Creative Sugar - Dec 2014 by Creative Sugar Magazine

CREATIVE SUGAR D E C E M B E R 2014 - A N E M E R G I N G A R T I S T M A G A Z I N E

THE FALL ISSUE

C O V E R A R T BY ESTELA CUADRO ARTIST DIARY FROM E S T E L A O N PA G E 14

Winter 2014 CREATIVE SUGAR

Creative Sugar Issue 11 Editor-in-Chief Sabrina Scott Photographers Raisa Kanareva Chris Po-Yen Lee

FROM THE EDITOR

Writers Adina Bernstein Carol Enguetsu Lefevre Estela Cuadro Ignacio Alexanders Jeff Grunthaner Kenneth Lundquist, Jr. Sabrina Scott

It ’s December. Stay warm and snuggle if you get the

Makeup Alex No Ricardo Delgado

artists.

chance go. This issue

includes three Artist Diaries,

giving you a peek into the world of three amazing

Wardrobe Styling Alex No Jin Hsu Midori Lau

This issue is dedicated to our friends in Russia who

Hairstylist Katelyn McGinn

themselves creatively.

do not have the freedom to completely express

Art Direction Sabrina Scott

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Contact: info@creativesugarmagazine.net web: creativesugarmagazine.net facebook.com/creativesugarmagazine twitter.com/creative_sugar © 2014 Creative Sugar Magazine All rights to art, words, photos, design and copyrights are the property of the Artist. All work in this publication may not be used without the Artist’s consent. New York, New York

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ART

ARTIST DIARY - CAROL ENGUETSU LEFEVRE

ARTIST DIARY - AMY GUIDRY

ARTIST DIARY - ESTELA CUADRO

BADPUSS WORLD PREMIERE

BY SABRINA SCOTT

RED DAWN FASHION EDITORIAL RAISA KANAREVA & ALEX NO

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ULTUR

MILKFED KID 32 BY JEFF GRUNTHANER GABINO ABRAHAM CASTELAN BY IGNACIO ALEXANDERS

BOOK REVIEW BY ADINA BERNSTEIN

COLOR PARADISE FASHION EDITORIAL CHRIS PO-YEN LEE

THE PYRE OF HISTORY: EVAN BROWN BY KENNETH LUNDQUIST, JR.

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ARTIST DIARY drawing the way: practicing art with zen By carol enguetsu LEFÈVRE I’m an artist from Brazil. To write about my work, I need to talk a bit about my life. I’ve studied architecture in the university but art was always a part of my life. At that time I did courses of drawing and watercolor with important artists in Brazil. I’ve participated in collective exhibitions in the main museums of São Paulo, MASP (the Art Museum from São Paulo) and MAC (Museum of Contemporary Art). After graduation I decided to work as an architect, but I kept drawing and painting. After a while, I was not happy with how my life was going. I felt that working in the architecture office was boring and I decided to work with graphic design and illustration. I also started my practice of yoga. I felt that yoga helped me to be more present in my body and mind. After a couple of years practicing yoga, I went to a Zen Yoga retreat and it was a turning point for me. But actually I felt that I found something that has been always here. After Zazen (the zen meditation), I felt that my perception was amplified and my body and breathing was similar to how I usually felt after drawing. I also realized that there are many aspects in common between the arts and zen. When I learned watercolor, it was the contemporary approach of that, and it is based in the principles of brush stroke, line, point, and stain. It is the importance of each element and also how the brush touches the paper. Also, you can’t change what is on paper, just work with what’s there. Zen is about how you can be really present in the present, conscious of your body and mind. And the work with watercolor is also about this presence, and how there’s no “undo”. Zen is a constant practice, every moment you return your attention, and in this constant

exercise you may be able to be in the present. But if you think that you are special and that you may have achieved something, you already lost it. In parallel is a constant practice that makes drawing and watercolors come loose, and with that, the eye, the hand and the subject that is painted can integrate. Who observes who? And who paints what? What manifests when we are really integrated in what we are doing? When we observe reality and can see things as they really are and not as we think it should be, this is Zen, or this is Art, or simply, this is Life. Another important aspect is that I love to travel and explore new realities. And drawing during travels is a great way to be in the places. It’s about the timing of drawing and how people interact, and how you can see more things. So, together traveling and drawing has been a new way to explore the places where I’ve been and also to deepen my art. In 2010 I traveled to Turkey and at the time was reading UJI, “The time being”, a text by Master Dogen, the founder of Zen in Japan. It was at that millennial scenario, exploring the ruins and experiencing that landscape, that I was feeling another dimension of time. After that trip I could not fit in anymore in my dayto-day work-home-work routine and I began organizing a new journey for me. It took a while to see how it would be, but it came. In 2013, I started a journey through the United States and Mexico with the purpose to deepen my practice of Zen and Yoga. I also reported the journey through my blog where I write and draw on that experience. Initially I spent three months in Yokoji Zen Mountain Center (www.zmc.org), then I visited the Sweetwater Zen Center (http://www.swzc. org) in San Diego, San Francisco City Center, GREEN GULCH FARM

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ALL WORK BY CAROL ENGUETSU LEFÈVRE

CHECKING MY BRAIN BY ACHRAF BAZNANI

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and Green Gulch Farm in Marin Count (both http://www.sfzc.org). Then I went to Mexico where I spent three months in Guadalajara at a school of Kundalini Yoga. I returned to California to Grenn Gulch Zen Center for intensive training and from there went to NY, where I visited the Zen Mountain Monastery (http://zmm.mro.org), Zen Center which is 3 hours upstate. I attended a workshop with the artist Ross Bleckner and after that I spent 10 days in Fire Lotus Temple. After that, I went back to Brazil and spent 5 months preparing to be back in the States. Now I’m in San Francisco, and for now I’m working to find a balance between my “zen Life” and my “regular life”. Being in the city is a way to find a mid way. My blog is http://www.enguetsuenglish. wordpress.com/ I also created a way for people to participate and help me on the journey with the Pieces of the Way (http://enguetsuenglish.wordpress. com/pedacos-do-caminho) , people can order and receive a postcard that I draw and write, telling something that I’m living and learning. ALL WORK IS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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ARTIST DIARY The history of amy guidry My love for art began at a very young age, when I was about 3 years old. It was my means of communication, as well as my enjoyment. In 1988 I tested into the Talented Art Program, where I remained throughout junior high and high school. In 1994 I was the recipient of the Loyola University New Orleans Visual Art Scholarship, which is only awarded to one student per graduating class. While studying various art disciplines as part of my curriculum, I also studied Psychology through senior level courses.

About the Artist:

My interest in Art and Psychology continues to influence my work. With Surrealism being the grand marriage of the two, I was naturally drawn to every aspect behind the movement. Themes I explore involve the human psychewho we are and how we interact with each other, and the world we live in- our relationship with other animals and nature, as well as the cycle of life and connections between all life forms. I work in series, each painting has its own message, with the overall concept conveying respect for all of nature and humanity.

Guidry’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationwide including the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Aljira a Center for Contemporary Art, Brandeis University, the PhilaMOCA, the Paul & Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, and the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Her work is present in public and private international collections including the Alexandria Museum of Art, the City of Slidell, the Zigler Art Museum, and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. Guidry’s paintings have been featured in publications such as American Artist, Adbusters, and Professional Artist. Her work has also been featured on MTV’s The Real World, Season 20: Hollywood as well as the upcoming feature film “When Angels Sing” starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Willie Nelson.

To this day my art is still my means to communication and my enjoyment. I enjoy creating but even more, I hope to inspire, enlighten, amuse, brighten, and bring forth positive change. My goal is to create powerful work that provides an enriching experience. The intricate detail of each painting draws you into its space, speaking to you and creating the opportunity to have an internal dialogue with the painting and forming a personal connection. Each of my paintings is an original, one of a kind, just as the experience each viewer has is unique and resonates with them. I strive to create art that can be enjoyed in the present and passed on to future generations. Each painting has its own history starting with its creation from a sketch to a painting, and each reflects a part of my artistic career, and continues to build upon that history as it is enjoyed and inspires others.

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Amy Guidry (b. 1976, Jacksonville, N.C.) is an American artist in Lafayette, Louisiana. She grew up in Slidell, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. She attended Loyola University of New Orleans where she received her Bachelors degree in Visual Arts in 1998. She was the recipient of the Loyola University Art Scholarship, which is awarded to only one student per graduating class.

She is represented by Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, Texas and The Oak Street Gallery in Hammond, Louisiana. http://www.amyguidry.com/wild_west.html

DICHOTOMY BY AMY GUIDRY A C R Y L I C O N C A N VA S , 20” W X 16” H

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B O N D, A C R Y L I C O N C A N VA S 12” W X 12” H

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PHOTO BY GRAHAM COPPIN

( T O P ) T H E PA C K A C R Y L I C O N C A N VA S , 20” W X 10” H (BOT TOM) CRUTCH A C R Y L I C O N C A N VA S , 12” W X 6” H ALL WORK BY AMY GUIDRY

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ARTIST DIARY introducing painter estela cuadro I´m Estela Cuadro, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. When I start my day in my studio, I want to listen to some music. It is generally not always the same. I also like to use some incense. When I begin a new artwork I used to use a special cardboard that allows the pigments and water too react in a special way; giving textures, shapes, deformations and then letting my imagination act freely. The music always transposes me and my sensory part which takes me to an inside world – introspective. It nourishes my imagination, it motivates me. It constantly leads me to paint many of my paintings and I feel pleasure in that. I feel like I never want to stop doing this. It´s part of my life. I used lots of techniques, like pencil, small coal and oil. Especially when I was young. Nowadays I like to use more than one technique at the same time, and make different results. I use India ink with salt, and I let them act freely on the support. I use other things to generate texture, and I use oil painting, pencils and pens to realize details. If I had to pick a style for my art, it would be quite difficult. Perhaps I associate my work with surreal art. My characters and their environment have nothing to do with reality. The distorted reality is part of my inspiration, my contacts and my experiences. My artwork is based on the unconscious - all associated with my dreams, relationships & with life itself. I don´t try to tell stories in my artworks. My work isn’t the realization of an illustration for a story, book or magazine (with a text behind the artwork). There are always ideas or suggestions

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(of a story) but it’s not a literal sort of story. I take fun in other people’s freedom in interpretation. I feel that it is important is to feel total freedom without restriction and without much precise meaning. I like to leave the interpretation of each piece to each person, you can get carried away like I do in every piece of art. I think each work has something special, they are part of my “games”, my pleasures. Each work is part of a sensory and emotional expression, for sure. I often think that the power of paint lets me express myself of many things that are somewhere in my head. For example, relevant situations, dreams, experiences and thoughts that I keep (in my mind), I need to express them in some way, and doing it on a canvas is a perfect idea for me! When I talk about a “game” in relation to my work as an artist, I mean that’s the way that I have fun with the characters, animals and plants when my playfulness arise. You’re letting it flow! So you have to let go of the restrictions and really play with everything that is created, generating a new and unique artwork. My inspiration comes from music, books, a good wine, plants, dancing while I´m painting and my small garden. The narrative of an artwork is not something important for me. I want to do art without thinking, without restrictions, like art is for me. I think that the style is generated, created as one grows as an artist. Plus experience and techniques, the papers, the canvas helps form and then you feel comfortable (in that space). I listen to many styles of music; I need that every day (to have a musical change). This

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change produces in me an energy and mobility different in my body.

She was a fighter, yet a very sensitive one who created a lot of wonderful art full of color.

I like pianist music, jazz, rock, hip-hop or ambiance. My musical panorama is very broad. I try to constantly meet new artists and new bands that are emerging. I like to investigate the soundtracks of movies and series.

http://estela-cuadro.tumblr.com/ facebook.com/estelaacuadro

Besides music, I love my studio; it is full of colors, pins, my favorite library and plants. I think the place (to create) is an important point when you are creating. I consider my atelier to be full of colors and visual incentives that help open your mind. I have a lot of travel objects, artist books and books from friends. Music for me is like my battery to start each day, but I love where I work. And another important point is that it has an incredible luminosity, overlooking a terrace where I have a small cottage and plants that I care much for. I would say that the core passion about art, is to feel free, to have your mind open to all the new things that can appear. Every crisis is a new starting point and always the beginning of something new and not something that ends. My top list of people who constantly inspire me and the reasons behind it are: Jean-Michel Basquiat: Because of his expressiveness, his loose strokes & his liberty. Egon Schiele: His obsession for expression, postures & sexuality. His work tries to capture the sensuality of women and men. Paul Klee: I love the choice for his color palettes, his compositions & his details. Amy Cutler: Because I like her imagination, how she tells a story and her incredible levels of details. She creates strong characteristics via clothes, human expressions, hairstyles, animals and landscapes. Pablo Picasso: I admire his versatility. It’s amazing how much work he was able to create during his life. I consider him as a genius. I love watching his videos and seeing how his imagination puts his art is in constant transformation - like seen in this VIDEO http://www.picasso.fr/ es/picasso_pagina_index.php http://www.pablopicasso.org/ Frida Kahlo: Because I admire her strong personality, her passion, her ideology and her deep love for Diego Rivera. All of her art works were about her life and her physical & mental pain.

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(TOP) PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST ESTELA CUADRO ( B E L O W ) LO S A N O S N O V I E N E N S O LO S , B Y E S T E L A C U A D R O ( O P P O S I T E PA G E ) E M I N E N C I A B Y ESTELA CUADRO

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A LU C I N O G E N A 2 B Y E S T E L A C U A D R O

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T H E S TA RS O F BA P U S S F RO M L-R: H A N N A H S O R E N S O N, E M I LY W I ES T A N D SY D N E Y L E M M O N I N A S C E N E F RO M T H E F I L M

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BADPUSS FILM MAKES WORLD PREMIERE IN NYC By sabrina scott

aturday, Nov 15, 2014 marked the night of the world premiere of Badpuss: A Popumentary, https://www. facebook.com/BadPussAPopumentary a film by Emily Wiest. The film is about BadPuss, an all-girl band living rock star lives full of fun-loving hedonistic scenarios all wrapped up in dark humor, and eventually a painful fall from fame. The film stars Emily Wiest as Lara Reares, creator and lead singer of the band. Kassie is played by Hannah Sorenson who adds a naïve take that viewers will adore. Ro, is more the silent type and is played by Sydney Lemmon. A couple hundred guests showed up that night to celebrate the premiere of an excellent film by cast and crew. The crowd was rolling throughout to humorous scenes and snippets of songs like, “Chain Me to Your Twin Bed College Boy”. All music was expertly crafted by

Jon Barber Gutwillig of Disco Biscuits Jon Gutwillig’s page https://www.facebook. com/TheRealBarber and contributed to the theme of the film’s wild ride. The other contributing musicians include Steve Molitz and Clay Parnell of Particle https://www. facebook.com/particlepeople?pnref=lhc, The Infinite Wizard (Robin Hood) David C. Butler for American Babies https://www. facebook.com/americanbabies, Robert Sahm, Zane “Nominee” Urquhart, Brandon S. Meyer, and Cara Salimando of Novelette. Musicians also included Executive Producer Leah Elizabeth Rucinski and Sydney Lemmon. The film is a mockumentary style romp that tackles some of the upsides and pitfalls female rockstars face. Viewers can appreciate characters such as an obsessed fan, the backlash of celebrity gossip, the woeis-me trials of being a sex symbol and even dealing with the publicity from a leaked sex tape.

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The experience is edgy and brilliantly written with humorous and dramatic scenes. It makes you feel nostalgic for a time that was pre-politically correct and when rock stars were all about living hard and free. Sabrina Scott: What experience do you hope the audience has? Emily Wiest: I hope people laugh and enjoy themselves. Ideally everyone would connect to and relate to all the characters. haha, but that’s a lofty wish. Trying not to sound cliche, but it’s true that everyone has their own experience, their own perspective. I don’t think there’s a universal hope or possibility for everyone. I HOPE that people will be open to the ride. I HOPE to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” I’m kidding, kind of, not really. OK I’m serious. SS: What did you hope to achieve? EW: I really wanted to make a film that people would enjoy watching. I think everyone has aspirations of grandeur, wanting to make people “think” and that’s always part of it, in my mind, but I think it’s most important that that notion is weaved in seamlessly with the narrative of the film. Art that’s centered on a message loses its humanity, at least for me. SS: You’ve had amazing support from cast and crew especially with fundraising. EW: YES! I want to thank our Kickstarter donors, really our Kickstarter family. People really do support the arts, wonderful, magnificent, beautiful people. Without them we’d have been on the ledge with no bridge to the other side. I have an immense list of people who deserve thanks and the highest praises but I really want to shout out to our Production Assistants, who had the hardest jobs and who came to set and worked tirelessly with the least recognition, heroes--all of them, Mark Anthony C, Jetaun Evans, Anthony Jean, Alyssa Klein, Henry Myers, Brian Perry and Nicole Otto. SS: What’s next for you? EW: This is a REALLY EXCITING question!! I’ve finished writing my next film called “Lackadaisical Baby” and we just had our first table read. The film is a dark romantic comedy--life is a bit 20 22

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of a dark romantic comedy I think (at least mine is...). The film is centered around characters Peaches, Penny, Lemmony and Lux. It’s kind of like if Bukowski was a young woman living in Harlem in 2014, we keep laughing and saying it’s about millennial beatniks. I don’t know if it’s as cool as all that, and I don’t want it to sound like it’s about caricatures because it is a very instinctual and human piece. Lackadaisical Baby is a straight narrative piece, not a mockumentary, but I’m keeping much of the same cast from BadPuss, we’ve formed an ensemble and its been such a blessing to work with actors that I trust and understand, that understand me. They do the work, they know the world inside out, upside down and backwards, they are the characters. On set we can have a fifteen second huddle, football style and then jump into the game, start filming and just fly off the energy of each other, it’s the coolest feeling--knowing you can throw the ball and it’s not going to be dropped but instead caught in the most interesting way and then hurled back into the center. We’re all really excited to be teaming up with Producer Julie Pacino, she has such a unique artistic perspective, understanding and respect of/for the process plus an incredibly organized and business savvy mind. The collaboration is a blessing. The family is growing! I can’t wait to film and to produce this new piece and to share it with everyone, I think it will be a work that people can really get inside and be a part of. It’s a raucous and crazy ride through the midnight streets of NYC, the underbelly of city life, and the kind of love and loyalty you only get when you’re born into the fire. SS: Where can readers see Badpuss? EW: We are applying to a collection of festivals all over from NYC to LA to MIAMI to AUSTIN to BERLIN. And we plan to release the film to the public in the beginning of the summer, please follow our Facebook https:// www.facebook.com/BadPussAPopumentary for updates about both festivals and where the film can be seen from home and where the music can be heard! So pumped and thank you to all the awesome folks that have been asking!

(TO P L E F T TO R I G H T) T H E S TA RS O N P R E M I E R E N I G H T C A R R I E K EA G A N, E M I LY W I E S T, SY D N E Y L E M M O N A N D H A N N A H S O R E N S O N (B OT TO M) CO N T R I B U T I N G M U S I C I A N S S T E V E M O L I T Z, C L AY PA R N E L L & DAV I D B U T L E R P H OTO S BY M A R I S A E R I N

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RED DAWN R A I S A K A N A R E VA P H OTO G R A P H Y & R E TO U C H I N G ALEX NO DESIGNER STYLIST M UA & H A I R MODEL

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milkfed kid By jeff grunthaner

ompositionally reminiscent of the work of David Salle and certain sculptural gestures in the oevre of Jasper Johns (especially during the 1960s), Düsseldorf-based artist Julia Dauksza augments these precedents with a decided flare for digital aesthetics. Digitality pervades her works, where the juxtaposition of elements that only becomes visible by way of a computer screen acts as a kind of specter haunting the traditional media of oil on canvas. Whether one calls this post-internet painting or proto-digital painting, Dauksza›s artistry is distinguished by sprawling diasporas of figures fixed in mural-like space, like images suspended in pure virtuality, foisting on viewers a level of uncertainty where they have to interactively fill out each work—co-creating it, as it were.

of suburban, landscaped foliage at the upper right-hand corner. This merging of the photographic and reproducible with the abstract doesn’t so much complete the painting as give it jagged edges, supplying the requisite tension for figures to appear in the process of their own disappearance.

In Dauksza›s large-scale paintings one notes a tendency to deny any single vantage point; a compositional strategy that could be misrepresented as distraction, but which is better understood as an effort to disrupt any pretense of contemplative stillness. There is no where in her work; rather, there is a beingthere in a tactile or iconographic way. The figures peopling her canvases, revenants of assembly-line industrialization, have a shadowy aspect about them, like pools of nothingness emerging from the perspectival depths of digital space, which works to both link and separate the scenes so hauntingly portrayed by her paintings. “Milkfed” (2013) offers a particularly representative example of this. The newspaper grey tones filling out the two boys with their mother, along with the truncated waterfall beginning at the painting’s leftmost edge, indicate a life populated by stand-ins, signifiers bereft of signifieds, where the nebula of red and blue abstraction near the painting’s center contrasts vividly with the effacement of figures locked in representational space. The painting is rounded out by an item of constructivist abstraction to the bottom right and the introduction

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ALL WORK BY JULIA DAUKSZA S U C H A S VA R I O U S U N T I T L E D 2014 ( M I X E D M E D I A ) O N T H E S E PA G E S A N D M I L K F E D 2013 ( M I X E D M E D I A ) O N P G . 28

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Red Wrap Dress: L a Maison de Fashion Tap Pant: DKNY

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gabino abraham castelan: for the people By ignacio alexanders

rt is the only messenger that customizes the message to the understanding of the single individual. Visual art’s expressions are tailored to solicit particular responses. Every great artist is born with the ability to guide without manipulating the viewer’s emotions to an understanding of the passion, the sadness, the sentiments, the speculations, the anxieties, the love and misunderstood tendency of a class in society that the orthography, the semantics and the phonics of words cannot epitomize. Today visual art in New York City has become an accessory of luxury and much too its dismay, many so called artists are doing nothing more than interior designing. Art unfortunately is treated like real estate and traded like stocks. The brokers are eager to make a fast profit and the artist is looking to get rich. This leaves no time for the proper development of the artist; it does not allow the artist to find themselves, it does not allow the artist to interact with the world and be inspired by their natural elements of emotions. Unlike many artists throughout New York City, Gabino Abraham Castelan’s exceptional vigorous works is a luxury available to everyone, especially those who inspire it. Castelan has painted murals for all in Harlem to enjoy. His work as he says “is a representation of the working class in the city and what their hard work has created.” “I want to show” he says “their culture, their conditions but most of all, the manner they celebrate each day through everything.” In his work titled Paradise under Construction, the viewer travels back to the beginning of the New World. We are shown a Native American working in the field and we progressively move forward into the industrial age of America and finally we see in the center of the piece the colors of the modern day construction worker working.

When I sat down with Gabino Abraham Catelan at his studio, I ask him about his expectation, his experience, his technique and life. When asked what his expectations as an artist were, Castelan’s response was surprising, mainly because of the honesty and humanity in it. “Let me tell you something,” he said, as he leaned forward on his seat, “I’ve come to accept that I am not here to change the world with my work, nor am I trying to change anyone’s view of it. I just want to show people an interpretation of what I see, the struggles of the working class, I don’t want to change things but I want to open a dialogue, so that everyone can be involved in trying to find a solution to different issues that we face not only here in the city but also around the world.” “I want to unite people with my work,” Castelan said as he opened a beer and handed it to me. One night in 2012,” he said, “I was working on a mural titled Conserving for Tomorrow on the outside wall of a gallery in Harlem called Studio 323. I designed my images at my studio and then used my laptop and a projector to help me paint at whatever location I’m working at. On this night,” he said, “as I was working, two young men approached me, one on foot and the other on a bike. The one on foot grabbed my laptop and ran; not far.” He said, “He didn’t realize that it was plugged into things and tripped on the wires. As he laid on the sidewalk I took a deep breath and walked over to him. This boy was confused; I think he was unsure of what I would do so he just stayed there on the ground. So I extended my hand to help him up.” “When I asked him what his deal was he said to me. ‘I’m sorry man I’m hot, I hungry and I’m in the ghetto’ when he said that,” Castelan continued, “I saw myself in him. He gave me my computer back and I gave him the only two dollars I had left. I told him that I understood him, I said to him I’m from Harlem too. He asked me what it was I was doing and I

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explained to him the concept of the mural and how this was painting for us, a vision of everything he was feeling. He walked back to the mural and just stared. When I came back the next morning the same two young men that try to rob me the night before were there waiting for me, they approached me and asked if they could help me with the mural. And that’s what I mean when I say that I want my work to unite people.” Castelan continues to grow as an artist moving on to creating installations with movement yet without losing his core message of the struggle of the worker; he incorporates lights, projectors and objects associated with the life of not only the worker but the city herself. Gabino Abraham Castelan’s compelling work is a reminder that art should not be kept from anyone. It’s alright to treat art like a business and make a profit from it but let it keep its humanity. After all, art’s true process is to remind us all to be humane to our humanity. For information on Gabino Abraham Castelan’s work please visit www.gabinocastelan.com

ALL WORK COURTESY OF THE ARTIST GABINO ABRAHAM CASTELAN

Bl ack Bustier, Bl ack Skirt-Belt, Tap Pant: Damsel

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Book Review: by adina bernstein The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin Among the American population, there seems to be a romantic fascination with the British and more specifically, the British upper classes. Their world of stiff upper lip tradition, pomp and circumstance seems so far away from the democratic, independent and free thinking world of the average American. As much as we would not like to admit it, many of us are drawn to this world and this life style.

pilot for the Empress, who is visiting England and staying with the Earl of Spencer, Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s patron and former commander. Bay soon discovers that he and the Empress have a mutual appreciation for riding. That mutual appreciation leads to a bond that may not only destroy the relationship between Bay and Charlotte, but may also endanger all of their futures.

In 2010, British author Daisy Goodwin introduced readers to Cora Cash, an early twentieth century American heiress who married into the British aristocracy. Her latest novel, The Fortune Hunter takes the reader on a similar journey, to the world of the British upper classes in 1875.

I loved this book. I read The American Heiress several months ago. It was everything I wanted in a novel. I had the same feeling when I finished The Fortune Hunter. What Ms. Goodwin does exceptionally well as a writer is to bring to life the details of the period without drowning the plot in historical facts. All three of her main characters were real people. We may not know all of the facts of their lives, but within the context of this novel, Sisi, Bay and Charlotte are human with the same virtues and flaws that we all have.

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, known to those closest to her as Sisi, hates public life. Her dislike of public life is so intense that she would rather live quietly or be on the back of a horse, rather than face brown nosing courtiers or royal advisors. But, according to society, she is one of the most beautiful women in Europe. Charlotte Baird is an heiress. While she has her pick of potential husbands, she is different that the other young ladies. Plain looking, but clever, Charlotte is not interested in the activities that she has been informed by her future sister in law that she should be interested in. An amateur photographer, Charlotte finds pleasure and satisfaction in her work. In between these two very different women is Captain Bay Middleton. Captain Middleton is one of the finest horsemen in England. He is handsome, amiable and poor. He knows that he needs to buy his horse to enter the Grand National, the biggest horse race in England. Charlotte and Bay have an instant attraction, but they must wait to marry. But duty calls and Bay agrees to become the

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What struck me about this book that the three main characters could have been reduced to stereotypes, but they were thankfully not. Sisi could have been written as a cougar, an older woman who uses her power and frustration to use and then throw away young men at her leisure. Bay could have been a scheming seducer, a la Lovelace from Clarissa, using his charm to take advantage of both Sisi and Charlotte. Charlotte could have been written as either an innocent who is overprotected by her family and unaware of the world around her or a silly girl who openly flirts with Bay, not caring for her reputation or her familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation. Sisi was written as a woman born into royalty and forced into marriage at a young age with an older man. She has fulfilled her responsibility, but feels stifled by the rules imposed on her as Empress of Austria.

Bay is aware of the world around him and knows that he needs money to buy his horse and achieve his goals. But he does it an honest way, without maligning the reputations of those around him. Charlotte is an unconventional heroine. She is more interested in her photography that in the lady like pursuits that she is told that she must enjoy. She follows her own heart and her own conscious, despite what those around her are saying. Ms. Goodwin has a wonderful way of drawing the reader in immediately. Other writers will sometimes use exposition to inform the reader of a characters back story before getting to the heart of the story. What she does so well to weave her characters back story into the current story, allowing the reader to understand where the character is coming from while allowing the story to move forward. I absolutely recommend this book. Not just for readers who enjoyed Ms. Goodwinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s other books or readers who are fond of a solid 19th century romantic drama. I recommend for everyone who enjoys good books and enjoys being swept away into another time and place.

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Book Review: by adina bernstein A Writers Life by Charlotte Bronte Among the literary set, Charlotte Bronte is a goddess to worship. Those of us, who adore her books, are mere acolytes hoping to catch the tiniest drop of her genius. Her most famous book is Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre is the story of an orphaned young woman who finds employment as the governess in the home of Edward Fairfax Rochester, an older man with a mysterious past. The mutual attraction between Jane and Mr. Rochester is powerful, but so is Jane’s sense of self when his past is revealed. According to English Victorian society, Charlotte Bronte was a nobody. She was the third daughter of an obscure Irish parson from a small town in the middle of Yorkshire. She was not an heiress and according the standards of female beauty in Victorian Society, Charlotte was not a woman to be admired for her looks. But she was blessed with an incredibly gift for writing that she did not put aside, despite what the rules of her era dictated about what as or was not appropriate for a female. Rebecca Fraser’s 2008 biography, Charlotte Bronte: A Writers Life is a very thorough and fluid biography of the subject. Many biographies are very cut and dry: the subject of the biography was born on this date, they accomplished or were known for x, y and z during their lifetime, and died on this date. Thankfully, this biography brings to life in full color not just Charlotte, but everyone and everything in the world that she knew. The reader is first introduced to Charlotte’s parents. Her father, Patrick was a highly eccentric parson from a poor Irish family. After attending college, he changed his surname and found a career in the church. Her mother Maria Branwell, whose family came from Cornwall, married Patrick Bronte at the then old age of 30. Charlotte was born on April 21st, 1816, the third child of a family that would eventually grow to six children.

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By the time Charlotte was a teenager, she had lost her mother and her two eldest sisters. She was now the oldest of four children, her widowed father doing his best to raise and educate his children as his wife would have preferred. All four of the Bronte children had the creative spark. Elements of their childhood games and juvenilia would later appear in the novels that the girls would complete as adults. Emily, the quietest of the sisters would go on to write the romantic and dramatic Wuthering Heights. Anne, the baby of the family, would go on to write Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, novels that had a sense of social justice until the traditional Victorian façade. Branwell, fourth child and the only boy had a gift for writing and painting. Unfortunately, like many artists, his love of alcohol would stymie his gift and eventually take his life. Charlotte was the last surviving child of Patrick and Maria Bronte. She was also the only one to marry. Her husband and her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls was the last person she expected to marry. At the age of 38, newly married and pregnant with her first child, Charlotte passed into immortality. What I love about this book is that instead of being the literary giant that we think of her today to be, she is a human being, with the same strengths and weaknesses that we all have. Her journey, like Jane Eyre’s journey, is about being true to yourself and trusting your own instincts, even when all signals are pointing in the direction of following convention. The last line in the book, asks what she might works she might have produced as a writer had her life been a healthy and happy one. Life has an odd way of working out, even when we think it’s not and we think we are

on the wrong path. Charlotte Bronte’s life was not an easy one. The loss of her mother and eldest sister’s when she was a girl is palpable. Not just in Charlotte’s books, but her sisters as well. Charlotte and her siblings were raised by an unconventional father in a small, isolated town. While it was not great for their social lives, it was wonderful to embolden the creative juices that produced Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. Wherever she is, I would hope Charlotte Bronte is smiling. Like a painter whose work is not valued until after they have died, Jane Eyre has become a classic. The work of Charlotte Bronte is revered the world over. Jane Eyre has not only become a staple of curriculums of English and literature teachers worldwide, but also of bookworms and Hollywood producers who know a good story when they see it. The mortal remains of Charlotte Bronte may have long since returns to the ground, but her life and work lives on.

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COLOR PARA DISE PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRIS PO-YEN LEE P H O T O A S S I S TA N T: K E L LY WA N G S T Y L I S T: J I N H S U, M I D O R I L A U

M A K E U P A R T I S T: R I C A R D O D E L G A D O H A I R S T Y L I S T: K AT E LY N M C G I N N M O D E L ( M S A ): R A C H E L C O H E N O U T F I T B R A N D : X I N N AT E X N E W YO R K WEBSITES: P H O T O G R A P H E R : W W W.C P Y L P.C O M B R A N D : H T T P :// X I N N AT E X .C O M /

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H A I R S T Y L I S T: H T T P :// W W W. K AT E LY N M C G I N N .C O M /

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the pyre of history: evan brown By kenneth lunquist, jr.

t was a chilly fall evening when I waltzed into a local bar to meet a very good friend I hadn’t seen in some time. It was trivia night, the bar was buzzing with brainy activity and liquid courage. I caught up with my friend and met the group she was battling the other teams with. So far, her team was undefeated for the season, and tensions for the crown were thick in the air. The competitors around us were fierce in their relegation and participated with much vigor. After we had won a few rounds, I stepped outside for some fresh air, and a cigarette. A fella from our team joined me, and we got to chat beyond the din of the bar. We discussed a myriad of topics, which inevitably lead to the “So, what do you do?” query. He explained that he was a writer that had done a variety of projects, but was currently working on a novel of epic proportions. He had secured a publishing contract, and the work was nearly complete. What he described to me from there completely engrossed my attention. Here’s what Evan Brown said to me“The plot in 30 seconds is that a man washes up on a riverbank in Britain around 500 AD, a stranger to the island who is missing large parts of his memory (including his identity). Over the course of the decades he manages to survive by adopting several guises and learning about the complex patchwork of tribes inhabiting the land, until, in the midst of disaster, he rediscovers who he is, learns the secret he has possessed all along, and embarks on a mission that will tip the balance of power in Britain and change history forever. Alban Fire is a hybrid of different genres, which is part of why it took a while to find someone to put it out. Even though there are no true supernatural elements and only one speculative fiction aspect, I was consistently told it read more like a fantasy novel than anything else… which again, due to the voluminous research I conducted, initially hit a sore spot. I understand the comments more now, though – what they

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were referring to was that, in being true to a tribal, transitional society 1,500 years ago, the book transports the reader into a pretty alien culture – and that I take as a huge compliment. At its core, Alban Fire is concerned with the intersection of fate and free will, and the place of the individual against the grand sweep of history. It’s also a story about doubt, redemption, struggle and acceptance. And it has some sex and several battle scenes, because I’m not writing a metaphysical self-help guide, I’m writing a story..” I asked Evan why? “The setting of Alban Fire was the most intriguing aspect for me. I am a major history enthusiast, and Alban Fire takes place at around 500 AD in Britain, which is at the same time one of the most important eras in British history and also one of the most obscure. The Roman Empire abandoned Britain a little after 400 AD, and the Anglo-Saxon invasion was complete by around 550 AD… but in between we have almost no first-hand written records and scant archaeological evidence as to what happened. To put it in perspective, there are about as many contemporaneous accounts of the life of Jesus as there are regarding what happened in Britain during an entire century. Because of that lack of records, there are a lot of best-guesses we can make about British life and the activities happening during that time – and I did a gigantic amount of research – but few certainties. It allowed me not to worry as much about accuracy and let the story take the lead. After all, if someone objects to a particular aspect they see as fallacious, how can they prove me wrong? “ But, Evan, still- why? “For Alban Fire, the story was too involved for it to be told in another medium. It spans 40

years and goes all over Britain, so there was a lot that would have to be truncated in order to fit it into a screenplay or another visual medium. I didn’t think I could do it justice without writing 100,000 words… and that’s after cutting it to the bone. There is something about inventing a character or describing a place that only actually exists as words on a page that sends an electric jolt through me, and when the fingers are flying and the words are flowing, that’s a state of nirvana. Of course, when the flow is more of a trickle it means that an exceeding amount of effort has to go into the crafting of the work – in some ways it’s more engineering than art. Most great or even good novels aren’t knocked out over the course of a weekend or even a week, or a year, and when they are it is usually due to a very rare combination of lots of drugs and even more luck. Ultimately you have to believe that it’s worth the effort, or you’ll literally drive yourself crazy. Writing in such a way that each reader “gets” what the artist is conveying but processes it individually – putting a piece of themselves into making the work live – is an experience that simply cannot be matched by any other medium. Radio comes closest, but books don’t usually include a sound effects track or a music score… the writer has to verbally convey all of that without making a sound. “ Beautifully stated. Why have you chosen this art form for your creative expression? “I start with ideas and then choose the form that suits them best. Sometimes that’s film, or music, but I identify myself primarily as a writer because that is where pure creativity happens for me. Creative writing demands more from both the artist and the audience than other forms of creative expression, because it is actively engaging imagination, cognition and emotional cues simultaneously. That really challenges me to put my utmost into it, though my girlfriend says I’m just a masochist. I’ve been writing fiction since I could read and pick up a pen. I wrote my first short story when I was four and won my first writing award at nine – there have been precious few others since then, to my chagrin, but one of the good things about being a fiction writer is that you’re still considered a baby at 32.”

PHOTOS OF SECRET DOOR AND CORNWALL HORSE ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF EVAN BROWN

Classic. Where do you see yourself as an artist going with this work?

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“Fortunately I have some time before the final manuscript is due, so right now, revisions galore. Deadlines are writers’ best and worst friends, but without them we’d keep tinkering forever, so ultimately a deadline is a bitter but necessary medicine. In the fullness of my presumption, I hope to make an impact with Alban Fire, not in terms of sales necessarily (though yes please to sales!) but the general dialogue. I live by the three E’s – educate, entertain, and enlighten, and that triumvirate forms an integral part of everything I do. Being a reporter and then public communications professional sharpened my desire to be more active along those lines… you do get to do good work in those jobs, depending on your boss, but then you have to spew a lot of toxic nonsense as well, or at least tacitly approve of it by not standing up to it. I think I have more to contribute than just press releases and finger-pointing to our societal discussions – such as the future of our species. There is a bad moon on the rise, with my pet theory being that in 2017 (give or take) we are going to be facing a climactic moment in global society when antiquated institutions, socio-political polarization and technology-driven population pressures force us to evolve or suffer. Alban Fire seeks to reflect a bit of that tension, and a similar turning point, through the lens of the past.

Sensing this discussion could last hours, and knowing full well that we both must return to support our fellow team members into certain victory, I ask Evan what about his personal experiences in life has influenced his work as a writer?

There has been talk of me going over to England and Ireland to promote Alban Fire, so I might try to go the Jimi Hendrix route and make it big in the UK first. My work lends itself to European sensibilities anyway, I’ve been told, though I’m still iffy on what that means.”

I’ve seen a lot of struggle as well and it’s given me perspective that some people from my background on the surface wouldn’t necessarily have. Working in journalism and politics, I have probably spoken with upwards of 10,000 people across the U.S., and Europe, and I’ve also been dirt poor and fought to keep the lights turned on and eviction notices off the door. I think I’m the only person I know with both a master’s degree and a scar from a shiv wound, which creates a useful schizophrenia that lends itself to fiction writing.”

Fabulous! How does your work make you stand different than your contemporaries? “Other than the fact I don’t write young adult novels about vampires and dystopian futureworlds? Or erotica for middle-aged pre-teens? Well, my writing is a bit old school, and generally grammatically correct… mainly though, I’m not looking to generate a franchise. Alban Fire is a one-off book, and though it could be part of a series, I told the story in one volume and don’t need others. Not having a series in mind is a big turn-off to publishing companies these days. The projects are piling up – so, I see myself being busy! What I have on deck is a graphic novel set 1,000 years in the future, for which I’m conducting an illustrator search, and children’s book that my mom is illustrating about a lonely star who wants to be part of a constellation.”

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“I grew up in L.A. until I was almost 11, and my parents both worked in “the industry,” so from the start I was surrounded by creative people doing interesting work, in an environment that at least nominally encourages talent and personal expression. I saw from a young age the double-edged sword of Hollywood and, really, the entertainment business as a whole (which is nowadays just corporatist culture with better plastic surgery) - how the machine chews people up and shits them out, but in the process can bestow riches and fulfillment. As a result I’ve always been both inexorably drawn to and deeply repelled by the entertainment big leagues. It has also given my work a visual bent – even when working in prose I am thinking in terms of film. Three-act screenplay structure is always tugging at my sleeve, which isn’t what novels are really about, but it’s the milieu in which I was raised – my dad always theorized James Joyce would’ve been a director if he’d been born in the 20th century.

Amazing! Of course, my favorite question of all to close our brief bonding convo over IPA and cigarettes- What is your greatest inspiration? “I don’t care if it sounds hokey, I am most inspired by nature – not just trees and birds, though definitely trees and birds, but the amazing clockwork of creation as a whole. The Milky Way blows my mind every time I see it. Humans are part of nature as well, a fact often lost, and I am fascinated by the ways in which individuals reflect societies and vice versa, and inspired by both individual genius and collective effort. This weekend I saw

a particle accelerator that was being decommissioned and then stared at an oak tree in the same afternoon, and it was a very inspiring afternoon.â&#x20AC;? Who could argue with that indeed. We returned to bring home a win, garner random prizes, a few more drinks, and an unbroken streak of victory. I wonder if those folks in Evanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s novel ever experienced a similar evening with friends. For more about Evan Brown visitLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/ view?id=28634963 IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/ nm0113546/?ref_=fn_al_nm_3

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I S S U E S S O S W E E T YO U ’ L L G E T A C AV I T Y. C R E AT I V E S U G A R M A G A Z I N E . N E T

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