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Against a dark, monochromatic background, a figure appears. Wearing a distinctly red robe and not much else, their gaze is penetrative, their hand on their chest evokes an equally surprising look back at the viewer in return. The red halo around the person, as if a reflection from the clothes, adds mystery to the work, yet it gives nothing away. But while all these representational elements certainly inform the painting and add to the public’s possible interpretation of it, what struck me is the exquisite brushwork. The character’s face, the single stroke that comes to define their lip and thus the whole facial expression, the poignant white around the pupils. The way all these movements come together in perfect harmony to create poetry that is this painting.

Fly In League With The Night

It’s hard to believe none of the people in some 80 paintings in this exhibition are real. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977 in London) combines drawings, found images and imagination to give life to ambiguous characters based on these visual notes. Stemming from the artist’s scrapbook, they appear in everyday scenes, in intimate and timeless moments, becoming somebody and nobody at the same time. It is precisely because these people could be any people that we can relate to them so deeply. This is also why this artist is finally in the spotlight she deserves, amid the rise of figurative painting on the international art scene.

Indeed, that very first portrait I saw in this show is a great example of Yiadom-Boakye’s practice as a whole, which we can describe it as a threefold one.

There is the figure depicted, based on a color, a movement, or a gesture. These characters are usually depicted resting, observing, or dancing, in an intimate conversation. Sometimes there is nothing or very little accompanying them on canvas (or linen). The backdrop is usually dark, almost the same hue as the characters’ skin. Sometimes there is an animal, or an endless landscape – all designed to ignite our imagination and have us write out their stories ourselves.

I mention “writing” here on purpose, because aside from being visual narratives, Yiadom-Boakye’s artworks are also poetry, prose. According to the artist, fiction and narration are both profoundly present. “I write about the things I can’t paint and paint the things I can’t write about,” she says. The exhibition title itself, “Fly In League With The Night,” is taken from a poem by the artist, written especially for this presentation. The titles of the paintings can be seen as extensions of the prose, she says, as additional brushstrokes on the picture plane. And so, we have painting titles such as “Repurposed for Songs,” or “No Such Luxury,” or “A Passion Like No Other,” again providing very little actual context to the work and asking us to do it instead.

Finally, there is the act of painting itself. Yiadom-Boakye explores the potential of color, composition, light and tone, improvising in a conversation between paint, brush, and canvas. The paintings are generally dark in color palette, with palpable, thick strokes that examine the way the human eye perceives color. Because of that, and the way the artworks were lit inside Moderna Museet, I explored different points of view of each work, each angle giving me something I hadn’t seen before. Additionally, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye never uses a ready-made black, but instead mixes blues and browns to capture all the nuances and hues – something which can be seen in many of the paintings on display, if you pay enough attention.

Almost always, as well, there is a single or couple of elements that stand out in the paintings. Sometimes it’s a brightly painted piece of clothing, other times it’s the whiteness of a cigarette, or the subject’s teeth, or the redness of a parrot.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Moderna Museet Stockholm

A contemporary artist, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye obtained her MA degree at the Royal Academy Schools in 2003. In 2010, the late curator Okwui Enwezor gave her an exhibition at Studio Museum in Harlem. In 2013, she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. The exhibition “Fly In League With The Night,” which was previously shown at Tate Modern in London (December 2020-May 2021), is the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Wikipedia page states that “her work has contributed to the renaissance in painting the Black figure.” While “painting the Black figure” certainly isn’t a new phenomenon, I would argue that it is one pushed by the mechanisms behind today’s contemporary art market. The white Western contemporary art canon has been showing an interest in Black figurative painters that center Black people in their work. It is a phenomenon that perhaps did start before the Black Lives Matter movement’s 2020 protests, but was definitely pushed by it into the mainstream.

As usual, the two sides of the mainstream coin will show again here: the Black painters will finally benefit from it by getting the spot within it that they deserve, but are also in risk of being forever referred to as “painters of Black figuration” instead of just “painters of figuration.”

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is not new to this business. In my opinion, her work is in no need of contributing to anything. Perhaps the artist’s own quote is best explains this view:

“Blackness has never been other to me. Therefore, I’ve never felt the need to explain its presence in the work anymore than I’ve felt the need to explain my presence in the world, however often I’m asked. I’ve never liked being told who I am, how I should speak, what to think and how to think it. I’ve never needed telling.”

“Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Fly In League With The Night” is on view at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden until September 19, 2021.

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Please tell us a little about where you are from? And what is your background as an artist? 

I was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, USA. It’s a suburb on the Southern side of Pittsburgh. My family rented three rooms on the upper floor of a house there. When I was eleven years old, we moved across the river to Dravosburg, which is yet another suburb on the Southern side of Pittsburgh. We lived in the projects there, and that’s where I lived until I left school.

During the time I was a boy, the steel industry was in full blossom. Everywhere around you, one was surrounded by fire, earthen ores, molten metal, lots of smoke, big machines and industrial noises.  It was really sexy. Today I still love to visit old factories and railroad yards with heavy equipment and huge machines.   

In Pittsburgh, there was some sort of philanthropic program that identified young, artistically inclined students in public school. Through that program, I attended fine art classes at Carnegie Institute for several years, and then later at Carnegie-Mellon University. I studied at CMU at night and on weekends throughout my high school years.  Later, I enrolled at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston.   

Carnegie-Mellon was a very classical fine art program. Hours and years spent drawing bottles and human anatomy. The Museum School on the other hand, was the exact opposite. No rules and run with scissors as fast as you can. In fact, pick up some knives and razor blades while you’re at it. It was a change of direction that electrified me.

So you can say that I had a fairly rich academic start to my practice. I’m really grateful to the instructors that I had. I’ve been working in my studio and exhibiting as much as I can ever since. Besides all of that art school stuff, I have two degrees in Electrical Engineering. Who would have known? I actually chose my engineering major based on a sculptural project I was thinking about using electro-magnetism. I could have used a good life coach when I was young.

The academics had value, but the art seed germinates only once you come to terms with the “why” of your practice.

What made you want to become an artist?

Well, since so much of my youth was spent in art school in one way or another, I was very comfortable in an artist’s skin right from the start. There wasn’t a someone or a something that triggered it all for me. I had my artistic heroes and sheroes, but I think it’s more that art gives me a vehicle to think deeply about things.  I become very mentally invested in certain ideas and concepts. Painting is my way of sorting it all out. Actually, my studio practice is a sort of neurosis of mine. You might call it an addiction or even a compulsion.  It’s something I feel that I have to do, something I’m driven to do. If I spend too much prolonged time away from working, I just feel a bit undone. It’s always been that way for me. 

Is there name/category for the kind of art you create?

Because of the materials that I use, my work has been referred to as Haute Pâte, or Matter Painting. There was a time, say maybe ten years ago, when the way I was using the material aptly fit that description. Nowadays, I can’t say that I agree or disagree with those labels.  I am using the Earth as a painting medium but the way that I’m using it is dry rather than some material mixed with paint. Does that qualify as Haute Pâte? It’s thick, gravely stuff affixed to the surface. There are probably people who feel very specific about those terms. As far as I know, I’m unique in what I’m doing.

If we talk about my subject matter, I’m interested in consciousness, and I approach that through metaphysics, physics, and spirituality. The images are mostly abstract, I think.  Sometimes even primitive. Abstract is more real than real, when you’re trying to ask hard questions, in my opinion.

Often there is a message behind art. What is the message behind your art?

When looking at one of my paintings, you’re sharing a snapshot of a moment of time of my stream of consciousness. Maybe that’s more like a babbling brook. You will literally see what I was thinking about at the time I painted the piece. It will have notes, formulae, lyrics, glyphs and so on that are relevant to the topic that I was analyzing and unpacking at the time. The paintings do not read literally though. The composition itself dictates what stays and what is erased. When I watch people looking at my work in the gallery, I’ll catch them trying to read the painting or identify the math. That makes me laugh to myself. There is no secret message to unlock.

Do you have a targeted audience for your art?

That’s a really interesting question. I’ve never thought about a target audience. Now that you bring it up, it’s possible that I’m painting just for myself. The target audience is me!  Isn’t that funny? I should send myself a survey to see how I feel about it. I haven’t noticed that my work is collected by any single sort of demographic. The most frequent feedback that I hear is that “it just makes me feel good.”  I can’t think of a higher compliment, actually.

You state in your artist statement that your body of work is also an attempt to tap into the core of human experience. Can you tell us more what you mean by that? What do you see as the core of human experience? 

It’s a somewhat contrarian view these days, but I think that no matter where you’re from, when you’re from, no matter your race, sex, or culture, people are pretty much the same once we strip off the learned beliefs that end up creating otherwise arbitrary differences.  Sometimes we choose to pick up and carry a flag for those differences, but at the core we’re basically the same. We are Humans, all of us together, motivated ultimately only by love or fear.

If you allow the assertion that we all share a common inherent “humanness,” then at a primal level we all experience the universe in the same way. Because I’m an artist, I’ll give you an example by way of what happens when we see something.

We tend to experience symbols and glyphs in the same primal way no matter who we are.  You can in fact observe this when you look at the ways that ancient cultures, separated by distance and time, used common graphical symbols. A cross, a figure eight, a spiral, curves vs. angles and so on work the same in one place in space and time as they do in another.  We see with our human mind, not with our eyes.  

Looking at this a bit more deeply, it would seem that our minds are connected at a core, root level. Think of islands in the sea. The islands are separated on the surface of the water, but underneath the sea they’re connected through the same Earth. You and me are islands, but we’re connected. A collective, consensus humanness. Interestingly, developments in quantum physics seem to be touching upon the mathematics that identifies how this happens at a quantum level. Physics is affirming metaphysics. So, to answer your question more directly, it’s possible that we are all that there is. At least as far as we’ll ever be concerned. That deserves looking at.

Are you currently working on new artworks?

Always! Constantly! Feet don’t fail me now.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m sort of driven in my studio practice. I’m running a race that never finishes. I started working on this series that I call “Multiverse” around the beginning of the year. This is looking at the ideas around parallel universes. I think there’s still some distance to travel with that, unless a new shiny penny comes my way.

Looking to the future, what are any upcoming projects and art exhibitions that you have? 

I’ve got a few of the early Mulitiverse pieces at the gallery in Atlanta. I’d like to exhibit a larger body of that work sometime this year, but at the moment there’s nothing scheduled for that. My next solo show on the books is in 2022.

On the horizon, I’m thinking about the role of consciousness in the creation of physical reality. I’ve been reading about string theory for some time, and especially the areas of math that involve the presence or absence of an observer. I’m having fun with that and I think there’s enough brain food in that topic that will lead to something soon for me. Then there’s a life/afterlife thing that I’m noodling on too. We’ll see what happens.

COVID-19 has impacted so many parts of our lives. How did Covid-19 impact your work?

You know what, I don’t think it impacted my work at all. I feel a bit odd saying that out loud, but that’s the honest answer.  

I spend eighty percent of every day alone, working in the same room. The social isolation is what my daily routine was anyway. I do miss going out and spending time with friends like I used to, but my work hasn’t changed because of Covid.  Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

I’m an open book. Drop me a line.

Bob Landström’s Website

Instagram: @boblandstrom

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With the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, virtually every in-person event on Earth was cancelled, art fairs among them. Directors had to get creative, inspired to find a way to keep art, hope, and inspiration alive by bringing the show to the public somehow.

A little background: Cube Art Fair is actually a Brussels-based enterprise, happening in the Belgian capital every year for four years now. It mainly focuses on American artists through a high standard of curation, presentation, and organization of a major gallery fair. Through Cube Art Fair, European collectors have a unique change to get familiar with the contemporary art scene in the United States, be it emerging or established.

So how does a Brussels fair end up in New York? The reason would be Gregoire Vogelsang, the man behind Cube, who moved to the Big Apple after managing an art gallery in Belgium for two years.

Now onto the NYC event! To visit Cube Art Fair 2021, you better get your legs ready: the artwork can be viewed on over 100 of the city’s many billboards and kiosks, from the heart of Times Square to the Lower East Side, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, the Upper East Side and beyond. The whole of Manhattan is Cube Art Fair’s exhibition space! The billboard initiative seems to be part of Cube’s #staycreative campaign, which had already taken place in Brussels and Miami.

What not to miss? The Cube Art Fair definitely recommends seeing “Soft Stories,” one of the artworks appearing on a 12,000-square-feet billboard in Times Square. Created by Canadian photographer Laura Jane Petelko, the open series takes the symbolic inhabitation of animals as the point of departure and goes on to tackle the topics of intimacy, isolation, our relationship with nature.

On the other hand, the sculptural work of the American artist Sam Tufnell tries to reorient our understanding of beauty. His pieces present in the Cube Art Fair exhibition call out the macabre: there is a sculpture of a skull made of noodle soup, for instance.

Among other participating artists are Denmark’s portrait photographer Kenneth Willardt, the French-Mexican photographer Patricia de Solages, and Belgian wildlife photographer Griet Van Malderen.

Make sure you scan the QR code of each artwork, to find our more about it, or even to purchase it, in physical or NFT format.

Cube Art Fair is on view in New York City through May 9, 2021.

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Please introduce yourself and your artistic background.

My name is Scott Abrams. I don’t really have an artistic background.

What kind of art do you create?

I make art with oil paint, words, and other items that I glue onto canvas. The previous year, I used stencils to make a lot of work with animals in dialogue, mostly humorous. I also made a few minimalist pieces, with words on their own, and a large amount of work with items glued onto canvas.

What is the message behind your art?

Message would be too strong a word for anything that I do. My hope is to illuminate conflict in a way that can be a little bit funny and a little bit strange. 

How do you combine the language, the humor, and art?

Combining language, humor and art, that’s the magic. Where exactly one finds the kernel of an idea that eventually gets translated onto the canvas—it’s a mystery to me. I usually get ideas at night and in the early morning and put them onto Post-it notes, though lately my practice has drifted more towards drawing. In this aspect, I’ve been teaching my hand to follow my head. That’s probably where the humor comes from. 

What inspires you and your creations?

What inspires me? I try to create work that I find funny and that I love deeply, or once did.

You are also a writer and in college you studied literature and philosophy. Please tell us more about your literature background and how being a writer has impacted and is impacting your works.

Philosophy helps me get to the root of a problem. Literature helps me understand that the root is probably conflict. I love literature for its wild use of imagination, and it helps me understand things that I can’t see or experience personally. 

Being a writer was the starting point for me as an artist. Much of my early work was just writing in black marker. I did study literature in college and continued to read a lot after that. It gave me templates for what an artist is or can be as well as the framework of finding humor in conflict.
Not only are you an artist and a writer, but also a businessman. You established several companies in real estate and healthcare. Can you tell us more about that?

Business is challenging, but refreshing, too. I originally got a law degree, but I wasn’t cut out for it, so I fell into business because I had to make a living. I actually like the contrast between business and art. Some days you prefer thinking about money, some days about art. It’s like having antennas in many different worlds.

Are you currently working on a specific piece of art?

I am not working on any specific piece of art at the moment. I do work almost every day for about 4 to 6 hours. Mostly, I am trying to improve my ability to make images.

https://www.scott-abrams.com/

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To wind up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art must have been an interesting journey. Could you please tell us a little about yourself and the journey that brought you there.

I’m a chemist. I studied chemistry in Italy and then crystallography which is the discipline that studies crystalline materials particularly minerals; I obtained my PhD in Italy. Then I came to the US for a postdoctoral period at the University of Michigan continuing along that line with regular chemistry. That’s where I started looking for an alternative career in the industry.

Simultaneously, I discovered American art museums and found that they are very interesting and different than European museums, especially the Italian ones.

There is a degree of integration among different professions and also a broader array of professions within the museum. I discovered that there were scientists working in museums. Here in the US I found they have science labs that we are supporting the restorers, conservators and the art curators in their investigation which was a big discovery for me. Very few people were hiring scientists in museums and it was just a few university laboratories doing this and there were no scientists in museums, and even now there are no scientists in museums in Italy.

So I always had the thought to do this but I always left it as a thought thinking it would be nice but I can’t.

I discovered this field, then I just picked up the phone and started calling all the labs in museums. I spoke with their scientists and asked about an opening. I had a list of 12 it names to call. I still remember in fact my wife Jennifer, who at the time I was dating, said who told me that since I had a list of contacts to just pick up the phone and call.

And I wondered how to do that because I wouldn’t do that in Italy. She reminded me that this is not Italy and this is how you do things in America. So I just called them.

Everybody was very nice. There weren’t many opportunities. But the last person I called was the scientist at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He said yes and he informed me that they had a fellowship I should apply for and so I applied. I actually went there on my own. I took a Southwest flight that probably stopped in 16 places before getting to LA to go for the interview.

They offered me a job that paid very little. I could manage and so, after a lot of trouble to get the Visa permit, I started in LA. I still remember when I went there for my interview because it was March and there was still snow on the ground in Ann Arbor, Michigan where I was living at the time. I got to LAX (which is not the best place in LA) but when I saw the palm trees I said, I’m going to get this job. So I started it and that September I moved to LA. I spent two years there as a fellow which is basically a very Junior position but it was an extraordinary experience because I really had a fantastic mentor, great colleagues, and it was really so integrated. There I got to work on everything from paintings to ancient Egyptian silver and bronze sculptures, Modern art. So really that was how I learned. After two years, I had the opportunity to get a research position at the Freer Gallery in Washington DC, which is the collection of Asian art of the Smithsonian. There I started working on a special project on Japanese art.

Then, after two years LA County Museum of Art called me and told me that the person I worked with there had retired and asked if I was interested in the job of senior scientist there. After some time there the Met museum called. Even though I loved Los Angeles, I could not say no to New York. New York is where things happen and and my task at the MET was really to create the first scientific research department in the all history of the MET. The MET had a few scientists, but they were working on different conservation areas, in different environments. So they asked me to come in, bring them together and create a bigger structure. Therefore, I gave up surfing in the morning before I went to work and I moved to NYC.

I’m still here, 16 years later.

You are a very successful scientist, what is your role/job description at the Met museum?

Now every day the first thing I do is to arrange the calendar for the following week because out of 16 people on my team I can only bring in six people every day because of Covid-19 occupancy restrictions, so I’m just like the guy who takes down bookings for the tennis courts or something like that. It’s not very exciting and you can imagine everybody wants to be here. A lot of my work is administrative. I created a team, I assembled a work structure; as a non profit we have to do a lot of fundraising that is looking for grants to secure positions to take care of the maintenance of equipment and to purchase new equipment. My biggest priority right now is really helping museums and the Arts to achieve more representation and more diversity.

We’re lucky that in the sciences we have an amazing pool of talented scientists of color, so we can take advantage of programs that existed in the past. We increased the minority representation in the sciences and our task now is reaching out to these candidates letting them know that this is a great career and they can join the museum and contribute and help us become more representative of America. To do that I just need to do a lot of knocking on doors to get money.

Because today is a very quiet day I could come in to do the interview with you and also work in the laboratory. I’m thinking it’s a luxury for me. I can shut off the paperwork and go to the laboratory where I’m putting together a new instrument that will allow us to do more work in identifying materials in works of art. Tomorrow I have a new Junior scientist who’s a PhD candidate here at City College and who works with me.

I also work on Japanese art. That’s my skill, my passion. I’ve done a lot of work to study artworks such as the famous Great Wave by Hokusai. If you Google me you’ll see that I talk a lot about that. Our job is to discover how those prints were made, and also to really look through materials, through the technology, through the identification of artists pigments and processes, and understand more about the society that produced these works.

Our aim would be not to just stop at the surface or under the surface, but scrape down and tell a story that really says something new about Hokusai and understand art through the lens of the components and physical nature of the object.

How do you apply your scientific expertise to the artworks that the museum deals with? Can you give an example?

For example, in Hokusai’s Great Wave (you can look up in our collection website) you see there’s a beautiful and dynamic live representational force of nature in the Great Wave where tiny little men are about to be washed out by the wave. One of the things that was very interesting to me was the use of blue. Now the woodblock printing in Japan in the 1800s was the most advanced color reproduction technique in the world. So even though it was a pre-industrial society, there was no steam power, no machine, etc., they could achieve amazing results in several fields.

They were able to achieve amazing color quality, amazing quality control over print that were sold at a very low cost. It was commercial illustration, it was not art. You start seeing prints like the Great Wave, my own hypothesis is that we have the beginning of artistic prints in that they go beyond even what was already highly achievable at that time in the sense that the depth of color and the color range is amazing. Our brain processes variations in light (expressed in drawings with light and dark shading) as variation in depth in space. Hokusai and the master craftsmen who printed this work knew this intuitively, and they took extra care with lighter and darker shades of blue to create depth and movement. The observation is that these works are truly exceptional, and trying to deconstruct them to see what makes them amazing in the use of color and then going into analysis to prove this theory is part of the work. Therefore, we use a variety of tools, and the most important ones are the eye and the microscope, as you really want to get close to it and observe it. I’m not that good but my colleagues that work in conservation really have highly trained eyes and they can very often tell me what I’m going to find. They are always right. And then we go on with non-invasive analytical techniques. These are instruments that allow us to identify the materials without removing particles from the work, eventually it may be necessary to do what we call micro sampling, that is removing microscopic fragments.

We have a fiber optic instrument that shines just like regular white light and we capture the reflection of the color, and we can see through a spectrometer broken down in each wavelength rather than the eye which has only three receptors, the eye sees blue, green, and red.

Blue, green, and red are amazing colors because we have color vision essentially by seeing these three colors. This instrument instead has hundreds of receptors so we can really get a very complex picture that gives us the fingerprint of a certain color. We can tell whether it’s Indigo or Prussian Blue.

So what we discovered was how those two pigments were mixed which makes the printing more complex, time consuming, and ultimately more expensive, if you see that the publisher chose to go through this route and created something that clearly has more added value, more artistic quality. Then, this is not a normal print, and I think that that is an important statement to make because it says something about the time that was done and what people wanted and it gets a bit more complex. You can imagine that landscapes are important to those who love to travel. And that’s normal for us. We don’t even think about it. You have a landscape in front of you and say, oh I would like to visit the place or I visited that place. I think about older times like special feudal society when they were not allowed to travel and could not just pick up and go with money; but also needing to be authorized by their local sovereign lord. You could not just go somewhere else and not work for him.

So what we see in Japan in Tokyo is that people had a little bit more money and

people started traveling. So maybe it’s a pilgrimage. Maybe it’s going to a famous sanctuary or famous art place. So if you’re a person of means you travel and you commission a painting that shows a famous place.

If your personal means are less you may buy a print and maybe still travel so the print could be a souvenir. If you’re somebody who cannot travel at least you can afford the print because now you see the landscapes around you. There is always a correlation of what you see in paintings and what you need to make that painting.

Before the 1820’s (The Great Wave is from 1830s) you cannot find landscape prints in Japan.

Quite simply because they didn’t have a blue color that you can use for print that would give you the bright blue of the sky and the deep blue of the ocean. All they had was indigo, which is the color of blue jeans, a bit of a dull color. It doesn’t really work. If you make it really concentrated it comes out a dull grey-blue.

If you want to you can make it a little like the blue sky but it won’t be the real blue sky and so at some point Prussian blue from Europe arrived in Japan. And that’s about 1820 the moment it arrives you have landscape prints. This is not a coincidence.

We traced the use of colors which is the very basic step into looking at a piece of art with the curators or art historians. We then join in and so it’s a little bit of a forensic conversation, a little bit of art historical background. We go in through a step-by-step approach using not the eyes but microscopes, for non-invasive analysis as well as x-ray laser based infrared tools.

Have you ever come across a forgery?

We generally don’t comment on forgeries and similar issues. There are other issues which are not outright forgeries, but it’s where a piece has been restored and and so a part is not original and some of them could be historical and some could be very new. So it’s more about deciding which one stays and which one goes. I know it’s a very fascinating topic, but I am sure there are actually less forgeries than you think. We haven’t seen many those. We also have the opposite which is when we have an object that may be classified as a reproduction or a copy and with true analysis we can tell that it’s actually the real thing. That’s far more exciting because instead of condemning something you can actually bring it back from obscurity.

What do you think of the art world right now during Covid-19? What has the impact been as far as you see?

I can tell you only what I know about-that it is certainly a crisis.

This is hitting all of us really hard.

I say it’s a catastrophe because right now the MET is losing an enormous amount of money. We’re trying to stay open and we really wanted to stay open, not so much to find revenue. As you know, we have a particular admission policy where New Yorkers and New York State residents “pay as they wish”.

The fixed price ticket is only for people outside of the State of New York. But with Covid the only people who come to the museum are New Yorkers and New York State residents. Our revenue is very small right now and really I would say the decision was to open because we think we represent something for the city for our members, for our public, and we wanted to be there.

The reopening was not about the money. As you look at museums closing around the country it’s very sad and I hope that museums can stay open and will decide to stay open if they can.

It is a great time now to visit and experience the museum because there are only very small crowds. Everybody is wearing a mask. Everybody is distancing. You can relax in the galleries.

What has been the most challenging part of your job?

We are a frontier profession but the field is still making advances that are considerable. Also we are at the border between different disciplines so it’s really a matter of communication. It’s really learning the language of other professions while communicating our work in a way that is responsible and relevant to others, and fighting every day for our own relevance. Really the ones at the table are the ones being part of the messaging in every sense.

What has been the most enjoyable part of your job?

I like to talk all over the world about my profession. I’ve been honored to be with scientists who achieve far more than me and we talked to school children and we see them get excited when we bring them here in the labs. We want to do more and more of that. That is absolutely enjoyable.

Then, the other part that is amazingly enjoyable is being in the lab and developing something new, creating a new instrument, making a new discovery. That is something that by itself is worth all the work that you put in.

You most likely do not work alone. What kinds of things do the team members do to assist you with your work?

The staff is highly specialized: chemists or geologists. Most of them are with PhDs where 80% are women, 20% men. Every year we have two to three postdoctoral fellows. We have had over 200 since I came here: interns from High School to graduate, undergraduate to graduate, and post graduate fellows to high level scientists coming.

That’s a very broad crew. We have people specializing in different areas. So I have a person who specializes in analysis of paintings, a person specializing in organic material now. This is sort of the oil, the tempera order. We have a person specializing in organic analysis for the rest of the collection. We established it recently, three people who are in charge of the environment. They study air quality, temperature, humidity, and light conditions.

It’s a luxury to have so many. We’re probably the largest in the US in a museum.

These types of diversity of scientific training and discipline is very important when you think of an art museum like the MET. We collect anything and everything from ancient Asia art

to the contemporary world. There isn’t another museum in the world that has a collection so broad and I don’t mean this to brag. For example, the British museum has the widest archaeological collection but does not have the diversity of art that the Met museum has.

It doesn’t matter how big you are, but it’s about the diversity.

The post Meet Marco Leona from the Metropolitan Museum of Art appeared first on Artiholics.

Hi Ann! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background. How did you come to the art field?

Thank you for letting me share my art expressions and experiences. It’s been an interesting journey!

I grew up in Southern California and I have two brothers and a sister. My dad is deceased; he was a great man. My mom is very active in all aspects of life. She’s an amazing person.

I started painting after I had my gymnastics accident. I tried to do a summersault off a balance beam, I landed on my neck and pinched my spinal cord. I have a C1-C2 spinal cord injury which means I’m unable to use anything from my neck down and normal breathing is impossible. I spent nine months in the hospital learning how to adjust to my new normal way of life. It’s a life time of learning. Since I was five when I had my accident, I didn’t have any prior knowledge of art.

Thelma Steinberg, a family friend taught me how to paint. She put the paint brush in my mouth and I started painting. We started in junior high school. I had a lot to learn but I throughly enjoyed painting with Thelma.

You paint with your mouth. When did you start painting?

Yes, I do since I don’t have the ability to paint with my hands. I started painting when I was ten years old, five years after my accident.

Were you painting with your hands before or is it something that came to you after?

No, I didn’t paint with my hands before my accident. I was using my hands for every day use and to play tennis, snow & water skiing. We have an active family. 

What do you enjoy about painting?

I enjoy designing, colors, and composition. I call it ARTITUDE, I made this up for myself; it’s putting my attitude and thoughts into art and ignoring my to do list and ignoring the rest of the world while I am painting. I noticed when I didn’t block out my other responsibilities my mind was distracted and my thoughts were partially about the painting and partially about my other duties. I didn’t have my best painting days when I was doing this. This is how Artitude evolved; now my painting time is more enjoyable and I am in the moment.

I find art is healing; it’s creative, peaceful, and emotional. Art gives me a positive emotional feeling when the scene is evolving and is becoming the design that I had envisioned. This is not always the case so I do appreciate the days when all of the elements come together on the canvas.

How are you inspired?

I am inspired by the beauty of the world, the natural and man made beauty. True, not all of the world is beautiful but I am encouraged to emphasize the positive attitudes of people and cultures, animals, nature (from the tallest to the smallest forms), the oceans, lakes, and trees. I am inspired by the world around me such as the beauty in a garden, going for walks, the creativity and beauty in people’s homes. I see beauty in magazines, books, movies, colors and design in award shows, staging, beauty of the beach, the amazing colors of a sunset, the activities at the park. I love watching people laugh, talk, and interact with one another, seeing the kids play, watching the animals play with each other, the positive energy and activities in a stadium, the space shuttle is extremely exciting to me. Life is art, and when my world doesn’t make sense an abstract painting will be created.

How extensive is the role of Art in your life?

Art plays a very active role in my life. When I am designing and experiencing life, I see art everywhere and I try to capture it in my mind and I’ll take a photograph of what I see to reinforce my memory.

Who is your favorite artist?

Claude Monet. I think he uses vibrant colors and I admire his brush strokes and the movement in his paintings.

Do you have a particular genre that you prefer?

Definitely Impressionism.

How extensive is the field of artists, people who paint with alternative ways other than their hands?

I don’t know, but I do know that there are many other people such as I who paint with their mouth, as well as people who paint with their feet. Art is healing and people will do what they have to do to create a painting. It’s fascinating and impressive what people can do.

Have you ever felt discouraged or frustrated? What would you say to someone in a challenging situation?

Yes, at times I get frustrated at my situation!!! At times it’s difficult not to do something for yourself; it would be so much easier and faster to do things independently of other people. My spinal cord injury, SCI, creates problems: for example, I sit a lot and that can give me pressure sores which are difficult to heal and there’s not a lot of options to heal them. It can drive you crazy! I don’t wish what I have on my worst enemy.

For me, my mind is critical in handling every situation. I would suggest to other people to have a positive attitude and outlook on life. My motto is “inch by inch life’s a cinch, yard by yard it’s hard, and mile by mile it’s a pile.” In essence chew a little of life at a time; this reduces stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Try to avoid being angry; it takes a lot of negative energy which is not good for your body. Learn breathing techniques to relieve stress and anger.

Use your mind to control your emotions, attitude and thoughts. Stay positive and think positive thoughts and be involved in activities that are exciting for you. For example, be involved in writing music, poetry, a script for a play or for Netflix, make a viral video, paint, watch and write about sports and if you are able to be physically involved in sports, then play sports. It’s also good to volunteer somewhere, help other people, believe in God, be around good people, be good to other people, take good care of yourself. Keep busy!! Keep your mind thinking about the next positive step. It’s fine to be angry for a short time then let it go and move on. Be patient, use your humor to laugh and to enjoy life. Kindness matters! Be grateful for what you can do and for what you have.

Basically accept, adjust, and move forward; this is your new normal. Don’t give up and don’t give in. If need be ask for help. It might be hard but it’s fine, yet don’t cry wolf. Lastly “no” whining, screaming or complaining.

What do you think of Art therapy for people?

Art therapy is extremely important.

I know for a fact that art therapy has saved people from depression and suicide. Art gives people a purpose and a way to express their feelings. It’s even more important for people who have had an unfortunate accident or a life changing disease. For people who are in rehabilitation, art allows people to think about what and how they are going to paint instead of their situation which often brings sadness and frustration. A person’s outlook can go down fast and art can keep their mind in a positive direction.

My friend was an artist before he had a stroke after which he wasn’t able to move his right hand, his painting  hand. He was seriously depressed. Thank God he eventually learned to use his left arm to paint. It was hard for him and he missed what he had, yet he was grateful that he could paint again. He is an amazing artist.

Can you cite a specific example from your life when art was helpful? 

Yes, art lets you use your imagination. For a history class the teacher asked me to paint a person in history and to report on what I was painting. I painted Abraham Lincoln and talked about his accomplishments.

The post The Inspiring Story of the Fine Artist Ann Ruth appeared first on Artiholics.

Where are you from? Please introduce yourself.

My name is Margaret Zox Brown. I was born and bred in Manhattan and have lived here for basically my entire life.

When did you start painting? What kind of art do you paint?

I started painting in my late 20s. It felt like an exciting leap for me since I had been drawing for my whole life. Painting was a new and challenging medium, and I was introduced to color. I immediately was taken with color and it became (and still is) a focus within my art. I would say that my art is Representational Expressionism.

What medium do you use for your paintings?

Almost all of my paintings are oil on canvas. I have also added oil paint to Conté drawings on paper, creating mixed media pieces. Oil paint and oil painting mediums are what I love most.

How did the lockdown impact your creation and what did it mean for you going forward?

Before Covid, I was heavily immersed in painting a series of New York Characters. Because I could no longer find my subjects nor go to my Garment District studio to paint, I had to rethink everything. After doing a few colored pencil drawings and watercolors at the dining room table, I knew I just had to find a way to paint in oil again to express all that I was feeling during this unique time. I made a temporary, makeshift studio out of the studio apartment above where I live. Eventually that apartment will be joined with our living space but during the lockdown it would be sitting empty. So I made it into my studio. I started painting oil paintings that reflected, once again, my world and the emotions I felt around what I chose to highlight with my art. I also changed from titling each piece to now during this Lockdown series, dating the paintings in order to chronicle how I was feeling throughout this time. I have learned a lot about myself and my intention with my art through this Lockdown series. I realize that I have always been painting the magnificence of the quotidian and connecting with the world by sharing it. And while my world is of course smaller, it is actually so much larger because we all are going through the same thing and we all are experiencing a world of life at home. I am so happy finding beauty within the moment. I have no idea where I will be emotionally in the future, but for now, even as the world starts to open up, I can see continuing to paint what I have been painting.

Most artists’ work has a purpose or a message. What is the message of your art? What emotions and feelings do you want to convey visually in each painting?

My intention with my art is to find the true beauty in the quotidian and to share that with the world. Life most definitely has ups and downs, but I prefer to express the beauty, both aesthetically and emotionally, that I see and I know we all can share.

Tell us about the favorite work of art you created and why it is.

I have many favorite pieces because I have been painting for a very long time and have gone through many different series. Also, I always love where I am in the present the most. So to answer your question, for now I would say my favorite painting is, “April 28th – May 17th, 2020.” This is a painting that is part of my Lockdown series. It is a painting of my husband and dog, snuggling together on the couch. I feel that this painting encompasses so much emotionally and uses so many artistic elements to achieve this that it is pleasing on so many levels. It reveals a sense of love and comfort and life and warmth. All these wonderful feelings of home are brought about through: subject, perspective, color, line and form, light, paint application, layout and design.

Do you have any future projects that you would like to share with us?

I am continuing with this series and continually receiving press about it.

Whose art work do you admire? Whose artwork has impacted you? What direction do you see for the world of art?

I admire many artists for varying reasons: Gauguin for his color, Matisse for his flat picture plane, Alice Neel for her figures, Morandi for his capturing of a moment of pause, and many contemporary artists whose work and careers I follow and applaud. I see the art world definitely continuing to thrive. Everyone needs art more than ever now. It is not only a documentation of the times we are living in but it also provides culture and optimism and a sense of community. And I believe that even if viewing or experiencing art might not be in the way we all have known, the internet is the perfect place to share and discover and enjoy art.

Margaret Zox Brown’s Website

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Ana Schmidt is a contemporary landscape artist and an urban planning architect based in Bilbao, Spain, though she has also lived with her family in Bochum, Saigon, Bangkok, Barcelona, and now Bilbao; she has traveled across 25 cities around the world. This becomes an important role in what she brings into her works in both her professions. Ana has received a Master of Science in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Barcelona and ARC Living Master from the Art Renewal Center. Ana has constantly studied the works of old masters from the history of art. Whether it’s the color application, the idea of depicting the concepts, or even the techniques right from step one it looks like Ana has her hand over it very well and depicts her concepts, idea, and stories onto the canvases. Ana’s skills of observation and capturing the realistic landscapes on the canvas in a beautiful painting might remind us of the 20th-century landscape artist Richard Estes.

Well, Ana Schmidt is one of the artists of the present times who brings back the concept of landscapes and makes us realize the aesthetics of the thing which may be right in front of our eyes, called as “landscapes”. Ana’s command over creating realistic artworks captures the viewer’s attention just in a single glance. Ana has exhibited internationally in different cities of the USA, Germany, Spain, and UK. She has exhibited her artworks at more than forty exhibitions. Ana’s solo exhibitions include Mall Galleries, London, 2019, Arte Contemporanea Gallery, 2015, Rieti, Italy; Cervantes 6 Gallery, 2015; Oviedo, Spain; l´Occhio Gallery of Art, 2013, Venice, Italy; Torrene Areto Exhibition Space in Getxo, 2012; Spain and Basque Architectural Association in Bilbao, Spain, 2010. Ana has received multiple awards for her artworks, such as First Award at the Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2018 at the Mall Galleries, London, Second ARC Salon Award in the landscape category, USA, 2018, first and third Award in the landscape category, American Art Award 2017, USA, Third ARC Salon Award in the landscape category, USA, 2015, Acrylic works: Radical Breakthroughs Award, USA and won many more in Spain, Italy, and other countries.

Here is how Ana describes her Landscapes; “Landscape can be seen as a throwback, but it is also a distinctly contemporary concern. As the historian Simon Schama writes in his book Landscape and Memory (1995), it is “a text in which generations write their recurring obsessions”. This text continues to be written and reworked today in our cities and throughout the territory. The idea of landscape, whether approached in a literal way or a more esoteric view, is the common thread of my works. Sometimes it is a redesigned landscape, sometimes purely depicted: from human-height views to panoramas that represent entire cities; they offer a meticulous vision of the metropolis and question issues such as one’s own experience of urban life, urban growth, economic inequality, etc. They embody the different realities in the contemporary city: “the banal and the impressive coexist in the same territory.”

Ana talks about her profession as an urban planning architect concerning her theme of urban landscape paintings. Ana believes that architectural buildings have a lot to say about cultures, a reflection of society and traditions which she brings in her landscapes. Ana says, “Of course, my academic background and actual practice as an urban planning architect is at the base of the choice of these topics. Almost every landscape is a cultural landscape, is a place in which man has intervened and therefore is the reflection of a society, of its customs. The city is more than a physical structure. It is, among others, a state of mind, a moral order, a pattern of ritualized attitudes and behaviors, a network of human connections, and a body of customs and traditions with particular practices and discourses. Urban landscapes are, therefore, in addition to real environments, environments of signs that are constructed in the interaction between our own subjectivity and that of others, they are relational constructions. The city, the landscapes I paint are a metaphor of the human mind and condition.”

Ana feels that people are losing their roots with modern times. The spectacular urban marketing policies that have proliferated in the last years in almost any city are global. Nowadays, cities have icons, the marketing-icons that distinguish them, but these icons do not represent the identity of a place, of the people. On the other hand, planning policies create a confusing pattern at the fringes of the cities such as conflicts over land, complex highway connections that leave empty land, a new hybrid landscape, banal at times, but where people use it, stroll around and write their narratives and graffiti tags on the walls. Well, this present scenario seems to be visible in her paintings.

Well, if we observe closely there is more to Ana’s realistic architectural buildings: the foreground and background consist of elements such as foliage, cracked walls, haze, puddle, objects which are used in day to day life, etc. These places are empty; it looks like a lot has happened here in the past, which brings in the memories, emotions, and feelings attached to it. As a viewer, there is a freedom to create our own stories while looking at the painting and imagine the moments one might have had in the past that reminds of different people, incidents, and objects. The time and people pass by but the land remains.

Talking about the medium and material, Ana works in acrylics on canvas. Well, at first glance the realistic landscapes seem to be in oils. Ana describes her painting technique when she says, “The technique is very similar to that of the ancient oil painting, although the drying process is different. I use a very limited palette to achieve my colors. Over a red-brown layer, I draw the motifs and paint them with a succession of layers, alternating the opaque layers with the transparent ones. I use a glazing medium to increase flow and to obtain a clear and transparent glaze. I use a wide variety of brushes and I apply the paint fairly diluted since in my paintings the stroke is not perceived.” Ana’s color palette also includes Prussian blue, cobalt blue, yellow oxide, and cadmium red.

Ana Schmidt’s paintings have been featured in many art magazines, which includes Catalogue The Columbia Threadneedle Prize, Figurative Art Today, Mall Galleries, Federation of British Artists, 2018, 13th International Art Renewal Center Salon Catalog, International Realism, ACC Art Books, 2018, Acrylic Artist Magazine, winter issue, Beauty amidst the ruins, 2016, Guía Leonardo, 2016, Arte y Libertad, XI 2016, Fine Art Connoisseur, Sept/Oct issue 2015 and Catalog NordArt 2015 are some of them. Ana has been working constantly on her upcoming projects, “I should have shown a selection of urban landscapes at NordArt 2020, but due to COVID restrictions, the event has been suspended and will be held in 2021. I am still working on new pictures related to this subject, the urban landscape. Nevertheless, I am also working out a new series, in which I want to recover the human figure as a central axis of the narrative,” explains Ana.

It’s not always important to go beyond what already exists to create something unique, as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Landscapes will always stay an integral part of every human’s life since that’s the only place where he is born and spends his entire life.

www.schmidtana.com

ana.schmidt@bizkaia.net

schmidtana.com@gmail.com

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“The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech.” – Vincent van Gogh

Yes! We all feel a thousand emotions in our lives, and some of us get affected by it a bit too much, and as artists, they create a new direction in the art scene. Atom’s art has a lot to say about the same. Atom Hovhanesyan was based in New York City, a young, talented, and passionate artist truly in love with painting and drawing.

Atom’s father had seen him painting for more than 24 hours tirelessly until the last days of Atom’s life in his studio in NYC, which is also supposed to be the place where he left this world. Atom had called his style of art “Post Divisionist and Abstract”. It truly justifies his artworks. Born in Armenia, where his father Ara Hovhannisyan was an electrical engineer and his mother Gayane Davtyan was a personnel manager in an urban trade corporation and also created artworks as a hobby. Well, it was Atom’s mother from whom Atom inherited his artistic skills. It was in July 1997 when Atom’s parents along with Atom and his sister immigrated to the USA.

Atom was based in New York since the age of 16 in 1997. He was an academic learner in the field of fine art, He studied at the Art Students League, National Academy of New York and Grand Central Academy. Atom seems to be inspired by every art movement as can be distinctly seen in his art pieces. Atom’s realistic anatomy and portraits could be related to Renaissance, and his abstract works to Cubism, Impressionism, Divisionism to Post-Impressionism; Van Gogh looks like his favorite. These were the words by Atom, while he explained his medium of works, “Traditional choice of materials and medium, grind my colors. In the abstract works: my goal is to create a unified atmosphere and sense of luminosity. Bits and pieces of forms from memory are utilized as building blocks for constructing the composition.” 

Atom’s professional life was a combination of varied professions. He had also pursued economics at St. John’s University. Atom started working at the age of 16 and paying his expenses. He was also appointed as a General Manager at Prime Grill, Beverly Hills, CA, one of the most luxurious restaurants that attracted famous Hollywood celebrities. Atom worked there from 2006 to 2008 which was the only time he had spent outside New York. It was in 2009 when Atom decided to pursue his passion and love for art as a full-time artist.

It is good to know that Atom’s every artwork and writings are being well preserved and highly valued by his family, which now manages everything he left behind, which are more than 200 artworks. Atom’s father shares that Atom had gifted many of the artworks, which shows he was a kind-hearted soul. His artworks are also in private collections. Atom studied anatomy, figure drawing, portraits, and life drawings under the guidance of various mentors namely; Phil Michelson, Michael Grimaldi, Tom Torak, and Dan Thompson. Atom studied works by different artists right from Cubism, Impressionism, Divisionism to Post-Impressionism including artists like De Kooning, Kandinsky, Picasso, Seurat, and Cezanne and Van Gogh. Atom visited museums, bought the monographs of the masters, studied and combined the study of different art movements in art history including the era of Leonardo Da Vinci and Raphael to excel the human anatomy and realistic rendering style which could be seen in some of the portrait paintings made by Atom.

The decade of Atom’s artistic career had many art exhibitions. He exhibited at Pechersky Gallery, Moscow, Russia in 2014; Novomoskovsk Art Gallery, Russia 2014-2017, Annual Exhibition Art Students League of New York 2015-2016, Kunstmatrix.com online exhibition Berlin 2018, Artpal online exhibition New York 2018 and Jose Art Gallery 2018. Atom also participated in multiple private art shows in Manhattan, NY in 2016 and 2017. He was also represented In various events organized and managed by “FED” Inc. Harlem, New York City, from February to July 2019. His works were also exhibited in San Diego Expo May 2019 and Clio Art Fair Exhibition March 5-8, New York 2020. Atom’s artworks have been featured in Artist Portfolio Magazine, Issue 38, 39, 41, 42, and 43. Also featured in SPOTLIGHT ART Magazine Issue 15 and 16 along with the Important World Artists 4 Book May 2020, 4 pages in Premium Presentation.

Atom shared a good bond with his family. Atom’s mother accompanied him to museum visits and his father always insisted to support him financially. But as Atom always wanted to be independent and not to burden anyone, he resisted any financial help from his family. Atom also helped his sister Ellen Davtyan with the interior design of her house and gifted her many of his early Artworks. As we begin to talk about the roller coaster of emotions that flooded Atom’s life, it is noted that he had been through heartbreak and betrayal in both his personal life and professional life. Atom’s beloved girlfriend and many of his business colleagues had betrayed him which had broken his trust many times; he who saw the world as transparent and value being true to everyone did not see this happen with him. The time when the real world hit him hard, he had unconsciously gotten those trapped feelings into his artworks. The paintings of a woman, the dark colors of his palate, and the endless strokes say it all. One day something deep inside had given him the courage to take his own life. Maybe he was in search of a better world with the honesty which he deserved!

Atom would always be remembered for the unique style and presentation of concept as a unique artist of the current art world. The style that combines different eras, yet in harmony. Atom isn’t physically here with us today, yet his presence and energy is still alive and resides in his every art piece.

For Atom’s original artworks, artist statement and bio visit www.artbyatom.com

Email arahov62@yahoo.com (Ara Hovhannisyan, Atom’s father)

Instagram @artbyatomhov (original works updated by Atom’s parents) and @atom_hov (created by Atom)

In collaboration with Grishma Khodaria

The post Gone Too Soon, Yet Explored a New Era of Art appeared first on Artiholics.

New York City is a city that breathes art in most of its corners, and it is known as the city that never sleeps and where dreams come true. New York City is where art cannot only be found in its famous museums, but also in its streets. Walking through the city could lead you to multiple and diverse forms of art, from installations, murals, paintings to monuments, you name it and probably you can find it in the well-known and appreciated street art in the mist and heart of the city.

A city that is full of attractions but also it is in itself a massive attraction to many visitors and locals. Walking through New York City has become in many cases a free for all access pass to a giant and singular urban museum of architectural wonders, music and other cultural experiences. New York City is a clean and open canvas for many artists, performers, and creators to display and share their talent with everyone willing to pay attention. Street art is mostly for everyone, and is an accessible way to convey art, to provide an experience to all visitors and viewers, and a spectacular way of doing art.

Banksy is the famous British street artist, known for his mysterious and anonymous identity, and for his popular graffiti paintings around many countries in the world. His urban street art and interventions in the art community have gained him recognition, his style is a signature that he has developed over the years with each of his pieces and displays. Banksy has attracted an interest in his street art and in the meaning of it, making it an experience for his followers, admires and critics. The inclusion of his fans in his way of doing art, and the chase to discover his latest creation or intervention is what has made him a symbol of the rise of street art. The use of cultural, urban and mundane objects and spaces as part his artwork, the graffiti form of painting and the inappropriate feel of it has gained him an audience that appreciates his irreverent style and his mysterious message sometimes implicit and at other times difficult to identify.

The Hammer Boy, located on 79^th Street and Broadway in Manhattan on the wall of the DSW store, is one of many Banksy’s street art pieces left during October 2013, when the artist created a few art pieces around New York City, in over a 31-day period. Some of those pieces were removed, but the Hammer Boy was preserved by the local business, owner of the store, where it was found it. Now covered with Plexiglas to protect the art over time and from other forms of damages, Hammer Boy has become a point of reference for tourist, visitor and Banksy fans.

The simplicity and the use of his surroundings are signs of the artist’s work found in the Hammer Boy. A simple black silhouette of a child holding a hammer painted in a stencil, imitating for many the popular carnival game, where a person uses a hammer to hit a level, the contrast with the brick beige wall and the black color of the silhouette makes it stand up to the viewer. The use of the hydrant, the pipe and the signs on the wall are a demonstration of Banksy’s style of using artless and ordinary objects.

Graffiti and the definition of it as a form of street art, art or  just simple vandalism is a topic of discussion and evaluation, but what is not up for discussion for many is the inspiration and appreciation street art provides to those looking to transform mundane objects, spaces and lives into better and more artistic expressions. Street art challenges the artist and everyone that admires it to see the world with a different and more artistic eye.

New Yorkers are coming out of a difficult quarantine due to a virus that has impacted the city in unimaginable ways but has strengthened its spirit and determination. The love of their city is ingrained in what it represents and provides not only to its local population but to the world. Art is subjective but also is encouraging, inspiring and healing, having these options accessible by a simple walk or a simple train ride, for many is what helps and keeps this city alive. Discovering and re-discovering these little gems throughout the city is a way to get back into a new normal that people are still trying to discern and grapple with. Soon Museums will open again and inside door activities will be available, but for now and for all those who value seeing and finding art in the monotonous and daily life, street art is a way to enjoy art and life in these difficult times.

The Hammer Boy is a simple, very accessible piece of art that is not only a representation of its creator, but also a fit in a city that love, speaks and inhale art. You can find Banksy’s Hammer Boy art piece on 79^th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam, on the wall of the DSW store. It is worth a visit.

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May I ask you what name you are known by? From where do you originate? How do you describe yourself as an artist?

My name is Corie Mattie. I am also known as the LA Hope Dealer. I grew up in New Jersey – South Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia. I describe myself as an “outsider” artist. I did not go to school for art or to pursue an art career. I don’t have much contact with mainstream art or the art world. 

What kind of art do you do? What is the meaning/purpose behind your art?

My art touches mostly on humanity issues – problems we are all facing as the human race. However, I want my work to bring positivity and motivation to peoples’ individual problems as well.

How would you describe your art? How have others describe your works?

Others have described my work as a mix between stencil and pop art and I would agree. I usually use a bright color for the background (yellow) and draw images in black and white (stencil-like but mostly never stencil).

What are you doing during quarantine to stay creative?

I am using this time to express my voice and my creativity. I try to bring awareness and positivity through my work during such a negative time. I have done over ten murals in the last few months. Painting is my outlet while providing people with some sort of art remedy during a difficult and unprecedented time.

You placed dozens of yellow works across Long Beach and Los Angeles. Tell us more. How do you find the inspiration, what inspired you to start working on the project?

I originally had the “hope dealer” idea written down in my phone from a list of ideas. Once the pandemic hit and I saw how hard it was hitting humanity mentally and physically I decided to bring the character to life. My brother is a doctor – he is someone I have always looked up to and respected. He helped me with some of the concepts – so while he potentially deals with the pandemic hands on I take my art to the streets to bring awareness.  

Following this pandemic theme, did you do any murals as well?

I have done some murals not related to the pandemic. One about following your heart and taking the path less traveled and also one recently touching on the topic of racism. It’s important that I address current issues that society is dealing with so they can relate and connect with my work.

How did people react to your undertaking of this colorful yellow works all over LA?

Almost everyone has reacted positively regarding my yellow works around LA. I think the color tends to stand out and have a warming effect on viewers. It puts images in a more positive light and I think that’s what society needs right now.

Your work has been distributed all over the country. Please tell us more about your many distributions.

I didn’t want this just a Los Angeles movement. I wanted the LA Hope Dealer to be a global movement. So I decided to start shipping my pieces all over the country and now the world. I want people to feel involved and apart of something bigger than them. It allows people to express their creativity and spread a good message where I can’t right now. The more people involved the better. So far pieces have popped up in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, New Orleans, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Phoenix, Tucson, and now Ireland, France and Spain.

When did you create the project LA Hope Dealer and would you describe it?

The LA Hope Dealer came to fruition during this pandemic. It serves as a beacon of hope for people – a nod to keep going and be strong for ourselves as well as for humanity. 

How do you think  the current situation with the pandemic has influenced the art world in your community in LA?

I think it allows artists to express their emotions and feelings through art while connecting with viewers. We are all in the same boat facing a different storm, so artists touching on Covid-19 have an opportunity to challenge, reassure, and address how everyone is currently feeling. 

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on pieces related to racial issues. 

One of your quotes ” After the plague came the Renaissance”, would you please tell us the meaning of that to you?

Just like during the Black Plague in the 14th century, a period of strong artistic expression is underway. Sometimes you can’t describe a situation or feeling with words, so that’s where artistic expression becomes more relatable and valued. Since this is a global issue, pandemic-related pieces are appealing to a wider range of viewers, in an unprecedented way. These pieces convey universal truths across cultures, values, age, gender, situations, etc. Artists have the chance to challenge, justify and comfort the feelings we may be experiencing, while providing clarity and reassurance during such a confusing and weird time.

https://lahopedealer.com/

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What is Clio Art Fair? Can you please describe Clio Art Fair to me?

Clio Art Fair is a marketplace that allows independent artists to come into direct contact with insiders without the presence of any intermediary. The project was born when I was living in New York and working as an art critic, I had come into contact with many independent artists capable of producing quality works but who had difficulty finding exhibition spaces and therefore an audience of insiders; this was because we had little time or little experience to devote to our promotion. Starting from this need, we built a tailor-made fair where artists can promote themselves, and where gallery owners will not be present as exhibitors but are invited to participate as spectators.

When did you create the Clio Art Fair? And how many editions have taken place so far?AB: In our first 6 years of life, Clio had 11 editions of the fair and hosted 541 artists representing 5 continents and 35 countries.

What kind of works do you showcase at the fair?

All sorts of artworks from independent artists and collectives from all over the world. Artists have been freed up to use different materials and media and to deviate from accepted art practice definitions. Clio also hosted two special sections: I Want to Go Home, curated by Asya Rotella in March 2019, and A Nest Watching an Avalanche in March 2020.

What makes Clio Art Fair unique?

The logistics services that we are able to make available to our artists is what makes Clio unique. We can offer logistics for the shipment of the works, for installation and also for sale if requested. We have a team of art handlers and very close curators and sellers built over the years. Moreover, during the selection process, our team of curators establishes a dialogue with each artist, preparing in detail the selection and promotion on-site and online of each work.

How did Clio Art Fair grow in the past years?

During this period together, the fair grew exponentially. In the beginning, the fair started on the fifth floor of the Wolf Building on 26th Street, and by 2018, we were organizing our events on street-level storefronts  positioned in the key areas of the city.

Is there a preferred medium of art that has been successful using this method?

It is important for us to have the maximum diversity of media present, site-specific included.

Do you have any particular success stories related to the new types of dialogues that you have created (artists/collectors, artists/curators)?

From 2014 to today we have managed to create a network of returning artists, curators, and collectors. Every edition we meet new friends, people we sometimes hang out with during the year. Our fair is an opportunity for dialogue, sharing, and comparison with people from all over the world.

What are the plans for this year? And how has this pandemic impacted the fair?

Considering the current health situation, we are officially suspending our fair programming for the next 12 months.

Starting with the name chosen for our project, Clio, the muse of history, we have never hidden the Greek and Latin references of our roots. Our culture, although lovingly open to influences from all over the world, which provide for profitable and mutually enriching exchange, continues to have at its core an education that includes the texts of the Old Testament. Our spirituality is experiencing an epochal and ancestral challenge. And these new times have allowed us to dedicate ourselves to the rediscovery of texts that contributed to our education in our youth and have helped us to  rediscover an awareness of how to live in an obligatory period of repose. In biblical times, every seventh year was a “sabbath under the Mosaic law, a time during which the land was allowed to rest. Clio will enter a sabbath of sorts.

When and where will the next editions of Clio Art Fair be taking place?

We have arrived in our seventh year of activity with an awareness that we will be coming to a halt. However, we are ready to announce new developments. Clio, the Manhattan Fair for independent artists, will debut in Venice in June 2021 as a side event of the Biennale, it will then return to NY in September 2021 during the Armory Show and will debut in Los Angeles in February 2022 as a satellite event of Frieze LA. Once this period of emergency is over, we expect a period of freshness, vigor, and additional energy. We are awaiting and planning for an historical awakening.

We are ready to select the artists for our new programming period, and we invite you to submit your works. The application is free. The marketing fee will be waived if you complete the application by December 14, 2020.

With the hope of a profitable and creative sabbatical period, we respect social distancing today, but we will re-hug stronger than ever tomorrow.

https://www.clioartfair.com/

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New York City is a cosmopolitan city, where art museums are one of its biggest attractions for visitors who want to learn about art. The variety of options New York has to offer for those seeking to get in touch with the artistic world is an advantage and privilege for locals and visitors. Now the City has an additional option for people who admire, love and appreciate dogs.

The AKC Museum of the Dog, founded in 1982 in New York City, was later moved to St. Louis County, Missouri. After more than 32 years the museum is back in the City. A museum dedicated to celebrate dogs, their history, influence in society, and to praise the emotional bond between canines and humanity.

A unique place where sightseers will find fine-art paintings from various artists and media. Figurines and artifacts that showcase the history and diversity of dogs and their elements, as well as a substantial library with about 42,000 books and all sort of dog related information that a visitor might want to explore. Including a children section.

The Museum of the Dog according to their website, offers “rotating exhibits featuring objects from its 1700 pieces.” Visitors will discover paintings of famous dogs through history, including painting U.S. Presidents George H. Bush’s dog Millie and George W Bush’s dogs Barney and Miss Beazley. It was reported that former first lady Barbara Bush praised the museum in a letter in 1990. Among other famous dogs, visitants will see Edwar VII’s wire fox terrier Caesar.

As part of the American Kennel Club, an organization considered a leader force in all dogs related matters and advocacy, the museum has growth under their financial support and contribution. “The AKC Museum of the Dog houses one of the largest collections of dog art in the world and is an important part of AKC’s history and future,” expressed Ronald H. Menaker, Chairman of the Board for the American Kennel Club in their press information.

For some art critics, art dedicated to dogs has not being taken serious at times due to the sentimentality attachment, for visitors is a new way to learn and appreciate dogs. The Museum of the Dog has added technology and screens where a digital dog will appear to interact with guests enhancing the visitors experience.

The Museum of the dog located in 101 Park Avenue, entrance on East 40th street, open Tuesday through Sunday.

Written by Monica Herrera

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A 16^th Century artwork that can be identified as a unique-statement-of-masterpiece has been stolen from St Ludgerus church in the small of Zele, Belgium. The painting that was long forgotten at the church, had been donated by a parishioner 16 years ago. It’s just recently when the church’s pastor Jan Van Raemdonck noticed that the work, depicting the Holy Family could be one of Michelangelo’s. The painting features Mary the mother of Jesus, Joseph, an infant – Jesus who is asleep and John the Baptist. Known as a passionate historian, the pastor had identified some resemblance of the painting to a sketch by the famous Renaissance artist.  “The drawing, which is 100 percent sure of Michelangelo, shows just the same scene. That is why I thought that this too could be the work of Michelangelo, or one of his pupils,” he said. The sketch which is the artist’s only other work in Bruges, Belgium is a part of the Duke of Portland’s collection and was recently exhibited.

The missing ‘Michelangelo’ painting thought to be worth 10,000 euros was to be verified by an Italian art expert just few days before it was stolen. This is after Van Raemdonck moved it to a more superior place that the initial.

The church council believes that the nature of the burglary is linked to Van Raemdonck’s recent discovery of the painting as well as his involving of the art expert. “They were only interested in that one painting,” says Johan Anthuenis, the chairman of the church council, “They have not even looked at all other valuable items.” 

However the historic artistic pastor claims to have requested for extra security measures to be placed at the church, when the council opted to restore the church’s tower instead. Contrary to the information, the council has now denied such claims, that no such conversation ever took place.

The church is said to have been broken in between 5am and 6am on January 11th, according to the East Flanders public prosecutor. A man of about 17- 20 years, fully dressed in dark clothes and a hood was spotted carrying a backpack. Pastor Van Raemdonck however says that the burglary would have involved more than just one individual with the painting on wood, measuring 145 by 99 centimetres and weighting 100 kg.

Ironically, art theft does not seem to be an unfamiliar term to the pastor. Also possessing quite strong writing skills has written a number of novels including one on the Just Judges – an art theft in Belgium. The Just Judges was stolen back in 1934 and to date is still missing despite the endless investigations and efforts to locate it.

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Apart from human relations, objects also unite and for two panels of a single painting by the Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna, unity is also their portion. The two are to be joined together for the first time in as much as 500 years at the National Gallery in London. The pair will be unveiled together to the public on December 6^th to January 27^th 2019.

Born in 1431, Andrea was an Italian renaissance painter of well-regarded influence who was known for his visual experiments in perspective and spatial illusion. Most of artworks were depicting the era of Jesus Christ among them being “Lamentation of Christ” “Triumph of Caesar”, “Crucifixion” “Agony in the garden” among many others. This is prove that art has been in existence for a very long time; and this time round it will unite many. The panels that will be showing at the gallery are the “Resurrection of Christ” (1492) and “The Descent of Christ” (1492).

The upper half of the painting “the Resurrection of Christ” that is held in the collection of the Academia Carrara in Bergamo since the 19^th century was only recently re-attributed to Mantegna after a small cross was discovered at the bottom of the frame which led the curator Giovanni Valagussa to think it must have been part of the bigger painting.

The lower half, the Descent of Christ” has been loaned to the National Gallery by an anonymous private collector, who bought the panel for more than $28m at Sotheby’s New York in 2003.

The showcasing of this legendary pieces will attract lots of people considering the fact that they are probably one of the oldest artworks in existence. Andrea was an extraordinary artist and an exemplary one and to have a chance to take a look at his works is such a great honor. For the first time in approximately 500 years, the two pieces will finally be together.

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Almost a year ago, Artiholics covered the debut of Prayers from Los Angeles (“Prayers“) by interviewing one of the key artists who inspired this multi-disciplinary collaboration—Margaret Garcia. See this clip of last year’s documentation of Prayers. On December 17, 2016, artists and musicians are bringing Prayers back to Casa 0101 Theater.

The venue itself has held a 16-year, thriving relationship with the surrounding community of Boyle Heights in Southern California. Since its founding in 2000 by playwright Josefina Lopez (depicted in the first featured image above), Casa 0101 has held a theater-centric role that gradually expanded and also became known for musical performances and visual art shows.  Theater productions still continue to play a major role in Casa 0101 today while a learning center engages children and adults in classes related to writing, acting/improv, singing, and dancing.  LA Weekly calls Casa 0101 the “Best Theater Serving Its Community” in 2016.

Proceeds from the event’s art and ticket sales will support local charities.  This year, attendees can look forward to artwork by Joe Bravo, Brian Grillo, Jimmy Centenio, Heriberto Luna, Bonnie Lambert, and Margaret Garcia.  Other local artists and performers will also join the celebrations. Notably, Prayers will also seek submissions of “miniature art pieces” from the community to be shown in a special exhibition space within the gallery. The organizers of Prayers want a web of different voices. They emphasize the need to share and support one another. This is the time to defend thy neighbor, to be as positive as possible, and to work together in understanding the values in and outside of your community. Fortunately, we have people who know how this can be done using art materials, sound, and performance. Fortunately for us, Prayers from Los Angeles is not going away– it’s only growing stronger.

Casa 0101 is located at 2101 E. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.  To participate in the community art exhibit, contact nataasja@prayersfromla.org.  Organizers of this festival may choose to coordinate an art pick up time for interested participants.  Anyone can also bring artwork to Casa 0101 during open hours.  The organizers prefer three days of notice to insure adequate installation time, but anyone may certainly bring art pieces directly to the festival on 12/17/2016. The community art show will be catalogued as part of a new book documenting Prayers from Los Angeles.

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While there weren’t a lot of media type animation stories (except for The Good Dinosaur trailer which is covered), that didn’t stop this episode from turning into one of the more interesting ones filled will discussions over the roll cartoons play in a child’s development, the nature of copyright in the internet age, why the Surface Pro 4 is a sign that Microsoft is doing more for the creatives of today than Apple… oh and there’s an Emoji movie being developed… which ALSO turned into an interesting discussion over public domain stories! We also field a question about if these two 2D (hand-drawn) animators would/will ever dabble in 3D (computer modeling). Enjoy the last week of “Stephen’s traveling audio” because next week I’ll be back in the office and I’ll be crystal clear!

Annotations:

 
“The Good Dinosaur” trailer

 
Check out more of your hosts:
Stephen Brooks (@RubberOnion)
Rob Yulfo (@RobYulfo)
Pat Ryan (@TheBadPatRyan)

And please Rate/Review us on iTunes
… and Rate/Review us on Stitcher while you’re at it! (=

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On Saturday Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on 47th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan came alive with body paint, camera shutters, simulated camera shutters (on smart phones), and a literal ton of bare skin, for the second ever Bodypainting Day.

King of the body painting world, Andy Golub has pulled it off once again, breaking all kinds of records for previous “group outings,” this time with 100 fully nude models and 80 artists painting on this year’s theme “What The World Needs Now.”

I was there for the first two hours of what turned out to be an all day event, so with most articles about this event you are seeing mostly the finished product – fully painted models. I captured the sketching phase, or the initial lines and the base coat.

It is interesting to see how the artists all had different techniques for how to start working on the various models, which came in all shapes and sizes.

Written and Photographed by Cojo

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Hunt for Inspiration – a recent solo gallery show featuring artwork by Jamie Martinez at the Galerie Protege in Chelsea was incredibly well received in its opening reception.  The basement level gallery was buzzing with excited viewers of all kinds.  A mixed lot of artists, enthusiasts, collectors, photographers and more talked with excitement while taking iPhone photos of the work – reveling in the unique qualities of the geometric images that emblazon Martinez’s canvases.

The show contains a collection of artwork demonstrating the progression in the artist’s concepts of geometry and abstraction as it develops over time.  Early versions of Martinez’s work are actually “abstract fabric artwork” as he describes them, using “abstract digital images that examine the beginning process of my work,” explains Martinez.  These early artworks are composed of overlapping triangular pieces of brightly colored fabric that are sewn together on top of a canvas, creating a collage-like conglomeration of textures and shapes, somewhat reminiscent of a quilt, which perhaps alludes to more simplistic and early forms of artwork.

Intermingled amongst some of the earlier fabric pieces are second stage artworks or pieces that are the next phase of evolution in the progression of Martinez’s concept.  These second level artworks vary as some are composed of vast fields of tiny triangles creating seas of color and texture, while others are highly complex, featuring a more three dimensional element, as they are larger images composed of hundreds of small painted wooden squares, or tiles, which are affixed together to create a mosaic style, singular large image.  From a distance, these vast collections of squares, which are further divided into tiny triangles, begin to come together to illustrate an extremely distorted face.

Next to these paintings are small signs that read, “Use your camera to see the image”.  The signs imply that once you photograph the image (or even just use your cameras view finder to look at the work) it is somehow again changed in form.  This is a recurring theme in Martinez’s work, and as demonstrated in Hunt for Inspiration, when viewed through a camera, the paintings do indeed look different, and almost become more clear and vivid in digital form.

“The birth of my paintings start with an idea for a series; then I go on the internet and find images that appeal to me and express what I want to communicate in my painting.  Once I have the images that are provocative… I focus on how to deconstruct the images using triangles and paint the image so it can only be appreciated when seen through technology.”  – Jamie Martinez

This aspect of Martinez’s work creates an intriguing commentary, as it requires the viewer to use a digital interface to experience physical artwork in its most vivid form.

The final phase of artworks in Martinez’ concept depicts further evolved and elaborate images which are again broken down into distorted geometric patterns.  These third level paintings are painted directly onto canvas, but in this version the images use a wide variety in scale of triangles, creating tiny clusters of shapes which illustrate a smoother transition in shading and texture.  These images portray distorted faces of various animals in both regal and aggressive poses.

“My new paintings deal with the validation of images, our obsession with our smartphones and the relationship between art and technology. When you look at my paintings in person, you don’t see the clear image. Technology validates the images and only through it can you clearly see the details of my work. Then after it’s posted online–it takes a life of its own.” – Jamie Martinez

Hunt for Inspiration provides a provocative look at both the evolution of Jamie Martinez’s work as an artist as well as a highly intriguing commentary on society’s reliance on technology to interface with reality.  The images in the show range from simplistic geometry to highly evolved and elaborate compositions which require technology in order to gain a full experience of their contents.  The viewer is left with much to contemplate after seeing this show, including the question of which is the real artwork; is it the digital image or the physical painting, and how will this affect the future of art creation and appreciation?  Many of these questions are left unanswered, although it is clear that neither the digital image nor the physical painting are complete without the other.

Hunt For Inspiration is currently on display at Galerie Protege, 197 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, and closes April 23, 2015.

Writing by Lia Simone
Photos by Cojo

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