, the most interesting to me was - “I’m sorry that I don’t know how I should feel”. That’s the point, you can feel anything you’d like, there is no expectation and no pressure. You can feel nothing at all too! The best piece of advice that I have been given was .......

Just show your paintings to people!

DISCOVER MORE www.veroniquejonassen.com @vkj__art

SAKURA MY MIND

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