Peripheral ARTeries Art Review - November 2013 by Artpress

November 2013

KELSEY HUCKABY JOHANNES HOELDERL CRAIG St.CYR CAROLINA SAIDENBERG SIMON RAAB THOMAS BREZING ALFREDO GARCIA DOROTHY FU BILJANA VESELINOVIC GEORG OSKAR GIANNAKOUDAKIS Simon Raab

Peripheral Peripheral ARTeries A

Life is added to images, activated by life’s essence and the cycle of creation and destruction. I began as an artist and then turned to being a scientist and engineer and now back to being an artist.

Dorothy Fu

Biljana Veselinovic Modern science realizes that the material world, although appearing dense and solid, actually, is made from energy and particles oscillating together on different frequencies. The universe could be imagined as something unified by invisible power “glue”.

My work demystifies the process of the intangible elementlight, interacting with the sculptures through exposing the mechanism of making and exploring different material means.

Thomas Brezing

special issue

November 2013 Simon Raab

Georg Oskar

Giannadounakis My subject is usually very common things which we don’t notice at all, and they can be forgotten very easily but I want to remember those little things so the best way to do that for me is to paint it and use life as an idea to work with.

When I first began to engage in art I was mainly painting and drawing now my art practice also involves performance, film, installation, photography and what I call ‘wintersewing’.

Kelsey Huckaby My artwork eschews Classification. My paintings are like wordless notions that I convey through various vibrant colors and designs. Projections of what I would personally like to see, extracted from within me.

Carolina Saidenberg

My current and more frequent theme is named "Look Upon" Looking over the city, that consist in symbolic Painting series inspired in the urban life. Representing nostalgic urban scenes and the creatures that live in it, all represented as a dream world of impressions.

Johannes Hoelderl

I didn’t set out to produce art about one subject in particular. I view the world as ideas for my art work and other times they develop into more in-depth ideas and detailed images.

Craig St. Cyr The music I create is nothing more than raw feelings and emotions, as all music is at some point in it's progression from thought to action. I tend to see aspects of musical deliverance that displease me and find this to be my best avenue of approach.

iI enjoy it when I create a good painting. But the attitude towards the painting can shift from good to bad. Mostly I like creating it and not looking at my finished work. Sometimes the hardest part is starting. After it is usually enjoyable to continue.

David Wilde

Alfredo Garcia

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The process of creating and the presentation of art is a fundamental blessing and encouragement for human society that arises from the artists' ability to open to the primal elements of life's appearances. Feeling the heart of events and finding the freedom to express that in media and terms beyond the distortions of ego is a liberating thing that wakes people up to the natural benevolent vividness of circumstances.

Erin O’Malley “With digital macro photography I have been exploring the interaction of light with transparent and reflective surfaces. I consider my photography a series of experiments, a process of trial and error that builds upon past succes-ses through the manipulation of variables”

Feel free to submit your artworks to our art review: just write to peripheral_arteries@dr.com III

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Simon Raab (France / USA) an artist’s statement

I work in a medium I call “Parleau” whose etymology is French for 'through the water.' Just for fun and to make a satirical point about artist branding I trademarked the name and patented the method. Multiple layers of colored polymers are applied to stainless steel and aluminum and then "crushed" or sculpted to give the appearance of an image just under the surface of water. The art is created as either a wall-mounted painting with embedded frames, or as a freestanding volumetric sculpture. I love to work with brilliant colors, figurative abstractions, and most often I am motivated by some underlying philosophical question or belief. I identify with the symbolism of the grenade, as a symbol of disruptive ideas and the change agents from which they come. They have the ability to destroy and disrupt and expose suppressed ideas, yet they are egglike, bearing offspring, activated and inspired by the hand of man, defensive, aggressive, working in the name of good and evil, dangerous and inviting. New and innovative ideas leave shrapnel of suspicion in your mind. The grenade is the perfect symbolism for creative destruction and aligns well with the Parleau medium. Parleau enhances the images on metal by a sculpting and crushing step, partially destroying after creating and generating a refreshing and dynamic visual perspective. Life is added to images, activated by life’s essence and the cycle of creation and destruction. I began as an artist and then turned to being a scientist and engineer and now back to being an artist. This background provided me a deep insight into materials and surface properties, which I brought to bear on my art. The secret processes I developed in Parleau were only possible because of my scientific background. It is a myth that the creative impulses and process in the sciences are different than those in the arts. They have many similarities, in that they are emotional, inspired, magical, technical, and are often born of frustration.

Simon Raab 4

Serene Greene

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Global Warming

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Simon Raab

an interview with

Simon Raab Hello Simon, first of all a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what are in your opinion the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Thank you for your interest in my art and my thoughts on art. Clearly, art and its purpose is a personal matter. I would never presume to be making a universal definition. So, let me tell you what art is to me. I am generally motivated by philosophical concepts around people, their emotions and behavior, society, freedom of expression and technology. I realize this is very broad array of subjects but these are my hot buttons. I do understand the decorative arts but I differentiate them from “works of art”. I believe a “work of art” should evoke a complex set of intellectual responses from an observer. A work of art should also be beautiful in its aesthetic. The visual cues for beauty are that the image moves one into an altered emotional state. This altered state can be any of the broad spectrums of human emotions from fear to pleasure and anger to love. Hence, a work of art should visually alter your emotional state and demand thought on an important human level.

Simon Raab Born in 1952 in Toulouse, France. Lives and works in Santa Barbara, USA.

On the issue of contemporariness, let me say that there is a clear repetition over time immemorial of the human dilemma. The emotions and struggles we endure are in many ways the same as those we have experienced for thousands of years. My life in art and science has clearly revealed to me common themes between these two worlds. Science seeks to systematically and linearly expand our understan-ding of the world we live in. Visual Art seeks to systematically expand the methods by which we examine our emotional response to the world we live in. The latest visual formats and media used to produce these images are the only elements of contemporariness because all the content is old as the human race.

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Website: www.parleau.com Can you tell our readers a little about your background? I have read that you didn't receive any formal training in Art, but you hold a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, that you have received from the McGill University: how has this experience -I should say, a wonderful experience- impacted on your art practice? Moreover, could you tell us what's your point

Cassandra Hanks

Simon Raab

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They all demand elegance, creativity and technical skill. My experience in science and engineering has provided me a unique set of skills that allowed me to develop Parleau. Further, I have always made art since my young adult days. As I progressed in technical and scientific skill so did the art. When I learned to do wood working, I made art of wood, when I learned to machine metals, I made metal art, when I learned to do glass blowing, I made art of glass and metal etc. I would say I had formal training in many arts. Art and science are similar because they both rely on accidental discovery. Like art, science is often the search for knowledge with no practical purpose. Pure science like art is about the aesthetics of knowing our world and expressing our feelings about this world to no particularly practical end except knowing. I believe artists with a formal education are blessed and cursed. On the one hand they have a detailed appreciation for techniques historical and currently used in the art curricula. On the other hand they can be trapped by the status quo and even worse think that what they learned in school is the only real art and the rest of us without so-called art schooling are dilettantes. It is the very rarest of student from an art school that can shake that indoctrination and let all their artistic and expressive instincts free to roam and explore.

about formal training? Do you think that artists with a formal education have an advantage over self-taught artists?

I always chafe at the idea of formal training as a distinguishing feature of legitimacy in any field, science or art. Most of the original work has come from those that break the status quo of formal training. Art and science is full of such examples. Actually I trained as a physicist to the masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s level and then switched to Engineering for my PhD. I was always surrounded by art and science. In my family I have artists, writers, filmmakers, scientists and engineers. I can no longer differentiate between the creative and technical challenges in any of these fields.

Simon Raab in his studio 7

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Simon Raab

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I work in a new medium called Parleau, which derived from the French term ‘par l’eau’ for “through water”. I have always been mesmerized by light and water and sought out a medium that provided the same abstraction and intensity of color along with a sense of the always- changing and living nature of moving water. I developed a variety of painting techniques and materials, which I apply to stainless steel and aluminum. I was in search for a technique, which allowed me to deform the coated metals without cracking or flaking off the painted image. I paint the images with numerous layers of different polymers such as epoxy, polyurethane and acrylic, all adhered to the metal. The polymers are designed to be translucent allowing the metal to create a stained glass feel through the reflected light. My experience in surface physics and artificial joint implants provided the technical know-how necessary. Once the image is complete I deform the metal by hand and then by various metal forming tools as either a closed volume for a sculpture or on a wood frame as a wall piece. I try to get the look of “through water” by using specially formulated translucent paints which have to be adherent to the metal. I use aluminum when I want smoother softer surface profile. The deformation of the metal has now become an additional palette. Rough water and smooth water create different aesthetic responses. I can produce this effect by the frequency and sharpness of the surface deformations. This is like affecting the brush stroke and is critical to the mood of the Parleau piece. Stainless steel has a colder color and bends with sharper angles and hence is better at communicating certain moods. The Parleau method is unique and was recently granted a US patent, one of very few patents in an art medium. I applied for the patent and trademark more as a stunt to criticize the industrialization of art and branding. And now let's focus on your pieces that our readers can admire in these pages. I would start from your sculptures Petrified and Complexification: one of the features that has mostly impressed me is the sense of motion, not only of plasticity of the images... could you tell us something about your process for conceiving and in particular for making the pieces of this project?

Your comment on the plasticity is very appropriate, I was looking for a sculptural medium, which could be easily and inspirationally deformed but then locked in like a snap shot of a motion or process. Parleau in volumetric form provides this adaptability. Just like a dressmaker, I form a volumetric shape from the flat material by “stitching” together a pattern. I build the empty volume with the metallic skin and then I sculpt it into a shape. Once I am happy I lock the shape in by filling the skin with a structural filler and 8

Complexifornication, 2011 Polymers and aluminum on granite

Simon Raab

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Petrified - Petrified over time or scared about tomorrow, 2010, Polymers and stainless steel on granite, 210 x 66 x 66 cm

support members. Petrified is very much about this process. I am contemplating the fear to act. Petrified wood is a living organism caught suddenly in time and transformed into stone. A human suddenly frozen into inaction through fear is a common human response to adversity.

103 x 17 x 17 cm

Complexification is about my discontent with the common bust. Whether of Roman emperors or goddesses I have always felt that the smooth glorious external visage belies the anguished and complex turmoil Warming within. The Complex series is about what goes on inGlobal the head rather 9

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Simon Raab

than the simplified pretense of the exterior. As our readers have already read in your artist's statement, you use to work in a medium that you have defined Parleau and that you have explained in the starting pages of this article. Would you like to tell us how do you decide what materials to incorporate in a piece? By the way, do you think that one day you will add more kind of materials to your "pallette"?

Parleau as it is currently exists comprises the selection of a metal, the surface texture and the image. As previously discussed the technique requires many different polymers to achieve the non-cracking translu-cence. I do like the purity of the current materials while in a way it is mixed media I find that the gratuitous addition of other materials tends to complicate and distract. There is a reason that painting has been so successful over the centuries. It is pure and simple leaving the imagery and color to create a simple and powerful effect. Parleau is a structural departure from painting but can retain that necessary elegance without throwing in detritus for effect. Another pieces of yours on which I would like to spend some words are your walls: some of them as Orchidansky and Anarchy Crushed have a clear abstract feeling, while other pieces as From behind these Bars and especially Andy Boom and Albert shows clear references to what we could define our so-called reality... I would like to ask you if in your opinion experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process...

This question is probably akin to the question of whether our characters are from nature or nurture. What part is from our upbringing and what part is from our genetic pool? I believe emotion and conceptual thinking are actually indispensable to the creative process. To the extent that experience can inform these, it is essential. Experience on its own does not result in creation but rather our reaction to experience. Individually we all respond differently and thereby the astonishing abundance of human creations. I can recognize a subtle irony in your Art, and as you have remarked, a grenade is the perfect symbolism for creative destruction... I would like to ask you something about the role that an artist could play in our society... by the way, even

Cassandra Hanks 10

Simon Raab

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Andy Boom - This explodes in 15 minutes, 2012 Polymers and aluminum on wood, 152 x 100 cm

though it might sound a bit naif, I would go as far as to state that Art nowadays can steer people's behaviour more than ever: what's your point about this?

Artists in the visual arts should be social philosophers and critics, no less so than writers or political bloggers. Artists have a role to re-examine convention, challenge status quo and dig into the emotions dominating our world. Orchidansky, 2011,

believing that artists play an essential role in social evolution is an essential motivation of mine.

Polymers and aluminum on wood frame, 112 x 81 cm

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Simon Raab

A feature that has mostly impacted on me of the interesting Lillies is the stimulating nuance of red, which all in all gives the name to the piece... By the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Lilies, particularly white ones have been used to symbolize the purity of the Virgin Mary. I conceived Lilies in the midst of the revelations of child abuse in the Catholic Church. Red and other sexually explicit colors seemed a good fit for the now complex and impure dilemma which the Church finds itself. My palette includes the colors and surface textures, these evolve almost like a temperature gage of my emotions, somber, angry, calm, joyful. So the palette and the imagery follow my state of mind. And I could'n do without mentioning Love's Grasp, that I admit is one of my favorite pieces of yours... You have produced it using polymers and stainless steel on granite: so it goes without saying that technology or I should better say, the manipulation of the concept of technology, plays

Lillies - Feel no shame, Eve, 2010,

Love's Grasp, 2012

Polymers and stainless steel on wood frame, 116 x 142 cm

Polymers and stainless

Simon Raab

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Misdirection, 2013, Polymers and aluminum on wood, 91 x 195 cm a crucial role in producing the creative synergy that marks your art practice. So I would ask you: do you think that nowadays there still exists a dichotomy between art and technology? By the way, I would go as far as to say that in a way Science is assimilating Art and vicev ersa... what's your point about this?

As I have often mentioned my experience in both realms has made clear to me the deep parallels between science and art. They have always informed each other and liberated each other. Perhaps today we are examining these parallels in this modern society but science and art are have always been the same to me. ask to the artists that we interview: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction? Well, actually ain't that

enjoy the accidental discoveries most of all. I am blessed with a medium that constantly surprises in its potential for nuance and form. I enjoy these discoveries most of all. Thanks for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Simon. My last question deals with your future plans: what direction are you moving in creatively? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Working with metal and complex processes makes attaining scale in Parleau very challenging. I want scale. I want to make a very, very big Parleau that overwhelmed in its dimensions. I want viewers to feel the labor and love required in the size and complexity. Perhaps, I want to force them to look up to me. Global Warming An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

steel on granite, 110 x 23 x 29 cm

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Biljana Veselinovic (Serbia) an artist’s statement

Throughout the time different cultures have developed unique symbolic systems trying to express their most powerful ideas, emotional and spiritual answers considering the life itself. Regardless of the culture differences, at the basis of the broad symbolic expression, it can be said that there are common themes in the whole world. They can be observed as a live sleep flow sloping as some invisible power through everyday life. From the beginning of time, human beings have described states and energy fields that activate and penetrate the universe. Modern science realizes that the material world, although appearing dense and solid, actually, is made from energy and particles oscillating together on different frequencies. The universe could be imagined as something unified by invisible power “glue”. Psychologists have named this force “the collective unawareness” that represents huge source of archetypal energy in which we are penetrated. It is expressed symbolically in dreams, art, the Bible, and science as well. The origin of life and relations between beings and universe represent the most fundamental interests of humankind. A dominant belief is that micro-cosmos and macro-cosmos run in parallel, therefore, the life of a single human being is closely connected to the universe. Apart from having three solo exhibitions of paintings in Belgrade, I have exhibited my work in Paris, Bulgaria, Austria and Japan. I have participated in over 40 international exhibitions in Serbia. Biljana Veselinovic www.biljanaveselinovic.webs.com Universe, 120 x 130 cm,oil on canvas 2012 14

Biljana Veselinovic

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Biljana Veselinovic

an interview with

Biljana Veselinovic Hello Biljana and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

If we imagined some large sphere with its own specific rules and organization that was almost invisible from the outside, but once you could enter that sphere you would discover something wonderful, sensible, it may be called unique world of Art. Rare, genuine, complete artists worldwide occasionally have a direct contact to that sphere, and under the influence of it create wonderful work. Artist can either be aware of it or not. It depends on various aspects of this worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, origin, personal characteristics, artistic elements of the person etc. If such a sphere existed, it could be said that artists created something that was borrowed from that sphere. There are special moments when the work of art is created, perceived and recognized by the artist to be one. No time or history can change it. It just takes the right time for such a work to be noticed and appreciated by the rest of civilization. The work is in a way waiting for its right moment in the history and time. Artists and the rest of people are not always at the same points of objective time, since artists are usually ahead of the rest.

Biljana Veselinovic

grade, Serbia, your native country, and besides this you hold a MA in Philology. How have this experiences impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this?

When the development and stages of Art are observed from its very beginning up till now, it is obvious that Art is developing in a very natural and logical way. It has the perfect previous stage that made the path to the next stage, and that is a crucial basis for the following stage. This present, contempo-rary art is a period that is following total art work history, it is the right art period at its perfect time. In some future time it will be observed with a necessary distance and get its own name, when a new development changes Art and directs it to a new phase.

When I was fourteen teachers noticed that I was talented for painting, but at the age of sixteen I was strongly driven to painting, with the important support of my family. I graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, department of painting, and Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. From the first year at the Faculty of Fine Arts I started to exhibit my work in Serbia and the first exhibition that I had abroad was in Paris in 2010. That exhibition was a great opportunity to meet and share experiences with the artists from all Cassandra Hanks

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have recently graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Bel16

Biljana Veselinovic

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should also know and become immediately aware if the creativity is in any way stifled. To conclude, Art must develop in its own way without compromise or influence of anybody that is insignificant for the work itself. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I allow the work to develop at its own time and speed. I have the feeling that I and my work develop at the same time. I have the idea what I want to create, I develop the idea in my mind, prepare for it, but I rarely make sketches. I put the colour immediately on canvas based on the original thought, I transform the painting when it is transformed in my mind. Then, I respond to what is on the canvas. Sometimes I have the feeling that the work directs me. As for the drawings, they are not a preparation phase for the painting, I treat them as original and unique works of art, as well. Rediscovering the world 4, 51 x 36 cm, 2012, charcoal on paper

around the world. It has helped me to understand how we all share the similar ideas and that contemporary art scene cannot be separated with borders, that the work is strangely similar. I believe that education is extremely important for every human being. I do not believe in negative effect of any education. Since the Faculty of Fine Arts is different from the rest of universities, it has certain unique aspects. It may slow artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creation if the artist came to the university under the belief that the creativity would be increased by that university or the people representing it. Artists must be aware of their own significance and the significance of their work that must be separated and protected from irrelevant everyday occasions. History 2,

An artist should acquire knowledge or skills, that can help him and his art from university but

100 x 100 cm, 2013, oil on canvas 17

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Biljana Veselinovic Another series on which I would like to spend some words is Rediscovering the world: few lines, on a white background suggest me such a "map"... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

In creating a work of art, the most important is to be honest to yourself, to you inner being, your beliefs and your reasons for creating art. What I believe in I am trying to show to the others. Since those ideas are simple and extremely complex at the same time, they can be observed in different ways, which is one of the most beautiful aspects of art. Yes, I agree that artists and more

Rythm, 120 x 130 cm,oil on canvas, 2012 Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works Rhythm and Universe that have been admired by our readers in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

Rhythm is the painting from 2012, it is a part of abstract paintings that I created after a series of waterfalls painted in previous years. I was searching for the inner rhythm that exists but is not seen in “reality”. Let it be imagined that the life of human beings is perceived only in its elements shared by all, and that the relations and emotions are colour fields. I was looking for a way to represent them on one canvas as one simple, almost square object with written information in it, like a painted encyclopedia map of human existence. As regards the painting Universe, I wanted to show the elements that I believe are one of the most important general aspects of our world of “reality”, thus being: land, water, order and life .

Rediscovering the world 5, 51 x 36 cm, charcoal on paper, 2012 18

Biljana Veselinovic

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Waterfall 2, 2011, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm

that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

importantly the work of art reveal hidden and significant sides of outer and inner nature. Since both have the same Creator, the role of every individual is only a small element in its Creation. In their role on this world, artists are more open to obvious and less obvious , in order to say, show, or help something be comprehended in an indirect or direct way.

There are experiences from this “real” world but also from some other worlds that exist in a different way. We may be a part of other worlds as well, that I previously in the interview called sphere. If we include all these worlds then I agree that direct experience is inseparable from creative process. Of course, sometimes when you are under the strong flow of creative force, you may not be aware of the origin of the forces that are influencing your creative process. In different epochs people have seen the same things in the same, or sometimes different way. However, people were always aware that creativity is a very delicate subject and often difficult to explain in the “reality” terms.

As you have remarked in the starting lines of your artist's statement, "different cultures have developed unique symbolic systems trying to express their most powerful ideas, emotional and spiritual answers considering the life itself"... I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think 19

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Biljana Veselinovic

World 5, 8 x 29 cm, 2009, watercolour

ded. While painting, drawing, sculpturing or taking photographs I am only focused on representing my feeling, belief or a moment that I was lucky enough to have experienced. Consequently, honesty of artist toward art cannot be unnoticed.

World 1, 50 x 21 cm, 2009, ink on paper

And I couldn't do without mention your World series which I have to admit is one of my favourite project of yours... In particular, I have been struck with the way you have been capable of establishing such an effective synergy between few dark tones and an intense, deep red, creating a symbiosis rather than a contrast... would you tell us more about the evolution of this stimulating work?

Your artworks have been exhibited in many occasions, and you have recently had your show Small big useful things" at the Cultural Center Grocka... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

This series has begun several years ago. It is a response to â&#x20AC;&#x153;objectiveâ&#x20AC;? world that is brimming with strong emotions, attitudes, relations and particles that hover in between. The drawings as well as ideas are developing, changing through time and experience. I used spontaneous movement of colour or ink to represent the idea. The work is sometimes created very easily and in a short period of time and sometimes it takes me two years for a work to be done. The abovementioned work was done in a light and inspired moment. ThisCassandra series is stillHanks in progress.

As I mentioned, I think that it is very important to be honest to yourself while making the work. No outer element should affect your work. I am aware that using symbols and hidden messages is not something that will be easily grasped and especially not by majority at the present moment. My work is asking for thought, and is not addressing only to visual sense. It takes time for it to be comprehen20

Biljana Veselinovic

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or could be, is invaluable. The result of the process is always new and completely surprising. Therefore, it seems that creating the work of art, regardless of the technique, is the most wonderful aspect of art.

without asking to the artists that I happen to interview, since -even though it might sound the simpler one- I receive the most complex answers: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most? What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Biljana. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

There are some special moments of creating art that I particularly enjoy. For instance, there is the moment when I put a rich and powerful colour on completely white canvas. The very moving of brush, the trace of the brush, the position of colours and their interaction have a strong effect on me. Occasionally, I just admire and observe the perfection of the colour that I put on canvas, but at that moment I am under the impression that I am just a mediator who has helped something to appear.

I always have new goals that direct me in my art work. I am planning to exhibit for the first time my sculptures that were the basis for some drawings. Furthermore, I was called to participate at an international painting symposium in Greece in January. Since the water and flow of water had an important impact and role in my paintings, I am looking forward to painting near such a powerful force like the sea. I would like to thank you at this opportunity to give an insight into my work and to try to bring closer my work to the audience.

The powerfulness of emotions at the moment are very hard to explain. Then, while creating, when I see that the painting “asks“ for something, some colour at a certain place, and afterwards is finished, is the indicator that you as an artist are fully in the process of creation, unaware of the world you live in. While making photographs, transforming “reality“ and bringing it to what it actually is

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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Dorothy Fu (Hong Kong) an artist’s statement

My work demystifies the process of the intangible elementlight, interacting with the sculptures through exposing the mechanism of making and exploring different material means. My sculptural installations often reveal the poetic simplicity, conceptual and overlooked materialism of objects. By using everyday analogue and digital technical apparatuses as tools, I investigate the metaphorical idea of light acting as the ‘eye’ to see and uncover unexpected events. By experimenting with objects and constructing visual mystifications, challenges and alludes the viewers’ curiosity and perception of the work. The light is the activator in the process of the work and at the same time it is activated by the reflection from the transparency. The reflection reveals the light’s transcendental qualities with objects; it allows the light to infiltrate to the air, time and space. I synchronise visual phenomenal fragments into a whole situation layering a three-dimensional drawing, overlapping the form and shape. Therefore to raise the viewers’ awareness of seeing and being in the work. Studio experiments are juxtaposed with architectural contexts, exploring and blurring the boundaries between the inside and outside space, the relationship between the light and materials becoming the other layers of the interior and exterior simultaneously. In my recent work, I utilize the transparency to control light and hence doubletaking the function of the light and the reflection, which expands the work’s sculptural potential to conceptual levels. I manipulate transparent materials as frames to control and expose views depending on the viewers’ positions; the material’s reflexive surface allows viewers to see themselves overlapping with the work and space. The slight movement of the suspended sculptures requires the viewers’ sensitivity to themselves and the surroundings, provoking their anticipation of the work.

Dorothy Fu

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When light transcends reflection;circular formation Installation

Dorothy Fu

Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with

Dorothy Fu Hello Dorothy, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Thank you for having me here. I consider Art is experience, and something intrigues my curiosity and leads me to a stage of thinking. If you make a piece that looks like an old impressionism painting now, I would still call it contemporary; I think it depends on your feeling from it at the moment, time is key to separate and blur the tradition and contemporariness. No one really makes new things but to make better old things. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You have recently received your BA(Hons) of Fine Art from the Nottingham Trent University: how has this experience impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point?

I always describe my years in the course are freedoms; we seldom have lectures and tutors telling you what to do nor telling you off! It was absolute freedom, therefore it was an extreme independent time. With spending lots of time in the studio space, my practice became dependent on the experiments. I enjoy it a lot, it is in a way like a 3D sketching.

Dorothy Fu

Fellow students and sometimes outsource artists had given me opinions on my installations, which is very helpful and precious. I am lucky that I was not taught in a traditional institution, even though I was way too lost during my first yearâ&#x20AC;Ś but it is definitely a good way to raise contempo-

rary artists, no one tells you what to do when you step into the real worked, isn't it? Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and Cassandra Hanks 24

Dorothy Fu

Peripheral ARTeries

my next piece, for example light, artificial or natural? a mind map will then pop out. Then I will start gather some objects, very random items, as long as they can allow me to move them around. The most important thing is the space, but for experiments, a darken room is good enough. I often spent all days in the project space to juxtapose the objects and different light sources, for example spot lights, digital projectors, etc. I would reduce objects and finalise the installation by taking reference of the architecture, like focusing on the corner by filling it with light. I mainly use some visual scientific reference for my starting contextual points, then to try out the result and manipulate it by experiments, usually many surprises will appear and I call them 'discovery', I know I might have wasted ten times more than a scientistâ&#x20AC;Ś. It really depends the scale and the contexts by the time, I remember I spend only few days to finish a piece to go in the collaborative exhibition, but few months for a piece with only three main elements in the installation. Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with When light transcends reflection; circular formation that our readers can admire in these pages and that I would suggest them to view directly at your website http://www.yeengaifu.com/when-light-transcendsreflection-circular-formation.html In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

That piece is an extension of 'When light meets line; circular formation', which was done within few days, I came up with an quick idea to have something transparent as an object to interact with light. I was trying to test out the result and also the idea of an object has almost no function of blocking light but in fact it has a very thin line(the form) to block some light, then to cast a shadow; this is very fascinating to me as it is also reflective, that you can see more than one shadow by only one set of light and object.

particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Usually I set out some guidelines for myself, laying out which are the basic elements for 25

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When light transcends reflection; circular formation

As you have remarked, you manipulate transparent materials as frames to control and expose views depending on the viewersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; positions and the he slight movement of the suspended sculptures requires the viewersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sensitivity to themselves, provoking their anticipation of the work I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process: both for conceiving and especially for enjoying a work of art... Do you think that such creative processes could be disconnected from direct experience?

I think personal experience can't be out of the creative process; I remember a conversation with an ink drawings artist explaining his inspiration from his dead grandmother; the story is very touching and lovely, but at first I only see the beauty of the ink brush strokes and still see that after hearing the story. I appreciate the amount of time artists inserted for a piece, but the live moment and experience are more striking to me. So I show something to the viewers and myself, then whether they believe it or not, is another side of the matter. Being strictly connected to the chance to create a deep interaction, your artworks are capable of communicating a wide variety of states of mind: have you ever happened to discover something that you didn't previously plan and that you didn't even think about before? I'm sort of convinced that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal hidden sides of life and nature... what's you point?

I used to be quite self-content about 'Happy accident', but 26

Dorothy Fu

Peripheral ARTeries

then I became the opposite, or I should put in this way: I think there is not such thing as 'Happy accident', accident is happened under no circumstances of options, if you can choice to have the 'accident', it is not accident anymore. Of course I have a lot of surprises during the experiments, but if I don't have the experiments at all, the discovery will never come out. I agree with you that artists can reveal hidden sides of many aspects in life. 'Role' is a bit heavy to say, I think it is more like an option, a digestion of perceiving and conceiving. One of the feature of your work Magenta that absolutely fascinated me is the symbiosis that you show between Art and Science... and I would go as far as to state that your work shows the artistic side of Science: by the way, maybe because I have a scientific background, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sort of convinced that soon or later new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between Art and Science....I will dare to say that Art and Science are going to assimilate one to each other... whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your point about this?

'Magenta' was the work that I started touching to the conceptual side, I wanted to show how the title can affect the way we see, and also the body of the work. It is also telling people that light constructs colours. Before this piece, I had an experiment with colour filters covering the lights, therefore the shadow is coloured. I didn't show that

Magenta 2013, Desk Lamps(Two), MDF

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Dorothy Fu

Untitled (About Colour Transition)

Here, not here, shadow detail

at the end because I think it is too literal without a deeper sense. To improve that, I decided to step back and remove the filters and paint the lamps in two colours, which in theory blue and red can be mixed to become magenta.

It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

New media art is fascinating as it shows you the fact and the trick at the same time, I only prefer when they are both shown. Hiding one of them is dangerous as the work will only be a trick. Opening the process of the installation allowing the viewers to realise the making, then they will remember the work and get inspired by it.

It is a very good question, at the moment I am planning to produce a small scale piece to participate an art competition, which seems the main appreciation is focusing on the paintings. However I want to challenge myself and go for it, it is a good way to inspire myself to think differently, as in how can I make a piece which is constrained by a frame or can-

By the way, while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

I definitely agree with that, it is funny that I always draw two to three circle on sketches and fill different categories in each of them, the overlapped part is the result which is dependent on the two to form it. There was a time my team and I were writing a exhibition proposal, we circle the viewers and the artists together we have an exhibition community. It is important to consider the viewers as an element when producing an art piece, in particular in the new media art field.

Untitled (About Colour Transition)

Cassandra Hanks

Dorothy Fu

Peripheral ARTeries

Here, not here, installation view

that you would like readers to be aware of?

canvas, and still I can deliver my message: the relationship of light and objects, and the viewers. I enjoy people coming into my experiments and telling me offâ&#x20AC;Ś

It is a wonderful time that the above questions allow me to think about my practice again! Being an individual artist is very difficult in a commercial city, therefore I am trying to settle my financial support by taking jobs.

Haha, it is nice to have people physically interacting with my work, sometime without speaking is still a nice feedback, as you can see how their bodies communicate with the light and their head chasing the reflection.

Then hopefully I can make more works and have a studio space. Maybe I will quote what my dad just told me last time to end this conversation, it is originally from a Jewish man: There are two glass of water, one is clear and the other is very dirty, if you drop one clear water in the dirty water, it will still stay dirty. On the contrary, if you drop one dirty water in the clear one, it will turn out to be a bad one.

I don't really think who will enjoy my work then make something to please them, but usually children enjoys the most. Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Dorothy. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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Georg Oskar

Giannakoudakis (Iceland) An artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

My name is Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis, I am an artist with my main focus on painting. Graduated from Akureyri School of Visual Arts in 2009. The progress of painting I think has a big role in why I choose to paint. For me it is physical act but at the same time a total meditation, and I like to be in that stage of contrast. Like many others I do talk about my life and I document it, I look at each piece as a page of a visual diary. My subject is usually very common things which we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice at all, and they can be forgotten very easily but I want to remember those little things so the best way to do that for me is to paint it and use life as an idea to work with. Even if you live in a small town of 18 thousand people like my self, you can get so much influence and inspiration of daily life if you notice those little things around you, and if you have a way to progress it in to something visually, poem and so on I think that gives it a deeper meaning and your work will find it ways to developed by it self and comes as good as it gets in most pure way.

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

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Oli & Sorli, 200x205 cm oil,acrylic on canvas 2

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Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

an interview with

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis Giannakoudakis ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Almost everything has the potential to become a piece of art. Still we must allow for variations in quality. I believe we have a spectrum, which runs from bad to good. Good art is the one which touches upon my feelings, affects me emotionally. Those emotions may be good or less so. The features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork are the lack of pretention on the behalf of the artist. When an artist is making his art effortlessly, he can call his art contemporary. Would you like to tell us something about your background? Besides your studies of Fine Arts at Lahti Polytechnic, Finland, you hold a Diploma, that you received form Akureyri School of Visual Art. How have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you currently produce your works? Moreover I would ask you what's your point about formal training: I sometimes happen to wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis (photo by

One could step back in the studio and evaluate and practice newly gained knowledge from class. The two of us brainstormed and very few stones were left unturned. One could say that the studio served as space for rebellion and testing of practical knowledge from the formal training. If creativity was lacking in class, then it was let free in the studio. Sure, many other students take a different course of action and therefore develop in other directions.

Formal training is very important, in art as in any other field of human experience. One must know the rules to be able to bend them or break them. During the formal training process one learns technical skills as well as kindling ones inspiration through human communication. My experience of formal training has given me confidence and space to experiment. I go with the

I am not sure if any particular kind of training could stifle creativity of an artist. It will much depend on the personality of the individual artist and his upbringing and environment. A rebel is more likely to brake free than a conformist I suppose. Cassandra Hanks

training makes that a lot easier to do. During my studies I did rent a studio with an artist friend of mine. That studio became an environment much different from the formal classes. 32

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

Peripheral ARTeries

soon in a new dimension, even taking a new approach towards the initial idea. It depends how unconscious work done prior to entering the studio to work. Once started I loose all concept of time and often work long hours, often much satisfied with the outcome. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with The Resurection of the Vulpes Vulpes and Oli & Sorli, a recent and interesting works that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this piece? What was your initial inspiration?

In my work I dwell a lot on childhood memories. I may elaborate on a certain memory and blend it with a recent or present experience, spice the

is my perfect diary. The Resurrection of the Vulpes Vulpes is a memory, adapted one, so as where a little boy cries wolf, wolf! But nobody ever spotted one. Then one day the boy saw a

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

The result will always be something new, process itself is very important to me. It is so full of surprises and energy. I usually start with a vague idea and let it evolve wherever it takes me. I am only in the moment of now. Sometimes

The resurrection of the Vulpes vulpes

but then I just overwith again and find myself Selfstart Portrait Flowers

200x150cm acrylic on canvas 33

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Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

Friday on my mind 55x55cm oil,acrylic on canvas

wolf and cried wolf, wolf! But then nobody believed him. This is a story may people know from childhood. What I did was swapping the wolf for a fox. Vulpes vulpes is the Latin name for a fox. The Resurrection bit is taken from a song title by Chalmera (death metal band), which I was listening to when I was doing the painting. The

piece is about my good friend called Four Friends 200x160cm acrylic,oil on canvas

name in Iceland. The work is a fruit of a wonderful horse-riding trip in the mountains with my friend Oli.

we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

Another pieces of yours on which I wouId like to spend some words are Friday on my mind and Four Friends and I would suggest to our readers to visit your website at http://georgoskar.com/section/360556.html: it's clear to recognize -as you have remarked- that you draw inspiration from daily life: I would go as far as to state that your Art help us to notice those little things around us, discovering the poetry inside them... I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so

I find it very satisfying and fulfilling to dig into the subconscious part of us by the methods art has to offer. There are so many hidden sides of life which can?t be reached by other means. Art as psychoanalysis of oneself as well as other fellow humans and society by large. You are right when you say art helps 34

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

Peripheral ARTeries

my efforts, then I feel I have reached something important. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, the act of painting is for you a physical act but the same time a total meditation and in your artworks you talk about your life, looking at each piece as an page of visual diary... I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

In my case direct experience is indispensable part of the creative process. The process inspires me, as does the act of painting itself. Still I have to mention, that the processes at work are complicated and very often not understood directly, even not at all, by the artist. Coming to your question as if I do think that a creative process could be disconnected from the direct experience. My answer is no. It may apply to some so-called non-skill jobs, but not to art.

us to notice those little things around us. Present day world insists constantly that we pay attention to big, noisy, phenomena of the advertising industry. There is no poetry in such things. Looking beyond that leads us to simplicity, poetry and new experiences of simple, daily things. During the day I do collect information which most people would hardly se as big news or important. Then I document these experiences on the canvas. Titles of individual works are most often born the same way. If the audience identifies with

Songbird 145x140cm acrylic on canvas 35

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Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

Another pieces of yours on which I would like to focus are Songbird and especially Oskubuska, which I have to admit is one of my favourite works of yours: I have been struck with the effective symbiosis between the dark tones and such an emerging light... could you lead us through the development of this stimulating painting?

Thank you for you kind opinion. Oskubuska means Cinderella in Icelandic. When I finished this particular painting, it hadn?t had got a name yet. A look at the almost finished work (as I consider my work not finished until it bears is name), is spotted small silly thing I found beautiful in itself and particularly in the context I stands. Cinderella came to my mind and to me, it was spot on. The interaction of colours and their symbiosis is what I find so challenging and rewarding when the colours end up in all the right places and mixes on the canvas. I was emotionally down when I started Oskubuska, but, as the painting shows, I got much more lighthearted during the process. I think the palette indicates that; regained confidence. One of the visuals that have mostly impacted on me of your works Anatomic Head Banger and Hemullin is the skilful usage of the nuances of a deep, intense red... by the way,

, 2013

Hemullin, 2013

Mixed Media, 100x70 cm

acrylic on canvas, 90x75 cm

Cassandra Hanks 36

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

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Anatomic Head Banger, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 90x90 cm any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

My palette is normally a combination of bright, clean, colours and colours which may seem dirty, or at least less clean or bright. My palette evolves with the process of painting; no arrangement is pre-meditated. Very rarely I do blend colours beforehand; that may evolve later on during may stay in front of the canvas. This kind of improvising is really an experiment all a long. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure people will see certain rhythms in my use of colours. With reference to the Anatomic Head Banger a Hemullin, I did use exactly the same red in both of them. Still, with different end results. I guess one may see subtle evolution in my use of palette, but I think it is more gradual and atmospheric, than fundamental. During these years you have established a fruitiful collaboration with the artist Margeir Dire Sigur arson, with whom you have founded the G MS Collective Duo, that last from 2008 and our readers can get to know more about this at http://www.gomsduo.com/ I personally find absolutely fasci-

Self Portrait with Flowers

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Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

nating the collaborations that artists are capable of establishing together: could you tell us something about this effective synergy? By the way, the artist Peter Tabor once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between two artists?

Again I am must happy to thank you for you above comment. I agree totally with Tabor. There are very interesting things which taka place in a collaboration of this kind. It will not be explained in words really how this works, but Tabor is very close when he says …synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not. duo, are one character when we work together. Both of us know the process, we fully respect and trust each other, as artists. This is probably a bit like jamming in music, one act / tone leads to another, now words or logical thinking. Surely a right brain activity and all of the senses are involved. As individual artists we are quite different creatures. But philosophically we have much in common. We agree on many things artistically, what we think art

Those small things in life, 2013, acryl on canvas,

creation is, etc. This kind of mutual language, which is most part silent by nature, as it travels through the unconscious side of us, is what drives us and has made our artistic life so much richer. During these years, your works have been exhibited in many occasions: and I would like to mention that you are going to have a nother solo in the second week of Dicember at Salur without saying that feedbacks and espe-cially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence

Rachmninov, 2013, oil on canvas, 140 x 140 cm 38

Georg Oskar Giannakoudakis

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I find it hard to imagine myself produce more, not to mention better art, by positive feedback alone. Feedback, like posi-tive comments and even awards of some kind, are and indication of acceptance, even understanding, of the outside world, of ones work. An artist is his work, so little ego gets a nod. I we received both bad and good com-ments on my work. I simply ignore the ones I don?t like, but learn from others. First of all do I paint for myself, not for critics. One must to be true to oneself, only by being that, one is on track. Being derailed by outside opinions is not on the agenda. Public or critic’s acceptance or not, I must stay on course. Not my problem artistically. Then I’m lead to the second part of you question. I don’t think so much about that but I trust my insight and truly believe if I like my finished piece it will appeal to someone out there. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Oskar. My last question deals with your future plans: What's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

An exhibition is planned early year 2014, in Reykjavik. Of course I continue working in my studio in Akureyri. The GOMS duo continues and we are due for an exhibition in Akureyri next summer, which will be open for almost three months. Every day brings new opportu-nities and I’m always on the look out for new possibilities. I do recommend all those interested to visit my homepage directly at www.gerorgoskar.com as often as they may seem practical. I will add to it new developments’ I deem important for the public eye.

280x200 cm the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Yes, you are right. I will open another solo in the second week of December, at the time being just

To finish I do thank you very much for your positive interest in my work and me as an artist. I do hope people will find something, even small things, in my work that inspires them. Thank you again, this interview has been very enjoyable for me.

Akureyri. Elaborating on your first question here. I do suppose recognition is important for most artists; we all have an Ego that likes a pat on the shoulder from time to time. I would think young artists are in their hearts like toddlers; they prefer smiling faces to the grim ones. Personally

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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Thomas Brezing (Ireland / Germany) an artist’s statement

My life has been spent roughly in equal measure between Germany, my country of birth, and Ireland, where I have put down firm roots. Aspects of these two contrasting worlds inform my art practice. On the one hand, I look back to and explore my German ancestry and heritage, and my life in Ireland also forms an integral part of my thinking and output. The characteristic concerns of my art practice are mortality and humanity and I am equally interested in environmental issues. When I first began to engage in art I was mainly painting and drawing now my art practice also involves performance, film, installation, photography and what I call ‘winter-sewing’. My work takes a critical view of existential, social and environmental issues, in an attempt to unify the world of skill, concept and philosophy. Through the process of creating I ask myself questions like, how do we live our lives, where do we come from, where do we go, how can we improve as human beings, become more aware, more caring towards others … and how can my art be of help in all of this. Aside from traditional art materials such as oil paint and canvas I use a variety of other materials, often found, unwanted objects which I recycle or up-cycle and appropriate, such as old newspapers, used tea bags, disused Christmas trees, fishing nets/rope and anything that looks interesting and alive in the loss. My influences are wide reaching, from every day events to music and literature. In literature the work of Irish writers John McGahern and Hugo Hamilton has informed my work as well as the German writers Hermann Hesse, Wolfgang Borchert and Gunther Grass, and the American author Cormac McCarthy. In contemporary art the work of the Irish painter Patrick Graham and the German artists Neo Rauch and Daniel Richter as well as Jonathan Messe have had an influence on my work in recent years. What interests me most in their work is their honest grand-scale search for a personal identity and how this relates to the world we live in. My solo exhibitions include: High Violet Molesworth Gallery Dublin 2012, The Art of Failure isn’t hard to Master, Highlanes Municipal Gallery, Drogheda, 2011, All of this could be true, Molesworth Gallery, Dublin 2009, Seven Miles above the Earth, LAB, Dublin, 2007; The World is over there, ArdBia Gallery, Galway, 2006; Remember when we were older? Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 2005, The Art of Falling Apart, Basement Gallery Dundalk 2001. I took part in group exhibitions in Germany, Finland, Wales, England, Belgium and Ireland and have been the recipient of several Arts Council Awards. My work is in the collections of the National Self Portrait Collection Ireland, Lapua Art Museum, Finland, Drogheda Arts Centre, Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery, Mayo County Council, Dundalk District Council, Contemporary Irish Art Society, Boyle Civic Collection and Office of Public Works (all Ireland).

Thomas Brezing

Somewhere In The Corner Of A Room 50 x 50cm oil on canvas

Thomas Brezing

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Thomas Brezing

an interview with

Thomas Brezing Hello Thomas and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Thanks a lot for having me. In a way anything has the potential to be or to become art. To me personally a work of art has to be able to tell or show you something nothing else can. In a work of art ideally the world of skill, thought and philosophy should unite. I am not sure where the boundaries of contemporary art in particular are to be found, as these boundaries constantly shift. Perhaps this is a little too general, but I am tempted to say, something that is approached from the least conventional perspective possible leads to (good) art. I think the ‘contemporariness’ of an art work depends on whether or not it touches the pulse of its time. Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there particular experiences -as moving from Germany, your native country, to Ireland - that have impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I would like to ask your point about formal training... I sometimes happen to wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

Thomas Brezing, during filming in Belarus, April

writing manuscripts I started drawing and painting and attended a 1 year art/craft course which went really well. After this course I had the application papers for art college courses in front of me ready to be filled out and sent off, but I couldn’t get myself to do it and instead decided to go my own way. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to me had I gone to art college. I think I could have benefited from it in terms of the support system and connections you make in college among other students and tutors. On the other hand I may have ended up not with my own vision but the vision of a tutor, and/or been burdened by the agenda of an art institution.

Moving away from Germany gave me a unique sense of freedom. In Germany I didn’t grow up around art and creativity was something you would reserve for the football pitch. Matisse once said ‘whoever wants to devote himself to painting must begin by cutting out his own tongue’ – a radical act, radical change. Leaving for Ireland and cutting off my ambilical cord, moving away from what I knew, was such a radical act, although I didn’t know at the time it would lead me to painting. I did receive formal training in Germany in the form a 3 year apprenticeship in metalwork. It was awful, but I learned to become adept at using my hands. Then in Ireland after some drifting, searching and

There is no shame in being self-taught, I feel it’s a precious gift to have found my own vision and Cassandra Hanks 42

Thomas Brezing

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And how much preparation and time do youput in before and during the process of creating a piece?

There is no singular formula to my art making process. It feels like I am starting from zero every time I begin a new work, which can’t be true because all this weight in terms of thoughts and history are all there already, so there is no zero. I do enjoy reading and sometimes out of a sentence can develop a gestation process for an art work or a whole show. This happened to me a few years ago when I read the words ‘man is air in the air and in order to become a point in the air he has to fall’. My exhibition ‘The Art Of Failure Isn’t Hard To Master’ at Highlanes Municipal Gallery in 2011 came out of this single sentence. I would anchor every thought around it and keep coming back to it. Another time one of my daughters said ‘remember when we were older?’, and I built a body of work around that notion of timelessness and confusion. I also have a large amount of source material I constantly collect inside notebooks and sketchbooks. If I am ever stuck for a thought or a sparkle I root through one of these books. From a technical point of view: a few years ago I had access to a large studio space and therefore was able to make large paintings and installation pieces. For the past 2 years I have been in a smaller studio and half of the space is taken up by the storage of art works. It’s physically impossible to tackle painting in there in any serious manner, especially since I like working big and on a number of pieces at the same time.

2013 (photo by Liam McGrath)

I have no regrets about not going down the art college route. Someone once said art must be created in isolation, this has always been the case with me. I do however also understand other artists are much happier creating in a collaborative fashion and recently through the Carpet Man project I have worked in tandem with a film editor and fellow creative people such as Josef Voda, Christodoulos Makris, Oliver Fallen, Liam McGrath, Dave West, Olga J. Watson and Des Hamilton, which has been an interesting and enriching experience.

This means I haven’t been able to paint in 2 years. Instead I am making logs out of old newspapers. I am pulping and then compressing the paper with an eco log maker for an installation piece called ‘The Road Is Paved With Good Intentions’. These logs don’t take up much space and once dried can be stored in the attic. I have also made a short film, 8minutes long, called Carpet Man, a man dressed in an old piece of carpet wearing wooly socks and carrying an old suitcase. I don’t need to use the studio for the filming as I am on location somewhere, usually with one or two colleagues. As regards the time I put in during the making of a piece, the 8 min. film took me about a year to make between shooting in different locations and editing and re-editing. A large painting can take up to 5/6 years as it is painted, re-painted,

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Thomas Brezing

put away, re-painted, put away and re-painted again etc. The installation piece The Road.. has taken about a year up to today (850 logs) and will probably take another year to full completion (my aim is 1500 logs).. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works Somewhere In The Corner Of A Room and A Toxic Love Story that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

A Toxic Love Story came out of a single image I saw in the Sunday Times, a photo of a dead albatross baby taken by the photographer Chris Jordan on Midway Island. Its body was filled with all kinds of plastic stuff. Initially I thought an artist had created it to make it look like that, but then I read the text and it said albatross babies are fed plastic that is mistaken by the mother for food and they die from it, with their bellies full, of starvation. So the mother picks up the plastic waste that floats on top of the water… but why is there plastic floating in the ocean, how did it get there to this remote place in the middle of no-where, thousands of miles from the main land and where is it coming from? Well, it comes from us for example, from Europe, and it’s not just a few tons, apparently the garbage patch is the size of Texas or bigger. A Toxic Love Story, installation

And that’s not all, not all plastic floats, a lot of sinks, so there must be a huge amount of it at the bottom of our seas as well. When I saw these photos by Chris Jordan I felt I had to take a share of the blame as a consumer and I felt a strong desire to comment on this myself as an artist and so the next body of work began. The figures in this installation are disused mannequins, I covered them in paper mache to give them a wrinklier skin-like feel, painted them and inserted found plastic pieces into their skin to make it look as if they were suffering from a disease caused by plastic consumption.

much notice. At the time I also started thinking about death as process. In most cases we don’t just suddenly die one day, our whole life leads up to our eventual parting. We develop from fetus into baby, into child, into adult, into old person and then we die. During our life time our body and mind undergoes major changes. This process I wanted to show in the mannequins as well as the effects from pollution and I did so by introducing trees, disused Christmas trees that I picked up from collection points after Christmas. In some cases the tree grows out of the mannequin body below, in other cases the body grows out of the tree and they become one, as life and death are one, there can’t be one without the other. Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the late Austrian artist/architect/environmentalist whose architecture and life philosophy I admire, was buried underneath a tree, naked, on his remote

We have a love/hate relationship with plastic, because there aren’t only negatives attached to plastic, there are positives too (although the negatives far outweigh the positives in my view). I went beachcombing where I live, a lot of plastic rubbish gets washed onto the shore, and it’s almost as if in this way the currents are revealing our sins, to burden us with its thoughts, to hold a mirror up to us. The problem is no- one seems overly burdened, no-one seems to take too 44

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rent disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts? By the way, would you elaborate a bit the concept of "wintersewing" for our readers?

I think some artists are able to express everything they want to express in one medium, one discipline and they don’t need to branch out. I was the same: in painting I felt my needs answered for a long time. Then I felt I had painted myself empty and I needed to go through new experiences and fill a void that had opened up. The synergy between the different disciplines excites me, opens my horizon, offers new ways of learning and thinking and brings different results to the table. Every painting calls for a different solution and every discipline also. It’s not so easy to juggle all the disciplines at once and I am not good at multi-tasking so I have to be careful not to make a mess of it! ‘Winter sewing’ is basically a way of keeping myself busy during long winter evenings. I tend to pick one project for each winter which involves sewing. This winter I am sewing thousands of used tea bags together which (with the help of friends) I have collected over the past few years and which were part of an installation work already involving suitcases. It’s amazing what you can do with something as simple as a trivial, ‘useless’ tea bag. They come in different shapes, rectangular,

land in New Zealand. After his death he wanted his decomposing body as it turned into soil to be of use and nurture a tree (as a gift-giving) and I envisaged part of Hundertwasser’s philosophy and ethics entering the tree, keeping it healthy and giving it long life. Somewhere In The Corner Of A Room could be seen as a self-portrait of me as a child. It depicts a forlorn looking face of a young boy. The world to me as a child made no sense and I felt I didn’t belong, always on the periphery, I felt I was put in the wrong place at the wrong time. You have started your career as an artist focusing on painting, but nowadays your art involves performance, film, installation and photography: while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between diffe-

200 barbies cast in cement, installation 45

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Carpet Man, Abandoned House, 2013, photo by Christodoulos Makris

pyramid and round and with each shape you can make new shapes depending on how you sew them together.. until you end up with a sculpture. The many amber stains on the tea bags are something that’s right down my sombre palette alley. Your installations 200 Barbies Cast in Cement and especially Carpet Man reveal a subtle irony and I can recognize in them a social criticism... I'm sort of convinced that Art in these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion about socio political issues: I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can even steer people's behavior... what's your point about this? Do you think that it's an exaggeration? And what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in our society?

I think you are right, art has the power to influence people’s behavior and artists should not shy away from asking the big questions. One of the questions we artists have to ask ourselves is: do we have the courage to face the realities of our time, and allow ourselves to feel deeply enough that it transforms us and our future? In the Barbie installation I tacle the notion of beauty and what it means to us. Barbie’s were launched in 1959, the first adult bodied doll, before most children’s toy dolls were representations of infants. Barbie dolls are something I used to loath, their intended look of perfection, of fashion model, the perfect female, thin, tall, happy, attractive, everything in the right place and of correct proportions – awful, un-natural and misleading! How can an object like a Barbie doll be reconciled with the real world? How can something like it even be allowed to exist in the real world? Maybe 1% of real women look like Barbie’s, so that means 99% of Barbie’s are missing the mark. Real people have a past, a history, they have scars, problems, are imperfect and they have per-

Carpet Man, Raft, photo by Josef Cassandra Hanks

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Peripheral ARTeries

personalities, neither I felt can be found in a Barbie, she hasn’t lived through anything. I wondered what could be done to them to make them look more real, less tarty, more human. When I think of us humans I often get the feeling that the longer we live the more weight we carry around with us, mentally and physically and I wanted the dolls to gain personality through carrying weight on their all so perfect bodies, like a cross you have to drag around with you where-ever you go. Years ago a friend of mine made an egg box out of concrete by filling an empty egg carton with a mix of sand, water and cement. When it was quite dry he peeled the carton cast off the concrete negative and was left with a heavy full bodied pretend egg box. At the time I was slightly perplexed with the sculptural form and didn’t know where to place it and what it was ‘useful’ for, or ‘what it said’- I was puzzled and intrigued by its uselessness. This kind of uselessness was perfect for adding weight to the dolls as ‘their baring cross’. There are now an estimated 200 finished Barbie casts in my studio and the installation is not finished yet. When you put them all together in a circle, row upon row, perhaps 8/9 rows high, head and hair on the outside, legs and feet on the inside, it gives you the impression of a well, or fountain. The outside is quite colourful due to the different hair colors, the inside looks like a vortex, or plane turbine, or large carnivorous plant. I like the idea of multiplying one particular object and by putting these many same objects together, creating a new shape, a new object. I am also intrigued by what happens when you take art out of the gallery space and bring it to an unexpected place. You take it out of its box and see what you can do with it, where you can bring it to. That is what I did with the Carpet Man project. It came out of an unexpected moment of bizarreness, an unconventional, almost absurd thought that eventually lead to something more concrete. There is something of the anonymous anti-hero about him that is a counterpoint to the world of multi million pound superhero blockbusters that fill the cinema screens at the moment and he is going to these dilapidated, destroyed, abandoned, flawed, failed places and it makes him look vulnerable. This is after-the-boom-Ireland- depression/recession, last day of the earth scenario, like in Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road. Carpet Man is passing through and that’s what I think we as people are doing on this earth, just passing through a world we are not very well equipped for, a world that is not ours. As you have remarked in your artist's statement you are interested in environmental issues as well: through a metaphor, we could consider our environment as the background in which our lives are "performed"... so I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the background of your pieces: most of the times it doesn't seem to be just a passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of

Voda, 2013

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Thomas Brezing

an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

By bringing Carpet Man to these places, he is asking, what have we done to these places, what have we done to ourselves, why have we allowed this to happen, how could we have been so wasteful. He is highlighting the damage done. Is it not possible that we may act a little more respectful towards nature and the world we live in? Can we not find it in our hearts to be kinder to one another? When I go to these abandoned places I often feel there is something unreal about them, they seem like stage sets, not just because that’s what they end up being in a way on the photographs and on film. I don’t want to sound gloomy, but it’s as if we get a glimpse of what it will look like when we are gone, when nature has outlived us. Another piece of yours on which I would spend some words about a very interesting installation entitled The Road Is Paved With Good Intentions... one of the feature of this piece that has mostly impacted on me is the way it forces us to get involved into it... The Road Is Paved With Good Intentions

And even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, it suggests me a voice that tells me "Come on, take a walk... but pay attention to not trip on a good intention"... well, please forgive me for this funny analysis: I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal expe-rience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

again could so swiftly make them disappear on the tarmac, as if they were never there in the first place. In no time at all they were yesterday’s news, just like the newspaper used for making the logs for the installation. This made me think of the accelerated speed we humans live our lives in and everything that gets in the way is literally brushed aside and done away with or run over. Burning rubber all the time, seemingly going no-where. We are restless even in rest.

Yes, for me personal connection is key I think! Your life is in your work and your work is in your life, you make the work and the work makes you. There is a very personal connection to The Road Is Paved With Good Intentions, it deals with a subject close to my heart, the (high) speed in which we live our lives in: Three years ago I came across a community of dead rabbits on a stretch of road, or in other words, roadkill.

I am also reminded of what Kahlil Gibran once wrote in the Prophet: 'By the same power that slays you I too am slain, and I too shall be consumed'. The fate that has awaited the roadkill also awaits us as we run over ourselves the way we run over whatever gets in our way on the road. The animal world somewhat adapts around the pace we dictate and a metamorphosis takes place, hence none of the creatures in the installa-

Their swift demise by oncoming cars as they tried to cross the road from warren to warren and their decomposing in front of my eyes perplexed me as I recorded their decay over a period of time. It really surprised me that the sun, rain and wind in combination with the vehicles driving over them again and 48

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te" and how it has changed over time?

These two paintings were part of a four-person touring show which was shown in Finland and then came to Ireland. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I have ever received as much positive feedback for any work of mine as I did with Hotel Irlanda. Both paintings deal with the aftermath of the so called Celtic Tiger, the crumbling buildings representing the fall after the economic boom in Ireland. My palette goes through different phases, from dark to bright and back again. During the time when I worked on these specific paintings my palette was as colourful as it may ever be.

logs, dead bird & plastic phone in resin cast

tion looks instantly recognizable, for example, there is a bit of human in the stag, which contains a rabbit or dog or goat, it becomes mixed up and universal, all in one, one in all. I want the installation to express this thought process or at least suggest it, that the speed in which we live our lives has a direct influence on everything. I heard someone say, a slow life is a good life, and this makes sense to me, so why do people rush around like there is no tomorrow. Is it to distract us, so it takes our mind off the inevitable - death. All the things we humans do just to avoid thinking about death!? And I couldn't do without mention Hotel Irlanda and especially I want to sing like David Sang which I have to admit is one of my favourite paintings of yours... by the way, any comments on your choice of "palet-

The Road Is Paved With Good Intentions, Detail, logs, dead bird & plastic phone in resin cast

Peripheral ARTeries

Thomas Brezing

You have cofounded the Renegade Art Studios and during these years your artworks have been exhibited in many occasions... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

of my work, but I don’t create work for the audience per se and don’t think the artist should allow thoughts of an audience influence any decisions made in the studio. I have caught myself before thinking could this work possibly sell?! but I think with thoughts like this you shoot yourself in the foot. I primarely want to show my work and create an impression, if on top of it it sells or wins an award, good. But I don’t see the point in making art just to sell it, because then it becomes just another product and it loses its mystery, might as well just stick Cassandra Hanks

Yes I do care about what the audience may think 50

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it into a shop window then. You use the word expectation and this is where I constantly fail. My expectations are often too high. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s helpful to keep in mind what Oscar Wilde once said: there are only two tragedies in life, one is not getting what you want, the other is getting it. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Thomas. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Your questions were quite specific and I really enjoyed answering them, thank you! I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have much coming up in terms of exhibitions, but would like to have a show somewhere in 2014 or 2015. There is however a 2-person show coming up in January 2016 in Lapua Art Museum, Finland, which will hopefully travel. I have exhibited there before and the director kindly invited me back and said I can chose another artist to show with me. I picked the German sculptor Klaus Effern who is based in Bremen. I am also going to do a bit of work experience with a filmmaker here in Ireland which should be interesting and of benefit to my own work.

I want to sing like David sang, oil on canvas 2 x 4 meters

Hotel Irlanda, oil on canvas 2 x 4 meters

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Kelsey Huckaby (USA) an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

I spent much of my early life in the art district of Houston. Drawing, creating art, and using my imagination were my favorite ways to pass the time. This is something I have taken with me throughout my life. My primary form of artistic expression is painting. I typically work with acrylics, although I do dabble with oil-based paint at times and even watercolors, but that is more rare to find in my work. My artwork eschews lassification. My paintings are like wordless notions that I convey through various vibrant colors and designs. Projections of what I would personally like to see, extracted from within me. I also find inspiration in the natural world. I believe that when you look at a painting, you know there must have been a painter. When you look at creation, you should also acknowledge that there is a Creator. I love to marvel at the work of God and bring attention to His creations through my painting. When I create art, I feel that it is synonymous to a child who wants to dress up in their parents' clothes or help in the kitchen. I always strive the be optimistic in the face of adversity. I look for the good in the bad. This is probably why I often experiment with creating art with found objects and upcycled materials. You can find some of these creations of mine in your local Art-o-Mat machine. I stay aware of my surroundings in a physical and social sense. I truly love people and am highly interested in experiencing different aspects of various cultures. I see the interactions between things and know that it is not merely coincidence. And I love it. It is my desire to share my discoveries with others through my work.

Kelsey Huckaby www.kelseyhuckaby.com

Thomas Brezing

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Kelsey Huckaby

an interview with

Kelsey Huckaby Hello Kelsey and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

The use of the term "contemporary" is odd to me. It seems that any artwork created in this current time that we are living in is considered to be contemporary or modern. However, in a hundred yearsâ&#x20AC;Ś what will we call the work that was created in 2013? What will be the new name for the work we called "contemporary" if it is no longer in the time frame of what the new contemporary will be in 2113? It isn't a very helpful term in my opinion, but people still feel the need to find some sort of label to help gain understanding about the work. It's very broad. My style of artwork will differ greatly from every other artist who creates contemporary artwork. Artwork is any sort of expression made in mediums from dancing, singing, filming, photographing, painting, etc. Artwork encompasses a very broad spectrum of different avenues one might take to make a statement of any sort; personal, political, social- anything.

Kelsey Huckaby

Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you spent much of your early life in the art district of Houston: how has this experience impacted you on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I would ask your point about formal training... I sometimes ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

(photo by Jason Johnson)

nspired new aspirations for my artistic development. There are also many shops and restaurants and businesses in downtown Houston that have murals on the outside of their buildings that I would find particularly interesting. Some of these were the largest paintings that I had ever seen. It definitely seemed abnormal for there to be artwork painted on some place when the majority of the outside walls of buildings isn't a venue where you will find some sort of the creation. I knew it made me happier to see a wall covered in art and colors than a plain wall. I saw the potential in how artwork could change how you feel about where you are and how that could be used for everyone's benefit.

There are many great art museums in Houston that I would always love to visit, such as the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Arts. It developed an early fascination in me to see what was possible to create using pens and pencils and paints. I personally don't remember the first time I ever drew. It always seemed to be something I was into. For me to see these great works from around the world of all different sorts and different levels of talent truly expanded my imagination. My visits to these places

I didn't have very much instruction in art. My first art class I remember taking was at my elementaCassandra Hanks 54

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for in return. I would consider myself to be selftaught, overall. I actually put together art projects now myself and certainly feel that it is very important to allow the kids to find their own sense of creativity, but sharing ideas and techniques is not a problem for me. I wouldn't want to criticize any child's artwork or tell them to change their creations in any way. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

My process is different almost every single time I create a piece. Sometimes I sketch out what I want to paint and plan it out before I begin, sometimes I just jump right in. I have mental and physical lists of ideas of work that I want to create that is constantly increasing at an overwhelming rate. I am always finding inspiration all around me. I think this has a lot to do with why I have so many different styles and series of work. Once I make a creative discovery in one area, I want to keep exploring it. I can hardly calm myself if something is keeping me from doing so. Some processes take a lot of time and preparation while others in contrast are much more simple. For example, my Myriad Color Mirage series (which contains my Chameleon, Sun, Snail, Praying Mantis, Giraffe, and Jellyfish seen here) involves a lot of careful selections of colors and many layers of paint. Gravity, too. Other pieces such as my Intangible Feelings pair will be very indulgent and impulsive without much planning to speak of. It's very in-the-moment.

ry school in 3rd grade. I remember thoroughly enjoying the class, never having any circumstance before where I was actually required to work on art. This was wonderful! I always received lots of praise from my teacher, Mrs. Kimberly Wilson, and she even selected one of my watercolors to be put on display at the West Oaks Mall- my first public display! In the following years I didn't have an art class in school again until I left Houston and went to high school. I had a great teacher, Mrs. Patty Smithers, who chose me to be one of a few students allowed to paint an "Art Through the Ages" mural. I did have some growing experiences that seemed rather forced. There was a time when it was suggested that I add certain details in my work that I ended up being dissatisfied with, but got a better grade

(photo by Chelsea Grace Photography)

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Kelsey Huckaby

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works Chameleon and Woes Of The Blowfish, that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

Those are two very different pieces! Woes of the Blowfish came from a revisited idea. I've had a few aquariums in my life. I've always had a fascination in the many different shapes and colors that fish come in and their ways of movement. Whenever you buy a fish, they give it to you to take home in a plastic bag with water and air. I remember thinking of what it would be like to buy a blowfish. What if he got scared and puffed up? I thought this would play out to be rather ironic in this situation where his defense mechanism would actually make the event of being transported to the fish tank much more stressful. So I humorously depicted this idea in painting form. My Chameleon painting comes from a series, as I mentioned in the previous question. My Myriad Color Mirages are some of my favorite pieces to create. The process is always so interesting and the end result always turns out to be something very exciting. The first piece I created in this style was actually of a zebra, which seems appropriate because of the marbling and streaking of colors. Initially I wouldn't choose color schemes that would actually match the subject I was painting because of my love for colors and desire to go for something more unusual than realistic. After creating many of these pieces I finally realized how perfect it would be to Mirage a chameleon! This proved to be one of the most challenging pieces I ever created. The Chameleon demanded a lot of detail, painting each individual scale. Originally before I had added the scales he looked very naked. This proved to be a tedious task but was very worthwhile. It is actually on display in Austin, TX right now. As our readers can read in your artist's statement, your paintings are like wordless notions that you convey through various vibrant colors and designs. Projections of what you would personally like to see, extracted from within you... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion, personal experience is an absolutely indispensable step of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

It is absolutely possible, of course outcomes will vary. I have experienced this personally. I was painting a cornucopia of fruit once and wanted to include some exotic fruits in the basket as well. Some were suggested to me to be included 56

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that I had never seen before. All I had to work off of was an image I found online. My version of a dragon fruit certainly did not look like the real thing because I simply didn't have the experience to hold it in my own hand, feel its texture and study its form. What I mean to say is that something interesting may come of such an attempt by an artist; to recreate something without having personal experience of that thing. But it will be quite a feat to actually match the real thing. I have seen some work where the artist lacked a physical or visual reference of the subject and worked purely from imagination or memory- and the outcome was something wonderful. The product can turn into a great piece of work. I suppose it really depends on what the goal is. As I mention in my statement, much of my work is driven by what I am feeling

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Intangible Feelings II and would "like to see." This means I haven't actually seen it. But if I can imagine it, does that mean that now I have experienced it and that now the work that comes from imagining this thing is now coming from direct experience?

Praying Mantis The colors came before the designs.

Some other interesting pieces of yours on which I would like to spend some words are your works Yellow and especially Intangible Feelings II , whose nuances of light colors have impressed me very much: by the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

In my life I think every color has been my favorite at some point- perhaps marking different phases I went through. People ask me now what my favorite color is, and I honestly can't choose one. I might start to narrow it down to one color and think of the reasons why I like it, but this leads me to think of all of the other colors and why I like them. This is reflected in my work, I believe, because I always use so many bright colors. I prefer to use the more vibrant side of the color spectrum rather than the muted pastels or darker shades. I go for eye-catching. I feel that pastels are too soft and delicate while too many dark shades can be depressing. I really only use black in my work for contrast. My piece Yellow is unique from my other pieces because it was actually an experiment.Cassandra I knew I would be doing some paint Hanks

I remember organizing my crayons at about age four and putting all of the pinks, purples and turquoises together. This is the earliest time I can think of showing any kind of preference for colors. I suppose Intangible Feelings II contains those colors with a few accompanying compliments. With this piece I actually started with the pink and turquoise stripes in the bottom right. The entire composition had no plan or structure. I would just look at the piece as I went along and decided what colors I wanted to come in next. 58

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good could come of at the time, which is what I was contemplating while creating this piece. The idea of being caught in a spiderweb became symbolic to me, so I wanted to create the two of us tangled within a spiderweb. I didn't know how to recreate the silky string of the spider's web, so I got the idea to use a liquid adhesive to spin the web. It worked beautifully. It was both transparent and sticky and didn't require brushstrokes which could potentially take away from the smoothness of what the web was supposed to be. From there I cut out a few shapes from some collage material and previous artwork I had created to send all of the waves of emotions through the web. As for my Praying Mantis piece, I used to want to get a mantis tattooed to myself, having always been fascinated with them. I never did get the tattoo but I suppose creating a mantis in my painting became my resolution for the idea. This piece was done in all acrylics. I am often inspired by God's Creations and like to bring them into a new light, which is largely the purpose of my Color Mirages. I choose some peculiar animal or insect to re-introduce through my work. I use organic twistings of colors in the body of my subjects and then bring them into focus by creating the negative space and accenting with simplistic designs. It's almost like a modern-day tribal painting.

slinging and needed a color for the background that wouldn't overpower the foreground or blend in too much or wash it all out. And I couldn't do without mentioning Spiderweb and Praying Mantis which I have to admit are two of my favourite works of yours... I have been struck with the way you have been capable of establishing such an effective synergy between different materials, creating a symbiosis rather than a contrast... by the way, how do you decide upon which materials you incorporate within a piece?

Spiderweb is very unique from my other pieces. This is my piece where I utilize most mixed-media the most. I started by finger-painting the background in some uplifting colors since I was actually feeling heavy-hearted at the time. I had been involved in a relationship that I felt nothing

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Kelsey Huckaby

Art-o-Mat machine at Whole Foods in downtown Austin, TX As our readers can view at http://www.kelseyhuckaby.com/, besides your paintings, you also enjoy photographic processes and you experiment with solar printing... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

More often than not I find that I have to use a photographic reference in my creation process. It's amazing how you can see things from worlds away through the invention of the camera and the photograph. There are certain mediums that you just couldn't replicate the same effects of with any other medium, such as with solar printing. I do experiment in many mediums and find crossover points from time to time, but I also don't want my work in each medium to blend too much in a messy way. Simultaneously I don't want my work to be too different from one medium to the next so that someone couldn't recognize my work as being mine, or for my pieces not to be cohesive with one another. I would like to think that my audience would see all of the different mediums that I work with and appreciate the diversity in my work.

An example of one of Kelsey's Art-o-Mat creations: a found-object Venus Fly Trap sculpture 60

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You are involved in Art-o-Mat an interesting project and I would suggest to our readers to visit directly http://www.artomat.org/ ... and I have to confess that at first I couldn't get the idea of this! I'm absolutely fascinated with the way this project allows Art to positively contaminate with everyday lifeâ&#x20AC;Ś What is the importance of this type of apparent artistic outreach in relation to your work or art question, but all in all, an important one... what are in your opinion some of the challenges for a sustainable relationship between the business and arts?

Art-o-Mat is one of the most interesting things I have ever been involved with. I've been with them for a year now. I found my first Art-o-Mat machine in Austin, TX. This machine was only one of over a hundred refurbished cigarette vending machines in the US that now dispense art. Each item in the machines are original works the size of a pack of cigarettes. There are over 400 artists participating in this project which is spreading into other countries such as Australia and Canada. The funny thing about it is that just before I discovered these machines I had a dream about purchasing art from an art vending machine. It seemed like it was meant to be. So I've created about ten lines of products for the machines, including many "upcycled" creations. My bottle cap Venus Flytraps and my "Scrapbooks Made of Scraps" are a couple examples of the recycled art projects. It's been a very exciting experience. I've made many friends through Art-o-Mat, both artists and customers. I never know where my work will end up. It's been in the U.S. everywhere from San Francisco and Las Vegas to Erie, PA. Literally coast to coast!

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Kelsey Huckaby

Jellyfish - Part of the Myriad Color Mirage series

Every artist of course will face the struggles of making a name for themselves. This involves the fight of staying true to their own style while still pleasing the public as well as creating something an audience will appreciate. And there's the financial aspect as well. I feel that experience is absolutely the key. I know many people who have gotten degrees in art that are doing the exact same things I'm doing- only I'm ahead because I didn't spend the time in school. Not to say that getting educated in art is a bad thing. In many ways I'm sure I would have gotten a lot out of the experience being in a university and using their space and materials. However, I don't regret not having that experience since I've earned many accomplishments in exchange for that. Being an artist isn't always something that's respected by everyone, but if we all think about it: Things would be quite dull without art. Imagine going out to eat somewhere with no artwork or music playing. The food better be really good, because the ambiance would be lacking without these personal touches that art and music provide. There are outlets and venues for everyone and what they do. We just have to find our niches. Your artworks have been exhibited on many occasions and moreover during these recent years you have been awarded... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of sup-

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Kelsey Huckaby

Peripheral ARTeries

porting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, howmuch important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

In my case, the work I have received recognition for wasn't something that I created specifically for any sort of contest or prize. It just worked out to where I entered it into a show and someone thought it to be worthy enough for an award! It is validating in a way to receive a prize just for doing what I love to do. Approval is always nice and I do appreciate it, but it's not necessarily the driving force behind what I do. It feels better to me knowing that I put something together out of my own self and then to have people respond positively and respect what it is I've done with my work. It makes the viewer happy, it leaves an impres-sion, and it creates a more lively environment. Feedback can be very motivating and gratifying but if it were only approval from others that I were seeking, there are certainly other ways I could go about doing that. My relationship with my audience is a mutual one. I believe we benefit each other. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Kelsey. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

The fun thing about the future is that we never know what is going to happen. I might plan for something to go one way and experience an entirely different turn-out. I couldn't have guessed what sort of things I would get myself into with my art. So I'm just going to keep going with it and see what else happens. My art introduces me to people I wouldn't have met and places I wouldn't have gone. I will continue to show my work at various venues and create work for Art-o-Mat. I presently have a shipment of about 500 items I will be sending out for Art-o-Mat this coming year. I also have many commissions to complete and collaborations with other artists to be made.

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Carolina Saidenberg (Brazil) an artist’s statement

Since early childhood I draw and paint; my parents suggested I started studying oil painting at age 11. In 1998 I got a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Anhembi Morumbi University. Later I get a post-degree at Arts. 2003. In 2011 I’ve lived a period in Milan – Italy, studying art, fashion and jewelry design. I am influenced by the French Impressionists , Post impressionists, Japanese culture and style and figurative painters like Modigliani, Monet, Klimt, Gaughin, Van Gogh, Lautrec, Degas… creating my own modernist style. My current and more frequent theme is named "Look Upon" - Looking over the city, that consist in symbolic Painting series inspired in the urban life. Representing nostalgic urban scenes and the creatures that live in it, all represented as a dream world of impressions. I like to represent the contrasts between nature and urban, modern and old, decadent and new under the beholder eye. This beholder can be a bird, the soul’s eye, it changes in synchrony with the ambient is surrounded, is the beholder that needs to survive and adapt to a constant transformation. Lately circus references have been part of my works, bringing the idea of magic and nostalgia, of something lost. Also of the amazing thing that is to be alive, a delicate balance learned to survive. I'm also fascinated by oriental culture and art and legends. In fact, I like legends so much that i have several works not only about Japanese legends, but also Brazilian and Greek mythology, Celtic etc I like making these paintings and drawing so much because they combine with my dreamy representation of reality, present in most of my works.

Carolina Saidenberg

Peripheral ARTeries

Carolina Saidenberg

an interview with

Carolina Saidenberg Hello Carolina and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

My pleasure! Work of art for me is everything made with purpose, good technique and talent. Of course we have likes and dislikes but I think art is more than just liking, it must have intention behind it. For me a contemporary work is the one is in tune with the world we live in, it have its reflections, its colors and feelings. Would you like to tell us something about your background? You draw and paint since early childhood I draw and paint, and you later earned a Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Arts a post-degree, that your eceived from experience impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I think that having spent a period in Milan as you did a couple of years ago, might be considered as an experience of formal training itself, isn't it?

My father (Luiz Saidenberg) is also an artist and illustrator, so he was my first and more important teacher as I showed interest over it even before I could walk or speak. My parents gave me a huge incentive. My father is one of the first generation of the golden era of Comics illustrator in Brazil. Now retired, he was also one of the greatest art directors of his time in advertising agencies. So, culture, art, art materials and so on, since early childhood, surrounded me. We had a studio in the backyard of our old house where I grew up with all the materials of art you can imagine, also books, I remember to spend hours and hours reading about Greek and roman mythology. Taking painting classes during my teenage years formed me as a multifunctional artist; I was always learning several art techniques.

Carolina Saindenberg

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Carolina Saidenberg

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Following Art College was a natural choice. Both college graduation in arts and post graduation in design by Fine Arts School gave me access to multimedia tools I didn’t used before. Beside painting and drawing, I also studied sculpture, video making, photography, design and animation. Because if it I worked with creative advertising for several years. There was a point in my life I decided I wanted to leave advertising and follow my true vocation, arts. Spending a time in Milan in 2011 was a transformation point in my life. Finally I could breath and have a fresh start, feeling free to be myself and reconnect with my art roots. There I studied fashion design and made several drawings on clothes collections and jewelry too. When I got back from Milan I was sure I had to submerge in art if I wanted to live happy. Life without it became unbearable. And I couldn’t do what I used to do before, working in some advertising company and painting in spare time, tired and drained creatively after a long day. Art has to be a full time thing in order to grow. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on in your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

I usually take some time to start the creative process itself. I like to take photos of city, look at several photos before I start. Also reading about a subject, about a time period, art history, insects, legends, listen to music... I keep myself very open to anything that attract my interest. Usually I have an idea in mind and then I start researching on it, I make a lonely brainstorm of ideas and feelings and then I start drawing… Is not something very clear or logical, or linear.. Many times the act of drawing itself makes me discover new things and feel inspired and have new ideas. The effort and preparation time is what takes the longest I think, when I know what I want to do and what have to be done is usually quite fast! Of course oil techniques takes time to dry, so I’m usually working on several projects at a time, all at the same time. 67

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Carolina Saidenberg

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works Memories and Reflexos, that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

It all started with a feeling of transformation that grow inside me since 2008 and came to surface clearly in 2011 when I decided to live a formal and safe job to pursuit of art. Observing the world I see a fast transformation over the last years. In my hometown Sao Paulo, everything is changing from month to month now. There are decadent old colonial buildings all around and the unstoppable and out of control growth of colossal and modern buildings and bridges. These landscapes of giant buildings taking place

Memories

ce of things and an urge to survive and adapt. Is all covered in cement. Is a constant in my works to add flying birds, they are a connection to nature and the representation of the desire to fly and be free. But also they are not leavingâ&#x20AC;Ś they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have other place to go; they must stay and try to survive. There is nostalgia for something lost. I think this is the main genesis of the series Look Upon Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing lately. The aforesaid paintings are from the Look Upon series, and I would like to suggest to our readers to visit your website directly at http://carolinasaidenberg.com/look-upon/ in order

Equilibrio Cotiniado

Carolina Saidenberg

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Lover

Another interesting pieces of this series that have particularly impacted on me are Equilibrio Cotiniado and Lover, which I have to admit is one of my favourite work of yours: I love the mix of dark tones upon the nuances of what I would define "a thoughtful blue" which pervade the canvas: by the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

to get a wider idea of this interesting project: although it's clearly inspired by urban real life, there are evident references to what you have defined "a dream world of impressions"... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion, personal experience is an absolutely indispensable step of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Thanks so much. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in some sort of blue phase I guess! Contrasting choice of colors. Is the peace of blue against violence of red, darkness of black, diffused in white fog. Is representation of life and death, calm and anger. Give me the idea of life and toughts.

Personal experience is very important I believe, but for sure I can dream, imagine and do something disconnected from direct experience. I like to observe. I can make a simulation of experience in my mind, and live indirect experiences by observing others and their life stories.

A visual of Sweet Memories that has impressed me is the synergy between the apparently contrasting ideas of circularity suggested by the whirpools and the straightness of the lines on the background: this gives a sense of rhythm 69

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Carolina Saidenberg

to the canvas: would you tell us more about the evolution of this stimulating techinque?

The whirlpools and circular elements have a connection to circus and childhood for me… It was a perfect way to express the amazing thing is to be alive. The circular elements of this painting and also the Equilibiro cotidiano , Lover and other works represent the spiral of life. And we couldn't do without mentioning Yukiko and Akame, a couple of pieces from Orient, a series of paintings inspired by japanese culture: by the way, as our readers can read in your artist's statement, you often draw inspiration not only from Japanese legends, but also from Greek and Celtic mythology... and from Brazilian one, indeed... I would like to ask you the main differences that you have found between these so distant worlds...

Interesting question! I think what most attract me to these distant worlds is not the cultural differences, but the connection they share. For me they don’t seem so different now, in fact I think they share the same core of human feelings and emotions, most of them have also the same dramas and plots! Your artworks have been exhibited in many occasions both in Brazil and in Europe, and you

without saying that feedbacks are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if this could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

I like to discover the impressions people have of my work, what they feel when seeing it... is very interesting, like a tool of growth. Of course I would like people to like my work but I find is something impossible to please everybody. I’m more concerned in enjoying myself with what I’m doing, I think it will be a consequence people to enjoy it too if I pass this energy to my works, this energy that is part of me. Cassandra Hanks 70

Carolina Saidenberg

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Yukiko

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Carolina. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Lately I have been fascinated by baroque period culture and arts. I have some projects involving woman and their place in society too, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still in process of brainstorming of ideas. Beside this Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll continue with my current themes, Look upon and legends that are always inspiring me. Thank you so much, my best regards for you.

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Alfredo Garcia (USA) an artist’s statement

I didn’t set out to produce art about one subject in particular. I view the world as ideas for my art work and other times they develop into more in-depth ideas and detailed images. I didn't set out to be an abstract artist or to create artwork relating to social events but as my portfolio developed and people started to review my work, the descriptions started to emerge and I began to notice a pattern I hadn't intended. The patterns began to take shape as elegant abstract art to both focus on patterns and social personal situations. My work tends to focus on the patterns and social personal situations, the evolution of personal situations co-existing in patterns. Some reviews have labeled my work as 'Abstract Elegance' but I always try to depict a positive message too - the persistence of “Life Goes On” no matter the situation and or circumstances. First to improve and second to adapt. At school, the only class I really paid any attention in was woodshop. I simply wasn't interested in anything else and I think my obsession with depicting art within wood started there. Colors and patterns had always interested me. Trying to instill an artistic way of doing woodshop. I later began exploring different materials to create my art. Masonite (Compressed wood) hard durable out of the box ideas to create my art. Some of my subject matter topics are about people's social personal situations and patterns that depict that environment. Since I've always been a fan of elegance in nature, a different type of abstract art has been created. None of it was intentional - it all developed and evolved over time. It happened when I got divorced. I needed to get my mind into something constructive. My personality always believed to work hard to earn respect and recognition. People always ask for my artist statement so I needed to do one but I've never liked to explain a certain piece of work - if you've made a picture and that's how you wanted it to be - hopefully it can speak for itself and whatever it says to the viewer - it's the right message because there isn't a wrong and a right message. Each person takes something a little different from the same picture and I'm happy with that. Interpretation of art is the essence of why I love art. Influences My influences of my art are movies like “The Count of Monte Cristo” Elegance under extreme situations. First improving the situation and then adapting to overcome the changes. Andreas Gursky famous photographer which takes pictures of patterns of everyday images. His photography sells for millions but the artistic everyday images made his work elegant and desirable. 99 cent II and Reien II are some examples of Andreas Gursky depicting patterns in the social life.

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Alfredo Garcia

Peripheral ARTeries

Alfredo Garcia

Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with

Alfredo Garcia Hello Alfredo and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

A work of art is a creative, elegant, visual, stimulating piece of originality that took thought, expression, time and effort to create. Art can be romantic, dramatic and complex and is open to everyones interpretation. And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Artwork now a days include many different materials that had not been available in the past. With the advent of the computer age, Mixed Media Art for instance has created more diversified views of Art. Also with advance materials now available the features of the artwork provide many different options to create original pieces. Would you like to tell us something about your background?

I come from a Mexican American background. I was born in East Los Angeles California USA. I always loved the creative side of Art. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a Scorpio in the astrological signs. I believe that everyone needs to start from the bottom and work yourself up. As a person Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m firm, humble, responsible and always lead by example romantic. My children, my mother, my sister, my girlfriend and friends/relatives are my priority. Are there particular experiences that have impacted on the way you produce your artworks?

Yes I have always been very interested in woodshop, artistic discovered that she had been having an affair with her boss. While I was working full-time and providing for my kids and her children, she was traveling with her boss and having an affair. I immediately filed for divorce. She then proceeded in stealing all of my life savings and accomplishments. My personality does not include a vidictive side. I realized that karma would take its place eventually in life. My first reaction was obvious, but then I realized that I needed a hobby to keep my mind off of the devilish ideas. I soon began dating again, my new girl-friend needed some art for her new house and I offered to create some for her.

Cassandra Hanks Alfredo Garcia 74

Alfredo Garcia

Peripheral ARTeries

This is how I began in creating Art. Everyone that went to her home, friends and relatives would comment on the wonderful art. I will admit that in my background of being Mexican-American, my mother is very stong minded in believing that the art profession is not worthy of everyday life. Although I work full-time in the field of business adminis-tration for over 20 years, my mother frowns on not wasting my time. I love doing art, since it takes my mind-away for the purpose of creative thinking. Art has assisted me in dealing with my personal situations. I do my best thinking when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;am doing art!!! By the way, I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity: what's your point about this?

First I would recommend everyone to take an art class or photorgraphy class to see if the interest is their. I was inspired by Andreas Gursky patterns to also create art when I took a photography class. My motivation was my situation that was occuring during my divorce. I had experience in woodshop back in my high school days, where I received a grant from Bank of America for Industrial use. I had also attended the school of Farrin Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Conner for artistic jewelry design. I then began attending the local Art scenes around Los Angeles. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your works?

Color blending is a key component of my art. I also use several different materials that are typically are not common, such as masonite board as oppose to canvans. I love the effect that masonite board takes when the curvage takes place. On the wall it looks amazing. Materials such as acrylic paint, clay and plaster. In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Markings, Indentations, 3-D Clay and Plaster Making to enhance the art. I wanted to create some uniqueness to my Art. The prepartation is somewhat time consuming since their is a process of curing and designing the piece. Working with clay and plaster becomes challenging in ensuring that the pieces are fully cured within the piece or preparing the piece with the fresh clay and plaster. I try to anticipate and pre-design the piece on paper to prioritize the idea. Time can take from 10 days to 20 days depending on complexity. 75

Peripheral ARTeries

Alfredo Garcia

Peripheral ARTeries

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

Peripheral ARTeries

Alfredo Garcia

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works entitled Eternal Sun that our readers have admired in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

The design was marking and indentation art. I wanted to express the value of the sun along with the creativity of the dragon flys always surrounding nature. Always trying to incorporate the rustic colors which provides a unique visual appeal. In the difficult times for some reason I always looked up to the sun. Then I realized â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life goes on.â&#x20AC;? The sun is always their in the bad or the good. Another piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is entitled The Gift: a visual of this interesting piece that has particularly impressed me is the nuance of colors that suggest me a such a sense of "tactile luminosity" and even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I would go as far as to state that this work springs a hidden light... by the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

rial money that it takes to provide a gift. The gift is what every women would want a man to give his girlfriend or wife. Roses, High-Heels. This requires love, money and confidence in the relationship. The brownish in the background expresses distrust at times in the relationship.

Yes, the palette of colors shows the greenish of mate78

Alfredo Garcia

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pensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Of course, everyones personal situation depends on what you are thinking at that moment. My art tends to include lots of my personal and social personal situations that occur in everyday life. Tying in patterns and social personal situations into my art is one of my key influences for creating art. My background growing up in East Los Angeles and seeing society challenges in my surroundings inspired me to put those statements on Art. I love having long conversations with open-minded people. It inspires my creative thinking. And I couldn't do without mention Color, Beauty, Fashion that I would define as a painted installation and which I have to admit is one of my favourite piece of yours... I have been struck with the way you have been capable of establishing such an effective synergy between rather than a contrast... would you tell us more about the evolution of this stimulating work?

The piece is a tribute to colors of all races, beauty to all individuals and fashion to the world. The talavera mexican hand painted tiles incorporate the design of the muliple colors, the beauty of the piece and the fashion statement. The hand painted tiles

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you works tends to focus on the patterns and social personal situations, the evolution of personal situations co-existing in patterns... I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indes79

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Alfredo Garcia

where hand broken into pieces to create this sculpture. I incorporated these tiles since it speaks to the heritage of my back-ground. Talavera tiles are expensive since they are individually painted. Lots of man hours had been spent to create this sculpture. It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience?

Recognition and validation is great but I believe that art is open to interpretation. You could never please everyone. Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

Yes I try to make my art to include everyone. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like putting road-blocks or walls. My art is open to everyone if they like it.

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Alfredo Garcia

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artists that I happen to interview: what aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?

The creative conception of putting the art together. What gives you the biggest satisfaction?

The finished product and the joy of envisioning the arts final destination. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Alfredo. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I plan on continuing my art in hopes of making it big while alive and not when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m dead. For some reason the majority of artists become famous after they die. I intend to do it while Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;am alive not after my death.

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Johannes Hoelderl (Germany / Canada) an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know what I am going to paint most of the time. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a certain style: landscape, realism, abstraction etc. that I am fixed on. I enjoy it when I create a good painting. But the attitude towards the painting can shift from good to bad. Mostly I like creating it and not looking at my finished work. Sometimes the hardest part is starting. After it is usually enjoyable to continue. I paint until all the white area space is gone, and something worth the time is the result. I started with smaller canvases and now am painting on larger ones. Perhaps due to comfort working with paints. I enjoy looking at other artists works if they are good. Good for me is something that I would go back, to look at again.

Johannes Hoelderl

Peripheral ARTeries

Johannes Hoelderl

an interview with

Johannes Hoelderl Hello Johannes and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

I think a piece of artwork is something that is unique and has something to say, maybe something that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t explainable. Humans haven't really changed. We are surrounded by new objects: cars, t.v., internet etc. but that is quite trivial. So something contemporary now can still be good in the future.

Johannes Hoelderl

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Your are a self-taught artist, but, as you have remarked once, you are self-taught only in the mechanical application of the paint, but you learned from teachers throughout your life... By the way, I would like to ask your point about formal training... I sometimes happen to wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

your works? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Just like all painters: a support is needed, a palette to mix colors, and something to apply paint with. I usually mix paint on something I can then throw away like a magazine.

I was born in Germany and lived there for 8 years, then moved to Canada British Columbia. I started painting about 2 years ago. I never learned a certain technique from anybody on how to apply paint or how to mix it or how to layer it.

I am not really locked into a certain method yet and usually try to switch it up like painting on record L.P.'s. I just try to make something that looks good. I don't try to use to much pigment in one spot, and usually don't paint over my own work but nothing is set in stone. Try to keep it simple.

What's more important: have you developed your mind? A painting doesn't come from your hands it comes from your brain and the ideas you put into it. Something contemporary is like an invention and there are no teachers for that. I think training and creativity are different things. Some can train to paint similar to Van Gogh but it will never be a Van Gogh. One thing is copying the other is art.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works entitled Three Heads and Pink that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these piece? What was your initial Cassandra Hanksinspiration? As

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making 84

Johannes Hoelderl

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3Heads, acrylic, 45x45inches, 2013

you have stated, sometimes the hardest part is startingâ&#x20AC;Ś

inch canvases to work on. At the time I was laying out cut blocks here in north Canada working and camping during the week. I pain-

With these paintings I made about 9 45x45 85

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ted them on the weekends trying not to spend too much time on them. i did not have a plan at the beginning of what the painting should look like but being spontaneous and thinking about what would look good. It's hard to start the first mark and not just sitting there thinking of what to do. But then it's fluent. Another pieces of yours on which I would spend some words about are Left Lady and The Surrealists, which I have to admit is one of my favourite work of yours... in this recurrent in your imagery: by the way, I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that

The Surrealists, acrylic , 42 x 30 inches, 2013

a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Well our entire life is influenced by others, and everywhere. Perhaps Artist is just another word for being sensitive to influences and portraying them in a certain way. But maybe focusing on one influence and diminishing another? It's a tough question. As a figurative painter, for most of your landscape works you use to draw inspiration from the regions of western Canada: so I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the background of your pieces: most of the times it doesn't seem to

Lady Left, acrylic and pastel, 8 x 10inches, 2013

Johannes Hoelderl

Peripheral ARTeries

Faces, acrylic 45 x 45 inches, 2013

stand. It's like a child learning new things: how snow falls, how day turns to night, how people live. When does that stop though? Most people don't learn, try new things after a point and close themselves. The big thing with this world is there is no set rule.

be just a passive background... and I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a wayto decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

I have painted some landscapes of western Canada. Mostly though I have been painting the human figure. With landscapes I guess there is no background. With portraits I usually invent some background. Something that will work well with the figure in the foreground. Sure there is more to life than people under-

Orange, acrylic and pastel, 8 x 10inches, 2013

Peripheral ARTeries

Johannes Hoelderl

The title of one of one of my favourite pieces of yours is Anarchy... I'm sort of convinced that Art in these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion about socio political issues: I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can even steer people's behavior... what's your point about this? Do you think that it's an exaggeration? And what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in our society?

Propaganda has been used in everything. We know music affects people, we listen to it. I am sure paintings also affect people and they look at it, and even spend their money on it. A large part of our society isn't interested in paintings though. It's about people staying open to new ideas or even old ones. Societies change. There is a documentary called: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Simon Schamas' Power of Art" that I enjoy. And I couldn't do without mention your still life paintings... one of the feature of this piece that has mostly impacted on me is the way you have been capable of establishing such an effective synergy between different intense colors, such a deep blue, creating a symbiosis rather than a contrast: moreover, I noticed that red is a very recurrent color in your palette, with intense nuances as in King 2 an in the aforesaid Anarchy... by the way, any comments on your

Anarchy, acrylic, 45 x 45 inches 2013

choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time? Apple and Pears,

I try to use all the colors I have sometimes. It creates a certain effect that I like. It also

acrylic and pastel, 8 x 10inches, 2013

Cassandra Hanks

Johannes Hoelderl

Peripheral ARTeries

King 2, acrylic, 45 x 45 inches 2013

It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

It is nice if an artist can support himself with his art. I wouldn’t want to paint for my audience, but it would be harder to ignore. Feedback influences me and I am sure everybody, but only at the moment. Afterwards it diminishes. I try not to think about the audience. Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Johannes. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I am going to south Europe for a while. I don’t like to have a profession, unless I need the money.

depends on what one paints. I have been using contrasting colors in the background because it fits. My colors on the palette haven’t changed but the mediums.

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

Peripheral ARTeries

Craig St.Cyr (Australia) an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement

The music I create is nothing more than raw feelings and emotions, as all music is at some point in it's progression from thought to action. I tend to see aspects of musical deliverance that displease me and find this to be my best avenue of approach. There is nothing shiny or glamorous about the songs I write and record. They're just there. If you feel like they speak to you, then mission accomplished. That's all any musician can request of their listeners. I have firm influences from the likes of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Sixto Rodriguez and Thom Yorke; all of which have led the way during my musical endeavor. Without the proper influences, I would not be writing the proper songs or have the courage to keep writing. So for that, I thank them. For doing the same during their struggle. The largest toll the mind can take is that of emotion. There is no greater threat to the human spirit than that of itself. When vanity and competition take center stage in the music industry, we have real problems.

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Heidrun Klos

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Craig St.Cyr

Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with

Craig St.Cyr Hello Craig and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Thank you for having me. In my opinion, there are two outstanding qualities that define any work of art. The process and the result. The process in which the artist tolls is the framework and that, to me, is a work of art in itself and somewhat parallel to the end result. The conceptual art form. The mental energy expended, the physical routines of the artist during the process, and especially the state of the artist. The end result is a reflection of what an artist has sacrificed in order to create. I find that extremely honourable, as every artist tends to give themselves to their works.

Craig St.Cyr

From a contemporary standpoint, the fact that any artist needs to look and strain for work is something that hasn't changed over the years. Maybe even gotten worse. It seems all the wrong ideas are inflated beyond recognition, leaving little room for what really needs to be accomplished. I've always felt that artists are vaccuums for emotion, in a way, to what they turn their attentions to. In addition, artists seem to need to reciprocate for their audience's lack of attention through self-promotion.

100,000 people in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It's a beautiful place to live, and also easy to forget that life is short. For me, there's more inner than outer experiences in a city of this size, as I find a do a lot of self-reflection and contemplation of global issues. Music quickly became a fitting release. As far as experiences from the past, the negative ones have definitely tarnished my ability to be fully trusting in others. I don't always view it as a negative aspect of my character, but I do keep it in mind and perhaps that's how much of it seeps into my music. There seems to be an unintentional, but fitting cynicism in my works. Maybe that's what some people need to hear. On the other hand, the positive aspects of my upbringing gave me the correct foundation to know how to be a decent human being. I was made quick to realize how

May I ask you something about your background? Are there any experiences that have particularly impacted on the way you make Art nowadays and that lead you to produce your music this way? By the way, what's your opinion about formal training? Sometimes I ask to myself if a certain kind of training could influence too much an artist... or evn stifle his creativity...

I'm from Thunder Bay, Ontario. A city of just over

Cassandra Hanks

Craig St.Cyr

the line between right and wrong has become more of a grey area, in a global sense.

Peripheral ARTeries

inside you that sparks you to create, sometimes unknowingly. I find the art that wasn't meant to be created as fascinating. Everyday things in everyday routines that we may not pay attention to.

I strongly encourage, if possible, some form of formal training, but I know that it's not how the artist is made, it's what the artist is made of. Too much of anything is unhealthy and in my personal experiences, music is all about how you perceive yourself as a musician. If you feel a proper structure will help you develop, then by all means indulge. You should always be proud of what you do, but never pompous. I understand the fact that anybody can be taught the arts in some facet, but a part of me says that you need that fire

Every artist has influences and I find I need to 93

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Craig St.Cyr

smother myself for weeks or months at a time in those who influence me to create. Before I write anything down or pickup a guitar, that is truly where it starts for me. I turn on the vacuum and take it all in for a little while, then I sit down and start. My process for musical creation is a very progressive one. It begins with a certain chord progression or a certain way that the words flow to the song. I get a very unique feeling when that happens, and that's how I know that i've found something of value. It might happen during a run through of something I've come up with, be it a melody or chorus. From there, I build around it, piece by piece until it's finished. From the time the lyrics hit paper to the time it's being uploaded/archived have ranged anywhere from 3 days to 3 months. Mind you, I'm still working on my first official EP but there have been loads of continuity in the 4 or 5 works i've created. Hypothetically, my creation process started many years ago. The first time I heard a song that shook me and that feeling of being in awe of someone else and what they're capable of. Unfortunately lately, the intervals between those feelings are getting longer. I've also noticed that each track I create in succession with the last gets a little bit more intricate and technical, in every sense. Concerning the technical aspect, I tend to let things progress more naturally. If it's laid out in front of me and I don't feel it's 'full' yet, I'll sit and listen to it and visualize what and where additional attention is needed. This process makes me curious about what my 4th or 5th album release will sound like, as i'm sure all artists wonder what they'll be creating years from now. Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would like to start with your recent and interesting work entitled Isis: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

In large part, credit is due to my father for introducing me to this music at a young age. In larger part, credit is due to it's creator. 'Isis' is originally a song written by one of my influences, Bob Dylan in 1975. 94

Craig St.Cyr

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It's from his album 'Desire' and for me, it was one of those defining songs that didn't leave my car's CD player for months. This song won't be on my EP, for obvious copyright reasons but the reason I chose to submit this piece to you was to show how a song can change so much and still contain the same elements that make it special. If you'll listen to the original, and then listen to my rendition, they sound like two completely different songs. They're not even in the same key. Personally, I feel like I've taken one of his masterpieces into my musical laboratory. And though it has the same ingredients, it's a different end result. The reason I like it so much is that it's a direct reflection of what Bob was experiencing at the time, and what we've all felt at one time, rejection. He was currently going through a divorce and internally struggling with almost every aspect of who he was. In those moments when music is created under various hardships, truly magnificent things can happen. The song started out as a cover version but quickly escalated due to a feeling I had. I felt like I always do when I cover songs. This feeling to make it my own. As you have remarked in the starting lines of your artist's statement the music you create is nothing more than raw feelings and emotions, as all music is at some point in it's progression from thought to action... I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I've always felt that the more you endure and conqueras a human being, be it mental or physical, the more you are capable of. The best part is that this can work in any aspect of your life, whether you're an artist or not. Being able to channel one's feelings and emotions through a medium of their choice is a gift. The best part is that no human being experiences nothing. Even if you spend your life in a bunker 30 metres underground, you're still going to have experiences. They definitely won't be the same as somebody who spend their life more extraverted, but experiences nonetheless. To me, 95

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Craig St.Cyr

creative process and direct personal experience go hand in hand when creating artistic works. Some of the best pieces have come out of the hardest times. Another piece of your on which I would like to spend some words is Unaware (Take 1) By the way, I would suggest to our readers to visit your Reverbnation page at http://www.reverbnation.com/craigstcyr If we look at the online ecosystem, we are stricken by an enormously great number of web services that present works which are accessible for immediate feedback on a wide scale and attract massive attention. It goes without saying that this helps an artist to receive a feedback...

Thanks for the plug. Yes, everything that I have available right now is online. Be it Reverbnation, Bandcamp or Soundcloud. You'll find my original works and renditions available for download and sale. Unaware was written a few years ago and spent a lot of time on paper only. I had never put it to music until early this year, which is something I unfortunately do alot. Majority of my songs have never been put to music, but they're there to be called upon when I need them. Back to unaware. It was written about the one that got away, as many songs are. The strange thing about this song for me is that I wrote it from a position of loneliness and despair, yet I was still romantically involved the girl that I was writing the song about. We didn't end up splitting up for a few years after the song is written, which gives me chills sometimes when I think about it. It's like my subconscious knew this wasn't going to work out. Apparently, I didn't heed the warning until much further down the road.

years we have seen a great usage of digital technology, in order to achieve outcomes that was hard to get with traditional techniques: so I would like to know your point about this... do your think that an excess of such techniques could lead to a betrayal of reality?

We have to be careful with digital media. You're right. There is a always a point where you've gone too far with it and complete detach the initial purpose from the end result. I am all for getting your point across, and if you need loads of digital media to do so then more power to you. I understand why Cassandra Hanks

Your pieces are marked with a poetic acoustic feeling: you seems to keep away from digital technologies as VSTi or ProTools similar devices... we just listen to the beautiful sound of your guitar, which is capable of giving a sold structure to your pieces. However, in these last 96

Craig St.Cyr

Peripheral ARTeries

more of myself and my songwriting fare and less of what I can do with a drum machine and synthesizer. And I couldn't do without mention Ballad in G (TooMuchFun) which I have to admit is one of my favourite work of yours... I can recognize some interesting infIuences, as from Radiohead and especially from Traffic's John Barleycorn (Must Die) and I have been struck with the way you have been capable of establishing such an effective synergy between different materials, creating a symbiosis rather than a contrast...

Thank you, I'm honoured you like it. Ballad in G was the first song I actually sat down with a mission in mind. I remember the day clearly, and remember my mindset (which hasn't changed that much over the years now that I think about it). The overall message of the song is essenially, to be careful. Don't let the wool be pulled over your eyes. It's actually 9 or 10 newspaper headlines assembled in an order that I felt had flow with the chord structure I decided on using. I used the main headline from each of the articles, all of which were centered around war and basic turmoil in some sense or another. I've never had somebody say my work has a symbiosis to it. Thank you for your kind words. I work in television and radio broadcasting, so I thought it would be interested to see how it would all come together. I added additional lyrics to fill the gaps, but I think it worked out pretty well. It's one of those songs that I keep finding myself thinking about and taking back to the workbench, adding this and that. I find it fits my progresive songwriting style quite nicely.

it's popular and I know it's effectiveness in getting the right message across, but it's seems like alot of the time it's overdone and drowned out. I've always compared top 40 music to plastic fruit. The only difference between the two is that plastic fruit stands the test of time, and that is the real judge of the integrity of musical works.

I absolutely agree with you when you state that "when vanity and competition take center stage in the music industry, we have real problems"... it goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, but I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expec-

It's all about being confident with what you have to offer and as far as my own music goes, I know there will be many additions from the digital realm to alot of my works in the future, but as for my EP, I wanted to show 97

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Craig St.Cyr

tation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

they can be a massive boost to an artists confidence in themselves and what they do. They can also act as a deterrant from their true artistic abilities as well. Ego is a terrible thing and is never too far behind fame or recognition. It must be snuffed out in the early or it can definitely get away from you. Awards, to me, are a bonus. I don't think they should ever be the main focus of any artist.

I relish in my feedback. I really do. Anything anybody has to say about what I put out there is always welcomed. Be it positive or negative. In my opinion, it's important to the artist how their works are judged and interpreted by others because we will almost always see it in a different light than our audience. Knowing where your specific audience is coming from when enjoying your is a huge part of my own artistic development.

The reason i've decided to keep making music is really quite simple. Something's telling me notCassandra to stop, ever. Whenever I question Hanks

As far as awards go, or even better as you said, the nomination or recognition for an award, 98

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dian Council of Arts to get the first and last bit of funding I need for the completion of my EP, Unaware.

what I'm doing or why, which I'm sure every artist goes through from time to time, I get kind of calming feeling immediately. It's really hard to explain but I just know I've got so much music to create and this is just the beginning. Or at least it feels that way. Having first picked up my guitar at the late age of 17, this is the first time I can say that. At 27 years old.

All my stuff is available for streaming and download on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and Reverbnation so be sure to check it from time to time to have a listen and to see if anything new is posted. Once the EP is finished, it will be self promotion and starting work on the first actual album. Thanks to Peripheral ARTeries for this opportunity and I'd like to thank you personally for your time in interviewing me.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Craig. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

CraigStCyr.bandcamp.com www.soundcloud.com/CraigStCyr www.reverbnation.com/CraigStCyr

I'm hoping to soon be working with the Cana99