LandEscape Art Review, Special Edition by LandEscape Art Review

LandEscape Contemporary

A r t

R e v i e w

Anniversary Edition

ART

ASHALEY CASSENS VICTOR FUCEK GERDI MOLLER-JANSEN YOTAM ZOHAR ESS BECK JACK ROSENBERG SUSAN LAMANTIA BRIGITTE DIETZ FERENC FLAMM Dame Gothel...it hurts to be beautiful by Piotr Rybkowski

scape

Land

SUMMARY

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

C o n t e m p o r a r y

A r t

R e v i e w

Ess Beck

Jack Rosenberg

Brigitte Dietz

Viktor Fuček

Susan LaMantia

Catherine Eaton Skinner

Denmark

USA

Germany

Slovakia

USA

Stine "Ess" Beck is a MSc Audio Design graduate from Aarhus University's Faculty of Arts and Communication (2016). As an autodidact musician and music producer, she has been active on the Danish and European Experimental underground music scene for the past 5 years with bands including ZRN, Tales of Murder and Dust, and as a live VJ, before entering the world of mixed media arts. Combining her work as an experimental musician with multimedia and performance, she

Artist Jack Rosenberg's work establishes a conversation between abstraction and realism. His works, although they involve a degree of abstraction, often include recognizable images, which he deconstructs, embellishes or adapts into conceptually complex and layered paintings. One of the most impressive aspects of Rosenberg's work is the way it deconstructs both the familiar and the unfamiliar to subvert their expected perceptual and cultural functions.

I try to explore the paradox of the human being living alone in community. Whom are we representing and who are we in reality? Already in our personal lives, we have troubles to answer this question in a satisfactory way. My responsability is to pick it out as a central theme. In order to achieve this, not only the facial expressions, the colours and „moods“ are important, but also the confrontation of every personality with their own contexts. The subleties operate as counterpart of the basic forms.

I believe my paintings through color, shape, and texture reflect the energy I put into my creative process. I’ve been inspired by the pure colors, distortions and boldness of the Fauves as well as the impulsive and gestural interpretations of the Abstract Expressionists. I want my work to look spontaneous, but organized - gestural, but not chaotic. I hope that someone viewing my work will resonate with a painting and take delight in the energy of my work. Making a connection with my work in that manner is a happy thought for me. My energy, my passion gets reflected in my artwork.

The power of the natural world, its intrinsic energy and fundamental properties, is dependent upon a fine balance. The balance of positive and negative forces resides from the smallest particles that make up our universe to concepts we live with every day: night/day and dark/light; finite/infinite and one/zero; quiet/loud and soft/hard; organic/manmade and the natural environment as opposed to the constructed cities. My work has been centered on concepts of this balance of opposites, as well as methods of numerical systems and patterning we use to construct an order to our world.

Special Issue

Land

SUMMARY

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW Boris Elgadsen

Ferenc Flamm

lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden

Brigitte Dietz lives and works in Heidelberg, Germany

Jack Rosenberg

lives and works in New York City, USA

Susan LaMantia

lives and works in New York City, USA

Gerdi Möller-Jansen

lives and works in Lübeck, Germany

Viktor Fuček Ashley Cassens USA

I want to encourage touch and connection in a digital world.

Ferenc Flamm

Shai Yossef

Sweden

Israel

Time-Image and MovementImage series are practically an attempt to capture live Butoh dance performance I began thinking about into the continuity of these concepts in relation movement contained within to my practice as a a single image plane rather figurative painter while than such movement being earning my Masters of Fine described through a Arts Degree at Florida succession of discreet and Atlantic University in 2014. static moments or images. Prior to this I earned my Being receptive to chance Bachelor of Fine Arts from and accident opens Florida Southern College in possibility for the production 2006, focusing on of the new experience of the representational work in-between stages of using traditional methods movement as a whole. In of oil painting as taught by order to invite discovery, the masters. creative discourse must I created several series of bridge multiple areas of works that addressed these interests and fields of study, concepts, the first of which and I use everything that I is the “Projection Series”. know and record.

I am part of the Y generation, and as such, I grew up in what felt like an endless amusement park, filled with flickering colorful lights and endless stimulations, so trying to single out just a few experiences that influenced my inner world would be nearly impossible. At these days I am much more connected to painting than sculpturing. The three dimensional motive has narrowed itself to the canvas, but still burst out of it through generous thick layers of paint. I have a big passion for oil paints, which feels good and smell even better.

110

lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia

Ashley Cassens

130

lives and works in Tampa, Florida, USA

154

Yotam Zohar lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel

182

Shai Yossef lives and works in Rosh Haayin, Israel

Special thanks to Haylee Lenkey, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar, Joshua White, Nicolas Vionnet, Genevieve Favre Petroff, Sandra Hunter, MyLoan Dinh, John Moran, Marya Vyrra, Gemma Pepper, Michael Nelson, Hannah Hiaseen and Scarlett Bowman, Yelena York Tonoyan, Miya Ando, Martin Gantman , Krzysztof Kaczmar and Robyn Ellenbogen.

Special Issue

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

LandEscape meets

Ferenc Flamm Ferenc Flamm grew up in Budapest and from an early age fell in love with art, music and dance. His interest continued to mature during his education at The Art College of Budapest and The Hugari- an Academy of Fine Arts, where he closely studied anatomy and movement through the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci and many other great classical masters. In 1976 Ferenc moved to Sweden, married and formed a family, while at the same time finding his feet as a graphic designer and fine artist. Over the past 15 years, he has returned increasingly to his artistic roots; painting portraits, commissions and accomplishing his own art projects. His work has been displayed in art galleries on the Broadway, in Soho and at the City Hall in New York, at the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas and in Long Island. He participated in an exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London, and had solo exhibition at the Balint House in Budapest, in Stockholm, Lund and also at the Palace House and the Concert Hall of Gothenburg. An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator landescape@europe.com

visualization practice: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Artist Ferenc Flamm's work provides the viewers with a deĂ˛icate and at the same time immersive visual experience: his body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, successfully attempts to trigger the viewers' perceptual parameters walking them through the thin line that divide reality from the realm of imagination. One of the most impressive aspects of Flemm's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of creating a point of convergence between traditional heritage and contemporary

Hello Ferenc and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training and you degreed from The Art College of Budapest and The Hugarian Academy of Fine Arts: ho did this experience influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum and dued to your Hungarian roots and your current life in Sweden, as well as your work as

and Barbara Scott, curator

At the Window

Ferenc Flamm

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

graphic designer, inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem in general? Firts of all, it is a honour to participate in your work for collecting different artist behind the art works. An interview about myself is a great challenge for painting a selfportrait not by brushes but with words. The Central European art education concept is closely influenced by the classical aestethical priciples and outlook of life. On the one hand, it is a conciousness to see the whole picture, on the other hand, to focus on detail and its functional role in the entirety. I learned to get a brighter knowledge of an object by switching a closer look to set a longer distance of the viewer; it is like zoom out and zoom in the mind. Probably this method also works for a deeper understanding of any other subjects in life. About changing homeland: I think it is exciting and enriching to bring identity to another society. Hungary and Sweden has different parameters of the geographical, social and cultural environtments. It is lifestyle, mentalty, in contrast to Hungary, the closeness to the sea and the amazing Scandinavian light. It affected and evoulted a brighter look of life, my visual and aesthetic approach as graphic designer and artist as well. The results of your artistic research conveys a coherent sense of unity capable of drawing the viewers through an intense multilayered experience and we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.flamm.se in order to get a synoptic view of your work: while walking our readers through your usual process, would you like to tell to our readers something about your usual setup and

process? In particular, are your works painted gesturally, instinctively? Or do you methodically transpose geometric schemes from paper to canvas? During my childhood and all those years in Budapest, I experienced different kind of impacts to my field of views. Beside my art studies of human body, I came in contact with traditional Hungarian stud farms, became interested in horse and their movements. But at the same time, as a college student, I participated in a dance company and also created later an own music group. As a matter of fact, I came to Sweden first as a musician. At that time I came in closely contact with the stage and fell in a lifelong love in performing arts. At the time when I moved to my second homeland and formed a family, I established myself as an illustrator and graphic designer, cooperated among others, with leading Swedish companies as the Volvo and Saab. During this period, I storaged my multilayered experiences in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;treasure chestâ&#x20AC;? of inspiration. Some years back, I received more and more commissions to accomplish portraits, mural paintings, etc, and it was time to switch my career and begin to create my own art projects. When I prepare a new body of work, I choose my focus to different themes mostly instinctively, but lately, I return to the enchanted world of stage. A few years ago, I had an art exhibition at the Concert Hall of Gothenburg around the theme of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, performing under the lead of chief conductor Gustavo Dudamel. A new project starting by collecting ideas, color ranges,

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

sketches, also photo references. In the beginning, I work with pastels on paper in several stages until the image is ready to transfer for creating an oil painting on canvas or on board. For this special edition of LandEscape we have selected The Stage Door Collection, an interesting series that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of this stimulating body of works is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: would you tell us something about the genesis of this series? The atmosphere of stage, the magical tension of creating something in immediate, ongoing moments is a fascinating process. Performing arts is one of my favorite themes. If someone had once an opportunity for performing and experienced the direct contact with the audience, this feeling is rooted forever. When we talking about some kind of arts, as painting, photographs or literature, if the artist had luck to capturing those rare glints, it can relive again when the public share the work. The idea for composing The Stage Door Collection was to manifest a creative process of preparation before the curtain rises and the performance begin. I wanted to mediate sequences, just walking through the stage door to the rehearsal in order for catching moments, characters, hard work, intimacy and concentration. For implementing this vision, I am thinking and acting through the underlying training of aesthetical valuations from my classical education. We have really appreciated the vibrancy of thoughtful nuances of your pieces that show how

Ferenc Flamm

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

At the Window

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

The Stage

Special Edition

Ferenc Flamm

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

vivacious tones are not striclty indespensable to create tension and dynamics. How did you come about settling on your color palette? And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develope a paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s texture? At the start of a working process, the visualization of ideas takes form as black and white charcoal sketches on paper. I search for nuances of mod, state of mind, intimate moments of personalities, movements. The dominant part of images is, in this case, the dancer or a musician. I am collecting drawings I use to make in authentic environment as rehearsals and theatres, in addition, I have also photography as reference material. When I reach the stage to create the composition, I use to set up a color range, which often consists only a few tones by selecting them from a dry pastel set. The character of theme prefers to put myself into a contemplated state of mind; music, dance and thoughtful mod associate me to think in harmony of soft coloring. I am inspirited by the Swedish nature outside of my studio, looking for light tones, combined by complement colors and contrasts. My concept regarding tones and nuances is to use them as an embracing background combined with powerful marking the contours of objects in varying values. As I planned to accomplish this particular series, I decided to work on board, which I prepared first by gluing rough burlap on it. I did it in order for reaching deep and living surface under the oil painting. I use brushes but often prefer palette knifes for expressing the dynamics of motion.

Intermission Special Issue

23 4 05

Ferenc Flamm

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Bewinged

Do you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist? My works are embossed both to perceive and interpret a realistic view, I create narratives. It is partly an instinctive process, and I am

continually developing the form of expression within representational artistry. I am often portraying individual objects in their specific atmospherically environment on a contemplative way, and particularly fascinated in capturing movement. I think this the

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Intimacy

connecting link between my different art projects. As you have remarked oncem you have closely studied anatomy and movement through the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci and

many other great classical masters, at the same time your artistic production is marked out with a insightful contemporary sensitiveness. How would you consider the relationship between Traditional and Classical heritage and Contemporariness? In particular, do you have

21 4 06

Contemplation Special Issue

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

any other figures in art history as well as in our contemporary scene that look up to? Structure, proportions, accuracy; among many other platforms, it is the legacy of the traditional European art studies. My visual perception of surrounding grounded on realism. But artistry is not necessary about to mirror, but to create an illusion of reality. The task is to balance my deeply rooted educational experiences and find a way to a personal interpretation. One of my favorite sentences is the words of Picasso: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a childâ&#x20AC;?. Contemporariness is an individual ability to refine basic knowledge and affirm the ambition of innovatory, also affected the recent world around and by the inspiration of other artist. Regarding affinity with giants in art history, I am enchanted by the sensitivity of Amadeo Modigliani, and Edgar Degas for his colors and interpretation the moments of intimacy. The brushstrokes that condense your visual vocabulary have a very ethereal quality. How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works? In particular, do you draw inspiration from everyday experience or do you rather aim to express your inner self? During an intensive work period, I use to meditate regularly for focusing attention and listen to the silence. It is to clear the mind from thoughts and impressions of the surrounding world in order for perceive deeper meanings of the visual. Creating is a multilayered act for expressing yet no existed images, form an unformed vision and manifesting it through a metamorphosis process. Even there are models, objects as inspirational sources, they are transformed to an own personal interpretation. There are other contexts behind the physicality, for picturing thoughts

Ferenc Flamm

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Focused

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Rehearsal

Special Edition

Ferenc Flamm

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

and emotions; I often open the gate of spirituality. The spiritual is an important part of everyday life at our home and my own work as well. Sometime, if one succeeds to visualizing associative dimensions through art, it is a result of balancing reality and the mirror of an inner contemplation. The works from your Polo series convey both power and graceful, providing the the viewers with an immersive experience: how do you see the relationship between public sphere and the role of art in public space? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience in your process? My earlier Equestrian paintings are focusing on the horse, for me, it is on one of the most beautiful animals connected to human been. It is an ancient relationship with man, in work, in everyday life, in this case in the sports as well. There is an intimate band between human and animal. The series is aiming to initiate a dialog with horse lovers, involved in different branches of horse racing. As an artist, the ambition is to portraying not strictly the object but the particularly environment and atmosphere of scene. When I working in my studio, the power, graciosity, muscles; the Horse takes over my workshop space. I feel and mediate all the energy to the canvas and imagine the process of sharing the experience with a viewer on another time and venue. As the main focus in sports is often the speed and dynamics, I use to tone down and perceive the backgrounds in order to lift the movement, which can bring forward the impression to the audience. The power of visual arts in the contemporary age is enormous: at the same time, the role of the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disposition and attitude is equally important. Both our minds and our bodies need to actively participate in the experience of contemplating a piece of art: it

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

demands your total attention and a particular kind of effort—it’s almost a commitment. What do you think about the role of the viewer? Are you particularly interested if you try to achieve to trigger the viewers' perception as starting point to urge them to elaborate personal interpretations?

leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

The communication between artist and viewer is an emotional process which can be realized by the first visual meeting with the art work. It is like the vision of a music composer can revive through the reverberating in the mind of the listeners in a Concert Hall. This meeting is independent of the distance of time and place; Mozart´s voice is still talking to us today in our own time. The art has a meaning and potential for involving the audience. By creating a pictured though, maybe posing a question, is affect the imagination of the spectator, awake a reflection, can find an own answer and became a part of the art work. The artist capturing and forming an idea, she/he is a transmitter who communizing through the channel of association, and at the end of the circle is the viewer as a receiver. I think this quality of dialog can occur through the frequency of artistry.

It is an interesting question I think. The initial dialog through visual communication between an artist and a viewer sholud be continue by exchanging reflections and thoughts. This communication is valuable for both parts, but for the artist it has an important and inspirating role in the continued development of the creating process. This conversation can be in English, Swedish or Hungarian.

Your pieces are private collections in the USA and Europe and over the years you have exhibited in a number of art galleries in Broadway, in Soho and in the City Hall, New York and you also participated with your paintings in the Annual Exhibitions of The Society of Equestrian Artists at the Mall Galleries in London. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Ferenc. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? It was my pleasure. At the moment, I am just working on my new project about horses, created in a different shape from my earlier accomplished equestrian paintings. This time I´ll going further on the way of the abstraction process and picturing compositions on a stylized perception. I am turning from the interpretation of perspective and thinking in strickly two dimensional. As a parallel project at the same time, I have to continue to manage of an agent work myself, and looking for different opportunities for exhibiting my recent work; The Stage Door Collection. My vision for displaying this series in the right context is to meet the audience for example at a foyer of Dance Theater or an Opera House.

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

LandEscape meets

Brigitte Dietz By painting, I try to explore the paradox of the human being living alone in community. Whom are we representing and who are we in reality? Already in our personal lives, we have troubles to answer this question in a satisfactory way. The diversity of humanity is the variety of its individuals. They differ not only from each other, but also show their 'manifold faces'. As a portrait artist, my task is to discover consistently this difference in every personality. My responsability is to pick it out as a central theme. In order to achieve this, not only the facial expressions, the colours and „moods“ are important, but also the confrontation of every personality with their own contexts. The abstract parts on my paintings however, I often begin by softening up the archetypical geometrical forms, I put on the canvas before. After that and within these forms, I create ideas to design the painting. The subleties operate as counterpart of the basic forms.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

situation: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to Dietz's stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

Rejecting any conventional classification regarding its style, Brigitte Dietz's work draws the viewers through an unconventional and multilayered experience. The central theme of her work is the paradox of the human being living alone in community and in her body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages she accomplishes the difficult task of exciting the observer to „finish“ the painting by himself, to motivate his imagination to create his personal image in a specific

Hello Brigitte and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have been artistically productive since your schooldays, specially supported by your professor Bernhard Epple and later by Traugott Notz. How did these experiences influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum due to your studies of classical philology inform the way you relate

Buber Ben Gurion, from the authentic encounter series

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

yourself to art making and to the notion of beauty? Brigitte Dietz: Hello, thank you very much for having me. In fact, these are the three main sources that drawed me towards painting. Bernhard Epple, my teacher at secondary school who later on became well known, supported my eagerness to paint. He helped me to develop my artistic foundation. Traugott Notz has been my portrait drawing teacher at an adult education centre since three decades. He shows me, again and again and with all required strictness, my drawing mistakes by drawing portraits from life models. So I am learning a lot by him. And my studies of classical philology, besides learning greek and latin, opened the door to philosophy and classical art fort me. The results of your artistic inquiry convey together a coherent sense of unity: before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.globalartleague.com/brigittedietz.html in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist. Brigitte Dietz: Well, you already insinuated it. My central artistic concern is less an idea but a question: How am I, a single person , connected to the community, the human beings around me, the political consesus? What are the interdependencies of my social

surroundings? By posing this question, again and again, I always get different answers. The answers are my paintings. My paintings do not try to be a general truth or rule or wisdom. But they are true too: in their specific moments. In the moment I paint them, and in the moment somebody looks at them with all honesty, paintings deliver a certain truth, that always might be different but are certainly true during this specific moment of looking at them. I do not compare my paintings to a philosophical book for example, where the author claims, that it is true what he wrote inside the book, regardless if somebody reads it or not. I do not claim that for my paintings. Regarding social questions, there is simply no eternal truth, so I do not try to give an eternal answer. Every glimpse of authenticity between human beings is strongly connected with the element of surprise: You can not plan it, but it might happen. I sometimes get surprised by my own paintings,when I look at them after a while. I think this question about athenticity is more or less behind all my paintings. The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of LandEscape and that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article has at once captured our attention for the way you have captured subtle aspects of the personality of your characters, providing the visual results of your artistic inquiry with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through your usual process and set up, would tell us how do you select the

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

subjects for your portrait series? The personalities, I selected for a painting, fascinated me somehow. Without that, the portrait would probably not be very „alive“, it would appear „constructed“. I really need that very personal thrill that drives me to paint them. And that can be a problem sometimes: Let us say, you have to paint somebody, for example by a comission. Brigitte Dietz: The main challenge is here, to get into a close connection, in order to develop some affection. And the best trick in order to achieve this, is to get engaged with the biography of the sitter. Did you ever read a boring biography? Probably not! So in case, you find a person really boring, and frankly, that happens sometimes on first sight, ask him about his life. And that is how I set up a creative process. With this little trick, it is impossible to paint boring people. Well, at least for me it worked. You are a versatile artist and your media include oil painting, mixed technique, collage and pastel: what are the qualities that you are searching for in the materials that you combine in your works? Brigitte Dietz: Well yes, I work with different materials: oil paints, acrylic, collages. Actually I work with everything you can glue on a paperboard or a canvas. Specially for collages, there is a wide range of useful qualities: the material itself, newspaper, tree bark, metals, potatoe nets etc. If you take a look for example at my Joseph

Virginia Woolf's Death, Triptych acryl oil collage 2,40 x 1m

Beuys-collage, you can see that I just used materials, no colours! Actually, I just used materials that were used by Beuys himself in his installations. For Beuys, materials had a special significance, e.g. every day used objects are „basic things“. Some things had a symbolic value like felt, fad or copper as energy source. So just using materials he used for that portrait collage, I figured maybe I could get closer to him

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

, 2016

and his broad art concept through the materials. I use collage pretty often. But normally in combination with colours. For example painting my Virginia Woolf triptych, I felt I need big chromaticity. So I used oil and acrylic paints. The faces, I always paint in oil. â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Virginia Woolf's Deathâ&#x20AC;&#x153; is a huge triptych. I painted it in order to tell her story; about this woman at the end of the victorian era in her intellectual surroundings

with the suicide as the inevitable and therefore tragic consequence. In the first two parts of this painting, my collages describe daily events back then. In the third part, that is about the death, I glued the suicide note to her husband in shape of her profile on the canvas. I thought this discreet third portrait would be a contrast to the other two fully painted

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Triptychon, Martin Buber

portrait heads in the painting. Because in a way, death is tragically about dematerialisation. In a way, I used extra material, the collages, in a symbolic context in order to express an dematerialisation process. But this paradox-seeming procedure of the use of materials, worked out quite well in this case. So, the material gives me a huge

variation of qualities at hand, and I challenge myself to choose wisely. I am constantly collecting materials that I might use for a future painting. I enjoy that. As you have remarked once, your aim is to excite the observer to â&#x20AC;&#x17E;finishâ&#x20AC;&#x153; the painting by himself, to motivate his imagination to create his personal image in a specific situation. Rather than attempting to

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

exhibitions, you notice, there are countless ways of looking at a painting. I really enjoy these talks, some people try to classify the style, others judge it: too colourful, too big, too boring etc. But sometimes there is somebody who really is wondering and begins to ask questions honestly. Then, the element of surprise we already talked about, kicks in: the viewer makes observations by himself, shows emotions, scrutinized himself. These are really exciting moments, because it enables me, to discover new things and perspectives in my own paintings. As I said, the element of surprise concernes the spectatorship as well as the artist. So, looking at paintings is perhaps more about being interested and open minded rather than rethink an arstist's concept.

establish any univocal sense, you seem to urge the viewers to elaborate personal associations: would you tell us how much important is for you that the spectatorship rethink the concepts you convey in your pieces, elaborating personal meanings? Brigitte Dietz: I think it is not so important for the spectator, to actually rethink the concept. When people are talking to you at

Red is a quite recurrent tone in your pallette and we have really appreciated the vibrancy of thoughtful nuances of your pieces, that are often marked out with intense tones as GĂźnter Grass and Christian Morgenstern . However, other works as Welles & Chaplin shows that vivacious tones are not strictly indespensable to create tension and dynamics. How did you come about settling on your color palette? And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develope a paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s texture? Brigitte Dietz: Selecting colours, I actually do not follow a strict rule or scheme. I am very pragmatic about that: What colour suites a

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

certain expression? For example, the originl sample of my double portrait of Welles and Chaplin was a black and white photography. I became instantly excited by this intimate snapshot: Two titans of world cinema, sitting next to each other with a glass of whine. They both show a cautious body language getting to know each other. That is a subtle occasion. You can not use the colour red for it. Whereas Grass does not make this silent expression. There lies a certain energy in his genius and he shows that, not only in his drawings! While referring to reality, your paintings convey a captivating abstract feeling: how do you view the concepts of the real, the authentic and the imagined playing out within your works? Brigitte Dietz: Well, reality is not something that is, but something that happens. If I know something, for example, that this person suffers from something, that does not mean that it is real. It could as well be imagined. But if that,what I know, happens, then it is real. But an authentic experience includes always an element of surprise, that I can not foresee or plan. Reality is strongly connected with time, you see? Nature itself does not tell us, if something is authentic or imagined. But we know that something is real, when it happens. In German we use a term for it: „bewähren“, that means something like to prove of value. The word „bewähren“ applies

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

GÃ¼nter Grass, Acryl, Collage auf Leinwand

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Christian Morgenstern

Special Edition

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

„Wahrheit“, and that means truth. So the real differs from the imagined by happening. And that happening is authentic. And only this action decides whether someting is right or wrong, for that specific moment. Your artwork are pervaded with images rich with symbolic features, as Nehru & Gandhi. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? Morever, would you tell us something about the importance of symbols in your imagery? Brigitte Dietz: I have to say, I by myself, am neither a big fan of pure symbols. A painting, conveying its message just via symbols can be very boring to be honest. Well not always obviously. Sometimes it genius. For me, symbols can be very helpful to underline somethig or to put something in an interesting context etc. And that can be very exciting. But there is no general scheme or rule of how to balance narrative, psychological and symbolic elements. With every new painting there is a new challenge to figure it out. But yes it is a big question. In the introductory question you remarked that by painting, you try to explore the paradox of the human being living alone in community. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Nehru & Gandhi, from the Authentic Encounter series

youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in. It depends on the political system youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re living under". Not to mention that almost everything, ranging from Caravaggio's Inspiration of Saint Matthew to Joep van Lieshout's works, could be considered political, do you think that your works is political, in a certain sense? what could be in your opinion the role of Art in the contemporary age? Brigitte Dietz: Of course, like every human being, the artist too is dependent and connected to his political context, above all

concerning the question of liberty and freedom. But to talk about an artist's role, is perhaps a bit too much. Which role should that be? I think for an artist as well as for every human being that is no politician, the challenge is not to play a role, but to find authentic moments. But off course: We in Germany, are alleged free. And we are allowed to express whatever we want to. But, concerning liberty, there are other, very personal qualities too: psychological issues, fashion, economic pressure, moral

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

B-Site Festival / Error 404 502 410 & â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dustâ&#x20AC;?/ Manheim 2015 / Germany

issues etc. For example, Joseph Beuys tried his whole life to emancipate himself from his determinents. To put it with a lot of pathos: Creating art as well as living a human life, is a lifelong struggle for freedom. So if Gabriel Orozco means that by politics, I would partly agree. Over the years your works have been exhibited in several occasions, including your recent participation to the group exhibition at Galerie Melnikow, Heidelberg, Germany. One

of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Brigitte Dietz: Of course, means of expression affect the viewers. At least, they are supposed to. But what counts is, to surprise the viewer. The problem is as already mentioned: To think I can plan a 100% certain surprise would be ridiculos. Because I, the painter, am not the only one who is involved in the painting. The viewer has to invest some energy too. In order to achieve the latter, there are of course possibilities for painters. The first thing my painting should do is awaken the viewer. Everything schematic, structured and 100% planned out, without risks, without being surprised by yourself producing the painting, leads to viewers who fall asleep. And sleeping viewers will not experiences anything surprising. But if my painting on the wall manages it to awaken the viewrs, then, surprising experiences are possible. Even I, who painted it, can be surprised again. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Brigitte. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? Brigitte Dietz: Thank you very much. Well, I now began with a new series â&#x20AC;&#x17E;authentic encounterâ&#x20AC;&#x153;, some paintings of this series you already mentioned. In this series, I began to express facets of human cooperation. That is a very exciting topic for me and I think I will stick to it for quite a while. I am eager to see, where this topic will lead me. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator design by Dario Rutigliano, curator landescape@europe.com

Brigitte Dietz

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Albert Einstein acryl oil collage 70cm x 1m

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

LandEscape meets

Jack Rosenberg Lives and works in New York City, USA Artist Jack Rosenberg's work establishes a conversation between abstraction and realism. His works, although they involve a degree of abstraction, often include recognizable images, which he deconstructs, embellishes or adapts into conceptually complex and layered paintings. In the body of works discussed in the following pages, Rosenberg draws from universal imagery while simultaneously asking his viewers to question their visual expectations. One of the most impressive aspects of Rosenberg's work is the way it deconstructs both the familiar and the unfamiliar to subvert their expected perceptual and cultural functions. We are very pleased to introduce our readers to Rosenberg’s stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

Hello Jack and welcome to LandEscape. Can you tell us about your background and training? How did your studies in New York and Europe influence your development? Jack Rosenberg: First of all, I’m honored by your interest in my work: thank you LandEscape. I have been fortunate to study both in the U.S. and in Europe: at the New York Academy of Art, the Florence Academy of Art and at the Prince Charles Drawing School. Each of these institutions added something of value to my training and

to my eye. They gave me an invaluable grounding in traditional skills that continues to shape my art. Looking back, I view my art education as essential and invaluable. It gave me an introduction to art history, technical skills, ways of seeing, ways of creating, ways of interpreting and ways of expressing. While developing as an educated artist, I think it is important to absorb as much information, and experience as possible; and to be open to learning about and seeing other artist’s visions. I was educated in the canon of Western Art, raised on the Old Masters, nourished by the Renaissance, and weaned by technology and the 21st

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

century. These visual and visceral languages are embedded in my subconscious and I need to remain vigilant towards their influences in my art-making, sometimes deferring to their influence while sometimes taking care to avoid clichés and unintended art historical connotations and references. It’s then essential to use this training/education as the launching point of an ever-expanding skill set that allows an artist begin his or her unique artistic journey and to begin exploring and experimenting. Then, to compliment education, dedicated studio practice—along with constant exploration and experimentation—is essential to liberate the artist from learned viewpoints and allow the development of an authentic inner vision. Your personal way of seeing condenses and balances a multiple points of view. How did this approach evolve and how much of it came to you instinctively? Jack Rosenberg: My art-making process takes one of two distinct avenues: 1) My intrinsic response to a particular visual image. 2) A quest for a visual to represent an intellectual question that needs to be answered, illustrated or endowed with a particular mood. Having had classical training in figurative art and portraiture, the basic tools of composition, color, balance, materials and techniques are always

Jack Rosenberg

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Man in Orange Turban (after vanEyck). 54 x 60”. Oil on Canvas. 2016

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Babies. 48 x 60”. Oil on Canvas. 2016

Special Edition

Jack Rosenberg

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

available to me, and these elements form the underpinnings and starting point of each new painting. My artistic evolution has come as a direct result of my artistic motivations and satisfactions. I constantly take into account what pleases me about making art: what scale, subject matter, material, mark making, flexibility, tolerance; all allow me freedom to make various artistic choices. This sense of liberation enhances and contributes to the distinctive qualities of the final artwork. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected several of your recent works to introduce you to our readers. Tell us about your distinctive aesthetic, your approach to imagery and a few of your recent works. Jack Rosenberg: Each painting begins with a few essentials: composition, subject matter and content/context. As the painting progresses, it evolves. I may have a particular point of view; but the canvas might express something which conflicts with my intention. The canvas and I continue this â&#x20AC;&#x153;discussionâ&#x20AC;? until we come to an agreement. At this point the painting may be at quite at variance of the original concept, and evolved in to something new (and hopefully wonderful, or at least interesting!). This dialogue is a critical part of the art making. It is mostly intuitive but

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

a bit analytical. This is where the magic happens, in the “zone”. How do yu choose the subjects for the works that you then develop into series? What is your process like? Jack Rosenberg: Each series begins with one or two images that I find interesting or stimulating. Then I take them through my process of transformation, look at the results and see if there is a pattern, trend or discovery to be made. After further exploration of additional images through the same artistic lens, I may find that I have created a (mostly) cohesive series of paintings. It may not be an obvious theme, even to me, until there are several to a dozen images which may suddenly lead to an “Ah-ha” moment. My artistic activity just might be that sublimated. Your work involves vibrant colors and textures. How do you arrange your color palette? Is there a psychological motive for some of your nuances of tone and texture? Jack Rosenberg: The palette is very much determined by my intentions. Most of the new works from 2016 and after generally have a lighter and more neutral palette. This is deliberate and for no more reason other than the fact that it pleases me.

My natural tendency is towards dark and black backgrounds — a la Rembrandt and van Dyck—and sometimes that is appropriate and correct for a particular image, especially one that riffs on the Old Masters. I need to be consciously aware and defiant of my “dark” predilections. The iconic Old Master images are burned so deeply into my memory and subconscious that it can be difficult to fight against that pull and go with a lighter, more “contemporary” palette. This tension—between the tones of Old Masters and my contemporary intentions—plays itself out in the process of layering a painting. I’m quite fond of the textural and tactile effect that is created by the layering of different effects including impastos, scumbles, and transparent glazes. There is a “peek-a-boo” effect to the underpainting and first layers, which are often then re-iterated as they become overly obliterated. There is also a dance between the layers as they appear and disappear. The deliberate integration of background and foreground is accomplished by a non-uniform, yet cohesive mark- making process and by the effects created over time by my manner of paint handling. Is there a political aspect to your work? In what ways—if any—do you want your

Man in Red Hat (after Rembrandt). 74 x 52â&#x20AC;?. Oil on Canvas. 2016

Jack Rosenberg

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

work to affect the public’s social consciousness? Jack Rosenberg: I absolutely consider many of the paintings to be political and/or societal commentary. These things are either explicitly stated, or implied—If at all possible—in my recent paintings, through subtle implications. I much prefer for the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Not that the paintings are ambiguous, no, more that they are open to interpretation, based on the viewer’s experience, preconceptions and receptivity. A painter creates images as a visual art, selecting materials and subjects and applying his or her style to generate visual expression. In all but the most exclusively decorative pieces, the artist is initiating a conversation: first with the canvas, then with the viewers. This discussion is necessarily au courant. Even when using antique devices or subjects, the artist should be of his time and make work that reflects or discusses current and universal concerns. Your work seems to present a multilayered experience that integrates memories, perceptions and desires. Do you think that personal experience is critical to the creative process? Jack Rosenberg: It’s not possible to disconnect the art from the artist. To put it in personal terms, I am a singular and

unique person whose history, background, education, experience, interests and intellect fuse with unique emotional and spiritual components that all come together to equal “me.” Certainly, I share many aspects of being an artist in the 21st century with many contemporaries; but like faces, we’re all a bit different. That difference is celebrated and expressed in the highly individualistic artworks that the current generation of contemporary artists seems intent on creating. The creative process can be divorced from direct experience: think of the first human sculptures of gods and deities. Certainly, since there were no actual gods to model, those artworks were born in the imagination, although they were certainly inspired by “real” attributes and forms. The creative process takes up a substantial portion of imagination. Having said that, I think most artists are the sum of their parts and their being absolutely affects their creative processes. You allow an open reading and a multiplicity of meanings in your work. How important is this openness to associations and interpretations? Jack Rosenberg: By blurring the boundaries, literally, of the images, I create an ambiguity that allows room for projection and interpretation. Some

Jack Rosenberg

Land CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

paintings are more receptive to this openness than others. It’s all a byproduct of the dialogue that goes on in my mind during the actual painting process. Your works start in the real world, but have a captivating abstract aspect. How do you balance representation and abstraction? Jack Rosenberg: My work is obviously representational, and often familiar. It’s then processed and “disambiguated” so as to create a different conversation. The amount or density of abstraction is directly proportional to the goal of retaining an edge of familiarity. It’s a narrow edge that I try to balance upon. When I am successful, the image is mostly accessible—yet significantly altered and transformed—and the final artwork yields interesting, even pleasing results. Your recent solo exhibition— Ambiguum, at the Minor Memorial Gallery, in Roxbury, Connecticut—was meant to deeply involve your viewers. What is the relationship that you want to establish between your work and viewers? Do you think about your audience when you are painting? Jack Rosenberg: In one sense, it’s quite straightforward: I paint and then I exhibit the work.

Of course, deep in my mind as I am working I do understand that the audience will be a key component of the experience of the exhibition. That said, I do not alter my process or artistic choices based on what I may imagine how some viewers would respond. I stay as independent as I can in the studio. Naturally, I would love for everyone to respond and be interested and enthusiastic about each and every artwork. It doesn’t work that way though: each viewer brings their own set of criteria and expectations and tastes. I couldn’t possibly anticipate what they might all be and wouldn’t want to try. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Jack. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? Jack Rosenberg: Each series or body of works is an individual statement or point of view. Somewhere in my group of recent paintings is the seed that will grow and multiply to generate the imagery of my next series. Where it goes from here, I’m as curious as you to find out… An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

LandEscape meets

Susan LaMantia Lives and works New York City, USA I believe my paintings - through color, shape, and texture reflect the energy I put into my creative process. I’ve been inspired by the pure colors, distortions and boldness of the Fauves as well as the impulsive and gestural interpretations of the Abstract Expressionists. I want my work to look spontaneous, but organized gestural, but not chaotic. I hope that someone viewing my work will resonate with a painting and take delight in the energy of my work. Making a connection with my work in that manner is a happy thought for me. My energy, my passion gets reflected in my artwork. How to define a piece of contemporary art is an artists interpretation of what's been done before but in their own language or form.Would that make their art more “current”? Perhaps. I'm an abstract expressionist, and although that was an art form created by artists in the 40's and 50's, I am creating my own form of abstract expressionism which makes it contemporary. I believe I already addressed some of my process in question one when I spoke to my desire to have all my senses stimulated by incense, music, and the importance of painting with my hands. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Susan and welcome to LandEscape. We would start this interview with our usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? By the way, what could be in your opinion the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness? What defines a work of art - for me and my art it is as much about the process as the end product. To approach my process, I have music blasting in my studio, I burn incense, in tolerable weather I have the door open to the outside and can hear the birds song. I paint

with my hands, no brushes, therefore the experience of creating then is to have as many of my senses at the same time. My Susanstimulated LaMantia energy, my passion gets reflected in my artwork. How to define a piece of contemporary art is an artists interpretation of what's been done before but in their own language or form.Would that make their art more “current”? Perhaps. I'm an abstract expressionist, and although that was an art form created by artists in the 40's and 50's, I am creating my own form of abstract expressionism which makes it contemporary. By use of the term tradition and contemporariness it already implies a dichotomy. Is tradition steeped in a formalized manner of painting? Is contemporary a break from tradition? Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any particular experiences

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

that have particularly impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? At age 10 I took private painting classes from a School Sister of Notre Dame, Sr. Stanisia. What impacted me during the classes with her was not to feel â&#x20AC;&#x153;preciousâ&#x20AC;? about making changes in my paintings. I believe that happens when one is just starting to paint. Afraid to make changes because a change on one part of the painting will lead to a need for a change in another part of the painting and voila! the painting is no longer the same. That's a good thing of course, but I didn't realize that as a young child. I paint in my studio, a 450 sq.ft. building behind our house. Often I will bring in a painting to see if I feel it is finished and leave it in a room so that I can look at it in different light, different times of the day, do changes need to take place? keeping in mind Sr. Stanisia's words about not feeling too precious to make a change. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? I believe I already addressed some of my process in question one when I spoke to my desire to have all my senses stimulated by incense, music, and the importance of painting with my hands. I don't remember when I started painting with my hands, perhaps 30-35 years ago. When I paint with oil sticks, which are large sticks of compressed oil paint, I use them as though I am drawing shapes, but will go in after I have color on the canvas, or paper, and move the color around with my hands. There are handmade pigment sticks that are soft and

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

All or nothing at all, 2015, Oil on canvas, 220x160

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

After the ball, 2015, Oil on canvas, 220x160

Special Edition

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

luscious, using my hands to blend or define an area is a visceral response that adds to my involvement with my work. When I paint with acrylics I apply a layer of paint on either the canvas or my hands, let the color dry on the canvas then add a layer of high gloss polymer medium, let it dry and continue adding color, then medium, and on and on. The polymer helps to seal the color, add depth and keep a clarity to the acrylic. I use liquid gloves on my hands prior to my painting, as well as in between each layer of color and polymer. Sometimes I make a thumbnail sketch in one of my sketchbooks to use as a departure for a painting. The spontaneity in my work would be lost if I replicated exactly what is in the sketch. I like to challenge myself in my work. I've been known to do a series of paintings with my nondominant hand, that series was called “On the Other Hand”. Or to limit the color of my palette. Most recently, for my upcoming exhibition opening at the end of July for display during the month of August, I challenged myself with the use of circles, something I had not used extensively in my work. Now let's focus on your art production: we would start from your Feels So Good and Moon Dance that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to visit http://www.susanlamantia.com in order to get a wider idea of it. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of theseinteresting pieces? What was your initial inspiration? “Feels so Good” is an acrylic- 48” x 60”. I had gotten several new Charvin and Matisse tubes of acrylic paint and was delighted to be working

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

large with such yummy colors. It was Spring, door open to my studio, nature is beginning to bloom, my jazz music is blasting, incense is being burned and a bird flew into my studio, resting on a table. The bird twisted its head one way then the other, flapped its wings, made a circle in the studio and flew away. It felt so good to be visited by the bird, as though the bird wanted to see me in my creative environment. The motion of the birds wings, the colors of Spring, all of it felt as though it needed to be recorded in color and a sense of freedom in the form. Red is a grounding color for me, the addition of cadmium red medium was added as a hint to the explosive chartreuse. “Moon Dance” a 30” x 30” acrylic was a night painting in which I used acrylic “skins” as a challenge to the variety of blues. Painting at night has a whole different feel for me, as well as the difference of needing to have the lights on in my studio. The use of the acrylic skins gives a texture to the surface of the painting as well as introducing colors from my palette that were used in other paintings. It is a dance, of sorts. We noticed that many of your pieces, as After The Ball and All Or Nothing At All although marked with a deep abstract feeling, often reveals such an inner struggle and intense involvement, as the interesting All Things Being Equal, which I have to admit is one of my favourite pieces of yours ... We would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? Yes, personal experience is indispensable not just for me but I believe for all artists. All of the experiences in my life, good/bad, positive/negative all of it goes into creating who I am as a person & as an artist. I am close to my emotional core, am a passionate person; I want my artwork to reflect that. Of course it

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

With You In Mind, 2015, Oil on canvas, 220x160

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

(in collaboration with Ian F. Thomas and Alex Derwick)

All things being equal, 2015, Oil on canvas, 220x160

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

is my desire that someone viewing my artwork makes that connection to all the energy in my work too.“After The Ball” a 30” x 30” acrylic, is about the feeling of the build-up to all the dancing and socializing being light and festive, and after the ball there is a bit of a letdown to it all being over. Streamers tossed about, the lights fading, the return to what's next. In “All or Nothing at All” an acrylic that is 36” x 36”, the use of the yellows and flesh colors address how alive we are in the giving & receiving processes of our lives, but it isn't always constant and the dripping blues that flow through the colors are an indication of how unpredictable our lives can be whether we give it all or nothing at all. “All Things Being Equal” is a 48” x 60” acrylic. The challenge for me was to use large blocks of color near each other and find a balance within the painting using the same colors, so that it all appeared equal. In life when all things are equal it feels to be a good balance. If I did not put my feelings of color, form, life experiences in my artwork my approach would be cerebral or intellectual and I've seen those kinds of paintings. The artist may have a wonderful technique but I find those paintings cold and cannot relate to them. Another interesting pieces of yours that have impacted on me and which I would like to spend some words are After All and in particular It is All Relative: one of the features of this work that has mostly impacted on me is the effective mix of colors that gives life to the canvas: I have been struck with the way you have been capable of merging delicate and thoughtful tone of colors with nuances of red which turns from a delicate tone to an intense one which turns to saturate the canvas, as in Light Years, and that seems to reveal such a deep tension and intense emotions... By the way, any Günter Grass, Acryl, Collage auf Leinwand

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time? “After All” is 36” x 72” acrylic and is part of the circle series that I have been painting. I had tried to use circles in paintings in the past and never felt as though the works were strong enough. I love working on a large surface and that helped me to be more successful with the use of circles. The use of the bars of color are forms I've used in other paintings of mine. I laid in a warm tone on the canvas before I began adding colors. I wanted the titanium white to play off the warmth of the under color, but only leave a hint of the warmth around the edges, as though to keep all the action composed. The 4 red circles are contained but there are 2 lighter color circles that escaped and play on either side of the blue band. As long as I've mentioned the circle series I would like to talk about a couple of these paintings The first in the circle series is an oil painting called, “I'll Take The Bitter With the Sweet”. It's a relatively small painting, 24” x 36”. The sweetness in the yellows and reds and lighter blues are centered on the canvas so as to pull the viewer in by the strength of their tones. Although the dark color looks to be black it is actually indigo and I like the idea of it not being black. There is a larger band of indigo on the right side of the painting, with just a hint of indigo mixed in on the left. When the indigo is mixed with other colors it becomes lighter and when bands of lighter colors border the indigo it emphasizes the drama of the indigo. The overall focus is accented by the sweeter, lighter colors. The last in the circle series is “With You In Mind”,

a 36” x 72” acrylic & gouache. I started with a series of warm white circles of acrylic that are lighter on the left moving towards a series of warm light red circles, again, of acrylic, to the right. The circles are colored in and appear to weave through the light bands of color. Over all the circles & bands of color are arcs painted in gouache. The gouache is applied thickly and adds a texture to the surface of the painting. Layers of paint and medium and texture, like layers of individuals. “It's All Relative” is a 48” x 60” acrylic with a variety of reds at the center. It was my intent to express the redness of a painting being embraced by softer colors as they flew across the canvas. In one of the layers of red I dripped a grid to stabilize the center of the painting in holding the interest of the reds.. I added the black marks to direct the flow of energy in parts and to stop the eye moving in another area. I felt the relatedness of the movement and color created a balance that was all relative. “Light Years” is one of my smaller pieces, 20” x 20” acrylic. The challenge in that painting was its size & to only use red, yellow, blue and white. The blue bands move across the surface of the canvas getting smaller from left to right. The white and yellow getting deeper from left to right, with just a hint of the red mixed sporadically. The tension of light to dark, large to small exists from one side to the other as if traveling through light years would create the same feeling. My palette has gotten brighter over the years, as I experiment with lighter more vivid colors and the lushness of the quality of acrylics. And we couldn't do without mentioning Finding The Anchor and Sunday Afternoon In My Head: these extremely interesting works effectively express what you have once stated when you remarked that you "hope that someone viewing

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

your work will resonate with a painting and take delight in the energy of your work"... and I daresay that there's such a subtle socio political feature in them: I'm sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... what's your point about this? Do you think that it's an exaggeration? “Finding the Anchor” a 36” x 60” acrylic was an exercise in the uses of a variety of blues, adding it's compliment of orange. There are bands of color, as well as a grid to pull focus to certain areas. What does it feel like to have a large amount of blues fill your vision and pull you in? It was important to have the grids to anchor that feeling of being pulled in to the energy. I do think paintings can “steer” people emotionally, either have a calming impact or energize by the passion that's reflected. “Sunday Afternoon In My Head” is a 36” x 72” acrylic.

artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? We sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art... I don't think rewards or feedbacks influence my process. I have a certain way of painting that I will continue to exercise because I enjoy how I paint and what I paint. But, I truly enjoy hearing feedback about my work... The feedback many times is a reflection of the viewers own experiences, I find that interesting and informative. Awards are good in that there are times when it is important to have a validation by others of the quality of one's work. One of the dearest responses I ever received was from a doctor who had several of my paintings and told me where he hung one of the paintings in his house and how the light at certain times reflected the varieties of color that at first he had not realized were in the painting.

My goal was to use a variety of whites as a calming influence of color, then allow blues and yellows to drift through. Sunday is a meditative time for me. I was reflecting on what movement is like for me and how it can be deliberate and exciting and stimulating, all at once. The slender black bars are like stop gaps in a thought process.

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

Over thesyears your works have been exhibited in several important occasions and we think it's imortant to mention that you have been shortlisted as featured artist show at Village Art Circle, in July... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: we were just wondering if an award -or just the expectation of positive feedbacks- could even influence the process of an

September and a one woman exhibition in 2015 at Chatham Hill Winery. I've enjoyed thinking about the questions you posed to me and found my own process in answering them a way of organizing my thoughts.

You mentioned my exhibition at Village Art Circle for the month of August, the Opening for this show is July 25th. I'm in a group show in

An interview by and

, curator , curator

Moon Dance 2, 2015 Oil on canvas, 120x80

Gerdi MĂśller-Jansen Lives and works in LĂźbeck, Germany

Both brain hemispheres need to be fed equally. And that's maybe the reason why I started painting (and dealing with other areas of art like screenprinting, photography, illustration) already during and parallel to my successful career as a graduate in business information technology. Having started as a an autodidact I developed my techniques by attending seminars and courses with renowned artists and institutions. In 2013 I decided to focus more on my right brain side and started working as a free artist in my own studio. I am not dedicated to a specific style or techniques but like experimenting: from acryl to pastel, from white to garish, from abstract to figurative, from painting to fractals Almost everything is inspiration to me. Exiting and boring books. The beauty of nature and maltreated environment. Traveling the world and relaxing at the home beach. Most of my works are abstract today. They usually develop in an informal process and first and foremost I am guided by my gut feeling. I do not look for perfection, however, to work as an artist is such as strong motivation for me as it allows me to work completely independently. Painting does not just mean creating to me â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but often it means finding. Finding those fascinating moments and imaginations. Something that has been covered for so long and I hope that the beholder or viewer of my works can feel and see those characteristic situations or places.

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Gerdi Möller-Jansen Lives and works in Lübeck, Germany Drawing inspiration from beauty of nature and maltreated environment, traveling the world and relaxing at the home beach, German artist Gerdi Möller-Jansen's work provides the viewers with an intense, immersive visual experience: her body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages, successfully attempts to trigger the viewers' perceptual parameters walking them through the liminal area in which perceptual reality and the realm of imagination find a consistent point of convergence. One of the most impressive aspects of Möller-Jansen's work is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of questioning contemporary visualization practice in reference to Contemporary Abstract art movement: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to her stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

Hello Gerdi and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background. You started as an autodidact and you later had the chance to developed your techniques by attending seminars with renowned artists, as Alfred Hansl, Volker Altenhof and Ines Hildur: how did these experiences influence the way you currently conceive your works? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making and to the notion of beauty? In fact, each of these artists has given completely different and valuable impulses for my own work. Thus, e.g. Altenhof's aesthetic play with the colour raised already pretty early the desire to create moods exclusively by means of colours and to create something spontaneously and unconsciously (for example, „fire and flame“). In contrast, I was influenced by the reduced, achromatic works of Hildur discover and tap the unusual techniques and materials, such as

incorporation of marble dust and bitumen (so called dust technology) for my artworks. This influence can be seen in my work cycle "Mental State" and "Zen" However, the desire or perhaps even the necessity to express myself artistically was not so much the influence of my teachers but has already been set in my parents' house. Critical thinking, a sense for social responsibility, and above all respect for our environment are values that have been passed down to me and hence needed be reflected in some form. However, it sometimes takes time to find the appropriate means. Though I knew already at an early stage these means must be art, I made a career information technologies. Perhaps or maybe just because of that sidestep I could see it even more clearly. In regard to what beauty means to my work, I believe that the ratio of form and content determines the substance of a picture. And exactly this constellation is important - not just the formal beauty. It is not so important for me to create pleasant art that appeals to the sensations, but, if possible, to convey or to create knowledge. So I am quite with Kant.

deep water horizon

Gerdi Möller-Jansen

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

As an example I would like to mention two different works. First one is a digital works: "Just wanna play" A little beauty – no doubt - but also completely dolled up. Beauty contests where 12-year-old girls in evening robes and make-up are trying to outshine their competitors. I think we don't need that. The other example is an acrylic painting: "femme fatale" I wonder what kind of characteristics “beauty” needs. I'm showing a woman, which can't be considered as a beauty in a common sense, but doesn't she attract even more attention by her lasciviousness? Your works convey a coherent sense of unity, that rejects any conventional classification. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit https://www.gerdi-jansen.de in order to get a synoptic view of your work: in the meanwhile, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up? In particular, are your works painted gesturally, instinctively? Or do you methodically transpose geometric schemes from paper to canvas? I observe my environment and at some point a picture is formed inside my head. The work is then produced in fast-sketched image in the smallest format. Then, after the decision, the painting develops in pretty slow process. The painting process itself is then pushed forward in a dialogue between consciousness and the unconscious. But there are also these works, which do not need any sketch, because there are already final pictures, which are deeply burned to my soul and then just want to become visible.

respect for our environment. And that's because the integration into nature is an elementary commonality of all human beings. This aspect can for example be found in my work series "Have nice holidays in Anthropocene", which deals with our environmental responsibility. But this respect can also be reflected in still lives from nature, which should bring their whole beauty into the light In a second thread I continually take up various states of mind (work series “mental state”), which are the expression of a life situation or a life section. These are stories of loving, suffering, hating, moving. And are not my stories yours too? Art is sensuality and, for my understanding, has much to do with the narrative of experiences. We share not only one world, but also our feelings. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected Deep water horizon and Zen, a couple of interesting works that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once captured our attention of your artistic research is the way you provided the visual results of your analysis with autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of Deep water horizon and Zen would you tell us your sources of inspiration? And how did you select your subjects?

How do you select your subjects? In particular, do you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist?

Do you remember the 20th of April 2010? Eleven workers were killed in the explosion of the Deep Water Horizon oil rig. The oil leakage led to tremendous oil spills into the Gulf of Mexico, the most severe environmental catastrophe of its kind in history. This event happened so far away, but it was so close. Maybe despite or precisely because of this almost outrageous disregard of responsibility and flippancy in regard to nature, I could not get this topic out of my head.

The red thread is actually two red threads. One, as already mentioned, is a sense of responsibility and

The painting process is then always something that brings these scenarios back to life and I try to paint

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

against rage and helplessness. After that, my subjects have to become more quiet in order to find my balance back again. The series "Zen" is an example: By reducing the form and the deliberate use of achromatic colours as a means of expression, I return to rationality and plainness and can soothe my troubled feelings. You are a versatile artist and as you remarked once, you are not dedicated to a specific style but you like experimenting with all kind of styles and techniques: what draws you to such cross disciplinary approach? And in particular, when do you recognize that one of the mediums has exhausted it expressive potential to self? I see freedom (also artistic) as a chance to grow. I therefore take the liberty to try out and discover and to playfully approach my work. And isn't playfulness something very human. If discovering and playing would have been expelled from art, it would be something that could not bring joy. So I express myself with different techniques and styles, e.g. with a cycle of digital portraits that exemplify how urban citizens can be trapped in their (“Faces”) spiritual isolation, but also youthful beauty, which is not diminished by the fact that this beauty sometimes consists only of skin and bones (“Skin and bones”), up to the faces of old people and their lines of life (some call it crinkles) which can enchant the viewer very much (“Life Lines ”) But also experimenting with different materials, e.g. the use of marble dust, bitumen, corrugated cardboard (see "out of the blue") or paper chips (see "heart at the right place") is a way for me to create new insights. Painting, digital works, fractals or illustrations: everything has its time. Each method is laid aside, but then revived when an idea demands for it. We can recognize a subtle sociopolitical criticism in how Forgotten items and Deep water horizons

question our abused oceans and nature, in our technology driven age. Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world you’re in. It depends on the political system you’re living under". Not to mention that almost everything, ranging from Caravaggio's Inspiration of Saint Matthew to Joep van Lieshout's works, could be considered political, what could be in your opinion the role of Art in the contemporary age? For sure, "Forgotten items" and "deep water horizons" have a sociopolitical and critical message or meaning. Compared to science, art is allowed to criticise and to interpret and I like to take that as a chance. But I do not completely agree with Gabriel Orozco, because no matter what political system or part of the earth we live in - we have only one common planet. It does not matter if we carelessly waste our plastic in Europe, Asia or the USA. These forgotten items form already huge islands which definitely do not belong to any country, drift around the world and pollute our seas and make animals miserably perish. Therefore our environment, regardless political systems or geographic regions, must play a role - I would even say a more important role in art. Your artistic practice seems to aim to look inside of what appear to be seen, rather than its surface: we like the way Deep water horizons, rather than attempting to establish any univocal sense seems to urge the viewers to elaborate personal associations: when discussing about the role of randomness in your process, would you tell us how much important is for you that the spectatorship rethink the concepts you convey in your pieces, elaborating personal meanings? What happens to us when we hear of catastrophes. We are scared and forget the incident pretty fast. It takes only a short time until the disaster has disappeared from the media world-wide. A kind of

Gerdi MĂśller-Jansen

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Summer

mass amnesia. With millions of liter of chemicals BP let the oil spill disappear - but only from the screens. And the press cheers: Tourism is booming. The environment on the Gulf has recovered. The water is turquoise and clear. The beaches are clean â&#x20AC;&#x201C; And on the horizon you can see the dark blue of the deep water. Happy

Holidays ! What a false summery conclusion! The danger now lurks beneath the surface. And no one talks about the aftereffects And I wonder what lessons we've learned from such tragedies? I don't think that pictures on such themes necessarily have to show the reality in full brutality, it is more important to me that I can

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

create an association, memory and reflection with the spectator through colours and structures. There must be no consensus to the sensation, but if the viewer feels touched in some way or was influenced I am really satisfied. We have really appreciated the vibrancy of thoughtful nuances of the pieces as feuer und flamme and elbe, that show that vivacious tones are not striclty indespensable to create tension and dynamics. How did you come about settling on your color palette? And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develope a texture? I do not leave the choice of the colours to chance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the choice is inevitable. My objective is to develop inner tensions, friction points and harmonies by colour and texture. However, the way and scope of the transformation depends on my actual life circumstances. In times of great professional pressure but also during private blows the dark, earthy tones were pushing to the fore. But in the recent years, my colour palette almost unintentionally changed. Bright, lively, sometimes even pastel tones reflect a generally relaxed life. It also does not bother me when deep cracks reveal how the paint has dried. Together with a thick layer of paint and manual interventions such as scratches, porous structures are created. They are sometimes reminding of dried out walls in abandoned buildings (e.g. "out of the blue"). If there is such an approximation to a natural image, it is almost automatically perceived associatively by the viewer. With "Elbe 1", e.g. it was my intention to give an idea of a water landscape with a fire ship through horizontal monochrome areas, interspersed with vertical colour traces. A fire boat that signals to me: You are at home.

Gerdi Mรถller-Jansen

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Boats on a foggy morning

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Forgotten items

Special Edition

Gerdi Mรถller-Jansen

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Summer

Another interesting work that has particularly impressed and that we would like to discuss is entitled Am seidenen Faden (dangling on a string) and is from your "mental state" series,

reflecting your personal situation at the time of creation: How would you define the relationship between abstraction and imagination in your practice? In particular, how does

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Feuer und flamme

representation and a tendency towards abstraction find their balance in your work? "Am seidenen Faden" (hanging by a thread or

hangling a string) is a relatively new work. It really worries me that the world is ruled by certain people and is in a bad state. Terrorism, environmental destruction, wars, hunger

Gerdi Mรถller-Jansen

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Femme fatale

Spielen

Gerdi MĂśller-Jansen

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

catastrophes. It seems to me as if the world could come undone at any moment, because everything seems to hang by a thread. This, I believe, has nothing to do with "German Angst", but rather questioning whether mankind is using its brain. Abstract painting is breaking with the reality-related representation and is limited to colour, form, structure, pattern and line. But exactly those objectrelated associations, which are eliminated in the abstract painting, are dedicated to show a rigid or too narrow picture and reflect exclusively the artist's view. But his stylistic means of the abstract art allow sufficient leeway for my fantasies and thus possibilities of association for the viewer.This compares with the stylistic means of the abstract art as they allow sufficient leeway for my fantasies and thus possibilities of association for the viewer. Not only peace, prosperity and the environment depend on the silk thread, but also cultures, progress and humanity. Great themes are hanging by a thread or in other words: large shapes are hanging by a thin line. Over these years you have had numerous solo and group shows, including your participation to ain't no limits - Kunstforingen Humlebaek, in Denmark. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? Of course, the audience reaction has an influence. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that it affects the language decision-making process in a particular context. I see it as an influence in both directions.

From the viewer towards me and vice versa â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a give and take, so to speak. The influence to the soul of the viewer and on his memories, however, should not be manipulative, how could I allow this to myself? But it is my intention to help to overcome cognitive dissonances, which are nagging especially people today and which are always an unpleasant circumstance such as fear of decision making, shame on wrong decisions or purely successoriented action against one's own conviction. As far as the influence from the viewer is concerned, especially my solo exhibition "ain't no limits" has shown to me that the positive and constructive reflection of the audience on the works can also be an encouragement to maintain the diversity and to look at it self-consciously as a characteristic of my visual language. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Gerdi. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? I am sure that not only that what is going on in Europe and Western societies will provide a lot of material. The strengthening or decay already stands out as a new project with many ideas. So it will probably be a search and interpretation of common cultural stories and experiences. Figuration or abstraction - between these two poles I will probably continue to move, because this contrasting way of working has a natural causality for me and I would like to give the viewer food for reflection. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to give you and your readers hereby a bit closer look at my work. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Viktor Fuček

Lives and works in Bratislava, Slovakia

Critical thinking, how we should live has led my work to conversional and participative-related projects to discover communication possibilities as a mode to correlate our world. My methodology is grounded on research and preparing the models in “laboratory” conditions. I am trying to map of whole spectre of forces forming the world. Previously I focused on observing natural processes to understand the base conditions forming human essence. Presently I would like to also understand human behaviour, such as being on the fragile edge between the order and chaos, formation and dissolution, stability and instability. For this topic I hold conversations with myself and with others. During work naturally arises conflicts and misunderstandings and their "solution" is the main point of the whole process. This conversations become an excellent model situations to solve problems related to discussions and polemics in the "larger" size. It is automatically activates a deeper and more consistent approach to the entire concept and terminology of our culture. Thus reveals its true potential and importance within the society.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

Marked out with versatile multidisciplinary feature, Viktor Fuček's work explores the liminal area in which the unconscious sphere and direct experience find unexpected points of convergence. In his Antigravity series that we'll be discussing in the following pages he accomplishes an insightful investigation about the eternal struggle of man against nature. One of the most convincing aspect of Fuček's practice is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of creating a deep and autonomous synergy between our limbic parameters and our rational categories: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his multifaceted artistic production. Hello Viktor and welcome to LandEscape: to start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and hafter having graduated from the School of Architecture in

Bratislava, you later nurtured your education attending Conceptual Studio on Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where you eventually graduated in 2012: how did these experiences influence your evolution as an artist? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem in general? Viktor Fuček: The objective of my work is to cover the whole field of visuality. The focus of my work runs across different media in order to express my ideas and the architecture is also a part of it. Indeed, its essence lies in the extension of the human body as our second skin. This expansion both physically and mentally is significant to all human efforts but collides with the resistance of the outer world. However, this issue has its roots in the patriarchal system that is constantly "raped" by this world. On contrary to the patriarchal system, there is the female principle which is softer, more natural and can be more considerate to the world. Female approach is free of the male need to cover everything in

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

concrete. Personally, I balance at the edge of these two worlds and here I seek a common ground-the way out of the present situation. Similarly, the themes of current theory of architecture influence me greatly. Terms as the emergency, attractor or algorithm appear in my work quite frequently and I apply them in my approach to painting and also in my installations involving people. I perceive people as the most difficult and most complex algorithm. That is why a man stands in the center of my interest. The unique multidisciplinary feature that marks out your artistic production allows you to encapsulate several viewpoints: ranging from Painting and Drawing to Video and Installation: the results convey together an unconventional still consistent sense of unity. Before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.viktorfucek.net in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you have you ever happened to realize that a symbiosis between opposite viewpoints as well as different techniques is the only way to express and convey the idea you explore. ViktorÂ FuÄ?ek: As I mentioned before, because I am focused on the entire field of visuality working in various media seems only natural to me. In the centre of my interest is a man as a main point around which revolves the whole history of the art. Consequently, I apply different approaches to express a complex system of a man. I perceive every one of us as a unique universum and our physical existence as a representation of our shared space. As a result of this, I do not focus on only one medium because it would be an unreasonable restriction of the creativity. For this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries we have selected your Antigravity series, a stimulating project that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article. What has at once caught our attention of your

Viktor Fuček

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Special Edition

Viktor Fuček

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

investigation about the eternal struggle of man against nature is the way it accomplishes the difficult task of urging the viewer to rethink about such conflictual relationship, drawing the viewers into a multilayered experience. So, while asking you to walk our readers through the genesis of this series. we would take this occasion to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? Viktor Fuček: The genesis of this series is based on my diploma thesis I did whilst studying at Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where I graduated in 2012. My thesis was focused on human breath. The very theme made a great impression on me because of its complexity, capturing all the human activities. Breath is a core theme of the entire range of human activities and the transcendental dimension is very significant in the perception of the subject. Pneuma is according to Philo of Alexandria a divine spirit which flows into human soul in ecstasy. According to stoicism breath is the air, spirit, life force as a sort of tension that creates order of the material world. Pneuma is the soul of the world, the active side of fire, the soul of the world which forms a passive mass. Historically speaking, this doctrine might be perceived as a predecessor of the modern field theory. I approached this theme with the record of an ink drawing I had shaped with my own breath. The resulting forms were very similar to the natural formations. In its essence, the combination of air/wind with the principle of water resembled a tree branching. However, when we added the gravity into the equation resulting shapes began to resemble the rock erosion. It manifested the interconnection of all existing elements into one complex system. However, the direct experience engaged both the whole body and the being into the process. The self-engagement raises the questions about human experience and understanding of the world. We definitely love the way your Antigravity series, creates an effective channel of communication between the conscious sphere and the subconscious level. This creates a compelling unconventional

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Inner Landscape

Rain

Mixed media on plasterboard, 100x200cm, 2015

Mixed media on plasterboard, 100x200cm, 201

narrative that, playing with the evokative power of reminders to the act of breathing, belonging to the universal imagery, establishes direct relations with the viewers. German multidisciplinary artist Thomas Demand once stated that "nowadays art can no longer rely so much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological, narrative elements within the medium instead". What is your opinion about it? And in particular how do you conceive the narrative for your works?

ViktorÂ FuÄ?ek: For men it is natural that one seek a story or some sort of form in art. For us it is a biological necessity to recognize familiar form or to leave a mental imprint. My work significantly reflects the performative approach and my work might be perceived as a map or a record of the external or internal storylines. The body is entered directly into the physically imprinted process. This approach in itself contains selfnarration and strips down the excess plaque. Perhaps this might be the way out of these times flooded with icons and signs. I am very

Viktor FuÄ?ek

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Clouds over my head

Mixed media on plasterboard, 100x200cm, 2016

significantly affected by the views of Marshall McLuhan who explains our reinvention from visual perception to the perception of sound. In his work visuals are considerate to be the wildcard strategies which are continual and separated from the world. However, narrative elements fall into the interdisciplinary category, standing at the intersection of a series of particulars. My work focuses exactly at this area.

reveals an incessant search of an organic inquiry into the sphere communication possibilities as a mode to correlate our world brings to a new level of significance the elusive but ubiquitous relationship between experience and imagination, to create direct relations with the spectatorship: how would you describe this synergy in your work? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Your successful attempt to capturing nonsharpness with an universal kind of language

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Special Edition

Viktor Fuček

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Viktor Fuček: Personally, I try to consciously go beyond the terms of memory or experience. Of course, these terms cannot be left out completely because we are all shaped and formed by them. However, I rather focus on the moment of unexpected or just initiated. This allows me to work at the unknown territory which provides me with the ability to visualize previously uncaptured moments. When I encounter a repeating moment I try to deal with it. I solve it by using the moment of unexpected gestures or radical inputs which radically disrupt the existing structure of the work. It's basically the verification and the openness of the work within its own limits in order to achieve something "substantial" in the art. Therefore, my work might give the impression of an inconsistency or boundlessness but I perceive it as a personal affiliation to the periphery. Yet, I always balance at the edge at some point. I balance on the line where the particular parts collide and become unclear. In my opinion, this is the area that provides us with the new ideas for our world. As you have remarked once, a crucial part of your artistic journey is centered on the exploration of the fragile edge between the order and chaos, formation and dissolution, stability and instability: the way you deconstruct perceptual images in order to assemble them in a collective imagery of landscape, invites the viewers to a process of self-reflection. Artists are always interested in probing to see what is beneath the surface: maybe one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your view about this? While exhibiting a captivating vibrancy, your paintings seem to reject an explicit explanatory strategy: rather, you seem to offer to the viewer a key to find personal interpretations to what you convey into your works... this quality marks out a considerable part of your production, that is in a certain sense representative of the conflictual relationship between content and form: how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a painting’s texture? Moreover, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Viktor Fuček: In my works I want to evoke "the effect" of nature itself. Because nature is never boring, cheesy or clear and always manages to surprise us. We are able to watch it for hours still fascinated and charmed as in the begging. For example, I see my works as clouds without clarity, with random structure and with random regularities. However, in clouds everyone sees something different and this is the output I am most interested in – the activation of the human imagination. The images we see are a reflection of each one of us. What we see reflects each of us and we all project ourselves into our surroundings and surroundings project into us. The result is "The Nature in us." Therefore, my approach is mainly based on my inner intuition. It is reflected in the experiments with the formational procedures and approaches and also in the materials I use. I frequently work with the principle of a chance and I get surprised by the results. A lot of my works are random and leave surprising results. Over your career your works have been internationally showcased in several occasions, including five solos, as your recent exhibition Random records of my reality, at the 1_7 Gallery, Ostrava. One of the hallmarks of your practice is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context? Viktor Fuček: The natural principle I mentioned earlier requires an active watching approach from the viewer. This approach allows viewer to immerse in the work. Due to the advertisement, human perception is set

to pay attention for approximately 30 seconds. During this short time, the viewer must receive complete information otherwise the interest fades away. Therefore, my work is developing in a different direction. From the viewer I require his time and his involvement in the work. Nowadays, what does not allow people to penetrate very deeply into the reality of the world is the superficiality. As a result, we have a lot of us suffering from different neuroses. In its essence, these neuroses are just the unrevealed reality trying to visualize itself and become real. For instance, the handling of the viewer´s perception is clearly demonstrated in my video works. These videos are based on the changes happening in a long period of time (sometimes even hours). The John´s Cage quote sums it up: "If you won´t understand the work in the first fifteen minutes, give it fifteen more and it might come to you.” Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Viktor. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving? Viktor Fuček: I'm currently fluctuating between two positions in painting. Firstly, I continue to develop the conversational principle of a construction. In June 2016, this principle will be projected in the next project planned for the entire month in a public space of a bus station. The project will be transferred to a social sculpture. I would like to involve a lot of random people who will be passing by. I want to invite these people to communicate through the work creation. Through art I would like to initiate their hidden creative potential. Secondly, I still continue on my works in the tactile painting. Using this approach I map my personal world of experience and sensation. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Ashley Cassens Lives and works in Tampa, Florida, USA

I want to encourage touch and connection in a digital world. I began thinking about these concepts in relation to my practice as a figurative painter while earning my Masters of Fine Arts Degree at Florida Atlantic University in 2014. Prior to this I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida Southern College in 2006, focusing on representational work using traditional methods of oil painting as taught by the masters. I created several series of works that addressed these concepts, the first of which is the “Projection Series”. Seeking to bridge my experiences as they were viewed through a screen (my phone, my computer, my endless Netflix streaming) I began painting vibrantly charged portraits using myself and my husband. I lusciously layered highly chromatic oil paint on top of painted flesh and lingered in ephemeral imagery. I wanted an opportunity to disconnect and have a physical experience using paint to linger in a moment that would have previously been instantly consumable. The body of work that culminated as my thesis exhibition was punctuated by the absence of my partner. While earning my three year MFA degree, I got married and due to my husband’s job we were forced to live apart for three years. His absence was extremely difficult. I processed this loss by painting the parts of my husband that I longed to touch: his brow, his freckled shoulder, and the crook of his arm. By sensually applying layers of oil paint I recreated the essence of my husband.

An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator landescape@europe.com

Hello Ashley and welcome to LandEscape we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. You have a solid formal training and after having earned your BFA from Florida Southern College, you nurtured your education with a MFA that you recently received from the Florida

Atlantic University: how did these experiences influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making? Ashley Cassens: Hello and thank you for the warm welcome! I’m honored to be a part of the magazine. My academic training, without hesitation, nurtured the kind of artist I am today. Prior

Peripheral

eries

agazine

Special Edition

Contemporary Art

SPECIAL ISSUE

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

to entering BFA and MFA programs, I was mentored by Gregory Graham Grant, who taught me the beauty of representational drawing throughout middle and high school. He laid a strong foundation for my interest in 2-dimensional illusionistic work. As you mentioned, in 2002 I entered the small undergraduate program at Florida Southern College (which if your readers aren’t aware, is famous for being the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright structures) specifically because the professor, William Otremsky, was a figurative painter. I fell in love with painting bodies under his tutelage. Rendering skin, layered flesh, the study of anatomy, all of it was so alluring. It was as if a door opened into a world I never knew I existed but immediately felt at home. I picked up my first brush at FSC and never looked back. It was pure magic! I continue to use the techniques that I learned from both of those mentors today. In the years that followed earning my BFA, my process of making was sporadic and I was using tired approaches in terms of concept and doing little research/writing that accompanied the work. I knew the risk of moving to another city would create complications in my personal relationships but ultimately decided attending a Master’s Program was the vital push I required in my artistic and professional growth. During the three year program at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), I grew into a more assertive, curious and driven individual. I know the structure of MFA programs may vary from school to school but the format

at FAU, had a very specific path: year one the breakdown of intuitions and common modes of thinking and making, year two is experimentation and exploration while slowly regaining a foundation, and by year three, you truly have a sense of who you are, what you are making, and how you are communicating that visual language. I created hideous work in that first year, which was extremely difficult to reconcile. I entered the program with preconceptions about how art should be made. I am a reformed perfectionist! The results of your artistic inquiry convey such coherent sense of unity: before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit https://www.ashleycassens.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist. Ashley Cassens: Absolutely. Throughout my life, bodies of work will change but the central tenant of my work in the past 2-3 years is that paint is a conduit for touch. I feel so starved for connections, when so much of my life is mediated through a screen. Whether it’s my phone, a tablet, a laptop, or the endless Netflix streaming on my smart tv. Virtually every interaction I have is negotiated through a device.

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

I began thinking about these concepts while reading an interview of David Reed by David Ryan in Talking Painting: Dialogues with 12 Contemporary Abstract Painters. While his abstract paintings are dissimilar to my representation figure paintings, what he wrote about technicolor light in reference to the practice of painting resonated with me. To paraphrase, he discussed that during the Baroque Period, paintings were illuminated by candle light, versus today in which most images are illuminated through a screen. This affects how we view light and color today. For me, painting is the last vestige of connection that I have to the world, to people. There are so few things that take the time and care in a physical space, like painting does. For special edition of LandEscape we have selected your Lifeline series, that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: what has at once captured our attention of your successful attempt to demonstrate how paint can be an expression of intimacy and connection is the way you have provided the visual results of your artistic inquiry with such autonomous aesthetics: when walking our readers through the genesis of this captivating project, would you tell us if you think that your being woman provided your research with some special value? Ashley Cassens: The Lifeline series, which Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so excited that you are featuring, was born out of a longing to spend meditative time with my husband. In 2014 I made the difficult choice to move to another city, apart from fiance to accept a Graduate Teaching Assistantship at

Ashley Cassens

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Special Edition

Ashley Cassens

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Florida Atlantic University. During my studies, we were married, living in two separate cities, and navigating newlweded-ness through Skype. We missed each other immensely. In my studio, I was creating paintings that dealt with my experiences through a screen. The oil paintings were highly chromatic, and vibrantly textured portraits which depict projected patterns onto myself and my husband’s bodies. (My process is to shoot reference images and then create works of art based on those photos.) So, I was already introducing both of our bodies into the same artistic space, which I was beginning to understand was very vital to my making. Yet, I was still allowing this barrier between the viewer and the painting. A physical mask, if you will. I discovered Catherine Murphy’s work - who if your readers aren’t already familiar with, she creates the most beautifully rendered drawing and paintings of ordinary objects, like an oven, tissue paper, or fog on a glass. Although they are inanimate, the finished pieces feel so figurative and intimate. I thought, “I just want to paint the freckles on my husband’s shoulder, with this kind of intimacy.” And for whatever reason, because of my own artistic hang-ups, I thought this was unacceptable, or deceptively simple. Murphy’s work proved to me that the most ordinary objects have value and I began to research poses and places for Lifelines. What I discovered was that this way of making provided a freedom to bridge both my personal goals, spending intimate time with my partner, and my artistic goals, painting beautiful layered oil paintings of flesh.

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Does being a woman provide my research with special value? Special may be difficult to measure. Because I have no other lens to view my research through, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure what I could compare it to anything else. Being female certainly impacts how I

operate in the world, and because of this I am unable to separate my experiences from the art that I make. I think being a woman that paints bodies I am acutely aware of how I present my body and the poses I use. In the Lifeline series, there are

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

of thoughtful nuances of your pieces, that are often marked out with intense tones that, as Commingling I and Wrap create tension and dynamics. How did you come about settling on your color palette? And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develop a paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s texture? Ashley Cassens: Great question, as color is perhaps my favorite component of building a painting! Color is very intuitive to me - I am drawn to more vibrancy, naturally. The clothes I wear, for instance tend to be very bright and I gravitate towards images that have a high saturation level. In undergrad I did a series of figures that were juxtaposed against nuclear explosions, which gave me ample opportunity to create colors, literally, set ablaze. When I set up my palette to paint, I use a full spectrum of color but only in the past 2-3 years have I really began to appreciate desaturated hues. It was a conscious effort in the Lifeline series to try to mute my hues.

several paintings of male nipples. The same representation of my nipple would be viewed very differently, which is disparaging. We have really appreciated the vibrancy

I of course, love Jenny Savilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work, and I got some response that the hues in Commingling I were reminiscent of that, which is a huge compliment to me. Even hues in Arteries (Anxiety Feet) can veer towards garish, which is a tension I embrace. In terms of psychological make-up of my hues, it was very important to me that when painting works like Wrap, Enfold, and Low Sleep (US) that my flesh tones and my husbands flesh tones be distinctively nuanced. His skin has undertones of

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

pink/violet, while my skin leans toward a yellowy ochre/green color. The subtlety of painting that was very intentional to describe our relationship. Texture is valuable to my work when considering the affection I have for the person I’m painting. Layering paint is like touch in absentia. The more important an area of the body is to me, the more layered it becomes. As an example, I would like to hold my husband's hand, therefore paint is more built-up in that area of the painting. Often, I will lightly sand a layer of paint after it has dried, layering colors until I achieve a texture and result I’m happy with. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you find the construction of each painting to be the accumulation of meditative moments in which time and space lose context: how much does personal experience fuel your creative process? In particular, do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? Ashley Cassens: My personal experience drives every work. I was reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book FLOW, which helped me to understand the space that many creatives call “getting into the zone”. Painting my husband was like meditation. I couldn’t stroke his eyebrow, or press my face in between the crook of his arm, so paint offered that space. There has never been a time in my life that a painting was disconnected from my personal experience. They are intrinsically linked.

While referring to reality, your paintings convey such captivating abstract feeling: as a representational figure painter, how do you view the relationship between the concepts of the real and of

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

the imagined playing within your works? Ashley Cassens: You know I have always painted representationally. Michelangelo is famous for saying “show me an angel

and I’ll paint an angel”. I paint what I see. I have always loosely constructed spaces, posed people, shot references photos and then taken those images back to my canvas to start a work. I find abstraction

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

to be so difficult and without reward for me. I have great appreciation for abstract makers. It is something that is difficult for me to execute well. I used to believe this was a lack of imagination on my part, until I attended a workshop with esteemed figure painter and instructor, Steven Assael. One day in our workshop, he said, “Everything you paint is from memory”. This was shocking to me, as he is well known for painting strictly from life. He doesn’t paint from memory, I thought! He expanded on this thought, by explaining that if you are painting from life, every second you look away from that model, you are painting from memory. You are no longer looking at the model or the reference image - you paint from memory. When I paint my husband, I enhance certain parts of his body as it relates to my understanding of him. So while I use reference images, the painting is not the image, it’s an accumulation of memories, layered to create something entirely new. Your artwork is pervaded with images rich with symbolic elements, that come from your personal experience of loss and absence but that at the same time trigger the viewer's perceptual and cultural parameters. What is your opinion about it? Moreover, would you tell us something about the importance of symbols in your imagery? Ashley Cassens: The sheets in my work provide two important duties: one they are symbolic of the intimate space, and two, they provide an important balance of cool/warm hues. With

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Special Edition

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

the exception of “Arm Crook” which depicts a pillow, the other works don’t specifically describe a bed, or a bedroom. By including sheets I don’t have to tell the viewer that this place is sacred, quiet or vulnerable. I think certain parts of mine and my partner's bodies are also symbolic. Painting a hand is very personal to me because I am retracing touch. Besides producing the interesting works that our readers have admired in these pages, you also teach and in 2016 you worked at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL: how much does this experience inform your vision about Art? And in particular, did you ever get inspired from your students? Ashley Cassens: Yes! Teaching can be a selfish pursuit because I am so inspired by the way students think and make. Teaching children and adults is very different, and I’m blessed to have been able to do both. It is interesting to me how differently children and adults approach making. It has been my experience that children are receptive to experimentation and dive right in, without expectation. Adults approach making with a lot of hesitation, and are afraid of “doing it wrong”. They want to know the steps. The fear of failure is something we are taught and adults harbor a lot of self doubt when it comes to making art. I particularly enjoyed teaching at FAU

Ashely Cassens

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

because the student population is so diverse. Because of their multitude of experiences, it provided rich one on one conversations and group critiques.

of privacy have changed. I think vulnerability should be celebrated, it’s so much more authentic than our profile pic or the highlight reel on Instagram.

Over the years your works have been exhibited in several occasions, including shows at the ARC Gallery in Chicago, The Cornell Museum in Delray Beach, the Box Gallery in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before leaving this conversation we would like to pose a question about the nature of the relationship of your art with your audience. Do you consider the issue of audience reception as being a crucial component of your decision-making process, in terms of what type of language is used in a particular context?

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Ashley. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

Ashley Cassens: Lifelines is a vulnerable series of work because it is voyeuristic. Additionally, I am no longer exposing myself but also my husband, who is not an artist, and has responsibilities in the world that could be negatively impacted by the literal and figurative nakedness in my paintings. I was required to be sensitive of how he was presented to an audience. The nature of the audience caused me pause early in the process but it something that I embrace and really enjoy. I am aware, and hopeful, that these images go out into the world. In this age of oversharing, ideas

Ashley Cassens: Thank you so much for listening! I’m currently working on a series of small jewel-like oil paintings, measuring the size of a photograph, only 5” x 7”. The concept of working small is so intimate and special to me. It forces the viewer to be physically close to see the work, allowing them to enter a private space. As a maker, I often hold these paintings while I work on them. Each painting is delicately and deliciously layered which depict a seminal memory in my childhood. I started the series when I became pregnant with my first child. There’s a real sense of urgency to complete the series, as I am in my third trimester and I view these paintings like letters to my daughter, sharing my memories of growing up, the rooms I grew up, the companions I had, the trips I made. An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

LandEscape meets

Yotam Zohar A creative process is by definition a direct experience. Direct experience is a tool, not unlike research. I could have done the Underground paintings based on anecdotes my friends tell me, or from photos that get sent to me from anonymous email addresses or something. I could have just done it all from imagination. They might end up looking similar. I decided to go out and mine the source images myself, with a smartphone—the same tool that has started revolutions in recent years. There’s a reason for that: it is ultimately vital that I take the pictures myself, in order to link the subject (the person or people being depicted) to the viewer. I want the viewer to be aware of the single degree of separation between them and the person they are looking at, the way it is with Mona Lisa, of the artistas-conduit.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Yotam and a warm welcome to LandEscape To start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You hold a BFA as well as a MA that you have received from Ohio State University and from and the Eastern Illinois University, where you studied drawing and painting: how have these experiences of formal training impacted on the way you currently produce your works? Thanks very much! I’m grateful for the opportunity. I come from an artistic family. My father is a figurative painter, my mother is a violinist, and all my siblings are involved in some way in a creative field—two of them are well-known musicians. In retrospect it seems inevitable that I became an artist as well, but when I started painting I was much more inspired by literature and film than I

was by other painters. The more I paint, the more I realize I have to learn from my contemporaries. In recent years the Ohio State University’s art department has gained national recognition for its MFA program. Eastern Illinois University is more of a diamond-in-the-rough. I would describe both institutions as having brilliant faculty and programming, and although I was a terrible student I like to think that I benefitted immensely from my exposure to them. I try my best to remain in contact with any of my teachers who didn’t grow too fed up with me. Both institutions—OSU and EIU—are at their best in preparing students to think about their work and to craft a viable practice. To learn the Old Master techniques I traveled to Europe to study privately with my father, who is on closer personal terms with Vermeer and Rembrandt than anyone else I have ever known. So, when I came back to the American Midwest as an undergraduate with this newfound understanding of grisaille I felt a little bit like Moses on his first descent from Mount Sinai.

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

I’m very lucky, actually, because I was able to get both the classical training and the cuttingedge conceptual stuff. If I’d stayed in Ohio the whole time, or gone to some stuffy Parisian atelier, this wouldn’t be the case. Inevitably, I think, I shall always strive for Rembrandt using the tools of Richter, or maybe the other way around. I’ve also worked for nearly a decade in art galleries. Many young artists do this as a way to earn a living before their work starts to sell, and I think that although most gallery workers are severely underpaid it’s an extremely valuable experience because they learn from very close range what their work needs to be able to do once it leaves their hands. They also learn how to be more professional in dealing with the art world, which, to the chagrin of many gallerists, is not something they usually teach in art school. By the way, being a classically-trained figurative painter who explore Contemporary Art, I would ask you if you recognize still a dichotomy between Contemporary and Tradition... Moreover, what could be in your opinion the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? I think the only meaningful difference between contemporary art and “traditional” art is the completion date. There is nothing about Vermeer’s paintings, for example, that isn’t conceptually focused or still relevant, just like there’s nothing about Lisa Yuskavage’s work that doesn’t have to do with her ability to handle paint or carry on a dialogue with history. I also wonder whether romantic ideas about art being different in the past contribute to the inflation of secondary market prices and the difficulty many young artists face in finding open-minded collectors.

Artists today are asking questions and saying things for the same reasons as they did in centuries past, except now we have more materials and technology to help us realize our visions. The earliest visual art was made as a means of ultra-important communication and storytelling, and now a lot of that communication is probably as frivolous as most of Facebook. In terms of art’s actual content I don’t think much has changed, so I’m not sure there’s any need to make a wide distinction. Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece? I use a hybrid of Baroque and contemporary techniques, starting with grisaille: first the basic highlights and shadows are put down over a neutral background, and then color is added in translucent layers after each previous layer has been allowed to dry. This means that when the painting is viewed, the eye is seeing light that has been filtered through these layers of color and reflected off the highlights underneath. It gives the work a luminous, jewel-like quality that opaque paint cannot achieve. The amount of time each phase takes can vary widely. I’m not sure I’ve ever spent fewer than three hours on a painting, and I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than three months. But that’s not a rule either. I am trained to approach painting from the point of view of someone who works with the figure. This means that I permit myself the indulgence

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

of rendering imperative the significance of the human being. This fundamental tuning-out—of everything except a human subject and myself—is the starting point for any figurative work. My work is mostly representational, which means that it contains depictions of real-world objects and organisms as they appear on a human scale. I employ a philosophy of “by any means necessary” in order to arrive at a finished composition. Most notably, perhaps, I use optical tools and imaging technology—namely a digital camera and Photoshop—in order to create source compositions. The source image becomes the basis of the painting. Since optical tools technically predate the planet Earth—remember that a camera is only light passing through an aperture—I don’t think there is anything controversial about artists using them. And they have, for as long as we have a record of artwork being made. Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with your Underground series, that our readers can admire in these pages and I would suggest to visit directly to your website at www.yotamzohar.com in order to get a wider idea: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration? I imagine that most people who come to major cities with widely used public transit systems experience the same thing that I did: such variety of life, and a much greater likelihood that a face will seem interesting, or that a gesture of body language will communicate something compelling. And people fascinate me anyway, even when they’re not especially striking. A year after I moved to New York, on my first date with the person who would later become my wife, this phenomenon came up in conversation and we

Single channel HD video; 16:9 aspect ratio; 00:01:42 (loop)

agreed about the way this fascination would lend itself so readily to a body of paintings. Around that time I’d gotten my first mobile phone with an onboard camera, so it was simply a matter of pretending to use the

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

device for something else while covertly snapping pictures. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, you are a person without a "tribe", constantly between cultures; because of this the Underground paintings carry an additional

powerful metaphor for permanent transition... I can recognize such a socio-political feature in this aspect of your Art... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Single channel HD video; 16:9 aspect ratio; 00:01:42 (loop)

nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... what's your point about this? First, I must say that I have no expectation whatsoever that art should or can play a role in shaping public behavior or opinion.

To the contrary, I believe that artists are very much products of the societies from which they emerge, and at their best they manage to hold mirrors and prisms up to humanity. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to other people to identify this and respond. Of course there are exceptions, but as a rule I

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

really, fully, identify with any abstract groups: religious, ethnic, national, cultural, whatever. There’s no single geographical place I think of as home or feel an exclusive connection with. And it’s not that I avoid connections on purpose: whenever I feel myself gravitating toward a group there always seems to be something that makes complete immersion impossible. If I need to label myself I’ll use biology as a metric and beyond that I start to feel very uncomfortable indeed. Maybe I’m projecting: what I see on the subway are just humans in perpetual transition. Down there, when the train is moving, we can only be divided according to who is sitting or standing, who is reading and who is listening to headphones, who has luggage and who has none, who is alone and who is traveling with a companion. These are characterizations that have nothing to do with inventions like nationality and race; they are much more universal and at the same time individualized, but they are at least concrete! And I like that. The inside of a train car is, in this sense, a very egalitarian place, especially in the middle of a long tunnel when everyone becomes quiet for a moment, when the rhythm of local stops gets broken apart by an extended pause and everyone seems to simultaneously draw a breath and reflect there, beneath the riverbed. That’s the narrative moment I envision for these paintings’ settings. There is no season or day or night, just a relative closeness to the center of the planet and a ‘journeying collective of permeable solitudes.’

don’t think artists deserve credit for “steering people’s behavior.” Parents, teachers, advertisers, and lawyers do that. As for me, my personal story is a convoluted one but the point is that after a great deal of searching and moving around I realized I don’t

At the same time, however, I’m not trying to make a personal statement with these works. I don’t have a message about diversity or anything like that. It’s really more of a question I’m asking: how are we all connected now? Your work often shows the immediate nature of Photography mixed with the "contemplative attitude" - if you forgive me this word- of

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Pictorialism and it effectively establishes such a direct narrative of the stories that your works tell: so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indispensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience? A creative process is by definition a direct experience. Direct experience is a tool, not unlike research. I could have done the Underground paintings based on anecdotes my friends tell me, or from photos that get sent to me from anonymous email addresses or something. I could have just done it all from imagination. They might end up looking similar. I decided to go out and mine the source images myself, with a smartphone—the same tool that has started revolutions in recent years. There’s a reason for that: it is ultimately vital that I take the pictures myself, in order to link the subject (the person or people being depicted) to the viewer. I want the viewer to be aware of the single degree of separation between them and the person they are looking at, the way it is with Mona Lisa, of the artist-as-conduit. If I were to come up with the source images some other way, the work would lose this meaning; the connection would break down. I might as well sit at home and collect images from Google, which would make me a very sophisticated kind of inkjet printer, not an artist. When computer programs generate advertisements we don’t call them Mad Men, we call them spam bots. If I generated these images without being present the viewer would lose that personal interaction. It would be like looking at an algorithmic vector printout. Visually compelling, perhaps, but

meaningless. “You can throw it in the garbage,” as one of my teachers used to say. A recurrent feature of your pieces that has mostly impacted on me is the effective mix of few dark tones which are capable of creating such a prelude to light... I also noticed that several nuances of red are very recurrent tone in your works. By the way, any comments on your choice of your pallette and how it has changed over time? When I first picked up Classical technique I was shown how to work with six or seven colors, maybe more. Within a year or two I was using only five. What I’ve come to learn is that this is an important deviation from the way many other traditional painters work. In fact I’m not using a traditional palette, but some kind of minimalist iteration. Some painters will mix what is called a dead palette, which includes as a starting point many different tones and shades of each of more than seven or eight colors. I don’t. I’m not a revivalist. I want to do things differently. The color red has historically served the purpose of pulling the viewer into a painting. Who am I to deny its power? I hope it works. Besides producing your stimulating artworks, you also teach: have you ever happened to drw inspiration from your students... By the way, I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity... what's your point? I can remember that you once stated that our culture trains people to be visually illiterate... I can consistently count on my students’ enthusiasm and ambition to inspire me to bring energy into the studio. Most teachers will tell you that they learn far more from their students than their students do from them, and I think it’s true. Having students creates

Susan LaMantia

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

that many more sets of eyes to see through, to study the problem-solving processes they use. It’s better than reading chess manuals. Formal training, especially if it’s gained in a heavily dogmatic setting like an atelier, can be absolutely stifling. But creativity is not what’s being stifled. If anything, creativity flourishes most under constraint. If formal training stifles anything it is perhaps the off chance that the alternative might have been better, or that the breadth of understanding might have been wider. Some of the artists who became mediocre realist painters might have been more gifted at abstract expressionism, for example. Or they might have been amazing machinists (with a union behind them to ensure they never starve)! So, why do so many people claim they’re not artistic, why do so many artists seem to be so bad at their jobs, and why do we keep hearing about people who have no interest in art at all? I have a theory: Our culture teaches us to be visually illiterate. We just haven’t taught our children to learn how to see in an active way. By “seeing actively” I mean that when you look at something you consciously notice relationships in forms and light, and you gain an understanding of why it looks the way it does. Representational drawing or realism is really as simple as recording this observation, but it’s an immense first step. A friend of mine was studying to work with autistic children. She told me a story about a teacher who asked a class of autistic kids to draw their houses. The idea was to teach them how to behave like “normal” children in order to blend more easily into society. They were supposed to replicate the archetype of a child’s drawing of a house: a square with a triangle on top, the rectangular chimney with

the helical squiggle coming out to represent smoke, a smiling sun with rays, and so on. Sure enough, one of the autistic children started rendering his home with the precision of an architect, in all its real detail. The teacher came and corrected him, told him to do the square with the triangle on top. Because that’s what normal kids do. When I first heard this story I was incredulous. How dare she stop this child from drawing what his eyes have seen? This is an extreme example, though, because the children were autistic; maybe it is important for them to be taught to engender the flaws that the rest of us take for granted so that they don’t get negative attention. I don’t know very much about what’s best for autistic children so I reserve judgment. What is more interesting—or disturbing—is that in the meantime, the rest of us draw the house as a square and a triangle without a teacher telling us to. In Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments of the 1950s, he and his colleagues used a fake visual test to determine the effects of peer pressure on the way participants answered questions about the relative proportions of lines. If the rest of the group answered incorrectly—saying that two lines were of equal length when in fact they clearly were not—the test subject was more likely to conform and also answer incorrectly. The conclusion was that it is more important for us to comply with the behavior of a group than to react honestly to our own observations. It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award -or better, the expectation of an award- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

very definition of a business relationship: supply and demand. Depending on whom you talk to, the lack of regulation is either a very good thing or a very bad thing.

In a way, when an artist sells a work, it is like winning an award: some person chose that work over all the others because they liked it the best, just like a juror or curator, and there is a cash prize. I think most artists just hope their work is being enjoyed with as much energy as it was made with, but we rarely get a glimpse into what happens to our work once it leaves our hands forever. For me, it’s a little bit like exlovers who go to live out their lives on another continent, but as though it’s in the old days before Skype. And although the breakup was amicable—to extend the metaphor—they are bitter about all those incorrect brush strokes that only you know about, so they never write or call. Every once in a while, you miss them, but for the most part you’re just happy to know they’re out there being themselves.

We [artists] do what we do because we’re supposedly good at it and it gives us pleasure, yes, but more importantly we do it to earn a living. Anyone who says otherwise is hurting our chances of being compensated fairly for our time and skills. To the amateur it seems cathartic or fun to work with paint and abstract ideas, but we do it for countless hours a day, every day, under pressure to convince someone to pay us for it or we’ll die. We have to keep coming up with reasons why people need our art. That’s the only standard, actually: if you’re an artist, your work has to be so good, or so something, that people who see it will feel the need to possess it, or to ensure its continued existence.

During the conception phase of a piece or a body of work its origin has absolutely nothing to do with the intended audience. That would be like getting pregnant, seeing the fetus in the ultrasound, and deciding whom it should marry when it’s 30. It’s beyond irrelevant, although I can understand why we entertain such thoughts. A better question is: “Is this artwork relevant, and to whom?” But it doesn’t necessarily accompany the question of why or how to make a body of work. It’s better suited to the issue of when to make it. Art and business do have a genuine relationship, and they have had one for a very long time. Art has probably been bought and sold almost as far back in history as sex. And art comprises the largest unregulated luxury goods market in the history of the world. This is the

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Yotam. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of? As far as exhibitions go, at the moment I know the following: I’ll have a trio of Underground paintings in NordArt at Kunstwerk Carlshütte in Büdelsdorf, Germany, from 14 June to 12 October. Israel House in San Diego, California, USA, will be displaying some of my work starting 8 June. Michigan, USA. In the meantime I’m hoping to exhibit at the Governor’s Island Art Fair in New York City this coming September, but we’ll see what happens. The next body of work is already in the planning An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Melissa C. Hilborn, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

B-Site Festival / Error 404 502 410 & “Dust”/ Manheim 2015 / Germany

Shai Yossef

Photo by Dror Varshevski

Shai Yossef Lives and works in Rosh Haayin, Israel Rejecting any conventional classification regarding its style, Shai Yossef's work draws the viewers through an unconventional and multilayered experience. Inspired from Bible, his works often inquires into social issues and in his body of works that we'll be discussing in the following pages he accomplishes the difficult task of addressing the viewers to extract and recreate personal narrative from his captivating images: we are very pleased to introduce our readers to Yossef's stimulating and multifaceted artistic production.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Katherine Williams, curator peripheral.arteries@europe.com

Hello Shai and welcome to LandEscape: we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your background. Are there any experiences that particularly influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works? And in particular, how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to art making? Hello, and thank you for exposing my art to your readers. Going back in time might help me explain some of my work’s background. I am part of the Y generation, and as such, I grew up in what felt like an endless amusement park, filled with flickering colorful lights and endless stimulations, so trying to single out just a few experiences that influenced my inner world would be nearly impossible. I was a joyful boy, always curious, with tensioned senses as a street cat, ready and willing to absorb all the world I did not know had to offer.

On the bright side, there was colorful TV, flashy fashion trends, hip-hop, video games, but even bad experiences like the gulf war, Chernobyl, the imaginary witch under my bad and even Michal Jackson’s zombies – only added to the setting of that crazy amusement park that was my teen years. There were two other layers of great weight in my life. Religion and living alongside a father who was a public figure. When I was 3 years old, my father was elected mayor, and served in that role for four tenures. For 20 years, our house felt like the most interesting caravel of human figures, practically 24/7. At most times, coming home felt like entering a fascinating theater, which hosted all the possible (and impossible) kind of people, who talked, shouted, cry, laughed and made the dynamic human scale of emotions a very inspiring experience for me. The other layer refers to religion. Growing up in a traditional religious house, I was taught the importance of preserving religious and communal traditions. My family’s roots are from

Photo by Dror Varshevski

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Yemen, and we hold on to that culture with great love. I have no doubt in my heart that this special blend was a fertile ground of unique impacts that manifested in my work in varies ways. The results of your artistic inquiry convey together a coherent sense of unity: before starting to elaborate about your production, we would suggest to our readers to visit http://www.shaiyossef.com in order to get a synoptic view of your multifaceted artistic production: while walking our readers through your process, we would like to ask you if you think that there is a central idea that connects all of your work as an artist. The main idea is to provoke what I call a “feelthink-feel process”. The use of portraits and expressive color work, is much more effective for me, than using nonlife images and symbols. I have always found faces to be interesting, due to the ‘story telling’ nature of them. They uncover secrets, feelings and history by using a dramatic and beautiful muteness. The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries and that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article has at once captured our attention for the way they combine rigorous balance with captivating aesthetics: when walking our readers through your usual process and set up, would tell us how do you select the subjects for your portrait series? That may relate as a contrast to the struggle I endure while choosing a theme. I feel very strongly about balancing the composition with the very liberating and loos paint work. Only at rare times I find myself so unified with my initial result, and the creation process is immediate and intense. These are moments of pure grace. At most days I search for invigorating figures and

compositions. I purchase photos from websites and collaborate with photographers , sometimes I edit them and at times, simply create them in my mind. I find myself explore during the creation process, and drift away from my initial planning. There were times I felt it didn’t work, and times I enjoyed the surprising result. That’s why I always try to balance myself and avoid from “overscattering”. “BORN” is a great example to the two-way state of mind between spontaneity and planning. The new born is being held by strong and protecting hands, which seem like a part of him, but the unfinished hands, with the multicolored drama around him, demonstrates the impermanent moment. At times my creations send a very clear and simple message, while the composition is the one that conceal the true meaning of the work. “FATHER AND SON” is a great example for that. I searched for an intimate composition, but one that as a spectator – I will be a part of. I understood the way to get there, is to capture a spontaneous moment. The present of the viewers is supposedly interfering with this privet situation, but in a deeper sight we notice the father and the son are letting us in. This work has a very clear ambiance of love and warmth, but it also conceal a very privet story I share with my children. You are a versatile artist and your media include oil painting and sculpture: what are the qualities that you are searching for in the materials that you combine in your works? At these days I am much more connected to painting than sculpturing. The three dimensional motive has narrowed itself to the canvas, but still burst out of it through generous thick layers of paint. I have a big passion for oil paints, which feels good and smell even better. The tools I use are varies, seeing I believe everything useable.

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

The main use concentrates on spatulas, but I love diversifying with rollers, fabrics, cardboards, sponges, and off course, my fingers. Canvas is the only permanent thing I am loyal to. Even though I am very much aware of materials quality, I am much more interested with the impact they create. One of the most important insights I was given by my figurative painting teacher, Tzuriel Sdomi, was to let go – never get attached to your work. Dare to Change it, scratch it, ruin it and rebuild it again. That is how you truly learn. That is how you break out. We have really appreciated the vibrancy of thoughtful nuances of your pieces, in particulare the tone of blue in closer that seem to speak of intense emotional involvement. At the same time. other works as The shepherd shows vivacious thar to create a coherent balance between tension and dynamics. How did you come about settling on your color palette? And how much does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones you decide to use in a piece and in particular, how do you develope a painting’s texture? I remember visiting an old friend’s apartment, whose walls were painted in dark blue, top to bottom. Spending an entire evening surrounded by this darkness, with the company of whisky glass, felt emotionally devastating. Color theory and its psychological influences are a well-known science. Even though I learned it and was fully aware of it, I was not resistant to the experience. It was one of the most extreme experiences I had, regarding the power of colors. The piece, “CLOSER”, shows two abstract characters smiling at each other, wrapped inside their own privet world. The shades of blue and black creates a feeling they are trying to disappear and camouflage themselves from whom ever is watching. The high-pitched contrast between the dark colors and the smiling faces, creates unexplained tension and discomfort. It was painted after a dramatic family experience, and in its way, was somewhat the way I found to unload the fear

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Photo by Dror Varshevski

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

that grew inside me as a result. I usually paint on large canvases, but this painting is approximately 15’ to 30’. It reminds me it is ok to be scared – be just for a little bit. Keeping it small. “THE SHEPHERD” expresses the exact opposite of “CLOSER”. In red lips and bright eyes, the shepherd holds his face and locks, and shares his musings with the viewers. The lack of tension is noticed, to the point of near boredom. This is a time of rest. At the same time, there is still a common denominator between the two paintings – the relation between the strong and the week. The helpless needs the strong, to find shelter in his lap. That can explain the shepherd’s leisurely feeling. He is aware of his ability to lead and protect. A shepherd is the ultimate symbol of a worthy leader, as was told in the bible. It requires great responsibility, along qualities such as compassion on one side, and heroism on the other. When I stand in front of the canvas, I start with the first, rough, sketch. The main theme and general paint work are the ones that guide me, but at most time, I really don’t know what final result will appear at the end of the process, and I don’t concern myself with that. The psychological ingredient, which sets the tone at my work, is the bursting effect I seek. Your oil paintings are influenced by social issues: Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artist’s role differs depending on which part of the world you’re in. It depends on the political system you’re living under". Not to mention that almost everything, ranging from Caravaggio's Inspiration of Saint Matthew to Joep van Lieshout's works, could be considered political, do you think that your works is political, in a certain sense? what could be in your opinion the role of Art in our unstable, everchanging contemporary age? I agree with Mr. Orozco. In one way or the other, consciously or not, it all comes down to the social-

Photo by Dror Varshevski

political well. It is very hard to separate it from the process. It's simply there. Like a shadow. At first impression, my political statement in my work is not recognizable. I use the paint the lure

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

the viewer in, asking him to come closer and closer and investigate the piece on its own. The name of the piece or the explanation that follows are usually the ones who give away its

real identity and fills any missing blanks. I normally choose to speak out regarding my personal social criticism, in a moderate provocation. Art is a powerful political

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

weapon, and as such, it should be handled with great responsibility. I am all for provocation, without crossing the fine line

between a statement, to a sarcastic use of freedom of speech. I find the need to remind myself that even under the moral duty of

Photo by Tomer Yekutiel Part of the painting based on a photograph of the photographer Rod Waddington under an open content license "Attribution Share Alike"

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

criticism, there will always be a line that is not to cross, especially when it comes to a very sensitive political and social issue that has a potential of igniting a negative situation. The places that hold a thin line between love and hate are the places that needs much more attention and sensitivity. This is the conservative and vital part that preserves pluralism. To me, the art of art is to build a bridge, instead of a wall. Your artwork are pervaded with images rich with symbolic features, as recurrent references to childhood. Could you elaborate a bit about your imagery? Morever, would you tell us something about the importance of symbols in your imagery? I am very grateful for the simple and happy childhood I had. as a grown man, I admire and miss that childhood special inner-world. It's hard to stay indifferent to the joy they find in simple things, and as a parent, it’s a reminder to their special value as young people. That is one of the reasons their images make such a wonderful inspiration. Children are a symbol of all that is primary. They store values I find easy to connect to and represent in my work. Using children’s images is a marvels artistic use of preserving and remembering innocent, beauty, truth, forgiveness and joy. Even though they can be hard to handle and even rude or cruel, they are not dark or vindictive. They simply express some raw qualities from a bank of qualities they have not yet processed and developed. I find their point of view fascinating, and so naturally, they have a large stage in my artistic world. We like the way your works seem to excite the observers to „finish“ the painting by themselves, motivating their imagination to recreate the narrative conveyed by your images. Rather than attempting to establish any

univocal sense, you seem to urge the viewers to elaborate personal associations: would you tell us how much important is for you that the spectatorship rethink the concepts you convey in your pieces, elaborating personal meanings? I feel that exposing the work process to the viewers, or even insiuating it, arouses bigger curiosity that a clean, finished product. The usage of figurative elements alongside abstract ones, while adding or reducing some of them, makes the viewer feel at the mist of a dance between the hidden and the exposed. It leaves room for imagination and creates a deeper bond between the pieces to the viewer. I am not a minimalist artist, but I enjoy using vague scenes and let the name of the piece explain it. In “Jungle”, one of my favorite works for example, the inspiration for the dark, powerful shades and the rich, complicated texture comes from the 1982 masterpiece “The Message”, by the hip-hop group GRANDMASTER FLASH. It shares the hardcore story about living in the ghetto, bleeding Harlem of those days, desperation and shattered dreams. That unique combination of powerful lyrics and sound left its mark on me. The first encounter with this gazing image makes the viewer ask and answer all the questions the piece rises – on its own, in a pure subjective way. It is fascinating to find out what we see and how we feel in the first reflection of things that are different from us. It is a very special way to get to know out true selves. Over the years your works have been internationally exhibited in several occasions, including your recent participation to the London International Creative Competition and the Billboard Creative Show in Hollywood Los Angeles. One of the hallmarks of your work is the capability to create a direct involvement with the viewers, who are urged to evolve from a condition of mere spectatorship. So before

Photo by Dror Varshevski

Land

scape

Special Edition

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Photo by Dror Varshevski

what type of language is used in a particular context? This obvious connection, artist-piece-viewer, is self-evident. As a society, we naturally function in a two-way manner â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even the most

Evangelia Basdekis

Land

scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

and myself. I highly value the viewer’s opinion, closeness and involvement, but it has to go hand in hand with my own loyalty to my creation. Commercializing or the need to please others are tempting, and can very easily undermine ones judgment. In the past, I tried creating via demand, and found myself in deep suffering. I felt the creation is no longer mine, and it simply failed. Now days I rarely create ordered pieces. I assume it could work better in other genres, but my intuitive work process gives the result a lesser chance to please both sides. I wish to explore more areas, touching new fields and cross more boundaries. I certainly try. I paint by the conscience state I am in and let myself go. I made a long way in the journey of refining and exploring myself. It was long enough to make me feel whole and complete about my decisions. Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Shai. Finally, would you like to tell us readers something about your future projects? How do you see your work evolving?

kindhearted, generous person, receives something back from those he helped. I find this relationship to be healthy, legitimate and critical to our world. Never the less, my challenge as an artist is not be influenced by the public’s demand. Otherwise, I am risking my being, my purpose

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I believe my connection to portraits will be expressed in my future work as well. Key characters and outsiders will continue to appear on my canvas as a symbol. I live my life as a man of faith, and as such, I believe the creation’s purpose is the goodness within ourselves and that god’s will is to be good to us. My part of that is to make an imprint in my own way. It’s hard to see where and how my work will evolve in the future, seeing I am inspired from so many different experiences in a super dynamic world. Perhaps that is the fuel of growing. The only certain, important and study parameter to me in this whole challenging process, is staying true to myself. An interview by Josh Ryder, curator and Katherine Williams, curator landescape@europe.com