Issue 11 by artmazemag

Winter E

20 11, ue Iss

dit ion ,

Art Maze Magazine is an independent artist-run and ad-free international print and online publication dedicated to showcasing and promoting experimental and progressive contemporary art, which reflects modern society and its environment, provokes conversation and action; and fosters innovation and diversity of mediums which make today’s art scene so intriguing and versatile.

SUBMIT FOR PRINT AND DIGITAL PUBLICATIONS

SUBMIT FOR ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

We invite guest curators from internationally renowned galleries as well as independent art professionals to select works for each issue. We try to give spotlight to artists and engage with our readers and followers everyday through our social media, website and print and digital issues.

If you wish to submit to our online blog, you are welcome to fill in the application form on our website.

Artists are welcome to submit works in any medium: painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, photography, textile, installation, mixed media, digital etc. Artists or any art organisations on behalf of artists from all countries are welcome to submit.

WRITERS

Please visit our website for more details on how to apply for print publications: www.artmazemag.com/call-for-art/ or see p. 11 Artists are welcome to submit works to our online blog. This opportunity also provides a chance to be published in print issues.

FIND US ONLINE www.artmazemag.com facebook.com/artmazemag instagram.com/artmazemag

For more details on blog submissions please visit our website: artmazemag.com/submit-for-blog-feature/

You are welcome to submit an article, review or interview for consideration for online or print publications. Please send us an email to info@artmazemag.com

ISSUES Please visit our website to find out where to purchase print and digital copies of ArtMaze Mag: www.artmazemag.com/shop

FRONT COVER: Srijon Chowdhury Red Glowing Morning Glory oil on linen, 101.8 x 76.2 cm courtesy the Artist and Antoine Levi, Paris photography by Aurélien Mole more on p. 42-55

GENERAL ENQUIRIES:

Featured image: Padma Rajendran About to Enter acrylic, felt, polyester, silk, stitching on fabric 48 x 36 inches more on p. 78

info@artmazemag.com

BACK COVER:

ArtMaze Magazine is printed in London, UK, five times a year by Park Communications Ltd.

Kenichi Hoshine Acetone acrylic on wood, 20 x 24 inches more on p. 110

Registered office address: ArtMaze Magazine Ltd. G06, Binnacle House 10 Cobblestone Square E1W 3AR, London United Kingdom

® ArtMaze Magazine company number: 10441765

SUBMIT FOR PRINT AND DIGITAL PUBLICATIONS

SUBMIT FOR ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

If you wish to submit to our online blog, you are welcome to fill in the application form on our website.

WRITERS

FIND US ONLINE www.artmazemag.com facebook.com/artmazemag instagram.com/artmazemag

For more details on blog submissions please visit our website: artmazemag.com/submit-for-blog-feature/

You are welcome to submit an article, review or interview for consideration for online or print publications. Please send us an email to info@artmazemag.com

ISSUES Please visit our website to find out where to purchase print and digital copies of ArtMaze Mag: www.artmazemag.com/shop

FRONT COVER: Srijon Chowdhury Red Glowing Morning Glory oil on linen, 101.8 x 76.2 cm courtesy the Artist and Antoine Levi, Paris photography by Aurélien Mole more on p. 42-55

GENERAL ENQUIRIES:

Featured image: Padma Rajendran About to Enter acrylic, felt, polyester, silk, stitching on fabric 48 x 36 inches more on p. 78

info@artmazemag.com

BACK COVER:

ArtMaze Magazine is printed in London, UK, five times a year by Park Communications Ltd.

Kenichi Hoshine Acetone acrylic on wood, 20 x 24 inches more on p. 110

Registered office address: ArtMaze Magazine Ltd. G06, Binnacle House 10 Cobblestone Square E1W 3AR, London United Kingdom

® ArtMaze Magazine company number: 10441765

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call for art

curated selection of works

editorial selection of works

Cele st i al b odie s : i n c onve rs at ion w it h Viv i an G reve n .................................................. 14

S pring E d itio n: Issue 12 ............................................. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 Janes Haid -Schm allenb erg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8 J i hy u n Hong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Juli u s Hofm an n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Na si m Hantehz adeh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Ryan B rown i ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6 Pad m a Ra jend ran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Fran z i ska Rei nb ot he . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 9 A lexand r i a D eters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Valdem ar B i s ga ard Thom sen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Ei nar i Hy vönen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Em m a A i nala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 B en Siekierski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Jar y Niebu r ...............................................................................87 Fab i an M at z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Rom a Au skalny te . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 0 Aaron Sand nes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2 M ari sa Fer rei ra . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . 9 4 D om i n ic Ti ll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 6 M au reen Meyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 8 Timo Andersson ......................................................................10 0 Chr i stopher Ca p oy i anes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Joshu a A r m it a ge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Rudy Cremon i n i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 G rac e M at t i ngly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Tracy Kerd m an . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Ken ichi Hoshi ne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 10 Su san Reedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 1 Ja sm i ne Z elaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 Adolfo G u t ier rez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 14 Yu -J i n Ki m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 16 Van Santen & B olleu rs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 7 San ne M aloe Slecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 8 Ru t h Freem an . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 0 Em i ly G ui . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 M ar na Shop off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 23 Su san Met r ic an . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 24 Nick Nab er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 6

Yewen D ong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 30 Hi roka Yam a shit a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 31 G ab r iela G i rolet t i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 32 Sh ane M Walsh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 34 Su san Klei n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 35 Can non D i ll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 36 Mark Posey ..............................................................................138 J i ngze D u . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Ju st i n B r yan Nelson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 M i nam i Kob aya shi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Hunter Potter ..........................................................................143 Sam Newton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Ki nga B ar t i s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Jen ny Morgan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Seb a st i án Hidalgo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 M at t Hay wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Er i n O’B r ien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 0 Eli z ab et h M ala ska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2

B o d ie s di s s olve i nto blobs ; f ig u re s i nto for m s : i n c onve rs at ion w it h Jame s Engli sh Le ar y ....................................... 28 Wh at doe s it me an to be alive today? i n c onve rs at ion w it h Sr i jon Chowdhu r y .......................... ............... 42 Ch amp ion i ng inte re sti ng ar t : Galle r i KA N T . . . . . . . . . . . ........................................................... ................ 56

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Cele st i al b odie s : i n c onve rs at ion w it h Viv i an G reve n .................................................. 14

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from the editor Deeply honoured to release our first edition of 2019, Winter Issue 11! I would like to start my editorial note by thanking everyone who has helped us go so far in the ArtMaze journey. We are privileged to have such a devoted community and happy to be connected with our readers and followers through print issues and online sources every day. We couldn’t have hoped for a better start to this year—thank you for reading and supporting ArtMaze in continuing to promote compelling contemporary art and creating new opportunities for emerging artists each year. This issue’s Curated Selection (p. 66-127) is presented to you by Anna Gram Sørensen and Kerry Harm Nielsen, Directors and Head Curators of Galleri Kant in Copenhagen, Denmark. Anna and Kerry share their work experience through their interview with us (p. 56-65) highlighting that intuitive understanding of what they consider interesting art is the most important measure. Their Curated Selection of works, comprising of various inspiring visual styles and mediums offers a bright insight to the artists’ works and careers who are devoted to their art making processes and positively ambitious in their achievements. Our Editorial Selection (p. 128-153) highlights artists works’ which combine both abstraction and figurative narratives in a mix of visual characteristics and techniques, in particular highlighting the bold colours and mysterious portrayals in the near-realism by Jenny Morgan, enthralling sequences of animalistic features and objects in the story-telling paintings of Cannon Dill, striking painterly puzzling compositions in the provocative narratives by Sam Newton, quirky contemporary still life scenes in the paintings of Mark Posey and others. Don’t miss out on our Interviewed section where you will find candid interviews with artists Vivian Greven, James English Leary, and cover artist Srijon Chowdhury as well as with Anna and Kerry from Galleri Kant, the guest curators of this issue. We converse about today’s human body image issues with Vivian Greven as she explains how she appreciates the body and tries to overcome its cruel disregard in contemporary society. Have you ever thought of what abstraction truly is and how did we come to have such a term? James English Leary provides us with his idea of what abstraction means to him confronting the reader with his groundbreaking thinking. Cover Artist Srijon Chowdhury is thinking of his paintings in two ways: “some of them are to conjure a new and better world and the others are to clarify what is happening around me” showing the deepest contrast of today’s human life activity and its consequences. Our next Spring edition of 2019 is issue 12 which will be guest-curated by Tristian Koenig, Melbourne-based gallerist. Tristian has a very distinct vision for the exhibitions he is curating in Melbourne, Australia not to mention his successful accomplishments at international art fairs. We have been enjoying his range of curatorial work through his gallery projects and cannot wait to see how Tristian’s selection of works will shape our next Spring Edition! Yours truly, Editor and Founder Maria Zemtsova

Featured image: Christopher Capoyianes Traveling Through Time graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches more on p. 102-103

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Spring Edition: Issue 12

call for art DEADLINE: March 14th, 2019 Guest Curator: Tristian Koenig Melbourne-based Gallerist

Submit your work for a chance to be published in print and digital issues bimonthly, as well as online on our website and social media. ELIGIBILITY: The competition is open to all artists, both national and international, working in all mediums. Artists are welcome to submit works in any medium: painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, photography, textile, installation, mixed media, digital, film etc. DISTRIBUTION: ArtMaze Magazine is an independent international publication which is distributed both nationally and internationally via book shops, galleries and museums, art events and via the online store: artmazemag.com/shop HOW TO APPLY: please visit our website for more details and fill in the online form via the following link: artmazemag.com/call-for-art OTHER OPPORTUNITIES: Artists are welcome to submit their works to our online blog. Please visit our website for more information: www.artmazemag.com or contact us at info@artmazemag.com

Featured image: Rudy Cremonini Blonde ambition oil on jute 90 x 110 cm more on p. 105

Spring Edition: Issue 12

call for art DEADLINE: March 14th, 2019 Guest Curator: Tristian Koenig Melbourne-based Gallerist

Featured image: Rudy Cremonini Blonde ambition oil on jute 90 x 110 cm more on p. 105

interviewed:

Vivian Greven James English Leary Srijon Chowdhury Galleri Kant

interviewed:

Vivian Greven James English Leary Srijon Chowdhury Galleri Kant

www.viviangreven.de

Celestial bodies: in conversation with Vivian Greven Love is the subject of German artist Vivian Greven’s work. In her ethereal paintings, which borrow visually and thematically from Classical art, the human form is an embodiment of divine beauty and love. For Vivian, beauty is bound to holiness, which is in turn linked to the universal balance between life and death. Working in restrained colours and accentuating highlights and shadows, Vivian’s paintings are characterised by a glowing luminosity and interplay between surface and form. She considers the canvas a semipermeable membrane separating these two forces moving within her work. Through her fluid brushstrokes, subtle colour gradients and use of negative space, Vivian breathes life into the creamy marble bodies in her paintings. Their cold stone limbs course with life. This corporeality draws the viewer in to want to reach out and touch, mirroring the contact and gestures within the paintings. Vivian lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. The recipient of the STRABAG Artaward International in 2016, she has attended artist residencies in the USA, Germany and the UK. Her work has been shown at numerous international art fairs including NADA Miami, Art Berlin and Art Cologne and in solo and group exhibitions. The human body has been the subject of art since pre-history and notions of beauty have been closely associated with this. Contemporary body politics has created a dramatic shift away from ‘classical’ representations of the human body in favour of more inclusive and diverse portrayals of the body. For Vivian however, painting the body is a kind of spiritual process. Through the act of painting, she celebrates the celestial beauty of the body and the human form.

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Vivian Greven Aer I oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm photography by Ivo Faber

www.viviangreven.de

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Vivian Greven Aer I oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm photography by Ivo Faber

AMM: Hi Vivian, to start us off, please can you share your earliest art memory. VG: My first memory might be me drawing a princess when I was about 6 years old. I felt something that is still connected with me. It is the intuitive knowledge that this drawing is a language of its own, and thus able to say things I can’t as a person. AMM: Have you always been interested in classical Greco-Roman art? What initially drew you to this as a source for your own art? VG: I would say that I have always been interested in the artificial creation of bodies. That might be something which is also found in Greco-Roman art. When I drew this princess I made her have a slim waist and that felt good. It is cruel and fascinating at once… AMM: The neo-classicists sought to portray perfect beauty. How does this idea relate to your work and contemporary discourse around body politics? VG: Hah! Yes, that is right. I think it might be something which is rooted in the deepest consciousness of human beings in general and through all times. We are in a state of lack and thus always in need to fill it. The idea of perfect beauty is connected to the idea of holiness and holiness in turn is connected to the universe, where death and life are lovers. This seems to be something we have forgotten and it makes people suffer and neglect parts of themselves. Contemporary body politics has to deal with a severe loss of integrity. AMM: Please tell us about your interest in representations of the human form. When did you first start painting the body? How has your understanding of the body changed through your work? VG: I have painted bodies for as long as I can think. The question: “What am I?” has always been my driving force. I am deeply interested in the interaction of body and mind. During the painting process I gently stroke bodies into existence. Thus, I appreciate the body and try to overcome its cruel disregard in contemporary society. The body wants to be our most loyal companion but we want it to look and function like an electronic tool. AMM: Your recent paintings depicted amorous interactions between figures. Is the subject of your work love? Please tell us more about the themes and ideas you’re exploring in these works.

Vivian Greven photography by Oli Tjaden

VG: Yes! Love is the essence. For my recent body of work I depicted the mythological narrative of Amor and Psyche. It is the ancient tale about a unity destroyed by Psyche’s desire to see the real figure of her lover. As Amor withdraws from her, Psyche becomes a soulless body and dies in the end. Through painting I try to get as close as possible to my figures’ inner psychology.

The “Area” series, for instance, observes Psyche’s slow dissolution in Amor’s arms and demonstrates the beauty and cruelty of love’s devotion.

themes in your art?

VG: I like my figures to be representations of human beings in a universal sense. Gender distinctions seem to be too explicit, too narrow, too earthly.

VG: I use these formal painting techniques in order to find the strongest analogy with each painting’s essence. For instance, the color red is significant in the “Lamia” series. The title “Lamia” refers to the mythological story of a woman who drinks the blood of children to overcome the loss of her own child. These paintings symbolically analyze the mutual give-and-take in relationships. Thus, the color red signifies a stream of love and the subsequent warming of body and mind.

AMM: Your paintings are simultaneously ethereal and sensual. What would you hope people experience when viewing them?

AMM: There is an interesting interplay between form and surface in your paintings. How do you heighten this tension and to what effect?

VG: A sense of contact.

VG: I see the painting’s surface as a membrane, like a skin. I can concentrate on its direct surficial appearance but also on the volume of the body, which moves underneath.

AMM: The figures in your paintings are for the most part androgynous. Can you tell us more about this?

“The idea of perfect beauty is connected to the idea of holiness and holiness in turn is connected to the universe, where death and life are lovers. This seems to be something we have forgotten and it makes people suffer and neglect parts of themselves. Contemporary body politics has to deal with a severe loss of integrity.” - Vivian Greven AMM: Many of your compositions focus in on intimate gestures of touch – an earlobe, lips, the nape of the neck, which are all very sensual and private parts of the body. Are you drawing attention to intimacy itself or is this perhaps a metaphor for something else? VG: I did not think of these parts as especially private parts. But yes, it’s certainly about intimacy. But not in an explicit sexual sense…It’s more about being close to each other. It’s about trust. AMM: How do you use light, shadow and color in your work? How do these elements support the

AMM: What is your process of working? Do you start with sketches and color tests or allow paintings to evolve organically? VG: Usually, the starting point is an intuitive reaction to a certain trigger of my surroundings. After that, I have a time of research. I collect images and thoughts. Then I filter and focus often through writing and drawing. As soon as I know what needs to be painted, I search for its composition. I don’t start a painting without a composition. The colors, I find afterwards. AMM: Beside the neo-classical references your art is very contemporary. What are some of the things, artists, texts, ideas that interest you in this regard? VG: I am living now. That means I am constantly surrounded by contemporary influences. It’s highly inspiring that everything is always available through the digital screen on the internet. Thus, even the oldest relicts of existence are as contemporary as a limited edition of a MAC glitter lipstick. There is no chronological order. Everything is now. AMM: Recently you’ve made a few paintings of busts in profile on shaped surfaces. Please tell us about this new direction. Is it a development of previous ideas or the start of something new? What materials are you using, and what do the cutouts represent? VG: The busts belong to a part of my work which reflects upon power structures in language and imagery. They represent different Venus portrayals. Each of them has a cutout in the face, showing different punctuation marks. We use punctuation marks to create emojis in order to represent our emotions when communicating via smartphone. The busts are stigmatized with these punctuation marks. This work is about the stereotypical reduction of a human being, inside and outside.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Vivian Greven

Vivian Greven photography by Oli Tjaden

The “Area” series, for instance, observes Psyche’s slow dissolution in Amor’s arms and demonstrates the beauty and cruelty of love’s devotion.

themes in your art?

VG: I like my figures to be representations of human beings in a universal sense. Gender distinctions seem to be too explicit, too narrow, too earthly.

AMM: Your paintings are simultaneously ethereal and sensual. What would you hope people experience when viewing them?

AMM: There is an interesting interplay between form and surface in your paintings. How do you heighten this tension and to what effect?

VG: A sense of contact.

VG: I see the painting’s surface as a membrane, like a skin. I can concentrate on its direct surficial appearance but also on the volume of the body, which moves underneath.

AMM: The figures in your paintings are for the most part androgynous. Can you tell us more about this?

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Vivian Greven

“I am living now. That means I am constantly surrounded by contemporary influences. It’s highly inspiring that everything is always available through the digital screen on the internet. Thus, even the oldest relicts of existence are as contemporary as a limited edition of a MAC glitter lipstick. There is no chronological order. Everything is now. ” - Vivian Greven AMM: Having been on a few artist residencies, how have you found these experiences have influenced your art? VG: It’s important for me to have a broad and solid mind. The residencies help to develop both: they broaden and strengthen my mind’s borders. AMM: What are your daily creative rituals? VG: At the moment I start with a glass of hot lemon and a meditation in the morning. Then I walk to the studio, prepare a teapot and try to listen to the silence. When it feels right I start to paint. I like to do a short nap in the afternoon. Then I go on painting often till late evening. When the silence is getting too loud, I like to listen to Podcasts. In the evening I walk the same way back to my flat. AMM: What are the hardest things for you to get ‘right’ in your art?

Image:

VG: An open heart.

Vivian Greven Grazia II oil on canvas 43 x 33 cm

Vivian Greven Grazia I oil on canvas 43 x 33 cm

AMM: What keeps you awake at night and why? VG: There are many things. I am not a good sleeper. But for the most part it’s fear and love. AMM: Do you have any new projects coming up? What’s next for you? VG: I am very excited about the next year because I have many new challenges. My work will be shown internationally and my heart is full of joy that the paintings build bridges between people.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Vivian Greven

Image:

VG: An open heart.

Vivian Greven Grazia II oil on canvas 43 x 33 cm

Vivian Greven Grazia I oil on canvas 43 x 33 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Vivian Greven

Vivian Greven Leea oil on canvas 120 x 110 cm

Vivian Greven installation view: Amore, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, 2018 photography by Roman März

Vivian Greven Leea oil on canvas 120 x 110 cm

Vivian Greven installation view: Amore, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, 2018 photography by Roman März

Vivian Greven Area II oil and acrylic on canvas 170 x 114 cm photography by Ivo Faber

Vivian Greven )( III oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm

Vivian Greven Area II oil and acrylic on canvas 170 x 114 cm photography by Ivo Faber

Vivian Greven )( III oil on canvas 80 x 60 cm

Vivian Greven Lamia oil on canvas 43 x 32 cm

Vivian Greven Tru oil on canvas 49 x 35 cm

Vivian Greven Lamia oil on canvas 43 x 32 cm

Vivian Greven Tru oil on canvas 49 x 35 cm

Vivian Greven Area III oil and acrylic on canvas 170 x 114 cm photography by Ivo Faber

Vivian Greven Lamia III oil and acrylic on canvas 120 x 80 cm photography by Ivo Faber

Vivian Greven Area III oil and acrylic on canvas 170 x 114 cm photography by Ivo Faber

Vivian Greven Lamia III oil and acrylic on canvas 120 x 80 cm photography by Ivo Faber

www.jamesenglishleary.com

Bodies dissolve into blobs; figures into forms: in conversation with James English Leary The fleshy forms in James English Leary’s paintings are provocatively playful, titillating and tongue in cheek. The shapes of the built canvases and painted forms are too suggestive to be ignored, yet cheekily dissolve back into abstraction just shy of any fixed representation. The interplay between abstraction and figuration creates a visual game that teases the viewer with psychological associations, visual innuendo and perception. For the New York based artist, pure abstraction is a problematic concept as he believes that people are hardwired to look for recognizable features and visual cues in order to understand an image. In this way, James has come to think of the body as a kind of framework or perceptual vantagepoint, which he then manipulates in his work to satirize ideas of interpretation and self-knowledge. By playing with the point at which bodies dissolve into blobs, figures into forms, James’ work challenges the viewers to consider their subjectivity in pondering whether the shapes are benign abstract forms or amorphous body parts with psycho-social connotations. In so doing the viewer becomes implicated in the work and a player in the interchange of sign and symbol. Humor is never far from James’ work. The artist explains that “humor is a pressure release valve for what is otherwise intolerable. I think a lot of the potential humor in a painting is simply a side-effect of the sanctified expectations of painting”. James’ aesthetic borrows much from the surreal abstract work of Elizabeth Murray and Philip Guston. In his playful and humorous compositions, James flips the script and turns the focus back at the view, ultimately returning to the age-old question: does art imitate life, or life imitate art?

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: James English Leary “Shameless Artist” acrylic on shaped panel 46 x 56 inches courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

www.jamesenglishleary.com

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: James English Leary “Shameless Artist” acrylic on shaped panel 46 x 56 inches courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

AMM: Hi James, do you remember the first piece of art you made? What was it and how old were you? What’s shaped your artistic journey since then? JL: I think it was this endless book I made with Josh Anderson in kindergarten. There was no overall scheme, we’d just print out pages with a little bit of text or these protoemojis and then we’d draw on the pages and sequence them into a clipped binding. It was a catch-all, like a book of the whole world, of the super-important and the totally inane, text, images, hard information, gags, etc. It was permissive to the point of being transgressive. I remember feeling intoxicated by the whole thing. Or maybe it was this pelican-shaped ashtray I made in ceramics class—back when kids still made ashtrays. It’s unimaginable now. I think I pretty much had the same experience then that I do now, that in making a thing you were turning a shapeless urge into a material fact and that somehow this made you real. AMM: In the past you have spoken about how the notion of abstraction doesn’t really exist. Can you share some thoughts on what the word ‘abstraction’ entails in your vision? JL: Everything can become representational depending on who is looking at it (the crack in the wall which contains facial profiles if you look at it long enough, etc.). Most of us are subject to deep pattern-seeking instincts. So it’s truly remarkable when a form resists representing something in nature and continues to refer primarily to itself. This is how I’ve come to think about abstraction: form that refers primarily to itself. I like Robert Ryman’s notion of being a realist, because his paintings are about showing the reality of paint. They don’t represent anything, they explain themselves. AMM: Are there any particular painting traditions or ‘old masters’ that have influenced your work? JL: Obviously Guston and in particular Elizabeth Murray. I’m from Chicago and have always responded to the imagists, to pop and so on. I like Catholic good taste, especially when it’s been distorted through iterations of imperfect copies or infiltrated by some good, old-fashion American kink. AMM: Most of your works are mixed media pieces, which border lines between objects and paintings. Tell us about your approach to making art. JL: There’s been a lot of shaped paintings which brook a gap between strategy and improvisation. For example, there’s often a buoyant element, something that postures as being spontaneous but upon any immediate reflection must have been carefully planned. I’m interested in using a ‘built’ element to

“Most of us are subject to deep patternseeking instincts. So it’s truly remarkable when a form resists representing something in nature and continues to refer primarily to itself. This is how I’ve come to think about abstraction: form that refers primarily to itself. I like Robert Ryman’s notion of being a realist, because his paintings are about showing the reality of paint. They don’t represent anything, they explain themselves.” - James English Leary

torque the interplay between gesture and space. AMM: Which mediums/materials are you currently using? What appeals to you about them? Any new medium you’re keen to try out? JL: Polymer paint for its petroleum-problem buoyancy; Luan plywood for its camp beauty. AMM: The visuals you create look very playful and cartoon-like. What part does humor play in your work? JL: I’ve always loved cartoons. There’s always beautifully lucid line work, and a latent minimalism with the flat color and reduction of form. It’s ancient stuff for me. I don’t really look at a lot of that stuff anymore but it’s in me. I like Freud’s take on humor: Farts are funny because the fact that there is rot within your body is an unbearably creepy harbinger of your mortality. Laughter, humor is a

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: James English Leary

pressure release valve for what is otherwise intolerable. I think a lot of the potential humor in a painting is simply a side-effect of the sanctified expectations of painting. AMM: The objects you portray are mainly simplistic human body parts. If the notion of abstraction does not exist, what do these body shapes and silhouettes represent in your life as an artist and how do you think the viewer should approach your art? JL: When I was young I basically accepted the story that at a certain point in its development art moves past mimesis and past figuration. But over time the thing that I keep always coming back to is this ridiculous body in front of me, behind me, on either side, above and below. To an extent, I have stopped seeing my own body as a negative constraint, a thing that negatively limits the possibilities of perception (although it certainly does), and more of a positive constraint, the thing that makes perceptual and even intellectual experiences possible in the first place. In my painting this seems to have taken a certain form, not ‘figurative’ art per se, but pictures that use that body as a framework or an architecture. I could make the distinction another way in saying that my paintings are less a window into another space and more of a proxy for the body— the ‘picture’ reified as a thing, an object as opposed to a depiction. AMM: Human aspect is an evident part of your work. Are there any specific characters/people you are illustrating within your art pieces or is each particular shape bound within a more universal idea? JL: I’ve been trying to make an Abraham Lincoln painting for years. In general though I think of the ‘people’ in my work as fictional and obscure as opposed to universal. AMM: Your choice of color is very bold. What is your color philosophy? JL: I don’t know, I like a palette that’s very reduced but made to do something very particular like in the work of Albert Mertz. AMM: Do you start a new piece knowing exactly how you want it to be? How much experimentation is involved in your creative process? When do you know that the work is finished? JL: I am wary of over-planning, especially given the construction component of the shaped works. I don’t ever want to feel like I’m ‘fabricating’ the paintings. That’s just gross to me. Better to loosen the reigns and be surprised. A painting is the most dynamic when it finds itself in its making. In terms of what makes a work finished I can’t say. I’ve continued to work on things for years even after they were shown and so on. I guess a work is truly finished with when it belongs to someone else.

Image: James English Leary Reluctant Capitalist acrylic on shaped panel 40 1/2 x 50 1/2 inches courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: James English Leary

Image: James English Leary Reluctant Capitalist acrylic on shaped panel 40 1/2 x 50 1/2 inches courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

James English Leary photography by Nicolas Barreto

AMM: How is your average working day in the studio normally arranged? Do you stick to a specific routine? JL: Despite my best efforts an enduring routine eludes me. I sweep my studio at the beginning of every day. Even if there’s nothing to sweep, I’ll sweep. It’s like burning sage, sweeping. AMM: In your recent exhibition at Nathalie Karg Gallery you are exploring the meaning of the Greek phrase ‘Hoi Polloi’ which translates as ‘the people’ but that gained negative connotations later on such as signifying ‘the masses’ or ‘the rabble’. Can you share some thoughts about this topic and why you chose it? JL: Well, the show contained portrait profiles of people. There was a sense that the paintings are about the pathologization of a subject vis-a-vis the inadvertent betrayal of inner thoughts, satires of self-awareness or maybe more like satires of self-delusion. It just felt like a nod in the title to group-think and demagoguery was fair given the current political nightmare. On another level, the art world is an insular, elitist place where various forms of couched and overt class warfare are constantly being waged. It’s easy to criticize the powerful and monied in all of this, but at stake are deeper conflicts between avant-gardist tendencies towards difficult and vanguard art and Marxist ideas about social justice. These paradoxes are inevitable if art is going to continue to astonish but they leave us collectively confused about the big questions: What is art supposed to produce? Who is it for? I remain dubious about whether the art world has anything legitimately popular to offer the general population. But there have been moments in history where great art was made for popular audiences—like in the history of cinema, or the history of Italian painting. AMM: How do you navigate the art world, specifically in NYC where you currently live; and also internationally?

“I am wary of over-planning, especially given the construction component of the shaped works. I don’t ever want to feel like I’m ‘fabricating’ the paintings. That’s just gross to me. Better to loosen the reigns and be surprised. A painting is the most dynamic when it finds itself in its making. In terms of what makes a work finished I can’t say. I’ve continued to work on things for years even after they were shown and so on. I guess a work is truly finished with when it belongs to someone else.” - James English Leary

JL: In my experience the only way to make sense of it is to surround yourself with artists who are good enough that at times you envy them, gleefully and anxiously. Or maybe they scare you sometimes. They have to be good enough that if you disagree, you won’t be able to write them off. You will be forced to keep arguing until you change or they change. There is a good chance that neither of you will change and you will have to keep at it.

that collective, to open up the school structure to uncredentialed teachers and experimental formats. A central mandate of BHQFU has been to advance a notion of “free education”—debt-free, democratized and experimental. I believe that art schools should design themselves to be free or at least cheaper than they are. Not only are there often scant economic opportunities for even the best artists, but the privatized and credentializing mandate of private, accredited, degreegranting art schools undermines the project of experimentation, precarious discovery and agitation against the status quo that is at the center of our conception of what artists do and are for. Exorbitant tuition is antithetical to freedom—both materially and metaphorically. AMM: Can you name some of your peers whose work has been the most inspiring for you and explain briefly why? JL: Keegan Monaghan—for the unflinching standards he brings to his work. Katya Tepper—for the way trauma and levity get expressed through her ideas about construction. Sophy Naess—for the way she brings literature into her paintings and tapestries. Trisha Baga—for putting everything in her life back into her work. Seth Cameron—for the way he can seem to be the most radical conservative one moment and the most conservative radical the next. AMM: What does ‘success’ mean to you? JL: Success is making good work. AMM: What are the weirdest/funniest things people ever said about your art? JL: “This looks like a painting hung in the office of a Viagra executive.” AMM: Apart from making art, what do you love doing? JL: I enjoy playing tennis. AMM: What’s next on your horizon? JL: In 2019 I have solo presentations at Parisian Laundry in Montreal, Lisa Kandlhofer in Vienna and VNH Gallery in Paris.

AMM: What prompted you to co-found the The Bruce High Quality Foundation (BHQF)? Could you tell us about your vision of free art education? JL: BHQF was started so that a group of young artists could make works about the history and pedagogy of art through a satirical institutional voice. The University (BHQFU) was started as an extension of

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: James English Leary

James English Leary photography by Nicolas Barreto

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: James English Leary

James English Leary Hoi Polloi, installation shot, Nathalie Karg Gallery, 2018 courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

James English Leary Provincial Celebrity acrylic on shaped panel 46 x 48 inches courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

James English Leary Cameo (blue hand) acrylic on shaped panel 39 x 52 x 1 7/8 inches courtesy of Lisa Kandlhofer

James English Leary Provincial Celebrity acrylic on shaped panel 46 x 48 inches courtesy of Nathalie Karg Gallery

James English Leary Cameo (blue hand) acrylic on shaped panel 39 x 52 x 1 7/8 inches courtesy of Lisa Kandlhofer

James English Leary Entrance (Purple Drop) acrylic on shaped canvas 47 x 40 inches courtesy of the Carl Kostyal

James English Leary Entrance (The Year 2016) acrylic on shaped canvas 47 x 68 inches courtesy of the artist

James English Leary Entrance (Purple Drop) acrylic on shaped canvas 47 x 40 inches courtesy of the Carl Kostyal

James English Leary Entrance (The Year 2016) acrylic on shaped canvas 47 x 68 inches courtesy of the artist

James English Leary Exit (The Bursting Grape) 41 x 52 inches acrylic on shaped canvas courtesy of the artist

James English Leary Painted Entrance acrylic on shaped canvas 58 x 48 inches courtesy of the artist

James English Leary Exit (The Bursting Grape) 41 x 52 inches acrylic on shaped canvas courtesy of the artist

James English Leary Painted Entrance acrylic on shaped canvas 58 x 48 inches courtesy of the artist

www.srijonchowdhury.com

What does it mean to be alive today? in conversation with Srijon Chowdhury There is an urgency to Srijon Chowdhury’s art. The enigmatic imagery in his paintings references diverse histories, contemporary and ancient mythologies and mysticism. His dream-like, surrealism compositions are at once unsettling and alluring; the rich colors and ambiguous motifs acting on a subconscious level between knowledge and emotion. Srijon is interested in ideas of faith, repetition, structures of knowledge and histories. He is also conscious of the mechanisms of art and representation, and the construction of meaning. His large-scale and immersive painting installations play with this authorial perspective, which in turn invite the viewer to consider their role. Many of Srijon’s paintings depict an archway or window around which flowers grow. It is not immediately apparent however whether these frames offer views outwards or reflections back inwards, or perhaps both. The plants similarly remain ambiguously symbolic, at times neat and manicured and at others creepingly overbearing. But nature has another meaning in Srijon’s art too, and that is the very real and literal threat of climate catastrophe. Srijon’s paintings vibrate with the anxiety of our times. The symbolism in his work responds to the dystopian reality that defines today—environmental destruction, war, political instability, inequality, misinformation. In his recent installation Revelation Theater, Srijon staged an immersive monument of the end times. Midway through making this work however, Srijon found out that he was to be a father, which inspired a twist in the tale and hopeful ending. The question of what it means to be alive today shapes Srijon’s art and thoughts. Alongside his own art he is the co-founder of Chicken Coop Contemporary and the Utopian Visions Art Fair, both platforms to explore alternative narratives and histories. We spoke with the Portland-based artist to find out more about his work and what the future might hold.

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Srijon Chowdhury Rose in Hand oil on linen blackberry vine 21 x 16 cm

www.srijonchowdhury.com

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Srijon Chowdhury Rose in Hand oil on linen blackberry vine 21 x 16 cm

“I grew up in Bangladesh where my parents owned an art gallery, so there was always a support for art. My worldview of seeing extreme poverty right next to extreme wealth in Dhaka is what shapes me, I always feel guilt and some degree of anger, and I’m sure that guides my work.” - Srijon Chowdhury

AMM: Hi Srijon! Have you always painted or did you find your way to painting via other mediums? What have been some of the defining points that have shaped you as an artist? SC: I have always painted, but in college my focus was on intaglio printmaking. I grew up in Bangladesh where my parents owned an art gallery, so there was always a support for art. My worldview of seeing extreme poverty right next to extreme wealth in Dhaka is what shapes me, I always feel guilt and some degree of anger, and I’m sure that guides my work. AMM: Many of your paintings depict surreal or dreamlike scenes that suggest complex narratives. Please tell us about the subject matter in your art.

Srijon Chowdhury and daughter Inez photography by Posy Quarterman

SC: I think of my paintings in two ways: Some of them are to conjure a new and better world and the others are to clarify what is happening around me. I don’t think my images are that complex. A large work I showed January 2018, Revelation Theater, used imagery from the Book of Revelation as a starting point to think about our apocalyptic moment, because of the scale there was a lot going on, but the story I believe was easy to decipher, although it has maybe a twist ending that is hopeful because

in the middle of making the paintings my girlfriend and I found out we would be having a child and I needed to change my mindset. In my current exhibition at Antoine Levi there is a painting of my girlfriend Anna holding our baby Inez, this is a classic image, but I think it also vibrates with an anxiety of our times. AMM: Plants are a recurring motif in your work. What do these represent in your work? Do they relate to a larger concept of nature? SC: I like to play with symbolism, there is so much meaning built up over thousands of years of human thought and that is true for images of plants and flowers. I don’t think I have a concept of nature, I live in it in the Pacific Northwest and I work in it thanks to my job at Leach Botanical Garden. I love nature, it reminds you. AMM: Arches are another visual element that you return to in your paintings. In your series entitled Arches however, it’s not clear whether the arched forms are windows opening onto other scenes or mirrors closing in and reflecting back at the view. What do these structures symbolise in your work? SC: The arches come from a mosque that my great great great grandfather Asgar Chowdhury built outside the coastal city of Chittagong in Bangladesh. The plants surrounding the arches are the ones that you see around the mosque, it’s in the middle of a working farm. The floral in the center of the arches are a reworking of a floral motif from my series The Garden. The Garden was an attempt to create a new origin myth that would bring more love into the world… which has clearly been a failure. In Arches I painted the flowers from The Garden again, but removed the paint as it dried, it was my way of thinking about how religion takes something like a myth and changes it, obfuscates it, and ornaments it. AMM: Color is a very powerful device in your paintings. Please tell us about the way you work with color in your paintings? SC: Color affects a person viscerally and quickly, color is the first layer of conveying meaning in my paintings. I think about the chakras: Red is reality and the body, Orange is all the good things about yourself, Yellow is the power to create reality, Green is love, Blue is truth—but a depth of truth that can be hard to decipher, Purple is intuition, White is infinite. Sometimes those meanings are in conflict with the content of the painting. AMM: How do you play with and subvert traditional notions of painting? SC: Painting has developed with human history, it’s embedded in us. I am interested in how paintings act on a person and how to use that for my own means. I use the history of painting to mine for techniques, and each new exhibition as an attempt to try those techniques out. I am also interested in how

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Srijon Chowdhury

Srijon Chowdhury and daughter Inez photography by Posy Quarterman

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Srijon Chowdhury

to make a person aware of their body and thoughts while contemplating the work, which has led me to using painting to make installations. AMM: When and why did you first begin thinking about paintings as three-dimensional objects and how did this influence the way you conceptualise, make and present work? SC: I first started thinking about paintings three dimensionally when I was making the Arch paintings, I wanted to mimic my family’s mosque and use the paintings as walls to make a structure that one would actually walk in to. I think it has made me more aware of the architecture of the space the work will be shown in. AMM: Two series of work have the word ‘theater’ in their title and involve immersive painting installations that are reminiscent of stage sets. At what level does the performance take place and what role does the viewer play? SC: In Memory Theater, the unpainted stretched linen was used as walls to make a circular structure, the outside was the backstage that was ornamented with the actors—sculptures, plants, etc.—it was lit so that shadows created a painting inside the structure. Visitors became actors as their shadow changed the work but viewers as they entered the space. Revelation Theater was at Oregon’s oldest Catholic University, the history and belief from the land, architecture, school, and visitors was meant to absorb into the work and also release back into it all. AMM: In your painting installation piece Revelation Theater the viewer’s first sight is of the reverse of the canvases. What is the concept behind this (excuse the pun) and how does the context of the space speak back to the work itself? SC: The scale of the work came from the iconographic windows of the gallery, The Art Gym. The stretcher bars were built to mimic the design of the windows: a double arch with a circle between. You enter the gallery, you see the huge windows, you see a large structure in the center that is mirroring the windows, you enter the structure, you see the paintings, you think, what is the point of these windows, of this structure, of this gallery, of this building, of this school, of this painting, what are they trying to do to me? The school declared bankruptcy shortly after my exhibition. AMM: You describe this work as “using imagery from the Book of Revelations as a jumping off point to think about the consequences of a worldview that anticipates the end.” Why make this work now? SC: Because the world is ending. AMM: In a short statement accompanying your series of small-scale paintings The Coldest Night, you write: “My intention is to find beauty in darkness and see the darkness that frames all

beauty.” This is a very intriguing idea. Can you please tell us what you mean?

you artistically? Does this come through in your work?

SC: Right now I am sitting at my aunt’s house in Florida looking out their window at beautiful green tropical plants and trees and flowers blowing in the wind, the sky is clear and blue, light is reflecting on their pool, monarch butterflies are dancing between the pink roses and feeding on the milkweed, a salmon chested ring dove is cutely bopping around. The fertilizer the housing association uses on the grass is seeping through the ground draining into the stream next to their house, feeding algae and causing red tide which is causing a genocide of plants and animals that live in and around the water. A bloody war continues in Yemen. Climate change is destroying the prospects for a good life for more and more people. But back home in Portland, my beautiful baby Inez is waiting for me to get home and I can’t wait to hold her and kiss her and tell her I love her and to watch her smile.

SC: There are moments of immediate personal and family life that are in the work. Family and friendship is a big definer of how you are in the world, and through my work I am trying to understand something about the world.

AMM: What themes or ideas are you currently exploring in your work?

AMM: What is your process of working? What does a typical day in studio look like for you?

SC: How to live.

SC: I turn on the heaters in my studio, make some coffee, take one of my stepdaughters to school, I sit around and think, mix out my palette and start painting, I pick one of my stepdaughters up from school, I eat lunch, I paint some more…

AMM: Alongside your own art you co-run a project space called Chicken Coop Contemporary that shares a space with a clutch of chickens. Where did the idea for this space come about and what was your intention of starting it? Has this changed over time? SC: The house came with two barns, one is my studio, the other is half chicken coop and half gallery. I moved to Portland from LA and was used to being around more art, so the gallery was at first a way for me to bring art that I wanted to see to Portland. It is still that, but now the curatorial vision— at least for the time being—has more to do with following a thread of mysticism and creating a what-if version of American art history where Jackson Pollock and abstract expressionism were never backed by the CIA and Morris Graves and the Northwest mystics were the artists that naturally led the way. Would we be in a world facing climate catastrophe?

AMM: Besides art, what are some of your interests? SC: My family and friends, gardening, my chickens, Van Morrison, yoga, Settlers of Catan, I am trying to learn Tarot, Science Fiction—Ursula K Le Guin is one of my favorite writers, Roberto Bolano another, sitting around zoning out, cooking curry, going to Applebees and eating boneless buffalo wings with a Coors Light, I went foraging for mushrooms for the first time last month and I will probably start doing that more.

AMM: What inspires and influences you artistically? SC: Good art and good books make me think and that makes me need to work. AMM: Do you have any new projects coming up that we should know about? What’s next for you? SC: I will be showing work with Antoine Levi at Miart in Milan in the spring, and next winter will have a solo show with Et Al in San Francisco. In 2020 I will bring Utopian Visions Art Fair to The Retreat for Conscience in Nepal, there are a couple of other things coming up as well that I can’t talk about.

AMM: How has running this space influenced you as an artist? SC: Understanding how other artists and curators approach exhibition making and their work has been an incredible experience. I just brought the drawings and sculptures of Harry Gould Harvey IV to NADA Miami for a solo presentation. He is one of the most incredible artists working right now, being able to spend time with him and talk to him is a serious blessing, and being able to share his work with a wider audience has been truly rewarding. The gallery and its obligations expand my mind and my world. AMM: How does your personal history influence

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Srijon Chowdhury

Srijon Chowdhury photography by Anna Margaret

beauty.” This is a very intriguing idea. Can you please tell us what you mean?

you artistically? Does this come through in your work?

AMM: What themes or ideas are you currently exploring in your work?

AMM: What is your process of working? What does a typical day in studio look like for you?

SC: How to live.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Srijon Chowdhury

Srijon Chowdhury photography by Anna Margaret

Srijon Chowdhury The Revelation Theater painting installation at The Art Gym, Marylhurst, Oregon photography by Mario Gallucci

Srijon Chowdhury The Revelation Theater (6 out of 7 works) paintings left to right, top: Fire, Fool, Séance paintings left to right, bottom: Cycle, Horsemen, Garden all paintings: oil on linen, 126 x 72 inches photography by Mario Gallucci

Srijon Chowdhury The Revelation Theater painting installation at The Art Gym, Marylhurst, Oregon photography by Mario Gallucci

Srijon Chowdhury Green Vase oil on linen 40.6 x 30.5 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Hurricane oil on linen 40.6 x 30.5 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Green Vase oil on linen 40.6 x 30.5 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Hurricane oil on linen 40.6 x 30.5 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Fenced Flowers at Night oil on linen 182.8 x 152.4 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Mother and Child oil on linen 76.2 x 61 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Fenced Flowers at Night oil on linen 182.8 x 152.4 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Mother and Child oil on linen 76.2 x 61 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Garden at Night oil on linen 243.8 x 121.9 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Glowing Glory oil on linen 40.6 x 30.5 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Garden at Night oil on linen 243.8 x 121.9 cm

Srijon Chowdhury Glowing Glory oil on linen 40.6 x 30.5 cm

www.gallerikant.dk

Championing interesting art: Galleri KANT Kerry Harm Nielsen and Anna Gram Sørensen are the duo behind the Danish contemporary art gallery KANT, and the guest curators of this issue of ArtMaze Mag. The pair have shared a common interest in art for decades, and in 2004 opened KANT in a small tourist village. While this may seem an odd location for an art (and then design) gallery, both Kerry and Anna have strong entrepreneurial backgrounds and recognised the space in the market that Galleri KANT would occupy. Today, KANT has a permanent space in Copenhagen and represents a dynamic range of emerging and established Scandinavian and European artists at its two spaces, international art fairs and with partner galleries around the world. The artists in the KANT stable vary widely across medium, style and subject. For Anna and Kerry, it’s about working with artists who are making interesting work, be it abstract or figurative, conceptual or traditional. Over the years KANT has built up a loyal market which resonates with its dynamic programming. The gallery’s current roster of artists includes established Scandinavian names such as Daniel Jensen and Susanne Wellm as well as promising new-comers like Tuukka Tammisaari. For Kerry and Anna, the success of Galleri KANT is built off of their deep love and commitment to promoting interesting art and constantly seeking out new opportunities for their artists. We chatted with the team to find out more about their journey as gallerists and what goes into running Galleri KANT.

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Kerry Harm Nielsen and Anna Gram Sørensen photography by David Stjernholm

www.gallerikant.dk

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Kerry Harm Nielsen and Anna Gram Sørensen photography by David Stjernholm

AMM: How did Galleri KANT come about? Please tell us a little about the history of the gallery and how it’s changed and developed over the years. GK: KANT was inaugurated in 2004 on the small island Fanoe on the west coast of Denmark in the Wadden Sea. The Wadden Sea National Park is Denmark’s largest national park. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its enormous ecological importance as the world’s largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats. Placed in the historical village Soenderho, the building in which KANT resides, was originally a large commercial garage. Over a period of half a year the building was transformed from an ugly duckling to a white swan with the purpose of presenting contemporary art and design. With three large exhibition spaces, two for art and one for Scandinavian design, we were convinced that this combination would attract an audience and offer a unique platform for the promotion of artists and designers to the thousands of guests visiting the island annually, predominately from Denmark, Germany, Norway and Holland. Early 2012 we were contacted regarding a wonderful artist run space in the capital called skulpturi.dk which was closing. The Danish Arts Council had funded this incentive for three years, and as the funding was ending, we had the possibility to take over the lease and have a second space in Copenhagen. This call gave us the opportunity to open in the hub of Copenhagen, and in the summer of 2012 we moved permanently to the capital inaugurating the new space in late August with a dialogue show between two international artists Michelle Grabner (US) and Lars Breuer (Germany). Simultaneously with the opening in Copenhagen we closed the design side of the gallery on the island, but kept the building. Since 2012 we have solely focused on art. Today KANT annually presents 3 shows on the island primarily during the spring and summer and 8-10 shows in Copenhagen. AMM: Have you both been involved with the gallery from day one? How did you come to work together and what do you think you each bring to the partnership? GK: We have both been involved in the gallery since 2004 and have shared a common interest in art since we met in the 80s. Apart from having two different cultural backgrounds Danish / New Zealand, we feel that having the partnership helps with the many decisions, which have to be made on a day to day basis. But more specifically, being two to share visions and focus on the long term gallery programme has proved a huge advantage.

“We don’t look for a specific aesthetic when considering new artists. Our intuitive understanding for what we consider interesting is the most important measure.” - Galleri Kant

AMM: What are each of your respective backgrounds and current roles in the day to day running of the gallery? GK: We both come from families which have been or are self-employed and run their own businesses. Anna is trained as a teacher, while Kerry owned a painting and decorating company specialised in restoration of historical buildings for 20 years. That company is now sold, but it was financially backing KANT during the start-up years. Today the gallery roles are relatively clear, Kerry looks after the international contacts, art fair participation and the annual programme, while Anna looks after the economy, exhibition preparation and the gallery on a daily basis. We share the responsibility for contact with the artists and clients and both work with sales. It has been a long journey with many discussions and adjustments. Ultimately, it´s an ongoing process, where flexibility is continually important. AMM: What is the aesthetic and culture of your gallery? How have you gone about establishing and maintaining this, both in the physical space and as a brand? GK: Our logo from 2004 KANT, written with white capital letters on a classic orange background, is both sharp and graphically a strong brand. The Danish word KANT translates to edge, and we feel the aesthetic expressed in the name and logo still represents our underlying intention. It´s not a strategy for us to present a specific aesthetic in the programme, although some people say they can see a certain KANT aesthetic related to an architectural theme. That we mirror contemporary art and culture is more important than a take on what´s trending or a specific media. We currently collaborate with artists between

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Galleri Kant

the ages of 30 and 80, who have diverse practices representing painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation both representational and non-representational. AMM: Earlier this year KANT participated in Market Art Fair, Expo Chicago and Code Art Fair (with Fold Gallery). What strategy do you apply to art fairs – How do you select which fairs to attend and what are some of your objectives for participating? GK: Since 2012 and our move to Copenhagen our international art fair participation has grown. In 2018 we collaborated with FOLD on exhibitions in our respective galleries and fairs, as we share artists and there are some similar aesthetics between the programmes. In February 2019 we team up again at Art Rotterdam presenting a dialogue show with Daniel Jensen (Sweden) and Kes Richardson (UK). Art Fairs are an important platform to promote the gallery and the represented artists. But as there are dozens of fairs, and we receive many invitations, we are selective and normally only apply for fairs that we consider to have a strong overall aesthetic and where there is a consistency in returning galleries. This is always a good indication that the fair organisation and programme works, and that the participating galleries are satisfied. There are five questions we consider before applying: Is the country and specific market relevant; can we easily maintain client contact, when the fair is over; do we have an artist or artists, which fit the overall curation of the fair; does the fair give career leverage to the artist and gallery; and what are the total costs? AMM: What are some of the challenges and learnings you’ve experienced over the years at Galleri KANT? GK: An important learning has been to understand the market hierarchies and establish our position within it, as this influences all aspects of decision making. We are for example consistent in securing and servicing our home market by focusing on a programme which is attractive for our Danish buyers and collectors. That the programme finds recognition among an international audience we consider as a bonus, but not the first objective. AMM: What is the contemporary fine art scene like in Copenhagen right now? GK: Since our opening in Copenhagen in 2012 the art scene has been clearly growing, becoming more international. Museums and institutions like Louisiana, SMK—The National Gallery, Copenhagen Contemporary and ARKEN have all seen growing numbers of visitors every year. Apart from the exhibitions they all have diverse events

Galleri Kant A Take On Paper artist: Francisco Mendes Moreira installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

“We don’t look for a specific aesthetic when considering new artists. Our intuitive understanding for what we consider interesting is the most important measure.” - Galleri Kant

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Galleri Kant

Galleri Kant A Take On Paper artist: Francisco Mendes Moreira installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

which subsequently attract a broad audience. The gap between non-commercial spaces and commercial galleries seems to be diminishing. The strong Danish economy plays a role but in general the art scene seems more open and accessible. Today the city numbers approximately 10 institutions, 10 artist-run spaces and 25 commercial galleries. AMM: Are there any trends shaping the Scandinavian and European art market that you’ve noticed? GK: Pretty difficult to pinpoint trends. AMM: What do you look for in the artists you work with and represent? How do you generally discover new artists? GK: We don’t look for a specific aesthetic when considering new artists. Our intuitive understanding for what we consider interesting is the most important measure. If we move forward with an artist it´s because we feel strongly about the work and the connected practice. Discovering new artists has definitely become much easier. We discover new positions through other artists, galleries, art fairs, mags and Instagram. Instagram has revolutionised the access to art discovery. AMM: What sort of working relationship do you have with the artists in your stable? GK: We manage a close working relationship with most of the artists. This can include archival maintenance, website updating, catalogues, client and press contact, logistics, texts and much more. We do many studio visits during the year, where we discuss the newest work and coming projects. Exhibitions and art fair participation are extra demanding. Most of the artists also have exhibitions or related activities outside the gallery, which we are often involved in. During the last two years we have worked on establishing good relationships with a number of international galleries with the intention to collaborate on future exhibitions with artists from our programmes. At the moment we have gallery relations in Stockholm, Zurich, Berlin, Helsinki and London. We are now starting to see the fruits of this work and can offer new opportunities for the artists.

AMM: What have been pivotal exhibitions or events for the gallery and why? GK: Opening in the hub of Copenhagen was definitely a game changer for the gallery and artists. AMM: What is your understanding of the role of a curator and what is your approach to curating at KANT? GK: We don’t see ourselves as curators in an academic sense. We seldom plan exhibitions with a specific content or underlying intention. We do not use art to promote our own ideas. We understand ourselves as gallerists, we facilitate exhibitions, which present the artists´ take on their own subject matter. Although, when all’s said and done, we of course choose the artists. AMM: In your view, what makes an exhibition a success? GK: Maybe the most important success criterion for an exhibition is that the artist’s “intention and result” are coherent. AMM: : What sort of relationship with collectors do you aim to establish and how do you go about maintaining them? GK: We recall the days when we were new gallerists and met other colleagues, who talked about the “collectors”. For a long time we thought that “having the right collectors” was the difference between success or failure. Today we look at it differently and have experienced that there are many different buyers. Our focus is to have professional and welcoming relationships with all our buyers and guests. Every customer receives the same discretion and service, and some buy several works, others buy one. AMM: : What advice do you find you most often give to buyers and collectors? GK: Support young artists. Trust what you see and invest in what you love. Art offers a longstanding and unique experience. AMM: What is next for you both and Galleri KANT? GK: Coming up at KANT in 2019 are 8 solo shows in Copenhagen, 3 group shows on the island and 3-4 art fairs.

Galleri Kant Toward Other Possible Conditions artist: Thomas Bang installation shot

AMM: There is a wide range of style and conceptual focus in the work of the artists KANT represents. What is the golden thread that ties everything together and defines the gallery’s positioning? GK: Looking critically at the programme, it spans philosophical, psychological, political, spiritual and decorative content. There are different takes on these issues represented in a diversity of artistic practice. Positioning the programme on a more secular strategy has never been our focus. ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11, Interviewed: Galleri Kant

Galleri Kant Toward Other Possible Conditions artist: Thomas Bang installation shot

Galleri Kant Back Room Project group exhibition installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

Galleri Kant A Take On Paper (detail) artist: Stephen Smith installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

Galleri Kant Demolition artist: Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

Galleri Kant A Take On Paper (detail) artist: Stephen Smith installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

Galleri Kant Demolition artist: Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen installation shot photography by David Stjernholm

curated selection of works by Anna Gram Sørensen and Kerry Harm Nielsen, directors and head curators of Galleri Kant, Copenhagen, Denmark Featured image: Franziska Reinbothe Untitled acrylic and forestry marker on canvas 22 x 17 x 7 inches more on p.79

J a n e s H a i d - S c h m a l l e n b e r g

Born in Warstein, Germany in 1988, I live and work in Berlin. In my deceptively offhand works I show a fragmented, coded language. My paintings balance on the brink of abstraction and figuration, reading like puzzles without a definite singular solution. I try to paint as if I was taking notes instead of painting something evident. The issues in my works don’t come on point. They are more surrounded or just tapped. In this way I try to show the correspondence between a static painting and the ephemeral reasons to paint it that way or to give it this content. Recent solo exhibitions include [sic] at Werk in Berlin (2018); Luck, Logic and White Lies at Storage Capacité in Frankfurt am Main (2018); The Dark Side of Consensus at Gallery Hoorn & Reniers in The Hague (2018) and Bocca Della Verita at EpicentroArt in Berlin (2014).

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.j-hs.de

Image:

Tekashi69 oil, acrylic on canvas 190 x 150 cm

Life finds a way oil, acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm

J a n e s H a i d - S c h m a l l e n b e r g

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.j-hs.de

Image:

Tekashi69 oil, acrylic on canvas 190 x 150 cm

Life finds a way oil, acrylic on canvas 180 x 150 cm

My current practice addresses the intersection of fact/fiction and reality/memory, and explores how we often exaggerate or manipulate the truth to satisfy our personal and emotional needs. Through large scale 3D collages built from photography, color, shape and texture, I weave together dissociated memories, times, places, moments and objects to render a new, ideal, more perfect reality.

www.jihyunhong.com

H o n g

Born in Seoul, Korea in 1985, Jihyun Hong presently lives and works in New York City. She received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her works have appeared in various solo and group exhibitions including “$1.99 cat, green Wendy” at Ortega y Gasset Projects in Brooklyn; “Apparitions” at Fjord in Philadelphia, and “mae-il mae-il” at Open Space in Baltimore, and she has been published by Hyperallergic and ARTFCITY. Jihyun has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo and The Wassaic Project and gained a fellowship at Vermont Studio Center. She will participate in a year-long residency at The Center for Book Arts (NYC) in 2019.

Image:

Spa Night digital prints, cardboard, clay 65 x 30 x 25 inches

Orange Crush digital prints, cardboard 30 x 20 x 10 inches

J i h y u n

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.jihyunhong.com

H o n g

Image:

Spa Night digital prints, cardboard, clay 65 x 30 x 25 inches

Orange Crush digital prints, cardboard 30 x 20 x 10 inches

J i h y u n

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

J u l i u s

H o f m a n n

Julius Hofmann, born 1983 in Göttingen, Germany. From 2005 to 2011 he studied at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) in Leipzig in the classes of Neo Rauch and later at Heribert C. Ottersbach. Already during the study of painting he experimented with video and film. In 2007 he started the transfer of his paintings into a stopmotion animation fim “Hundekonzert”. 2009 followed the emergence of the short films ‘’Regulator‘’ and 2012 ‘’LAPD’’. In 2015 he published the first part of his 3D animated film series ’’Might of Young Engines‘’. The project is self-contained short films. After completion of the last part (planned for 2020), the short films are to be assembled into a long film. The Museum of fine arts in Leipzig presented in 2018 in a solo show his animated films in dialog with his paintings. My paintings offer a transcendental experience: they reflect the aesthetic of a different medium—the digital aesthetic of computers. I have appropriated the audiovisual surfaces of 1990s computer game graphics and integrated these visuals and structures into the medium of painting and film. For me painting has paved the way for computer graphics. From my point of view the field has always profited from the achievements in painting. While I use computer game aesthetics in my painterly work, I in turn integrate elements from painting and sculpture in my digitally produced films. This “re-import” opens up a dialogue between paintings and 3D animations. Each of my works is embedded in a larger process and narrative that relates them to each other. Silicon Valley’s perfect replications of human bodies that appear on and off-screen as part of a post-humanist landscape are irrelevant for my work. Perfection is nothing but a definite end, a condition rather than a transition, a state of being instead of becoming. I’ll try in my works to shed light on an only reluctantly explored terrain between computer animation and painting.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.juliushofmann.de

Image:

Pantani acrylic on canvas 200 x 290 cm

Chimaera mixed media on paper 70 x 100 cm

J u l i u s

H o f m a n n

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.juliushofmann.de

Image:

Pantani acrylic on canvas 200 x 290 cm

Chimaera mixed media on paper 70 x 100 cm

N a s i m H a n t e h z a d e h

Nasim Hantehzadeh (Oklahoma City, OK b.1988) is based in Los Angeles, CA. She studied a BA at the Art and Architecture Tehran Center University in 2007, received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013, and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2018.

spaces. For instance, if the system of religion perpetuates a normalized violence in a society, that may indicate a perpetuation of a hidden oppression that impacts the movement of people in public and domestic spaces. I allow myself to combine painting and drawing methods in the process of making an artwork. To me, that system of field categorization based on material conveys an oppression that may prevent the artists and the viewers from thinking and experiencing beyond the boundaries of the educational system. Similar to that, categorizing people based on race, gender, culture, ideology, and nationality spreads a normalized violence that indicates a hidden oppression in Western societies.

She has participated in art residencies such as Vermont Studio Center (Jonson, VT), and her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as Human Resources and Ochi Projects (both Los Angeles, CA); the Vacation (New York, NY), and Lefebvre & Fils (Paris, France). Hantehzadeh is the recipient of a Resnick Scholarship, D’Arcy Hayman scholarship, and a UCLA Art Council award. When I was living in Iran, I was frustrated by the ways that Islam and its regulation of the female body determined my identity, and I was trying to analyze the system of violence that I experienced growing up in that society. After twenty one years I decided to move back to the United States. Since then, I experience the definition applied to my identity is expanded from my gender and ideology to my race, class, and culture. Therefore, to me that system of violence is expanded and placed into multiple categories of social systems.

www.nasimhantehzadeh.net

When I draw on paper, I imagine my studio space as a metaphor for social spaces. I walk from one side of the room to the other, sometimes climb a ladder to reach the top of the paper, and draw forms on my way down the ladder. In this way, I create a conversation between the materials, my studio space, and my body. After I am done drawing, I fill the forms out with colors. I keep the movement of my hand visible, resembling how brush strokes are visible on the surface of a painting. I think of color as a tool to attract the viewers’ eyes. The affection that colors create between the work and the viewer slowly leads the eyes towards forms and moves the eyes from one form to another inside the composition.

In my studio, if I think of the human body as an entity in the space, my inclination to categorize people, as I have been categorized, diminishes. I experiment through thinking about the conditions that social structures impose upon the movement of the human body in public and inside domestic

Image:

Six months before your birth oil pastel, color pencil, and graphite on paper 108 x 126 inches

Sunset in Woods oil pastel and graphite on paper 108 x 180 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

N a s i m H a n t e h z a d e h

www.nasimhantehzadeh.net

Image:

Six months before your birth oil pastel, color pencil, and graphite on paper 108 x 126 inches

Sunset in Woods oil pastel and graphite on paper 108 x 180 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

R y a n B r o w n i n g

I think of the shallow space appearing inside the edges of my paintings as a place to be occupied—a space to fall into. Characters sometimes reach into the frame, or in my imagining, wait just beyond its edge. When a painting is complete, I want this space to appear as if cut from a wider world, but existing only with the acute focus of a portrait—like a stage littered with props after the play has ended and the cast has disappeared behind the curtain. Surreal and abstracted elements enter into this space, sometimes conforming to the image’s compositional framework like elements in a poster or magazine cover, and sometimes resting in the staged space as if deflated or spent. Larger paintings sometimes take the form of many smaller paintings in antique frames interconnected to create one large image—the frames functioning as a screen providing a view into a parallel world. Beyond painting, I also create objects and sculpture meant to be experienced in the real world as artifacts pulled from this other space. The process of making paintings seems primary to me as a Thing That I Must Do, but creating other types of Things in the interdisciplinary sense is a kind of fourth wall break in this fictional world. Something like a carpet, a sculptural lamp, or a wall, etc., in an image is suddenly forced into real space, like a movie prop created in reverse. Born in Houston, Texas in 1981, Browning now lives in Doha, Qatar. He received his BA in Art History and Curatorial Studies from Brigham Young University and his MFA in Painting and Interdisciplinary Art from Maryland Institute College of Art. Browning has exhibited and curated in galleries and museums internationally—most recently at Manezh Gallery in St. Petersburg, Russia and ADA Gallery in Richmond Virginia, USA. His work has been written about on Art F City, ARTnews, and Juxtapoz. He is represented by ADA Gallery and is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar.

www.ryanbrowning.com

Image: Red Ruin oil on linen 70 x 60 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image (left):

Image (right):

20011 gouache on paper 20 x 16 inches

Hand Magic 3 gouache on paper 16 x 18 inches

R y a n B r o w n i n g

www.ryanbrowning.com

Image: Red Ruin oil on linen 70 x 60 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image (left):

Image (right):

20011 gouache on paper 20 x 16 inches

Hand Magic 3 gouache on paper 16 x 18 inches

P a d m a

F r a n z i s k a

R a j e n d r a n

R e i n b o t h e

www.padmarajendran.com

www.franziska-reinbothe.de

Home is a tended space, where the decorative beckons prosperity to flourish. The symbolism of “fruitfulness” within the home is a blessing and burden and has traditionally derived from the female body. My works on fabric are personal translations of shrine and monument to unacknowledged cultural, domestic experience. The vulnerability and trauma of moving from one place to another gets overlooked unless it is part of one’s personal history. Women are able to hold onto cultural elements of homeland much differently than children and men. I ask myself, how does the immigrant woman create and sustain her stories? I consider how I can honor these stories to bring them out of hiding. I am interested in the after effect of migration on interior and domestic life. The role of women and interior spaces are undoubtedly linked. I am curious about the unseen experiences and traces of labor that are lost to time and consumption. This disintegration accrues from migration and connects to cultural loss. How do we hold on to culture? These questions guide my work as I merge symbolic patterns and textile structures to communicate the quest for prosperity and (often) unattainable homecoming.

My name is Franziska Reinbothe. I was born in Berlin in 1980. From 2005 I studied Painting and Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, Germany. I finished with a Diploma in 2010 and concluded my studies with a Meisterschüler degree three years later. My work is represented by the Kim Behm Gallery for international contemporary art, Frankfurt/M. I regularly exhibit at home and abroad.

Padma Rajendran was born in Klang, Malaysia. She received her BA from Bryn Mawr College and received her MFA in Printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design. She currently lives and works in Catskill, NY and teaches printmaking at SUNY Purchase. She has exhibited at the International Print Center New York, Ortega y Gasset Projects (Brooklyn), and High Tide Gallery (Philadelphia). Her work has been featured in New American Paintings and Maake Magazine.

Image (left): Full Cup dye, cotton, machine sewing, polyester, pochoir, and trim on fabric 15 x 4 feet

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

My focus lies on non-objective painting. I examine different possibilities of transforming my paintings once I have finished the long lasting process of applying colour. I fold, cut, break or saw parts of my paintings. Afterwards, I stick, screw or sew these parts together anew. I want to let my paintings not only become spatial, but I want every part of them to be visible. I balance between control and accident. A short while ago, I started to use semi-transparent textiles. I always want to see what happens on the backsides or on the edges of paintings. There are traces left, which are not meant to be part of the presentation. But because of that, they bear a fascinating artistic immediacy and as far as possible I try to make them visible—by declaring the back sides of my paintings as front sides. To me, painting is not a conceptual, but a sensual issue. It is a language without words and by presenting the non-visible, the concealed of a painted image I simultaneously reveal it: Only now, it can be seen clearly.

Image (right): Lemon Life acrylic, paper, felt, polyester, silk, stitching on fabric 42 x 36 inches

Image (left): Reversed canvas, polyethylene, chiffon, polyester, yarn 23 x 15 x 1 inches

Image (right): Taille acrylic on canvas and chiffon, yarn 23 x 15 x 1 inches

P a d m a

F r a n z i s k a

R a j e n d r a n

R e i n b o t h e

www.padmarajendran.com

www.franziska-reinbothe.de

Image (left): Full Cup dye, cotton, machine sewing, polyester, pochoir, and trim on fabric 15 x 4 feet

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image (right): Lemon Life acrylic, paper, felt, polyester, silk, stitching on fabric 42 x 36 inches

Image (left): Reversed canvas, polyethylene, chiffon, polyester, yarn 23 x 15 x 1 inches

Image (right): Taille acrylic on canvas and chiffon, yarn 23 x 15 x 1 inches

Alexandria Deters, born in 1992 in California, is a Bronx, New York based artist. In 2016 she graduated with her MA in American Fine and Decorative Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York and in 2015 received her BA in Art History and Women and Gender Studies at San Francisco State University. She specializes in portraits that reveal the beauty inherent in the vulnerability of sexuality expression. While continually working on her practice, Deters is a free-lance writer that interviews artists and writes art reviews for the celebrated art blog Gallery Gurls and queer magazine EL CHAMP. “Send N00dz” is a series of highly sexualized portraits. I base these embroidered portraits solely on self-portraits that my subjects give to me. One of the most important parts of my practice is the removal of any mediation of the initial representation of my subjects. I base my portraiture on erotic photographs that my subjects take of themselves. These self-portraits reflect an intense intimacy that can’t be replicated. If someone else takes your photo, you’re not in control of the lens. You’ve given them power over images that are supposed to reveal who you are. When you take a photo of yourself, you take your power back. You produce images that project only your own self-concept.

www.uncommonbeautygallery.com

A l e x a n d r i a D e t e r s

Simultaneously, the experience of creating intimate self-portraits increases my subjects’ positivity about their bodies and their sexuality—they take photographs that make them feel good enough to share them with others. In the Snapchat era, people are increasingly sharing such intimate selfportraits. But these images are also far more ephemeral than ever before. Rather than allowing these instants of body positivity to be lost, I use craft to memorialize them as a lasting reminder of my subjects’ self-approbation. My process is rooted in consent. My practice initially started with my own self-portraits; then it expanded organically as my friends asked me to make portraits of them. To assure that my subjects retain their own agency, I only title my works numerically. The decision to reveal that they’re the subject of my work is entirely up to the individual. My hope is that my work enables viewers to see the unique beauty in themselves, as well as in all types of bodies and sexual expression.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image:

#8 from the series Send N00dz embroidery on fabric 12.5 x 10.8 inches

#10 from the series Send N00dz embroidery on fabric 11.8 x 11.39 inches

www.uncommonbeautygallery.com

A l e x a n d r i a D e t e r s

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image:

#8 from the series Send N00dz embroidery on fabric 12.5 x 10.8 inches

#10 from the series Send N00dz embroidery on fabric 11.8 x 11.39 inches

V a l d e m a r B i s g a a r d

T h o m s e n

www.instagram.com/valdemar.bisgaard.thomsen

E i n a r i H y v ö n e n www.einarihyvonen.fi

Einari Hyvönen creates lo-fi digital aesthetic inspired paintings using oil and acrylic colours with image transfer technique. He blends together popular culture through a bootleg filter with internet memes and his digital working environment to create playful visual cacophony—snapshots. The work aims to express and question the visual communication of the millennials, and to provoke one to think what the imagery of this era is. Student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, schools of visual arts. Material and room oriented practice. I am interested in city development, industrial production, restrictions in public spaces and architecture. Using a combination of handmade objects and materials with direct links to specific locations I explore mine yours ours.

Image (left):

Image (right):

M1 plaster negative made after metalcontainer from the rebuilding of the Metro station at Kongens Nytorv (Copenhagen), bone from collection, weight band 250 x 150 x 150 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

sct. ag 2 (detail) diverse plastic containers 40 x 200 x 50 cm

Einari Hyvönen (b. 1989, Salo, Finland) lives and works in Oulu, Finland. He graduates from Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (BA) in June 2019. Hyvönen has had several solo and group exhibitions, mostly in his native land. To mention a few highlights, in 2018 he was invited to XXIII Mänttä Art Festival. In 2017 he had a solo exhibition in ARTag Gallery in Helsinki. In 2016 he was invited to Finlayson Art Area in Tampere, and to Northern Finland Biennial, The Snowball Effect 3 at Aine Art Museum.

Image: Social Media Survivor oil colour, acrylic colour and image transfer on cotton 50 x 65 cm

V a l d e m a r B i s g a a r d

T h o m s e n

www.instagram.com/valdemar.bisgaard.thomsen

E i n a r i H y v ö n e n www.einarihyvonen.fi

Image (left):

Image (right):

M1 plaster negative made after metalcontainer from the rebuilding of the Metro station at Kongens Nytorv (Copenhagen), bone from collection, weight band 250 x 150 x 150 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

sct. ag 2 (detail) diverse plastic containers 40 x 200 x 50 cm

Image: Social Media Survivor oil colour, acrylic colour and image transfer on cotton 50 x 65 cm

E m m a

A i n a l a

Emma Ainala’s paintings contain references to popular culture, social media, the games and toys of the artist’s own childhood and, at the same time, to various periods of art history. Ainala describes the mood of her paintings as film stills, as moments suspended from time, which have something strangely familiar and yet unidentified about them. Ainala’s paintings are a form of visual fun, a jungle of symbols, figures and elements. It is impossible to get a coherent impression of a painting all in one go, as more new details are constantly emerging. Her works are like kaleidoscopes, highly multi-dimensional, both visually and in their content. She is intrigued by the idea of convolutedness—of how things can be viewed from many different angles, instead of acceding to the pressure to package and squeeze them into some easily understandable form. Being a woman, sexuality, human relationships and power structures, social roles, the meaning vacuum, escapism, consumerism, the effects of individualism, longing for love, fear – these are just a few of the common threads running through the plethora of Ainala’s themes.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.helsinkicontemporary.com/artist/emma-ainala

Image:

Girls Just Wanna Be Gone 2018 oil on canvas 160 x 160 cm

I’m The Neck That Turns The Head, The Head And The Sexy Body 2018 oil on canvas 160 x 160 cm

E m m a

A i n a l a

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.helsinkicontemporary.com/artist/emma-ainala

Image:

Girls Just Wanna Be Gone 2018 oil on canvas 160 x 160 cm

I’m The Neck That Turns The Head, The Head And The Sexy Body 2018 oil on canvas 160 x 160 cm

B e n

J a r y

S i e k i e r s k i

N i e b u r

www.bensiekierski.com

Creating humor and critique from unlikely corners of an American psyche, my work currently explores the mundane in an attempt to reckon with the present I find myself inhabiting. Business Charts and Swimming Pools give host to various dueling ideologies. The work itself is structured around my own experiences and how I conduct my own thought process as I reckon with the world I find myself in. Often the subject matter I tackle involves rigid rule systems and norms, these rules are applied aesthetically with precise grids, text in the form of one-liners, and sarcastic observations.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.jaryniebur.wordpress.com

I grew up near Cologne, Germany. Following a few exhibitions in Cologne, I eventually studied software engineering there. In 2010, I resettled to San Francisco where I live and work today. After a long break from art, I rented studio space in 2014 and went back to painting. Since then, I’ve participated in juried group shows in San Francisco and Oakland, had a couple of solo exhibitions and was nominated for the TOSA Studio Award and the SECA Award in 2018. In my early teens, I developed a concave chest. My ribs formed a cove to the right of my sternum. My practice is a way of coping with my condition as I explore concepts around exposure and perception. My painting surface is a sheer variant of interfacing, a textile used on the inside of garments to stiffen parts like collars and cuffs. To me, stiff or rigid clothes are a sanctuary. They hide my malformed chest by keeping textile from sinking into my rib cage. When preparing grids, I always work my way from the center to the edges. As I slowly apply tape, I obsess about the symmetry that unfolds, a symmetry I envy every healthy man for. My grids are composed of metal leaf and iridescent paints. Toying with the viewer, the grids change depending on distance and angle. My paintings track the viewer’s motion, they survey their environment. Through this effect, I reverse the surveillance I perceive when my deformity is exposed. Following tests and assessments, I declined to have corrective surgery when I was younger. Today, my practice is a correction of my skewed self-image, an expression of a deep and frivolous desire, to strut around with a straight back and a healthy set of ribs.

Image:

Circling the Drain ceramic tile, grout, glazed porcelain, graphite, artist frame 24 x 23 inches

Untitled interference acrylic, PVA on interfacing 18 x 16 inches

B e n

J a r y

S i e k i e r s k i

N i e b u r

www.bensiekierski.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.jaryniebur.wordpress.com

Image:

Circling the Drain ceramic tile, grout, glazed porcelain, graphite, artist frame 24 x 23 inches

Untitled interference acrylic, PVA on interfacing 18 x 16 inches

Fabian Matz, born 1986 in Basel, Switzerland. From 2006 to 2010, he completed an apprenticeship as a desktop publisher with a vocational diploma in design at Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel and Schule für Gestaltung Basel. From 2013 to 2016 he studied Art & Interpretation at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2016, the Kunstmuseum Olten awarded him the prize for an exhibition of artworks portraying the relationship between female clothing and the male body. Today he lives and works in Reinach and Basel in north-western Switzerland. Fine-mesh polyamide tights are the primary material I use in my sculpture, installation, photography and graphics-based pieces. I often supplement this feminine material with an epoxy resin to add a three-dimensional effect to my work. I also consider my studio— which can exist outside of my home in an exhibition context—as a research space. I investigate the behaviour of this delicate artificial fabric, approaching it with an intense curiosity. I try to create something abstract, bizarre and grotesque with this familiar fashion accessory. I get inspired by the materials themselves, whether these comprise a mix of just polyamide tights and resin or incorporate other objects and materials as well. In my work, I extract the tights’ function as a piece of clothing that is closer to the body than any other fashion accessory, one that adapts to muscles and bones like skin. I create structures that are both light and heavy, fragile and sturdy. These often emerge as groups in a serial working process. I also do not regard the pieces as self-contained and self-defining. The pieces evolve depending on the setup of the exhibition space or room layout, adjusting to the environment the way fine-mesh tights adapt to the body.

F a b i a n M a t z

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.fabianmatz.com

Image:

six-pack-bodybuilding polyamide socks, epoxy resin variable dimensions

chair leg extended stretch polyamide tights, epoxy resin, boot/shoe, wooden chair 89 x 57 x 52 cm

F a b i a n M a t z

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.fabianmatz.com

Image:

six-pack-bodybuilding polyamide socks, epoxy resin variable dimensions

chair leg extended stretch polyamide tights, epoxy resin, boot/shoe, wooden chair 89 x 57 x 52 cm

R o m a A u s k a l n y t e

‘We are in a constant state with our body, but we become aware of it only when some faults happen like cuts, illnesses or traumas.’ Roma is exploring the body and its “fleshness” as material in printmaking, the importance of gesture, labour time and repetition which are always hidden behind the final print. Printmaking processes influence her, how they lead to new, ambiguous transformations of old ideas. The body for Roma becomes the surface to work with and to work on: it is a press, a paper, a matrix and the colour. She tends to experiment with different media from printmaking to performance or even photography looking for the right way to express her thoughts. Roma Auskalnyte was born in 1988 in Lithuania. She received her BA in printmaking in 2012 from Vilnius Academy of Arts (Lithuania) and MA in printmaking in 2016 from University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland). Roma works as a visual artist in Helsinki, also teaches offset printing at Kuvataideakatemia (University of the Arts) and assists with lithography printing at the Helsinki Litho workshop.

www.roma-auskalnyte.eu

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image:

Titled C-print 150 x 90 cm

Perfect Posture top: video installation, 8 min loop bottom: performance, 20 min

R o m a A u s k a l n y t e

www.roma-auskalnyte.eu

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image:

Titled C-print 150 x 90 cm

Perfect Posture top: video installation, 8 min loop bottom: performance, 20 min

A a r o n S a n d n e s

It is important for me to use the platform of art making to address my political concerns. My artwork directs attention towards social themes of power, violence and anarchism by subverting minimalist tropes. As an artist, I make my work from the position of the Anti- Hero. For me, the symbol of the Anti-Hero (commonly understood to lack conventional heroic attributes) represents the idea of overcoming alienation. This theme allows me to explore my political interests while simultaneously drawing from my life experiences. I adopt certain languages from the Minimalist canon with a distinct political slant. Ad Reinhardt’s Black Painting(s) enact a form of protest addressing social and artistic ideals. My Death Marks the Spot series act in protest to governmental, capitalist violence. Politically, I am focused on the spaces in which commitment to any ideology obstructs humanity from progressing. I reference anarchy as I see anarchistic acts as attempts to reconcile these obstructions. Though my artwork spans a range of disciplines I often employ red herrings as a conceptual framework to contradict the expectations of my gestures with political themes. Exploiting seductive aesthetics is a methodology that enables me to interject my political positions without being overtly didactic. By producing accessible art objects, I am able to permeate my position from the inside, rather than explicit display from the outside. Aaron Sandnes holds an MFA from CalArts (2007) and a BFA from UC Irvine (2003). His inner-disciplinary practice is rooted in themes of violence, politics, and speed while embracing poetic gestures. Aaron is a recipient of the California Community Foundation grant (2017) and recently attended Arteles Creative Center Artist Residency (Finland). He has exhibited his work in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Milwaukee, and Austin (USA); Zurich and Basel, Switzerland; Oslo, Norway, and Tijuana, Mexico. Aaron lives and works in Los Angeles. It’s been a difficult year, witnessing the terror that my Government (one that I do not identify with) freely wields on its own people and the world, alike. I have dedicated my efforts, including the artwork I make, to being on the right side of history. Now, more than ever, is a time to celebrate diversity in all forms and support every bit that inspires overcoming the hate and racism that is the US Government; support every bit that inspires the forces that bring us closer and makes us better human beings.

www.aaronsandnes.com

Image (left):

Image (right):

Amnesiac ball point pen on found New York Times Newspaper (September 11, 2001- Los Angeles Morning Edition) 26 x 13.5 inches

Interest of the Strong neon, electronics, spray paint variable dimensions

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

A a r o n S a n d n e s

www.aaronsandnes.com

Image (left):

Image (right):

Amnesiac ball point pen on found New York Times Newspaper (September 11, 2001- Los Angeles Morning Edition) 26 x 13.5 inches

Interest of the Strong neon, electronics, spray paint variable dimensions

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

M a r i s a

F e r r e i r a

www.marisa-ferreira.com

My work is mainly sculptural, space has always been a very interesting medium for me. I am interested in questioning the relationship between body and space, art and context, by working within the context of existing historical, architectural and social elements. I have much fun working in the public space, I find it both inspiring and challenging for me as each place has its own identity and specificity. I see my practice with a before and after the research I did on the cultural and political implications of Biella`s industrial ruins during an artistic residence on “Social Engaged Art” at the Michelangelo Pistoletto Foundation in Biella, Italy. Often referencing the post-industrial city, in particular the Vale do Ave region in the north of Portugal where I was born, my work questions how these architectural structures of ‘abandoned’ industrial heritage can be used to understand our collective past and how that can be employed to create a future of positive and multifaceted identity. My works call for an emotional and physical experience of colour, and the materials I use, mainly metals and glass, reflect and refract the artwork itself and the surroundings thus creating immersive environments which engage and challenge our perception of space. My project “Shall we dance?” (2017) commissioned by the Oslo City Council was recently featured as one of the 10 best outdoors art installations worldwide by the English newspaper The Guardian (August 2018).

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image:

Race to the bottom powder coated steel, mirrored acrylic glass 160 x 120 x 45 cm photography by Carlos Ramos

Series Cabinet I powder coated steel, galvanized steel, mirrored acrylic glass, coloured acrylic glass 194 x 200 x 10 cm photography by Carlos Ramos

M a r i s a

F e r r e i r a

www.marisa-ferreira.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image:

Race to the bottom powder coated steel, mirrored acrylic glass 160 x 120 x 45 cm photography by Carlos Ramos

Series Cabinet I powder coated steel, galvanized steel, mirrored acrylic glass, coloured acrylic glass 194 x 200 x 10 cm photography by Carlos Ramos

Dominic Till (b. 1990, UK) is an artist whose practice has at its root a preoccupation with language, and observations of everyday life in an emotive and socio-political context. With this in mind, Till deals with the use of language in and amongst power structures, oscillating between how that is used by those wielding influence, and the effect it has on those without. His work predominately follows a sculptural process of layering, which unfolds across a variety of mediums, including sound, sculpture and text. Till is a graduate of the MA Photography programme at the Royal College of Art, London (2017) and was most recently an artist-in-residence at Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop, London. Having shown both nationally and internationally, Till has shown work as part of Peckham 24 at Copeland Gallery, London, as well as working collaboratively with Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool. In 2016 he was included in the XL Catlin Art Guide, as well as being a nominee for the Magnum Graduate Photographers Award in the same year. Using an idiom that is coupled with a suggestive framework in We Could Turn The Tides, Till looks at how language is used to orchestrate power and the limits of language in the contemporary. Till thinks of idioms as a sign of impotence towards subject matter as they are used both frequently and flippantly by both the media and political class alike. The piece is designed to be paradoxical in nature by using neon, a typically commercial product, to both highlight and deprecate the offhandedness in which phrases are used. The words that are on display emphasise a desire for change but also emulate a struggle for that.

D o m i n i c

T i l l

In F... T... F/P... .doc, Till looks at the intertwined nature of language in corporate and political spheres. The work uses repetitive language and attempts to embed itself into the mind of the observer. Using the words ‘fear these faces, fear these phrases’, reworked and reconfigured to form a text piece that is activated as an object, questions surrounding the voice and authority arise. Till reverses the text, a marketing strategy effectively used by the likes of YouTube, to comment on the power of words and how they are used from a corporatocratic perspective.

www.dominictill.com

Image:

F… T… F/P... .doc mixed media 57 x 100 x 1.7 cm

We Could Turn The Tides installation 119 x 32 x 5.5 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

D o m i n i c

T i l l

www.dominictill.com

Image:

F… T… F/P... .doc mixed media 57 x 100 x 1.7 cm

We Could Turn The Tides installation 119 x 32 x 5.5 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Maureen Meyer (b. 1976, Nuremberg, Germany) received her degree in graphic design from the Pennsylvania State University in 1997. She has held design positions at Calvin Klein, Visionaire / V Magazine and cofounded the women’s clothing line Flowers of Romance in 2005. Her career in fashion and textile design has been an influence in her paintings. While studying at the Women’s Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY) in 2007, Maureen’s relationship and experimentation with indigo dye began. Her work has been shown with Young Space at Standard Projects (Hortonville, WI), Alfa Gallery (Miami, FL), The Painting Center (New York, NY), Chesterfield Gallery (New York, NY), The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY) and NURTUREart (New York, NY). Maureen won the ArtSlant prize where her work was shown at Aqua Art (Miami, FL) and has been featured in Studio Visit magazine. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

www.maureen-meyer.com

M a u r e e n

Maureen Meyer is a painter inspired by her background in fashion and textile design. Her process begins with fabric experimentations using indigo dye. She combines various resist dye techniques, including stitching and clamping to create unexpected patterns on the materials. Meyer references this process rooted in craft to create the abstract compositions in her paintings. The rich indigo color is achieved by painting multiple layers of indigo pigment mixed with an acrylic polymer. The realized paintings are intricate interpretations of the dyed fabrics, exploring their luminous and organic qualities.

M e y e r

Image:

Blue Brooklime acrylic on canvas 22 x 18 inches

Bluebell acrylic on canvas 22 x 18 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.maureen-meyer.com

M a u r e e n

M e y e r

Image:

Blue Brooklime acrylic on canvas 22 x 18 inches

Bluebell acrylic on canvas 22 x 18 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

T i m o A n d e r s s o n

I’m a Finnish artist born in 1989 and currently based in Helsinki, Finland. I hold an MFA degree from the Academy of Fine Arts there. I’ve taken part in several solo, two-person, and group exhibitions in Helsinki and Turku. In addition to private collections, my work is included in the collections of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Arts. I’ve received grants and bursaries from Kone Foundation, the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and the Finnish Art Society. I have a strong background in painting and especially drawing. In recent years I’ve also increasingly worked with sculpture, installation and production of experimental electronic music. You could say work is both an in-depth, almost hedonistic exploration of form, color, gesture and texture, but also a sort of whimsical way of looking at how things work together in a common space, be that in my studio or in a gallery situation. Or they can be about making things for the joy of it, and because it makes me feel good about myself and the world—which I’ve always thought is a very underrated justification for making art. Just making interesting objects and looking at them and trying to briefly have a good time in an increasingly distressing world. They’re also about information and how an object can be ‘read’ and at what level. There’s this idea of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ information I’ve been thinking about; there’s often something clearly defined against a backdrop of what is essentially noise. There’s a lot of that kind of dichotomies going on in my work; space and emptiness, the aforementioned blur and clarity, line and color field, the rigid rectangle form of the wooden frames versus the innate softness of the painting’s actual materials, weight and heaviness, the living gesture against the completely dead, plastic, synthetic grid of the fabric... Physical material is ultimately something I always keep coming back to when thinking of my work. Polyester mesh fabric itself, if I hadn’t been using it so much, would be pretty much meaningless to me. But since it’s something I’ve worked with so much, it has reached a point of almost poetic significance to me. That’s why I seldom use found objects. Everything I work with should have a personal connection to myself; the sculptures I’ve done always use pieces of things I’ve worn or otherwise used, the straps and fabrics something I remember from my elementary school backpacks and sport jackets. Heightening otherwise uninteresting, synthetic materials by making increasingly personal objects that are both explorations of form and color, but also mirrors of not only the working process itself is the gist of it.

www.timo.website

Image:

Throe 2 acrylic and markers on polyester and canvas, polypropylene strap 18 x 24 cm

Untitled acrylic and markers on polyester and PVC, polypropylene strap 138 cm x 200 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

T i m o A n d e r s s o n

www.timo.website

Image:

Throe 2 acrylic and markers on polyester and canvas, polypropylene strap 18 x 24 cm

Untitled acrylic and markers on polyester and PVC, polypropylene strap 138 cm x 200 cm

100

101

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

C h r i s t o p h e r

C a p o y i a n e s

After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in the Spring of 2016, I have continued my studio practice here in Chicago, IL. My work sets the stage for addictive personalities and puts them under a spotlight. Often pulling from past work environments (typically bars) I aim to explore an ongoing theme of nightlife, while adding snippets of dreams, superstition and fantasy. What does superstition look like? A seedy underbelly exposed in plain sight and other times only peeking through the shadows. Through the haze of debauchery lurks a sinister psychological frisson in which an altered state of consciousness subverts reality and appearances become deceptive.

www.chriscapoy.com

Image (left): The Holy Ghost graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

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Image (right): Purgatory graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches

Image: All In A Life’s Work graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches

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C h r i s t o p h e r

C a p o y i a n e s

www.chriscapoy.com

Image (left): The Holy Ghost graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

102

Image (right): Purgatory graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches

Image: All In A Life’s Work graphite 11.5 x 9.5 inches

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J o s h u a

A r m i t a g e

www.josharmitage.co.uk

R u d y

C r e m o n i n i

www.rudycremonini.com

Joshua Armitage, from West Yorkshire, UK studied at Batley School of Art, Manchester School of Art and the Royal College of Art graduating in 2012. Armitage’s work is held in collections internationally and he is a visiting lecturer specializing in drawing at Kingston University, UCA Farnham, the National Film and Television School and Goldsmiths, University of London. His work stems from observational drawing. Believing that the shapes, forms and gestures collected in these drawings are far more interesting than those he could invent. He is then free to use these in a pliable way allowing the process to lead to more aesthetic surprises. I want to preserve a sense of drawing within the paintings I make and also open the images up to yet more variables that can lead to an image that feels right. My own history informs the work I make, and the memories of my life creep in to the paintings imbuing them with feelings of loss, disconnect, reverie and joy. Even though most of my work begins as observations of things I encounter now the images become tainted by my own memory. I want to catch within the paintings some very specific, potent feelings that I find hard to describe but that occur at certain times throughout my life. I want to use light and space and the process of making paintings to recreate an idea of these feelings.

Image (left): Brick Painting II oil on canvas 10 x 12 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image (right): Brick Painting VI oil on canvas 10 x 12 inches

104

Born in 1981 in Italy where I live and work. I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, and am represented in Germany by the Galerie Thomas Fuchs of Stuttgart, and in Italy by Galleria Doris Ghetta and Galleria L’Ariete. The last public show finished in November 2018 at the Royal Palace of Caserta. The sinister thing is that perhaps there is pleasure in this kind of sacrifice; we are all predisposed to sacrifice certain things in exchange for survival. This is fundamentally the theme that occurs throughout my work.

Image: Lustful cupido oil on linen 40 x 50 cm

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J o s h u a

A r m i t a g e

www.josharmitage.co.uk

R u d y

C r e m o n i n i

www.rudycremonini.com

Image (left): Brick Painting II oil on canvas 10 x 12 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Image (right): Brick Painting VI oil on canvas 10 x 12 inches

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Image: Lustful cupido oil on linen 40 x 50 cm

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G r a c e M a t t i n g l y

Grounded in my present life and relationships, my work celebrates sensual pleasure and aliveness in queer, gender non-conforming, and femme bodies and plants as my vision of a transformed future. Bold, vibrant, blocks of color with high value contrast introduce airy, lightfilled spaces of sensual pleasure. These include gardens, conservatories, bathrooms, bedrooms, and stages. Larger-than-life sized figures use their perceptual senses—touch, sight, smell, sound—to engage with their surroundings, often with their backs or profiles facing viewers, inviting them into these spaces. Visible underdrawing on clear gessoed canvas and dripping paint and visible brushstrokes formally reinforce this pleasurable content by bringing viewers into a sensual relationship with the materials I use. I’m particularly interested in pleasure from the perspective of thinkers such as Adrienne Maree Brown and Audre Lorde who discussed the radical potential of the erotic as “an assertion of the life force of women; of that creative energy empowered” that is activated in moments of pleasure and deep connections with others, and is essentially political as well as spiritual. Through suggestions of movement, of the figure as well as my own body, I indicate the aliveness of the bodies I showcase, plant and human alike. I use strong diagonals, fast marks, and repeating figures in the same frame—for example, the strong diagonal of the central figure in Molly in the Greenhouse, and her repeated body throughout the painting—suggest the movement and aliveness of her body. Scholar-activists such as Starhawk have inspired my reconsidering of aliveness (as non-hierarchical, for example) as a tool to reimagine our relations not only with the environment and animals, but also with each other.

www.gracemattingly.com

Image:

Emma in the Garden II oil on canvas 36 x 48 inches

Molly in the Greenhouse oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

G r a c e M a t t i n g l y

www.gracemattingly.com

Image:

Emma in the Garden II oil on canvas 36 x 48 inches

Molly in the Greenhouse oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

Tr a c y K e r d m a n

I was born in Huntington, West Virginia, a city now known as the heart of the opioid epidemic. At the age of five I moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I studied painting at the College of Charleston where I earned a BA in Studio Art. In 2010, I moved to New York to continue my study of painting at the National Academy Museum and School and MoMA, where I would take extensive lecture classes. My paintings have been exhibited in Germany, Canada, New York and throughout the United States, from the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, to the Museum of Fine Arts in Tallahassee, Florida. I live and paint in Hell’s Kitchen in NYC with my husband. I mostly buy vintage photographs online as references for my paintings. The other images are those I glean from the internet. I like that the images are not personal to me and I can create the memories I want. As someone who was born in the Rust Belt and with family affected by the opioid epidemic, there isn’t much left to where I come from. I use other people’s sold and bought histories and memories. I like to explore the idea of reality, and particularly in today’s world, what is false and what is true. How much does our memory contribute to identity, as well as a home we can come back to? The idea that these photographs of other people’s lives, their milestones and achievements, are up for sale to begin with is another layer of distortion embedded into the work. Somehow the images belong to no one yet are familiar to everyone.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.tkerdman.com

Image:

Image (left):

Image (right):

Lifelike oil on wood 18 x 24 inches

Boy Next Door oil on panel 16 x 16 inches

Cake oil on panel 16 x 20 inches

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Tr a c y K e r d m a n

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: curated selection

www.tkerdman.com

Image:

Image (left):

Image (right):

Lifelike oil on wood 18 x 24 inches

Boy Next Door oil on panel 16 x 16 inches

Cake oil on panel 16 x 20 inches

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K e n i c h i

S u s a n

H o s h i n e

R e e d y

www.kenichihoshine.com

www.susanreedy.com

Susan Reedy’s mixed media works on canvas lie at the intersection of painting, drawing and collage and explore the passage of time. The work speaks to her interest and attraction to exterior walls, signs, and facades that have accumulated layers of posters, fliers, tags, accidental mark making and graffiti.

Kenichi Hoshine was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1977. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1999 with a BFA and he currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He is also currently a faculty member at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

The work is fabricated using ephemera such as posters, vintage dictionaries, musical scores, and magazines combined with paint, oil stick, and graphite pencil. The source materials are found and salvaged by stripping accumulated posters off of urban street construction sites, and sifting through boxes and shelves at flea markets, used bookstores, and estate sales. These materials are not difficult to come by as they are becoming devalued and discarded as we mark the shift from analog to digital technology

Theater sets, botched military campaigns, neglected wallpapers, and nocturnal anxieties are some of the ideas that have found their way into my recent body of work. The paintings are like an editing room floor; a surface built upon failures and incidental mark making where a friable foundation forms. I seek to spotlight the absurd and the mundane through my obsessive, near-futile efforts.

Reedy’s work has been exhibited widely, including solo and two person exhibitions at OK Harris Gallery, Anna Kaplan Contemporary, Hewitt Gallery, Castellani Art Museum, and the Amherst Museum. Group exhibitions include Pierogi Gallery, Islip Art Museum, Albright Knox Art Gallery, and the Memorial Art Gallery. Permanent collections include the Castellani Art Museum, Memorial Art Gallery, Hyatt 48 Lex, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Mobil Corporation. She received her MFA from SUNY at Buffalo and currently maintains her studio in upstate New York.

Image: Bletchley Park acrylic on wood 20 x 24 inches

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Image: Urban Passage 21 acrylic, vintage dictionary, magazine, sheet music, posters, graphite pencil and oil stick on canvas 56 x 46 inches

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K e n i c h i

S u s a n

H o s h i n e

R e e d y

www.kenichihoshine.com

www.susanreedy.com

Image: Bletchley Park acrylic on wood 20 x 24 inches

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Image: Urban Passage 21 acrylic, vintage dictionary, magazine, sheet music, posters, graphite pencil and oil stick on canvas 56 x 46 inches

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J a s m i n e

Z e l a y a

Jasmine Zelaya is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute and received her BFA in Painting in 2006. She was awarded a residency through the Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2008. Based in Houston, her work has been exhibited throughout the US, including in association with the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and Deitch Projects. She was the cover artist for New American Paintings, West Issue #132. Most recently, her painting “Twins” was displayed on the Main Street Marquee, a billboard- sized installation displayed on the exterior of the Main Street Market building in Downtown Houston. This body of work is informed by my experience as the daughter of immigrants, and as a woman of color. Through portraiture and the language of paint, this series explores themes of identity, beauty, gender and race through the ritual of ornamentation. Painterly swales of color intersect, while a myriad of luminous rhinestones speckle the landscape. Floral elements are utilized as graphic representations of not only a familial narrative, but also the contrast of the natural and artificial world. Lush flowers, vines and patterns emerge in order to immerse the subject and capture the viewer’s attention.

www.Jasminezelaya.com

The subjects are at once disengaged while others display various degrees of intimacy. The women are depicted as both virtuous and erotic vessels, and draw references from Bernini’s “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa”. The distinction of emotions is convoluted. There is at once a sense of eroticism blurred with anguish. The duality of these themes, are as relevant today as they were during the 17th century.

Image:

Me Time gouache and rhinestones on arches watercolor paper 10 x 14 inches

Ritual Mask gouache, acrylic, oil paint, ink, rhinestones, glitter, metallic confetti and gold leaf on arches watercolor paper 10 x 14 inches

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J a s m i n e

Z e l a y a

www.Jasminezelaya.com

Image:

Me Time gouache and rhinestones on arches watercolor paper 10 x 14 inches

Ritual Mask gouache, acrylic, oil paint, ink, rhinestones, glitter, metallic confetti and gold leaf on arches watercolor paper 10 x 14 inches

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A d o l f o G u t i e r r e z

Adolfo Gutierrez’s art forces its audience to look beyond the lines and colors, in order to break apart the stories told in a language reminiscent of hieroglyphics. These symbols serve as visual metaphors, describing the conflicts occurring in Latin American countries that have caused their citizens to leave their homes, the hardships of departure, the process of migration, and arrival in a new country with different customs and conflicts. It explores the notion of finding a home away from home, and the unknown stories of those who have come to the US. His color palette draws on the exteriors of homes found across Latin America, and is a reminder of his roots.

www.adolfogutierrez.net

Image: Florero de Vida (Vase of Life) acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches

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Image: Untitled Vase (Florero) acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

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A d o l f o G u t i e r r e z

www.adolfogutierrez.net

Image: Florero de Vida (Vase of Life) acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches

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Image: Untitled Vase (Florero) acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

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Y u - J i n K i m

www.yu-jin-kim.net

Yu-Jin Kim is a South Korean artist who works primarily in video and installation. She studied fine art (film and video) in HBK Braunschweig, Germany, in the class of Prof. Candice Breitz and Prof. Corinna Schnitt. In 2017, she studied in Kyoto Seika University as an exchange student with a Promos scholarship. A wind blowing sound breaks the silence as a tiny metal disk, hanging between the structure and human, rotates. The disk cries out as it moves, but not too loud, so it can be heard only in total silence. Its vibration tickles the soft lips of a human through the thread that is hanging from the corner of the structure opposite. Both the structure and human are linked to each other. They exchange the power gradually, from one to the other, which lets the disk between them become alive.

V a n &

S a n t e n

B o l l e u r s

www.vansantenbolleurs.com

Wendy van Santen (1980) and Hans Bolleurs (1977) are a Rotterdam based artist couple. Their playful work is meant as an antidote to a stressed out society obsessed with perfectionism. In their work they decontextualize everyday objects and use these to create new visual meaning. They juxtapose symbols from different worlds and isolate these objects in an artificial setting. They bring classic Dutch still life subject matter like flowers and food into the post modern neo pop age. Their irreverent sense of humour and poppy use of color makes their creations seem superfluous and lighthearted but there’s a sinister undertone to their weird and wonderful world. Their work has been featured in various photography exhibitions like Screenings Berlin, Photo Off Paris and the Venice Food Design Week. They had a Solo show in Vondel CS Amsterdam and are selected for the Rotterdam Photo Festival in 2019.

Image: Starrende Scheibe performance

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Image: Dare to fail photography 49 x 73.5 cm

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Y u - J i n K i m

www.yu-jin-kim.net

V a n &

S a n t e n

B o l l e u r s

www.vansantenbolleurs.com

Image: Starrende Scheibe performance

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Image: Dare to fail photography 49 x 73.5 cm

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S a n n e M a l o e

S l e c h t

Sanne Maloe Slecht (1987) comes from The Netherlands, where she did her BA at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After eight years of being a struggling artist, she decided to pursue her MA. She’s currently in the final year of MA Painting at the Royal College of Art in London. In her works, Sanne Maloe explores the possibilities of visualising the unimaginable. Drawn from contemporary theory juxtaposing quantum-physics and philosophy, she composes visual riddles that occupy multiple planes, realities and languages. In a space inhabited by possibility, she emulates that what we know—taking parts of the natural, or real, pulling them apart and reassembling them in a distinct and rebellious way; dismissing taste as a relevant criteria—so that it exceeds its natural counterpart. Taking the ‘blob’ as the main inhabitant and form of this new found space, her works revolve around ideas of tactility, science-fiction, eroticism and alienation. Each of her compositions has a stage like quality where acid colours run an antagonistic show, only paused to admit shapeless cutouts. Gaps shot into reality—inviting the eye to lust after its surface—where the viewer can crawl through to solve the visual riddle. A way to do this is to navigate through the notion of space, in painted forms or literal three-dimensionality. She forms space by stretching multi-layered canvases and then creates cut-outs on the top layer, pasting on three-dimensional shapes and by working with the language, thickness, gloss, and structure of paint itself. This materialisation and flattening of natural colours, textures, and surfaces create a complex structure that is reminiscent of a painting, or a depicted space, but can also exist in other dimensions.

www.sannemaloe.nl

Image: First we did molly oil and acrylic on canvas 115 x 160 cm

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Image: Future Ruins oil, acrylic and clay on canvas 45 x 60 cm

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S a n n e M a l o e

S l e c h t

www.sannemaloe.nl

Image: First we did molly oil and acrylic on canvas 115 x 160 cm

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Image: Future Ruins oil, acrylic and clay on canvas 45 x 60 cm

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R u t h F r e e m a n

As we become accustomed to viewing the world through a small screen our minds are learning to adjust. But are we misinterpreting more frequently? Have we become more comfortable with the virtual atmosphere that we start to look for it in reality? My paintings are created by sandwiching both physical and digital drawing layers. I utilize the same obsessive processes of perfection and detail that parallel the digital functions we use on a daily basis. By emulating the computer through physical gesture, time simulation, and application of bright colors similar to backlit screens I place myself in a strategic position to differentiate between virtual and real. Perhaps viewers expect to see something that can’t possibly be created in real space—that intended awkwardness—a digital regurgitation. The allusion of perfection becomes easy to present. Reality is molded into what I want to be believed. Ruth Freeman (b. 1969, Enid, Oklahoma) received both a Bachelor of Architecture degree and Bachelor of Interior Design from the University of Oklahoma. She received her MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City (2016). She has been involved in curatorial and exhibition design in both the US and Japan and her paintings have been featured in several exhibitions in New York, including select group shows at Thierry Goldberg Gallery, E.Tay Gallery, and Mountain Gallery in Brooklyn. Freeman had her first solo show at Beers London in 2016 and her paintings were recently exhibited at PULSE Miami and Seattle Art Fair with K.Imperial Fine Art. Her work is published in New American Paintings Northeast Issue #122 and MFA Issue #129. Freeman partook in a month long residency at The Wassaic Project in June 2018 and currently shows her work through COUNTY Gallery in Palm Beach, Florida. Ruth lives and works in Upstate New York.

www.ruthmfreeman.com

Image: INFRARED OF MY BED acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 inches

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Image: GROGGY FROGGY acrylic on canvas 30 x 24 inches

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R u t h F r e e m a n

www.ruthmfreeman.com

Image: INFRARED OF MY BED acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 inches

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Image: GROGGY FROGGY acrylic on canvas 30 x 24 inches

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E m i l y

G u i

M a r n a

S h o p o f f

www.marnashopoff.com

www.emilygui.com

My work examines the depth of human experience in constructed space and focuses on the interaction of life and art. My recent projects in cyanotype are inspired by the early photographic process itself. Cyanotype is the namesake of architectural “blue-prints” and pulling from this history, I build and explore domestic space, interiors, and functional objects. As a site of inquiry, homes are ripe for reflection and full of fragmented memories and dreams pushed together. By twisting and playing with space, the work aims to interrupt the everyday and invites the viewer to linger. I am fascinated by society’s rapid adaptation to changing technology and through this work, I hope to slow down the viewing process to a pace that challenges our modern consumption of photographs. My project based approach is enriched by process and I relish the friction between meticulous technique and accidental beauty. Informed by history and experimentation, I see myself as a collector, seeking and sorting objects, places and moments. Emily Gui is an experimental printmaker and mixed-media artist living in San Francisco, CA. She works primarily in cyanotype, an early photographic process that is sensitive to sunlight and produces shades of blue. Her work often pushes the boundaries of traditional printmaking techniques by layering and combining materials and processes. She has exhibited in galleries throughout New York and the Bay Area including IPCNY, ArtBridge and Incline Gallery. Emily is the cofounder of the Collaborative Arts Mobility Project, an annual experimental artist’s residency, entering its fifth season. Emily has been an artist-in-residence at Kala Arts Institute since 2015 where she teaches silkscreen and cyanotype. She received her BA in Studio Arts from Bard College in 2012.

Marna Shopoff is an Indianapolis-based visual artist with an emphasis on abstract painting and intuitive drawing. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Master of Fine Arts degree from Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis. Interested in the concepts of design and spatial relationships, her work explores the idea of perception, place identity and visual memory. Marna has led panel discussions on abstract learning and haptic drawing at the Foundations in Art Theory and Education Conference (US) and the International Drawing and Cognition Symposium (UK). She is the recipient of various honors and awards, including the Individual Artist Award | Indiana Arts Commission, the Mildred Darby Menz Award, and the Stutz Resident Artist Award. She has participated in artist residencies at Leveld Art Centre (Norway); the Vermont Studio Center (VT); Teton Artlab (WY); Taliesin, The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture (WI); and the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture (Italy). Marna has taken part in exhibitions both locally and internationally (solo, group and collaborative), and has participated in art fairs including PULSE New York (NY), the Miami Project (FL) and VOLTA12 Basel (Switzerland). Marna is currently represented by Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA. What happens when we set aside the need to represent what we see and instead respond with how we feel? To me, life is fragmented and layered, a mosaic of experiences interwoven with reflection and intuition: the places we visit, the homes we live in, the countries we explore—each overlapping and influencing one another. Blending contemporary and classical approaches to painting and composition, I examine how human experience, place and personal memory affect one’s perception of self. I am interested in the interpretation of and the interactions with the spaces that surround me. What memories or feelings do these places spark and what sort of energy do they project? As an artist, I investigate whether someone can access and experience a new view of the world through my work and how I can create a new space using my art. My work explores whether, through art, we can share our individual perceptions. Using a vibrant display of geometric abstract paintings, I explore the concept of spatial identity, translating how place and experience uniquely intertwine. I use abstraction as a way to move through and define the 2-dimensional picture plane, and color to express a certain idea or mood. Perspective, saturation and transparency, together with techniques of glazing and layering, create an illusion of depth and space.

Image: Third Blanket cyanotype on the artist’s cotton comforter 90 x 66 inches

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Image: Layered oil, ink, acrylic on canvas 60 x 107 inches (triptych)

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E m i l y

G u i

M a r n a

S h o p o f f

www.marnashopoff.com

www.emilygui.com

Image: Third Blanket cyanotype on the artist’s cotton comforter 90 x 66 inches

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Image: Layered oil, ink, acrylic on canvas 60 x 107 inches (triptych)

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S u s a n M e t r i c a n

As a Thai American raised mostly in the midwest, I’m drawn to images and objects that resonate across disparate cultures and time periods. I’m interested in imagery that is “culturally familiar” through its connection to folktales and shared traditions, particularly imagery that evokes a reverence for rural life. Though my work is created outside these traditions, it attempts to engage with them through the depiction of nameable things and scenarios that have the appearance of being “well-worn” or “inherited.”

www.susanmetrican.com

Susan Metrican currently lives and works between Fairfield, IA and Boston, MA. Metrican received an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2014. Metrican’s work has been included in exhibitions nationally including: Able Baker Contemporary (ME), GRIN Contemporary (RI), Proof Gallery (MA), Boston Center for the Arts (MA), Field Projects (NY), Knockdown Center (NY), and Gallery Protocol (FL). Metrican is one of four founding members of kijidome, an experimental project space and collaborative in Boston.

Image: When Tigers Smoke acrylic on canvas, thread 50 x 40 inches

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Image (left): Philosopher’s Frog acrylic on canvas, thread 64 x 54 inches

Image (right): The Beauty Out There acrylic on canvas, thread 51 x 43 inches

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S u s a n M e t r i c a n

www.susanmetrican.com

Image: When Tigers Smoke acrylic on canvas, thread 50 x 40 inches

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Image (left): Philosopher’s Frog acrylic on canvas, thread 64 x 54 inches

Image (right): The Beauty Out There acrylic on canvas, thread 51 x 43 inches

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N i c k N a b e r

Nick’s work draws on the visual language of penitentiaries, New York City corporate landscape, and Brutalist/Modernist architecture, the work emerges from a myriad background of sources to create dystopic visions of imagined cities. His works organize themselves in the linear likeness of maps and Modernist Utopian cities, creating a hierarchy of structures intersecting and organizing space.

www.nicknaber.com

Nick received his MFA in painting and drawing from Pratt Institute (2012) and his BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2010). He has had three solo exhibitions, one at The Java Project and two at OPUS Projects, along with group exhibitions at multiple venues. Nick’s work has been reviewed by ‘Painting is Dead’ for his solo exhibition ‘Untitled (series)’ at The Java Project (2018). He has been interviewed numerous times about his practice, and his work has been featured on ‘Studio Break Podcast’ (2015) and been published in ‘A queer anthology of rage’ (2018), ‘Alt/Process’ (2015), and ‘GRAPHITE Journal’ (2012). Nick is also the Co-Founder/ East Coast Editor and Contributor at ‘The Coastal Post.’

Image: Untitled (transgress) watercolor graphite on watercolor paper 30 x 22 inches

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Image (left): Untitled (disjoint) watercolor graphite on watercolor paper 30 x 22 inches

Image (right): Untitled (supremacy) watercolor graphite on watercolor paper 30 x 22 inches

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N i c k N a b e r

www.nicknaber.com

Image: Untitled (transgress) watercolor graphite on watercolor paper 30 x 22 inches

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Image (left): Untitled (disjoint) watercolor graphite on watercolor paper 30 x 22 inches

Image (right): Untitled (supremacy) watercolor graphite on watercolor paper 30 x 22 inches

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editorial selection of works Featured image: Sam Newton Dumb Flesh oil paint and oil pastel on canvas 12 x 12 inches more on p.144

H i r o k a Y e w e n

Y a m a s h i t a

D o n g www.hyamashita.com

www.dongyewen.com

Yewen Dong was born and grew up in Shenzhen, a coastal city in China. She received her BA in Art and Design from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, and MFA in Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her practice incorporates drawing, papermaking, sculpture, ceramics, and video. She has presented her work at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, CA; Society for Contemporary Craft, PA; Muskegon Museum of Art, MI; and Mana Contemporary Chicago, IL. Her work is part of The Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at SAIC. My work explores the tension between artificial space and natural space. I am drawn to surface and materiality: solid and liquid, striated and smooth, city and landscape. I am concerned with the marks that are recorded and left by human interaction. I use clay, colored tape, handmade paper, and video to translate fragments of spatial memories into tangible form. I am interested in time as a physical material. My clay drawings focus on textures and shapes that mark the time related to my body’s movement. Methods I use include the hand pressing of clay and finger marks to record time as well as lapsed time. The clay drawing installation process begins with me putting wet clay on a wall that then dries slowly. This clay drawing seems to stay intact, but will eventually peel off the wall due to the fragility of the material in its raw state and the air’s humidity. As time passes, the installation will decay to fragmented clay scattered on the floor. The fragmented clay has the history of being touched and it will leave its residual history on the wall as a palimpsest. Once the work is de-installed, the residue, washing and tracing will become part of the next work. The installation space is ephemeral, evolving with the passing of time. In this way, the work lives with its current, residual, and palimpsest states simultaneously. These “moments” and “happenings” that arise and fade through the duration of the installation reflect the abstract nature of memory. If the clay wants to be fragile, I prefer to let it be fragile. We can then stand back and watch the “happenings” of the material and how it changes with keen observation.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

I was born and raised in a small village in Hyogo, Japan in 1991, and came to the US at 18. I started to paint at the School of Visual Arts, New York, and I am currently completing an MFA program at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, NJ. Most of my paintings are inspired by my ‘satoyama’ life in Japan, our relationship with deities, and a shrine in the village which is built around daily life and engaged in its festivals and customs throughout the seasons, as well as our inherited feeling of respect and a certain distance from nature which results from the long history of the blessings and disasters of nature. Like mythologies and folktales often contain the spiritual bonds between people and their ancestral lands, these imaginary spaces I paint tend to echo and substitute the figures’ sentiment. I feel these are scenes captured by something which is not human; rather something in the environment around such as grass, wind, or mountains. The imaginary spaces come from the places I’ve actually visited and the landscapes I have seen in my dreams; they’re a rearrangement of accumulated memories and imaginations. However, I hope they encapsulate the atmospheres as somethings that remain in our sharing unconscious.

Image:

Within Its Place and Time. Place. 1. unfired grey clay on the wall, green tape, yellow tape, yellow paint, black paint 67 x 76 x 0.15 inches

Midnight Ship acrylic and oil on canvas 48 x 56 inches

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H i r o k a Y e w e n

Y a m a s h i t a

D o n g www.hyamashita.com

www.dongyewen.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Within Its Place and Time. Place. 1. unfired grey clay on the wall, green tape, yellow tape, yellow paint, black paint 67 x 76 x 0.15 inches

Midnight Ship acrylic and oil on canvas 48 x 56 inches

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G a b r i e l a

G i r o l e t t i

Gabriela Giroletti (b. Brazil, 1982) graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, with an MFA Painting in 2018. She was awarded the Desiree Painting Prize, was the runner-up for the Chadwell Award, shortlisted for The Ingram Collection Purchase Prize and the Elephant x Griffin Art Prize in the same year. Publications include Trebuchet Magazine, Dateagle Art and Floorr Magazine. Residencies include The Fine Art Collective Residency at Winsor & Newton headquarters, Joya Arte y Ecologia and the Slade Summer School Art Education Residency. Gabriela’s paintings explore visual contemplation and the impalpable awareness of oneself, sitting between objectivity and subjectivity. We believe perception presents us the world as it truly is; nevertheless this perception is mediated by our bodily senses and by our individual life experiences. Deliberately ambiguous, her work encourages the viewer to formulate peculiar connections with our tangible surroundings as well as with our individual and unique lived experience. Borderline abstract and figurative, still life and landscape, simple and complex, the work performs a push and pull game between body and mind, making and thinking: what is painted/how it is painted.

www.gabrielagiroletti.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Briveting oil on cotton 210 x 160 cm

Come in here, where it´s nice, if you want oil on cotton 220 x 180 cm

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G a b r i e l a

G i r o l e t t i

www.gabrielagiroletti.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Briveting oil on cotton 210 x 160 cm

Come in here, where it´s nice, if you want oil on cotton 220 x 180 cm

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S h a n e M

W a l s h

S u s a n

K l e i n

www.shanewalshpaintings.com

www.susankleinart.com

Shane Walsh (b.1977) received his MFA from the University of Washington Seattle in 2006 and his BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2001. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally including shows at Asya Geisberg Gallery (New York); Eddysroom (New York); Open Gallery (Portland); Blindfold Gallery (Seattle); Max Fish (New York) and The Transients (St.Louis). He is currently a lecturer in the Painting and Drawing area at the Peck School of Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He lives in Milwaukee and works both in Milwaukee and New York.

Susan Klein (b. 1979, Morristown, NJ) is an artist and curator living in Charleston, SC. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. Awards include a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, an Ox-Bow Artist in Residence Fellowship, and residencies at The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY, The International Studio and Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, NY, and Arteles Creative Research Center, Finland. Currently, she is Assistant Professor of Art at the College of Charleston.

Shane Walsh’s paintings are the result of his involvement with collage, both in a literal sense and as a conceptual framework for understanding the legacy of abstraction. Walsh’s process begins with small-scale collages constructed from photocopies of various shapes and marks—some expressive, others graphic or digital—which respond to the history of abstract painting. Using the collage as source material, he then translates his compositions into large-scale paintings. This overall approach allows him to treat the history of abstraction as a storehouse of moments from which to copy, paste, and sample. This cutting, copying, and pasting, however, owes as much to the punk and hip-hop posters of the artist’s youth as it does to modernist collage traditions. The photocopy itself also serves as an important metaphor in Walsh’s work. Just as an image repeatedly reproduced on a copy machine will become distorted over time, so our understanding of abstraction is altered as paintings are transmitted and reproduced through time and culture. This process is akin to the children’s game of “telephone”, in which the original message often emerges drastically altered and distorted by the time it arrives at the last participant. For Walsh, these distortions are something to celebrate and provide him with the opportunity to re-construct an image of abstraction that feels appropriate to his time and place.

Image: Untitled 1 acrylic on canvas 50 x 37 inches

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I am interested in the arbitrary manner that objects can be consecrated and made sacred. An ordinary object can be transformed into a thing that carries power, weight, and spirituality. It can act as the connection between this world and another. Through religion, art, commemoration, decoration and the use of the sacred object or altars, we find ways to grapple with that which we do not understand. I often use shapes or imagery that shift from serious to playful, venerated to irreverent. This slippage is important to me, and one of the main reasons I am currently working with the ubiquitous symbol of the rainbow. It is used in religion, new age spirituality, emojis, stickers, etc. I also use a reoccurring form that shifts from finger to figure to phallus. This symbolizes creation and the physical act of making.

Image: Three Rainbows oil on canvas and wood 60 x 48 inches

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S h a n e M

W a l s h

S u s a n

K l e i n

www.shanewalshpaintings.com

www.susankleinart.com

Image: Untitled 1 acrylic on canvas 50 x 37 inches

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Image: Three Rainbows oil on canvas and wood 60 x 48 inches

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C a n n o n

D i l l

www.instagram.com/cannondill

Cannon Dill (1991) is a painter from Oakland California. Dill’s paintings range from exterior abstractions of corner stores to beautifully bleak landscapes taken from fuzzy memories of his life living in Oakland. The work is playful but serious, radiating an immensely consistent color palette which brings the viewer into Dill’s personal narrative. While the content remains very direct, the loose painterly application gives an addicting quality that keeps the viewer wanting to visually dissect the many layers of the story.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Yard sale on 10th st acrylic latex on canvas 69.25 x 95.5 inches

5am Dopers On San Pablo Got An Eye On Who’s Passing By acrylic latex and spray paint on canvas 60 x 72 inches

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C a n n o n

D i l l

www.instagram.com/cannondill

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Yard sale on 10th st acrylic latex on canvas 69.25 x 95.5 inches

5am Dopers On San Pablo Got An Eye On Who’s Passing By acrylic latex and spray paint on canvas 60 x 72 inches

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M a r k

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

P o s e y

Mark Posey received his BA from UC Berkeley in 2010 and his MFA from AAU San Francisco in 2012. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

www.markposeyart.com

Image:

Brick Table acrylic, spray paint, oil on panel 43 x 50 inches

XOXO acrylic, spray paint, oil on panel 40 x 43 inches

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M a r k

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

P o s e y

Mark Posey received his BA from UC Berkeley in 2010 and his MFA from AAU San Francisco in 2012. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

www.markposeyart.com

Image:

Brick Table acrylic, spray paint, oil on panel 43 x 50 inches

XOXO acrylic, spray paint, oil on panel 40 x 43 inches

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J i n g z e

D u

www.dujingze.com

I’m interested in the themes of time, self, desire and reality. Borrowing ideas from Franco Berardi, I try to seek singularity and make sense of today’s distortion of time as the results of rapid progress and information overload. I want to fuse both sensual and Spartan elements into the work, so that they could morph into questions about the Aesthetic and mortality.

I’m making works that start biographically. I was born in China. At 12, my mother and I moved to Ireland where I continued with my education. It became very interesting for me to understand how both cultural backgrounds helped with my growth. Before starting my course in the RCA, I did a BA in Dublin’s National College of Art and Design graduating in 2017.

It began with my fascination with the growing tension we experience today, where the boundaries between the real and virtual, conscious and unconscious cease to exist. Although I don’t intend to deal directly with the matter of growing up and living in an era of internet and social media, I do allow my work to mirror the characteristics of this information society phenomenon, where a lot of events happen simultaneously.

Constantly aware of my position as a Chinese artist who grew up in the West, we are living in a politically correct era where people are careful about everything they say and do. We are living in a time of needing to keep a globalised mind, but with nationalism growing in every corner of the world. It’s a time with growing uncertainties about the future, the power of AI, biotech and infotech. Being aware and carrying the weight of these thoughts, I want to surprise myself with the work, with the scale, with the material, and with the response.

The world today consumes information at an aggressively accelerating rate. Meanings and values are becoming increasingly unstable. Time or the immediacy of the availability of information determines how we react and perceive the reality presented (McLuhan, 1994).

Jingze Du was born in Yantai, China in 1995. He is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Fine Art Painting in the Royal College of Art, London. Du works primarily with painting and photography.

J u s t i n B r y a n

N e l s o n

www.instagram.com/justinbnelson

Justin Bryan Nelson was born in Astoria, Oregon in 1985 and currently lives and works in Tampa, Florida. Nelson’s recent work is an examination of warmth, empathy, and intimacy in a time of technologically induced disconnectedness. Using colored pencils to render delicate and highly detailed drawings, Nelson conjures a response to his personal experiences of attempting to build relationships and seek intimacy through screen-based interactions that often obfuscate these efforts.

Time is perhaps the most central, yet ambiguous theme I wish to explore. By transforming the properties of images, the dimension of time is also distorted. The density and weight of it begin to show more defined features.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Birthday Cake oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm

After Work (Guiding Light) colored pencil on paper 9 x 12 inches

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J i n g z e

D u

www.dujingze.com

J u s t i n B r y a n

N e l s o n

www.instagram.com/justinbnelson

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Birthday Cake oil on canvas 60 x 50 cm

After Work (Guiding Light) colored pencil on paper 9 x 12 inches

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M i n a m i

K o b a y a s h i

www.minamikobayashi.com

Minami Kobayashi (b.1989) is a Japanese artist currently living and working in Chicago, IL. She has exhibited at Chautauqua Institution (New York); Western Exhibitions (Chicago); Baby Blue Gallery (Chicago); Jeannie Avent Gallery (London); Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum; 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Tokyo), and numerous other venues. Her work has been selected for publications such as Saatchi Art, and Frase Got Talent. She holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from SAIC (2018) and a BFA in Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts (2016). My paintings depict scenes of nature, animals, and loved ones which I present in their moments of longing. Gazing at that which you love makes you slow down, and begin to feel joy and excitement of looking at your beloved. The internet age has brought about exposure to a rapid barrage of images that renders them dispensable. In turn, this has fostered a degeneration of generosity of attention and patience that detracts quality and value from everything in real life. My work seeks to invite the audience to spend time with an image, to experience gazing, and rediscover the joy of patiently looking at something. In my paintings, the images reveal themselves slowly. The longer you look, the more you find. Influenced by the Ukiyo-e art style and Les Nabis movement, items and characters are hidden in an open narrative within the painting. Working with egg tempera creates complex color tones by overlapping multiple colors, allowing me to capture transitory moments and transient people. I depict translucent figures as permeable outlines of their character. The subjects and their environment seem to never reach a static state.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

H u n t e r

P o t t e r

www.hunterpotter.com

Hunter Potter, painter, was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1990. Despite having formally studied studio art at the University of Vermont and graduating in 2013, he accredits much of his artistic knowledge and education to the various positions of employment he has held within the New York art world. Since moving to the city in 2015, he has apprenticed for Colossal Media as a traditional billboard painter, assisted in the studios of Takashi Murakami and Marela Zacarias, freelance art-handled throughout the city, and more. Now painting full-time, Potter currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. I paint to pay homage to the characters and lifestyles for which I yearn. Though the paintings are undeniably exaggerated and fantastical, they are a direct result of the small-town, blue-collar, Americana environment in which I grew up and continue to remain so strongly connected to. Similar to the folklore that is passed around such settings, the paintings are neither past nor present, fact nor fiction, right nor wrong, but more so a combination of it all.

Image:

A girl on an aged chair egg tempera on panel 36 x 24 inches

And Other Peoples They Have To Work acrylic on canvas 49 x 58 inches

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M i n a m i

K o b a y a s h i

www.minamikobayashi.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

H u n t e r

P o t t e r

www.hunterpotter.com

Image:

A girl on an aged chair egg tempera on panel 36 x 24 inches

And Other Peoples They Have To Work acrylic on canvas 49 x 58 inches

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S a m

N e w t o n

www.instagram.com/slammtronn

K i n g a

B a r t i s

www.instagram.com/kinga_bartis

Current social and economic structures cultivate homogeneous ways of functioning, living and thinking. Rationalism and effectivity, facts and the visible, cast shadows over the unclear and the messy. All that is difficult to bear or would ruin the mood, is devaluated and repressed. In the same time the profit-orientated machinery legitimises exploitation of nature, disrespects the environment, neglects community, responsibility for the others and destroys diversity. Our identity should fit into a column of an Excel table and it’s hot if our bodies resemble an Yves Klein piece. I was born on Long Island, New York and attended school in Tampa, Florida, graduating from the University of South Florida with my BFA in painting. I am an active member of an artist run collective space called Quaid Gallery and an advocate of our monthly Tampa Bay sketch gang meet ups. As a painter I am interested in building surface texture as a way to enter the body as landscape, and as a site for control. An invasion of hair, limbs and stretched skin brings to question what it means to have agency over one’s own body. What happens when a body submits to another body? What happens when one loses control? Inner turmoil, emotional strife, and what feels like living on the surface of yourself. The figures in my most recent series of work, Body Hammer, writhe and fold, torsos bend and fall heavy, fingers reproduce like a hydra, limbs multiply and entangle, accumulating to suggest an alternative agency.

This is the water we swim in, where painting can be a way of resistance. A brushstroke as a trace of a human touch: as a refusal of isolation and as an attempt to connect. By activating dialogues, exchanging ideas, it washes new perspectives to the shore. Dissembling structures that wouldn’t accommodate other than stereotypes. My practise’s main focus lies in the dismissed: the strange and odd. I use psychoanalysis and meditation to find the repressed of the mind, where I afterwards move outwards from. It is a place for reflection, critical thinking and some theoretical research, thought avoiding an overload of extern references and leaving space for pictorial language and frank subjectivity. The works I am sending are thoughts on the notions formulated above. The devaluation and fear of the messy and unclear. Properties that women have been associated with. Instead of contributing to the reinforcement of traditional power structures and heteronormativity I wish to emphasise the problematics of it, how this canon formed our references, expectations towards pursuing pre-made identity roles and body ideals. Ways this body still functions as a tool of labour and pleasure: exploited just as nature, for gaining economical benefits of the privileged few. A sort of invitation invitation into the phantasm of a woman, to the dark woods of her gender that male supremacy had conquered and misrepresented. I am aiming for a more nuanced depiction of her landscape, new territories to explore, new languages to learn. I am a recent graduate from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Since November, 2018 I am based in Nottingham, UK where I am splitting my time between my studio and working with resident curators at Nottingham Contemporary.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Apparent Nurturing acrylic, oil and oil pastel on panel 16 x 20 inches

It looks back. The two saboteuses oil on canvas 40 x 50 cm

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S a m

N e w t o n

www.instagram.com/slammtronn

K i n g a

B a r t i s

www.instagram.com/kinga_bartis

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Apparent Nurturing acrylic, oil and oil pastel on panel 16 x 20 inches

It looks back. The two saboteuses oil on canvas 40 x 50 cm

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J e n n y M o r g a n

www.jennymorganart.com

Image: Beneath My Hands oil on canvas 14 x 15 inches

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Jenny Morgan was born in 1982 in Salt Lake City, Utah and holds a BA from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Lakewood, Colorado and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Morgan’s work has received critical attention in numerous publications including articles in Whitewall, Hi-Fructose, The Village Voice, The Denver Post, and the cover feature of Juxtapoz in May 2015. She celebrated her first solo museum exhibition “Skin Deep” with the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, CO in 2017. Her 2013 solo exhibition ‘How To Find A Ghost’ was named one of the top 100 fall shows worldwide by Modern Painters in 2013. Morgan has realized several portraiture commissions for publications including The New York Times Magazine and New York Magazine. She has had solo exhibitions in London, New York, Colorado, Utah, Indiana, New Mexico, and has been in numerous group exhibitions including at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, the 92Y Tribeca in New York City and Postmasters Gallery in Rome. Her work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Purdue University Art Gallery, University of Maryland’s Stamp Student Union Art Collection, New Mexico State University, Flint Institute of Arts as well as major private collections throughout the world. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Image (left):

Image (right):

Act of Faith oil on canvas 38 x 29 inches

Echoing Green oil on canvas 29 x 23 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

J e n n y M o r g a n

www.jennymorganart.com

Image: Beneath My Hands oil on canvas 14 x 15 inches

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Image (left):

Image (right):

Act of Faith oil on canvas 38 x 29 inches

Echoing Green oil on canvas 29 x 23 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

S e b a s t i á n

H i d a l g o

www.sebastianhidalgo.net

M a t t

H a y w o o d

www.matthaywood.com

Sebastián Hidalgo was born in Mexico in 1985, and lives and works in Puebla, Mexico. He explores through different media and materials the relationship between the natural forces within us and the natural forces that surround us. Change and mutability are constants in his work and process, his themes operate by clustering small individual statements through symbologies, techniques, formal solutions, color studies and specific interests in painting, drawing and installation. The universes found in each piece are made by the combination of scales and dimensions between representations or objects, and through the possibilities offered by the interaction of ideologies of diverse cultures. For example, Oriental suns and Pre-Hispanic meanders with allusions to phantasmagorical imaginaries, science fiction or binary languages. My work consists in the development of an exploration located within the field of visual arts. It is a set that arises from the interaction between matter and ideology, whose engine is the concept of change through the creative process. My practice is an open process animated by intuition; I look for starting points that serve as support and as a pretext. The artwork is a result aimed to function as a vehicle of connection through matter.

Work is finished when peers might appreciate its evidence more than its raw resources’ potential. Work is the reward, the object its ghost, and the image its memory.

I am interested in delving into what motivates human logic; our attempt to find coherence in the face of the phenomena presented to us, as well as our effort to understand and obtain definitive judgments and conclusions through our mind’s faculty to establish relationships between ideas. and concepts.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Little Lamp oil on canvas 100 x 75 cm

Flower Child oil and enamel on plywood 18 x 25 inches

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S e b a s t i á n

H i d a l g o

www.sebastianhidalgo.net

M a t t

H a y w o o d

www.matthaywood.com

Work is finished when peers might appreciate its evidence more than its raw resources’ potential. Work is the reward, the object its ghost, and the image its memory.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Image:

Little Lamp oil on canvas 100 x 75 cm

Flower Child oil and enamel on plywood 18 x 25 inches

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149

E r i n

O ’ B r i e n

Erin O’Brien lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She holds an MFA from Bard College and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. Her work has been exhibited at Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Brooklyn, NY); LaMama Galleria (New York, NY); Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL); Green Street Gallery (Boston, MA); and Vox Populi (Philadelphia, PA), among others, and included in the FlipFile at Regina Rex (NYC). An interview appeared in Maake Magazine, Issue 6, curated by Holly Coulis. O’Brien is the recipient of residency fellowships from Palazzo Monti (Brescia, Italy); Norman Bird Sanctuary (Middletown, RI); Weir Farm National Historic Site (Wilton, CT); Byrdcliffe (Woodstock, NY); and Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass, CO). My paintings explore, but don’t resolve, the dualities of figure and ground, certainty and uncertainty. Each work arises from a feeling of intimacy with a place or another person, or often, both. Through a collage-like drawing process, I combine shapes I observe in the world in order to develop compositions that allow for multiple readings—absences may shift into presence, and what at first appears steady may slowly become unstable.

www.erinobrienstudio.com

Image: I’ll Fly Away acrylic on linen 63.5 x 50.8 cm

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Image (left): Portrait acrylic on linen 63.5 x 50.8 cm

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Image (right): A Gift acrylic on linen 50.8 x 40.6 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

E r i n

O ’ B r i e n

www.erinobrienstudio.com

Image: I’ll Fly Away acrylic on linen 63.5 x 50.8 cm

150

Image (left): Portrait acrylic on linen 63.5 x 50.8 cm

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Image (right): A Gift acrylic on linen 50.8 x 40.6 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

Elizabeth Malaska was born and raised in Portland, OR. She earned her BFA in Painting from CCA and her MFA in Visual Studies from PNCA. Her work has been exhibited at Portland Community College, Froelick Gallery, California College of the Arts, and College of the Atlantic, and has been reviewed in ArtForum and Art in America. She is the recipient of numerous awards including: a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, a Hallie Ford Fellowship, and a grant from the Elizabeth Greenshield’s Foundation, and her work is part of the permanent collection at The Portland Art Museum. Elizabeth lives with her husband and daughter in Portland, and is represented by Portland’s Russo Lee Gallery. I make paintings about the struggles of living under patriarchy. Through depicting women’s bodies, I confront gendered prejudices about how women should look and act, posing questions such as: how do we look at women, and what exactly constitutes womanhood.

E l i z a b e t h

M a l a s k a

www.elizabethmalaska.com

The history of painting is littered with submissive bodies of women. Using signifying images and techniques, I activate these histories, questioning their validity and proposing more complex and potent feminine subjects. The women I depict do not possess perfect bodies. Theirs are lumpy, disproportionate, with generous rolls of fat and flesh. Often unhappy, they look, at times, grief-stricken. Emotionality—especially suffering—is feminized and deemed inappropriate. My women take up a lot of space on the canvas, often occupying the extreme foreground and dominating the picture plane. This is a very deliberate strategy to disallow the viewer avoidance of these unruly women—their physiques or psyches.

Image:

Image (right):

Form and Void oil, flashe, charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 inches

Lament oil, flashe, charcoal on canvas 47 x 38 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

E l i z a b e t h

M a l a s k a

www.elizabethmalaska.com

Image:

Image (right):

Form and Void oil, flashe, charcoal on canvas 60 x 40 inches

Lament oil, flashe, charcoal on canvas 47 x 38 inches

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153

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 11: editorial selection

We are looking for more artists to publish and promote If you would like your work to be featured in our upcoming issues, please find out more details on how to apply to be considered. See p. 11 or visit our website: www.artmazemag.com We have an open call for art for the next print issue which provides publishing opportunities, as well as the ongoing open call for online blog. For any questions, please contact us at info@artmazemag.com

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