CreativPaper Issue No. 009 Vol 2 by CreativPaper

CREATIVPAPER Magazine

Vol 002

Issue 009

When CreativPaper was founded a few years ago, Jimmy Outhwaite wanted to create a platform for creatives both new and seasoned to showcase their work. We would never in our wildest dreams imagine that this would culminate into an active online community and seven digital issues. For our first print issue, we wanted to feature a selection of artists that have been an inspiration to us over the last year and new ones we have discovered along the way. In this issue, we have featured a wide range of artists ranging from Jason Clarke, Ronald Ownbey and Ziba Moasser to name a few. Each one challenging their creative energy into the work through a multitude of mediums. We would like to thank everyone who has believed in us and shared our vision. We hope you enjoy our latest labour of love. Thank you! Jimmy Outhwaite and Jefferson Pires

Healthy forests help absorb greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions that are casued by human civilization and contribute to global climate change. Without trees, more carbon and greenhouse gasses enter the atmosphere. To make matters worse, trees actually become carbon sources when they are cut, burned, or otherwise removed.

08 JINGYI WANG 14 DIVINE ENFANT 22 LOLA SANTOS 26 GABRIELLE JONES 34 MARCEL SCHWITTLICK 42 FU WENJUN 46 JULIET PIPER

54 AISLING DRENNAN 58 PETER HOMAN 68 LARRY SIMON 74 TROY DUGAS 78 NIELS EGIDIUS 86 DONNA HOWARD 94 MARK DAVID LLOYD

COVER ARTIST

/JINGYI WANG Originally from Northeast China, artist Jingyi Wang was deeply influenced by the rich culture and art surrounding her. Now based in New York City, she spends most of her time outside her studio soaking up everything the city has to offer. We recently had a conversation with Jingyi where she talks about the influence of technology on art and her favourite things about being back home in China. How has growing up in China affected you artistically? I was born in the Northeast region of China. I have been painting my entire life so far for more than 15 years. I graduated from China Central Academy of Fine Arts, major in oil painting. From that time I went through a very thorough, comprehensive and restrictive training in painting fundamentals and art principles. When I arrived at a new place in China, I explored local traditions and customs. I drew a lot of landscapes and ancient cities. I

combine my sketching experience and imagination to find a new kind of conceptual painting. The subtle expression in the Oriental aesthetics also has great influence on my current artworks. A lot of artists consider New York City to be one of the main creative hubs in the world, is this still the case? Yes. I consider New York City an forever inspiring city for all artists. I spent about 30% of my time visiting all kinds of museums, residencies, exhibition, art school, to find inspiration from the past 08

Above: Pink and Green #2

and current, to experience drastically different art styles other than just oil painting. Also, in the past three years, I have been amazed by the diversity of New York City where I have met artists from all over the world. Their artworks have demonstrated where they are from and who they are to the maximum.

me keep improving myself. I drew a lot of landscapes and ancient cities all over the world. I combine rigorous observation and illusionistic rendering with the possibilities of open-ended interpretations.When I got an artist residency in Giverny, France.

The plants blooming and withering allowed me to have a deep thought, the plant looks more vulnerable Could you tell us a bit more about than humans, but they live without your cactus series of paintings? fear. I would like to express this How did they come about? concept through botany. I have recently painted a series of cactus. This series is a result of my Aren’t we all a bit of cacti, search for ways of bringing toughened on the outside and traditional painting into fragile within? contemporary art. I use the cactus Actually, this reminds of the to compare life. famous lines from a Hong-Kong movie, ‘Ashes of Time’. ‘The best I thought that these cacti have their way to avoid being rejected is to own sense of character, while this reject others first.’ Cacti resonate kind of image is relatively strong with my personal expression of and sensible to everyone. Such a life’s attitude. People often disguise plant depicts a spirit that people themselves to protect themselves. can resonate with. In the struggle As you can see in my painting, of our society comes to a struggle some cacti are withering or have in nature. no thorns.It is also an expression of my own inner tangles and During my painting time, over half contradictions. of my time was spent on landscape painting. Observation and perception is the inspiration source of my artistic creation, which helps 10

Above: Silent Desire #2

Above: Pink and Green#1

With all the advances in technology and communication, how do you see art evolving in the next decade? In the next decade or so, it would be an exciting period where all forms of technology will be incorporated into the painting. Painting itself will evolve but definitely will not be replaced. Just as people used to discuss the replacement of photography and computer technology, the expression and transformation of paintings will be enriched and developed because of these new media, not die. With the development of science and technology, the art of the future will tend toward diversified development. Just like the current concept of artificial intelligence, it has been applied to the field of art. I look forward to what this technology will bring to the art word. Do you have any upcoming exhibitions where we can see your work in person? Currently, my artworks are exhibited in a group show called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Future Storiesâ&#x20AC;? in InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel until

the end of May. After that, I will have a solo exhibition in Art lines Gallery in New Jersey starting from mid-June,2018. Do you go back home often? What is your favourite thing about being back in China? I would visit my family and hometown whenever I can. My favourite thing in China is to travel with my family. I travelled independently and walked across more than 20 provinces in China, seeing the majestic and breathtaking mountains in the northeast, feeling the poetic waterfront towns in the south, standing in awe before the rough and wild desert in the northwest, and looking over the modern cities crowded with skyscrapers in the central states. Whenever I arrived at a new place, I explored local traditions and customs. I drew a lot of landscapes and ancient cities, the historical architectures and people who inspired me. jingyiwangart.com @jingyiwang.jenny

INTERVIEW

/DIVINE ENFANT Born in the 70’s by the ocean in Western Europe, Artist Divine Enfant had a shy childhood followed by predictably rebellious adolescence. Undecided between Philosophy studies and Art she finally chose History of Art. Her current work is an amalgamation of photography, collages and video. We had a conversation with Divine where she touches on various subjects such as the flexibility that digital artwork provides, her work with the musician Martin Rev of the band ‘Suicide’ and promoting your art to the world. What is it about photography, video and collage that makes them work so well together in your opinion? To work on these three different visual media gives you the freedom to be more and more used to understand and play with the games of multiple space-time dimensions. A same image through the photography, video and collage receives or loses different aspects of perception. It’s like a constant gymnastic to be sensitive, aware, mobile and also in my case, to never be bored, because the power of pleasure in creation is so

important and replenisher. On another level, as Hinduism says, the images are ‘maya’, a pure illusion but Art offers us this extraordinary ability to transform them and reinvent a new form of language between the reality and the invisibility. That space is pure freedom and magic. Do you enjoy the flexibility that digital artwork gives artists these days? Especially in your case, collages? Definitively. I love the idea to be free from a certain materiality like the stockage of magazines, 14

Above: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Tell me What I Refuse to Hear. 15

and even if I have a collection of books at home, I don’t want to recycle matter anymore. I did it a lot in my early artworks. Now between my own pictures and the incredible bank of images online, I have enough vocabulary to create collages. The other exciting thing is that any size to print is possible, on any sort of papers or supports, plus you can again cut and paste your printed collages, so the artistic process is quite endless if you enjoy exploring.

me to my more unexplored sides. These abstract coloured video-projections I made for his performances in different venues ( bars, clubs, festivals, Art centres) are extracted from my most informal impulsive side, and it works so well.

Music offers a truly free experience, and a dynamic for a visual artist like me and the true bliss is that live concerts give an immediate warm return from the public, something that a gallery, The other great thing I love about in this way, can’t satisfy. Maybe a digital is the possibility to do all good reason that the museums now the mistakes and trials necessary to invite more and more musicians, move forward and keep them too. dancers to perform, accompanied with visuals. Could you tell us a bit more about your collaboration with artist “In April, Martin and I performed Martin Rev? at the Nasher Sculpture Center, in Since I met Martin Rev as a gift of Dallas, TX and we’ll be playing in destiny, ten years ago, we Chicago, US at The Empty Bottle’ spontaneously entered into a on the 2nd of June. vivid creative collaboration. It began with the photo cover of his How important is the symphony album ‘Stigmata’ and then it never of creativity and eroticism in your stops. opinion? Creativity and Erotism are together It’s wonderful to work with an a celebration of Life, this boiling ‘avant-garde’ musician like him energy, the fire that pushes human because his sense of beings to explore their desires, improvisation, his relentless their shadows and so themselves. passion for the research pushes 16

Above: Instant Karma 17

Above: Be Ready! Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fly Above the Past 18

I think we are sexual and spiritual creatures, capable of the best and the worst; it really depends how we integrate and free the energies of conscience and harmonise them or not. We came from this mysterious night and will return to her.

yourself. The infinite abundance of Art is the process itself, as a vehicle of exploration in a double movement in and out.

It’s a discovery of the world and of self like the alchemists say. Then, to avoid any kind of frustration, it’s Creativity and Erotism use better to simply enjoy life as much universal signs, but individually we can and continuously work on they exalt a total unique chemistry our state of opening. It helps a lot that’s impossible to explain. The to grow-up and fertilises our hormones are very effective divine visions. Something also positive is messengers and why I feel attracted to collaborate, to create synergies, so irresistibly by him/her and not cause we can’t do anything only by another, by this music, this ourself in the world, especially as painting.Who’s knows really why? we ‘ll more and more numerous on Earth. Do you have any advice for artists that might be struggling to get To be under the spotlights asks you their name out in public? in return a certain responsibility. It’s delicate to reply cause I’m still The visibility has its own benefices in this anonymous position. Of and restrictions cause there’s a cost course, to have a public recognition to everything. And let’s be is a wish of most artists. It helps honest, there are so many your self-confidence, brings a lot of marvellous anonymous people in projects, and can free you from a the shadow, who shine with lot of material problems. incredible talents and really act in this reality. That’s the other part of But if wisdom can also work for the the iceberg. others, I’d say, live authentically for your passion first, stay unconventional, search your style, even the reality of Life can be hard because at final your desire of recognition has to pass by 19

Above: Oracle 20

What was the inspiration behind your body of work titled ‘Rochas’? Originally this series of 15 collages was a command from the Haute Couture house Rochas, and a teen friend working for them, to reinterpret their Heritage on Instagram and to announce their Spring-summer 17 fashion show. It was quite challenging to create a fresh vision cause I could only use types of images from the past, and the backstage but I did my best to enjoy it.

movements but I couldn’t understand the cruelty and violence. Otherwise, my mother acquired a camera when I was around 10, and I use to be her model. At this same age, I started to compose secretly some short poems that I hid immediately in a small box, not understanding what I was writing but trusting myself in the future.

Which five artists have most What is the first memory that you inspired your work? have of art growing up? The photographer Robert The roots of Art, Neolithic art and Mapplethorpe for his sulfurous Nature. That’s wild! I came from leather shadow and flowers, the a place where I never really felt in New York punk group Suicide for contact in my childhood with the their uncompromising sense of classic sense of Art. But the freedom, the French children’s standing stones and summer shore cartoonist Nicole Claveloux for her was a pure enchantment for the erotic version of ‘The beast and the senses. All was about energy and beauty’ and her sense of light. Then, I’ve discovered humor, Paul Gauguin and his everything through the books in a colorful myth of the savage, and library where I went once a week the psychomagic of the cineast with my brother. The first painting Alejandro Jodorowsky. that my childhood memory printed is strangely ‘The death of divine-enfant.com Sardanapalus’ by Eugene Delacroix, @divineenfant found in the dictionary. I was fascinated by the sensuality of the bodies, their lascivious

ARTIST FEATURE

/LOLA SANTOS Born in Cordoba, Spain in 1972, artist Lola Santos studied Fine Arts in the Santa Isabel de Hungria School of Arts, in the University of Sevilla, Spain. In 1995, she obtained a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Artwork Restoration and Conservation. Shortly after graduation, she dedicated herself to the care of her newly formed family, but always kept a close relationship to art by painting as a hobby and by teaching art at several High Schools for sixteen years. Inspired by the challenges that women face today, her work, which often involves layers of collages using different materials aims to create a snapshot of her subjects, women you may never see in a fashion magazine but are powerful and beautiful in their unique way. www.laravisualart.com

Above: Juana 23

Above: Clemen 24

Above: Maria 25

INTERVIEW

/GABRIELLE JONES Gabrielle Jones is an Australian artist who is just beginning an international career, having her return exhibition in Umbria, Italy in June this year, with the majority of the first exhibition making its way to New York buyers. Her oil paintings serve as documentation of the performative act of painting, capturing the rhythm of movement; and thoughts, memories and responses to experiences as they play out in real time in front of the canvas. We had a conversation with Gabrielle where she touches on various topics of her art. What is it like to live in the heart of the majestic Blue Mountains in NSW? I live in the upper Blue Mountains which has a great creative community of artists, musicians, filmmakers, animators, jewellers, craftspeople, and restaurateurs and a community that revels in them. And that’s the best thing about living here.

spaces of the Central West easily for a recharge. And of course, there’s the cafes, galleries and restaurants. It’s a pretty good lifestyle. How has that influenced your work? The move to the mountains has changed my work enormously, but not in the ways I expected. I used to paint abstract landscapes but, as I was an inner city artist, something about that didn’t feel authentic. Honesty in art is important to me, so I moved here thinking that the landscape would inspire and motivate me and help

Having support and an understanding of what I do allows me to remove defences and stretch myself artistically. It’s also great to be able to access the nature of the mountains and the wide open 26

Above: Durgas Victory

me feel more authentic as a landscape artist. It didn’t! So, after a time, I realised it was the abstract qualities of painting that I loved, so I let go of the need to paint “anything” and pared it down to mark making, colour, and finding out what paint can do.

When they were shown together, I realised I could never exhibit acrylic only paintings again – the oils were so much stronger to my eye. And I think the collectors saw that too as all the oil paintings sold first, regardless of size, colour etc.

I can cover large areas better or I also found that if “I got out of my more easily with oil than acrylic own way”, all kinds of things would and load a brush with more paint, be allowed into my paintings. which is great since I prefer to paint large canvases. And I get my Currently, my work responds to fingers into it and can produce a travels in Italy, France and India in tactile painting more easily than 2017 and a recent Sydney with quick drying acrylic. I do, exhibition of Rembrandt and the however, like acrylic for its speed of Dutch Masters. drying because I can make marks and interact with the painting more What is it about painting with oil paints that you love? quickly and with less mess than Mostly, I love the slipperiness and doing the same thing with oils. I wetness of oil – it’s alternately can’t always wait the time oil takes tactile, sexy and annoyingly dirty! to dry. So most of my works over I can (and do) use acrylics in an oil the last few years are both oil and painting way – wet on wet acrylic. techniques, dripping etc. – but the paintings inevitably feel drier and You have a few exhibitions the colour dull compared to oil. So coming up later this year, could oil paints add the luminosity that I you tell us a bit more about them? can’t get from acrylic. I have my second exhibition in Umbertide, Italy, opening on June I held an exhibition that had half 15 till August 3 at Grefti Cultural the paintings in acrylic and half Projects, which I am looking in oil, all painted around the same forward to. The first one, last year, time, all strong on their own. sold 18 of 21 pieces, with 11 works 28

making their way to New York Collectors. It was such a fabulous surprise and validation of the work. People were buying because of the quality, not the name since I am unknown there. I have also been invited to exhibit at Gosford Regional Gallery in January 2019 and later, in the main gallery Muswellbrook Regional Gallery. I see these as an opportunity to stretch my practice, as they are presentation/non-commercial exhibitions, so I hope to look at other media to add to painting to express movement, colour, materiality. How important is downtime when it comes to creativity? I still work too many hours! However, I realised that whether or not I enjoy painting shows in the end result and that my best works take an intense amount of energy and concentration to achieve, in a relatively small space of time. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sustain that for very long (though I go to the gym to help my physical stamina) and I have crashed too many paintings working when the energy has left me. So I now take regular

weekends off (or at least one day), breaks for lunch (not looking at the canvas) and take time to really fill my brain (and eye) with conducive images (e.g. those of old master painters) flipping through books, with no end product in mind â&#x20AC;&#x201C; really playing with images without directly wanting to paint them. In that time off, I take walks, go to live music at local pubs occasionally, read books and watch particular television shows, all of which can spark some new thoughts or creative directions especially colour combinations or poetic lines which inspire paintings. We believe you also conduct art classes, how did that come about? I was teaching at a small art school which was pretty poorly run, and a number of students from different classes I was teaching asked if I took private students. So I started with four students in my living room, and now have 21 registered students over one day and one evening class in my small school, Art ClassSydney at Balmain, in Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic Inner West.

Above: Archimbaldo

What are the unique challenges you face as a “First World” artist? As a first world artist, it’s important to value culture over decoration, to enrich and not tear it down, to respect the role art has held in history and not to give in to the quick buck, in a society that measures worth in $ terms. It’s a difficult path to walk while trying to feed yourself.

walk your own path. At least it is for me – I’m very responsive to what I see so I have to be careful what I feed my brain and eyes, or I’ll accidentally end up somewhere I don’t want to be.

Turning off and tuning out, even from others’ gallery exhibitions, can sometimes be necessary to

I’m a late starter, and there’s just so many places I want to see! www.gabriellejones.com.au

Your work is a culmination of music, movement and process, is there one that stands out from the other? There are two works that have Another challenge is to find your recently been finished that I am own voice in a world of images and most proud of – In the Beginning, shouting ads, and other and Rembrandt’s Table. distractions which are vying for space in an artist’s mind. We need While both show movement and to shut these out, to some extent, rhythm, it’s the tactility of the but still reflect the society we live in marks and the abstract response to or at least what it’s like to be a 21st master paintings that is exciting me Century artist, to be truly relevant at the moment. It’s a breakthrough as a contemporary artist. It’s really for me. difficult in a 24-hour media cycle, digital radio, advertising, You currently travel between television reality shows etc. and Europe and Australia, are there when social media (so important to any other places in the world that contemporary artist’s careers) you see yourself drawn towards? almost immediately rewards or I long to see Berlin, Vienna, and penalises developing work or Bohemia (Egon Schiele’s places) paintings that deviate from a and more of France (the first trip commercial or even an artist’s own was a short one last year, limited established norm. only to the south).

Above: Between the Shadow and the Soul

INTERVIEW

/MARCEL SCHWITTLICK Based in Berlin, Germany. Artist Marcel Schwittlick explores the cybernetic aspects of generative systems and modern technology through his work. The digital culture that we are enveloped by and its impact on our daily lives also play a prominent role in his work. Working with a variety of media such as digital images, physical and interactive installations, generative poetry and conceptual video he seeks to build bridges between the tradition and modernity. Could you tell us a bit more about your project with Ramin Soleymani titled ‘The Electronic Chaos Oracle’? The Electronic Chaos Oracle is a collaboration with artist/technologist Ramin Soleymani. The work is about investigating possibilities of creating a cybernetic system to inspire it’s observers. The Electronic Chaos Oracle is a partner for co-authoring texts, stories, ideas and theories on any topic you wish, exploring the possibility to fill the philosophical gap of computationally generating new ideas and thoughts. Possible 34

topics can be philosophical, theoretical-aesthetic, about media-theory, culture critical, feminism and visual art, to conceptual art, digital culture, internet theory, ecology, political theories, cybernetics, virtuality and the algorithmic revolution and more. The system behind the Electronic Chaos Oracle’s intelligence is based on a variety of machine learning algorithms which are being utilized for remixing a textual database. Among other, Henry Warwick’s ‘The Offline Library’ has been

Above: So Intimate #246

Above: Electric Chaos Oracle #1 36

incorporated in the database. This library consists of thousands of digitized books and has the tradition to be passed on via USB sticks. One relevant aspect of the nature of the Electronic Chaos Oracle is that it can act as a feedback system for learning purposes. All Machine Learning as well as Artificial Intelligence systems work by feeding artificial neural networks with vast amounts of data to train the system, ‘teaching’ the machine. The Electronic Chaos Oracle is an attempt to close this cycle by constituting a framework that helps us, humans, to learn from machines in return. We teach machines and machines teach us back. In your personal opinion, how is the accelerated rate of change within technology and communication going to affect our cognitive DNA in the coming decades? whether our DNA will adjust to an increasingly accelerated rate of communication and digital interaction, is a scientific assumption I can only ponder about. At this point I’m thinking rather about our brains that are struggling with

hypercommunication via mass social media. This is an issue I work with, the trade between quality and quantity in information we are perceiving and creating whether being an artist or not. One interesting idea is the juxtaposition between media and data that is perceivable by humans in contrast to the stuff perceivable by machines. You call yourself a ‘Creative Coder’, when did you first take the steps into the world of coding? My history is indeed coming from the creative coding scene, creating simulations, putting ideas into code that thus turns things into tangle, visual or audible things motivated me to learn programming and all kinds of technical skills. I am still fascinated by the banal phenomena of typing text and being able to look at a visual representation of that code. Creative coding is a more direct practice, a closer loop between code and visual outputs. Lately I mainly developing larger systems and the stories around them using big data and remixing existing images and text, creating context between unrelated items.

Do you think digital interactive art is going to play a key role in the future? Digital interactive art is not necessarily going to play a key role in the future, though, art that is inclusive can lead somewhere. I doubt this old medium alone will guide mankind anywhere meaningful anymore. Though I can observe the trend of digital, interactive works since this is more and more entering the classical art institutions like the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin.

Nadja Buttendorf, Aram Bartholl, Waltz Binaire, Satoshi Aizawa, Joana Moll, Robert Henke, Benjamin Grosser, Annie Dorsen, Sebastian Zimmerhackl, Evan Roth and Byrke Lou and the people at Lacuna Lab, just to name a few. They are a huge inspiration on many different levels.

What do you love the most about your job? I like its flexibility.

Could you tell us a bit more about Lacuna Lab and the work you do through it? Lacuna Lab is a community I co-founded in 2015 with about 15 other interdisciplinary artists. Our studio in Berlin Kreuzberg is a meeting place as well as a place for working, semi-public, sometimes we organise workshops and small events. It’s a non-hierarchically organised non-profit association dedicated to media arts and other trans-disciplinary practices. Among other projects, the Electronic Chaos Oracle has their origin in Lacuna Lab.

Are there any other digital artists that have caught your attention lately? There’s a lot of artists that work with “the digital” in their work. Whether the output of their work is digital or not is irrelevant. Some people’s work I am a huge fan of are

We believe you will be exhibiting at Art|Jog| in Yogyakarta this May, what do you have in store for that? ART|JOG|11 is the biggest annual art fair in south-east Asia, located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia with this years topic “Enlightenment”.

Activating the visitor is important and has the potential to enter deeper perceptual layers in the visitors, to plant and provoke stronger emotions. Simply because it can create experiences, it can make the visitor the artist.

Above: Electric Chaos Oracle #2

Above: Woven Highlights 39

Above: So Intimate #41

I will contribute a projection tryptic called “Neurodynamics”. These purely aesthetic animations are inspired by works of Hans Richter and Oskar Fischinger and generated with machine learning algorithms, in particular a technique called style transfer.

powered by electricity? Everyday tools that help people live their lives? A hammer or a book? Our brains? At least I can’t live without any of these things. I think it’s important to consciously appreciate the different meanings technology can represent. www.schwittlick.net

I am very interested in machine learning, especially the techniques to generated images, visualizations without symbolism. This is an attempt to play with approaches to collaborate with myself mediated by the computer, like a conversation. One can imagine it like that: I created some black and write structures, recycled from my own data. Namely rearranged movements of my computer mouse over the last months, the lines that I draw unconsciously while using the computer. These semi-generatively arranged structures are coloured by the algorithms, given custom colour palettes derived from personal photography. What is one item of technology that Marcel cannot do without? Because this is a straight forward question, I would like to avoid it and instead open a backdoor.What is technology? Things with a processor? Things that are

ARTIST FEATURE

/FU WENJUN Digital Pictorial Photography, a photography style created by Chinese contemporary artist Fu Wenjun, represents a photographic art expression working through digital post-processing and multiple exposures, with the integration of pictorial aesthetic features. Presented with the media of photography, it is comprehensively developed by modern and contemporary art ideas, including Conceptual Art, Pop Art, Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism. Digital Pictorial Photography provides the artist with great freedom, helping him to get rid of the objective recording function of photography, which he believes is a limit for photography to develop as an art. So, he can boldly melt pictorial elements into photography, creating in a way something like Chinese traditional freehand brushwork, heartily and carrying through without stopping to express artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotions, reflection and spirit. In Wenjunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Digital Pictorial Photography works, you can find out his subjective thinking of various issues and his diverse, lasting art exploration on this innovative photography style, which provides the viewers with a very different, often surprising visual experience. www.fuwenjun.com

Above: Old Tree in Autumn Sunset, Digital Pictorial Photography, 60 x 60cm, 2018.

Above: 4 Desert Oasis, Digital Pictorial Photography, 60 x 60cm, 2018.

Above: 3 Spring Water, Digital Pictorial Photography, 60 x 60cm, 2018.

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INTERVIEW

/JULIET PIPER Working within photography for over 20 years has given artist Juliet Piper insight on a range of facets of the industry. During this time she has worked as an assistant, a photographer, an agent for contemporary artists, a consultant, curator and project coordinator. Currently based in the United Kingdom, she is in the midst of an exhibition of her latest body of work in Geneva, Switzerland and has worked across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In our interview with Juliet, she talks about the change she has seen first hand within the photographic community, the importance of memories and what keeps her coming back to photography. Having worked in the photography industry for over 20 years, how has the industry changed since you first started? One of the great things is that photography was rebranded a major art form and since then photographers have appeared on the international platform from countries far and wide, with their approach, culture and styles. Art fairs can reflect this sometimes.

And of course, the digital era for better for worse, till death do us part. A world where everyone thinks they are a photographer is interesting, to say the least.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m finding answering this question harder than I expected actually. I keep going from all the positives that I have seen and back to all the negatives that are also linked to the tech advances, the shrinkage of the world and timeframes linked to However, they are merely a window new tech and smartphones etc. on whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trending that given year, in that given city/country. 46

Above: And Then He Said

Change is in the nature of all things. I guess it’s all down to how you embrace it. Funnily enough, perspective seems to be essential in all physical realms. You’ve got an exhibition coming up in April in Geneva, Switzerland. Could you tell us a bit more about that? I’m showing my latest work for the first time. It’s called Remember, Last Summer.I’ve been working on memory for probably a decade now and how it shapes us and our approach to the world around us. Remember, Last Summer is a collection of found places, traces of the passing of others, the leftovers of their time spent if you will. These become found memories, usually childhood memories. I scout for these specifically as I hope to have the viewer relive happy memories.

think the onslaught of the digital age will have on our memories moving forward? Memories of selfies mixed with food porn served up with a sauce of algorithms picking the most popular for us. We’ll probably lose all our images due to tech changes and not updating our data to suit when we’re old and ancient, who remembers the floppy disk? Anyone?

More seriously, I am quite concerned about the lack of brain memory available these days. If it isn’t in the shape of a pixel, it might as well never existed. In our screen controlled world at least. Everyone thinks I have tons of photographs of my kids. I don’t. I have a few, and the ones I cherish the most are on film because it was intentional, it meant something. I want to have What is it about photography that memories with them and them keeps you coming back for more? of me. Not of someone following It’s a language I understand. It’s them with a cell phone and actually how I find solace from the noise in not joining in the fun. my mind. How important an impact do you In your current project titled think memories have on a ‘Remember, Last Summer’, you subconscious level on a daily talk about the importance of basis? memories, what impact do you Our memories shape us, the way 48

Above: 924

Above: Last Day of the Fair

we see and, more importantly, react to the outside world. The other important thing is that we can choose to remember or ignore them. They should never cripple you, and I believe we have a choice in that matter, choose to hold on or let go. Some psychologists go as far as working on in utero memories to explain psychology traits or ill health.

others who will never use digital. What actually matters is what comes out of it all.

Technical conversations bore the hell out of me because all the tech in the world will not make a good shot without the human eye that is behind it. What speed, what aperture, what film, what camera did you use for this or that. Ahhhh! Shhhhhhush! Thus said, I have witnessed memory loss technicalities are essential, you close hand when both my maternal need to know what is going on, it grandparents suffered from should be a part of you like dementia, how memories became blinking or breathing, not essential, life-saving even. How something that is talked about or childhood memories were the best raved about for hours on end. If to get through the day and how my you do that, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll miss the shot gran had no idea who I was, her anyway. empathy and memories turning me into a visiting lady who was What is the first memory you very very pregnant, poor dear! She have of photography? would say. Memories are essential. Group school photos in the How we deal with them is the playground. It took forever! crucial part. The noise my agfamatic 3000 used to make when pressing that So many photographers, both gigantic red button. Huge thing. aspiring and established, tend to get caught up in the technicalities I still have that camera, fished it out of photography, do you have any of the attic to answer your advice for them? question, it made me smile. Or I I have tech-mad friends, who need could say the day a family friend the last best new shiny thing, can was taken hostage in Lebanon, and take a camera apart and rebuild it, I wanted to go and save him, with a some who will never use film and camera as my sole weapon. 51

Above: Marshmallows

I was 11 I believe. He was released a few weeks later, and I finally made it to Beirut when I was 17, as a field photographer for an NGO. That definitively shaped the way I see things to this day. Was there an image you came across recently that deeply resonated with you? From the art world, Toronto based photographer Amy Friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s series Stardust of vintage photographs, carefully dotted with tiny holes. Every perforation seems to transpire a little more nostalgia

and memories. Ahh! There you go! Memories. Again! Must be a recurring theme in my bubble. What do you like on your toast on Sunday morning? Scrambled eggs with sweet and chilli Thai sauce. www.julietpiper.com

Above: Treasure Cove

ARTIST FEATURE

/AISLING DRENNAN Not a lot of artists that we work with can say that they travelled the world with ‘Riverdance - The Show’ and performed on the Great Wall of China amongst other equally remarkable venues, but that’s precisely what Irish artist Aisling Drennan did in over 400 cities, covering 43 countries and six continents. Since completing her Fine Art education from Central Saint Martins, Aisling has been focussing on expressing her creativity through her work; Her pieces are often bathed layers of colour, each contrasting shade trying to grab your attention, lines slicing through forcing the viewer to investigate deeper. Aisling has also been shortlisted for the John Moores painting prize and the Visual Arts Open. She has also been awarded a residency at the Cill Rialaig Arts Centre in Co. Kerry, Ireland and won the Freyer Award for excellence in painting. Chaotic at first sight, her captivating pieces with their intertwining layers will get you hooked the moment you see them. www.aislingdrennan.com @aisling_drennan_art

Above: Useful Mistakes, 2017, Oil Paint and Charcoal on Canvas, 76 x 76cm.

Above: These Things, Oil Paint and Charcoal on Canvas, 30 x 30cm, 2018.

Above: Roll the Dice, Oil Paint and Charcoal on Canvas, 30 x 30cm, 2018.

INTERVIEW

/PETER HOMAN The first thing you will come across on artist Peter Homan’s website is a burst of flames flowing across a canvas, this contradiction and experimentation form the core of this Dublin, Ireland, born artists work. Although primarily raised in an urban environment, nature is what inspires Peter. He received a Degree in Fine Art in DLAIDT in 2004 but considers himself to be a largely self-taught artist. In our interview with him, we talk about his time spent with the Maasai of Kenya, his latest body of work titled ‘Saints and Sinners” and what excites him about art. You spent some time with the Maasai in Kenya in 2006, could you tell us a bit more about your experience? It was such a magical experience. I never thought I would actually be there hanging out with the Maasai and getting to know some of them. I had only ever seen them in National Geographic documentaries before arriving. They are the most amazing people. They are always smiling and laughing, their lives can have such hardships, and they face every day with a smile. They amerce themselves in colour; their

is skin is perfect. I found myself staring a lot and staring is considered rude, so it was difficult to restrain myself as I love studying peoples faces. I am massively visual. I found it difficult when I got home to enjoy everything I had or be grateful for what I had, they live in the most primitive of ways and know no different. But everything is relative in this life. I was there to observe them and document them as I was to do an exhibition on on Kenya and her people. 58

Above: Awakening

Seeing the majesty of Kenya and its natural beauty would inspire anyone to paint or turn their experience into something creative. What was the inspiration behind your body of work titled “Saints and Sinners”? 1 in 10 today, statistically are gay, and there are millions of saints. There for how many of them were gay? Throughout history whether in the bible of canonising saints one of them had to have been gay. I found it so hypocritically of the Catholic church to have the views they have on homosexuality while possible praying or worshipping gay people. I also adore religious art and have always wanted do an exhibition based on religion. I used to love in art history and history classes in school learning about the masters and the influence the church had on artists then, and the fear the church imparted to its people. So with that, I went to well-known gay Irish personalities and asked them if I could paint them as saints and tried to match up the personality to the saint, or the field they worked in. There are patron saints for

everything, watches, clocks, fashion, tv, cooks, artists, etc. When the celebrity agreed to let me transform them into a saint, I pinned material on to them and sketched them out and photographed them. Each painting took about a month to paint. I loved painting and researching that show; I immersed myself in it for two years. When did you first start painting with fire? How has this changed you as an artist? It all started in 2005. It was a happy accident. I was on a residency in Cill Rialigh in Ballinskelligs in Co Kerry. The little artist village lies on the edge of a mountain, it’s surrounded by land and sea. I hadn’t painted in 4 days. When I got there, I suddenly had painters block. I wanted to go down and paint seascapes for two weeks, but when I went to pick up a brush and paint nothing came out, I panicked as I had so much I wanted to do and couldn’t do anything. I decided on the 4th day of my stay I was going to put down colour and go with the flow and try not to be so controlled. It didn’t work. 60

Above: Graham Norton as archangel Gabriel 61

Above: Darkness into light

I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let go and put the painting to one side in utter frustration. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realise that there was a candle right beside it. It caught fire, and in the panic of trying not to burn the cottage down, I threw it on the floor. When the flame went out I picked it up and looked at the canvas; the result was complete magic.

for 13 years I have been perfecting it, learning from my mistakes and many canvases that turned into firewood. Fire is an element that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be tamed so its better to work with it, try to understand it, then control it. Fire painting has probably been one of the most important lessons, or mistakes, or moments of my career.

I decided from then that I would try it again and again for the two weeks I was there, hoping not to burn anything down. Since then,

What was growing up in Dublin like? Like every period of your life, there 62

Above: Surge

are hardships and mistakes to make and lessons to learn. When I look back on it now, I had a blessed childhood. I didn’t have the pressures that the kids nowadays have. We played on our street and the field behind my parents’ house, we played games and had to entertain ourselves, our imaginations ran wild.

cherished memories and stories to pass onto my niece and nephew. I was gay and always knew I was ‘different’ growing up. I suffer from depression and anxiety, I have done since I was 13, so as a kid I wasn’t sure what was going inside me on top of puberty.

I was bullied a lot growing up, I was taken out of one school and My parents gave us everything they put into another, it calmed down, but there was always something could and provided us with about me that people would pick at everything they could. They provided us with so many or on. 63

But I never somehow let it get in the way, yes it hurt, but that’s what words can do. But growing up in Dublin, for me, was great, I wouldn’t change a single thing about my past, maybe go back and slap me silly for going out with some of the people I did but that’s about it. Ireland is always considered a place of breathtaking natural beauty, how much of an influence has this landscape been in your art? Major influence! I based a lot of my exhibition, ‘I AM HOMAN’ on the landscape of a bog in Abbeyleix, Killamuck. I love driving to co. Wicklow and getting lost among the hills. I painted a lot of the coastline of the west of Ireland in my early 20s and every time I go I get inspired to paint more and more. There are so many parts of Ireland I have yet to see, and once I have, I’m sure I’ll be locked away in the studio each time I do.

between me and my creativity, how the painting introduces itself to me while I work into it. I enjoyed painting my ‘Saints and Sinners’ exhibition because I loved religious art and loved delving into the techniques of the masters like Caravaggio and Da Vinci. Always learning and teaching myself new things excites me. My imagination is going wild at the moment over painting flowers, in my style. Could you tell us a bit more about your latest project ‘I am Homan’? ‘I AM HOMAN’ was born from the bittersweetness of chronic pain and the wildness of Killamuck Bog, in Abbeyleix Co. Laois Ireland, where I found solace and escape from pain, my sister lives right beside it, and I spend a lot of time there. I have always had back pain, but in 2014 it got real, and I was in constant pain all the time.

The only thing that gave me peace and sanity was painting, I would go to my studio and paint through, or even alongside the pain and create What excites you about art? landscapes, or expressions from So many things. I love that when I within me that gave me escapism set out to do a fire painting it never each day I painted. As an artist, I turns out how I pictured it in my have always been enamoured by head, it usually works out better colour and texture. than I anticipated. I love the dance 64

Above: Drowning under moonlight

The bog and its surroundings are flushed with the tapestry of an ever-changing landscape, from the textures of peat, heathers, grasses, bog cotton and trees to the sky formations that linger over it. It was also the first time in my painting career that I began or learned to be a bit more abstract. I had never been comfortable painting abstract images, I found it hard to let go, but since I’ve been living with chronic pain I can’t seem to stop myself and find myself expressing pain or my inner demons on canvas, they have a lot to say. I am also obsessed with light; I love painting light. ‘I AM HOMAN’ was the start of my journey to the work I am preparing for my upcoming exhibition later this year. I am always learning and growing in my art, and as a person I guess. Watch this space dates in 2018. What is Peter’s favourite place to unwind in Dublin? I love going into the National Gallery and getting lost among the paintings. I went there a lot as a kid and teenager, and it always gave me a sense of peace. I also love going into town and finding a café or restaurant, (mainly Brown Thomas

café on the 3rd floor on Fade St) during the day and ordering a glass of wine or two and sitting there with my magazine, HELLO! It is my guilty pleasure I buy it most weeks, (I feel far from guilty in that moment)! I love walking too, I love pushing myself by walking on a good hike or walking through a forest. Nature I guess. I love being among nature; when we were kids my parents would take us up hiking trails; they love nature. My mum is a total tree hugger. www.artistpeterhoman.com

Above: Pain

INTERVIEW

/LARRY SIMON Drawing inspiration from seemingly everyday moments and objects we have the artist Larry Simon, through his blend of sharp and soft focus, Larry’s compositions highlight the world we often miss out on in our fast-paced life. His stepped down style of photography has resulted in his work to be part of collections across the globe ranging from Tokyo and Frankfurt to Denver to name a few. Would it be safe to say that you find solace in the art of photography in today’s noisy world of technology and communication? Extremely safe to say. For me, making photographs is a purely meditative experience. It’s my mute button. Using a rangefinder camera with manual focus helps because it forces me to slow down and consider a scene that might make an interesting image. When I’m roaming streets of foreign cities - my favourite places to carry a camera - I often

find myself in perfect silence as I focus on a subject, almost as if using a sketchbook. That’s when I realise I’ve tuned out everything in the world but me and what I’m seeing through the rangefinder. Do you think social media has taken away the stepped down, contemplative aspect of capturing an image? Without a doubt. In one sense, it’s the same thing we did with Kodak Instamatics back in the day, except you still had to change the film after 36 exposures. 68

Above: Vending Machine, Narita from the series â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Made in Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 69

Above: Sake Bar Below: Nor-en

So I remember getting to the end of a roll and thinking, ‘I’d better save these last shots for something good.’ Today, with iPhone at the ready, everyone snaps pictures of everything at such breakneck speed that I fear Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’ has been reduced to a millisecond. The prominent photographer Sam Abell said it best: ‘You don’t take a photograph; you make a photograph.’ This takes time, even if it’s just a deep breath. If you could pick one Haruki Murakami novel to introduce someone to his work, which one would it be? Ah, a great question. Kafka On the Shore is the one that comes to mind. Its lyricism and melancholy stay with you a long time. Is there a place you’ve visited that constantly draws you back as a photographer? Venice. It’s where I first played with soft focus during a month-long stay when I tired of shooting gondolas and laundry hanging in the side canals. It is impossible to make a bad photograph in Venice, though from the comments of some critical viewers, I’ve succeeded

with my blurry shots. If you spend enough time getting lost there, you will find amazing subjects. The second place is Japan, for its painfully beautiful aesthetic, right down to the vending machines. Your images often combine elements both in and out of focus, are you trying to capture a particular emotion or space through this? I am fascinated by what’s been termed our Inner Landscape, a dreamlike place where our logical side can’t always fill in the blanks. The Jungian writer Robert Johnson called events in this interior ‘the slender threads of the golden world.’ Though seemingly puzzling and a bit surreal, they inform our conscious lives. These are the narratives I discover as I make photographs and assemble photo collages. Sharp focus or soft, there’s an idea of a composed, surreal scene that might well have appeared in the hours when we dream. I like what a critic once wrote of Gerhard Richter’s blurred series: that they were like a phone call with a poor transmission that garbles parts of the conversation.

I sometimes think what we can’t eventually get found by the quite make out or fully understand people you want to find it when offers a more compelling story. you’re true to that voice. By the way, I also know from experience You’re also a classical pianist. that’s easier said than done. But I Does that influence your keep trying. photography? Music strongly influences my work. Sometimes I give an image a Is there an activity in Japan that musical title, like one called Larry just can’t get enough of? ‘Sleepers Awake,’ which for some Riding trains and visiting gardens, reason reminded me of the Bach though not necessarily in that cantata. order. The coolest thing about music is that it exists momentarily in the air, unlike photography or painting. There’s no going back to have one last look, as we might do with a renowned artwork in a museum. When it ends, it ends. I try to put that ephemeral quality in my photographs, which may explain why many of them are abstract. Do you have any advice for upcoming photographers trying to get their work noticed? As in all artistic pursuits, I think it’s essential to find a voice that resonates--not just with potential buyers of art, but with yourself. I know from experience this takes longer, and maybe the crowds are thinner, but your work does

www.larrysimon.net

Above: The Crisply-Pressed Uniform of a Shinkansen Conductor

Above: Polished Black Shoes

ARTIST FEATURE

/TROY DUGAS Our modern-day consumerist culture sadly leaves a large amount of waste. Countless layers of packaging which often includes plastic and paper find their way into our fragile ecosystem, the former taking millennia to break down. Born in Rayne, LA in 1970, artist Troy Dugas gives these materials a new lease of life through his work. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and his M.F.A. from the Pratt Institute in New York. Troy has exhibited nationally and has received numerous accolades including Second Place in the Ogden Museum of Southern Artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s juried exhibition, Louisiana Contemporary (2016); a Pollock-Krasner Grant (2009-10); and a fellowship from the Louisiana Division of the Arts (2007-08). His intricate mandala-like compositions are made of shredded product labels, intricately re-arranged on paper, canvas or wood. Troyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention to detail with regards to his use of repetition, pattern, symmetry and colour keep us coming back for more. www.troydugas.com

Above: Francesco 75

Above: St. Jerome

Above: Blue Figure

INTERVIEW

/NIELS EGIDIUS When you first come across artist Niels Egidius’s current project ‘What it Seems’, you can’t help but feel transported into a Rudyard Kipling novel, deep into a tropical jungle, and that’s exactly what Niels wants you to experience. Based in the Netherlands, music is the driving force when he is in the studio. In our conversation with him, he delves deeper into his creative process, his favourite cartoons growing up and celebrating differences. Could you tell us a bit more about your body of work titled ‘What it seems’? ‘What it seems’ is an illustrated story where I started working on in 2013. I studied Illustration, but I found out that I’m more of a painter who likes to write and make up stories. So in the second year of my education, I decided to work on ‘What it seems’, which turned out to be my graduation project. It started with the subject of being an invader in the tropical 78

rainforest. I was intrigued by footage of an isolated tribe in the Amazon, taken from above out of a helicopter. I was confused by it some way... The footage was meant to protect the tribe from the outside world. To me, this action felt a bit counterproductive or maybe even hypocrite. Afterwards, I dug into stories about voyages of discovery in the Amazon like the Conquistadors did; plundering the native cultures and their belief to find the mythical ‘Eldorado’, the city of gold.

Above: Awake 79

Later on, I associated this subject with the practice of Alchemists in their quest for manufacturing gold. I rather perceive this in a more metaphorical way, to me it is a general and timeless idea if you look at it in a wider perspective. I tried to make a connection between this Western aim and the mysterious spirituality of the uncivilised. To me, it seems there’s a lot of value in cultures that are different from our Western world, something pure or ‘golden’. I took this part quite seriously and questioned myself what I might think of the ‘golden’ part of my life or in other words, what is really meaningful to me? In a sense, I found an answer to this question... Which a big part of the story is based on. Basically ‘What it seems’ is a mixture of matter I’m interested in and things I experience in my own life. Through the years this project evolved into a parallel universe where I deal with quests of life and translate experiences to ‘What it seems’. The story is a life cycle of the main character ‘Iqare’ in which each chapter is a phase in his life. The structure of phases makes it possible to work with

different questions and themes, which keeps it fresh in some way. So far I created two chapters and a sequence to bring those two chapters together. The story will consist out of five chapters which I will publish in some way in the future. What project(s) are you currently working on? Lately, I’ve been working in collaboration with my friends of studio Team Curry on an interactive website. This website is a platform to publish ‘What it seems’, which we have launched on the 7th April. We’ve created a universe around the story where the analogue drawings melt into a digital context. For both of us, this was a completely new and challenging process which was really fun to work on. The process developed organically, and it was nice to explore ‘new’ possibilities in storytelling. When I started with ‘What it seems’ I thought it would turn into a book someday but... That didn’t happen at all, haha. The story is crafted in animated drawings, a voice-over and music,

so a ‘normal’ publication wasn’t even possible really. Since I’ve been working so long on this project a lot of new ideas sneaked into my process. I like people to experience something when they look at my art, and I try to reach that by presenting it in different ways. I want to bring the visitors as close as possible to my work, get them in there you know? And maybe even let them become part of it in the future. Where in the world are you currently based and why? I’m based in Nuenen, a peaceful village nearby Eindhoven (the Netherlands). After living for three years in Utrecht (where I studied at HKU art school), I moved back to my parent’s place during my graduation year.

my family. I have a huge painting atelier at home and even a drawing room next to my bedroom, life’s good in Nuenen. At the end of this year, I’m planning a trip to South-America, something I’ve been thinking of for a long time. How important do you think it is to choose a career suited to your needs as a person? Good one. Well, I think it depends on who you are and what satisfies you. First of all, I think it is always nice to be busy with something you are good at and like to do. Especially when you have to do this day in day out. To me, it always has been of great importance to be passionate about the things I do.

I think it is even part of my personality to find mediums to I needed focus and more space express myself and show people to work on my ideas. My parent’s what is really important to me. I place is an ‘one of a kind’ did a lot of ‘shitty jobs’ back in the family situation if you would ask days just for money, and that didn’t me; My dad and brother are satisfy me... actually, a very long running a wood company at home, time in my life I didn’t care about and my sister has her hair salon in money at all. So I think that the same building. I work at the planted a seed in me that I wanted wood company producing stuff and to become as good as possible in preparing orders. I like to have a something I really enjoy doing. sober, raw job beside my art practice and to work together with 81

Above: Pose

If you start making money with that too, you’re really winning. Do you have any favourite writers/illustrators that you look to for inspiration? First of all, I listen to a lot of music while working on my things. I often pick music that suits my mood or the atmosphere I’m creating at that moment. I spend a lot of time alone in my room, so music became a sort of a company. I listen very carefully to the lyrics often knowing every single word. I prefer listening to songs which are little stories or poetically, things

that are honest and pure. Lately, I’m listening to a lot of Brazilian music. Obviously, I don’t understand a single word, but the rhythms bring me good vibes. I’m also enjoying loads of jazz and composed works. There’s too many I like to put it in here. I get inspired by movies directed by Werner Herzog, Jim Jarmusch and some of David Lynch his work. I like Brecht Evens’ work a lot, Rinus v.d Velde, Kerry James Marshall, Peter Doig and Neo Rauch. But also more classic ones like Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, 82

Above: Golden River

Edward Hopper, Armando Reverón and Claude Monet. I can go on for days... We live in a world of contrasting cultures, beliefs and values. How important do you think it is for us to celebrate those differences than isolate them negatively? I think it is a good thing that there are cultures on this planet who are completely isolated from others. For some reason, I strongly believe in the authenticity of cultures and ways of living without influences from the outside world.

To me, there’s no right or wrong really, and I think religion or believing in something ‘bigger’ is a beautiful thing. I’m a big fan of mythology, tales and stories in general that explain something about humanity, our history and presence. I believe truth can be found in every culture or ideology even it is sometimes hard to recognise or to measure the value of it. This subject plays an important role in the second chapter of ‘What it seems’.

Could you tell us a bit more about your creative process and your studio? I’m a collector making archives of images. I’m always busy with gathering images from the internet, film stills, books and photographs I take by myself. By making selections I archive them in folders on my computer. The paintings and drawings I make are often collages consisting out of a few images, brought together in the medium I’m working in. I mostly paint because I enjoy the fluidness of it and the ability to create different layers. There are so many ways of painting, and I love to explore them. Right now I’m focussing on painting again to learn and play around. Lately, I feel the urge to paint raw and fast, and I guess it has something to do with the work at the wood company. I want to create paintings the way I make the wooden fences, solid and determined. I’m curious what this way of working will bring me. What was Niels favourite animated cartoon growing up? I was (and still am a bit) obsessed with Peter Pan. I still think the metaphors in this story are

brilliant. In second place is the Jungle Book. My mother allowed me to watch these cartoons three times a day back in the days, so I did. I just loved to be in those atmospheres; the story didn’t move me at all at a certain point as you might understand. I have beautiful memories of my childhood, playing outside often with those cartoons in mind. I was making up stories and used my fantasy to colour up the playground. If I wasn’t playing, I was busy drawing for hours. I’ve always been drawing monkeys, and tropical worlds and I will keep on doing that. I think I still try to capture those dreamy vibes of these cartoons in someway. A huge part of my artist practice started back then already, and nowadays it gives me purpose that I’m doing the right thing. www.whatitseems.com

Above: Indians

INTERVIEW

/DONNA HOWARD Whimsical and quirky, these are the adjectives that first come to mind when you look at the work of artist Donna Howard. But there is a much more profound layer to them, acting as a tool to exercise control over an out of control life. In an effort to wrangle with the anxiety of wide-open spaces, she investigates the not-so-negative spaces for both its similarities and uniqueness. We believe you started painting seven years ago, what did you do before that? I was forced to figure out what to do with my life seven years ago. I had already been an anxious kid, an insecure teen, a scattered but decent college student, a wife, an acupuncturist, an office worker and an alcoholic.

Half filled with sketches, the other half filled with the ramblings of an unhinged person desperately trying, and mostly succeeding, in hiding that one truth.

In the fall of my 47th year, I broke. I “woke-up” one day to the fact I had been trapped in an office cube for like 15 years. I ended up stuck like a good worker bee, day after day after day… and snap. You know Alcohol took away my anxiety, insecurities, my first marriage, the it’s amazing the strength you can hope of a career in healing and find down deep when you choose almost a second husband. Through the path to fight for your life. it all there were the sketchbooks. 86

Above: My Descent

I left the toxic workplace I had been entrenched in and took a leap of faith. Let me just stop right here and acknowledge the fact I did not take this journey alone.

humans in my work to hide the truth – or to “protect the innocent”. Just because I was ready to tell my story didn’t mean the cast of characters were ready to be dragged into it. Eventually, most of the stories came to light. And the cast of characters were okay with their inclusion. Here’s an example of how I try and take a little bit of “uncomfortable” and twist it into something I can deal with.

I have been blessed with an amazing support system – my husband, my family and friends and even the folks I employed to poke around in my head a bit to help me sort things out. So here I am, sober, no job and tons of time to fill while I figured out what the hell was going on in my head, and what the hell I was going to do next. The sketchbooks have always been there for me when I needed them. Now I needed more. I chose colour. The explosion that happened with that choice can be seen in my basement as well as on my website.

This piece is called simply “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home.” It’s me, and my four siblings joined together for a brief moment by a simple fear. But by turning us into Pink Flamingoes on one vulnerable but strong leg makes that memory softer and funnier and much more palatable.

Is the subject matter of your work a metaphor for people in your life? The subjects in my work are often Self-portraits as well as metaphors for the people and events in my life. They are my stories. They are my fears and my dreams. Art is magic. It leads me through an uncomfortable life to a strength I never knew existed. I guess I started using creatures instead of

Art often has the capacity for lasting influence and impression. Are there any works that have affected you a long time after you first saw them? Absolutely, and I have no idea what the actual work was. But I’ll tell you the story of the day I realised Art was powerful – and hysterical. Mom and Dad decided dragging five kids under 8 to an art museum was a good idea.

Above: Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

I vaguely remember the art or much of the day until I heard my 3-year-old brother’s laugh. Oh man, it was a good one! A laugh that only a little kid can release – pure unadulterated joy! And it didn’t stop.

the connection in the room that day and know that Art is amazing. (And Hysterical!)

I had to find my brother – he was in another room in the De Cordova Museum. I turned the corner, and there he was standing in front of a Wall-sized painting of a reclining nude woman. He stood there alone – a little chunk of a kid- and laughed like a goon! I remember looking around the room. And the people were laughing too! They were laughing at Brian but way more than that – they were experiencing this little kid’s Art journey and enjoying it right along with him. It felt for a moment like everyone was connected to the painting. The entire scene couldn’t have lasted more than some seconds – I know now it was a pretty small museum back then and Mom and Dad swooped in, red-faced, scooped him up and hustled him out. I was too young to appreciate Fine Art really, but for some reason, I was not too young to feel

Where are you currently based and why? Woburn Massachusetts. Family logistics. What advice would you give someone who maybe is not in a good place right now and is looking to take up art as an outlet for his or her stress and anxiety? I’m just a human with no particular credentials to dispense advice. I will say this. No matter how hard you look into the past, it isn’t going to change. What CAN change is your relationship with it. I can look at my childhood with kind eyes and see the culture, the family dynamics and me personally with the empathy it all deserves. I take that kindness, add my twist of humour and although the past never changed – I can dance in it now instead of wallow. How cool is that?

Above: PotHead 91

Above: The Swamp Out Back Our House

The backgrounds in your pieces often have a repetitive geometric pattern, could you tell us a bit more about that? It has nothing to do with math. The best I can explain is it’s the way I visualise “Negative Space.” There is nothing empty about the air around me. It is packed with light and sound and movement and anxiety. It’s full of emotions and laughter and passion. At this moment in my life, all that energy has visually manifested as a

bit geometric. I really can’t explain that one yet. I’m still hoping the universe will let me in on the answer... I think it all may be a cosmic joke. www.donna-howard.com

Above: Martinis For Two

ARTIST FEATURE

/MARK DAVID LLOYD Starting off as a graffiti artist in the mid-80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, artist Mark David Lloyd went on to study fine art at the Falmouth School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art, and Winchester School of Art. Not one to shy away from addressing topical issues and philosophical ideas, Markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s works are bold, expressive and always come with a healthy dose of drama and impact. Influenced by postmodern philosophical concepts, scientific theory and science fiction, his work is a visual manifestation of thought experiments. His more recent themes include; transhumanism/posthumanism, the impact of modern technology on the human psyche and the loss and rediscovery of God amongst others. www.lloyd-fineart.com

Above: Three Fear Registers of Artificial Reality, Mixed Media on Canvas, 52 x 72 x 03cm, 2013. 95

Above: Secrets of Complexity, 2016.

Above: Unknown Unknowns 2015 Private Collection.