Peripheral ARTeries Art Review - February 2014

February 2014

LARRY WILLIAMS JOLANTA GMUR RIEDSTRA JODIE WOODCOCK RALPH KLEWITZ MARCEL BURGER ALINA SEREBRENNIKOV STELLA KARAGEORGI BRIAN FRANKLIN ELAH

ELaH (Photo by Damien J.)

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November 2013 Stella Karageorgi

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The artist Stella Karageorgi is inspired by the prehistoric art of Cyprus and her creative work examines critically the ancient heritage in order to identify the artistic ideas behind the ancient symbols, motifs and archetypes.

Alina Serebrennikov

Professional sporting events are places of intense spectacle.

Athletes rise to celebrity status as they execute stunning displays of skill to the explosive adulation of audiences waiting in anticipation. Once the spectacle has been realized, the spectators return to their state of anticipation and the cycle continues.

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Alina Serebrennikov’s works consist of dialogue with everyday things where she seeks to interpret and understand the world and human existence. From the general she creates “the personal mine,” fragments of life that for every observer is his. The diversity of life’s realities is also reflected in the wealth of facets of the presentation forms she uses.

Ralph Klewitz

Brian Franklin

Riedstra Over the years, Riedstra has developed her own unique style. In the movement of her brushstrokes the viewer clearly recognises the hand of the experienced artist.

The apparent alertness of her topics adds great value to her work.

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“The topics of my artistic practise and research in fine arts raise cultural, ethical and political questions and I negotiated those in various geographical contexts with meaningful and meaningless; intangible and tangible contents.”

Jolanta Gmur Colour can cause pleasure, however, it can lead to despair or melancholy. The idea of colour surround us.

The world is a mixture of colours- codes, consisting of relation between the shape and the colour. There can be found an interaction between those dominant elements and the background

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Elah

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Marcel Burger

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Jodie Woodcock

The man who comes into the world has a completely unconscious mental apparatus and consisting solely of primary instincts. This device is exclusively governed by instinctual values of instant gratification, pleasure or avoidance of pain, consumption.

Larry Williams

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Since the beginning my work has been about connecting to landscape and its elements.

Landscape is fittered through sensory experience both emotional and physical. Sometimes there is an attempt at analytical description something more realistic but at some points th is can dissolve onto

David Wilde

Current style: colorful, modern, abstract with the occasional touch of pop art. The original designs are characterized by their own power, simplicity and balance.

Lover of contrasting and often primary colors.

From profession graphic designer, for a cosmetics manufacturer.

would say my art is mostly abstract. I like different, always have. The way I create my work haschanged since I started painting, I have changed.

I started painting in 2010 and for awhile I could hardly stop. My ideas and Visions just flowed out of me. I been into drawing since I was young.

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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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Reviving the Archaic, 2012 installation

Jolanta Gmur

Peripheral ARTeries

Stella Karageorgi (Cyprus)

an artist’s statement

The artist Stella Karageorgi is inspired by the prehistoric art of Cyprus and her creative work examines critically the ancient heritage in order to identify the artistic ideas behind the ancient symbols, motifs and archetypes.

The artist’s main aim is to explore new ways of interpreting the past, to recreate the ancient art and transform it into something new; a new art form that is relevant to an audience of the 21st century with completely different values and belief system.

In this respect the past is re-interpreted, re-created and re-examined while it is brought back to the spot light through the form of contemporary art.

Bird, oil on canvas 30x30 cm_ 2012

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Stella Karageorgi

an interview with

Stella Karageorgi Hello Stella, 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 artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

For me a work of Art would be a creation that on one level it stimulates our senses and touches our sensitivity by evoking an emotional response. On a deeper level it communicates meaning, provokes and intrigues our intellect to question and desire to expand our understanding of ourselves and the world we live in.

What makes an artwork a piece of contemporary art is a very intriguing question, which i am constantly exploring through my own practice and research. I need to address that a Contemporary piece of art might not necessarily be defined as something that is created or belongs to the present time, but one that itself expreses the contemporariness of its time through the qualities it might carry to the future as well. An ancient work of art can also express a contemporariness as any contemporary work of art, due to the transhistorical qualities and values it impregnates. Therefore, a contemporary work of art can be defined as one that can fit in the context and fashion of its time through its style, material and visual language but its content might also transcend its time; whether the viewers in the present time realize it or not is debatable.

Stella Karageorgi

then ask is how and why should we bridge tradition to contemporariness? I try to answer this through my own art work which i can discuss in more detail with you in the following questions.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? During these years you have received a solid formal training, and among the other, you hold a PhD in Fine Art, that you have recently received from the University of De Montfort in Leicester, and moreover you have studied in the USA as well. How have these experiences impacted on the way you currenly 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?

In relation to the subject of tradition, it then becomes more clear now why a piece of art might be defined as traditional and not contemporary. What is considered tradition to us now was once contemporary itself for the people who made it in the fashion of their time. In this respect, yes there is an inevitable dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness. The next question one could

Yes, I have studied both in the USA and UK, and you may say so that I have received a solid formal training for many years. However, what has mostly impacted the way I produce artwork, I have to confess is life experience itself and primarily my travels to other foreign cultures and people, a vaCassandra Hanks 6

Stella Karageorgi

Peripheral ARTeries

Reviving the Archaic, 2012 Installation, detail

variety of art forms, ideas and values. In this respect, the training I have received provided mainly the tools and methods which with I can direct, explore and interpret my experiences into an art form. My art work in a way expresses an embodiment of the variety of influences and experiences that molded me into what I am today with its root in my heritage, and for this reason my main goal is to make art that is accessible to everyone and speaks to an international audience.

mal education/training and mainting a fresh creativity, and i did find myself challenged in the process many times. The reason being that art training and academic institutions are in themselves evolving entities, with their own potentials and limitations. I guess what i could say as a conclusion from my own personal experience, is that sometimes there is a tendency in the formal education environments for people to disconnect from the outside the world. I myself try to avoid this, since i believe both the purpose of education and art is to promote active participation and the application of knowledge within society. I have discovered that the more i learn the more there is to find out, and this is what basically helped me always maintain a level

I would like to thank you for this compelling question whether a certain kind of formal training could stifle a young artist's creativity. Indeed, Jolanta Gmur a forthere is a risk involved between receiving 7

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Stella Karageorgi

of curiosity that keeps fueling my creativity as a young artist; the moment you stop questioning and you settle within a comfort zone, creativity will stagnate.

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 art process is actually the most enjoyable part of the experience for an artist, and of course the final result will depend on how much love you have put into that process. I usually start with the inspiration from an idea or a desire to make something, and most of the times the results are completely different from what i planned for; that is actually the delight within the art process, the element of surprise. I always start by registering my ideas on paper through drawing and writing, so both the drawing process and contemplating about it through writing are essential.

Preparation and thinking is important, and sometimes depending on the scale of the project i might devote more time into this first step. From there and once i have something a bit more solid that i can start working on, i will then move into the execution of the idea and work with the appropriate medium that i feel will express the idea most effectively. The choice of the medium directs the process for me in a profound way. Therefore the second step for me it’s actually the doing, which is more active and involves the aspect of feeling the work rather than thinking about it. Most of the time i fail in my first attempts and make many mistakes, so i go back to rework the piece from those mistakes in order to evolve it into what it needs to become.

Reviving the Archaic, 2012 Installation, detail

dreams; it is a journey into the unknown, but always with a trust that the process will take you someplace new. You do finally reach to a point that the work itself builds a dynamic and a momentum that carries you and you have no choice but to go with the flow.

A work of art can never finish, it can be an ongoing process with no end, therefore the decision when to stop is as important as when to start. Deciding that this is it, the work at this point reached it’s full potential and putting a full stop, is important.

From this work you could always start off new pieces that will become the evolution of the same idea into new level.

The process itself brings out happy and unhappy accidents, new discoveries, sometimes destruction, but on the whole it becomes a medidative and intuitive process that carries you through Reviving the Archaic, 2012 various emotions of joy, excitement, sometimes installation and dissapointment, memories and frustration 8

Stella Karageorgi

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world during the Archaic period. I thus created five sculptures which are about 1 meter tall and are placed in a semicircle. On the floor a projection of a slideshow of the original archaic artefacts is shown to address the parallels and the dialogue happening between the ancient and the contemporary.

What I wanted to express with these sculptures is a new respect, praise and celebration of the female element that was so dominant in the ancient cultures and which in a way is missing from today’s world. The power in the gesture of the sculptures’ raised arms extends an invitation to openness, confidence as well as a celebration of the revival of ancient values to contemporary life.

For this installation and specifically for the making of the sculptures I would like to express my gratitude to the architect Maziar Shariki for his valuable input and for introducing me to the technology required to produce the pieces.

A feature of Reviving the Archaic that has mostly impacted on me is your capability of creating a deep intellectual interaction, communicating a wide variety of states of mind : even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, I have to admit that in a certain sense it unsettles me a bit... it's an effective mix between anguish and thoughtless, maybe hidden happiness... I would go as far as to state that this piece, rather than simply describing, pose us a question: forces us to meditation...

an artist’s statement

I am very glad to hear your thoughts on this.

Indeed this installation and the sculptures are meant to invite the participation of the viewer and to trigger a meditative state, as you have precisely spotted.

The actual installation is in fact accompannied by a sound piece created specifically for this installation by Dr. Andrew Hill, a composer of electroacoustic music, whom I would also like to thank for his contribution. Furthermore, the light within the sculptures is not static but pulses with a rhythm, almost like a heart beat. The installation was meant to invite the viewer into an experience and not just to present idea, and the meaning of this experience is open to the interpretation of the individual.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from Reviving the Archaic, a very interesting intallation that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article. Would you tell us something about the genesis of this piece? What was your initial inspiration?

The work presented in this installation is inspired by the archaic female terracotta figurines with uplifted arms, created in Cyprus in 750 BC. The archaic figurines are thought to represent the priestess on a gesture of praise towards the fertility goddess that was worshipped as the main deity in Cyprus and in other locations around the 9

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Stella Karageorgi

Lady Nature, 2012

Besides large installation, you also produce sculptural pieces as The Boat Travellers and Lady Nature which have been inspired from the pottery images and clay idols of the ancient archaic art in Cyprus as well... 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?

ly surprised. Many things happen on unconscious level and the art piece uncovers profound messages that even the artist herself might not be aware yet.

In this specific pieces although the initial source of inspiration again were the motifs depicted on the ancient pottery, I found that the messages that came forth have indeed direct relation with topics that concern all of us on a deeper level such the female qualities of nature, the relation and interconnectiveness of nature to humans and the relation of the male and female elements as explorers that complement each other, like travellers in the same boat.

Cassandra Hanks

I always discover something new within my work, both through the process of making it and in the final piece itself which always makes me pleasant10

Stella Karageorgi

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The Boat Travellers,2012

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you draw inspiration from the prehistoric art of Cyprus, your native coun-try, and you examine critically the ancient heritage: I would ask you if -while exploring new ways of interpreting the past, you have ever realized that there's an inner dicotomy between tradition and contemporariness...

in the 21st century, than what it did to the people in the past. The real challenge is about discovering if there is still a seed within that tradition that could be cultivated today and from that build a bridge to connnect to it and interpret it from a new perspective. Heritage can be recycled, renewed and recreated in such a way that it can become useful to us today; if it doesn’t contain that seed though, or a usefulness, there is no point in revisiting it because it has nothing new to offer to us, it has ran it’s course. The reason why i am revisiting the archaic art of Cyprus in my work, is precisely because i see clearly that it can have a value for us today and remind us of things we have

The dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness is inevitable, mainly due to the fact that each period in human history explores and deals with different issues of the human existence. It is therefore logical to expect that the ancient art or Jolanta Gmur traditions will bear a different meaning to us now 11

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Stella Karageorgi

long forgotten, otherwise what’s the point of digging the past one my ask.

Another interesting piece of yours on which I would like to spend some words is Entering the Mysteries which I have to admit is one of my favourite work of yours: 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?

Like i said at the beginning of the interview personal experience is what fuels my creativity and impacts the way I produce artwork. I doubt if any other artist will say the opposite; artists are always exploring issues that concern them personally, and I imagine creating art disconnected from the personal experience and outside oneself, will not be authentic art because it will not have a genuine message to communicate.

Entering the Mysteries is an installation through which I intended to create a new sacred experience for art and resurface a certain mood and a visual language inspired from the past. But I wanted to communicate this through a childlike playfulness, colorfulness and whimsicality without getting trapped within the seriousness of it. The holy can be serious and playful too, why not!

During these last ten years your works have been exhibited in several occasions both in the Unted Kingdom and in the USA... 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?

Reviving the Archaic, 2012

An award,or an expectation for an award installation is definetely a positive influence for any

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Peripheral ARTeries

artist. It gives the artist motivation and joy to work harder and create more.

Afterall the artists do not create art for their own pleasure alone, they want their artwork to go out in the public and make an impact.

It is not so much about the award itself, as it is about your work and vision being recognized and appreciated. Artists wants to contripute and knowing that their work can find a useful place in people’s life and in society, can surely motivate us to offer and create more.

Feedback from the audience is always essential as it helps me understand what the audience’s needs are, so that i can address them more. Needless to say, that both positive and negative feedback is equally important, because it allows me to understant how effective the work is or not. I do always bear in mind the audience while i conceive my pieces, and i know that i want my audience to be international and address all ages; even the children’s reaction to my work is valuable for me.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Stella. 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 artist’s statement

At the moment, i’m in the middle of planning projects through which my art work could be applied in public spaces. I hope to transfer my ideas in a larger scale and also involve people’s participation in the making, through puplic art projects such as painting on concerete walls and objects and transforming urban spaces into a living and breathing history again.

If the readers want to find more details about my work and future plans they can always take a look at my website at www.stellakarageorgi.com. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to present my work in your magazine.

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An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

Peripheral ARTeries

Brian Franklin (USA)

Professional sporting events are places of intense spectacle. Athletes rise to celebrity status as they execute stunning displays of skill to the explosive adulation of audiences waiting in anticipation. Once the spectacle has been realized, the spectators return to their state of anticipation and the cycle continues.

The Fermata series seeks to disrupt this sine wave model of tension and release, extending the precious few seconds of stillness that exist before the sudden exertion of energy. These moments are meticulously looped, breaking up the familiar model experience and trapping the viewer in an alternate timeline offering only the swelling of anticipation. There is a new ambiguous relationship formed between athlete and viewer as the comfortable roles are stripped away.

It is in this artificially infinite moment that the athletes are removed from their sacred position, no longer the hero. They are equally trapped with the viewer in this expanded moment, unable to perform the feat for which they have focused and trained their entire lives.

A still from Fermata (Golf), 2011, video, continuous

As the athlete fades from glory the viewer’s gaze shifts and searches for something more in this scene of unrealized spectacle. The minutiae of the event come into focus. The previously ignored and invisible details of the background rise to the surface to fill the void created by the faltering protagonist. Subtle shifting movements of the audience feed back on themselves to create undulating waves that wash across the frame of the screen. The

persistent flexing arc of a diving board splits the screen in two, compressing the air and space around it into all but audible waves.

Vibrating geometric structures emerge as figures and forms break down into the unfamiliar. The organic rhythms of human motion in each frame become mechanical and 14

Jolanta Gmur

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loop

incessant, no longer compatible with the viewer’s own inner rhythms. This disequilibrium between natural and artificial rhythms presents itself for the viewer to process. Yet the uncertainty of the moment disables a singular reading. As viewers discover there is nothing to wait for,

no climactic release, they find themselves slipping between jittery anxiety, hypnotic obsession, and soothing tranquility as the tension builds and melts away in new cycles created in the bodily rhythms of the viewers themselves.

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Brian Franklin

an interview with

Brian Franklin Hello Brian, first of all 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, how were you introduced to creating your pieces specifically in this way?

I consider a work of art to be something that makes me pause. Something that disrupts the normal way I see and process my world.

I come from a background in commercial new media, specifically using digital imaging software for marketing and advertising. When I realized that I no longer wanted to work in that industry it was a natural progression to continue working with these tools, but to use them in ways that I found more interesting and engaging.

Can you tell our readers a little about your background? You hold a MFA of New Media, that you have received from the Pennsylvania State University: how has this experience impacted on your art practice? Moreover, what's you point about formal training? Do you think that artists with a formal education have an advantage over self-taught artists?

Brian Franklin

When I went to college for my undergraduate degree I studied music production, but my interdisciplinary program in media arts allowed me to explore several art forms, computer programs and collaborate with other students. In my last year I formed a band with another art student with the purpose of creating a musical commentary on the growing trend of online role playing games like World of Warcraft and Second Life, which at that time were still new and causing some interesting social effects.

After graduation I lived in Buffalo, N.Y. a city with a very devoted sports fan culture, and I worked independently on many art projects that explored that phenomena. Eventually the desire to create new works consumed me enough that I realized an MFA would help me progress, and the collaborations, connections and refining process that I went through as an art student at Penn State made me a more confident artist.

Some of us benefit from the structure of a formal education while others thrive with more independence. The biggest advantage you can give yourself is to recognize how and where you work best and then work to place yourself in that setting.

Cassandra Hanks

We wrote a loose lyrical narrative with videos for each song, and would project them on a wall while our band played. I think this was the genesis of my interest in digital art and helped me begin to find my voice as an artist.

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example of a more traditional sculpture, its movement is even created with an analog motor.

Yet the components that make up its structure are laser-cut shapes based on digital files. The lacy scroll of paper pushing the sand back and forth benefits the most from the process because I could never have cut such an intricate pattern into it by hand.

The Fermata video series, on the other hand, remains firmly planted in a digital platform.

Although each video shows a single looping moment, I’ve digitally cut up the scene, looped each figure separately, and composted them back together to form an apparently seamless action that has no clear beginning or ending. The most recent video, Fermata (Hockey), took approximately six hours to complete, however I’ve spent entire weeks on others. I’d like to think this means I’m getting better at the process, but the hockey one may have just been a less complex loop.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your interesting work entitled “Fermata” whose stills have been already admired by our readers in the starting pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of this piece? What was your initial inspiration?

The idea for Fermata began while I was working on a series of digital drawings named Game Day. To create these drawings I watch a sporting event and pause the game after each play to trace the path that the football or the hockey puck or the soccer ball traveled across the field. By the end of the game these lines have accumulated into dense drawing that document every movement of the ball. Yet, while it documents how people moved the ball across the field, I think it ultimately documents the systems, rules, and strategies that moved the people around the field.

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?

As I was watching numerous games a few seconds at a time I started noticing all of these moments of stillness, all of these moments of waiting before the bursts of energy that everyone was waiting for.

These spectacular moments are what the game was intended to provide, but so much more of the experience was simply waiting and stillness. I began to wonder what would happen if such a moment just continued on. What would happen if that moment

My work crosses a lot of mediums so there isn’t one particular setup that I use or a predicatable amount of time that I invest in each piece.

However, all of my work at least begins in the digital realm even if it shifts into the physical world when it’s completed. 688 Miles is an exam17

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A still from Fermata (Tennis), 2008, video, continuous loop

didn’t resolve. If we didn’t have that familiar up and down, tension and release pattern. What would happen if the moment simply continued building? Would it infinitely grow in tension?

Would it eventually dissolve into soothing rhythms? Would it resolve into something else?

There has been a huge range of response to the Fermata videos, from frustration to laughter.

However, I personally find them calming because I’ve lived with them for so long. I have a wall of TVs stacked in my studio that play them constantly while I’m making a new addition to the series. I find them rather comforting.

A still from Fermata (Track), 2008, video, conti-

One of the features that has particularly impacted on me is the way you are capable of snatching the immediate nature of the instant... you seem to keep away from postediting techniques in order to establish such a direct narrative of the stories that your works tell: I was wondering if digital technologies as digital editing play a role in your process... By the way, do you think that nowadays there still exists a dichotomy between art and technology?

potential. They’re swollen with all of these possibilities and there’s no outcome yet. So it could be this spectacular victory, this spectacular growth that comes out of it. Or it could be, as in some of them, particularly the diving one, where there was a flaw or misstep in the execution. But none of us know that yet. There’s all this potential, but it could land either way. So it’s encouraging that there’s all this potential, but then it’s also kind of intimidating.

I try to keep the videos looking as unprocessed as possible. Blatant digital manipulation would become a filter between the event and the viewer preventing the suspension of disbelief and a full investment in the experience. But when left seemingly untouched, the videos have all of this

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, the Fermata series seeks to disrupt the sine wave model of tension and release, extending the precious few seconds of stillness that exist before the sudden exertion of energy... So I would like to ask you if in your 18

Jolanta Gmur

Peripheral ARTeries

A still from Fermata (Dive), 2009, video, continuous loop

tant Professor of Art at the Illinois State University: how does teaching influence your career as an artist? And does meeting with young artist give you some unexpected inspiration?

Working with students is an enjoyable way to keep me excited about my own work. It’s a privilege to be exposed to the many different perspectives and interests the students bring with them into the classroom. Not only do I get the satisfaction of seeing them build their ideas into fully realized work, but I get to brainstorm with them along the way. The conversations I have with students to help them refine their own ideas and troubleshoot challenges they’ve run into with their projects helps me do the same with my own work.

nuous loop

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?

Personal experience is a pivotal factor in these works. The only reason they function is because they conflict with what we’ve come to expect from the countless games that we’ve watched. We recognize that moment when the server is bouncing the tennis ball and staring at the ground.

We recognize that moment right before the hockey puck is dropped. We anticipate the next step but are tripped up when the scene fails to follow our momentum.

Besides producing your artworks, you have gained experience as a teacher: you are Assis-

A still from Fermata (Jesse Owens), 2009

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Brian Franklin

Your work has been often awarded and so far you have received a lot of grants. It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if the expectation of positive feedback 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?

The audience reaction is an important moment for me. I fully appreciate that Game Day and Fermata can appeal to an artistic mentality and to an avid sports fan. Viewers can approach the work from either direction and still find it engaging, often for conflicting reasons. Certain viewers solely appreciate the visual experience and the sweeping gestural forms that slide in and out of focus. Others grab onto a notion of impermanence with every action reduced to a static line lacking a distinct hierarchy of importance. These viewers have little interest in what team was playing or who the winner may have been.

688 Miles, 2012, sand, acrylic, paper, wood, elec

Thanks for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Brian. 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?

I’m particularly excited about a new body of work using a 3D printer to create sculptures based on lines from the Game Day series.

These sculptures are my opportunity to branch out from such a highly systematic process of art making and give myself the space to simply explore the aesthetic forms that I find interesting. With the tracings in Game Day I don’t have much control over what the final piece will look like, outside of choosing the colors. In the Cassandra Hanks

No Man's Land, 2014, 3D printed plaster, 6" x 6" x 8"

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Civilian Clothes, 3D printed plaster, 10" x 4" x 4"

tisfaction these fans get as they slowly reconstruct the game that they love and as they search for Jordan’s game-winning final basket just before the buzzer.

For example, Civilian clothes is a line taken from the 1976 Canada Cup finals between Canada and Czechoslovakia where there was a very questionable call in favor of Canada that ultimately led to them winning the game. So I took that moment, that goal, and extruded it into a 3 dimensional shape that becomes this ribbon floating through the air. Similarly, the sculpture Blitz is based on all of the movement from the 1979 World Series between the Pirates and Orioles.

The lines are rotated around their origin in a 3 dimensional space, creating a form that is equally as dynamic and explosive as it is unstable and fragile.

tronics, 20" x 6" x 4"

end, once the game is over that’s what the image looks like and I can’t control that. It’s somewhat freeing because if it doesn’t look very good it’s out of my hands, but it’s also limiting. I’ve been enjoying the process of extracting individual lines or individual moments from their context and using them as a jumping off point for independent sculptures.

Even though this new work is still grounded in a systematic process, it gives me the opportunity to say, “I like this visual quality so I’m going to run with it.”

And then there are viewers who become excited about a particular drawing based on the team or player that it represents. They feel a connection to the work based on their relationship with its subject. Eyes light up when they come across Game Day (NBA Finals 1998 – Bulls vs Jazz) because they know that was Michael Jordan’s final game as a Chicago Bull. I like seeing the sa-

You can see new 3D prints as I make them on my website www.brianpatrickfranklin.com.

Thank you again for being interested in my work and having me in your magazine.

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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Alina Serebrennikov (Ukraine / Germany)

“I don’t limit myself, neither in my statements nor in my style, nor in my way of communicating.”

Alina Serebrennikov’s works consist of dialogue with everyday things where she seeks to interpret and understand the world and human existence. From the general she creates “the personal mine,” fragments of life that for every observer is his. The diversity of life’s realities is also reflected in the wealth of facets of the presentation forms she uses.

Alina Serebrennikov was born in 1983 in Zaporozhe in Ukraine and emigrated in 1996 with her family to Germany. After studies in material design (20042005) at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences she from 2005 to 2011 studied communication design at Rhine-Main College in Wiesbaden with a focus on film and has since getting her degree in 2011 lived as a freelance artist in Cologne.

2012

Women Museum Bonn (Germany), 22nd Art Fair 2012, (Frauenmuseum Bonn) 5th Teltow Art Sunday (5. Teltower Kunstsonntag) 2011

“the last breath” (short film), 9. Internationales Festival “Signes de Nuit”, Paris (France) “the last breath” (short film), Black Box, Aarau (Switzerland) 2010

2009

“Grasnarbe”; DVD for SS concentration camp memorial site Hinzert, Landeszentrale Politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz, )

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Jolanta Gmur

Peripheral ARTeries

S.B.D.D.N.E.G.I., 2012 oil on canvas, 70x70 cm, 2

Peripheral ARTeries

Alina Serebrennikov

an interview with

Alina Serebrennikov Hello Alina, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual icebreaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art?

I sometimes wonder if there's a precise dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness... Thank you very much, the pleasure is all mine, but I must admit with your icebreaker question you already strike a very profound topic. For me, art is everything and nothing at the same time. Art becomes art in the context in which it stands.

Contemporary art reflects, interprets and influences at best the spirit of the times under which it has come about. For me there is no difference between classical and contemporary art since classical art was once contemporary itself, it only got scrolled down through the centuries.

Alina Serebrennikov

Would you like to tell us something about your background? I have read that you moved from Ukraine to Germany when you were thirteen: then you have studied both Material Design and Communication Design. How have these experiences 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?

their advantages and disadvantages and I would not say that the creativity of young artists can be suppressed by that. Much depends on the character and nature of the artist in question.

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?

I first studied material design, in other words engineering science. Simply because I enjoyed the fun since knowledge is the only wealth that we can really acquire. I preferred communications study to art studies because it suits my nature better.

It is really hard to answer because there is no specific time when I start to work on an artwork.

Only when I stop, in other words, when I am finished. But even that I can't say. Rather there is a point where I don't paint any additional line on the canvas since my works are never really finished. A day or two later, three years later, I go Cassandra Hanks

This is because as a communications designer you learn, according to my experience, to implement a theme in many styles and manifestations. In art studies, by contrast, most people try to find "one" form of expression and then perfect it. Both have 24

Alina Serebrennikov

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Der Schrei am Morgen (“The Morning Scream�), ballpoint pen on canvas, 100x100 cm (2013)

on working on the same motif, only on a new canvas or with the aid of a new medium such as in films. For me, the focus is on the statement of

my works and not so much the medium.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would 25

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Alina Serebrennikov

like to start with S.B.D.D.N.E.G.I and especially Der Schrei am Morgen that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

There is a very funny story about the creation of this painting from my “green series”, which I would love to share with you, but unfortunately I can’t, as I will run the risk of destroying the magic of this particular painting when doing otherwise. The story behind this work I can only reveal to some extent: The title of this painting consists of the initials of all words in a German sentence…

Relating to the other painting “Der Schrei am Morgen” (“The Morning Scream”) I simply can summarize it by saying: “I wanted to scream”. In this work I am dealing with the social pressure expecting one to have an “honest” job. Unfortunately, being an artist, one is respected and accepted only when being successful. As defined by the society, one has to contribute to the community, which is again verified!by the amount of money for which the works are being sold. And even then one has to justify oneself choosing this way of life. I am

Selbstportrait (self-portrait), 2010

Der Unbekannte Mann, 2012

acrylic on canvas, 50x50 cm

(“The unknown man”) ballpoint pen/acrylic on canvas, 100x140cm

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Alina Serebrennikov

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not referring to an elite minority in his regard, which appreciates the works, but to the big collective of society, which I am swimming in.

By the way, a feature of S.B.D.D.N.E.G.I that has mostly impacted on me is the stimulating synergy that you have been capable of establishing between apparently contrasting ideas of circularity suggested by the elliptical shape and the straightness of the paintbrush strokes that pervades the canvas: this gives a sense of rhythm to the canvas...

Thank you, this was something that I was intending to get, and I am glad that you see it this way, too.

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your works consist in dealing with everyday life in which she seeks to interpret and understand the world and the human being and your projects are 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?

I would say it depends on how you define personal experience because you can always experience something personal or make other people's experiences your own. What I wanted to say with this statement of mine is not that you absolutely have to experience everything yourself but that you can approach the matter from another perspective which is perhaps not always immediately apparent or put things together so as to get to something new.

Of course, in all of my works there is the "personal mine" (" ") since however I approach a theme I still fall back on my personal experiences and my knowledge. All of my works spring from my thoughts and I can only interpret life around me to the extent that my knowledge allows me to.

Another pieces of yours on which I would like to spend some words are “Selbstportait in Rot” (“Selfportait in red”) and Nachgedacht im Traum” (“Thought in the dream”): in particular, I have been struck by the intense -almost flooding- tone of red on the background... Even though I'm aware that "red" on the knife, and this in a certain sense "unsettles" a bit the common expectation of the viewer... By the way, any comments on your choice 27

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Alina Serebrennikov

of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Referring to the red self-portrait, I didn’t introduce red color in the knife as this painting is already very striking, and in my opinion, adding additional red color would diminish dramatically the quality of this work. This painting expresses an inherent passiveactive dualism. I won’t tell you why I am choosing one over the other color, as everybody can read about the symbolism of colors. But this is not the point. I do not really care about the meaning of individual colors, for example the red color in the self-portrait or the green color in “Nachgedacht im Traum” (“Thought in the dream”). For me it is important which feelings the overall picture evokes in people in this particular moment. I hope tomorrow it will be different, as all works do not only tell my personal thoughts, but at the same time express the thoughts and experiences of the observer, too.

Nachgedacht im Traum (Thought in the dream),

Selbstportait in Rot, 2011

oil on canvas, 60x80 cm, 2012.

(“Self-portait in red”), oil on canvas, 97x123 cm

Cassandra Hanks

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Alina Serebrennikov

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Women’s Museum Bonn, Germany

It goes without saying that positive feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award or the expectation of positive feedback 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?

Naturally it makes every human being happy, I think, to get recognition in any form. But whether it really has any influence on artistic activity, I wouldn't say. It makes life as an artist simpler. An award, or better yet several, only act as door openers and in that way create the space you need to develop.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Alina. 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?

Hard to say which of my current projects will be the next one to get shown to the public because I work in parallel on several projects and just as many are in the planning stage. The public can wait to be surprised just like I can.

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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Riedstra (The Netherlands)

an artist’s statement

Over the years, Riedstra has developed her own unique style. In the movement of her brushstrokes the viewer clearly recognises the hand of the experienced artist. The apparent alertness of her topics adds great value to her work. With provocative ease, she communicates the ambience of her work to the public.

Riedstra is a keen observer; she eliminates the superfluous to reach the core essence.

Through endless wandering and taking photos of images that draws her interest she acquires new and exciting experiences. This process provides us with an insight into her method of working. The power of her work lies in the accuracy of her brushwork and in the necessary unstable balance that one experiences in every composition.

Riedstra's work shows the process of a driven interaction with the canvas, interacting lines, colours and planes, which for the artist only subside after a number of transparent layers.

Again and again, Riedstra takes her audience along on a confrontational journey beyond authentic elements, which through their individual importance start to lead a life of their own on the canvas. In doing so, she avoids any compromise, which results in an intense directness for the viewer. That way Riedstra undoubtedly paints from a renewed contemporary perspective. Thus, her work maintains tension and originality and yet radiates tranquillity.

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Riedstra

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Riedstra

Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with

Riedstra Hello Riedstra 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? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

In my opinion a work of Art defines several things: Among others, an authentic interpretation by the artist, meaning: one can recognise the hand of the artist in the concept that underlies the work. By giving it the necessecary surplus the artist commits himself to research his project. Searching again and again for new ways in himself, in order to express what he/she tries to communicate to him/herself and the public.

A work with a different kind of beauty, confrontational, forcing the audience to think and to look again.

The last, to me, is important. This you could mark as the contemporariness of an artwork

Riedstra

not be possible. The series ‘Barbs’ and ‘Such A Pretty Thing’ are good examples, in these works I was able to let go of all I learned and find my own language.

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?

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a MA of Scenography that you have received from the prestigious St. Martins College, London and moreover you have studied in Spain, Israel and in the Netherlands, where you are currently based: how have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you currently produce your works? 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?

All my projects start with a subject I come across, that makes me wonder because of its estrangement and forces me to think how can this be. The next step is research, what is known on the subject, is it a new phenomenon, if so what lies underneath it? If not, what was the history and how can I incorporate this in the project?

The result and impact of my experiences show in my current work. The insight my studies give me is invaluable, it helps me to get a true and clear view on my projects, to search and find the essential of what I try to communicate. Meeting and studying with many different people is an enrichment. Specially the Master year, it taught me thinking in a third person, to distance myself from my projects and being able to concretize my ideas on a high level.

Then the process: what can I add to make my statement come across? This takes time, I start with making photo’s on the subject, then drawings and sketches. Slowly the project shapes itself. I decide how large the series will be, or how many works I might need. This is not always clear at the beginning, the working process has its own way.

Cassandra Hanks

As for your question whether a formal education can stifle creativity, my answer would be: by learning the necessary tools you are able afterwards to become free and use those tools in ways that would otherwise 32

Riedstra

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Drawing No. 66 on 'Silence' by Luc Tuymans ink, gouache, acryl, scrap, lace on paper 65 x 50 cm 2013

this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

Every project takes at least a year, mostly two years, and the current project Every day A Drawing is ongoing.

I was already thinking to start a large project, with a different technique that would be a challenge for me and would totally occupy me. It is in this period that I came across an exhibition where a painter commited himself to give his vision on Renaissance paintings. By putting himself in the shoes of the Renaissance artist, this painter created his contemporary vision on certain works of that time.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your Every Day A Drawing, that our readers have already admired in the introductory pages of this article and that I would suggest them to jump directly to http://everydayadrawing.wordpress.com in order to get a wider idea: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of 33

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Riedstra

That’s where my initial inspiration started, not to put myself in the place of the Renaissance artist, but by studying the Renaissance period. I was struck by the similarities between the time then and the time now.

The uncertainties, the cruel wars, the religous influence of the catholic church, but also the genious of new discoveries in science etc.

I decided to draw, every day, to discover these similarities and to find the contemporary aspect in all this. A whole new world opened up, in my knowledge, in my capability of expressing myself in a new medium, in the stunning similarities, as if not much has changed. A very exciting and very intense process. I also decided to publish these drawings every day on Wordpress and Facebook and find out what the reactions of the public would be. These reactions are so overwhelming and are such a stimulus to continue.

As you have remarked, Every Day A Drawing consists now of 84 Works on Paper, which are based on the Renaissance period and contemporary artists who also refer to this period: I was wondering if you can still recognize such a subtle, hidden dichotomy between tradition and modernity... moreover, I have to say that your works shows such an Ariadne's Thread that leads us from Renaissance to Contemporariness: do you agree with this analysys?

Yes, I agree with this, it is inevitable that during this process a search for new modes of thinking starts to

Drawing No. 82 on Spiritual Exercise, 2013 charcoal, o.i.ink, acryl, crayon, scrap on paper 50 x 73 cm

Drawing No. 85 on 'The Holy Innocents' by 34

Riedstra

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Drawing No. 57 Study on The Temple by Luc Tuymans ink, acryl, crayon, scrap on paper 50 x 65 cm 2013

develop, all of a sudden there appears a clarety in my vision, that’s by times frightening and enlightening at the same time.

Another interesting series of yours on which I would like to spend some words is entitled Such A Pretty Thing: I have to admit that I have been struck with the idea underlying this series, the tendency of parents in modern society to put their child on a pedestal...

I sometimes ask to myself if Art could play as a substitute of traditional learning... moreover, as you have remarked, Art reflects its time, a primary source of information.

So I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of

Giotto - mixed media on paper 65 x 95 cm 2013

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Riedstra

Such a Pretty Thing' No. 2.

Such a Pretty Thing' No. 3.

100 x 90 cm oil on canvas 2010

100 x 90 cm oil on canvas 2010

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

and the influence of human behavior on society: both in the aforesaid ones and in the earlier Challenging Nature and Barbs, I can recognize such a socio political feature in your Art: and I'm sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... What’s your point about this?

Art reflects its time, a primary source of information: From an early age on my discovery that one can ‘read’ Art so to speak, has been a revelation to me, but I can only speak for myself!

I find the development of creative processes an essential part of our way of thinking, more important than putting the emphasis only on traditional learning. I experience the contemporary society a bit lopsided, in my view a lot of necessary ‘knowledge’ is wasted. For me personal experience is indispen-sable, but I find that most of us cannot or won’t learn from their experiences, otherwise the world would look quite different!

I don’t know, Art can certainly influence people, Art can make people see in different ways, but as an artist I can only make a statement, I don’t hold up a mirror that is not my task. I hope, in my work, to give awareness to people, but to steer behavior, then, we would behave exactly as all those institutions do!

A recurrent feature of your pieces that has mostly impacted on me is the effective mix of few dark tones which are capable of creating such a prelude to light... I also noticed that several nuances of red are very recurrent tone in your works. By the way, any comments on

As for creative processes, they can’t be disconnected from experience, an artist needs these experiences in order to create art.

Your projects are always about estrangements

Cassandra Hanks

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Riedstra

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Barbs nr. 2 Oil on canvas 90x100 cm 2008

your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

only then what I created. I do emphasize the spacial aspect in my work, this is important for me, it makes the work stand on it’s own.

Thanks for your compliment, my way of using tones and colors has developed over the years and is part of the creative process. While working I ‘am gone’, so to speak, time stands still and I ‘wake up’ hours later and see

My palette challenges me all the time, it is a continous search for unusual combinations and materials within the works. Over time it has become more and more free. It surprises me again and again.

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Riedstra

Challenging Nature 2nd series No. 8 2012 Oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm 6 drawings were shown at Sixth international Biannual Exhibition at the National museum in Tetovo, Macedonia: 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 goes without saying that an award in any form is a positive influence, as I said earlier, the reactions on the works from Project Every Day A Drawing is so stimulating, but in the end I am back in my studio and have to create the next work with all the intense uncertainties that come along! It gives me a proud feeling knowing that my work is so appreciated, but in my studio it is not in my mind at all. I am there on my very own.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Riedstra. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

We are developing an installation based on Project every Day A DrawDrawing No. 85 on 'The Holy Innocents' by Challenging Nature No. 4. 100 x 90 cm oil on canvas 2012 38

Riedstra

Peripheral ARTeries

Drawing No. 57 Study on The Temple by Luc Tuymans ink, acryl, crayon, scrap on paper 50 x 65 cm 2013

Example image video screen Installation 2014 Drawing No. 72 Study on Eros en Thanatos mixed media on paper 105 cm x 50 cm 2013, background image: The devastated areas in Syria 2014

ing. In this installation we want to create an interaction with the public, so they can experience how the then and the now can overlap, by creating a large video screen where a contemporay image intert-wines with a work from the series.

Giotto - mixed media on paper 65 x 95 cm 2013

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http://www.riedstra.eu/

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Ralph Klewitz (Switzerland)

“I was born in 1965, raised in Switzerland and studied graphic design as well as fine arts. In 2011 I graduated with a Master of Arts in Contemporary Arts Practice from the Bern University of the Arts. My professional and academic destinations have been so far located in European, Asian and Australian metropoles and my artwork has been shown internationally.

The topics of my artistic practise and research in fine arts raise cultural, ethical and political questions and I negotiated those in various geographical contexts with meaningful and meaningless; intangible and tangible contents.�

Ralph Klewitz

WZ49_Mont2 (2013) Video, single channel

http://ralphklewitz.blogspot.com/

(colour; stereo sound); 2:39 min.; loop

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Ralph Klewitz

The video begins with the display of a stand-by computer screen. A touch-screen keyboard appears, a pair of hands hovers over it and types. At the end of the sequence a finger hits an ‘ok’-button which then puts the screen back to stand-by mode.

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S.B.D.D.N.E.G.I., 2012

The soundtrack is a recording of someone eating an apple.

oil on canvas, 70x70 cm, 41

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Ralph Klewitz

an interview with

Ralph Klewitz Hello Ralph and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with our usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of art? Moreover, do you think that there's still a contrast between tradition and contemporary?

I position myself as an artist who engages in a pluralistic practice and I would like to answer your question from that perspective. Just as there are infinite approaches in art production and perception, there are also infinite responses to what defines a work of art. In this ‘sea of definitions’, it makes most sense to me to describe how I define my own works of art: I strive to make artistic propositions, gestures, statements, expressions; the German word ‘Setzung’ brings it best to the point. These ‘Setzungen’ are invitations to contemplate and to participate. I am pleased if a participant accepts these invitations and she or he experiences an intellectual and/or emotional change within herself or himself.

To respond to your second question, to me tradition means something that has been passed on from the past onwards by an act of repetition. Repeats may be performed in the distant or recent past and could reach into the present time. If the latter is the case, it is a contemporary act, hence, there would be no contrast between a traditional and contemporary act in a performative sense. Within the context of the art world, this could manifest, for instance, by an artist who relates to the paintings of Marc Chagall. Such a relation would need a closer investigation. Questions may occur such as: Was the artist inspired by M. C.’s approach that triggered something – anything really – which made him develop his own practice? Does he in some way or another interpret M. C.’s paintings in his own art works? Lastly, is he imitating or appropriating M. C’s work? What interests me in my own practice is to be inspired by all sorts of different aspects and fields of life, including the art world.

Ralph Klewitz (Photo courtesy of Jerry Kennedy)

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a Master of Arts in Contemporary Arts Practice that you have received from the Bern University of the Arts: how has this experience of formal training impacted on the way you produce your art?

By the way, I would like to ask what your point of view is about formal training in Art, especially a certain kind of formal training that could even stifle an artist's creativity...?

Fortunately, I did not have to undergo a formal training in Bern – frankly, I would not have enrolled in this course if that had been part of the curriculum. My practice was the major focus of my MA program and from there I discovered questions that made me curious to answer. I am graCassandra Hanks 42

Ralph Klewitz

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Regarding other tertiary education models, such as course work based curricula or Master classes, the motivations to enrol in these programmes are individual and are based on students’ different backgrounds and learning preferences. Because of the multitude of institutional providers, students can choose course where they can thrive best. Depending on the student, a formal training may be just the right framework for him or her, whilst another would feel constrained in developing her or his artistic expression. It is my experience that from Master degrees onwards, art education would be most beneficial if it is practice-led and research-based, because most of the artists who enrol in these programmes, at this stage of their artistic careers, have already found their interests which they want to pursue within the art world.

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?

Technology provides me tools to work with, as a means to an end. That means, technology always stands behind my artistic process, never before.

Furthermore, I do not differentiate in how sophisticated a technological tool is. For me, a can of spray paint is as good a tool as a high-end video editing software as long as it serves to develop my artwork.

teful to my mentors who were guiding me to sources where I could find answers that somehow or the other influenced my artistic practice. I can say that I self-directed my practical and theoretical progresses, beside the very few compulsory academic events in which I had to participate. But even with those, when planning seminar series and colloquia, our lecturers considered the requests of us students.

I never plan an artwork nor do I set a completion date. I deliberately allow myself this luxury because I distance myself from the commercial art scene. Each piece takes as much time as I believe it needs to be completed. I thereby develop, deviate, pause or terminate each artwork intuitively.

In summary, the program coordinators had a good system in place where they enabled us as much freedom as possible by meeting the most minimal administrational requirements; it was a great environment to explore, experiment, learn and thrive.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from WZ49_Mont2, a recent video that our readers have started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. Would you tell us something about the genesis of this 43

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A still from WZ42_Mont5 (2012) Video, single channel (colour; stereo sound); 10:53 min.; loop

interesting piece? What was your initial inspiration?

Another work of yours on which I would like to spend some words is entitled WZ42_Mont5: a feature which has mostly impacted on me is your capability of deconstructing and reconstructing narratives. How much do you draw inspiration from our reality? I would like to ask you if in your opinion is personal experience an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process‌? Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

That was a fun process. I set-up a DSLR, played with my tablet and let the camera run for about half an hour. During that time, I did all sorts of things, but none of them were actual operations that meant to produce something useful. Moreover, I welcomed all accidental occurrences; it was like letting my fingers dance freestyle on the interface.

Afterwards, I viewed the results and discovered the sequence that I choose to become the visual track.

The selected recording span fascinated me because the video evoked a narrative that could be read openly.

Yes, my personal experience is a crucial part of my creative process: I am certain that I would not have created what I have created if I had led a different life. I guess each personal experience informs a certain creative process or vice versa, also outside the art context. Creation in the sense of Making is always a personal experience, unless a machine executes it. I believe this is an important factor to differentiate us as individuals: Everybody creates his/her life individually. This is particularly interesting and complex if you include

I then wanted a soundtrack that was anything but descriptive, dramatic or composed. In my archive, I keep sound and video footages that I have produced without intentions. A recording of an apple being eaten appealed to me; I guess it was the banality of the action with its obvious narrative that I found interesting in conjunction with the somehow irrational visuals.

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A still from WZ42_Mont5 (2012) Video, single channel (colour; stereo sound); 10:53 min.; loop

all aspects, the accumulation, production and application of theoretical knowledge and the living of the practical life as parts of one’s holistic, personal experiences.

allow my production its greatest flexibility, which has an instrumental effect on the final results. To be more specific about the composition of my soundtracks, often I start working visually but keep the soundtrack in mind during the process.

Thereby, I sometimes try out ideas on the go, or continue my random productions and recordings, both visual and auditory. So, often when I have completed a visual track, I am already well into the sound production process; if not in the making so at least in the thinking about the making. I then open the whole process again and allow changes in all directions that I am drawn towards; occasionally, this includes revisiting the visual track and making amendments; some of these have been quite radical. Finally, there always comes a point where I can stop the process, complete the artwork and let go of it.

Sound plays an important role in your pieces: so I would like to ask you if the process of composing the soundtrack allows you to get a mental preview of the final result... moreover, in these last 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 of view about this... do you think that an excess of such techniques could lead to a betrayal of reality?

Please let me answer those separately. Because I never plan an artwork, I also never have a final result or a preview in mind that I strive to achieve.

I produce intuitively, whereby I have in-between phases of reflection. It is important to me to leave the process open as long as possible because I then

S.B.D.D.N.E.G.I.,

What jumps at me is your enquiry if an excess2012 of digital technology may lead to a ‘betrayal of canvas, 70x70 cm, reality’. I experience the useoil of on digital instruments 45

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Ralph Klewitz

A still from WZ51_Perf4 (2013) Video, single channel (colour; stereo sound); 7:38 min.

such as portable and desktop devices have become an important part of my reality including my artistic production. In software terms, when I look at my role as an academician, I find it hard to imagine how life was before Google. Then again, I cherish the times before the spreadsheet came into my professional life. In summary, I experience digital technology and reality not as competing opposites but rather as a part of reality.

certain artistic interests that no other medium allows. I have a few ideas that I would like to negotiate through and with this medium in the near future.

I experience the artistic disciplines as blending into one another. They are various vehicles to make artistic statements and I use them playfully, sometimes also naively. I thus describe my artistic practice as post-disciplinary. Saying that, during my production I often limit the choice of media so that I can focus more on ‘what’ I am doing rather than ‘with what’ I am doing something. At the beginning of an artwork, I consider the former as more relevant. But reflecting on my body of work, I realise that the choice of the discipline(s) has always informed my pieces just as the tools and materials that I have employed did. I guess my artistic process is kind of a ping-pong game between ‘what’ and ‘with what’.

And I couldn't do without mentioning also WZ51_Perf4, that I have to admit is one of my favourite works of yours... You incorporate elements of performance: what has led you to develop this multidisciplinary approach and what direction do you see your work moving towards from here? By the way, while crossing the borders of different artistic fields, have you ever realized that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

It goes without saying that feedback and especially awards are capable of supporting an

Performance as an art form allows me to express

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A still from WZ51_Perf4 (2013) Video, single channel (colour; stereo sound); 7:38 min.

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 important for you is the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to who will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

luable memories of interesting discussions that have been triggered by my artwork. I wish to have more of these in the future.

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

You are correct: Winning an award is financially supportive and it is a form of recognition from the art world. For me it matters what kind of award it is. An artist can use strategies to become successful, similar to a business entrepreneur. This may compromise his art, or it may not. For sure is, that he needs to play the rules of the game.

Personally, I would not feel content to play such games because it would impose a restriction of some sort. Possibly it is ‘feeling good’ about what I am doing that is my greatest motivation. When I can remain that emotional state and get an award, that makes me happy.

Well, since January this year I am enrolled as a doctoral candidate to study towards a Doctor of Arts degree at Aalto University in Helsinki. The central part of it will be that I continue with my artwork production, which I will accompany with a written thesis. Surely, that will be a personal experience which will inform my artistic practice.

Besides that, I will continue my exhibition and publication practice. In that regard, I would like to say thank you for your thought stimulating questions.

Yes, I do care about my audience and I have va-

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Jolanta Gmur (Poland) an artist’s statement

„The limits of my language means the limits of my world” Following the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein we may conclude that naming „co- lour” is directly related to our knowledge of its subject. Due to our intuition it is possi- ble to interpret any abstract phenomena. Let’s make a theoretical assumption that the “colour” does not exist.

Identifying something as “blue” or “red” is just a matter of a specifc “code” which we use in order to communicate with one another. However, when contemplating the same object, do we absolutely see the same thing? Apart from the visualisation, the colour, influences the emotional and spiritual sphere of human nature. What is more, the colour has a great impact on the mood . It may determine one’s state of mind or the concept „ I like” or „ I don’t like”.

Colour can cause pleasure, however, it can lead to despair or melancholy. The idea of colour surround us. The world is a mixture of colours- codes, consisting of relation between the shape and the colour. There can be found an interaction between those dominant elements and the background. The interplay of colours builds a tension and the essence of the painting which deduces that all elements are flexible an changable. The painting is a proccess. The painting is a collection of elements which consist of colours and shape. The configuration of elements creates the composition – the integrity. Each element of the painting has a close connection with its function and its place. Colour exists only in relations with another colour. This reltionship of colours can be compared to the realtionship between man and women. All differences are noticable at the very moment of interaction.

The main concept is to discover the static point. It is important to find the exact propotion between them. What is more, the should be an awerness of a dominat point of colour and a suplemetary colur called „the breath”. When one become silent the another gets louder.

That is called” a compromise” painting. In my opinion, the human art is probably greater than the mind which created it. The proccess of painting allows me to use my time effectively not waisting it on madness. Each painting is a record of a moment which had taken place. It is a tangable sign of the times. Not only the painting registers my life, but also, gives me a sense of purpose. While painting the realistic pictures ( landscapes, selfpotraits) I keep myself at the distance to my expression. Then I have a chance to appreciate it better... Those combinations of shadow and light, the propotions….

And I am not irritated anymore when the outcome is differnt on the canvas than previously in my thoughts. What is in the head sholud be left there. I believe that we are not able to copy the beauty of the nature and the world, as we are not capable of transferring the thought s and the pictures from our heads on the canvas. It will be always imperfect. It is not easy to express the beauty of flying birds on the sky at the sunset while using only orange and pink. It might be kitsch. Having this consciousness I can paint at ease. Knowing my repentance with respect to the Absolute. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lublin-Lithography

Jolanta Gmur

lublin.lithography@gmail.com

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Bird, oil on canvas 30x30 cm_ 2012

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an interview with

Jolanta Gmur Hello Jolanta and 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?

Hi. I enjoy when the art surprises me. When it is amusing as well as ironic. For me, art is a sort of springboard from a typical life. On the other hand, it comments the reality which surrounds us. Whether it is an activist art, radical art, an abstract painting or a psychodelic video, it will always be a reflection of an actual human condition. We can accept it or not. It is of no importance since that the decision we make will define our position.

Surprisingly enough, the young generation often rebells against old-fashioned and fossilized art forms. The young negate everything which was sacred a moment ago. They rise a revolt and that fact provokes changes. The art rebellion against the art.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a Master of Arts that you have recently received from the The Faculty of Arts, Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin: how has this experience impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I would like to ask your point about formal training: I sometimes ask to myself if a certain kind of traning could even stifle a very young artist's creativity...

I found myself in Lublin quite by chance. The Faculty of Fine Arts UMCS wasn’t my ideal choice. However, I discovered there some interesting ateliers, people you share the same ideas with and that there I can express my creativity. Due to the fact that I have been studying graphics, I have an opportunity to learn more about graphical technique, starting from aquatints aquaforts, linocut, dry point finishing on lithography.

Studies was a period in my life where I could search for specific language in order to communicate. For a very long time I was engaged in video art and performance.

The main starting point in these ways of expression was a desire to seek for a movement- in the body, in music, an ephemeral actions as well as the act of painting. The form is only a suggestion to the outspoken content. In my

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final year of studies I went to France. It was a great adventure for me. This journey altered completely my sense of esthetic, being involved in art theory or perceiving the very art itself. Then I have already known that I will eventually return to Poland and finish my MA diploma in Lublin. As you can see, I am not a good example of an artist whose education has discouraged from creating:) Obviously, there are some situations where a professor puts a pression on his students. Nevertheless, it has a great impact on students’ personalities and their artmaking. Therefore, one must always stand on attention. Knowing when to say „ OK, it’s enough. I’ve seen here all I wanted. Now it’s time to leave.”

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?

It depends on the type of picture. For several years, I have been painting four seasons series. Each painting is related to the period of time of the seasons. Hence, I devote to one picture sometimes three or six months.

When creating a painting, I focus on an object which is actually a colour.

For example, if it is a landscape I am curious to know the combinations of colours in the space. I discover that the snow has millions purple undertones and the autumn is not always brownish. I believe that nature is so fabulous that we can find plenty of inspirations and themes to explore. One must be cautious not to fall into tendency or kitsch. Nevertheless, there are some paintings that could be painted within one day or even few hours. Those works of art exist in my head for some period of time and, I think about them and paint them on canvas. Then this right moment comes, some inner voice which drives me to painting. I sit in front of easel and I paint. In the meantime I may change my conception or colours. I surrender to it. Painting saves me in a way from madness and allows me to look backwards.

When I examine my paintings I often recall those moments in my life and myself. It is a sort of seismograph of my reality.

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Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works Run mad and Bird that have been admired by our readers in the starting pages of this article: I have to admit that I have been impressed with this work from the first glance... would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

I’m glad you’ve liked it. These artworks are very important for me. „Run mad„ was began before my journey to France. It was a moment when I set out for unknown leaving my place, family, friends, pictures – all. During that time I lied my canvas on the floor and started to paint. I wasn’t aware of fact that I poured all my fear and doubts. I didn’t think at all – I was just painting. What is more interesting, a lot of friends visited me at that time.

Each of them had a different interpretation of my artistic outcome. For example, they’ve seen a running boar, a run over squirrel or a storm. It was quite hilarious. It reminded me a Rorschach test.

In the end I finished that painting in the year 2013 while listening to the frantic play by Debussy. In fact, it sounded like a run over squirrel, running boar or a sun.

The artwork „Bird” on the other hand, was a sort of form release. It was an intensive period in my life when I’ve painted a lot. However, I had a strong feeling that all my paintings are „dense” and „heavy”. There was lack of lightness, breath and space. Thus a „Bird” appeared. Quite innocent and petit picture which title was rather suggestive.

Run mad, oil on canvas, 150x200 cm, 2013 And I couldn't do without mentioning No Title and especially Challenge, which I have to admit is one of my favourite piece of yours...

I would state that your creative process is capable of discovering such an Ariadne's Thread that links together different stories, establishing a channel of communication between apparentely "separated realities"...

Moreover, remembering the Wittgenstein's quote that you have mentioned in the starting lines if your artist's statement, 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

No title, oil on canvas, 70x100 cm, 2012

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Challenge, oil on canvas, 150x200cm, 2013

tion lectures at the UMCS University, we’ve discussed Henri Matisse „Woman in a Hat” 1904. It was created in extremely difficult moment of artist’s life. He was a bankrupt, lost his house and has no money. Nevertheless, it didn’t discourage him from painting. We’ve conducted a detailed anlaysis of the colour separition of that artwork.

Surprisingly enough, instead of a beautiful woman her portrayed an image of a disgusting lady. All of the students were astonished of the fact, that Matisse probably unconsciously committed his anxieties on canvas which were discovered only when decomposed into pieces. I sometimes wonder what is hidden behind my artworks…

By the way, I would like to stop for a moment to consider the "function" of the background in your pieces: most of the times, as in On and in Room II, 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 an artist could be to reveal unexpected Cassandra sides of Nature, especially of our Hanks inner Nature... what's your point about this?

disconnected from direct experience?

I truly believe that a life experience has a great impact on artist’s work. It is inseparable. Even though, the artist desire is not to unveil the emotional state , the choice of colours and the motif betray his/her psychological condition. In my mind each of us has an emotional sphere and sensitivity to colour and sound. This usually happens unconsciously. People intuitively associate certain feeling of a colour. And at this point also ask yourself: Is the colour exist only as a feature of an object and appear as a certain colour, or the colour itself is a carrier of feelings and emotions? While participating in the percep-

I guess there is a lot of truth in your theory. The art employs the language of metaphor. The idea is to search for a language that will express our emotions , events and relationships in a subtle way. These are the codes, the ciphered information. The theme is only an excuse to convey a 53

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On, acrylic on canvas, 30x30 cm, 2011

message. Another words, when painting my room do I really want to boast of my new wardrobe or modern carpet?

A visual of the dyptych Self portrait I & II that has particularly impressed me is the synergy between the apparently contrasting ideas of circularity suggested by the elliptical shape and the straightness of the lines on the border: this gives a sense of rhytm to the canvas: you used such technique also in another interesting pieces entitled I like Cezanne’a, with a quite different effect: in this case, the vertical shape suggests such a staticity ... by the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

As a matter of fact, I am at the moment of painting another ellipse self-portrait.There is certain dignity royalty, and static in ellipse. Those qualities inspired me to paint entirely unlike expressive autoportraits. I didn’t think of imitating the face and mimics. My desire was to create a contrastive to the canvas value of the artwork. Thus I intended to compose a harmony between static canvas and energetic portrait. „ I like Cezanne” artwork began in the same manner. Blue-white background formed a static which allowed me for the artistic

I like Cezanne, acrylic on canvas, 30x30 cm, 2011

madness. Visually it is coherent and let the the sight to be focused on colours and details. The crucial concept is to construct interrelationship between the colours. Green might be perceived Cassandra Hanks 54

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fascinated by red and I’ve produced a number of red artworks.

However, recently I was seduced by yellow. Nevertheless, I possess some of my favourite colours such as neapolitan yellow and ultramari-ne. I’m mainly using oil paints , although „ I like Cezanne” was painted by acrylic I guess it was a moment of indulgence…

Artmaking involves a series of inner and sometimes mysterious processes and during these years, while interviewing lots of artists, I have often been told of such therapeutic effects behind these processes... by the way, you are prolific painter, and your works seem to be filled with intense emotion: is painting like a release for you or is it emotionally draining?

It isn’t my intention to treat painting as an emotional release. This too superficial approach. It is known that emotions in a way determine artist to create, to express the inner state or exhibits the positive or negative feelings. If we reduce painting to a sort of ”emotional cocktail” it will eventually become trival.

There should emerge an idea , a certain concept. A purpose. There are a great deal of emotions within me which I depict in my artwork. It can be observed in a gesture and a combination of colours.

Cassandra Hanks

as totally different on a white background than on the blue one. As it can be seen, the colour is changeable quality. It is quite similar with the painting palette. It can be modified. I used to be

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Jolanta Gmur

Self - portrait I, 30x19,5 cm,oil on canvas, 2011

Self - portrait II, 30x19,5 cm,oil on canvas, 2011

It happens that I paint several painting simultaneously. The artmaking is great mystery. No one can understand it, unless you’ve painted once.

And if I want to release my tension I go on a training or fight with the boys:)

Each of us wish to be appreciated and wants to hear that his artwork is highly valued by others.

However, it shouldn’t be the main purpose of artmaking. It is a common knowledge that we are not able to satisfy everybody’s artistic taste.

It may happen that our works could be incomprehensible and with no sense. I paint for myself, hoping that the other person is able to decipher my message.

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?

The confrontation with the viewer is significant.

I am glad when my painting appeals to somebody. It pleases me when my artwork hangs either on wall at the gallery or at someone’s apartment. I’m proud when my mum is hanging my works at her house. It remind me of a funny Cassandra Hanks

The awards definitely delights the artist’s ego.

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I like Rembrandt, acrylic on canvas_30x30 cm_ 2011

story. Once, one of my paintings was lost at the atelier. It was rather petit and inconspicuous artwork. I’ve searched for it for a very long time, asking my friends but nobody have seen it. Half year later, I finally found it in one of the physics student’s room- he simply stole it from my atelier. I believe that was the best compliment.

Autumn, oil on canvas, 100x70 cm, 2012

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

Presently, I am at the point of painting a large canvas. I give myself some time- I am not in a rush. I balance between the thought and intuition, an action and observation.

I do experiment with the lithography and I set its limits. I had a strange feeling that something extraordinary is going to happen in my life. For the time being, I am organizing the litography exhibition in Poland. I have a vision to create the Polish Republic of Litography!

Jolanta Gmur, in her atelier

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ELaH (Belgium)

The lines and curves, very present in her creations represent the complex networks of desires; the construction of "me". Her main theme is the consciousness and the illusions : "We are not really what we are conscious of being."

The man who comes into the world has a completely unconscious mental apparatus and consisting solely of primary instincts. This device is exclusively governed by instinctual values of instant gratification, pleasure or avoidance of pain, consumption. The pleasure principle quickly collide with the natural and social environments, which make it impossible for an immediate and full satisfaction of the instincts. This shock then causes the development of a new principle of mental functioning: the reality principle. By integrating the reality principle, the individual acquires a psychological consciousness and reason, he learns to distinguish the true from the false, the good from the bad, the useful with the dangerous.

It's this reason and this awareness that will make us tend to become transparent, identical to the "others" to want to hide the excesses of our emotions or our dark sides. These rejections, sometimes consciously or unconsciously form our outward appearance to the world, our "shell" both prison and protection.

Elah: a short bio Born in Brussels in the 80s, Elah lived an unusual childhood that gave her a vision and behavior apart from other children. Difference she has long been covering for better fit. Otherness that ultimately gives her a clean look at what surrounds us and is reflected in her works. Sensitive and strong at times, cartesian but utopian, one of these mottoes is: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go where there is no path and leave a trail "(Emerson).

From a young age, she has always been very manual whatever areas with a preference for drawing and painting. Aesthete in the soul, does not mean she's forgetting the intellect and she's currently completing her final year of law school at the University.

Although, her most fertile inspiration always follows more cerebral periods.

Her technical is based on colors and effervescences what emerge. As so aptly said Pablo Picasso: "I do not paint what I see, I paint what I think," and here, everything is abstract interpretations of emotions and sensations which, depending the spectator in front of the canvas, vary and trigger feelings as diverse as subtle.

Cerulean, 1m x 1m (Photo by Connie B.)

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ELaH

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an interview with

ELaH Hello Elah and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries.

I would start this interview with our usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

This is a very good question which may have as many answers as there are thinking minds on this earth ! In my opinion, a work of art is a means of communication. It must identify emotions. This is the only « conditio sine qua non » for me ! The work may refer to existential questions as it may have as purpose to freeze forever a memory, a landscape, a historic step , belief , etc...

With contemporary art, technology evolves, it diverse and not necessarily require training. Art not only narrates but acts and asks questions ! Beauty itself asserts as subjective and a work need not necessarily be beautiful but should touch... Do not confuse both ! I can look at a work and doesn’t appreciate the level of technic or what it stands for but at the same time feel emotions ! A quote from John Galliano, « I prefer the bad taste to the complete absence of taste » , sums up the back of my mind !

ELaH (Photo by Damien J.)

What I like in contemporary art, which is less possible in other movements, it is the mysterious appearance it exudes. It opens more possibilities of interpretation and appropriation, however this does not mean that there is only an arbitrary imagination working; imagination is important and allows everyone to see the work based on his experience, his character and his present emotional state but the thread that guides this is the imagination of the artist. This thread that connects the artist and the viewer which results in a connection between the two, that's the magic of art ! It is not necessary to know exactly what is actually the connection between the artist and the viewer to feel sensations, emotions and twirl in our imagination. We can escape us from one thought

to the other only by the contemplation of a single image that calls others in our subconscious !

Contemporary art is more difficult to define so it can be difficult to understand a contemporary work. For my part, a contemporary work raises questions and should heckle but doesn’t have to be necessarily abstract. Artist creates with his work, a universe or a part of his own world...

Sometimes, he will do it consciously knowing full well where he wants to go and what he wants to express and sometimes it can itself have no idea what he will create by simply leaving guided by his own intuitions, emotions and subconscious.

At the end, the finished work is not an end but Cassandra Hanks 60

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drawing and painting , I would like to ask what's your point about formal training in Art an especially if in your opinion a formal training -or better, a certain kind of formal training- could even stifle an artist's creativity… ?

I did not really know my father and i have lived with my mother only at the age of 9 years and prior to that I lived with my grandparents with which i had a princess life despite some imbalance by the absence of a father and a mother every day. They taught me a lot and they were my « normality ». From an early age, I make music, classical dance and drawing.

Then I went back to live with my mother who had create a new family with the arrival of a stepfather and birth of a half-brother. This is from where I grew up and realized the reality... We were far from perfect family and my father was a vicious and tormented man. Years of ordeal began and it lasted until my majority. This sad and hard facet of life took me away from kids of my age with whom I had nothing in common.

However, a child is very strong, much more than adults ! We have at this age, ability to think positively and ignore the horrors that no adult couldn't endure... I continued drawing, music, but I walk away from classical dance to benefit dance contemporary. To this, was added diction and horseback riding. The riding was healthy, it really saved me from these difficult years. Contact with a horse and complicity that one can experience with this animal have kept me good and gave me a complementary sensitivity essential to my vision of life. With age, education and obligations more impressive, i did not have enough time... I dedicated my free time entirely to horse riding and little by little, I have not done anything artistic... However, i remained esthete at heart, remained frozen up hours before a canvas or even a landscape ! I enrolled at the university where i began studying law. And despite back problems that make me suffer daily, I am currently completing my Master.

the beginning of a questioning of what we feel and introspection which sometimes leads to adjustments in the way of seeing the world or the human condition.

Contemporary art has no limits and this sometimes leads to rephrase the question « what is a work of art ? » to « Why am I a work of art ?»

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any experiences that have particularly impacted on the way you currently produce your art? Moreover, since you have been very manual even at a very young age, in the areas with a preference for

There are only 4 years things have evolved artistically and in a very casual manner... I moved, with my boyfriend, in a loft in Brussels and the immaculate loft needed color, i wanted put a large 61

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ELaH

Conscience et Illusions 1.0, 1m80 x 1m25 (Photo by Connie B.)

canvas with lots of color and movements. I wanted to buy a work of an artist to have a single piece and not a poor reproduction. I had a limited budget but I was ready to put about 2 000 euros. I started looking but when i liked and fit my criteria , prices soared ! I began to lose hope and it is my mother, artist at these times, who said me : « Why don’t you try to do it yourself ? » She gave me an old wood board very heavy and very large ( 1m80 on 1m25 ) and I started ! The result ? It’s " Conscience et illusions 1.0 " ! I found forgotten sensations and i took so much pleasure to discharge my world on this wooden plate ...

Just playing with my dreams... 1m80 x 1m20 (Photo by Isabelle D.)

From there, i started to paint from time to time for my own pleasure without ever imagine making a career ! They are friends but also visitors as entrepreneurs coming to work at home who started talking to me about the canvas and ask me if I could make them a canvas... This is the « by word of mouth » who has made this possible and my site is the logical continuation of this story. I love when things come to an unexpected and surprising way.

I absolutely believe in fate even if I think that nothing is insurmountable and it does not take suffer his life but build what we aspire.

Training is always good to take even if i think especially to a global training. I had the chance to touch everything, whether sports, music, art, travel, and this is what is most important. What good formal training if your mind is empty? This 62

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learning from each other, of what surrounds us and indirectly of ourselves never ceases, it is a source of inexhaustible knowledge ! It must, I think, be able to challenge for change. From my side, i ask myself too many questions, it is sometimes difficult to live with it but it helps my worldview and my artistic personality ! Then, next to that, a technical training is a very good thing but it should not lose its personality on the way ! For my part , I intend to take drawing classes next year because I want it and that's the most important ! If there is one good activity in which to have fun, love what we do and what we learn is important, it's in the arts because if not, it feels and emotions do not go ...

, 80cm x 1m20 (Photo by Connie B.)

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, 1m x 1m

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?

Why is the sky blue? 1m16 x 86cm

There is no absolute rule, or a unique recipe that would apply to each work ! My techniques are different, i like using various types and do not limit myself to a particular style for a show. Instead, i love to give the spectators who come to see my work emotions, textures and different techniques.

What is the benefit, if, on twenty works, i use the same techniques, the same size, and i only changes the color ? For me neither ! After seeing two or three paintings, the viewer is bored !

exactly what i want and realize it, sometimes i go on an idea that evolves being created and then sometimes I go into a trance and I no longer really aware of the time and what I do ! Then I can sometimes remain frozen in front of my canvas for hours doing nothing except escape me in dreams or paint for hours to have no more energies.

I am very temperamental; I am recovering much in question and I quickly change opinion or direction ! I can restart a canvas two or three times because something displeases me comprehensively in my work. Some canvas are produced in a whole day or a whole night and other in several weeks... But I never work on several paintings at the same timeHanks ! I paint every day for Cassandra

The only thing that comes up in all my works, are the lines and curves: sometimes they are not visible to the naked eye but be sure they are there ! This is my signature, the absolute theme of my work : human nature and complexity.

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Each of my works is a part of me, a single party that will never be reproduced and could not even be duplicated! It takes me time, energy but gives me so much pleasure !

Moreover, when I paint a canvas for a client and I have to keep it several weeks after the conception while I know it is sold and it will go, it is very hard because longer I keep it with me, harder it’s difficult to disconnect with it! Some of my paintings I thought sale, are no longer available because as it is sometimes impossible to put a price on something you love so much ...

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from your series Cumulonimbus Polychromatique, that our readers have already admired in the starting pages of this article and I would suggest them to visit directly http://www.elah-contemporaryart.com/ en/album/cumulonimbus-polychromatique/ in order to get a wider idea of it... In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of these interesting pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

"Cumulonimbus polychromatique" represents a cloud, the cumulonimbus, which is the type of cloud that gives thunderstorms, lightning, rain,

weeks and then not touch a brush for months...

Some say I 'm not an artist because an artist can not live without painting and lives only for that, he needed every day... I do not agree with this narrow view of the artist's concept : we can be an artist in the soul without ever display his creativity on canvas... I 'm sure many people could do great things if only they dared to express their feelings at the end of themselves. The inspiration and creativity that comes and goes...

I can have dozens of ideas and painted several months in a row and then have no longer cravings or specific emotions to share for a moment. If I have to paint only to paint and go to my studio from 8am to 6pm every day as if it were an ordinary job, where would the brightness and the magic touch so beloved by my audience?

Cumulonimbus Polychromatique, 1m15 x 88cm

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Obviously Fizz, 1m x 1m (Photo by Connie B.)

and even in extreme cases tornadoes. This gray cloud carrying many worries and difficult times represent our difficulty in our life and in my work, lightning and rain arising are these splashes of color from one to another degraded in magical colors of a rainbow sky. These colors represent the joys and happiness that can arise even when we are desperate and we do expect more hard moments. It is an incentive to hope and courage because life is beautiful, can be beautiful. A beautiful quote from Dennis S. Brown sums it up: « The only Difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude »

(Photo by Connie B.)

in with I changed of direction in the middle of its conception. White and black are dominant and in the foreground, they represent the two opposites, good and evil, the addition or absence of color (in additive synthesis for scientific readers), but in the background and by a succession of layers of paint, there are those pearly color which shows that between black and white, there is an infinite range of colors. This canvas follows from the phrase « nothing is all black or all white », which expresses the fact that individuals are not made in one piece but a set of balanced tone...

Another stimulating series of yours on which I would like to spend some words is entitled mainly produce abstract art, how much do you draw inspiration from our reality? 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?

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than another. It has a vital role in our character even if it does not make all. It has a vital role in our character even if it does not make all. So the person who will happen to create a work of art that interpellates and attracts the public while being disconnected from his own experience and therefore of his personality doesn't exist for me.

Is it even possible ? I can not conceive...

Contrariwise, I'm sure we do not always really understand what drives us to take such a decision rather than another. There are 3 « me » : how i perceive me, how others perceive me and what i really am !

I was impressed with the lines of your artist's statement where you explain the concept of the reality principle, through whom the individual acquires a psychological consciousness and reason, he learns to distinguish the true from the false, the good from the bad, the useful with the dangerous...

Even though I'm aware that this might sound a bit naif, 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

and what represent our « me deep ». But what I love above all is the interpretation by the audience : a particular person , Jason Zavers who has authorized me to quote , wrote « he depth is .. you've Developed . incredible . i feel as though I'm flying ( as a bird ) through the downtown section of a major city . Then , with a blink , and a glance Towards the upper left area , I'm apart of a peaceful aspen and poplar forrest . beautiful work ... what an experience to view! brava! ». This is not my basic inspiration but this inspiration is fresh and exquisite. I love having the feeling of public!

Regarding personal experience as what we are, that we forge and leads us to be a person rather

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of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

I totally agree with you, this is one of the roles of an artist and more of a contemporary artist to examine and raise points of reflection in order to reflect the public about itself but also on whats its surroundings and its place in this world. It is the job of a lifetime and beyond, we would not have gone around the issue as there is to say, to debate and philosophize ! However, we must find a balance between reflection and dictat because the work must not be seen as a universal truth imposed on all, but more like an interrogation, a moderate question. After all, there must also be an aesthetic and pleasant side and if the work is too full of innuendo and inflicted concepts, it can emit an unpleasant waves and do the opposite effect by blocking from the outset the individuals.

Love Hurts, 1m x 1m (Photo by Connie B.)

And I couldn't do without mentioning Why is the Sky Blue? and especially your recent series entitled "Cerulean" 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?

" Why is the sky blue? " Is one of the few canvas that absolutely no hidden meaning (at least so conscious) ! These are my emotions speaking in the music I listen while painting ( Enya in the occurrence !) . Subconscious and the desire to associate colors‌ Sometimes it does not take major themes to paint but only the feeling :-).

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Why is the sky blue? 1m16 x 86cm (Photo by Connie B.)

softens the square of 1 meter by 1 meter form . I have not yet decided if I was going to sell it, I think so but I would first like to enjoy a moment because it resource me tremendously !

It goes without saying that positive feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if the expectation of positive feedback 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?

Cerulean is also one of my favorites ! I love the blue even though I love all the colors in general...

I 'm very rarely works with only few colors . «

I am very touched by the reviews and comments from the public and I am listening to what they say in relation to my work. Not to do something that they will enjoy more but to improve myself in what I do if I find justified their remarks.

Someone told me : « This is great, I love what you do », of course I 'm happy but it does not feed my thirst for knowledge or for learning .

depth is here required! It was designed in the same spirit as my main theme « We are not really what we are conscious of being » with the white and black lines and curves that represent the will to hide us from the eyes of each others and the different shades of blue that fight this « normality » in trying to drown them in the depths of azure , cyan, indigo and the other present colors.... not a battle between good and evil but between conformity and individualism. It is a photo which reveals only a few of his secrets and has a lot of details and different shades , yet it is very light in a room, almost aerial ! The rippling lines soft-

But someone who tells me what he felt when he saw my work and what he imagined or what he interpreted in my work is even more rewarding because it allows me to have a new look on my work and sometimes i come to the conclusion that this person is closer to the unconscious perspective that is mine and that I had not been able to decipher ! Amazing isn’t it ?

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I am fortunate to have studied that will allow me to properly gain my life and not depend on public or artistic « tendencies » of the moment. This allows me to be honest with myself and what I want to do. However I have nothing against the idea of a collaboration with my audience. Besides, I often performs works « on command ».

I do not like this term because it is derogatory... In fact, I go to the prospective client and discuss the size, colors regarding its home and where the canvas would be. If and only if I am inspired and I am sure the client understands my world and that we are on the same wavelength, then only at that moment, I decided to make the canvas « on order ».

But it stresses me a lot because I'm afraid to disappoint the client when I am in this situation. This has never happened but I 'm like that; because I wish in these cases, reach a specific result and for an artist, it is not always easy or even possible. There are so many factors that play into the success of a painting ! Against it by a vote of confidence that warms my heart ! And when you receive a mms the day after the delivery of the canvas with a photo and a comment that says, « My first breakfast with your work, I love it », the reward is there ! :-) Aside from these works « on order », I do not think to to whom will enjoy my Art... It is not part of my considerations !

However, I try to adapt myself to my clients. I do not make volunteering but it happens to me to be affected by the attitude of a person who does not have the budget and to make a move because I prefer that my work be with this person than with a another. Because at the end... It's you that choose the canvas or the opposite ? I could not answer this question so some paintings seem to have a clean soul!

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

Currently I am finishing my memory as part of my university studies so I have no exposure expected. I will do it, without a doubt, in summer when I will graduate. I had several proposals for exhibitions abroad but now, with my studies, I do not have the opportunity to travel abroad.

I also created a collection of covers for mobile with parts of works and they will soon be available on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ELaH.Contemp.Art. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express myself in your magazine and I wish all who read it a wonderful day because as it was said above, it's all in the attitude ! :-)

An interview by peripheral_arteries@dr.com

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(photo by Damien J.)

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Marcel Burger (The Netherlands)

an artist’s statement

Marcel Burger is a self-taught artist. Started drawing and painting in 1984. At the time, mainly engaged in airbrush.

Won numerous awards (including trips to Milan and New York) in the course of time with this airbrush work.

Been a participant in several exhibitions. In 2012 started painting in acrylic paint, on canvas.

Current style: colorful, modern, abstract with the occasional touch of pop art. The original designs are characterized by their own power, simplicity and balance.

Lover of contrasting and often primary colors. From profession graphic designer, for a cosmetics manufacturer.

Co-responsible for overall design and appearance of this company.

Marcel Burger Anna Paulowna The Netherlands

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an interview with

Marcel Burger Hello Marcel 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?

Tough question to begin with! In my opinion a work of art does something with your feelings. It may even be able to change your mood. In any case art will trigger emotions and is very personal. Something you are truly ecstatic about does nothing to somebody else…

Contemporary art is art that is created now. It’s difficult for me to give a feature that would mark the contemporariness of a piece. Maybe the way it was created, by techniques or materials of our modern times like: digital art or mixed media.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any experiences that have particularly informed your art practice? Moreover, as a self-taught artist, what's your point about formal training? Do you think that artists with a formal education have an advantage over self-taught artists? 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...

Marcel Burger with Little Secret

As a child I started drawing, most often using crayons or ink. No colors were used then, just black, white and gray tones. Later on I discovered airbrush. I made portraits of shiny, colorful objects like cars. Airbrush is very time consuming but fun to do! Like I already mentioned I started using more bright colors with airbrush. At the time I made some oil paintings as well. Darker colors for these landscape paintings were used. Only recently (for the past two years) I’m painting with acrylics. Creating your own style is quite a challenge but I’m confident that I’m on the right track now. Painters who inspired me are: Burton Morris, Sonya Paz and Martina Shapiro. I try to express myself through paintings which are colorful and bright. By using as much contrast in colors as

possible I make my artwork stand out. I did follow some formal drawing courses in the past, but they were more in the field of advertising and graphic design. As for my paintings I can say that I’m really a self-taught artist. I think formal training can be useful to learn more about the different techniques to express yourself in art. Basic techniques like creating shadows, perspective drawing and what materials to use may be helpful.

I don’t really feel that artists with formal education have an advantage. It’s all about your own creativity and the ability to express yourself Cassandra Hanks 74

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make a few sketches on paper with (color)pencils.

Sometimes I draw a few sketches on the computer as well. Thereafter I sketch the outlines on (3D) canvas: first with a pencil, later on with a thick black marker. Then I start with the colors, roughly following the sketch. In the end I might change some of the colors to get a better contrast. About the materials I use: I recently discovered the ‘Expert’ line in acrylic colors from the Dutch mark ‘Talens’. Due to its variety in pigments I’m able to achieve the right color and contrast ratios in my art. As for brushes, I only use ‘Van Gogh’ brushes. They work the best for me!

Time spend per artwork varies and is hard to determine. Preparation takes roughly one day; painting can range from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. I’m not a full-time painter; I still have a job for four days a week!

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works entitled Artgirl Blue and Artgirl Flower 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 inspiration?

'Artgirl Blue’ is a piece I painted early 2012. This acrylic painting measures 60x60x4cm and is painted on 3D canvas. The image was drawn straight from my imagination. I wanted to keep her pure and sim-

through your own ideas. Maybe training could indeed stifle an artist’s creativity, I’m not sure...

Like I said before, try to hold on to your own creative ideas.

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?

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ple but with bold lines and colors that stand out.

‘Artgirl Flower’ was made a while after ‘Artgirl Blue’. The painting has the same measurements as ‘Artgirl Blue’. The inspiration for this piece of work was a black and white photograph.

It was the first time I used the ‘Expert’ acrylic colors I mentioned before. You can see the difference in color strength when you compare this painting with my earlier work. When you take one of my latest paintings ‘Little Secret’ (80x100x4cm) you will notice the difference for sure.

Most of the painting of yours that we have selected show a stylished face of a girl, a theme that is very recurrent in your works: would you like to tell us something about the imagery you draw from? 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 a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I really like to draw and paint stylized faces of girls. Maybe in the future I’ll use a bigger part of the female body to paint in my own style. I’m not really sure yet. Sometimes I can get inspired by pictures from magazines or images from the internet. More than once I got my inspiration through daily life.

I’m sure that a creative process can be disconnected from direct experience. It’s not always necessary to experience things yourself. I believe when you empathize with people this may result in inspiration for new paintings.

Another pieces of yours that has impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words are entitled Why? and Silence... More-over, I would like to stop for a moment to con- sider 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 infor-mations & ideas are hidden, or even "encryp-ted" 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?

It’s great to hear that you’re impressed by my paintings ‘Why’ and ‘Silence’.

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Silence

‘Why’ is one of the first paintings I painted in my new, abstract style. I made this artwork in 2011, after a few portrait studies. ‘Silence’ I painted a little while ago. As you may notice the style and color usage have some similarities with my other paintings, but the subject is a bit different. I did that on purpose, more like some kind of experiment.

I was trying to evoke some different comments on my painting and I succeeded. Some people had negative feelings about the painting, like the girl was retained. Or the girl was having a black eye.

It was never intended as a negative thing, more like a painting which has some slight (erotic) tension in it. Like I said in the beginning; art is very personal and has a different effects on people...

I’ll have to say that the backgrounds in those paintings don’t really have an intended hidden or ‘encrypted’ function. For the background of ‘Silence’ I particularly liked to use the color red with a dark red shadow, because it’s such a strong color to make the portrait stand out. Some people told me they do see the color as a ‘beware’ color, so in that sense the background does have a function.

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The Girl

One of the features of your pieces that has mostly impacted on me is the way you have been capable of Besides being a painter, you are a professional graphic designer for a cosmetics manufacturer: I would take this occasion to pose what are in your opinion some of the challenges for a sustain-able relationship between the business and arts?

First of all I must say I like my job as a professional graphic designer very much. In my opinion it’s an advantage for my artwork. Because as a graphic designer I work with colors, contrast, different styles, etcetera. I work for four days a week and try to spend the rest of the time as much as possible on painting. I think business and art can work together well. But I feel that business shouldn’t be the most important drive behind creating art. It has to come from the heart. Though it’s satisfying when you are able to sell some of your paintings (most of my paintings are for sale...) but the road to the final result is as, if not more, important too me. It’s very nice when all the pieces start falling together and you see the end result nearing. I often listening to music when painting it’s something I enjoy and gives me an extra ‘drive’. So for me the pleasure of creating a piece comes first.

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On the other hand it must be awesome to paint for a living by selling your artwork!

During your career you have exhibited your artworks in several occasions and moreover you have been also awarded... 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?

I must admit I really enjoy exhibiting. I just recently (last year) started to exhibit my work. It’s really nice to hear people talking about your artwork. Noticing all the different views people have about certain aspects in my work is interesting. Most feedback I receive is positive especially on the bright colors and contrasts.

Being rewarded is something that surely feels good and makes you proud! For example I won an exhibition by participating at an online art-contest last year. The exhibition will take place in the Gallery of the 5 star Pulitzer Hotel in Amsterdam. I’m really looking forward to that!

I don’t feel that I’m being influenced by the expectation of- or getting an award. What I did notice is that feedback of my audience is very important to me. For example, when I start a new painting (or sometimes even a new sketch) it’s important for me to know what people that are close to me think of it. It’s fun to know what my wife and kids think about it, but I also like the opinion of my dad who’s at the age of 75... I think I can say my artwork is appealing to young and old.

I really enjoy using Facebook (www.facebook.com/marcel.burger.1253) to post different develop stages of my work and later the end result online. Doing this enables everybody who is interested to see the development of the painting. I on the other hand, like to read the comments people post about my work. So yes; feedback is important to me!

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Marcel. Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Chamileon

My future plans... I would like to paint as much as possible to expand and continue to develop my own style more. I’m sure I’m not there yet, but I think I found the right track now.

Maybe I will compete in additional contests, I don’t know yet.

What I would really like to do is to do more exhibitions. To be part of exhibitions in the Netherlands will be fun for sure. Chances are I will exhibit in Amsterdam and/or Groningen at Artfairs this coming year. The following step will be to exhibit in foreign countries. The contact and plans are already there. Next month I will have some meetings to discuss these plans. You never know, we’ll see!

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Larry Williams (Canada) An artist’s statement

Since the beginning my work has been about connecting to landscape and its elements. Landscape is fittered through sensory experience both emotional and physical. Sometimes there is an attempt at analytical description - something more realistic but at some points th is can dissolve onto abstraction. The images from most of the past decade were painted on glass or wax and then transferred to canvas using a technique I have devoted over many years. My early images suggested air photos or satellite images smooth surfaces with sharp lines and vast open spaces. upon closer inspection the images seem more abstract less open to interpretation- blurred lines, shapes moving in and out of focus - an ever changing sense of scale. Having lived in a Inuit village for ten years -in an isolated arctic environment allowed my to access a sense of timelessness.

It allowed my to see the landscape reveal itself at its own pace - slowing me down and recognizing subtle changes in forms and colours. The synchronicity of the natural world with certain elements of human nature is in many ways intangible.

This new body of work has its roots in my interest in developing a process than has developed over the years and in continuing my exploration of elements of nature and their possibilities in new visual forms. I had been working on a flat two dimensional surface for years, where any texture was purely visual. I needed to feel the surface again and to feel the substance of the materials I was working with. Twenty years ago I had been experimenting with acrylic paint and wax making a mild and applying paint and building up a surface and peeling off an image. I revisited this technique. There is a history of artists relying on certain chemical neutral processes like erosion and condensation as an a tool in their image making. Empathizing with the materials- I constructed works using clay , wax and paint - An arduous process which can take many months.

Using the inherent qualities of the materials I would begin with a certain idea or element and allow the process to take over. It could be a rock formation or root structure that is transformed through the materials. The cyclical nature of biological and geological processes gave rise to my investigations. This recreation by scraping prodding manipulating material could sometimes be absurd but other times more rational. The notion of being at one with nature is something more profound than a simple sentiment.

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WAVE, 2012 acrylic 40 x40 x 2 cm 2

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an interview with

Larry Williams Hello Larry, 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 artwork as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

There are a thousand answers and the best I can give is that it something that the artist creates that offers an opportunity to share the spirit of the insight that gave rise to the work..

Anything traditional can be contemporary if there is a shared element that connects the present with that tradition. A beautifully made quilt with all the traditional technique that art form offers can be seen as contemporary if it speaks to the present. Sometimes a connection is made that is not apparent and a liaison appears and a relationship is made.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? By the way, I think that it's important to underline that you have lived for many years in a Inuit village, and you have explained it in the starting lines of your artist's statement the way this has impacted on your perception of Nature and consequently on your process... do you think that this has in a certain sense substitute the experience that an artist could do -for example- in a school?

Without a doubt the experience for me in this isolated context was as valuable or even more so than my academic experiences. The academic setting allows you to situate yourself within a certain cultural environment and it can within itself generate new production. I think it gave me something to rub against but I just didn’t have it within me to be abrasive.

I remember lying on the ground at - 30 degrees and watching the wind form this delicate wave out of snow. I lay there for 45 minutes just watching this phenomenon. The richness of that experience is more than just being outside in nature but to being present to receive such an experience. I think I have found that this presence - this Cassandra Hanks 82

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authentic experience- is what I use to push my work. I don’t think I was open in an academic context to do that but nature allows me the opportunity. I presently live in a small rural village in the Gaspesie in eastern Quebec where we have a small wood behind our home which provides me with an infinite possibilities of discovery and inspiration.

My meanderings there always bring some new insight.

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 process is quite arduous . The idea for a specific can linger for a while and then when there is enough of an image or form I begin . Either in clay or in combination with some natural elements. A relief is made and then a wax mould of the piece is carried out.

The colours are layered in slowly and can take up to six months to a year before completion. The resulting paint relief is then separated from the wax mould. The surface is cleaned off and then re-worked to create the final product.

The treatment of the surface is very important in each stage of the process- using heat and cold and various kinds of erosions take place which give the weathered feel to the surfaces of my work. The final image does not ways match my original vision as something can happen within the each stage that can take the piece in another direction. The physical demands push me to the limit at times and its takes all my strength to maintain patience.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would start from CREEPER and WAVE, a couple of interesting works 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?

The idea for Creeper was with me for while. I would often go for walks up North along the rivers and lakes where the freezing of water and ice would cause these pressure points where there would be outcroppings of ice blocks pushes out. This feeling of structural element

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CREEPER, acrylic 65 X 45.5 X 3 cm, 2012

A feature of SOURCE that has mostly impacted on me is the stimulating synergy between the apparently contrasting ideas of circularity suggested by the circular shape and the straight-ness of the lines on the background: this gives a sense of rhythm to the piece... I can see that the circularity is a recurrent theme in your works as in PERRENNIAL and GROWTH...

in nature would repeat itself in rock formations that I would see here is along the shores of the Saint Lawrence and inland as well. I enjoyed the idea of this unseen pressure that could manipulated the surface landscape in such an intense fashion. Wave too came upon me while in own garden.

Taking some natural elements and reconfiguring them in a somewhat absurd way creates a certain energy that permeates the piece.

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is a very important part of my work. I see my reconfiguration of natural elements as a way of sifting through or scratching way the surface of things trying to get at some truth about their nature and about our own.

There is something that I hope is intrinsic within each piece that suggest something profound can be found in the simplest of forms. It reminds me of the paintings of El Greco -where that inner light or impulse that illuminates- nature and compels us to find meaning from within. I wouldn’t necessarily say a spiritual feeling but one that parallels that. I mentioned before how changing or reorganizing the structure bring new meaning to forms - I think landscape and its elements reach us in different ways and in the act of creation these can be resourced. I try to be open to anything. Eva Hesse an artist whose work I admire was in need of a little advise her friend, Sol Lewitt wrote in support a letter encouraging her “Stop it and just DO” ,“try and tickle something inside of you, your

SOURCE, acrylic 40 x 40 x 3 cm 2012

parent in so many geological, environmental, and ecological processes. Within the process there is a sense of movement of energy and substance .

I am aware of the difficulty to make an image but I think with each work and in nature you can sense this journey in the surface and forms and realize their presence. The energy realized is necessary for the final product. But also the element of time leaves open possibilities to change and transform.

As you have remarked in your artist's statement, the landscape, the isolation - suits you.

It generates your production so I couldn't do without posing you a simple question: what is the significance of the landscape and -in a wider meaning, of the background- in your Art practice? I can see that it's not simply a passive background... I'm sort of convinced that some information & 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?

PERRENIAL, acrylic 40 x 50 x 2 cm 2012

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GROWTH, acrylic 40 x 40 x 2 cm 2012 would like to spend some words is entitled THRIVE: I have to admit that this is one of my favourite work of yours.. there's an idea of plasticity that pervades the shapes... and even though this might sound Hanks a bit naif, I would go Cassandra

’ weird humour.’ A certain absurdity can bring a freshness to a work. Something unexpected , say a mark or a shape that is original.

Another interesting piece of yours on which I

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ving into the weightlessness of the sky or this mass coming out of softness of water. I sometimes think about if the physically work could be done by others but for me It is an vital part of the process where things can be discovered and used to add to the power of the image.

Living in a small rural village far from any kind of an art centre makes challenging a career in Art: it goes without saying that continuous feedbacks - and especially positive ones- are capable of supporting an artist... I was just wondering if the expectation of a positive feedback 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 sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

… that’s a lot to think about.. my audience can be found here or elsewhere -I do my work trying to make connections. There are times when others get a sense of what I am trying to do and that inspires me. I don’t know if I aim for a specific audience or market ( the market for my work is larger elsewhere but thats more a question of numbers) The business side of art is difficult especially when your isolated but I think with new technologies there are possibilities-

GROWTH, acrylic 40 x 40 x 2 cm 2012 as far as to say that the light tone on the background suggests snow which is a crucial part of the landscape you watched.. 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?

This article being one- to bridge the vast open spaces separating work from viewer. I want to have the time to do more work and definitely if I made some money that would help but at the same time the work will get done regardless. I will show it when I can. I will let nature take its course.

I personally find it impossible to be disconnected it is within the creative process that I want to be empathetic - I am trying to push the two together.

I remember once I had the opportunity to see the Sistine chapel . It was an incredible experience - a day or so later I happen to be flying in a small plane over Hudson Bay back to Inukjuak ( site of Nanook of the North ) and the sky is blue and the ice sheets are giving me a spectacular display. I took a few pictures and in the following months I did several works on glass trying to reconnect to those moments. I managed to develop the photos much later but they confirmed my sense of what I saw and how my working through an idea and process together was successful. In Thrive I wanted to push this elements of weightof the mass landscape mo-

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Larry. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for youprofessionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I have made some inquiries and hopefully will be showing somewhere soon. You can check my website : larrywilliamsimages.com for any announcements. Its back to work in the studio- I have started some slight leaner landscapes and will be scrapping and scratching trying to find my way through. I think the most important is to keep working and working and working …….

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Jodie Woodcock (USA) An artist’s statement

I would say my art is mostly abstract. I like different, always have. The way I create my work haschanged since I started painting, I have changed.

an artist’s statement

I started painting in 2010 and for awhile I could hardly stop. My ideas and Visions just flowed out of me. I been into drawing since I was young, but never really thought to paint till I was 37.

I now have over 100 paintings of all sizes and different types of canvas. I have used acrylics,watercolors, oils,posted, and my favorite, spray paint.

When people see my art and see something they like, I find that most rewarding.

Jodie Woodcock

Jeanie In A Bottle

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Jodie Woodcock

an interview with

Jodie Woodcock Hello Jodie 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?

In my opinion, art its life at its fullest and at its lowest.

It is our unique personal view full of emotions of our lives. The features of an art piece could be whatever stands out the most from one person to another.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there particular experiences that have impacted on the way you produce your artworks? By the way, I have read that you started painting about two years ago and that in a so in a so little of time you have over a hundred paintings...

Growing up I was terribly shy and troubled. I am bipolar, have high anxiety and ADD. I struggled in life to have consistency. In 2010 I had a major breakdown/breakthrough Period. It became so clear then what I needed and wanted to do with my life.

The painting and drawing, which make me happy, became my goal for the rest of my life.

Jodie Woodcock

my head and spark something. So I paint. When I pick up canvas I can not hardly wait to get home and paint. I'll have at least three colors and black and white, screen and pallet knife to start.

Drawing here and there became painting and discovered that out just may be my calling. It feels stop as long as I have paint, canvas, and a pencil.

I do have to admit that when I run out of paint it makes me upset, so I'll draw a lot.

Sometimes I'll have an idea of what I want to do but it often times does not turn out to be anything really. Just a great design. How long iffy takes me depends on the paint I use. For instance spray paint can go pretty fast. I crabby easily do give pieces of poster board size 11x14 and a couple canvas size 16x20 in one night.

Acrylic on the other hand will take about an hour or two per piece.

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?

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your recent and interesting works Clouds and Jeanie in A Bottle, that our readers have admired in the starting pages

I mostly "fly by the seat of my pants" when I paint.

I could be on the couch and get a color scheme in

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creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I have painted through all emotions, to music, in silence, but mostly with my kids around while they create as well. My technique is different from one piece to the next. I'll see the colors and create an image as I go.

My personal experiences have impacted my work but is not always the case. I create because I feel the need to create and put an image down from my head trying to recreate it.

You are a very prolific painter, and your works seem to be filled with intense emotion. Is painting like a release for you or is it emotionally draining?

Painting is definitely a release of some sort. I can not hardly wait to get it done so I can see the finished product of my ideas or vision. Mostly I like to see the response I get from one of my paintings.

Water, encaustic, oil paint, paper on wood

Eclipse

of this article: would you tell us something about the genesis of these pieces? What was your initial inspiration?

Cloud was done with spray paint on canvas. Jennie in a bottle was done on poster board with spray paint as well. The two were some at different times of my spray painted pieces. With cloud I pushed the paint with the spray; with Jeannie I gobbedthe paint and moved the paint around. I try to use black or white to offset the colors in most of my paintings.

Your paintings combine a beautiful mixture of abstract forms with realistic elements: Can you talk about the development of your techniques and imagery? Moreover, 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 95

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Ellen van der Schaaf

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And I couldn't do without mention Fire and Eclipse which I have to admit are one of my favourite work of yours... would you lead us through the development of these stimulating pieces? By the way, how do you decide upon which materials you incorporate within a painting?

Five is spray paint and eclipse was done with oil pastels. At the beginning my spray painted pieces I would like up some colors and just start creating. I would meld them together heavily and then maybe move the piece around to create a design. Spray painting is fascinating because you never know what tort going to end up with.

The eclipse painting was intentional on the other hand, which I don't do often. For awhile that's all I was drawing so I decided to try painting it. The pastels turned out to be the one I liked Most. IPut the basic design the use my fingers to create the effect of an eclipse the way I see it.

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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?

Peripheral arteries it's the first to give me the opportunity to show my works to a wider audience.

I am honored that you feel my art is worthy to be seen. Thank you.

I love audience feedback and when I receive suggestions I incorporate them into my work to grow as an artist. When I see that someone enjoys my work or sees something special in it it means the world to me.

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Solar

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?

I love to create my art as well as getting reaction from People.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Jodie. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Have you a particular project in mind ?

My future plans are to have a gallery of art and such. I also have plans to make frames,furniture and such. I'm most excited, and can not hardly wait, to get a garage,welder and other equipment and create steel sculpters of my designs. I have a trunk full of designs. I love to weld along with painting and drawing; so to be able to do all that the rest of my life would be a blessing.

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