KNACK Magazine #73

KNACK

Magazine

73

KNACK Magazine is dedicated to showcasing the work of artists of all mediums, and to discuss trends and ideas of art communities. KNACK Magazine’s

ultimate

aim

is to connect and inspire e m e r g i n g a r t i s t s , w o r k i n g a r tists and established artists.

We strive to create a place for artists, writers, designers, thinkers, and innovators to collaborate and produce a unique, informative, and unprecedented web-based art magazine each month.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES PHOTOGRAPHERS, GRAPHIC DESIGNERS & STUDIO ARTISTS: 10-12 high resolution images of your work. All should include pertinent caption information (name, date, medium, year).

WRITERS: You may submit up to 2,500 words and as little as one. We accept simultaneous submissions. No cover letter necessary. All submissions must be 12pt, Times New Roman, single or double-spaced with page numbers and include your name, e-mail, phone number, and genre.

KNACK seeks writing of all kinds. We will even consider recipes, reviews, and essays. We seek writers whose work has a distinct voice, is character driven, and is subversive but tasteful.

ALL SUBMISSIONS: KNACK encourages all submitters to include a portrait, a brief biography, which can include; your name, age, current location, awards, contact information, etc. (no more than 125 words). And an artist statement (no more than 250 words). We believe that your perspective of your work and process is as lucrative as the work itself. This may range from your upbringing and/or education as an artist, what type of work you produce, inspirations, etc.

If there are specifications or preferences concerning the way in which your work is to be displayed please include them.

Please title files for submission with the name of the piece. This applies for both writing and visual submissions. *PLEASE TITLE FILES FOR SUBMISSION WITH THE NAME OF THE PIECE. THIS APPLIES FOR BOTH WRITING AND VISUAL SUBMISSIONS.

EMAIL: KNACKMAGAZINE1@GMAIL.COM SUBJECT: SUBMISSION [PHOTOGRAPHY, STUDIO ART, CREATIVE WRITING, GRAPHIC DESIGN] ACCEPTABLE FORMATS: IMAGES: .PDF, .TIFF, OR .JPEG WRITTEN WORKS: .DOC, .DOCX, AND .RTF

REVIEWS

KNACK Magazine is requesting material to be reviewed. Reviews extend to any culture related event that may be happening in your community. Do you know of an exciting show or exhibition opening? Is there an art collective in your city that deserves some press? Are you a musician, have a band, or are a filmmaker? Send us your CD, movie, or titles of upcoming releases which you’d like to see reviewed in KNACK Magazine. We believe that reviews are essential to creating a dialogue about the arts. If something thrills you, we want to know about it and share it with the KNACK Magazine community—no matter if you live in the New York or Los Angeles, Montreal or Mexico.

All review material can be sent to knackmagazine1@gmail.com. Please send a copy of CDs and films to 4319 N. Greenview Ave, Chicago, IL 60613. If you would like review material returned to you include return postage and packaging.

Entries should contain pertinent details such as name, year, release date, websites and links (if applicable). For community events we ask that information be sent up to two months in advance to allow proper time for assignment and review.

We look forward to seeing and hearing your work.

EDITORS & STAFF Andrea Catalina Vaca Co-Founder, Publisher, Editor-In-Chief, Artist Coordinator, Digital Operations, Photographer, Designer, Circulation Director, Production Manager, Business Manager Jonathon Duarte Co-Founder, Creative Director Ariana Lombardi Co-Founder, Executive Editor, Artist Coordinator, Writer Chelsey Alden Editor, Writer Fernando Gaverd Digital Operations, Designer Benjamin Smith Designer Curtis Mueller Editor

Front & Back Cover Design: Andrea Catalina Vaca First & Last Spread Photography & Design: A.C. Vaca Photography & Andrea Catalina Vaca Magazine Design: Andrea Catalina Vaca

CONTENTS 10

Artist Biographies

FEATURED ARTISTS 28 36 16

Dipanjan Chakraborty

48

Seigar

Francisco Magallán

Raj Laxmi Singh

58

68

Hiroshi Atobe

KNACK Magazine, Issue #73

Josh Stein

ARTIST BIOGRAPH Dipanjan Chakraborty is 23 years old and lives in Kolkata. Currently he is preparing for civil service.

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HIES Born and raised in México City, Fransisco Magallán completed undergraduate studies at the National School of Art (UNAM) and later earned a master’s degree in Printmaking at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts in México City. He has participated in more than 80 group art shows (Mexico, USA, France, Spain, Germany, Argentina and Cuba, and more) and presented 10 solo art shows (Mexico, USA). His latest solo show Laberintos Mentales was held at the Mexican Cultural Institute in New Orleans, LA, (June - August 2021).

Magallán worked as a professor at different universities in México City.

He then founded his own painting and printmaking atelier, The Labyrinth, where he gave drawing, painting and printmaking workshops and worked on many projects. Some of his art pieces are part of institutional collections such as the National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago, IL), International Museum of Art & Science (McAllan, TX) and the Mexican Cultural Institute (San Antonio, TX). Magallán currently resides in New Orleans and is working on his next solo show Delirium. email: franciscomagallan27@gmail.com Facebook: LaberintosMentales Instagram: laberintos_mentales

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Raj Laxmi Singh is an ex-journalist turned full-time photographer.

What started as a hobby soon led to Singh learning and mastering the craft of photography. She started by working on the ground level, covering a few major art, cultural and heritage events across Delhi and India. Raj Laxmi would like to serve the nation by taking photographs to promote the rich history and beauty of Indian culture and art. email: rajlaxmimall102@gmail.com Facebook: rlphotography102 Instagram: rajlaxmiphotography

Seigar is a self taught visual artist, and a passionate travel, street, social documentary, and conceptual/pop photographer based in Tenerife.

He is a philologist and a secondary school teacher. He is obsessed with pop culture, reflections, saturated colors, curious finds, religious icons, and documenting identity. His main inspiration is traveling. Seigar has participated in several exhibitions and his works have been featured in many publications. He has collaborated with different media such as VICE and WAG1. Recently, he received the Rafael Ramos García International Photography Award. Seigar currently writes for Dodho Magazine, The Cultural Magazine, and Pop Sonality.

Website: www.seigar.wordpress.com Galleries: www.flickr.com/photos/theblueheartbeat/albums Facebook/Instagram: jseigar

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Hiroshi Atobe was born in Nagano, Japan in 1985. Atobe graduated from Seian University of Art & Design (Otsu, Japan), where he received a special recognition award as an experimental filmmaker at the 2017 Swedenborg Short Film Festival. He also received an Art Quake Peace Prize at the 2019 Kyoto Art Quake, a bi-annual, international art exhibition & film festival held at The Museum of Kyoto, Japan. Atobe is currently working as a visual artist and lives in Kyoto, Japan. email: filmatobe12@gmail.com

Josh Stein was born in 1973, in Hammonton, NJ. He is a multimode creative artist, musician, writer, and professor with multiple degrees from the University of California and the University of Liverpool. Stein has formal training in calligraphy, graphic design, and color work, and has worked as a researcher, teacher, and writer in cultural analysis in Birmingham and Frankfurt Schools. He is an adult beverage maker and has been a commercial artist and designer for multiple winery clients.

Stein currently resides in Napa, California.

Website: www.steincreates.com Instagram: steincreates

13

Dipanjan CHAKRABORTY I am a Kolkata-based street and documentary photographer. As a street photographer, my perspective remains close to people and the subtlety of their lifestyle. From my childhood I have been attracted to people, the life of people, various moments of their day, and beautiful moments that happen on the road.

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Struggle of Life

17

18

Riot of Colors

19

Morning Essence

20

Cricket in Mist

21

Into the Pigeons

22

Holy Fire

23

Yoga

24

25

Clockwise from below: The First Ray Blind Faith The Last Journey The Storm

26

27

This series of work, entitled Mental Labyrinths, is made with various techniques and metaphorically illustrates the different tangles and false realities that we generate in our minds. In some moments in our lives this can make us feel trapped in a kind of labyrinth within the mind The labyrinth is a space in which a person becomes physically lost in order to find himself spiritually.

During our ephemeral existence, we create complicated mental and emotional spaces in which we wander aimlessly, traveling again and again through similar paths and situations. We create mental labyrinths: Labyrinth of Egos, Labyrinth of Fears, or Labyrinth of Desires. As these emotions are fed, these labyrinths grow, expand and bifurcate, making an exit more and more complicated and difficult. We have to fight the war with our demons, confront them and triumph. The exit and the liberation will always be towards the inside and only illusively towards the outside.

28

Mental Labyrinths

Francisco MAGALLÁN

Hallucinogen Jester

Mystical Pachyderm

Radiant Elephant

30

3 Tigers inside a Labyrinth

Red Mystical Rooster

31

Pachydermic Delirium

Pachydermic Web

Labyrinthine Piglet

33

3 Headed Elephant

34

Labyrinthine Dragonet-Mandarin

35

Raj Laxmi SINGH Classical dances are an integral part of Indian culture. Indian Classical Dance is an expression of feeling and emotion. In these pictures are four classical dance forms: Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak and Chhau Mask of India.

When I photograph, I click on the connection of the emotion between me and the subjects. Photography offers bountiful opportunities which I attempt to use as a tool for documentation. Photographs become a universal language that everyone can easily understand. Each picture has its own narrative and story.

Bharatnatyam - (B) Odissi - (O) Kathak - (K) Chhau Mask - (C)

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Magic of Expressions

C

37

O

38

C

39

Previous Page: C

O

K

42

C

Next Page: C

B

46

C

47

SEIGAR This series shows eight women as beautiful creatures in a natural pool. This set belongs to the third part of the project entitled 1 2 3 No Hashtags which fights against discrimination and prejudice and aims for equality. In the first edition, I created a yearbook page as a sign of achievement and success through diversity. The second edition is a recreation of mugshots that represent the idea of feeling guilty because of diversity. For the third edition, female protagonists embody beauty and self love. 1 2 3 No Hashtags celebrates and values diversity. The underlying message is to stand up, appreciate differences, and receive acceptance through empathy. Every human being is beautiful in their own way. This series coincides with my interest in documenting identity, in this case, self-identity.

48

Beautiful Creatures (1 2 3 No Hashtags)

Team Credits: 1 2 3 No Hashtags Project: @123sinetiquetas 1 2 3 No Hashtags Directors: @masqueunatalla, @kitty_von_freud Participants: @pink.adriana, @pitamy, @yarukuta, @patriciafarrais88, @masqueunatalla, @yubmary, @christina.maria.f, @kitty_von_freud

Silvia

49

Christina

50

Kitty

51

Patricia

Yubmary

54

Yara

Adriana

55

56

Sol

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Hiroshi ATOBE Recently, I have been creating an aluminum foil painting. We humans think and feel every part on a ratio of 16:9. We want to change our thoughts and wills, which are formed by design, and make them more materialistic. Our fears toward covid-19, climate changes, or violence. I started this series of works because aluminum foil can change its form, textures, and aspect ratio.

Opposite Page: Meltdown

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Snowfall Hill

60

Harvest

Snow

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Previous page: Desert (curiosity and appetite)

Wilder than Spring

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Past Away

LakeSlide

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From left to right: Revolver, Samourai, Snow, Wasabi 67

Josh STEIN In my current optical art, I am attempting to reorient what “wine country” art can and should be. I use metallic, iridescent, and fluorescent colors in combination with textures to lift the paint from the canvas, creating what I call deep patterns. These are primal works focusing on vision, order, and patterning. They seem to tap into something deep within us. The use of more exotic acrylic mediums produces a moment of active tension both in person and via digital reproduction. The palette-knifed metallics create a deliberate shimmering effect and almost require an active participation.

Optical art is participatory—the viewer must contribute, and does so individually and idiosyncratically, in order for the pieces to function.

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#209 Coming Down on You, Coming Down on Me, 18”x24”, 2021 69

#256 Urbane Epiphany, 18”x24”, 2021

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#215 The Four Elements XXXVII (Union Jacked) 36”x36” 2021

#286 Caged Trails I (Tapework I) 20”x20” 2021

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#190 Mano a Mano, 18”x24” 2020 72

#274 To Defy the Laws of Tradition, 20”x20”, 2021

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#239 Do the Worm on the Acropolis, 16”x20”, 2021

#235 Slamdance the Cosmopolis, 16”x20”, 2021

Clockwise from top: #287 Caged Trails II (Tapework II) 20”x20” 2021 #287 Caged Trails II (Tapework II) 20”x20” 2021 #296 Isinglassed I 20”x20” 2021

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#216 Peace Frog 3/8, 18”x24”, 2021

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