Issue 13 by artmazemag

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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

Featured image: Morgan Mandalay And forgive us our trespasses oil on canvas in artist frame 72 x 48 inches more on p. 120-121

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: Jessie Makinson Magma rising oil on canvas 120 x 100 cm more on p. 76-89

GENERAL ENQUIRIES:

BACK COVER:

info@artmazemag.com

Alina Vergnano Hold It Together charcoal, pastels, oil stick, acrylic on raw cotton canvas with artist’s frame 130 x 135 cm more on p. 148

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

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

® ArtMaze Magazine is a registered trademark

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

Featured image: Morgan Mandalay And forgive us our trespasses oil on canvas in artist frame 72 x 48 inches more on p. 120-121

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: Jessie Makinson Magma rising oil on canvas 120 x 100 cm more on p. 76-89

GENERAL ENQUIRIES:

BACK COVER:

info@artmazemag.com

Alina Vergnano Hold It Together charcoal, pastels, oil stick, acrylic on raw cotton canvas with artist’s frame 130 x 135 cm more on p. 148

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

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

® ArtMaze Magazine is a registered trademark

130

interviewed

call for art

curated selection of works

editorial selection of works

Sl i pp e r y sign if ic at ion: i n conve rs at ion w it h Em i ly M ae Sm it h ............................. ................ 14

Autu mn E d itio n: Issue 14 ........................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1

Eth an St uar t .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. 9 2 Douglas Cantor .........................................................................94 A nd rew B i r k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 6 Fab i an Trei b er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 8 G u glielmo Ca stelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 0 Har r iet Abb ot t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Steph an ie Pai ne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Daniel Correa Mejia ................................................................104 B en K. Voss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 A lej and ra Perez B aer t l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 M arc ie Jan B ron stei n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Julie Yeo ...................................................................................110 So You ng Cho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2 Em i ly Sp ooner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 14 M ar la Sweit zer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 15 B r u no Z h ang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 16 M ich ael Nauer t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 8 Em m a B rack Navei ra s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 9 Morgan M andalay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 0 B r i an Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 A lyssa War ren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 24 Myeongsoo Ki m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 6 Fallon Ch a se . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 8

Naomi Nakazato ......................................................................132 M i a D ar li ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 34 Mau reen St Vincent .................................................................136 Ch ar lie G oer i ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 37 Lau ren Q ui n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 38 G regor y Ka plowit z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 39 Gustav Hamilton .....................................................................140 Seb a st i án Hidalgo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Vic ente M at te . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Grace Mattingly ......................................................................145 A ks M i sy u t a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Alina Vergnano .......................................................................148 Casey Jex Smith .......................................................................149 Nigel Howlet t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 0 D an ic a Lu ndy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2

T ho m Trojanowsk i: “ Mak i ng ar t i s j u st p art of dai ly li fe ” ................................................... 28 Wo nde r fully b e a st ly: i n conve rs at ion w it h M ich aela You nge .............................................. 46 F ro m t he de ep : the me sme r iz ing wor k of Mevlana Li pp ............................. ................ 62 Subve r t i ng p at r iarch al my t hs : the w ilfully fe m i n i st wor k of Je s sie M ak i n s on ................. ............... 76

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call for art

curated selection of works

editorial selection of works

Sl i pp e r y sign if ic at ion: i n conve rs at ion w it h Em i ly M ae Sm it h ............................. ................ 14

Autu mn E d itio n: Issue 14 ........................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1

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from the editor Welcome to the new Summer Edition 13! This issue is packed full of remarkable works selected by our guest curator Chris Sharp and the editorial team of ArtMaze Magazine. Take a look at the artists featured in the Curated Selection, p.90, and in the Editorial Selection, p.130. We have long admired the work and curatorial approach of Chris Sharp through his notable exhibitions via his project space Lulu in Mexico City, and abroad through other projects and international art fairs; we are proud to present you with his exclusive selection of works for this Summer Edition, which includes twenty-three artists, whose art is evidently outstanding. We thank Chris for this fruitful collaboration and everyone who submitted work to be reviewed by him. If you’d like to know more about Chris’ work and life, you will be able to find our previous interview with him in our Winter 2018 Issue 6 and online in the interviews section of our website. Our Editorial Selection offers you an insight in to the work of fifteen artists showcasing diverse visual techniques and plentiful narratives: Get a closer look at the unusual and playful medium of plasticine in the work of Mia Darling who explores themes of beauty, childhood and body image; intricate works by Gustav Hamilton which exist between ceramic craftwork and fine painting featuring surreal still-lifes of assorted trinkets; the balloon-like bodies in the work of Aks Misyuta project the idea of depicting characters as still-lifes, lacking individual features, existing in the everyday life and peculiar fantasies. The allegorical drawings of Casey Jex Smith suggest structures of role-play-gaming and religious ritual, displaying mythical beasts and battles which mirror real life scenarios of manipulation, control and superior force; ‘seduction as a visual scaffolding built with lovely rotten planks’—the center theme for Danica Lundy’s work depicting complex painterly scenes bursting with colour and expression; and many others whose work is worth all your undivided attention! Our interviewed artists’ section (p. 14-89) will surprise you with the conceptual skill and brilliant medium choices of selected artists for this issue: Artist Emily Mae Smith whose recurring motifs in painting include the Fantasia-esque broom figure, the open mouth, breasts, fruit and water, references to things with slippery signification meaning gender, labor, power, control, mortality and transcendence. Polish folktales meeting sci-fi comics in Thom Trojanowski’s art whose preferred medium ranges from painting to sculpture; the wool and embroidery works of Michaela Younge which combine ideas of domesticity and the everyday where bad things are happening with simultaneous multiple storylines. Mevlana Lipp, who grew up in a very small village surrounded by nature, is working on ideas connected to his upbringing using unusual materials such as wood and velvet where painting and sculpture merge into one. The surreal anthropomorphic and vampiric female narratives in Jessie Makinson’s work hint of desire, mischief, pleasure and play. Our next Autumn Issue’s Curated Selection will be led by Charlie Roberts who is an artist (previously featured on the cover of Autumn Issue of 2018), co-founder and curator of 0-0 LA Gallery and travelling show Got It For Cheap (GIFC). You will be able to read details about this current opportunity on our website or p.11 of this issue. We are looking forward to seeing what our next issue holds and hoping to discover more new work from across the globe through collaboration with Charlie. In the meantime please enjoy this issue and I hope you will appreciate the featured artworks as much as we do in ArtMaze!

Featured image: Fabian Treiber Gaslight acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 60 x 60 cm more on p. 98-99

Yours truly, Editor and Founder Maria Zemtsova

Featured image: Fabian Treiber Gaslight acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 60 x 60 cm more on p. 98-99

Yours truly, Editor and Founder Maria Zemtsova

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Autumn Edition: Issue 14

call for art DEADLINE: August 1st, 2019 Guest Curator: Charlie Roberts artist, co-founder and curator of 0-0 LA gallery and traveling show Got It For Cheap (GIFC)

Submit your work for a chance to be published in print and digital issues, 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 visual 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: Lauren Quin After Axis oil on canvas 60 x 72 inches more on p.138

Autumn Edition: Issue 14

call for art DEADLINE: August 1st, 2019 Guest Curator: Charlie Roberts artist, co-founder and curator of 0-0 LA gallery and traveling show Got It For Cheap (GIFC)

Featured image: Lauren Quin After Axis oil on canvas 60 x 72 inches more on p.138

interviewed:

Emily Mae Smith Thom Trojanowski Michaela Younge Mevlana Lipp Jessie Makinson

interviewed:

Emily Mae Smith Thom Trojanowski Michaela Younge Mevlana Lipp Jessie Makinson

www.emilymaesmith.com

Slippery signification: In conversation with Emily Mae Smith Glistening droplets slide down highly polished android limbs, plump ripe fruit is laid out temptingly, saccharine sunsets glow behind perfectly formed wave crests reflected in oversized sunglasses. These highly-charged visual motifs in the hyper-realistic paintings by Emily Mae Smith poke an acrylic-tipped feminist finger at themes of gender, sexuality, capitalism and violence. Emily’s recurring lexicon of symbolic motifs reference pop culture, mythology and art history. Dark humor and innuendo are the tools by which Emily destabilizes historically dominant social and political narratives, reframing the story with a feminist twist. The ubiquitous anthropomorphic broom that appears across her work is an avatar for the artist, at once representing the artist’s paintbrush, a domestic tool associated with women’s work, and the phallus. In many paintings the broom is depicted seated at an easel, both the subject and maker of its own likeness. Emily is acutely aware of the power of representation and position of the artist as maker. This is reiterated when we see the broom take on the guise of female subjects from famous works of art or mythology—Medusa, mermaids, the Lady of Shallot. By substituting the broom figure for the female form, Emily foregrounds the act of representation and inserts herself as active creator in place of the passive female subject. Closely related to this is the idea of the gaze. Historically, the female form has been the object of the male gaze, channeled through the work of male artists, and more recently, mass media. Subverting the male gaze is a dominant theme in Emily’s work, likewise achieved through the figure of the broom, as well as various recurring compositional framing devices that quite literally direct the viewer’s view or make looking the subject of the painting. The tension between surface and substance resounds in Emily’s painting. The photo-realistic detail, pop aesthetic and highly finished style of her paintings belie a fiercely rebellious subtext that ripples below the surface, disrupting the pleasurable view. Emily’s work was recently included in a group show at Perrotin Gallery in Seoul. Her first solo museum exhibition in the USA also took place recently as part of the MATRIX programme at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Connecticut curated by Patricia Hickson. This follows close on the heels of her inaugural museum show at Le Consortium in Dijon, France, curated by Eric Troncy. Emily lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Emily Mae Smith Big Sea of Tears oil on linen 67 x 51 inches all images in the following interview courtesy of the artist and Simone Subal, New York; Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels; Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin.

www.emilymaesmith.com

interview by Layla Leiman

AMM: Hi Emily! You’ve been actively making art for over two decades. How has your work changed over this time? What have been some of the insights and influences that have shaped its evolution? EMS: When I went through a particularly rough patch I was forced to work small and with a limited number of materials. It was painful but it helped distill my work into a more potent form—like when you cook something and all the water evaporates leaving something concentrated at the bottom. That happened to my painting. It was important. AMM: Who are the people or experiences that have influenced you as an artist? In what ways did they shape the direction of your work? EMS: Here’s a story: Around 2012 I got locked out of my studio building and while I waited for someone to show up and open the door, I found a discarded copy of Mary Karr’s memoir “The Liars’ Club” on the outside steps. I started reading it and couldn’t stop. It changed the way I look at personal experience and it gave me permission to put more subjectivity into my work. AMM: Your paintings have a highly finished, almost airbrushed look to them. How do you achieve these results with oils on canvas? EMS: In my opinion when one sees the paintings in person the surfaces do not look airbrushed. I mean no value judgment in that—each method of applying paint has unique qualities. I often paint in very thin transparent oil layers which allows light to pass through the surface similar to sunlight on still water. I do a lot of the gradients with careful color mixing, soft paintbrushes, and practice. AMM: Do you have any studio rituals or routines? What is your process of working? EMS: I tend to work near a 10am-6pm schedule. It varies, but knowing I need to be somewhere to take care of things is good for me. I started working jobs when I was 15, so there is still that worker in me who needs to show up and accomplish something.

Photo by Steve Benisty

AMM: You frequently make reference to specific historical art works and art movements in your paintings. Can you tell us more about how you respond to (and perhaps critique) art history in your work? EMS: I develop personal relationships and responses to the historical works that I get involved with—and relationships are complicated things. I often see an alternate narrative, or perhaps an unintended subtext in paintings from the past that codify the way we see things now. So it’s important to me to unravel that thread. AMM: What do the recurring motifs in your work, like the Fantasia-esque broom figure, the

open mouth, breasts, fruit and water represent in your art? EMS: These are all things with slippery signification. They mean things like labor, gender, power, control, mortality, transcendence, etc. They are forms doing the pictorial work of the intellect. AMM: Framing devices likewise abound in your paintings, either explicitly such as curtains, reflections in glasses, open mouths, or through more subtle compositional elements. In what ways and to what ends are you manipulating the viewer’s gaze? EMS: That is a true observation. One of the things we seem to finally be discovering in the 21st century is the vast scale and range of human subjectivity. And to me that means context is really significant. Context is like a frame, and I want to render frames visible, acknowledging limitations, point of view, and correcting the assumed frames of the past. AMM: Many of your paintings seem selfreferential. In what ways do you engage your role as an artist and the act of painting in your work? EMS: I do paint about painting at some level. To be honest I also think that’s about getting a seat at the table. AMM: The surface aesthetic of your paintings is reminiscent of glossy-page advertisements and the subject matter is often hyper-sexualized. In what ways do you play with these tropes to convey feminist subtexts in your work?

“When I went through a particularly rough patch I was forced to work small and with a limited number of materials. It was painful but it helped distill my work into a more potent formlike when you cook something and all the water evaporates leaving something concentrated at the bottom. That happened to my painting. It was important.” - Emily Mae Smith

EMS: The advertising-like effects get a viewer comfortable while the work is delivering a message that is more difficult. Subversion only works through familiarity.

that is really exciting. I wish everyone would take more risks. There could be more rigor all around.

AMM: Does your art in any way reflect your own psychological state of being?

AMM: What are you reading, watching, listening to?

EMS: My state, or an observed state, sure.

EMS: In my studio I’m listening to podcasts and alternately music with no words. Currently I’m reading “Ninth Street Women” by Mary Gabriel and currently I’m watching season 2 of “Big Little Lies” on HBO.

AMM: Visual puns and inuendo feature in many of your paintings, often with a humorous note. What roles do humor and double meaning have in your art? EMS: Humor is a tool for me; it is an equalizer and cuts through a lot of bullshit. It helps people relax a little and become more receptive to ideas they otherwise may find challenging. AMM: What ideas or themes are you currently exploring in your work?

AMM: Are you working on any exciting projects right now that we should know about? What’s next for you? EMS: I have a solo show at Perrotin Tokyo opening end of August. I’m excited to be going there.

EMS: I’m working on a new solo show for the fall, I’m not yet ready to verbalize them. They need to grow some more first. AMM: What are you excited about in the art world right now? What needs to change? EMS: I’m seeing more women and people of color thriving in the New York art world,

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Emily Mae Smith

Photo by Steve Benisty

EMS: The advertising-like effects get a viewer comfortable while the work is delivering a message that is more difficult. Subversion only works through familiarity.

that is really exciting. I wish everyone would take more risks. There could be more rigor all around.

AMM: Does your art in any way reflect your own psychological state of being?

AMM: What are you reading, watching, listening to?

EMS: My state, or an observed state, sure.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Emily Mae Smith

Emily Mae Smith Contre-jour oil on linen 76 x 100 inches

Emily Mae Smith Sweat Equity oil on linen 20 x 16 inches

Emily Mae Smith Contre-jour oil on linen 76 x 100 inches

Emily Mae Smith Sweat Equity oil on linen 20 x 16 inches

Emily Mae Smith Madame X oil on linen 38 x 30 inches

Emily Mae Smith Medusa Moderne oil on linen 47 x 58 inches

Emily Mae Smith Madame X oil on linen 38 x 30 inches

Emily Mae Smith Medusa Moderne oil on linen 47 x 58 inches

Emily Mae Smith The Gleaner oil on linen 67 x 51 inches

Emily Mae Smith Nightcrawler oil on linen 67 x 51 inches

Emily Mae Smith The Gleaner oil on linen 67 x 51 inches

Emily Mae Smith Nightcrawler oil on linen 67 x 51 inches

Emily Mae Smith Terra Lingua oil on linen 30 x 24 inches

Emily Mae Smith A Reckoning oil on linen 67 x 51 inches

Emily Mae Smith Terra Lingua oil on linen 30 x 24 inches

Emily Mae Smith A Reckoning oil on linen 67 x 51 inches

Emily Mae Smith The Studio (Horror Vacui) oil on linen 24 x 18 inches

Emily Mae Smith The Drawing Room oil on linen 48 x 37 inches

Emily Mae Smith The Studio (Horror Vacui) oil on linen 24 x 18 inches

Emily Mae Smith The Drawing Room oil on linen 48 x 37 inches

www.thomtrojanowski.com

Thom Trojanowski: “Making art is just part of daily life” Polish folktales meet sci-fi comics in Thom Trojanowski Hobson’s art. With a degree in painting from the Wimbledon College of Arts, London, Thom’s art is a riotous mix of colours, styles and mediums. Working in impasto oils, spray paint, plaster, and pencils, his part-sculptural paintings leap off the wall at the viewer. Figures inspired by characters from comic books feature in many of Thom’s paintings. These somewhat goofy or stylised forms are less representations of actual people than personifications of Thom’s ideas, experiences and emotions. For this reason Thom describes his art as “biographical”, but his art is by no means focused on identity politics. Rather, his expressive visual language incorporates figurative elements to convey symbolic narratives. Stories are important to Thom. Some of his earliest memories involve listening to tales told by his Polish grandparents, and drawing ghoulish monsters from his imagination. These formative experiences have seeped into his art and colour it with tinges of cultural and childhood nostalgia. Many of Thom’s ideas for works are inspired by stories from his own experiences. Thom borrows stylistic references from far and wide. His characteristically exuberant and playful visual language features popular culture motifs alongside fragmented cubist planes and cartoonish exaggerations. Not afraid to get his hands dirty and experiment, Thom recently has been exploring painted plaster sculptures. Recently, he made a series of fleshy-coloured painted sculptures resembling the trunks of trees. With dripping paint, protruding spikes and objects embedded into the body of the trunk, the works are at once comical and troubling; a kitsch caricature of nature, and a dire comment on the commodification of the natural world. Thom lives in Suffolk and shares a studio with his wife, who is also an artist, in a disused airplane hangar that has been converted into artist studios. We caught up with Thom to find out more about his background, living in the countryside and making paintings.

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Thom Trojanowski Ginger Of Son Castello bleach on dyed fabric, pigmented plaster, snails 49 x 40 x 7 cm

www.thomtrojanowski.com

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Thom Trojanowski Ginger Of Son Castello bleach on dyed fabric, pigmented plaster, snails 49 x 40 x 7 cm

AMM: Hi Thom! Could you tell us about your first creative experience and share some of the most vivid memories that have shaped your artistic vision to date? TT: Drawing around the dinner table played a big part of mine and my sisters’ upbringing. My whole family can draw. We’d take regular trips to the Natural History Museum—both my parents are zoologists - and my dad would challenge me to help him draw the most horrific ‘monster’ I could. When I was about ten, we went to the Tate Modern and I remember seeing ‘Portrait of a Doctor’ by Francis Picabia. Walking around with my eyes on stalks, I kept having to go back to look at it some more. It blew my mind that this could also be what a painting looked like. AMM: We understand you were playing in a band before becoming a visual artist. Could you tell us about this transition? TT: I had been playing in a band with my closest friends from the age of fifteen, finally getting a record deal with Universal just as my art foundation was finishing. My intention had been to go to art school but the time was now with music. The band then took up the next six years with touring, making records and playing festivals. I’m very grateful for that experience as it took me to places in the world I wouldn’t have been able to see, coming from a humble background. An increase in downloading music and not buying records anymore led to the label dropping us and all other acts that weren’t making them money. We took it as a chance for a little breather from each other, as touring had been pretty intense. I spent some time standing silently, blinking, wondering what to do with myself. I got a job in a call centre and whilst working there I was making pictures on the work computer in MS Paint. My colleague encouraged me to apply for art school, so I printed all of these images off, bound them in an office folder that I took from work and used this as my portfolio to grant me access to the painting course at UAL Wimbledon. Looking back I’m pretty surprised they let me in with that. It took five minutes of being in a structured environment, art school, with a proper studio, to realise I’d made the right decision. I was 25 by this point, so a bit older than the other students. Having already had an experience of living away from home and in nightlife I wasn’t interested in going out or making friends as much. So I gave my full attention and determination to make best use of my time and space there, that I was paying through the nose for. AMM: What was the name of the band? TT: The Cheek. AMM: We admire your ability to combine 2- and 3-dimensional collage-like techniques where sculptural elements physically coexist outside and within your paintings. How did this aesthetic style develop?

TT: I have such an admiration and love for sculpture but no real knowledge or understanding of it. I think it was maybe a way of me dipping my toe in the water and using painting as a safety blanket, haha. I now fully embrace structural, 3D wall based works and am happy to call them paintings. It’s also hard for me to know when to stop and rein it in a little bit, my studio can be a bit of ‘chucking everything at the wall and seeing what sticks’, literally. My wife, Stevie, is quite good at getting me to take a breather and have a second look at the work. I sometimes worry I’m a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Art is just so exciting, I want it all! AMM: You seem to play and experiment a lot with your work, when do you know a certain piece is complete? TT: The second I put it down. I work quite quickly, with little patience. And whilst I’m working on one thing I’m thinking of two different works I want to make. This isn’t a good trait and I’m learning to slow things down to help reflect, and perfect. I’ve started making work in a series, helping me to refine the image I’m trying to put out there. AMM: Bold colours give a very powerful quality to your work. What is your colour philosophy? TT: I guess it’s primarily intuitive, and at the moment I’m very pulled towards pinks, reds, oranges and the in-betweens. If you dig deeper, these colours are often found in traditional Polish folk paintings. My parents’ house looks and feels very Polish. It’s filled with wooden furniture that my Mum has hand-painted in floral folk design, where these colours are prevalent. The red in the Polish flag is to represent ‘rivers of blood’, recalling the struggle for the country’s freedom. My Grandfather fought for freedom by helping set up Radio Free Europe against the Nazis. I’m proud of and nostalgic for my heritage, and the role my grandparents played in their history. And it bleeds into my work. The ideology of Nazis still exists today, within and outside of Europe, and we should actively be fighting against that ideology. AMM: Let’s talk about the intriguing comic-like characters and narratives depicted in your works. Who are they and what do they represent? TT: Very often autobiographical, sometimes to represent a state of our current world. A character can be an embodiment of a mood, such as love or fear. I feel often what the characters look like is slightly unimportant, they’re just vessels for the narratives in the paintings or sculptures. For instance an image that looks like a cross, initially people only read in relation to religion, but actually they are just an amalgamation of my very individual experience. I was forever

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Thom Trojanowski

drawing monsters, ghouls and cartoons as a kid. Reading Dan Dare, listening to Polish folk stories being told to me by my imaginative parents. All of these characters and hybrids of alien animals awoke my imagination and have made their way into my work. I guess I never stopped drawing; and for me the stories were the epitome of a distant place. Maybe that’s why when I work, I always make the work within a story. AMM: Quite a lot of your characters appear to have a prominent feature – a round-shaped head. Could you elaborate on this idea within your visual language? TT: As a kid I read a lot of Dan Dare; those stories were the epitome of a future world to me. These characters and hybrids of alien animals have appeared in my work, for sure. What the characters look like has changed with where my inspiration or point of interest is coming from at the time. I guess right now they look a bit lunar, as I fell for George Melies’ film ‘A Trip to the Moon’ last year. In 1902, his depiction of what it might be like out there had to be completely imagined. This naiveness is easy to build on as anything is possible in the world of Melies—there are no rights or wrongs in an unexplored world. My father teaches in ecology and conservation and he delivers lectures on sustainability; how to keep the planet from tipping over the edge into crisis. After attending some of his lectures I remembered back when I was a teen the phrase “it’s okay because we can live on the moon when it all goes tits up” being thrown around. The ‘anything is possible’ mentality of Melies was echoed again in the early 2000s. Maybe there is something recognisable on the dark side of the moon? Maybe George was onto something? The set is different, the atmosphere is made up of different gasses, but relationships still experience the same joys and follies as they do here on earth. AMM: Given the very cartoonish nature of your narratives, does humour play a big part in your work? TT: A sense of humour is essential, life is too serious to be taken seriously. AMM: Your 2018 solo exhibition ‘From Sarmatia to Star’ at the Chopping Block gallery was especially striking. This show had a profound connection to your interest in Hermetic foundations of Polish culture—where your family’s heritage lies. Can you speak about the link of sculptural elements and paintings within this installation? What thoughts and ideas were you trying to get across to the viewer? TT: Whilst doing some reading I came across an ancient alphabet of Polish occult symbols. Back when Poland was first founded, the original tribes had these sets of symbols. They used these to define each tribe and called their specific symbol a ‘Cry Out’. The ‘Cry

Photo by Stevie Dix

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Thom Trojanowski

Photo by Stevie Dix

Out’ would be something each tribe would scream on their way into battle. It made its way through history, making it onto coats of arms and to be used as a form of identity and guidance. Over time the original meanings of many of the symbols have been lost and forgotten—so I planned to give meaning back to a set of these symbols, picking four things that I feel are crucial to the human race for survival. For example, one of the symbols looks like the Ministry of Sound logo, so I modernised this symbol to mean ‘Unity’. There’s not much more unifying and levelling than a room of humans dancing to the same beat. I also found one of the original symbols within my old family crest that had actually managed to retain its original meaning. The character had the word ‘Ostoja’ underneath it, meaning ‘Refuge’. A word that today I find necessary, relevant and warming. AMM: Apart from Polish culture and tradition reminiscences occurring frequently in your work, are there any other dominating concepts and ideas that shape your art? TT: My parents being scientists, ecology, biodiversity and the current state of the environment were always and are still some of the main topics of conversation when I go home. Living in the middle of the countryside, most days I’m in the forest with my wife and Lydia, our dog. I spent the first six years of my life living in the middle of Wyre Forest in Worcestershire with my nose to the ground, receiving my primary education from nature. This is something I’ve very much carried with me and feel very passionate about. It seems to be only in the last year that a vast group of people are starting to finally wake up that this world is burning and drastic changes need to be made. These worries and concerns played an integral part in my upbringing and also in my artistic practice. AMM: Your studio is situated at an old American air base in Suffolk. It sounds enthralling; must be an incredible location for developing a creative practice! Describe your day in the studio. How does the setting of this studio space affect what you are doing?

Image:

Thom Trojanowski Zakopane Boys oil paint, canvas, cast plaster slabs, pigment, steel hooks 35 x 45 cm

Thom Trojanowski Dog, Tell Me... oil, plaster on board, text on wall 70 x 80 cm

TT: We feel very lucky to be able to work there. The studios there are big and cheap and we’re fortunate to share the building with some like-minded artists. There is a great gallery space in the centre of Asylum Studios in which we all share the running of the curatorial and residency program. As Asylum Studios is set up as a co-operative, each member has a say in what we do, and how we do it. The airbase itself is very atmospheric, long runways with old disused jet fighter planes strewn across the landscape helps set the tone for the day. I wouldn’t say that the setting has a direct influence on our practices other than the fact that it’s fairly close to the house and quite secluded, giving us more time and space. I work well in the mornings and I’m up really early with the dog so we walk around the forest surrounding the airbase. Filling the body with clean oxygen is a great start to a productive day. ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Thom Trojanowski

Image:

Thom Trojanowski Zakopane Boys oil paint, canvas, cast plaster slabs, pigment, steel hooks 35 x 45 cm

Thom Trojanowski Dog, Tell Me... oil, plaster on board, text on wall 70 x 80 cm

AMM: You and your wife, Stevie Dix, are both artists living and working together every day side by side. In what ways do you affect each other’s work and progress? TT: Stevie and I paint in the same room, which is plenty big enough to accommodate both of us. We’re not just partners but also best friends who respect each other’s practice, although they are quite different from one another. It’s helpful to have another critical brain there that you trust to help you through the normal insecurities and moments of doubt that come with making work. To tell you when something is bad or to high five you when you’ve nailed it. We are each other’s biggest supporters. It’s also good to share painting tips with each other and to have someone to share lunch with. There may be a few cases where one of us lands on a technique and the other one borrows, but other than that our practices are very much off on different tangents. AMM: Before relocating to London you used to live in Antwerp, Belgium. Does travel influence your practice? TT: Definitely. People, architecture, food, politics, natural environment…. even the small differences, it’s all intriguing. I think it’s essential for any artist to have opportunity to visit new places, no matter what your practice may be, just to keep your eyes open to societal and environmental shifts. One of the things I noticed whilst walking around the streets of Antwerp was the abundance of large, Catholic icons depicting Madonna mounted to the sides of the buildings, even in small back streets. After asking some questions I found out that when street lights first came to the city in the 1800s, the city would make sure that every street with an icon would be provided with light to illuminate the shrine. The people of Antwerp fast started making their own “fake” icons and attaching them to the sides of their homes so the city would fit street lights and run the power to that street. Families would then tap the power and run their homes with it. I found this exploitation of a religion amusing. After living there for quite a while and integrating into Antwerp life I didn’t feel that Catholicism played any part in anyone’s lives anymore, yet it’s impossible to find a shop open on a Sunday. Sunday is taken off as a day of rest, originally in the name of religion, but now it’s the day where the techno clubs stay open longer from the night before. It’s also amusing how Belgians hunger for the street light has grown to such a beast that they are now Europe’s most light-polluted country; even the motorways in the middle of nowhere are illuminated at three in the morning. I adapted the cross in some of my paintings

from that time as a sign of double meaning, or to show something for not what it may seem. It’s not a symbol I have used often, as it is loaded with thick amour. To be honest, it’s an easy comment for me to make so flippantly as I’m not religious. After that, I did a collaborative project with my friends, Drones Club, who are a dance outfit. The symbol that Drones work under is their own format of a cross with a point next to it. It’s a cross, or structure, seen from an isometric point of view - it represents seeing the world under the left hand light (represented by the point on the symbol). It’s more twisted but carrying a more complete truth, represented by the evocation of a 3rd dimension. The collaboration manifested itself in me making a series of works in response to their EP, White Crocodile. It’s this cross that I have painted far more than the cross of Christianity. AMM: Your work looks vivid, expressive, innovative and versatile. Are there any other hidden in-depth sides to your art, which aren’t as noticeable to the viewer’s eye at first glance? TT: As my friends and family will all tell you, I’m not a particularly subtle guy and very much wear my heart on my sleeve. So probably not. AMM: Were there any major milestones in your artistic career, any big life lessons that you might share with us? TT: Making the decision to move out of London in the chase of cheaper and bigger studios. We had visited Antwerp previously whilst living in London, and had become sick of London rental prices so thought sod it, packed up our stuff and moved to Belgium. We didn’t know a lot of people in Antwerp so there was a sense of me and her against the world. We found a large open plan apartment for very little money turned it into a live/work studio space, both of us making lots of work like it was the most important thing in the world. After that, we couldn’t ever imagine living somewhere like London again where our time in the studio was compromised by financial strain.

the city which are good for artists and also have good open space for dogs. We both benefit from mixing it up once in a while. I love Brussels a lot and find it very inspiring and lively. Other than these different places I can’t think of any significant milestones. Making art is just part of daily life, and every day you try harder and maybe learn something new. It’s a gradual uphill rather than big moments. AMM: If you could go back in time to live and work as an artist in any particular year and art movement, which one would it be? TTH: I’m finding this question hard to answer. I very much live in the present and have never found myself yearning to live in a different period of time. I’m enjoying how increasingly diverse and accepting this current art climate is, and that’s not to say there isn’t still a huge amount of work to be done by all of us on that front. But I hope it’s becoming a little less straight, white-male led than it was in the past. AMM: What’s next on your agenda? TT: I’m currently writing this interview from L21 Gallery, in Palma, Mallorca. I’m on residency here and have a show opening at the end of it next week, so it’s been quite an intensive period of work. Once I get back to the UK I don’t have any major commitments other than a few group shows, so it will be a good chance to get my head in the studio and experiment and make some work that no one needs to see.

We now live in Suffolk, where I’m originally from, as the flat in Antwerp got sold. Living in the countryside is quite daunting at times and there is a certain level of fear of missing out, like current exhibitions and gigs. But all of that is outweighed by the studio and house rent and the freedom to walk our dog in the forest. Having cheaper costs of living ultimately means more studio time. It’s been a highly productive period for both of us. We are longing to be part of Belgian culture again and looking to move to Brussels in the future to reap the benefits of a diverse social culture. There are areas on the outskirts of

Image (left): Thom Trojanowski Zawolanie oil and spray paint on canvas 110 x 120 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Thom Trojanowski

Image (left): Thom Trojanowski Zawolanie oil and spray paint on canvas 110 x 120 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Thom Trojanowski

Thom Trojanowski Call The Doctor oil and spray paint on canvas 80 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Three Poppies & A Frog oil and spray paint on canvas 110 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Call The Doctor oil and spray paint on canvas 80 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Three Poppies & A Frog oil and spray paint on canvas 110 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Liquid Smoke oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

Thom Trojanowski Soldier oil on canvas 60 x40 cm

Thom Trojanowski Liquid Smoke oil on canvas 60 x 80 cm

Thom Trojanowski Soldier oil on canvas 60 x40 cm

Thom Trojanowski A View We All Deserve bleach on dyed fabric, pigmented plaster 83 x 63 x 8 cm

Thom Trojanowski Step Lightly bleach on dyed fabric, pigmented plaster 83 x 63 x 8 cm

Thom Trojanowski A View We All Deserve bleach on dyed fabric, pigmented plaster 83 x 63 x 8 cm

Thom Trojanowski Step Lightly bleach on dyed fabric, pigmented plaster 83 x 63 x 8 cm

Thom Trojanowski Hi plaster, resin, plasticine, wood 49 x 40 x 7 cm

Thom Trojanowski Break Me Into Bigger Pieces plaster, resin, paving bricks, pigment, wood 49 x 40 x 7

Thom Trojanowski Hi plaster, resin, plasticine, wood 49 x 40 x 7 cm

Thom Trojanowski Break Me Into Bigger Pieces plaster, resin, paving bricks, pigment, wood 49 x 40 x 7

Thom Trojanowski Szybko! Szybko! oil, plaster, mono print on paper 100 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Smash Hits oil, plaster, mono print on paper, resin on board 100 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Szybko! Szybko! oil, plaster, mono print on paper 100 x 120 cm

Thom Trojanowski Smash Hits oil, plaster, mono print on paper, resin on board 100 x 120 cm

www.michaelayounge.tumblr.com

Wonderfully beastly: In conversation with Michaela Younge To try and decipher a hierarchy to Cape Town artist Michaela Younge’s felt tapestries is an exercise in futility. The Hieronymus Bosch-like tableaux are governed by a dreamlike logic, where swans wear top hats, pigs speak on cell phones and a green alien peruses the meat isle in a supermarket. In this world, nothing is as it should be, but that, we’re led to believe, is a perfectly normal state of being. Nudity, anthropomorphism and ultra-violence are as commonplace as having a drink or mowing the lawn. Dead bodies, severed limbs and carcases are scattered about casually. There’s a fabulous ambivalence to violence and carnage. In this world, bodies are merely meat; a man reposes in a butcher’s window—just flesh on display. The popular trope in fairy tales and folklore of one’s true identity being hidden within a beastly outward appearance is here inverted and turned inside out. When the mask comes off or the animal sheds its skin, it’s not Prince Charming who appears, but another animal or some indeterminable creature. Should we read this through a psychoanalytical lens? Is this a comment on human nature? Or is this merely a fantastically curious world where up is down and down is up? Michaela’s work is an incongruous mix of playful and macabre, dark humour and whimsical aesthetics. Wool and embroidery have historically been associated with female domestic crafts. Michaela’s devilish tapestries reimagine this medium in a wholly contemporary and subversive manner, all the while retaining a wry knowing glance backwards. Pastoral scenes are now populated by cowboys and cute animals have run amok. In her recent solo exhibition ‘Nothing Bad’, adolescent daydreams, fantasies and questionable life decisions play out in bedroom scenes. But beneath the Sweet Valley High façade and pop-culture nostalgia trouble lurks…

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Michaela Younge Canned Ham & Prime Cuts merino wool on felt 59 x 64 cm

www.michaelayounge.tumblr.com

interview by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Michaela Younge Canned Ham & Prime Cuts merino wool on felt 59 x 64 cm

AMM: Hi Michaela! When we last spoke you had recently graduated from Michaelis School of Art in Cape Town. How has your approach to your work and career developed since then? What have been some of the things that have influenced you and led to you working in wool and felt tapestry? MY: I first started using commercial felt while I was at Michaelis, combining it with leather and animal skin. This was when I was making horse heads, and bladders etc. Since then the animal hasn’t left my work, but the medium has evolved into wool tableaux (for lack of a better word). There are a few characters that have popped back into my works along the way, such as the hobby horse and the lone horse head. While I was using the commercial type wool, I guess that’s when it occurred to me that I’d like to create my own. It made sense. I’ve always loved medieval tapestries, and in a way this is my interpretation of a modern tapestry. AMM: What is your process of working? MY: I don’t have a process of working that works every time, sometimes I know exactly what I’m doing, and then like everyone else—sometimes it feels like I’m feeling around in the dark. Generally I start off with an idea, whether that be a place or even a character and I work from there, either with sketches or writing things out. Basically I have lots of scraps of paper on my desk. AMM: You’ve recently had a solo exhibition at SMITH Gallery in Cape Town titled ‘Nothing Bad’. What ideas and themes were you exploring in this body of work?

Photo courtesy of Michaela Younge

MY: In my show ‘Nothing Bad’, that opened 9 May at SMITH, I didn’t focus on one idea or theme, rather there were a few underlying the different works. Nothing Bad begins with a half-moon work titled ‘Butcher’s Hooks, Baked Goods and Romantic Candles’. The title references the nursery rhyme Rub-a-dub-dub. The butchery is seen again, in ‘Canned Ham & Prime Cuts’, where a plucked chicken runs free across the frame, and a duck hangs sadly in the backroom. The butchery is an interesting space, the head of the animal is generally removed from the body, creating a separation between the meat and the identity of that particular animal, allowing us to maintain a guiltless conscience. There may be some reference to hidden identity in the work as well, the customers don’t seem to be interacting with each other. A man with a cane looks away from the viewer while a man in a green screen outfit walks into frame from the right. The green screen man’s face is completely covered, you could rob a bank in this outfit basically! His green outfit is glaringly conspicuous in the outside world, however

when he’s on set he is invisible, a nobody. Nothing Bad comes back as a sort of mantra between the works, however there are bad things happening. In ‘Equine Peep Show’, a cowboy has been shot, bleeding as he lies on the ground, and in ‘I was forced to order Italian food, which is unfortunate, as I hate Italian food’, the restaurant chef chases an escaped lobster into the dining room with a knife. As you walk through the space into the second room, the works turn more to a theme of domesticity and the everyday, with high school scenes, and home interiors. In ‘The vinyl might be sloppily done, but the room always smells pine fresh’, a man reads the newspaper as he sits on the toilet. There is a sense of domesticity, the colours are warm, and yet the man’s expression is somewhat confused to be caught at such a time. At first glance, the piece seems almost friendly, and then you notice that the sink is overflowing, and the fat cat has killed a rat on the vinyl, and a hand-mirror lies cracked in the corner. The back wall of the show is painted baby blue with red roses, mimicking the wallpaper of the work hanging there titled ‘Are you looking for an excellent investment?’ in an attempt to expand the work into the space. That work is almost the epitome of domesticity and family, as you can see that it is the night before Christmas. A fire burns in the grate, next to a decorated tree over a pile of wrapped presents. However all is not well, as Santa drank too much red wine and his willy hangs out, while Krampus crouches next to the tree, waiting to punish naughty children. AMM: Do you feel like this exhibition closes a chapter or lays the ground for further exploration in your work? MY: I feel like my exhibition Nothing Bad is only the beginning of more exploration and play with the materiality of wool and fabric. I love working with wool. In the last two years, I have also been experimenting with found materials and mixing in elements of embroidery. And I’ve definitely become a lot more proficient. AMM: In your felt tapestries, everywhere you look there’s something bizarre going on. Does each work tell a single story, or perhaps many stories at once? What role does narrative play in your work? MY: In my works, there are generally multiple storylines happening simultaneously. For example, in ‘Trinket, Basket, Grandpa’s in a Casket’, it appears at first glance to talk about domestic felicity—a loving wife bringing in a tray of biscuits for her husband, and yet there he is, tied up on the floor. The large expanse of lime green wall—almost sickly—and a

shadow that is cast over a green armchair and up onto the wall behind plays into this malaise. There is the narrative of the wife, and there is the husband’s narrative, which are very different. In the woman’s right hand, she has a glove puppet or doll, which cites a ventriloquist’s dummy. A dummy or puppet draws the attention away from the ‘puppeteer’, or the one pulling the strings. A person is able to speak through the dummy, transferring responsibility away from oneself, for instance, if you tell a bad joke that falls flat. The communication breakdown between the two people is emphasised by the fact that the man’s teeth sit in a glass of water by his head, thus further muting him— perhaps the red rose in his hand is his lastditch attempt to speak. AMM: The divide between animals and humans is blurred and permeable in your work. Can you tell us more about this and what interests you in this in-between anthropomorphic space? MY: In culture, folklore often references creatures that shift the boundaries between human and non-human characteristics. This is seen in the multitude of stories about werewolves, the Yeti etc. The Yeti appears almost humanlike in stature and yet he is covered in animal fur, while the werewolf loses his ‘humanity’ as he shape-shifts, becoming more ‘animalistic’ and ‘wild’. I think what frightens us about werewolves, is our fear of being othered, which situates us on the outskirts of humanity, and the idea that animals are irrational and therefore untrustworthy. This can be seen in how the actions of serial killers are also often described as ‘beastly’ or ‘animalistic’, as we think of them of having crossed over in some sense. I think that we fear losing ourselves in this realm, as it questions the idea that we are different from other animals and that it is only our ‘humanity’ that keeps us from murder and destruction. AMM: Your tapestries bring to mind and invert the recurring motif in fairy tales and folklore of one’s true identity being hidden and then revealed—such as the frog prince, the beast, etc. What psychological understanding might we draw from this? MY: Well I do love a good disguise! I suppose this goes back to the reference of the theatre within my work. In plays, villains are often hidden in plain sight from the viewers until the point of unmasking thus revealing their true identity. The disguise allows them to interact without suspicion from the other characters. This is repeated in fairy tales, and children’s books. In previous works, when the figure is shrouded in fabric, or a mask, there is often some reference to him becoming animal-like, and shifting into the realm of the anthropomorphic being. In the work

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Michaela Younge

Photo courtesy of Michaela Younge

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Michaela Younge

‘Lost: Season 53, 2027’, (2017) there is a figure that resembles a hobby horse, with a skull for head and a blanket covering its body. Human hands peek out from beneath the fabric, and yet he is the wrong shape for a human. He exists in a space of limbo between horse and human, imitating both and yet is neither.

the process of sheering, and the marked differences in the treatment of animals that are marked for slaughter and those for use of wool.

AMM: Despite the dismemberment and seeming casual violence, your work has an undeniable playfulness and dark humour to it. Please tell us more about this duality and finding the right note with dark humour?

MY: There was no strategy to having a home studio other than saving money, but in many ways it is more difficult to separate ‘down time’ and ‘work time’, as you’re constantly surrounded by your work. But on the other side, you can multitask and do your laundry while you’re working!

MY: I can’t put my finger on it, but if a squirrel is stabbing a duck it’s somewhat more palatable than if a child was doing it. I don’t really know what it is, but I suppose that the soft materiality and the bright colours of the work juxtapose the violent act. At first glance, sometimes you miss all the details. In the work ‘Are you looking for an excellent investment?’ it took a while for people to notice that Santa’s penis was peeking out of his pants. In reference to the dark humour, I can’t speak for my own work being humourous but I do have fun with the titles. AMM: Scrolling way back on your Instagram feed to several years ago, you were making flat digital drawings. Although distinctly different in medium and style, the subject matter foreshadows your current work. Please tell us a little about how your work has changed and evolved over time? MY: The transition into working with wool, and creating felted scenes came from a desire to merge the flat and colourful characters from my prints with the tactility of my sculptures. In the past, I used a range of materials such as leather and vellum which, along with the wool are all animal by-products. Within my woollen works, I really enjoy how the materiality offers both a flatness and a textuality with its surface depth and softness to touch. AMM: In what ways do the mediums that you’ve worked in, such as leather and wool, relate to the ideas and subject matter of your art? MY: It does seem that I have an affinity to animal by-products, but I’ve also always been surrounded by it. Growing up, with my dad being a sculptor, multiple objects in our house were covered in vellum by him, so it’s normalized. During my fourth year, the use of leather and skin tied in to the theme of my body of work ‘In the Stables’. Horse paraphernalia is often made from leather, such as bridles and saddles. Image: Michaela Younge They Always Say ‘Its In Your Blood’, But Now There’s Dust In Yours merino wool on felt 45 x 57 cm

Wool is obviously also an animal byproduct, although usually not a fatal one, as one can sheer a sheep. By a strange coincidence, I stayed at an Airbnb where the owner was a butcher, and he explained

AMM: Your studio is currently in your bedroom. How does living so closely with your work influence or affect you?

AMM: What is the art scene like in Cape Town right now? What’s exciting, what needs to change? MY: This is quite a difficult question to answer. I think that in some ways, the Cape Town art scene has become more globalized with social media and art fairs, but in other ways it remains small and sometimes difficult to ‘crack’. There also seems to be a split between commercial art including design and less commercial art. I think it would be great to see more collaborative spaces, which could be hired, or used so that artists could curate their own shows, whether that be performative or otherwise. There is also a lack of residencies in South Africa that are based here, or nearby, which would allow artist peers to work more closely with each other. But basically, I don’t have all the answers. AMM: Do you have any exciting projects coming up that we should know about? What’s next for you? MY: 2019 has been wildly exciting, and very satisfying as it marks the opening of ‘Nothing Bad’, my first solo show at SMITH. I hadn’t fully considered what it took to put together a show, and there were many things that I didn’t think about until a week or two before. However, I feel like some of those last minute decisions played a big role in the final product. It wasn’t until we were starting to hang the works that I decided we should paint the back wall, and that became a big curatorial decision, which helped both anchor the room and expand the work into the space. SMITH were hugely helpful and supportive throughout this process, as were my parents. Later this year, I am being represented by SMITH at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair that takes place in London. So I am currently working on pieces that will form part of the body of work booth. The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair takes place at the beginning of October.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Michaela Younge

the process of sheering, and the marked differences in the treatment of animals that are marked for slaughter and those for use of wool.

Wool is obviously also an animal byproduct, although usually not a fatal one, as one can sheer a sheep. By a strange coincidence, I stayed at an Airbnb where the owner was a butcher, and he explained

AMM: Your studio is currently in your bedroom. How does living so closely with your work influence or affect you?

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Michaela Younge

Michaela Younge Choose Your Player merino wool on felt 34 x 39 cm

Michaela Younge I was forced to order Italian food, which is unfortunate, as I hate Italian food merino wool on felt 43 x 49 cm

Michaela Younge Choose Your Player merino wool on felt 34 x 39 cm

Michaela Younge I was forced to order Italian food, which is unfortunate, as I hate Italian food merino wool on felt 43 x 49 cm

Michaela Younge The vinyl might be sloppily done, but the room always smells pine fresh merino wool on felt 44 x 46 cm

Michaela Younge Promise Roger All Your Kisses merino wool on felt 49 x 52 cm

Michaela Younge The vinyl might be sloppily done, but the room always smells pine fresh merino wool on felt 44 x 46 cm

Michaela Younge Promise Roger All Your Kisses merino wool on felt 49 x 52 cm

Michaela Younge Intern-Al Bliss merino wool on felt 61 x 76 cm

Michaela Younge She wants a pony but she cannot ride merino wool on felt 43 x 53 cm

Michaela Younge Intern-Al Bliss merino wool on felt 61 x 76 cm

Michaela Younge She wants a pony but she cannot ride merino wool on felt 43 x 53 cm

Michaela Younge A Premeditated Mistake merino wool on felt 33 x 37 cm

Michaela Younge Hope and Charity’s Downfall merino wool on felt 36 x 36 cm

Michaela Younge A Premeditated Mistake merino wool on felt 33 x 37 cm

Michaela Younge Hope and Charity’s Downfall merino wool on felt 36 x 36 cm

Michaela Younge Gray Hair Could Cost You Your Job merino wool on felt 32 x 50 cm

Michaela Younge Reverse Charge merino wool on felt 40 x 64 cm

Michaela Younge Gray Hair Could Cost You Your Job merino wool on felt 32 x 50 cm

Michaela Younge Reverse Charge merino wool on felt 40 x 64 cm

www.mevlana-lipp.com

From the deep: The mesmerizing work of Mevlana Lipp The natural world is magical, mysterious and ultimately unknowable. The Garden of Eden is the original metaphor for being, that unimaginable paradise from which humans were banished but seem always to seek to return to, perhaps like the Romantics who sought the sublime in nature. More recently, science has revealed captivating mysteries about the natural world. Trees in a forest communicate and share resources through a complex mycorrhizal network of interconnected roots and fungi. In the deepest reaches of the ocean, clusters of tiny organisms flourish around thermal jets and metre-high corals grow that are thousands of years old. Since the earliest ages, nature has compelled and terrified humans. Cologne-based artist Mevlana Lipp is deeply fascinated by the natural world in its pure state, as well as in the space it occupies in the human imagination. To Mevlana, the curling tendril of a vine, the rounded form of a seed pod or the gentle swaying feathers of a crinoid become signifiers of complex sets of emotions and experiences, communicated in a language outside of human linguistic codes. Part semiotic metaphor part primordial creatures from the deep, the organic organisms in Mevlana’s artwork reach out across time and consciousness to whisper about where all things began. The mesmerizing relief forms in Mevlana’s paintings float against deep black velvet backgrounds that are impenetrable and unknowable. But therein lies the appeal.

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Mevlana Lipp Lagoon velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 40 x 30 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

www.mevlana-lipp.com

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Mevlana Lipp Lagoon velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 40 x 30 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

“The plant creatures in my reliefs float in a timeless black space and evolve into different forms. Sometimes they take the shapes of hands that are half consciously exploring their environment and thus can already represent a further step on the evolution scale.” - Mevlana Lipp AMM: Hi Mevlana! Can you tell us what life events triggered your interest to study art? What have been the highs and lows of your artistic journey? ML: I grew up in a creative household. My father is an artist himself, therefore it was natural for me to see and make art. The idea to study art solidified after my graduation from school. I began to study art and philosophy, but soon decided to concentrate entirely on art. I try not to divide my career into ups and downs. Looking back, I have always been able to learn something from the challenges I have encountered so far. Sometimes it was hard, but the only thing that helped me was to carry on. AMM: What ideas are you currently exploring in your art? ML: The first people millions of years ago. In my current reliefs I depict plant-like creatures in a prehistoric space that embody feelings and communicate with each other. The interactions between these beings are not driven by thoughts but are purely emotional and instinctual. Although these concepts underlie all my works, each one creates an individual atmosphere. Often this atmosphere is not completely fixed. Whereas in some works themes such as tenderness, closeness and sexuality are clearly emphasized, in others the interaction

shown is characterized by ambiguity or suitability. These themes are deeply rooted in human nature and concern us today just as they did in the past.

of a mysterious and mesmerising basic form of life, yet within their beauty there is a sense of unknown. What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

AMM: How does your work connect with your personal history?

ML: Actually, I don’t try to think about it that much anymore. I just try to share what concerns and touches me. I learned in the last few years that I create the best work by staying as close to myself as possible. It’s not always easy, but I’m getting better and better.

ML: I grew up in a very small village surrounded by nature. About 80 people lived there back then. I spent most of my time playing with other children in the forest. Biology already interested me a lot at that time. For a long time I wanted to become a biologist or animal filmmaker. I remember that my first self bought book was about mushrooms. This fascination for nature in all its diversity has left its mark on me since then. The complexity of biological connections often appears like magic to me. These impressions are closely interwoven with my work. AMM: The floral features in your work visually seem to take on a 3-d form, looking as though they stand alone as sculptural shapes within the contrast of the deep black on the background. What comes first in your work - sculpture or painting? ML: I’m actually a sculptor. Recently, I devoted myself more and more to relief and developed an approach to painting. At this point I can no longer separate the two. That’s why the answer should be: Both. AMM: In your recent first solo show ‘Eden’ at Krupic Kersting Galerie in Cologne earlier this year you were exploring the idea of ‘paradise within creation’ referring to the remnants of ancient times such as the Stone Age. Could you expand on your chosen topic? ML: I chose the exhibition title because the world I depict in my reliefs embodies a place of longing for me. If one follows the Christian tradition, paradise is the place where life, especially human kind, was created. In my current work I try to offer a new concept of the Garden of Eden that is perhaps closer to biological reality. The first life arose in the deep sea near volcanic springs. The plant creatures in my reliefs float in a timeless black space and evolve into different forms. Sometimes they take the shapes of hands that are half consciously exploring their environment and thus can already represent a further step on the evolution scale. In the exhibition Eden I also showed sculptures for the first time. These were based on fossils from an abstract stone age. While I see my reliefs as portals into a long past time of creation, the sculptures were conceived as a kind of fossil that has survived until today. AMM: The idea of ‘deep sea creatures’ really comes across in your recent work. The illuminating abstract curved shapes remind us

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Mevlana Lipp

AMM: Bearing in mind your interest in nature what are your thoughts on climate change? ML: Climate-change is probably the greatest challenge our generation faces. Sooner or later the dramatic consequences will affect all of us, no matter where we live or how big our bank account is. Therefore, it is important to change our behavior now both politically and privately. I try to bring more awareness into my everyday life. Every purchase can be a decision for or against the climate. On closer inspection I discover many things that can easily be altered without paying a hefty price. AMM: You seem to have a fascination with bold gradient tones and neon colours, which give your compositions a very sharp and distinct look. How do these colour choices support the thinking behind your work? ML: The colours are inspired by creatures of the deep sea. In a sphere without sunlight, the bioluminescent colours are used for communication, hunting or reproduction. In my current work they have a similar function. They create atmospheres and tell stories, they communicate with the viewer and each other. AMM: Was there a particular reason why you chose to work with wood and velvet materials? Are there any new mediums you plan to incorporate in your work? ML: Since I come from sculpturing I’m experienced working with wood. I know how to handle it and like the natural material with its small imperfections. I came across velvet while searching for a material capable of absorbing light and creating an illusion of infinite depth. I used mother-of-pearl in one of my latest works and I’m intending to use it more often now. Last but not least, I have recently started to dye velvet myself. Thus, I can create brighter colors which act as backgrounds in some of my new works. AMM: Did any particular art movements or artists influence your work? What are your sources of inspiration? ML: Georgia O’Keeffe, Hilma af Klint, Henri Rousseau, Henri Matisse, Meret Oppenheim just to name a few artists I admire. My biggest inspiration is probably nature itself. I love to visit gardens, greenhouses and aquariums. The storage of my phone is always packed because I take so many photos there.

shown is characterized by ambiguity or suitability. These themes are deeply rooted in human nature and concern us today just as they did in the past.

of a mysterious and mesmerising basic form of life, yet within their beauty there is a sense of unknown. What do you hope viewers take away from your work?

AMM: How does your work connect with your personal history?

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Mevlana Lipp

AMM: Over the years your compositions have developed a more fluid, softer and gentle appearance. What influenced this change? ML: Actually, I’m not quite sure. What I know is that my work grows and changes with me. I’m turning 30 this year and have the feeling that many questions in my life are slowly clearing up. The last 5 years have been marked by many changes and accordingly my work has changed a lot. AMM: You have previously intimated that the ideas for your work are influenced by a desire to escape the obligations and constraints of today’s society. How do your physical surroundings influence your process of work? How would you describe your ideal place of escape? ML: The place where I work plays an important role for me. To be able to concentrate I need a relatively quiet place and time for myself alone. Nevertheless I appreciate the possibility to exchange with other artists without leaving the studio house. In this respect I am very satisfied with my current studio-situation. In the long run I would like to have a studio in the midst of nature. A place where you can live and work, but which also has a good connection to the city. As I draw most of my inspiration from nature itself, this would probably be my ideal refuge. AMM: What does a typical day in your studio look like? ML: I usually arrive at my studio in the morning, have a coffee and water my plants. After that I start painting, drawing or cutting. At lunchtime I meet up with artist friends from the same studio-building. We often cook together or go out for dinner. Afterwards I usually work until the evening. I really enjoy the regularity of this routine. AMM: What do you value most as an artist?

and try not to think about it. Afterwards things often clarify on their own. Sometimes I’m too close and distance is the only thing that offers a solution. Over the years I have developed a feeling which method is the most promising. AMM: In which ways do popular and social culture influence your work? ML: I don’t consciously draw my inspiration from pop or social culture. Nevertheless, I am part of a society, which is shaped by popular and social culture. The influence is certainly there but not intentionally chosen. AMM: What is your personal relationship to social media? How does it affect your creative process? Are there any blogs or websites that you find particularly inspirational? ML: I’ve been using instagram for a few years now. For me it’s a great way to show my work to a wider audience while staying up to date. It’s great to be able to connect with so many artists worldwide and have interesting exchanges. At the same time I notice the strong pressure that social media can create and the challenges it poses. I try to maintain balance and keep my inner distance. The longing for a place in nature where one can escape the visibility and demands of today’s world and the simultaneous desire for contact and intellectual exchange is probably reflected in my ambivalent relationship to social media. I find many instagram accounts interesting and am fascinated to be shown unknown positions again and again. To name a few on instagram: the_art_estate; painterspaintingpaintings; artmazemag ; and yngspc. AMM: When not creating how do you enjoy spending your time?

ML: The freedom to shape my days on my own, the opportunity to earn my living with something that really fulfills me and the huge variety in creating my work.

ML: With friends, spend time in nature, cook, listen to podcasts, read and watch series.

AMM: What do you do if you happen to find yourself at an artistic standstill?

ML: My solo exhibition ‘Basic Instinct’ runs until 20.07.19 in the ak-raum in Cologne. Up next are group exhibitions in London and Klagenfurt.

ML: In first instance I keep working and bin what doesn’t turn out well until I’m back in my flow. If it doesn’t help I take a day off

AMM: What’s next for you on the horizon?

photo by Gregor Guski

Featured image (p.65): Mevlana Lipp Melting touch velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 80 x 60 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Mevlana Lipp

ML: The freedom to shape my days on my own, the opportunity to earn my living with something that really fulfills me and the huge variety in creating my work.

ML: With friends, spend time in nature, cook, listen to podcasts, read and watch series.

AMM: What do you do if you happen to find yourself at an artistic standstill?

ML: My solo exhibition ‘Basic Instinct’ runs until 20.07.19 in the ak-raum in Cologne. Up next are group exhibitions in London and Klagenfurt.

ML: In first instance I keep working and bin what doesn’t turn out well until I’m back in my flow. If it doesn’t help I take a day off

AMM: What’s next for you on the horizon?

photo by Gregor Guski

Featured image (p.65): Mevlana Lipp Melting touch velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 80 x 60 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Hot spot velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 140 x 100 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Humboldt velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 140 x 100 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Hot spot velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 140 x 100 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Humboldt velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 140 x 100 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Fountain velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 200 x 150 cm photo by Mareike Tocha

Mevlana Lipp Calyx velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 200 x 150 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Fountain velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 200 x 150 cm photo by Mareike Tocha

Mevlana Lipp Calyx velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 200 x 150 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Tendril III (Diptychon) steel, thermoplast, acrylic colour 174 x 90 x 29 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Untitled I velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 45 x 27.5 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Tendril III (Diptychon) steel, thermoplast, acrylic colour 174 x 90 x 29 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Untitled I velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 45 x 27.5 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Capri velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 45 x 33 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Close velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 30 x 20 cm photo by Mareike Tocha

Mevlana Lipp Capri velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 45 x 33 cm photo by Mevlana Lipp

Mevlana Lipp Close velvet, wood, acrylic colour, ink 30 x 20 cm photo by Mareike Tocha

www.jessiemakinson.co.uk

Subverting patriarchal myths: The wilfully feminist work of Jessie Makinson In Jessie Makinson’s surreal paintings, female figures emerge and dissolve from the landscape in the same instance. Like reflections on the surface of a rippled pool, what is above and what is beneath become blurred and indistinguishable. The women in Jessie’s paintings, part nature nymph, part futuristic android, part girl-next-door, are each defiantly feminine. They glance back at the viewer, unfazed and unaffected by being looked at, and melt into their surrounding before they can be fully recognisaed and objectified. In Jessie’s paintings, neither the landscape nor the female form will hold still for the gaze, crystallised or be tamed, instead existing in a defiant state of flux, becoming and unbecoming. Jessie begins each new painting with a quick rough sketch directly onto the canvas and then begins applying layers of colour to build up the ground. The bruised, miasmic underpainting seeps into the precisely articulated surface detail, creating a captivating dialogue between surface and depth; the figures and the landscape. The woman are part of the landscape, physically imbued with its brooding, implacable presence. The visual language in Jessie’s work is steeped in feminist symbolism. She is deeply interested in the work of feminist speculative fiction and sci-fi writers, as well as the female subject in art history. With the capricious, nonchalant female figures, narratives emerge that hint of desire, mischief, pleasure and play. Jessie lives and works in London. She is a graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal Drawing School, and was selected to take part in the London-based Turps Banana Studio Programme from 201416. She has exhibited throughout the UK, and was the recipient of the Sir Denis Mohan Award for 2014-15, and in 2016 was the winner of the prestigious Marmite Prize for Painting. We caught up with Jessie to find out more about her work and being a feminist today.

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Jessie Makinson Lunar thorn oil on canvas 190 x 165cm

www.jessiemakinson.co.uk

interview by Maria Zemtsova text by Layla Leiman

Featured image: Jessie Makinson Lunar thorn oil on canvas 190 x 165cm

AMM: Hi Jessie! How did you find yourself in the world of contemporary art? Can you share some of the highlights and milestones of your artistic career so far?

narratives. How do you begin to address these themes when planning new work? Simply saying, how do you go about creating such complex compositions?

JM: Attending the Turps Banana painting programme was hugely helpful and important for me in terms of developing my practice and meeting other painters. I didn’t know so many at the time and our year had a fantastic energy with loads of great artists on it. The ethos there was something I really came to believe in. That it’s ok to make bad paintings in order to make good paintings later. That for your whole life as an artist you will have these ups and downs and moments of bad painting and change and that it’s a huge cycle, that it’s not about finding something and sticking with it forever. The lack of emphasis on the end of year show is also really refreshing as well as being in South London on the Aylsebury Estate and taught by fantastic painters.

JM: The paintings are made by making a completely random drawing on the canvas with dry pigment mixed with an acrylic dispersant. This drawing forms a dense pattern like surface, which I then knock back with a thin wash of diluted primer. This pushes the colour back so that it is not so invasive when it comes to painting. Although the colour starts to shine through later, it is mainly a kind of compositional strategy. This embeds the drawing into the surface of the canvas. By not scaling up a planned drawing it means that the composition fits perfectly to the proportions of the canvas. I will then stand back from the canvas and look for a place to start. For the painting to speak to me. The pattern will suggest a small animal, or a woman perhaps. From there the painting grows outwards. With each shape, form, colour, figure placed, the narrative will shift. I will find the narrative and art historical references in the act of making the painting. Figures will go in and be rubbed out until I agree. I find stories, characters and creepy encounters. I find old friends, memories, misunderstandings and mischief. I don’t worry about the symbolism or the consequences of the imagery. I trust to an occult knowledge that the painting and the surface hold the answers.

Winning the Marmite Prize meant a lot to me, it’s quite a niche prize but well known among painters, and you can feel the energy that Marcus Cope puts into the prize, which makes it very special for everyone in the show. I’ve just opened my first solo show with galeria OMR in Mexico City. It’s the first time I’ve made something as sculptural as the painted house in the show. I’m pretty excited about its potential as it feels like the beginning of a new way of working. Something about the imagery and the sculptural aspect of the work make it time based in a different way to the paintings. AMM: Have you always been a contemporary feminist? What does this term mean to you? JM: I’ve always been a feminist. I would hope that that was a given for everyone but sadly its not. AMM: Whilst creating many feminine figurative narratives in your work, how has your understanding of the female body changed? JM: My understanding of the female body is informed mainly by my own and my own experience. Quite often now my figures are anthropomorphic and not necessarily female. My time at the Royal Drawing School on the post graduate programme really instilled in me an understanding of the figure. Of proportion, gravity and weight. You don’t get taught how to draw there. It is not academic in that sense. You learn through doing, and in that way you learn to see and draw in an entirely personal way. To take from the world and distort it into something that belongs solely to you. AMM: Through painting you raise an important dialogue about the representation of female appearance since historic dates up until now using humour and juxtaposition in usually coarse

The underpainting provides a chaotic pattern that acts as a structure for all things in the world of my paintings. Everything is made up of the same substance, there is no hierarchy. Initially a viewer can be drawn to the faces as they are most highly rendered. But they are a sort of red herring as they are quickly forgotten about as one travels through the shapes and colours of the surface. And then back again. The underpainting can look like bruised or rotting compost seeping through to the surface of pastels and deep shadows. The chaos of the underpainting and the stillness of the figures create a frantic energy that pulls you around the painting. AMM: Your art has a very powerful and rich figurative quality, it references many prominent art movements, but which one do you think your current work resonates with the most today and why? JM: I suppose I’m mainly interested in artists like the female surrealists; Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning. It’s exciting to find artists you’ve somehow missed like Mira Schor, Frank Bowling, Denzil Forrester. In terms of early influence I would say that I was into early Rennaissance painters, Turkish minatures, early Paula Rego, RB Kitaj, Paul Nash, Edward Burra, Balthus, Stanley Spencer, Henry Darger and Niki de Saint Phalle.

AMM: Evidently pop culture has a profound impact on your work apart from historical references. How do you make your research, or is it simply the influence of inevitable everyday encounters through your surroundings? JM: My research is prompted by the paintings themselves. If I notice something in the work I will be looking out for books and films that relate to it. My paintings have always had art historical references, but there was also something futuristic. This led to reading a lot more speculative fiction, something I have always done, but now I read mainly works by women such as Ursula K Le Guin, Octavia Butler and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I am very interested in science fiction’s ability to tell untold or marginalized stories. In terms of pop culture, I am very interested in the ways in which women present and represent themselves online. Often my figures are displayed face on, almost posing. Depending on who’s looking, I think the figures’ attitudes are read differently. I see them as quite disinterested, taking up their own space, aware of being looked at but finding it irrelevant. AMM: What are the main concepts and ideas you are focusing on right now? JM: My recent body of work has been for my solo show ‘Tender Trick’ at OMR in Mexico City. It juggles several themes; from the history of the forest (particularly the Elizabethan forest) to sci fi, costume, folklore, mythology and fakes. In the show, anthropomorphic or vampiric women confuse the divisions between human and animal, desire and fear, becoming autonomous and unknowable. These lunar figures subvert and wilfully misunderstand the patriarchal myths of the apocalyptic feminine. Drawing inspiration from the 17th Century travel fiction ‘The Blazing World and Other Writings’ by Margaret Cavendish, I see the show and its parts as an adventure, a romance and fanciful autobiography with an unreliable narrator. A courtly utopia within which, unlike ‘The Blazing World’, there are no hierarchies. The use of feathered hats, gloves, heeled shoes, tails and wings are all elements of power play, ways in which the figures can take up space. In saga or myth, the way villains are dressed is very particular; in ‘Tender Trick’ gloves melt into flesh, dandiacal hats reference highwaymen and boots point and stamp. Historically costume has always been a means of subversion, festival and carnival means to disrupt the rules and values of society. The intricately coiffured hair and high heeled boots suggest these figures are not wholly wild, flirting with the boundaries of the forest on the brink

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Jessie Makinson

AMM: Hi Jessie! How did you find yourself in the world of contemporary art? Can you share some of the highlights and milestones of your artistic career so far?

narratives. How do you begin to address these themes when planning new work? Simply saying, how do you go about creating such complex compositions?

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Jessie Makinson

of ecological disaster. I am interested in the reciprocal nature of space. The swamp-like water, sparse plants and hybrid creatures are all made up of the same substance, all drawn from the chaotic underpainting, which seeps and drips through like rotten flesh or bruised fruit. AMM: Would you say the narratives in your work hold many allegorical and metaphorical suggestions? JM: They are probably allegorical, but not by design on my part. All painting should be a truth of a person’s experience. AMM: Is there any visual or conceptual correlation between your current ceramic work and ancient Greek pottery? JM: Yes in some senses I was interested in making fake Greek vases, but the idea also grew out of some wax reliefs I was making at the time. This has now developed further to the little house I made for OMR. The negative is painted in black, in response to the grain of the wood. I am interested now in how I paint on objects, reflecting both the surface and the shape. AMM: When you attended The City and Guilds of London Art School residency, in your interview with Tom Groves, Head of Art Histories, you spoke about the opportunity to try many new mediums, and as I understand this was the time you started working on your delicate ceramic pieces. Can you tell us more about this explorative process and its challenges? JM: The City and Guilds residency is an amazing opportunity for any artist to have access to workshops and technicians who are very highly skilled. I had been trying to make ceramics for a while, but hadn’t found a way in which to make them that felt right. The residency gave me the freedom to do that. I was also able to make a screen printed wall paper in the print rooms. I suppose the whole point of the residency is that these things are less challenging than on your own. AMM: Tell us about your studio space and how your usual working day is arranged, considering that you work in both mediums – sculpture/ ceramics and painting. JM: I work a quite regular day from 10am7pm, Sunday - Friday in Catford, south east London. I tend to mainly be painting and only make ceramics specifically for shows. Image (p. 80):

Image (p.78):

Jessie Makinson My fins are sleeping oil on canvas 300 x 210cm

Jessie Makinson To foam and bloom oil on canvas 190 x 165cm

AMM: You’ve exhibited work in places such as South Korea, Russia, Mexico, USA and of course UK and Europe – what are the main challenges for you in showing work to such diverse international audiences?

reference points in different countries. For example a title of mine like ‘Magma rising’ has very different connotations to people who live with volcanoes to people who live in London. Also painting is so popular in London right now, which is not always the same elsewhere. But generally we all want to see work from other parts of the world so it’s always a positive and welcoming experience. AMM: How important is it in your vision for artists to make a cultural commentary through their work these days? Do you believe this may be the vital tool in contemporary art in bringing change? JM: I think it’s important for everyone, artist or not, to do what they can to oppose fascism, austerity, war and the abuse of power, within the framework of a green future. Artists are a vital tool because everyone is a vital tool. AMM: If you can give any advice to emerging figurative feminist artists—what would you say to them that once helped you in advancing your own practice? JM: I’m not sure if I have advice for specifically feminist figurative artists. The only advice I have is to keep making, that our practice is the only thing we have that truly belongs to us and we can always rely on that. That our work is allowed to be contradictory and inexplicable. And we must always remember to support one another. AMM: What are you currently reading or listening to right now? JM: I’m just about to read: Ecology without Nature by Timothy Morton; Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion, and The Female Man by Joanna Russ. I would highly recommend: The Patterning Instinct by Jeremy Lent; Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, and Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson But most of all I would recommend ‘weird studies’ an unbelievable podcast that discusses the weird in gambling, Duchamp, object oriented ontology, Aleister Crowley, dungeons and dragons, boxing and sleep paralysis to just begin. AMM: Can you share some insight regarding your upcoming projects? JM: When I get back from Mexico City I’ll start work on my next solo show in Zurich with Fabian Lang gallery in February next year followed by a solo show with Lyles and King in NYC in May.

JM: I don’t really change or edit my work for different audiences. I have obviously learnt that imagery and titles have different

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Jessie Makinson

Image (p.78):

Jessie Makinson My fins are sleeping oil on canvas 300 x 210cm

Jessie Makinson To foam and bloom oil on canvas 190 x 165cm

JM: I don’t really change or edit my work for different audiences. I have obviously learnt that imagery and titles have different

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13, Interviewed: Jessie Makinson

Installation views: Jessie Makinson: Tender Trick Courtesy of the Artist and Galeria OMR, Mexico City Photo © Enrique Macías

Jessie Makinson Wonderful, no shell oil on canvas 76 x 96cm

Jessie Makinson Speak in leaves oil on canvas 90 x 70cm

Jessie Makinson Wonderful, no shell oil on canvas 76 x 96cm

Jessie Makinson Speak in leaves oil on canvas 90 x 70cm

Jessie Makinson She-Dandies oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm

Jessie Makinson Wild Cherry Sphinx oil on canvas 120 x 100 cm

Jessie Makinson She-Dandies oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm

Jessie Makinson Wild Cherry Sphinx oil on canvas 120 x 100 cm

Jessie Makinson Like a Vinnainelle oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm

Jessie Makinson Sudden Peaches oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm

Jessie Makinson Like a Vinnainelle oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm

Jessie Makinson Sudden Peaches oil on canvas 70 x 50 cm

curated selection of works by Chris Sharp, writer and independent curator based in Mexico City, co-founder of project space Lulu Featured image: Guglielmo Castelli About Today mix technique on canvas 90 x 80 cm more on p. 100-101

E t h a n

S t u a r t

Born and raised in Upstate New York, Ethan Stuart’s newest paintings reflect his family’s history with religion. His grandfather built a small church in the late 1970s and led it for over ten years as the acting pastor. Ethan was raised a Christian. Whenever anything changed in his life, or there was a big event in the news, he was taught it was an act of God. He hasn’t thought of himself as a Christian for years now, but his painting practice re-visits these memories and relishes the magical realism of believing in a higher power. These recollections in paint aren’t a retelling of true events, but more so, a story of how it felt to process life events through a lens which allowed for the supernatural. Ethan attended Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in New York for two years where he picked up a fascination with formalism that would go on to influence his abstract tendencies. He then attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he became heavily influenced by members of the Chicago Imagists and the Hairy Who?. After ten years in Chicago, Ethan has finally moved to Southern California where he is living and working today. Though far from home, his new work brings him closer than ever to his childhood in New York.

www.ethanstuart.com

Image: More Sad than Bad acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

Image (left):

Image (right):

Salvaged Vases acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

Schadenfreude acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

E t h a n

S t u a r t

www.ethanstuart.com

Image: More Sad than Bad acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

Image (left):

Image (right):

Salvaged Vases acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

Schadenfreude acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

D o u g l a s C a n t o r

Douglas Cantor (b. Puerto Boyaca, Colombia 1989) studied at Camberwell College of Arts in London and is currently based in Glasgow, UK. Cantor’s practice is reactive and reflective of his geographical, physical and emotional contexts. His paintings are a collection of existential thoughts, born from personal experiences; they address both the mundane and the hefty issues of our everyday, as a personal journal and guide to navigate the anxiety of being, as an individual as well as in regards to others. At the core of Cantor’s practice, there is not a concern with stylistic or aesthetic choices but instead a preoccupation with expressing awareness, and honesty, things feeling right, and decisions that move the conversation forward. His paintings are an exploration of the self, a pictorial tribute to the trace left by decisions made and an ode to the desire of creating something beautiful. Cantor’s practice encompasses all aspects of life and existence, he is constantly emphasising this broadness of thought, through the recurrent embracing of the relationship between high and low culture. Topics are explored and portrayed in his paintings through symbolic compositions comprised of motif and text, the imagery is sometimes cryptic and personal, sometimes direct and appropriable, with the elements present working as vessels for his thoughts and emotions, and ultimately becoming a reflection of the unfolding of his identity.

www.douglascantor.com

Image: They Say You Gotta Break the Horse But They Don’t Know Nothing oil on canvas 230 x 200 cm

Image (left):

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Keep Some to Miss oil on canvas 230 x 200 cm

Rain Later. Good Occasionally Poor oil on canvas 230 x 200 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

D o u g l a s C a n t o r

www.douglascantor.com

Image: They Say You Gotta Break the Horse But They Don’t Know Nothing oil on canvas 230 x 200 cm

Image (left):

Image (right):

Keep Some to Miss oil on canvas 230 x 200 cm

Rain Later. Good Occasionally Poor oil on canvas 230 x 200 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

A n d r e w B i r k

Andrew Birk was born in 1985 in Corvallis, Oregon, USA. He lives in Espinavessa, Alt Empordà, Spain. Andrew’s work approaches painting as a multi-faceted contemporary medium, where materials— always common and accessible in other facets outside of art—are used in an indivisible relationship with the subject matter. Each of his consecutive bodies of work are conceived as specific projects, with their own distinctive logic about context, gesture, and matter. Ranging from the observation of the apparent inconsequential moments of quotidian life, to an exploration of untrained aesthetics, or an almost archival look at urban and digital imagery, his latest work focuses on the perception of the body moving through space and the imprint of nature on it. Andrew co-directs Spirit Vessel, a vehicle for contemporary art in Espinavessa, Spain.

www.andrewbirk.com

Image:

Baby enamel, puffy paint, and acrylic on denim 200 x 150 cm

Hole flashe, paper, india ink, and enamel on denim 200 x 150 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

A n d r e w B i r k

www.andrewbirk.com

Image:

Baby enamel, puffy paint, and acrylic on denim 200 x 150 cm

Hole flashe, paper, india ink, and enamel on denim 200 x 150 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

F a b i a n

Tr e i b e r

Fabian Treiber, was born in Ludwigsburg in 1986. From 2007 to 2015 he studied Fine Art and Intermedia at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart. He was: Master Scholar at the Weißenhof-Programm der Bildenden Kunst in 2015. In 2018 he received: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung, Berlin; Marianne Defet Scholarship for Painting, Nuremberg; Publication grant from the Baden- Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art. In 2019 “A Minibar in a large scale room”, Kunsthalle Nürnberg (Soloshow) and “Common Things”, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg (Soloshow). My paintings are shifting between subject and material. Repainted memories and perceptions are transferred directly onto the canvas. I have this personal belief that a painting is something physical. For this I am continuously questioning the materials I use and follow their traces. In the course of this I am seeking an autonomous representation of the subject on the canvas. My aim is to reset my own pictorial vocabulary within the painting process and to reach the point where there’s this certain direct impact appearing—so that subject and material are oscillating between form and content. In an excerpt of a recent conversation about “A Minibar in a large scale room” Marcus Weber asked: “Do the furniture and associated household goods also appear gradually during the painting process, or do you research in advance, in lifestyle-magazines or the IKEA catalogue? Your interiors apparently aim to evade temporal categorization. What interests you in particular about the interior today?”

www.fabiantreiber.de

Image: Lakeview acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 80 x 70 cm

Fabian Treiber responded: “In principle, the furniture and the household items generate themselves during the painting process. No research as you have described takes place, actually, or at least not explicitly… I am not concerned, by a long way, with thematizing or reproducing explicit objects. Instead, often painted “memories” are what become prototypes on the canvas. It may sound absurd, but the interior or the painting of interiors is not my declared intention at all; rather, it is to devote myself to the painted object… When, right at the beginning, I began to place very archaic forms on the canvas, it had an enormous influence on the context within the image and my decisions during the painting process. One simple flat surface suddenly became a table because a “vase-like” object was placed on it. I think that is my relationship to the interior, it simply grew out towards me.”

Image (left): Caravan acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 120 x 90 cm

Image (right): Room with a View acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 220 x 180 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

F a b i a n

Tr e i b e r

www.fabiantreiber.de

Image: Lakeview acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 80 x 70 cm

Image (left): Caravan acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 120 x 90 cm

Image (right): Room with a View acrylic, ink and synthetic laquer on canvas 220 x 180 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

G u g l i e l m o

C a s t e l l i

My pictorial research reveals a hybrid and subtly violent iconographic universe, where bodies and objects ceaselessly merge one into another. Human figures—investigated in both their physical and mental extension—are the subject of my representation, while space is my experimental field. In my works I question the relation between inner and outer space, between bowels and environment, and somehow overturn the precepts of Italian Renaissance painting, with its strict geometric and rational system. Released from any constraint, figures slip and overlap on either neutral backdrops or unfamiliar landscapes, flowing like lightning flashes, clouds at dusk and wind torn vegetation. From fluid and wide, brushstrokes coagulate into thick knots that are used to portray melancholy, astonishment and wonder, while my characters melt into gentle yet cruel chromatic accents, suspended in uncertain postures that reflect an unsteady grip on reality. The relation with space is not only analysed in the frame of the surface of representation, but has recently led me to a wider reflection on my working modalities, fostering a more proactive role—and somehow curatorial – in terms of production and presentation of my work. Guglielmo Castelli was born in 1987 in Turin, Italy; he lives and works there. He studied Scenography for Theatre at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino. His work has been part of numerous regional and international shows, including Recto/Verso 2, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris / Secours Populaire, Challenging beauty; Insights into Italian Contemporary Art at the Parkview Museum, Singapore (2018, curated by Lorand Hegyi); Disegni – Artissima Art Fair, Turin (2017, curated by Luís Silva and João Mourão) as well as Asomatognosia at the Royal Lounge of the Torino Porta Nuova Train Station (2017, curated by Treti Galaxie). In 2016, Forbes included him in the 30 Under 30 list for European Art.

www.guglielmocastelli.com

Image: Discombombulate mix technique on canvas 140 x 100 cm

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Image (left): Trofallassi mix technique on canvas 140 x 100 cm

Image (right): Lisozima mix technique on canvas 40 x 30 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

G u g l i e l m o

C a s t e l l i

www.guglielmocastelli.com

Image: Discombombulate mix technique on canvas 140 x 100 cm

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Image (left): Trofallassi mix technique on canvas 140 x 100 cm

Image (right): Lisozima mix technique on canvas 40 x 30 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

H a r r i e t

S t e p h a n i e

A b b o t t

P a i n e

www.harrietabbottart.wordpress.com

www.stephaniepaine.com

Born in 1997 I am a graduating Fine Art student from The Glasgow School of Art, currently based between London and Glasgow. The signification of language means we lack infinite emotion as we are prescribed comprehension, which frames experiences and entities. Rather than circumscribing sensation through pointed and literal connotation, I intend to fragment, dilute, and re-contextualize the knowable in order to decenter and resultantly reconfigure understanding. In an attempt to re-assign poetic language to familiar objects that have an everyday function, I am inclined to create multiple casts of them and compose sculptural lexicons. Not only does this make the object redundant in many cases, it changes the dialect that one holds around them. As the inevitable fall out of information occurs with each repetition in making, the metaphysical presences and the insistent question of one’s own mortality prevails. ‘Resistant to knowledge’, art objects carry their own agency outside of immediate human comprehension and dilute rational understanding. Colour further disrupts our lucid reading of objects. The infamous ‘International Klein Blue’ that I have been employing references familiar art histories and tropes, yet also has a decentring effect and again lessens object identification. Furthermore, poetry in its metaphorical mediation can place one closer to the metaphysical through abstract and expressive means of communication. Yet I continue to consider myself a victim of language and writing, caught up in its stickiness, unwilling to pull away. Art and Writing are inextricably linked. They hold a mutually dependent relationship; where one falls short in translation, the other pulls through.

Image (left): Since Antiquity wax roughly 40 (height) x 25 cm (at widest point)

Image (right): Fragment wax 70 x 69.5 cm

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In the series, Diver, glimpses of the male figure have been printed as gelatin silver photographs toned with copper. I considered copper’s role in the transmission of energy while working with the relationship of the male figure to hues of pink and red. I imagine we are in a gestation period for a new type of male role in society: one that exposes and collapses the destructive nature of the hypermasculine that has been so long withstanding. Stephanie Paine is an artist living in southern Louisiana where she teaches photography. She regularly exhibits and has been an artist in residence in Finland, Bulgaria, and Iceland. Her practice mainly utilizes traditional darkroom processes, hand built cameras, and digital hybrid techniques.

Images: Diver Series copper-toned gelatin silver prints 16 x 16 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

H a r r i e t

S t e p h a n i e

A b b o t t

P a i n e

www.harrietabbottart.wordpress.com

www.stephaniepaine.com

Image (left): Since Antiquity wax roughly 40 (height) x 25 cm (at widest point)

Image (right): Fragment wax 70 x 69.5 cm

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Images: Diver Series copper-toned gelatin silver prints 16 x 16 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

D a n i e l C o r r e a

M e j i a

www.daniel-correa.com

Daniel Correa Mejía was born in 1986 in Medellin, Colombia and was raised between Colombia, Brasil, and Mexico. After living five years in Mexico City, where he studied painting with Bettina Garro, Correa Mejia moved in 2006 to Munich, Germany, where he studied visual communication. In 2010 he moved to Berlin, where he stills resides, to pursue his passion for art. 2013-2015 he studied art with the Japanese-Swiss artist Leiko Ikemura at the UdK (Berlin University of the Arts). Daniel Correa Mejia works mainly with painting and drawing. Inspired by nature his work focuses on the essence and presence of life. He uses the symbol of the flower as an anchor for his work and tackles the image from the metaphysical and the imagination. His work Flowers of Time embraces earth and sunlight, connecting all with the energy of life cycles in the present time. In his paintings, matter and the very mystery of its existence flow through the male/female body of the flower, which contains and embraces everything. The Flowers of Time is also a reflection and representation of the human body and its essential segments. Like the open arms that are raised to the sky and are absorbing all the sunlight that is needed to live; it also is a symbol of the mind that uses imagination to connect with the nontangible things. The reproductive system with both genders that is represented as stars on the universe; a connection between micro and macro. The legs sunk on the earth have claws for carving food and defending an attack. Correa Mejia aims to paint poetically, using metaphors—and giving meaning to colors—that connect and embrace life on earth and in the universe; giving a sense of the present moment.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

B e n K .

V o s s

www.benkvoss.com

My paintings bring together ideas of landscape, architecture, time and language. Each painting is created without a plan and is loosely guided by a visual vocabulary that I have been building since 2017. This vocabulary acts like an algorithm, allowing the paintings to diversify yet remain connected through their evolving collection of dashes, lines, triangles, circles and blocks. The mark-making and shapes create a space that move across the surface of the painting resulting, on one hand, for the works to be experienced like reading and writing. The grid whether present or not, is in the air and provides an armature akin to calendars and film stills to contain the expressed flow of data. On the other hand, the painting through its interplay of foreground/background, thin and thick layers of paint reveal a window to an abstract terrain partly inspired by the spaces of early side-scrolling video games and Egyptian hieroglyphics. This paradoxical relationship between the works wanting to be read as a message of information while also to be seen as a picture to an unknown world is integral to the painting’s ability to be in front of me as an object to pursue and expand. This pursuit results into a variety of intimately scaled works that explore the passage of time in its multitudes. The paintings, through their handmade repetition and architectural structure, suggest a time that is ambiguously of the ancient, contemporary and future; a space where the rise and fall of a breath is equated with the emergence and collapse of an empire. Ben K. Voss was born in 1980 in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. He attended Rhode Island School of Design and the European Honors Program based in Rome, Italy. After many years of art projects never fully materializing, BKV was on the precipice of quitting art. Upon returning from a trip to a small island off of Sicily, he destroyed his work from the last ten years and started painting in June 2017. Since then he has had group shows at Andrew Edlin Underground, Geoffrey Young Gallery, and upcoming at Wildpalms in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was part of a three-person show at George Gallery in April/May 2019 in Brooklyn, NY and a two-person show at 57W57 Arts in September 2018. His paintings were selected for the publication New American Paintings (Northeast edition) due out this summer.

Image:

The Wind Moves Us oil on jute 30 x 30 cm

Untitled (04) acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 inches

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D a n i e l C o r r e a

M e j i a

www.daniel-correa.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

B e n K .

V o s s

www.benkvoss.com

Image:

The Wind Moves Us oil on jute 30 x 30 cm

Untitled (04) acrylic on canvas 9 x 12 inches

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A l e j a n d r a P e r e z

B a e r t l

My work is about confusion and structures. Confusion about things that I grew up believing regarding self-perception, as well as structures regarding society and social expectations. Through incessant questioning I attempt to separate what I believe and what I was taught to believe. I constantly find myself in active nostalgia where I reject the passing of time. This, I think, comes from childhood experiences of loss but also from observation. Observation that triggered my need to begin my own archive of photographs of Lima which simultaneously fed my awareness of change in my immediate landscape.

www.alejandraperezbaertl.com

The urge of archiving is translated in my current practice as a painter. My latest series of work is based on a photograph of my late grandmother’s bathroom. This is a space I navigated growing up but never paid much attention to. The color and pattern struck me when I saw it here in Chicago. The grid becomes a metaphor for restraints and rules where ironically I find myself. This space also becomes a link within my family history and my relationship to my country. The constant change of setting, fluctuating between Chicago and Lima has allowed me to distance myself yet be in closer contact with imagery that I would have otherwise overlooked. This constant crossover of location and thought enables my practice to keep evolving.

Image:

Cuadrícula acrylic on canvas 10 x 10 inches

Cinco graphite, linen and acrylic on canvas 10 x 10 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

A l e j a n d r a P e r e z

B a e r t l

www.alejandraperezbaertl.com

Image:

Cuadrícula acrylic on canvas 10 x 10 inches

Cinco graphite, linen and acrylic on canvas 10 x 10 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

M a r c i e J a n

B r o n s t e i n

Marcie Jan Bronstein is a visual artist whose work stands on decades of dedication to photographic and meditational practices. A graduate of The Fashion Institute of Technology and Hampshire College, her work has been exhibited, published, and commissioned for thirty years. Bronstein is the author of three books and the creator of a number of large-scale public works. From 2014-18, she traveled the world teaching creative watercolor painting to hundreds of passengers on ships. In 2018, she was awarded a residency at the Millay Colony of the Arts, and her work was selected for the Biennial at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. In the Spring of 2020, a solo exhibition of paintings will be on view at the University of Maine Museum of Art.

www.marciejbronstein.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

The paintings I’ve submitted are part of a larger series of works entitled “Seeking, Finding”. These are watercolor paintings, created without a sketch, a plan, or a mark of pencil on the paper. My images are discovered and composed completely in the moment, and because I am working with watercolor, this means that each mark made has a kind of finality. It also means that the white that you see is the paper I’ve left untouched. In Seeking, Finding, the white paper is particularly potent, as these spaces are Passages, literally and symbolically. My titles are an integral part of my work: Room To Grow; Painted Portal; While You’re Busy Making Other Plans; The Gift Of Summer; Courage. As with all of my work, my interest is in using the special qualities inherent to watercolor (bleeding, merging, flowing, layering) to create intimate, sensual paintings that reflect an inner world: Symbolic, mystical, erotic and psychological.

Image:

The Gift Of Summer watercolor on paper 16 x 20 inches

Room To Grow watercolor on paper 16 x 20 inches

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M a r c i e J a n

B r o n s t e i n

www.marciejbronstein.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Image:

The Gift Of Summer watercolor on paper 16 x 20 inches

Room To Grow watercolor on paper 16 x 20 inches

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J u l i e

Y e o

Julie Yeo was born in Los Angeles where she received her BFA in Illustration at the ArtCenter College of Design in 2013. In 2014 she was an artist in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She is now currently working in New York City where she earned her MFA in Studio Art from New York University.

www.julieyeo.com

My mixed media assemblage work revolves around how each respective process serves to replicate the multiple ways memories move and exist within thought. The harmony of different mediums ranging from paper to ceramic exist under a specific system of metaphors developed during my upbringing within Korean Shamanism. Red string for: fate/destiny/ timeline; rice for: struggle/effort—but bodies of rice: map/fortune telling/a person, and the stars and clouds: my celestial ancestral surveillance network/family/connection/bridge. Using this visual language I reflect on my memories and experiences through the emphasis of emotional truth, then document the transition of fact into fiction—and fiction into fact. The act of remembering through the emotional veil filters memory down to select moments of significance creating emotional attachment where fact and fiction fade into each other and only truth remains.

Image: Danger Zone mixed media 50 x 79 x 60 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

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Image (right):

Whose Hand Was I Holding? mixed media 30 x 53 inches

Normal View! mixed media 32 x 53 inches

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J u l i e

Y e o

www.julieyeo.com

Image: Danger Zone mixed media 50 x 79 x 60 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

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Image (left):

Image (right):

Whose Hand Was I Holding? mixed media 30 x 53 inches

Normal View! mixed media 32 x 53 inches

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S o

Y o u n g

C h o

So Young Cho (b. 1988, Seoul, Korea) invites us into her powerful mirage-like imagery through surreal, monstrous works. She projects her enigmatic vision of philosophical subjects such as life, the past, emptiness and redemption in her work. These subjects are poetically symbolized metaphors that are translated into a series of oil paintings, drawings and sculpture. This is the artist’s inner realm and beyond her imagination. Abstract organic shapes have been evolving throughout her years of practice, both in medium and appearance. Cho deforms and reforms living things such as humans, individual body parts, vegetables and nature by rediscovering properties and distortion. The uncanny, energetic contrasts, and bold colors give the works energy and luminosity.

www.soyoungcho.com

She graduated with a BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London UK, and currently works in the kitchen as a line-cook in Brooklyn, NY. Her culinary career performs as an extension of her art practice where she closely observes the nature and life found in seasonal ingredients and produce that inspire a multi-sensory source to her visual art practice. A garden of possibilities reclaimed.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Image:

Root, a vast world oil on linen 22 x 28 inches

I’ve found the past as a statue oil on linen 36 x 48 inches

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Y o u n g

C h o

www.soyoungcho.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Image:

Root, a vast world oil on linen 22 x 28 inches

I’ve found the past as a statue oil on linen 36 x 48 inches

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E m i l y

M a r l a

S p o o n e r

S w e i t z e r

www.emilyspooner.com

www.marlasweitzer.com

Emily Spooner is a Montreal based artist focused primarily on figurative painting, with an interest in portraiture and visual memory. Born in 1996, she graduated from Dawson College’s Visual Arts program in 2016 and is currently completing her BFA in Painting and Drawing at Concordia University.

My work includes painting, drawing and ceramic sculpture, where I explore color, touch and light through a repetition of mark. I seek to make space for an inner and outward logic—where the outer world along the periphery brings one into center. At this center, I respond to the movement of oil paint and carving of clay in a structure of meditative marks. This process of repetitive mark making is an unfolding, each mark building upon the last to create an irregular grid. This growing structure consists of subtle marks which shift slightly, each similar to the prior yet distinct in its containment of a moment in time. In the paintings these marks contain an interplay of transparency and opacity of oil paint—sometimes revealing and other times concealing colors as they layer and border one another. I am influenced by color that connects with time and environment: the rose pink garments and architecture in a Fra Angelico fresco at San Marco, the mauve sea grass along the Gulf Coast shoreline, the lapis that envelops the ceiling in Giotto’s Arena Chapel, the sun’s light creating illuminated abstractions on a boulder that disrupts the movement of a stream. In ceramics, color is connected to the terra-cotta clay body—reminiscent of rock forms, desert landscapes and earth. A change in color is dependent on its range of relief. Deeper carvings hold more shadow while lighter divots reflect more light. Building up forms additively, piece by piece, there is an intuitive relationship that I have with the material, where I experience the clay as nature— physically moving earth with my hands.

I have always been fascinated by the fundamental solidarity of one’s experience of the world, and create paintings that explore this underlying feeling of isolation in everyday life. Drawing upon my own visual memory, I strive to translate the ‘feeling’ of my experiences into tangible imagery. While my paintings are not literal scenes from my life, they express a generalization of the imagery of my memory, particularly that of childhood. Through the use of found photographs as reference material, my paintings are a means of portraying the underlying emotions of the characters, while simultaneously emphasizing the inherent distance between the subject(s) and viewer. Using found photographs allows me to create narratives according to my desired theme. Without the internal biases and pressures that come from working with a known model, the anonymity of my characters gives me the liberty to modify their physical and emotional characteristics to fit a chosen narrative. This gives me the freedom to experiment openly and use my imagination while painting, rather than fixating on likeness. My process for choosing sourced imagery is very instinctual; when looking through batches of photographs, whether online or at flea markets, I set aside those that peak my interest instantaneously. These are often photographs that I can relate to my own emotional experiences in life, not necessarily in a literal sense, but through an instinctually familiar feeling. Piecing together various bits of different photographs, I create works that give me a sense of ‘home’—a feeling that they represent the parts of my life that I often cannot express fully in words. In this sense, my body of work could be considered a contradictory self-portrait; my paintings fit together to form my own unique perspective of the world, while simultaneously using the experiences of others as imagery, and furthermore working with the concept that one’s singular experience can never be fully understood by another.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Marla Sweitzer (b. 1989 Sarasota, FL) received her BA in studio art from Centre College in 2011 and is currently an MFA candidate in studio art at the University of Tennessee. In 2012 Sweitzer attended the Jerusalem Studio School master class in Civita Castellana, Italy. Sweitzer was the co-founder of BAD WATER gallery in Knoxville, TN and was co-curator of the space from 2018-19.

Image:

Ram oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches

Carving Earth II ceramic 10 x 9.5 inches

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E m i l y

M a r l a

S p o o n e r

S w e i t z e r

www.emilyspooner.com

www.marlasweitzer.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Image:

Ram oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches

Carving Earth II ceramic 10 x 9.5 inches

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B r u n o Z h a n g

Bruno Zhang was born in Jiangsu China in 1992; he is now working and living in Italy. Regarding my paintings, much of the creative inspiration comes from the ordinary things in life. To me, life is the best material, it contains everything and I don’t want to deliberately pursue the technicality and refinement of these works. I value the “relationship” of the picture, the tightness of the power between things, the charm of composition, the ideological connotation and whether the use of symbols is appropriate. When there are several of these factors, the work can impress people without the artist explaining it.

www.brunozhang.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Image:

Fantasia acrylic and oil on linen 40 x 60 cm (2 parts)

Evan’s flowers oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm

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B r u n o Z h a n g

www.brunozhang.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Image:

Fantasia acrylic and oil on linen 40 x 60 cm (2 parts)

Evan’s flowers oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm

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M i c h a e l N a u e r t

E m m a B r a c k

N a v e i r a s

www.elnaveiras.net

Emma Brack Naveiras lives and works in Norway and Canada. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the Statens Kunstakademi, Oslo, Norway in 2015, and studied literature and fine arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. She has exhibited internationally including the Norwegian Sculpture Biennal, Marrakech Biennale 6, UKS Oslo, Kunstnerforbundet in Norway, as well as exhibitions in Denmark, Scotland, Portugal and Canada. She will be publishing a book of poetry in 2020. My practice is influenced and informed by philosophy, ecology, the avant-garde and manifests through a variety of mediums. Often rooted in materiality my working method reflects on how performative processes may affect amongst other things, relationships between conceptual impetus and making. I’m interested in how an art practice can be a model of discovery and have poetic embodiment.

www.michaelnauert.com

Slipping in and out of the familiar through abstract mark making, I draw parallels between nature and human nature within my paintings. My paint application ranges from thin willowy-fang-like strokes to thick juicy plumage of clustered marks. These shapes coalesce into landscape and figure, eventually dissipating into abstract impressions. My hope is that viewers will encounter their inner realities by engaging the work’s limbo state. Within this innate reflection, I question the potential fears and inspirations, the knowns and unknowns the observers might meet in themselves. This interaction mirrors the sublime that landscape painting aspires to. Thinking on these ideas, I take the suspended state of my landscapes to construct the abstract. I play with one thing becoming another, marks becoming landscape, landscape becoming something else, and vice versa. The brush stroke becomes a vortex for multiple forms or ideas. The plasticity offers the viewer a choice or perhaps a door to the unknown, and in that choice I hope a piece of the viewer’s inner-landscape manifests.

Image: Burn Into Sight oil on panel 11 x 14 inches

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Research-led and self-generated material combine to create something that is both personal and public while exploring the mechanisms of contemporary life and art. Research anchors esoteric and opaque meanings in my work, while obscure and popular cultural references offer ways to enter the dialectics of poetry and naïveté through nostalgia, desire and historical multiplicity and may expose parallel narratives that have been ignored or under-represented. I’m interested in exploring how different methods of knowing or becoming may offer ruptures in our perception. In considering different continuums of experience to include the complex relationships between humans, animals, plants, technology, amongst other things, I’m curious how this may disrupt assumed hierarchical classifications of life, experience and cognition. By foregoing the present human experience as the pinnacle of truth, it opens up new insights, suggesting new possibilities of existing within a collision of tenses and cultural temporalities. The ceramic sculptures and masks are part of an ongoing interest in the animist aspect of sculpture; historically seen as objects embedded with the possibility to embody something other than itself. What may be perceived as a face, whether it be human, animal or existing in the realm of the imaginary, masks and costumes can exist in a realm of the ritual and transformative.

Image: Sinuous stained white stoneware, 2 elements approximately 70cm x 30cm x 20cm

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M i c h a e l N a u e r t

E m m a B r a c k

N a v e i r a s

www.elnaveiras.net

www.michaelnauert.com

Image: Burn Into Sight oil on panel 11 x 14 inches

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

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Image: Sinuous stained white stoneware, 2 elements approximately 70cm x 30cm x 20cm

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My paintings often depict moments of enclosure and escape. In this, my most recent body of work, the escape isn’t self-directed it’s imposed through expulsion; through exile. Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden is taken as a starting point for a series of narrative oil paintings that detail close-up moments in the story of exile. I have layered my interpretation with art historical and personal archetypes as well—looking at the figure of exile as seen in Gustave Courbet as well as my family’s story of exile from Cuba and the myth making that follows a generation later. Working through painting, I am consciously attempting to figure out my “place”; a combination of real and imagined spaces, identities, stories, homes that are constantly being built and rebuilt; remembering past struggles and privileges. I’m interested in what happens when the lens shifts. All of these paintings capture fractions of the story. They invent what is happening in the garden post-expulsion. They are imaginary ghosts of what might be or might have been in a place that both is, and isn’t—a place defined more by a moment than a landscape.

M o r g a n

M a n d a l a y

Chicago based painter Morgan Mandalay has had solo exhibitions at Klowden Mann (Los Angeles, CA); Catbox Contemporary (Queens, NY); BWSMX (Mexico City, MEX), and Et Al Gallery (San Francisco, CA) among others. His work has recently been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; FLAG Foundation (New York, NY); Bahamas Biennale (Detroit, MI); Kimberly-Klark (Queens, NY); 0-0 (Los Angeles, CA); Galleria Acappella (Naples, ITA), and Yautepec (Mexico City, MEX). His work has been reviewed, written about, or appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Artforum; New American Paintings; CARLA; Hyperallergic; AQNB, and Artspace. He was a 2018 Fellow of Shandaken Project’s Paint School in New York, NY. He received his MFA at University of California San Diego, and BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Along with being an artist, Morgan Mandalay is the founder and director of the itinerant exhibition project SPF15 and co-director of DATE NIGHT.

www.morganmandalay.com

Image:

Still Life with Peaches, Hawk and Field Mouse (After Audubon and Courbet) oil on canvas in artist frame 20 x 16 inches

Still Life with Pomegranate, Lemon, Pear, Apple, Orange and Fly (After Courbet) oil on canvas in artist frame 20 x 16 inches

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M o r g a n

M a n d a l a y

www.morganmandalay.com

Image:

Still Life with Peaches, Hawk and Field Mouse (After Audubon and Courbet) oil on canvas in artist frame 20 x 16 inches

Still Life with Pomegranate, Lemon, Pear, Apple, Orange and Fly (After Courbet) oil on canvas in artist frame 20 x 16 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Brian Wood is a painter working with multiple media in New York City and East Chatham, NY. His paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, films, and books are exhibited internationally and are held in many private and public collections. Wood is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; LA County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario; Davis Museum, Wellesley; Tampa Museum of Art; Asheville Art Museum, NC; Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal; Museum of Modern Art in Prague; and many others. Wood’s awards include the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, finalist for the Rome Prize in 2019, the NEA Fellowship, the NYFA Grant, and numerous Canada Council Grants.

www.brianwoodstudio.com

The limits of consciousness and motility of body-form hold a particular fascination for Wood and it is likely that the obsessions in his work derive from the earliest phase of life before language and before self—the “chora” in Julia Kristeva’s description, when instinctual drives, locality, suffering and pleasure, aggression, holding, repulsion, devouring and expelling merge in a timeless non-reflective realm. The pre-lingual lack of separation and the undifferentiated void of the infant’s world quickly give way to our necessary experience of difference, boundaries, self-awareness, language, and time. However, something of that early experience remains. As Holland Cotter wrote in his NY Times review of Wood’s 2014 solo show Enceinte: “…[Wood] creates a kind of Symbolist world in which emerging into life and being devoured by it are part of the same inexorable process. As in the early work by Georgia O’Keeffe and Arthur Dove, the erotic and the spiritual are of a piece.” Wood’s early imaginative experience was formed in northern Saskatchewan’s harsh land, severe weather, and the life and death cycles of animals, crops, and wilderness. Wood’s childhood on the farm, his absorption in nature, books, music, and his later studies in physics and mathematics combine with his fascination to the shifting boundaries of body, sexuality, and awareness itself. From these inquiries, his attentive participation with arising inner images and perception, and his sense that the conventional separation of inner and outer worlds is actually an illusion, come the form and obsessions of his work.

Image:

Precursor oil on canvas 26 x 30 inches

Visitation oil on wood 36 x 30 inches

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B r i a n

W o o d

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

www.brianwoodstudio.com

Image:

Precursor oil on canvas 26 x 30 inches

Visitation oil on wood 36 x 30 inches

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W o o d

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Based in East London, I work across several media, including fiction, photography, printmaking and collage. My first novel, Not the Only Sky, a coming-of-age story about a photographer, was published in 2017. Prior to that I taught modern British literature and creative writing at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, and served as a contributing editor to Surface magazine, covering art, design and fashion. My printmaking and photographic practices are processoriented and oftentimes interlaced. I am very interested in the intersection of photography and printmaking, focusing on photoetching and other alternative photographic processes such as hand-painted emulsions, bleaching and tinting. I mainly work with analogue cameras and a variety of handmade pinhole cameras.

A l y s s a

W a r r e n

www.alyssa-warren.com

Image:

collage, ink on Somerset 214 x 153 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

A l y s s a

W a r r e n

www.alyssa-warren.com

Image:

collage, ink on Somerset 214 x 153 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

In my recent research and practice, I mine my childhood memorabilia collection that contains stamps, buttons, badges, postcards, and envelopes, which are representative of Korean history and popular culture in the 1980s at the time of military dictatorship.

M y e o n g s o o

My childhood collection, which I had totally forgotten about its existence until my mother brought them to me from Korea in 2017 is filled with nationalist memorabilia promoting South Korea’s economic achievements, success in international sports games, the superiority of its political and economic system over North Korea and the ‘great leadership’ of military presidents. I believe spending 16 years in the US by myself after military service created a fissure between my life in America and my past life and experience in Korea. As I look through my collection, it feels as if I am looking at a different person’s past. This removed feeling is very interesting. It feels almost like traveling to some other foreign country that I had traveled a long time ago. It makes me observe and approach my past with a certain familiarity and unknown anxiety.

www.mkima.com

In my current work, I draw a metaphorical connection between my missing memories of the transitional period in my life from the time I left Korea until now with the development of modern Korean history. I am exploring my past through my childhood memorabilia with my current understanding of politics and identity. I use memorabilia of notable events to identify what it really meant for me back then and what it really means for me now, such as the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, Perestroika and Glasnost and the final end of the Korean military regime in 1993. I am less interested in the specificity of any event but rather in what it signifies about identity and state formation. My photographs describe a sense of permanence found in nature that is in contrast to the shifting global political landscape. As the stars we see in the night sky may no longer exist and yet their image persists, my photographic and sculptural assemblage defines a sense of history and image making that reconciles my missing identity with my current self.

Image:

Landscape with two bears archival pigment print mounted on dibond, polished solid graphite panel, laminated graphite, found stick, found objects, custom poly finished fiberboard structure 30 x 20 x4 inches

Dear my lumpen uncle re-purposed Honduras Mahogany, copper, vintage Soviet era badge collection from artist’s uncle 30 x 24 x 2 inches

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K i m

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

M y e o n g s o o

www.mkima.com

Image:

Dear my lumpen uncle re-purposed Honduras Mahogany, copper, vintage Soviet era badge collection from artist’s uncle 30 x 24 x 2 inches

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K i m

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

Fallon Chase is a painter from Herndon, VA. Her work has been included in solo, 2-person and group shows, most recently at the Katzen Museum in DC; Baltimore/ Washington International Airport, and Goucher College in Baltimore MD. She has an MFA in Studio Art from American University and a BFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art. She lives, teaches, and paints in the DC area.

F a l l o n

C h a s e

www.fallonchase.com

Image: folding garden 2 (mum’s toes) oil on canvas 20 x 28 inches

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My paintings look for places where cultivation and wildness meet. I am fascinated with pattern that quivers with tension as order begins to unravel: formal plantings fading into woods and flowerbeds left over from where houses once stood now rambling out of order. My paintings, like gardens, yearn for overflowing, tangling, density, and fertility. In my work, I layer both nature and pattern. As an untended garden unravels itself, so I seek to unwind the regimen of pattern by disruption, inconsistency, and incongruity. I find pattern in textiles, magazines, doodles, and the seen world. As I paint, I search for an unruly, lush world that moves out of comfort and control. I seek to wind and unwind: the tame and wild, the tended and tangled, the docile and disruptive. In the exploration of the floral and the decorative, my practice is an intentional and sincere inquiry into the realm of ‘pretty’. Often sidestepped as unimportant, frivolous, or feminine, I seek ‘pretty’ as legitimate and meaningful. Like an abundant garden or an excessively decorated interior, I question how much pretty is too pretty?

Image (left): closet pile (tulips demise) oil on canvas 38 x 32 inches

Image (right): inside outside (everything out on the moss) oil on canvas 32 x 24 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

F a l l o n

C h a s e

www.fallonchase.com

Image: folding garden 2 (mum’s toes) oil on canvas 20 x 28 inches

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Image (left): closet pile (tulips demise) oil on canvas 38 x 32 inches

Image (right): inside outside (everything out on the moss) oil on canvas 32 x 24 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: curated selection

editorial selection of works Featured image: Sebastian Hidalgo Puff oil on marble 9.5 x 10 x 2 cm more on p. 142-243

N a o m i N a k a z a t o

Examining the traditional use of the landscape and its role in relating environment to self, my work is an attempt to understand the dichotomous nature of my JapaneseAmerican biracial identity through constructions of artificial nature and fragmented spaces. A vignette of the in-between, each landscape is a topography of scrutiny and synthesis, laden with voids and lapses, barriers, and mistranslations. Delineated particles of larger natural structures described through conflated modes of representation define my process of synthesizing sources and searching for validity in hybridization. This practice of landscape as personal narrative is used to question notions of authenticity within unreachable locations, faulty memories, a language not entirely understood, and the mercurial systems in which these are recorded. Each work is an intermediate space of ritualistic desire, an attempt to visually translate the yearning for a simultaneously inherent and unfamiliar self. Naomi Nakazato (b. 1992 Arlington, VA) received a BA from Anderson University, South Carolina and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art, New York. Nakazato was awarded an initiate Brandon Fellowship at the Greenville Center for the Creative Arts in Greenville, South Carolina, a 2017 summer residency at the Leipzig International Artists Program in Leipzig, Germany; two Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants, and most recently, a Keyholder Residency at The Lower East Side Printshop in New York. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

www.naominakazato.com

Image:

Drag Me Along acrylic and vinyl on canvas, panel 24 x 36 x 1.5 inches

Swollen Feet urethane, lithograph mounted on MDF, acrylic on panel 20 x 24 x 20 inches

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N a o m i N a k a z a t o

www.naominakazato.com

Image:

Drag Me Along acrylic and vinyl on canvas, panel 24 x 36 x 1.5 inches

Swollen Feet urethane, lithograph mounted on MDF, acrylic on panel 20 x 24 x 20 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

M i a D a r l i n g

Mia Darling is an artist who was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. She is a graduate of Michaelis School ofFine Art (2018). Darling works with the unusual and playful medium of plasticine. Her plasticine paintings are created by using her hands as the paintbrush and perspex or glass as the canvas. Darling’s plasticine works are colourful and painterly explorations into beauty, childhood and body image. She is most excited by the fantastical, the girly and the romantic, and fascinated by all things pink. Darling’s works often revolve around female nudes, drawing from Western canons and then doing away with the rules and restrictions of the past through the medium of plasticine. She deals with the body along with its modern and age-old issues, those which are influenced by society. She paints about her own bodily experiences alongside doves, cascading roses and kittens.

www.artsy.net/show/ 99-loop-gallery-mia-darling-thingsto-hide-behind

Image: Things to Hide Behind plasticine on perspex, oil on board 39 x 48 cm

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Image (left): Is There Someone Behind Me? plasticine on glass 20 × 15 cm

Image (right): Heart Shaped Box plasticine on perspex, oil paint on backing board 30 × 23 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

M i a D a r l i n g

www.artsy.net/show/ 99-loop-gallery-mia-darling-thingsto-hide-behind

Image: Things to Hide Behind plasticine on perspex, oil on board 39 x 48 cm

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Image (left): Is There Someone Behind Me? plasticine on glass 20 × 15 cm

Image (right): Heart Shaped Box plasticine on perspex, oil paint on backing board 30 × 23 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

M a u r e e n

S t

V i n c e n t

www.maureenstvincent.com

Maureen St. Vincent received her BA from San Francisco State University and graduated from Hunter College’s MFA program with an emphasis in painting. St. Vincent has exhibited her work nationally and most notably at Regina Rex Gallery in New York City. Her work has been mentioned in artnet News, Brooklyn Rail, and Art of Choice. She was awarded an artist residency at Eastside International in Los Angeles, and was their guest curator in the fall of 2018. During the summer of 2019 she will be an artist-in-residence at Cooper Union. She is represented by Y2K Group based in New York City. My current series called “Disembodica” employs a surrealist vocabulary to explore erotic pleasure and the part-body. Disembodied forms decorate the paper to imply vestigial bodily experience freed from rationality. The isolation of various body parts, such as legs or breasts, suggest an out-of-body experience—the moment when the body tingles, wanders away from the earth, and loses control. This break with the rational world creates a space that is completely one’s own, birthed from the depths of our individual psyches. In my drawings, eroticized objects such as tulips weave in and out of floating legs, posed in a cross-legged position, with the vulva and pubic area exposed. These objects perform in numerous ways: as decorative pattern, erotic object, and part-body. Legs and tulips interact suggesting a narrative that is both light-hearted and aggressive, adversarial and comical. I embrace these oppositions to create a space where sensuality is taken seriously, and anthropomorphism allows us to act out our inner fantasies and desires. When making frames for my erotica drawings, I imagine the shapes, lines, and overall spirit of the drawing as an insidious force that changes the shape of the wood. As the wood transforms from rectilinear lines into corporeal form, the frame and the drawing become one.

C h a r l i e

G o e r i n g

www.charliegoering.com

Charlie Goering received his BFA in 2016 from the Laguna College of Art and Design in California. He was awarded a grant from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation in 2017. In 2018 he completed a year-long residency at Manifest Creative Research Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been exhibited in both California and New York. His most recent solo exhibition Without Definition (Attempts at Clarity) opened January 2019 at Steven Amedee, New York. Charlie presently resides in the Hudson Valley, New York. Autobiographical in nature, my current works draw on marriage and often obsessive self-reflection. Falling in love with my partner has been a catalyst for evolution. During my education I spent plenty of time with selfindulgent angst that fueled many previous paintings. The collaboration with my partner constantly brings me into a wider perspective, resulting in a celebration of her likeness, our differences, and my role as a painter in our family. Misreading plateaus in my work as internal conflict, rather than as expected ebbs—my impatience— has always synthesized into an inquisitive study of varied artists as means to grow my studio practice. Informed by painters such as Piero della Francesca, Morandi, Edwin Dickinson, and Forrest Bess, the paintings exhibit dreamlike qualities, meandering between layers of reality and subconscious. Tiers of patterning and framing devices compress space into a shallow illusion. Paintings are repeatedly collaged and referenced both in diptych and in still life. Subtle abstractions detach the subjects from a staunch reality. Set ups dictate the space expressed in the final work. The present conversation with paint, still in the middle place, with plenty of interruptions and mis-communications, forms a new pattern in the tapestry of my work. A compulsive need to disrupt how I view self, work, and the world prophesies of what is to come. At my center runs a vein of questioning, curiosity, and doubt. Around me are transitions into partnership and commitment. On a larger scale I see the world growing more dissociated. Painting mediates these boundaries.

Ultimately, I’m interested in creating imagery that summons permissiveness and engages others to act out their own pursuit of personal liberation. As I work towards this goal, I am informed by and have been thinking through the legacies of the West Coast—the conflict between a world seeped in natural wonder and overt superficiality. The histories (and present forms) of camp, kitsch and trash—aesthetic realms historically charged with critical challenges to gender and sexuality; as well as the particularly Californian hybridities of abstraction and surrealism that insistently kept representations of the body in play when it was being disappeared elsewhere.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

Image:

Erockita soft pastel on paper with artist frame 26 x 29 inches

Memorial for the Bird who Died in our Chimney oil on canvas 60 ½ x 50 cm

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M a u r e e n

S t

V i n c e n t

www.maureenstvincent.com

C h a r l i e

G o e r i n g

www.charliegoering.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

Image:

Erockita soft pastel on paper with artist frame 26 x 29 inches

Memorial for the Bird who Died in our Chimney oil on canvas 60 ½ x 50 cm

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L a u r e n

Q u i n

www.laurenquin.com

These recent paintings explore the competition between a diagrammatic and a surreal gesture. This began with an investigation into equilibrium: Where is a painting’s center of gravity? How does balance impact the dispersion of form and light within a painting? The logic of a painting plays out through modes of repetition and difference, and always leaves the original plan behind at some point. When a painting is completed, it requires an opposite, and so the lineage continues. There are multiple strategies of mark-making within each painting. Large sweeping stains, round uniform tubes, thick graphic punctuations, and scratched out drawings that cut the density of an image. Each pull the picture plane in opposite directions, creating an allergic figure ground relationship. The small incisions in the paint serve as a set of language that operates on a different focal plane than the whole. This confronts the multiple directions that a painting is read: not as a map, nor a sentence, or a vertical column, but rather these three coexisting. The content of this work has been focused on the properties between vision and perception. Distance and focus are key elements at play while portraying a scene entirely through venetian blinds, the fleeting grip of an after image, or the swarming of bats as they surge to exit a cave.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

G r e g o r y

K a p l o w i t z

www.gregorykaplowitz.com

My practice is guided by several primary interests: (1) the relationship between abstract painting cameraless photography, (2) the history of abstraction and its relationship to ritual practices, (3) the egregore, a concept from several esoteric traditions, of a thought-form born out of a group’s collective subconscious that produces an autonomous entity, such as a mythological god or a religious deity, but this can also relate to more contemporary ideas like subcultures, cultural codes, and memes, and (4) an exploration of the question, Can a queer gaze be embedded into a non-objective image, or conversely, an abstract image be inherently queer? Through the process of this exploration, I use cyanotype emulsion as a photoreactive dye on various fabrics to create photograms in environments that I spend concentrated time in. These cyanotype photograms are then either hung as tapestries, banners or flags, or are then clothed, skinned, or shrouded with additional layers of manipulated textiles into the form of stretched and wrapped layered paintings. The end results are works that blur between objects and images that merge the elements of painting, photography, textile collage and sculpture. Gregory Kaplowitz lives and works in San Francisco. He received a double BFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Solo and two person exhibitions of his work have been held at: Transmitter in Brooklyn, Interface in Oakland, and C2C Project Space in San Francisco. He has also participated in group exhibitions at: Gray Contemporary in Houston; Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco; 2nd floor projects in San Francisco; Root Division in San Francisco; Vox Populi in Philadelphia; Christopher Henry Gallery in New York City, and the Richmond Art Center in Richmond. In 2011- 2014, several of Kaplowitz’s video works were included in touring programs that screened in: San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Fe, Austin, New York City, Montreal, and Berlin. He has attended residencies at The Vermont Studio Center and The Art Students League of New York’s League Residency at Vyt where he also received both of their respective fellowship and scholarship awards. Kaplowitz’s work has also been included in New American Paintings issues #121 and #139.

Image:

After Gold oil on canvas 60 x 72 inches

Window (eye) cyanotype emulsion, cotton gauze fabric, wood, acrylic, and thread 36 x 50 inches

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L a u r e n

Q u i n

www.laurenquin.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

G r e g o r y

K a p l o w i t z

www.gregorykaplowitz.com

Image:

After Gold oil on canvas 60 x 72 inches

Window (eye) cyanotype emulsion, cotton gauze fabric, wood, acrylic, and thread 36 x 50 inches

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G u s t a v H a m i l t o n

Gustav Hamilton (b.1990, Everett, WA) was raised in Fargo, North Dakota and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and his BFA from the University of Montana. Prior to moving to New York City, he was a Visiting Professor at Colorado State University. He is currently a Studio Manager at BKLYN CLAY. He has exhibited most recently at Fisher Parrish Gallery, The Hole, Steuben Gallery, The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, and BKLYN CLAY in New York, as well as Springbox Gallery and Lacuna Gallery in Minnesota and David B. Smith Gallery in Colorado. Using glaze on thick ceramic tiles, Gustav Hamilton’s paintings exist between ceramic craftwork and fine painting. His subjects are sparse, surreal still lifes of assorted trinkets like keys, bits of paper, birds, or novelty bookends. While his arrangements seem initially random, each work contains an intricate system of references and reflections. In some cases, a work may have a direct relationship with another object: a piece is propped up with a book that features an image of itself, or a ceramic tile may depict the work with which it shares the space. More broadly, Hamilton’s works depict the life (real and imaginary) of the artist through the ordinary objects that surround him; his paintings and sculptures exist as autofictional documents where real events merge with fabricated details or outcomes. In this space of total authorship, personal fragments and imagined encounters have equal narrative significance.

www.gustavhamilton.com

Image: The very nature of my life glazed ceramic 19 × 14 inches

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Image (right):

A brief history glazed ceramic 16 1/4 × 13 × 2 inches

In gratitude glazed ceramic 20 × 13 1/2 × 2 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

G u s t a v H a m i l t o n

www.gustavhamilton.com

Image: The very nature of my life glazed ceramic 19 × 14 inches

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Image (left):

Image (right):

A brief history glazed ceramic 16 1/4 × 13 × 2 inches

In gratitude glazed ceramic 20 × 13 1/2 × 2 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

Sebastián Hidalgo was born in 1985 in Mexico. He lives and works in Cholula, México. He explores through different media and materials the relationship between the natural forces within us and the natural forces that surround us. His practice originates from painting and operates by clustering individual statements with specific interests, that combined, constitute multiple series of layered relationships. The universes found in each piece are made by the combination of scales and dimensions between representations, objects or concepts, and through the possibilities offered by the interaction of diverse iconographies.

S e b a s t i á n

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

My practice is an open and mutable 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. It is about change and materialization, in order to find a beginning, to open possibilities. I want to stimulate imagination. I am interested in delving into what motivates human reason; 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.

H i d a l g o

www.sebastianhidalgo.net

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Image (top):

Dance oil on marble 16 x 10 x 2.2 cm

Chac-mool oil on marble 10 x 15.5 x 2.1 cm

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S e b a s t i á n

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

H i d a l g o

www.sebastianhidalgo.net

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Image (top):

Dance oil on marble 16 x 10 x 2.2 cm

Chac-mool oil on marble 10 x 15.5 x 2.1 cm

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V i c e n t e

M a t t e

www.vicentematte.com

I was born in Santiago de Chile in 1987. I studied for a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Finis Terrae University. During 2014 and 2015, I studied at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. Once I finished my studies in Germany I returned to Santiago de Chile where I have developed my work until now. I have participated in group exhibitions in London, Copenhagen and Chile. I have developed my work almost exclusively in painting. From 2015 I started using distemper, an old technique in which the paint is prepared with rabbit skin glue and pigments. The most striking feature of this material is the result of opaque and velvety surfaces. My paintings contain a high biographical content; family scenes, corners of cities I walked through, or an old memory can give rise to hundreds of drawings that I archive and in which, after a while, I find the possibility of a painting. I am interested in the construction of an apparently simple image, but one that slowly reveals more complex ideas and narratives that are not initially noticed. Perhaps the long time that my drawings take to become paintings is due to the fact that I must get that initially biographical content to dissolve until the establishment of a vision, often full of references to the history of art, literature or Latin American popular culture. My paintings include the daily themes of the human being. There are often references to ideas such as childhood, children, nostalgia, women, travel, or a sense of identity. Simple images in appearance, but being the essence of life cannot but be completely complex. That is perhaps the central point of my work: the simple everyday life does not exist, because existence survives day by day; that is why I am interested in narration in painting, because I want it to communicate an idea that underlies the apparently innocent subjects.

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

G r a c e

M a t t i n g l y

www.gracemattingly.com

Bold, vibrant, blocks of color with high value-contrast introduce airy, light-filled spaces, such as gardens, conservatories, bedrooms, and music halls. People of all gender identities, often monumentally scaled, use their perceptual senses to tenderly engage with and shape their surroundings. Inspired by my everyday life and relationships, my paintings depict scenes of sensory pleasure and healing, featuring empowered figures and prominent plant life—as my vision of the future I daily cultivate. Visible underdrawing on clear-gessoed canvas and heavy, sometimes dripping marks formally reinforce these concepts by underscoring the physicality of the materials I use. Strong diagonals, repeating figures in the same frame, and vigorous marks—for example, the diagonal of the central figure in Molly in the Greenhouse and her repeated body throughout the painting—suggest movement in the bodies I showcase, underscoring their agency. Alex Katz, with his large-scale figures and flat fields of slickly applied color, and Joan Mitchell, with her vigorous bursts of heavily marked pigment influence my use of figuration, color, and stroke, in varying moments. Scholar and activist Adrienne Maree Brown, in her books, Emergent Strategy, and Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, informs my understanding of the relationship between pleasure, self-empowerment, and personal and political transformation. Imagining and cultivating the joy-filled future we wish to inhabit, in the midst of the chaos of our current world, become essential, empowering daily practices. Healthy relationships, with ourselves and each other, as well as the plant and animal life with whom we share our destiny, become paramount. Grace Mattingly is a Chicago-based artist whose light-filled figurative paintings explore the transformative potential of pleasure. She has shown at Big Pictures Los Angeles, the Art Center Highland Park and more, and has been featured in artist publications such as ArtMaze Mag, Field Projects, and The Hopper Prize. She received her BA from Columbia University and will be pursuing her MFA in 2019-2021 at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

Image:

Madre distemper on canvas 160 x 134 cm

Kirby Dog Walking on a Hot Day in June oil on canvas 52 x 62 inches

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V i c e n t e

M a t t e

www.vicentematte.com

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

G r a c e

M a t t i n g l y

www.gracemattingly.com

Image:

Madre distemper on canvas 160 x 134 cm

Kirby Dog Walking on a Hot Day in June oil on canvas 52 x 62 inches

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A k s M i s y u t a

www.aksmisyuta.com

I’m captivated by the idea of depicting characters as still lifes. Those balloon-like bodies, with the lack of individual features, live perfectly in the scenes of everyday life and in peculiar fantasies as well. I like creating the picture of a short moment, simply enjoying the way the figures catch the light and cast a shadow in some quiet setting. Monoliths or inflatable objects, balancing on the border of scary and cute, they are frozen in their own pensive universe.

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Time waster with a mirror acrylic on canvas 45 x 60 cm

Time waster in the room acrylic on canvas 100 x 70 cm

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A k s M i s y u t a

www.aksmisyuta.com

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Time waster with a mirror acrylic on canvas 45 x 60 cm

Time waster in the room acrylic on canvas 100 x 70 cm

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A l i n a

V e r g n a n o

C a s e y

J e x

S m i t h

www.alinavergnano.eu

www.caseyjexsmith.com

Alina Vergnano was born in Torino in 1989; she lives and works in Gothenburg, Sweden. She graduated from the European Institute of Design in Torino in 2012. Her work has been presented in several group and solo exhibitions at Cabinet Studiolo (Milan, 2018); Limited Works (Copenhagen, 2018); S.P.G. Susanne Pettersson Gallery (Stockholm, 2017); Gallery Thomassen (Gothenburg, 2017); Raum Vollreinigung (Berlin, 2017); Gallery Magnus Winström (Gothenburg, 2016); Artstock 20 Kunsthallen (Taichung, 2015) and more. She opened a solo exhibition at Gallery Thomassen in Gothenburg in June 2019.

Casey Jex Smith received a BFA in Painting from Brigham Young University and an MFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute. He currently resides in Provo, Utah with his wife and fellow artist Amanda Smith and their two children. His art has been exhibited at The Drawing Center; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Josée Bienvenu Gallery; Yancey Richardson Gallery; Roberts & Tilton; Honey Ramka Gallery; Galerie Polaris, and Allegra LaViola Gallery. His work has been reviewed in ArtReview Magazine; Artnet.com.fr; The Boston Globe; the San Francisco Chronicle; Rhizome.org; Wired, and Bloomberg.com. He is co-founder of the art auction website unibrow.com.

Alina’s practice focuses on the contradictory and shifting nature of feelings and on the inner life of the individual. The human figure is the protagonist of most of her works where the body is depicted as a whole or deconstructed into abstract traces and serves as a language to give shape to the immaterial essence of thoughts and obsessions. Through the use of diverse media such as drawing and sculpture—and especially through their juxtaposition—Alina’s ambition is to create a visual representation of the complexities and stratifications of human emotions. The bodies depicted in her work are disproportioned and bent into impossible positions, sometimes torn apart or irreversibly entangled within each other, as they mirror or exaggerate the feelings they convey. Through drawing, Alina Vergnano aims to capture the immediacy of a sensation and its fleeting nature. The gesture, without the superimposition of paint, becomes brutal yet precise in defining the ephemeral. The mark—intentional and unintentional—is central to her work and her artistic research focuses on how to preserve its expressivity on different surfaces and through different media. She deliberately chooses to work with materials that are technically considered as preparatory and potentially impermanent—like charcoal, pastels, clay and raw canvas—as their unpredictable nature, similar to the one of her subjects, adds expressive value to the work. In Alina’s work, the figurative element clashes with the immateriality of its subject as much as the choice of the canvas as a support is often considered in contrast with the rules of drawing. These contradictions and inconsistencies, coexisting with the directness and immediacy proper of Alina’s work, enrich her depiction of our way of feeling and perceiving.

Image: Fall Under Touch charcoal, oil stick, acrylic on linen 120 x 115 cm

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I use the structures of role-play-gaming and religious ritual to create allegorical drawings. Leveling up, character creation, quest items, mythical beasts, and battles are used to mirror real life scenarios where the individual is manipulated, controlled, or squashed by a superior force. In an unending loop, signs and symbols are laid bare in nature as divine language and made transparent to prophets and visionaries. My visual style draws largely from the study of master etchings, Dungeons & Dragons manuals, isometric turn-based video games, scriptural narratives, Where’s Waldo, and indie comics.

Image: Blessed Curse pen and pencil on paper 7.5 x 7.5 inches

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A l i n a

V e r g n a n o

C a s e y

J e x

S m i t h

www.alinavergnano.eu

www.caseyjexsmith.com

Image: Fall Under Touch charcoal, oil stick, acrylic on linen 120 x 115 cm

ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

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Image: Blessed Curse pen and pencil on paper 7.5 x 7.5 inches

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N i g e l H o w l e t t

These new cartoony drawings explore our relationship with technology and what it is to be human right now. The shiny synthetic hand acts like a tool, poking, waving, looking, yet it somehow feels like a blunt instrument, not quite living up to its sensory promise. Do we know where we are heading? Are we in control? Nigel Howlett is an artist living and working in East London.

www.nigelhowlett.co.uk

Image: I’m there in 5 mins pencil on paper 21 x 28 cm

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OK, keep me posted x pencil on paper 21 x 28 cm

Yes, no worries! pencil on paper 21 x 28 cm

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N i g e l H o w l e t t

www.nigelhowlett.co.uk

Image: I’m there in 5 mins pencil on paper 21 x 28 cm

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OK, keep me posted x pencil on paper 21 x 28 cm

Yes, no worries! pencil on paper 21 x 28 cm

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: editorial selection

I think about seduction as a visual scaffolding built with lovely, rotten planks. Painting, with its long history of delicate ankles, lends me an opportunity to fall through, from a great height, and land as a cat on its feet or an outline of a body in chalk. In its own way, a finished painting is a crime scene for the spectator; when floodlights go on, marks from the struggle are exposed in time, or not at all. At the end of the day I’m covered in bruises that are mostly made of paint.

D a n i c a

L u n d y

Danica (b. 1991) is a Brooklyn-based Canadian painter who holds a BFA from Mount Allison University, and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. While at NYAA, she concentrated in painting and was awarded the Eileen Guggenheim and Russell Wilkinson Scholarship, a Leipzig International Art Programme Residency, and the Chubb Post-Graduate Fellowship. A threetime Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant recipient, Danica shows with C+N Canepaneri Gallery in Milan. She has had solo shows in Canada, Italy, and USA, and has exhibited in group shows and art fairs in Brooklyn, New York City, Leipzig, Milan, Bologna, Mexico City, Vancouver, and Laguna Beach.

www.danicalundy.com

Image:

The Loss and Recovery of the Hair oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches

King of the Forest oil on canvas 72 x 96 inches

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D a n i c a

L u n d y

www.danicalundy.com

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The Loss and Recovery of the Hair oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches

King of the Forest oil on canvas 72 x 96 inches

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ArtMaze Magazine Issue 13: 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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