the ARTGYPSY tales

Takayuki = Shaping Abstract + Black and White

2013-05-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

I'm more of a home person... I need to have something to come back to + need to feel protected. Otherwise I'd be so insecure about my identity. I was born in Japan + moved to the UK when I was a teenager. I created a home here, every time I come back to it I feel secure - it's the only place where I don't feel like I'm in a foreign land.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I'm an image maker. I innovate. I've got this space in my head that I can travel to; I try to bring it back to reality: that becomes my artwork. My message (which was clearly explored n my recent show 'The Shake-Shifting World') is that everybody keeps changing their shapes but we share the same things inside (we all have the same internal organs!) - How things appear really doesn't matter; what is important is what we communicate (whether through words or actions). I wanted to convey this message: being different is not a bad thing. We like to be contained within a group and have labels; I try to get rid of that with my art - that's the sort of message I'm trying to convey.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

Max Ernst. I was very influenced by surrealist artists (Magritte, Dali...). I thought it was brilliant that you can be whatever you want + get credit for it. Miyazaki also played a significant role in my art shaping.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

In nature: forest, mountains, lakes. I also love to be near water (rivers, ocean..). I'm very spiritual in a way even though I don't engage in any particular form of spiritual behavior. I love the idea that nature is mysterious: I still believe there is something we don't know about the depths of it.. I'm so used to the convenience of living in the city, but i feel so purified when I get into nature, a sort of nostalgia.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I don't really do sketches; I like to change things on paper. I work organically and don't like to force myself. I sit down and start drawing and then I see what shapes come out (animal/landscape) and build upon it...

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I just finished a solo show with my gallery Unit 24 in London. The exhibit ''The Shapeshifting World" focused on people who change their shapes (as commonly seen in Greek myths)... It's been an ongoing project that I've dedicated myself to the past 3-4 years.

I also currently have an online exhibition with Each One, where some limited prints are on sale.

In June, some of my designs will also be auctioned for Maestro Foundation in Poland (a charity that supports making/buying instruments for musicians that can't afford them)... I designed some special wine glasses for their auction. I've also got another solo show at the beginning of 2014 - it will be with Unit 24, but this time in Poland.

7) Tell me about your collaboration with Each One.

It was my first time working with digital media. I made small drawings, scanned them and added some colors: it was eye-opening. I hadn't used colors for such a long time.. with the computer it was so accessible and easy to try things. I became playful and I did something I never tried before. I am so thankful to Each One for opening the opportunity

8) Your works are usually black and white - with recently (for Each One exhibit) a splash of color. What does color mean to you? Why choose to work in black and white?

I almost always work in black and white. I like hands-on material (pencil, pen), something I can feel connected with and thus personal. When I paint I feel a little more distanced and disconnected from the work. Pencil and pen have been my main medium. I've been afraid of colors: when I use colors, it changes things dramatically. I like the straightforwardness and spontaneity of my work; if you start thinking of color, it makes it more processed..

However, working with the computer (for Each One) made it more equal in a way: it made me change my plans and so I wasn't so dismissive about colors. I wanted to enjoy - bring freedom to my work.

9) Your favorite work? Why?

It changes all the time... Right now it's the latest one. But every single work has a history. They are like my children. Sometimes I feel a little torn and sad when they are purchased by a collector...

10) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Paul Noble, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama. They are all obsessional artists. I want to go down that route - to the extreme - I want to experience what it is to live with their obsession...

11) What is success for you?

I'm not really interested in commercial success. I need money to buy food etc, live... but I was never attracted by the 'celebrity' status. What is success? If even just one person says to me that my artwork has saved them (makes it worth living in this world): now that's success for me. To influence and change someone's life. I want to inspire and have impact on people - in a similar way that the artists I admire had on me.

12) The most precious thing you have?

My drawings.

13) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Being Japanese, I have problems expressing myself, so to make up for that..."I love you my friends."

This artist is based in London, UK.

For more info, visit:

Takayuki Hara
Unit 24
Each One

Justin W. = Drawing + Deathly Color

2013-04-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home. I'm not much of a traveler. My hometown is Rotterdam, the city where my family has lived since at least the 17th century. I'm definitely rooted here. The travels I make are through books, television and the internet. Intimate, objective and infinite travels.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I'm a curious 'browser': I always am looking through books, encyclopedias, TV, internet... and life. When doing so, I try to always keep a non-judgmental and open-mind. My frustration + despair about human suffering triggers a feeling of guilt. By creating art, in which I try to mend the imbalance in life, I ease my mind. Sharing my emotions + uncertainties in aesthetic + colorful drawings lures people closer and makes them get involved in deducing new insights for their own lives. That is what art is about.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I clearly remember as a young child seeing 'The Tower of Babel' by Pieter Bruegel the elder. My imagination must have run wild because I recently found one of my writings of the time in which I proclaim that I want to become an artist when I grow up.

Translation of my writing as a 6 year old:

What I would like to be when I grow up.

I want to become a painter.

I will put colors together

then you'll get nice colors, when

it's ready I'll varnish it.

and when it's ready I'll give it to the

teacher. bye teacher. from me.

(teacher's comment: Thank you Justin. I'll remember what you have written.)

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

I don't have an inspirational place. I don't believe in inspiration. Making art is hard work. As I heard Chuck Close once say in a lecture: "Inspiration is for amateurs" - I fully agree.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

There is no starting point in making art. It's a continuous state from which you sometimes extract a piece of art.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I currently have a show at Galerie Jaapsleper and preparing for an upcoming one at Galerie Maurits Van de Laar.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
My favorite piece is one I made as a child, it's the only artwork of mine I have in my house. It's a drawing of a monkey but it feels like a self-portrait. It reminds me to be serene + concentrated when observing the world around me.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

I have never fantasized about a collaboration but would love to learn from a lot of other people that can alter my way of thinking (as long as they don't touch my work) .

9) What is success for you?

Success is to get your message across.

10) The most precious thing you have?

The lives of all my loved ones.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Thank you all for being here (my wife and children).

Justin Wijers is based in Rotterdam, NETHERLANDS.

For more info, visit:
justinwijers.nl

Anton = Democratic + Pop Humor

2013-02-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

1) Home or Away?

I looked a long time for the perfect place for my studio. I decided on New York because it was the center, it's special. I do what I want here, it's democracy.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I'm a very liberal and democratic artist. I've created the concept of 'Gemism' through the extensive use of gems and particularly diamonds in my work. To me, diamonds represent the unifying element of the different existence levels (God and angels, humans, earth and sea creatures and stone.) The diamond is the most solid (and thus most indestructible) stone: it is the ring of creativity which connect all levels from divine to earthly elements.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

My mother was a sculptor and my father a painter. As a child, I would sleep in their art studio: I remember the smell of paint, the tools, the books - those were my toys at an early age.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

The computer. I don't understood people's need to travel: you can go anywhere, and have everything right there.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I have an idea, then do research online. I'm quite traditional when it comes to my creative process and have an academic approach. I always work with oil on canvas.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I'm preparing for a solo show for 24Gallery in Stalingrad of my grenade works. I think we fight because we love. The grenade is symbolic of that, it's the ring that keeps it together: the moment you take it out, it explodes.

7) Tell me about your current online exhibition with EachOne.

I was very interesting in seeing how my work on canvas would translate onto computer. I very much believe in the power of internet as a way to spread art. I think as a painter, not a digital artist so it was an interesting and challenging process - a new experiment. But I also realized that the approach is similar when it comes to determining form and color.

8) Your favorite work? Why?

I love: "I don't want to be a Russian artist, I want to be a Chinese artist."

It's from my I Don't Want to Be a Russian Artist series - inspired by when artist and friend Alexander Melamid (who used to be my studio neighbor) came bursting into my studio - in 2007 after the oil prices tumbled and collectors stopped buying - crying out: "I don't want to be a Russian artist!"

I asked him: "Who do you want to be?" - His answers - the queen of England, a rapper from Brooklyn, a Japanese Samurai, a cat, a rhyme from poetry,... - inspired my dualistic portraits and their social and economic commentary:

I Don't Want to Be Andy Warhol, I Want to Be Mao Zedong

I Don't Want to Be a Russian Artist, I want to be a Chinese Grenade

I Don't Want to Be Yves Saint Laurent, I Want to Be Karl Lagerfeld

I Don't Want to Be the Founder of Yuan Dynast, I Want to Be the Founder of Facebook.....

9) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Ai Wei Wei. I was in a group show with him. I feel in a way as if I were his twin, his shadow.

10) What is success for you?

It's very complicated because I want a lot. Everyday it's bigger and bigger, more and more. I want everything.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I'm not ready (whoever is?).

This artist is based in New York City, USA.

For more info, visit:
Each One Anton Kandinsky

Katrin = Urban Psychology + Photography

2013-01-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

1) Home or Away?

Both. Traveling is quite an important element of what I do + also a time of inspiration, but feeling at home is also very important.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am an observer + an artist working in photography + installation. While my work is based in reality, it is subjective: I wish to share the things I see in unexpected ways - my reality.

Photo by Hans Van der Boogart

3) Your first artistic encounter?

When I was a child, I wanted to become a sculptor. I was making collages and was quite fascinated with it. Art has been an on-going process in my life, so I can't remember the very first instance.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Public spaces; definitely cities. I like to change locations. I visit a place sometimes a couple times before photographing it and once I have, I move on.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Looking, observing.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

At the moment I'm working on recent shots I took in Shanghai, China + in the Amsterdam park. I have a show that recently opening in Massachussets with CuratorSquared ; I will also have some works exhibited in April at NYC's Aipad Photoshow. And preparing for a solo show at Galleri Andersson Sandstrom in Sweden, opening in May 2013.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
I couldn't say: they're all important. While there are some that I consider "stronger" works, I think the "weaker" ones are important too - the two together form balance and reinforce one another.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

I would love to collaborate with architects Herzog + De Meuron. I'm really fascinated by their work. Also with Hannah Ahrendt, Goya and Zaha Hadid.

9) What is success for you?

Being happy

10) The most precious thing you have?

My children

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I think it would be interesting to see what comes after life... so something that expresses that curiosity.

This artist is based in Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS

For more info, visit:

katrinkorfmann.com

Curiot = Ancient Symbol + Urban Colorful

2013-01-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

1) Home or Away?

I seem to find myself in the middle. When I'm at home, I don't ever want to leave but when I'm away, I don't wish to come back. I guess I need a balance of the two.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I'm just someone who likes making things + would like to get the viewers imagination + mind going.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

The first encounter I had was in the ceramics class I took in high school. I love the idea of bringing anything to life from my imagination.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Any nice beach will do.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Doodles + scribbles - everything else just evolves from that point on.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I currently have some limited prints on show and for sale on Each One. Right now I'm working on preparing for an upcoming solo show, which will take place at Fecal Face in San Francisco, in March. I'm excited about that.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
The piece is called Ñuisbiz, it's a sculpture I made four years ago for a skateboard art show. I used a lot of recycled materials like my old skate decks, torn up skate shoes, found wood, used clothes in order to create the house in which the Ñuisbiz live. The Ñuisbiz are a group of farmers that competed against other agricultural tribes to create not only the best recycled house but also the greatest harvest of the season. It took me about three months to create it: I had never spent so much time on a single piece.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Rembrandt, Monet, Klimt + I painting a large scale canvas while Pollock is doing his thing chucking paint all over the place.

9) What is success for you?

Having the chance to do what ever you want, whenever you want + however you want + making a living out of it.

10) The most precious thing you have?

Camera

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Bibidi Babidi Bu!


Seher One + Curiot

This artist is based in Mexico City, MEXICO.

For more info, visit:

CURIOT
Each One

Carla = Connection Line + Intuition

2012-12-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

Life

1) Home or Away?

I need both for a perfect balance.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

First, I am Carla Fache, an artist. I fell from the smallest finger of my feet to the last atom of my organism - then the world comes after. My paintings talk for me of who I am + my existence.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I was five years old the first time I realized I could do "magic" with common things, the day I used flower petals to paint...

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Inspiration can be a “cliché” word, and I believe in working hard.
Inspiration can find me in any place and at any time, but for me the true one is when I am in the middle of a painting when it suddenly comes to life. Everyday of my life I think in terms of art + the “communication with inspiration” is a continuous process in which I develop day by day. I could say that there are certain places that seduce me much more to paint. Usually my art studio is where I am completely free + solely guided by painting - but I can feel a painting in any space, such as when I am driving, or looking at the ocean, or listening to music, or in silence, or in the chaos of an urban environment...

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I have several ways. Each of them very intuitive. Usually I begin by creating a large idea of the painting I want to create + then I try to envision + approach it in a more detailed way. Then I execute the thoughts onto canvas intuitively. In this process the painting evolves, starts to take life, surprises me with its own voice + a strong immediate self-expression.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I am working on a project that mixes paintings + concepts. it focuses on the pure silent poetry. I've also been making a number of large scale paintings, which are very physically + mentally demanding; but I am enjoying the whole approach. As my essence is quite rebel, I'm using that energy in a well-guided manner. I am daring to mix everything + am very entertained in the process.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
Crossed Destinies. For me that painting is unique + has a lot of mystic + intellectual energy even though it was created in a very intuitive way. It is very difficult for me to express that painting in words. It has to be experienced.

Crossed Destinies

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

With Gerhard Richter. Our works have similar connections. When I had the opportunity to see his artwork at the Tate Modern in London, it was a revelation on the frequency I shared with an artist. Our work don't need long explanations: they speak for themselves.

9) What is success for you?

Having the opportunity to grow in all aspects of life. Trying to live + enjoy life to the fullest, with the sweeter + bitter moments. Learning from mistakes + transforming suffering into life + will.
In terms of art, continuing to be able to dedicate myself 100% to art, regardless of any obstacles. But most importantly, being able to find what I am looking for in my paintings.

10) The most precious thing you have?
Life + being able to create,

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Carpe Diem! or See you soon! or I love you!... Perhaps it's better not to think in that moment.

Wonder Woman

Destination

Alfa

This artist is based in Miami, USA.

For more info, visit:

carlafache.com

Adriana= Still Life + Mobility

2012-12-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Moving Plant
vimeo.com/34584519

1) Home or Away?

My ideal place happens when home feels different + unknown, or when an unknown place becomes home. It is very important for me that a place can provide me with the possibility of change + growth.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I believe that every creative process opens a dimension of the artist that would remain closed otherwise. This implies that a definition of oneself is never complete. Nevertheless, I can say for now that I am an artist living + working in Bogota, Colombia. The place I currently live has molded me into a resourceful + hard working person ; it has also shaped my work in a particular way.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

When I was about 15 years old I came across painting + drawing + a few art history books that served as an entry point for things that were not available in the place where I grew up. I couldn't get enough of them. I then realized that art could become a way of living that could provide me with countless motivations, knowledge + independence. I made my choice very soon after that.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

A place where I feel lost or uncomfortable. A troubled place.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

It varies. My last project, for example, started with an observation of how nature grows amongst the hostile environment of a city like Bogota.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I am trying to make the most of my stay in Bogota. This is a very complex + chaotic city. My next project will be about how the city's growth + transformations can be understood through the limit between the dead + living.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

I don't have favorites. I usually feel disappointed after I finish a project. Nevertheless, Still Life has been probably my most difficult work to achieve, so I think I have grown fond of it for that reason. It is a site-specific installation.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

A Woody Allen movie where Woody attends to one of my art shows + where the artwork just serves as a background for the plot of the film .

9) What is success for you?

Independence

10) The most precious thing you have?

My daily planner, because it is an extension of my memory.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I would love them to be untranslatable + in a language yet to learn.

This artist is based in Bogota, COLOMBIA.

For more info, visit:

adrianasalazar.net

Justin= Abstract + Moment Capture

2012-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

Just the Beginning

1) Home or Away?

Home

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am living my dream, my message is that anything is possible.

Photo by Chloe Zhao

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I was just a couple years old, drawing people as only a face with arms + legs sticking out.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

The moment is my ultimate inspiration. It is everywhere.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Opening up to the moment + letting it be the guide.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I am flying to Panama tomorrow to go surfing. For the month I am there, I will do a lot of small drawings + watercolors. It is always exciting to see what will emerge in a new place. It is important for me to change my perspective often. It is a way to keep things fresh + moving.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
"Ask and You Shall Receive" is my favorite. To me it is clean + light; it is a great success in realizing the idea of balancing a bold, complicated cluster of lines, colors, and shapes with a single circle. It speaks to the power of simplicity, the importance of contrast, the need for both dark + light ; and that ultimately we are all one.

Ask and You Shall Receive

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

I would love to work with Nicolas Jaar. I think we would feed off of one another's energy, pushing us both to new areas of discovery.

9) What is success for you?

Being happy

10) The most precious thing you have?

My sketchbooks

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Thank you

May 1

Going In to Get Out

The Means Justify the Ends

This artist is based in New York City, USA.

For more info, visit:

justinsteimer.com

Kenichi = Earth Line + Stone Carving

2012-10-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

Photo by Klaus Lucka

1) Home or Away?

Home, which is also my studio : it's all one. When I travel it's always to carve stones, that is the goal behing my movements. The earth is one big stone, my goal is to carve it into one complete structure. I draw spirals which by nature are ever-expanding: out of buildings, over the mountains and under the sea. When I was 18, I started carving stone in Japan. In 1982, at the age of 22, I moved to the U.S + carved my first sidewalk in Brooklyn. It was 1982.

Kenichi's first carving in the USA (Brooklyn, 1982)

2) Who are you + what is your message through creation?

I am like a snail: moving slowly, leaving a silver line. I want to do something no other human being has ever done: leave a record as a sculptor but more importantly as an animal capable of using a tool to prove its existence. I trace my life in rock. At the end of each carved line is the beginning of another line. It's infinity - not just a motion from life to death, but maybe it could also be from death to life.

My message is to unite, to understand each other, to show there's no difference in each of us + all systems. Art is the one truth to communicate with everyone in the world. It's a step towards peace. That's what keeps me going.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I've been drawing since before I was two. My oldest memory is when my great grandmother was dying in Japan. I drew a square + a circle on the edge of a piece of paper. My first abstract painting.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Everything is stone, rock. I explore the world in search of where to carve. I started in Japan when I was 18. Since, I've carved in 23 different countries.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I just go somewhere. I have friends in different countries, who help me put together the project: a small team, the right place + rock. I remember when I went to Mongolia: a friend put me in touch with a Nomadic group that had created an opera in the desert, surrounded by mountains. I found the village chief + stayed living with them in a tent for 10 days, while searching for the right stone everywhere.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I have to go anywhere I have never been. It looks like my next art mission might be Chile.

7) Your favorite work? Why? (please attach photo of your favorite piece)

Each piece is a memory. Each one is connected to the other.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

NASA: I would like to do a moon sculpture (+ other planets). I used to want to be an astronaut.

9) What is success for you?

To have the freedom to create a sculpture whenever I want. The capacity to approach my goal without too much trouble.

10) The most precious thing you own?

My body

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Peace (lifting his hand in sign).

Kenya

NYC

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

kenrock.com

Ryan = LightPaint + Cosmic

2012-10-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am the son of a contractor from California + a painter/novelist from Brooklyn. I am the grandson of illustrator, poet + musician Marcus Uzilevsky.
My artistic message + subject ranges a wide gamut: from mythology + science, to meditation + philosophy. Always pointing towards a visceral amplification of both the sublime magic + the melancholic tragedy surrounding the human experience.

I grew up partly in the beaches + mountains of Northern California + partly in the Mission district of San Francisco. I relate to myself as somewhere between a Gen-Xer + a Millenial - but with a heart circa Italy 1492. I seriously thought the world was going to end in the year 2000 + when it didn't, I moved to
New York. Here I currently use film, video, + sculpture to tell stories, enlighten, + entertain.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

My grandfather, Marcus, taught me how to paint when I was about 5 years old. He video taped my attempts + made me watch the tape just about every year for most of my youth.
When I was 14 my mother bought me a video camera. I began filming everything that I saw - fascinated with the intimate process of framing the world. I loved composing visual ideas through the lens, a sort of butterfly net for capturing poetry + exploring meaning. A homeless person going through heroine withdraws under a bus stop in San Francisco, or the sunlight dripping like honey through the pine trees in the mountains of Lake Tahoe.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

I have three:
- Weightlessness: in water or pehaps in a dream.
- Vastness: being alone in the desert under a starry sky
- Connectedness: in the throws of love + sex.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Research, then usually some form of meditation + rough sketches. It's important to be instinctual + let things flow before getting overly analytical. You can always edit later, but strike while the iron is hot.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I am working on a sort of "prophecy projection" to appear on a Mayan Pyramid at midnight on December 21st 2012. I am using some very advanced lighting + projection technology to activate this dormant pyramid at the precise moment that the Mayan Calendar resets. The purpose is to use these concentrated light waves to both acknowledge + amplify the mythological power of this ancient site. I also want to explore why scientists have not diss-proven these ancient people were tapped into a mysterious type of non-carbon based technology that we cannot understand.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
My favorite work so far would have to be "Simulacra" the video installation I did inside of an abandoned church in Brooklyn. I liked it because it was a natural + friendly turn of events that led to its initiation. Also I had the freedom to push the medium of large scale projection towards the direction I need it to go right now, without anyone holding me back. It was a very raw + personal work for me. I felt like I made a breakthrough exploring a deep + personal psychological subject within a form of art that can normally be sensational + impersonal.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

My dream collaboration would be Darren Aaronofsky + Alejandro Jodorowsky, I could only imagine if put is three -skys together what would happen...

9) What is success for you?

I just want to open my mouth + move my hands + have my words + images sound + look like my thoughts. That would be success for me.

10) The most precious thing you have?

Whatever devices is inside of me that connects my hands to my heart... not sure what you would call that.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Probably the keys + location to my life's work. My work will speak for me.

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

ryanuzilevsky.com

Liz = Organic + Surrealism

2012-09-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home, I draw + paint so I need a comfort zone to do that. But I feel lucky enough to have multiple places I can call home. I have moved back + forth quite a bit. I grew up in Massachusetts, then moved to Toronto, Canada. I've just returned to the U.S a few months ago. I miss Canada but New York is now home.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am a really empathetic + caring person that enjoys stimulation in thoughts, creativity, collaboration.
My goal is to make people feel - whatever that may be. The message is always surprising + up to the viewer's interpretation. When I make art, I don't think about how people will receive it, as long as there can be a connection created.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I've been drawing for as long as I can remember. I came from a creative family: my father is a painter + my mother, a writer. My father had his studio set in the basement. I remember spending time with him, painting each others' portraits. I enjoyed drawing his mustache + pipe.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Outdoors, in nature. I also love being around people. There are hidden faces in all my 'nature' works.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

It depends. Sometimes I just start drawing + it evolves naturally. Other times I have an idea - sometimes for years- before I bring it to life. I often start with pencil sketching, then go into pen + paint. I never get stuck with a particular medium, approach. There are no rules: just the ultimate goal needs to be met.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

A new series: quite realistic paintings on Victorian wallpaper. I'm also continuing to work on my family portrait series, using old photographs of my ancestors. I'm doing private commissions + have pieces in a show coming up at the living gallery. I continue to work with a group based in Toronto, an opera-based collective called Fawn I'm also working on making jewelry, which be sold at modern-opus.com

7) Your favorite work? Why?
Every new one I make... But I must say, 'Unexpected Events' is the one that probably means the most to me.

Unexpected Events

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

My friend Alex Bayliss. She is one of my favorite artists in the entire world. We've had a couple shows together, but never a collaboration.

9) What is success for you?

To live comfortably being an artist.

10) The most precious thing you have?

My art + my ability to make it. If it comes to what I cherish the most, its the people in my life.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I am ready.

This artist is based in New York, USA + Toronto, CANADA.

For more info, visit:

lizemirzian.com

Sebastian = Dimensional Collage + Psychedelic Mind

2012-09-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

I like both. I like to spend a lot of time at home so I can work. But traveling is important: new influences, experiences. I like to explore places I haven't been. But there are also those where I love to return to, like a tradition, such as Burning Man, or India.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I have been asking myself that for a long time + probably will be asking for the rest of my life. I'm not this, I'm not that.
I'm an explorer, I'm a mystic. I believe mystical experiences are the most important a human being can have, other than life or death. I have experimented with mind altering substances + integrate that into my work. To be able to go there + come back, talk about it + infuse the energy creatively ... That's part of who I am.

My message is to try to open people's imagination, in a positive manner- in a childish way if you may.
Children that look at my work have an easier time with it. Their mind isn't so rigid. They're naturally curious + question everything + wonder. My goal is to awaken people, inviting them to question a little their reality + look at someone's else's perspective of reality. With my work, I take images from one reality + inject them into another. In doing so, I change their original meaning.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I was young, maybe 6, I was drawing labyrinths. They went from one corner of the paper to the other - you had options. It was purely imaginary + I realized in that moment that I could completely get lost in it.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Anywhere. I get inspired by so much. If I was to carry a sketch book, it would be full all the time. One of the most inspirational places is inside: look within. Then, take it out of there + into the studio. Love being in my studio. Getting creative by exploring my ideas. I also enjoy researching on the Internet, looking for images.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Deciding its form: square, horizontal, or vertical. I start with the original shape, then I see what other shapes I can fit in it. Usually if it is horizontal, it'll be a landscape; if vertical, a portrait + when a square, a mandala.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

Working on redoing my website. Once that is done, I'll finish a piece I started. Keeping things open for the future. Traveling at the beginning of the year to India + perhaps Egypt.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

'Mandala.' It's the largest, most complicated + intricate piece I made. But they are many that I like. They all hold different value.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Mati Klarwein or Dali.

9) What is success for you?

Not having to go to a 9 to 5 job.

10) The most precious thing you have?

My life + my wife.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Wow.

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:
sebastianwahl.com

Ayad= Political + Small Print

2012-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home. Was forced to be a nomad after leaving Iraq during Sadam's reign. Immigrating was difficult, so now having my own space is really important to me.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

As a person + an artist, I am a work in progress.
My work focuses on the 'human condition' under extreme political + social circumstances. The media mainly focuses on the collective impact of events rather than the individual stories of the humans involved. In other words, while the media focuses on the headlines, I focus on the small print. The individual stories of those not heard loud or clear enough are my main interest.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I was about 3 or 4. I drew an airplane on the back of the living room door in my family's house in Bagdad. My grandmother saved me from being punished. I redrew the airplane many years later in one of my pieces.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

With my sketching pad anywhere. Or a cup of coffee + cake in a coffee shop looking out on a busy street.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I sketch. I leave them. I come back. It's the part I love. It's the humanity of the work. Surprises happen during this stage. The actual application on the canvas comes much later. Educated guesses + calculated decisions happen during this process. However, by then, I have already figured out the "feel" + overall composition of the work.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I'm working on a four piece cascading for a solo show in Quatar. Also a number of works on paper for Abudhabi Art. I currently have work in the show Cross Currents at Colorado College. I will also be exhibiting at Artplatform Los Angeles this month. And looking forward to a short residency in Hawaii in January.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

I don't know if I have an all encompassing favorite work. In each series there is one or more works that I feel closer to for a number of reasons. From my last series, Umbilical, 'Venus Iraq' would be my pick:

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

I work alone. It is difficult to imagine a collaboration, however, an interesting person mentioned to me lately that the best one may happen between the most unlikely choices for a collaboration. So, I am thinking about it.

9) What is success for you?

The more you get, the more you want

10) The most precious thing you have?

There is no "thing" per se. I'd take a person I love. Everything "thing" is replaceable: you can find the same things elsewhere.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I hope by then, I would have done + said everything I am meant to do + say. So: "I'm ready"

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

aalkadhi.com

J= Symbolism Photography + Unconscious

2012-08-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Definitely home. I love being able to surround myself with tools + materials + wallow around in my own mess.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

My name is J + I prefer to hunt for photos behind my eyes, in the pockets of my mind. I'm interested in the old stories, the myths of the world + how those images still have life today. In every mind, there are angels + devils, magic + tricks, all constantly unfolding just as they did for our ancestors.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

My parents had me when they were a bit young, so both were in school as I was growing up. When I was about three or four years old, I would hang around my father's art studio when he was in grad school. I remember drawing a picture on a Halloween evening as my parents got ready to go to a party. My father dressed as Van Gogh complete with bandage + bloody ear. The walls of our home were covered in figure drawings.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

The Pacific Northwest with its cloudy, foggy, rainy weather is a constant source for inspiration in a brooding introspective way + the reason why I've continued to live in Portland, Oregon for the past dozen years. I find that long walks are inspirational no matter where I happen to be. I also enjoy hanging around places where people are in transition: airports, bus stations, waiting rooms.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I read a lot. Currently I've been reading some old Medieval texts on astrology + spirit evocation. But when I get down to making an image for the 'Riddle' project there are two ways that I generally get started. Sometimes an image or a phrase will pop into my head + I will work on sketching it out before I try to make it. Most of the time, however, I start by sifting through collage material to see what strikes me. I'll put three or four elements on the table + play with them for a bit.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

At the moment the main thrust of my work is a project titled "The Riddle of the Echo" which is an exploration of the image producing faculties of the unconscious mind. It is surrealism based in mythology + the occult. For this project I'm making compositions with collage + found objects then photographing them on large format film that I develop + print myself. This is a long term project.

I've also been working on a project based on the Sorcerer of Trois Freres cave painting in France, trying to reinterpret it in a modern context. I made antlers from paper mache + dressed in a suit jacket, that I shot in color with a pinhole camera in the forest + around Portland.

For future project, I want to do some astrology based studio shots. Each astrological sign is split into three "decans." Each of these decans has a tradition of poetic imagery to describe its qualities. For example, the first decan of Cancer is described as "A man having twisted and crooked fingers and head; and his body is like the body of a horse, and having white feet and upon his body fig leaves. And this is a face of teaching, knowledge, of love, subtlety, and of skills." The descriptions of these decans were also used in Middle Ages Europe for making talismans. I've worked out the timing of the shooting to fall when the Sun, Moon, + Ascendant are all in each of the decans at the same time. Done in this way if I start in October the last one will be years away.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

My favorite piece from my own work at the moment is 'Feeding At the Corners of the Mouth.' I enjoy it mostly because I haven't quite figured out entirely what it means to me.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

I am greatly inspired by the writing of Carl Jung + would love to work on a fantasy project with him.

9) What is success for you?

Success for me would be when someone who I really respect artistically, like Patti Smith or David Lynch, buys some of my work.

10) The most precious thing you have?

If my apartment were burning + I had to grab something, on impulse it would probably be my 4x5 camera but it is my wine making kit that brings me a lot of pleasure. Under my work table is a five gallon bucket of blueberry wine just ready to bottle up.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I'd love for it to be something profound like "now I see it" - but I imagine it will probably be something more like "my head hurts."

This artist is based in Portland, USA

For more info, visit:

abnormalimage.com

saatchionline.com/jswofford

Ahmet = Dasein + Greek Mythology

2012-08-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Away. Definitely.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I'm Ahmet Murat Karayilan. I'm an artist painter. I've studied Mathematics, Woodworks Industrial Engineering + Fine Arts. My art is influenced by Heidegger. Indeed, each figure of mine is 'Dasein': aware of existing in time temporarily + feeling one's existence constantly. In my paintings, the figures being alone represent the human being's "situation of being on your own" which is the obligatory requirement to comprehend 'time' as pure.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

My father was an amateur painter. His works made me sick. That's why I'm an artist today.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Seaside

5) What is the first step in your creative process?
I usually start by sketching + taking notes. I make quick sketches because I like to make decisions while painting. I love that uncertain process.

The 'Old Big Garden' + sketches

In terms of inspiration process, I think it largely comes from my Greek origin. I am especially curious about Greek mythology, especially those behind the constellations + Greek philosophy (Herakleitos, Parmenides, etc). Like I mentioned, my figures are mostly alone. When I'm alone, I'm with myself. I'm feeling 'Now.' But time is also continuous. The watch rotor, often present in my work, symbolizes this continuousness. Moreover, I emphasize space and time sometimes using magazine pages as backgrounds. Why are my figures white or black? They become clearer while not being there. Not being there reinforces their visibility. Like a missing piece of the puzzle. So where are they? Somewhere in their minds. Parallel universes? Maybe.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I'm currently working on a series of mixed-media + acrylic paintings about the myths behind the constellations dating back to ancient Greece. My next exhibition will be in London.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

My favorite work is The Balcony. Because I have acrophobia + the balcony is so safe.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Vermeer, RIP. 'The Milkmaid' is my all time favorite painting.

9) What is success for you?

Signing a finished painting.

10) The most precious thing you own?

A gift. My self-winding Swiss watch. I adore that mechanism.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Feel the joy.

This artist is based in Izmir, TURKEY + London, UK

For more info, visit:

karayilan72.wix.com/2012
saatchionline.com/karayilan
fineartamerica.com

Ellen = Fluid + Assemblage

2012-08-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home is on - where the TV, computer + oven bake + sizzle. Away is where you mix into a different soup + discover new tastes. (I guess I'm hungry).

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am an artist, a community artist + a teacher. I operate within this triangle. I create for myself + motivate others to enjoy the process as well. My message is that making art is good for you + that art can be made out of anything.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

Growing up, my mom would take me regularly to the Albright Knox Art Museum + to dance class. My favorite things are art + dance - go figure.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

My art studio where all the work gets done + outside the studio where inspiration happens.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Knowing my next idea.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

Several commissions for friends + putting together a couple of exhibitions.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

The piece 'Bones,' because it surprised me. I have been making collages + mixed media work for many years. I was thinking of them as paintings where I use stuff instead of paint. In this piece I felt like I was drawing with different things (instead of painting with stuff). This has sent me in a new direction.

'Bones' (mixed media on wood)

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

An installation with Judy Pfaff.

9) What is success for you?

Balance between art studio time + teaching. Making work that excites me, showing it + seeing how people take it in + react, selling work to get it out of the studio + then to make more.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

My husband, he is great at travel.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Thank you.

Graphic Dyes

Dancers

New York City

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

ellenalt.com

Karen= Metaphysical + Circle Paint

2012-07-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home, New York. Even though I wasn't born here, I've lived here for 30 years.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am an artist, curator + educator. I believe there are profound inter-connections woven through our consciousness + lives. They are subtle + profound inter-connections among the life forms of this planet. We share these connections with the planet itself. The language of visual art gives us a means of making them visible + of sharing the experiences.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

When I was about five or six, I was a flower girl for my grandparents 50th anniversary. My aunt Doris gave me the little wicker basket that held the flowers I carried for that ceremony. I used it to create a still life arrangement. I don't know what prompted me to make that arrangement, but it lasted for about a week + I'd look at it everyday. I also remember drawing an apple + coloring it half red + half green because that was the way many of our apples looked (we had an orchard of about fifty trees). My sister + brothers laughed at me, saying "Don't you know apples are supposed to be red?" I said, no, this is the way the apple really looks.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

I find inspiration in many places, most of them within the natural world. I love woods + groves of trees.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

For the past five years I've been working extensively with gilding processes. To begin a new piece, I prep the substrate - if it's paper I stretch it + gesso it front + back. If it's MDF panel, I seal it with shellac. Then I gild the surface, skew it + seal. There are many smaller steps within these steps: it usually takes about a week to get a panel ready.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

Right now I'm finishing some pieces in a small sub-suite of studio-based work. They all have boats in them.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

Tough question. I chose a piece which I like, but which I suspect I will be returning to again. I don't think I've gotten the sum of what I was thinking/feeling about, because it's a large idea. The piece is called "Unborrowed Light" + suggests a sort of light that is pure, unused + pristine in a way that the light itself embodies a deep grace.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

I would very much like to collaborate with the poet, Mary Oliver.

9) What is success for you?

Success for me is selling artwork at the level that I can choose to teach if I wish, the business account pays all my bills.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

I'd choose something that would fit into a pocket. I'm not too fond of suitcases.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Thank you Universe, Thank you Grace Elohim, Thank you Guardians.

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

fitzgeraldart.com

Clet = Pacifist Rebel + Street

2012-07-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Both. I often move but like to go back to my nest, the true bohemian does not have any attachment.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am a rebel at heart but a pacifist + solution-offerer. It is not right to destroy, without offering a reconstruction. However, as a free + thinking being, I refuse the principal of obedience.
My work currently focuses on questioning the principal of legality which imposes itself as an absolute value. My message is : Develop reflection + a sense of responsibility.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

The day I was born.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

The street, the road.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Doubting - especially self-doubt.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I'm preparing a project for the city of Pisa (Italy): faces coming out of buildings, distributed randomly throughout the city.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
My last work, the giant nose on the medieval tour of Florence. Humanizing architecture is a way for Man to reconquer urban spaces, to better marry our own environment.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

No particular person, I'd like to be surprised + encounter the unexpected.

9) What is success for you?

Success is the feeling - perhaps illusionary - of being loved. But the important thing is the intimate confirmation of having been useful to society, having given meaning to one's existence.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

I rather not have a suitcase. Materially, there is nothing I'm really attached to + feelings can't be carried in a suitcase.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I love you.

This artist is based in Florence, ITALY.

For more info, visit:

Clet Facebook

Yasam = Figure + Nightmare

2012-06-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

I like both. Comfort + peace of being home, excitement of going away.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I’m a person who tries to get to know herself, people + the world better by doing art.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

Playing with food when I was a child. Especially when my mom was cooking. I used a mixture of water, salt + flour as a primitive plastiline, + also made tiny sculptures with chewing gum + froze them in the fridge.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

I don’t need a specific place to get inspiration; it is a mood for me + I never know when it might come.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Dreaming. Then writing, drawing, making small models to make decisions.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I’m working on a series called ‘Doppelganger’ which will be exhibited in Künstlerhaus Marktoberdorf, Germany. It is about ourselves, our personas, animae + animi, internal doubles, shadows + our reflection in mirrors. In this new series I want to try to look into the mirror + discover the ‘self’ by using wooden effigies of myself. It is a kind of journey for me.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

I am very excited about all the pieces in Doppelganger series. I also like ‘Treacherous Wolf’ sculpture even though it is an old piece. I think it shows fears, nightmares + the ‘dark side’ of children + human beings.

Treacherous Wolf

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Diamanda Galas.

9) What is success for you?

Success is getting satisfaction with what you do, who you are + seeing that you are getting closer and closer to your dreams.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

Pencil (to note + remember things).

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

I don’t know what my last words would be but I want to feel that I have lived well + now I can leave freely.

This artist is based in Istanbul, Turkey + Berlin, Germany.

For more info, visit:
yasamsasmazer.de

Katherine = Detailed Cardboard + Secretive

2012-06-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home 60%, Away 40%

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am one of a kind. I don't have a particular message. I create each piece around a story that I have written, so for me, each of my paintings has a very specific message. However, it is not necessary for the viewer to know the story behind the painting; my pieces are composed in such a way that the message is really up to the viewer to decide.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I can't really remember my first encounter with art, but I also can't remember there was ever a time where art + creation were not a big part of my life.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

The beach.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Because each artwork is based around a written piece, the first step in my creative process is to write.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

Currently, I am working on a few elements which are to be added to what is my largest painting to date. As for the future, I am moving in less than a month to start my MFA. There are bound to be many exciting adventures + art to come.

7) Your favorite work? Why?
B.G.I.D. is my favorite. This was the one of the first paintings I did on cardboard. It's the painting that got me working the way that I do.

B.G.I.D

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Norman Rockwell

9) What is success for you?

Success, for me, is happiness.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

My miniature dachshund, Nathan W. Sweaters.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

The whole idea of me being dead one day really freaks me out. I don't plan on dying. I am currently seeking alternate options.

This artist is based in New York + Philadelphia, USA.

For more info, visit:
katshields.com

Gianluca = Lens + Magical Simplicity

2012-06-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

As much as I love traveling + seeing, I also enjoy being home + resting + focalizing on what I've just experienced. Without a good balance it's difficult to take in what you've experienced.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I am a human being. I've had the chance to travel + meet different people, which has allowed me to have more knowlegde on approaching relationships. I'm trying to inspire people + push them to find what's inside them + what's best for them.
I always try to tell a story + make clear what people may not see. There is so much to see, all over, in every moment. If people paid more attention to the things around them, there would be so much more enjoyment.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I have two distinct ones: Milo Manara. He drew the most beautiful women to me: a mix of human, fairies, cats, human, mothers etc. He created something that didn't exist.
My other important artistic encounter was of Cartier-Bresson's photographs. He has such clearness in establishing a moment. They are always simple moments: regular daily life that he turns into a powerful, iconic moment (using dramatic light etc).

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

New York. It opened many doors in my life. I'm an observer + here there is so much to recognize, capture + transform as you like.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

My approach is different depending on the medium: I approach photography differently than film. In photography you have to capture something in a very short amount of time + make it your own.
While in film, you control everything: you think of what wants to be said first + then how to direct the action (what you want to see). Photography has definitely helped me so much in film. Again, it's all a part of being an observer.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I'm working on creating a new photography website + also a platform to give some of my work for free. I am waiting on the post-production of a short film to be finished (Deep Red Dandelions). I am working on finding the right collaborators to achieve a high standard of work with a strong team. In the process of building a creative agency with my partner.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

In terms of video, it's probably "This Might Be the End." For photographs, I don't have a favorite. They all have such an interesting story behind + are all different + special: there's a piece of me behind all of them. I cannot choose as it would be like giving myself different rates. At the end of the day, it's all me: not saying they're all good, but all their own.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Jesus. I would love to see one of the master's of love create in terms of art. I think art is an extension of yourself, so it would be so amazing to see his expression in a medium.

9) What is success for you?

Happiness

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

My leica.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Enjoy.

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

gianlucafellini.com

Peter = Calligraphic + Fourth Dimension

2012-05-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?
I don’t have a “home “ in the normal sense of the word. Studios are very transient: they’re like subway stops. You hop, on, get off, move on. Home is similar.

There is a Picasso painting from the Blue Period (The circus series). There were two harlequins, one of which is sleeping. The sleeping figure is what home is: a sense of security + being watched over. Home is harmony.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I think I’m a person that wants to take responsibility.

In terms of arts: I am a spy + I report back. I accumulate ideas that I want to give+ communicate. I think of my work as coded messages + signals.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

I remember clearly. My parents took me to the Guggenheim museum when I was about ten. There was a Salvador Dali painting there,”Soft construction with boiled beans.” It's series of bones with on top a head with desolate landscape. It stuck in my mind: where does this desolate world come from? It felt like an image that came from Mars. It struck me that it might be someone else’s vision: that they came up with other worlds. I thought I wanted to be there.

I grew up in a crazy neighborhood in Brooklyn with no cultural influence. I do have clear memories of my mother watching foreign (especially Italian) films though. It taught me that there are other ways to think, do, be.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

It's not necessarily geographical. The first inspirational place was mobile: it was the back of garbage trucks. As a kid I used to draw them. I was curious where this stuff was all going, taking it to a mysterious world.

Generally speaking what inspires me is interesting people, stories, I'm also very much influenced by cinema.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

The first step is always very Intuitive + immediate self-expression. It's lines, calligraphic gestures. It's often about emotion, 'art in the dark.'

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

Working on a killer series (smaller scale paintings). I'm also doing a cinematic project called “Hell.” It’s like going back to the trails we come from. I'm fascinated with the history of hell.

I am excited to be participating in Holy BOS. The art world is in many ways a commercial structure. I really feel like this show is out of the system where art is usually treated as a commodity. Something is truly coming together + being expressed outside of any system. Making a larger creation with many creations - all in one site- a great platform for expression.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

They come + they go. It's usually a work that makes a strong statement + raises a strong question + also contains the answer. Mystery is not valuable unless you think there is an answer.

I do like “Big Red”.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Fra Angelico. I would like to do a juxtaposition with his big frescoes + strange perspective + adding a fourth dimension. Would have loved to also collaborate with Godard. All his movies from the sixties to late eighties where he would do graphic inserts of images (arts/numbers/stills). I would love to insert things into his stories.

9) What is success for you?

For me success is an invented word. Success implies an audience. It implies popularity with an audience. I don’t like to look for this kind of success. There is no monetary value on success for me. I would like to be appreciated for my struggle + feel in harmony with my work + able to express myself.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

If we were in the movies, I would pack a pistol.

If its my life outside of cinema, I would take my girlfriend Asayo.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

At that point ‘goodbye/hello' are meaningless.

I would like to describe the dream I had the night before.

This artist is based in New York, USA

For more info, visit:

PeterBardazzi
HolyBOS.com

James K.= Classic Painting + Environmentalist

2012-05-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Home day to day but I need to get away from time to time. Especially living in the city you need to get out into nature. Traveling is so great, very inspiring.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

James Keul. I'm a painter + print maker. Originally from Berkley, California but moved around my whole life. Got sent to Samoa when I was sixteen. I was a bad kid + I stayed there a school year. The program, rather than the typical militaristic style, was geared towards exposure to the Samoan culture, based on respect. I came back changed.

Primarily I just want to paint, but lately it's been more environmentally-driven. I always painted landscapes + juxtapose modern details (with presence of power plants etc).

I like to introduce figures with the subject manner: combining classic + modern approach.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

My mom was a painter, her dad was a painter. When I was nine or ten I started painting. I made a watercolor of birds out of a magazine.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Nature.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

Charcoal sketches. Then plan it out. Recently I've been taking pictures of models as inspiration. Then the scale changes things (it looks different in life than it does on a page).

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I am right now working on a large scale painting for ArtPrize in Michigan which is in September. Simultaneously, + ironically, working on a pole-dancing painting.

I'll also be showing one of my pieces 'Progress of mankind' at Holy BOS.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

One of my most recent paintings 'The progress of mankind.' It was fun to work on, I never did anything so big before. It was such a departure from the studies + paintings I've done. I did it thinking it was the last chance I had to make a large piece like that…

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

Thomas Hart Benton. He's modern + classic: best of both worlds. He also has a funky side to him + is a real story teller in all his paintings.

9) What is success for you?

Continue to do what I'm doing: just being able to paint. I guess it wouldn't hurt to be able to buy some land someday.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

A sketchbook.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

It's been good.

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

jameskeul.com

Sigal = Perfect Mistake + Organic Sculpture

2012-05-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

I love being at home. I wake up to my work. I can't go to sleep without creating. I need to see my kids, my animals, my plants. I need to be surrounded by my books + my things that I collect. An infinity of objects that I find: wherever I go my pockets are always full.

I do need to go out but it is always an intense experience. My senses + sensitivity are particularly sharp, so every time I go out I see + feel everything in such a raw + exposed way. When I make art, I take in so much. It's most often motivated by what I fear.

Home is also a specific place, far from New York. It's a small beach in Israel: fifteen minutes from my parents' home in Sidne Ali. No one knows it. That beach contains archaeology left from Roman times. As a kid I used to play in sand + find old coins… Whenever I go back to that place, it’s my peace of heaven.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

My army chief commander once said: "You’re a collection of mistakes. That’s why you're so perfect."
I’m a multi-creative, spread in so many fields. I'm a tool for the imagination of my soul. It is what leads me. It’s not me that decides what I'm going to to make + convey, but am guided entirely by my creativity.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

Since I can remember myself. My father was a very creative architect. He used to make things from recycled goods all the time. I remember we would be walking down the street + he would pick up a wire on the street + make me a cat figure. He was a talented genius. I learned from him to see things for what they could + can be, versus what they are/seem.

I've been obsessed with breasts since a very young. We had a catacomb under my house growing up. As a child, I used to go down there + draw naked women on little notes which I would then hide in secret places in my house. I used to also collect little seeds + leaves + put them in small tubes: they were potions. I remember giving one to my brother when he left for the army.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

Nature. Also anywhere with my kids + next to the ocean surrounded by plants + animals.

It’s like a cleaning of my soul: all that's going on around + in me. Everything + anything inspires me.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

I try to create something new, I hate gimmick art. I need my alone space. It's always different how I approach it. Selecting materials often comes first. I collect Everything + make things from them. I created my own papier-mache technique.

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

Right now I'm working on a robot + futuristic for a film. I'm also working like hell on making an installation for Holy BOS.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

All of them are like my kids. I love them all. Even after I give them or sell them, they stay with me, I dream of them - literally feel my art works. I once had made a piece inspired by my friend Neely + her large breasts. After a few years of owning (+ moving around) the piece, it only made sense to gift it to Neely. A few months later, I had two dreams about my 'Neely' art piece. I felt it was unhappy. I then found out that the piece had been moved to Neely's garage + in a crate. My dreams were thus premonitions: my piece was uncherished + unloved. I had to get it back.

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?

So many... Salvador Dali definitely.
As a little girl, my idol was Leonardo Da Vinci. Then Walt Disney + Ron Campbell. Matthew Barney. My son.

9) What is success for you?

To be happy. Satisfied with who I am + what I have. Live on my own level. Appreciate the good of life.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

A knife (a machete).

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

Just like that..? (so easily life rids of me?)

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

pookatak.com

Ben = Install + Vacant Space

2012-05-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

1) Home or Away?

Away. Ever since I was twelve, I've been traveling. At that age, I went to Nicaragua by myself + stayed with a family. I’ve always had the travel fever. I grew up in Nashville + moved to NY when I was 18. I was always drawn to bigger cities, bigger groups, bigger actions.

2) Who are you + What is your message through creation?

I hope to be + try to be a 'permissarean': someone who through their actions + words + spirit, enable others to take risks to dive deeper + explore, even more than they would normally grant themselves.

I think my approach with art is to create installations, sculptures, pieces that encourage people to explore physically + visually. I really hope my work + way of life inspires to visit, try unconventional places + ways of existing.
I find it very important to live life in an interesting way, there is no way for me to detach that from my artistic creativity. It's important that life explorations go into art work + then into your community + leading to more explorations. It's a cycle. It gives me great pleasure when people that participate in a project I do then tell me that they went + took different risks whether being with their own life or their art.

3) Your first artistic encounter?

When I was I was twelve in Nicaragua. All of the community spaces have a covered wall with very elaborate epic murals. It would tell the story of resistance, struggle + perseverance of the Nicaraguan people. It was so striking to me how much aesthetic beauty there was + how it drew people to pay closer attention to details + the narrative of story. It was the first time I saw art that tied in life + creativity. I've always been inspired to do that.

4) Where is your most inspirational place?

The most inspirational places are vast vacancies. Ones that have been forgotten about + unkept. When you’re inside of them, there’s such a stillness, a resonant silence to it all. It is a total blankness that there’s only room for growth. The only option is to think of what you can do + what can happen.

5) What is the first step in your creative process?

First step is being open + available to receiving inspiration + ideas. It's trying hard to not pigeon-hold my own mind + fabricate some made up identity. Returning to the first step is always the first step + being unafraid of making things that may be ugly, etc. I'm still practicing, always rehearsing for the ‘big show.’

6) What are you working on at the moment? Any exciting future projects?

I'm interested in ways in which creativity + activism can combine. I want to start working with prisoner activism that utilizes creativity. No clear agenda, being open to it.
I feel very excited to partner up with the group of people involved in Holy BOS + be an element of a larger cohesive experience. I want to interweave my creativity into the already existing architecture + am grateful for this experience.

Right now I'm more interested in projects, events + experiences more than shows. I'm going to visit with Death Row soon + talk with them, be around, listen. I really want to see how positive actions can be subversive actions.
Helping organize + participate in spontaneous explosions of creativity. That really feels important, especially being back in Brooklyn.

7) Your favorite work? Why?

The dormer house in Detroit. I made it in 2010. It was funded + documented by Juxtapoz magazine. It utilized condemned houses that were going to be sent to the landfill. It’s now a site where all sorts of people go to + enjoy. It's an incredible gift to be able to participate in that type of action. I hope to be able to continue to work on a large scale.

Photo by Tod Seelie

8) Your fantasized collaboration (dead or alive)?
Gordon Matta-Clark

9) What is success for you?

True wealth is a strong family of friends, where the bond is love + respect. If you have that + give to that, then you have success.

10) If you could pack only one thing in your suitcase, what would it be?

A time machine.

11) What would you imagine your last words to be?

If someone ever asks you "Are there sharks in those waters?"

You reply "It's an open ocean."

Photo by Tod Seelie

This artist is based in New York, USA.

For more info, visit:

Ben-Wolf.com