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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My mother, Joycelyn Erho Calande, was an artist so art has always been part of my life. Going to museums, galleries and art shows was nothing foreign to me. I have always enjoyed “creating” so by the time high school was wrapping up it was pretty clear to me I wanted to pursue art professionally in some capacity. I ended up attending the oldest art school in the U.S., The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. At the time, at age 17 and fresh out of high school,  I was the youngest to ever be admitted. It was an intense 4 year art program focusing on drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. By the time I was finishing college, I was doing commission work, showing in some Philadelphia area galleries and entering shows. 

 

 

I’ve never been big on having my art “say something”, that’s what books are for. That’s not to say there’s never a hidden (or not so hidden) message in some works. But mostly I feel as artists we are creating something unique, a different way to see and express something visually, we are sharing pieces of ourselves. Sometimes a pretty picture is just a pretty picture. And I think that’s where artists excel. We make the world a more beautiful and more interesting place. At least most of the time. 

What is your experience with the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity?

I’ve been a longtime collector of animation art. Specifically the original production art used to create the original Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodie cartoons. I’ve always loved the art form. Many of those animators were also fine artists themselves. I was lucky enough to meet Chuck Jones (and the Jones family) on many occasions as well as some of the other animation artists like Maurice Noble, Pete Alvarado, Marc Davis, Eyvind Earle and others. What I loved about meeting Chuck Jones is that he always made sure you left with more knowledge than which you came. After visiting Chuck’s gallery many times over many years, I began to participate in their annual Red Dot Art Auction. Artists from all over the world donate 12 x 12 inch works of art for a silent fund raising auction. The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity uses the money to offer art and creativity programs to people of all ages, but especially to the young and old. I believe September of 2021 will be the 11th Red Dot Auction and I’ve participated in almost every one, missing only a year or two. This year I’ll be donating 2 works of art….or maybe 3, we’ll see. But the auction brings two of my loves together, Looney Tunes and art. It makes me happy that my work not only raises money for a good cause but it’s nice to know the auction winners are living with my artwork, giving it a home, and enjoying it. Hopefully for some, those little 12 x 12 works will become treasured family heirlooms and bring decades of joy. At the very least my little paintings will hopefully bring some color and life to yet another bare and sterile wall in this world. 

 

 

How is the Covid-19 influencing your Art? How did you use the quarantine time?

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You are an artist and you also perform in shows. Which side of the job do you like and enjoy the most?

I like when everything blurs together and it’s a lifestyle versus a job or a show. It is not just painting, not just performing. I like being ongoing. I paint on my face, then I smash the paint into a canvas, then I stack that onto my chest, then I slam it into a wall, while making a song. Then the song inspires me while I’m drawing. I let it all out, non stop. Sleep less/do more. When we dip back into this “human” life of roles and routine we become less in the moment.

You bridged the gap between the Art and Club world in the 90’s; can you tell us more?

I was a naive kid working clubs in ’93 for food money. I drew at all my events, jobs, even when I WAS A D.J. or did the door or ran events. From booking Wutang to Fat Joe, I was still  drawing all the people that came out. I filled sketchbooks and everyone was like YOOOOO! “Why don’t you just show your work?”  and I was like “ whhhhhhat???”

As a kid I had no clue. I grew up struggling and with no art education so the Club world x “my” people put me on, and then I started organizing art shows at the clubs. Once I saw that I could organize I put other people on. I did things every week back then. I was curating in a way, from dance shows, raves, punk, palladium, horrible bars etc but I left all that and moved on into showing and full time artist life around 18, 19 years old.

Your signature line work has made an impact on NYC. Can you tell us some of the details of what that line is and how it impacted NYC?

I don’t think it’s up to the artist to determine if the work impacts anyone. New York City is constantly changing, the lines are fluid and always moving, overlapping, changing, like this crazy place. Everyone has a line of work, I’m just channeling the rhythms  worked on as a kid and what I develop daily now, to hopefully make new language.

The lines developed from growing up here as a coping mechanism, drawing life, faces, places and movement. Everyone’s experience in New York is different. Growing up I was an extreme outsider to art. The line work I developed was without exposure to the art, even though I was born here. This kind of lifestyle is often overlooked in “art” storytelling when we think of NY. I hope we can start to think of other artists from rough areas that made it, but the common story is born into, or came for it???

I was born sick, as a kid I suffered from extreme illnesses and just became known as the kid that stayed inside and drew weird lines. Outsiders come from all over the world to New York to make art. I was an outsider in my own town, I just drew all the time and it took all the other New Yorkers to tell me to look at these drawings, to look at Warhol, that I was an artist and to go see a Chuck Close show. I was a strange street kid- I was always  getting into trouble living by the side of the road. My NYC story is odd, but many can relate; they just don’t all get the chance to speak and I hope that changes in this extreme twisted culture.

How would you define your work, technique, and what your message is behind it?

I work around the clock every day. I’ve always been this way since I was a kid. My focus has been being free, making, making, making- from doing collage, sculptures, drawings, paintings, masks, music, immersing myself. I like to throw paint on my clothes, cakes on my head and do jackass performances. I need to escape the system and all this man made bullshit construct by creating all the time and fully being lost in the moment. I don’t want to conform and be a part of anything.

You say that your paintings are inside paintings, can you explain to us what you mean by that?

I try to create paintings that are not one dimensional. Even if it’s as simple as strange Miss Piggy if you look closer you can see a skull, a flower and an exploding eye, then maybe yourself. I have to compete with life. People are busy. If I’m making work and want people to see, I have to think of my competition, this huge thing called life which has so many pictures.

There are layers into layers, pushed, smushed and splattering all around fields of color that shift, faces inside of worlds and if you move in close you can discover hidden levels. I’m doing my math, drawing from different angles, different foregrounds, and multiple perspectives. It’s not a straightforward story, it’s more like a painted Matthew Silver bit.

What is art for you?

Art to me isn’t described by the word art. It isn’t something in a box, destroyed by intention, it just is. All the rest is just human bullshit, needs and wants. The thing that works is when it transcends into the next dimension.

You opened the Alien X the living installation. What inspired this installation and can you share with us more about it? What is it about?

We just did an installation on our Lower East Side rooftop with the city skyline, and have another one coming up. We recorded the whole thing live and it’s available to watch. www.michaelalanart.com/thelivinginstallation

During our performances we are creating human paintings, that change and melt and transform on our bodies and in space. In short we slap ourselves up with anything you can think of. We create robots, slam materials on our head, scream and transform and meld our skin, wreaking and creating objects, blindfolded and covered in paint. We speak about the human condition and the artist as a clown and the underlying emptiness of capitalism. My 84 year old mother performs! Jadda cat is my partner. I am just a clown.

People think of New York and they think of Graffiti and Hip Hop and an underground performance scene. We are continuing that old school punk ethos. New York has been shut down and there’s not been too much going on and we are trying to contribute to its rebirth. We designed the show to be accessible in the open air or by live feed so that people have a way to experience art safely again. We also at random daily walk around as living art.

Since artists seem to always be creating or thinking of their next creation, please share with us any of your future projects and dreams.

I have so much work around me piled up and in progress, and series upon series and so many various styles that I can barely keep up. I just keep working and I let it guide me to where I’m going. I want to keep finding the new without an agenda.

 My next show is this upcoming Saturday, May 22nd.

www.instagram.com/michaelalanalien

www.instagram.com/thelivinginstallation

www.facebook.com/MichaelAlan1.0

www.michaelalanart.com

https://michaelalanalien.bandcamp.com/album/michael-alan-alien

The post Meet the Artist Michael Alan Alien appeared first on Artiholics.

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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My journey as an artist has been anything but linear. Although I loved the idea of a creative life, I had little going for me in that department aside from encouragement from my art teachers when I was younger. I didn’t go to art school and photography didn’t even become part of the journey until after the birth of my daughter. Feeling compelled to document her life, I bought a used camera and taught myself to use it to document this new life I’d hoped to make better than my own. I made a darkroom in my garage and spent almost every night experimenting as she slept. Finding that space to play with my artistic voice became like a drug and emboldened me to try all kinds of unlikely projects, none of which felt particularly inspiring until I was offered the chance to shoot stills for an independent film in Los Angeles. I arrived on day one with my beat up old camera and was told to find the cinematographer, who just happened to be the late and legendary John Alonzo (Chinatown). On day two he called me over to the grip truck, lent me his gear and told me to “stick close.” Thankfully, I did, and basically came away with a first-class education and a direction to head toward. I had no idea how to make a living with photography but knew then and there it was something I wanted to pursue further. 

I began to worry that I wasn’t doing my daughter any favors by dreaming, so I moved to LA to find work in photography. I managed to land a temp position answering phones at an entertainment firm in Beverly Hills. Within a few short weeks, I started filling in as photo editor, eventually taking over the position. I left four years later as director of the photo department, producing for various big name film, tv, and gaming clients, working closely with celebrity photographers and shooting many of the campaigns myself.

The culture of celebrity can be lucrative but holds little interest for me, however. I was always moonlighting on various personal projects and side hustles, shooting various nightscapes, avoiding anything with people. It was during these nightly escapades that I began to observe and appreciate the ever-changing and ephemeral nature of art of the streets. Hollywood was especially peppered with murals and graffiti, and although I was always working to omit their artwork in my photographs, my thoughts always drifted toward the person behind the work, their enduring spirit, flying in the face of traditional ideas around art, where it’s seen, and who gets to see it. I set out to photograph as many of these elusive figures as possible. 

Seven years later, Heroes & Villains (Zero+ Publishing) was published, just as my daughter was about to turn 16. I was thinking about my next project and she’d recently announced her plans to pursue a professional career in ballet. I asked if she’d be interested in sitting for a more formal portrait. Our time in the studio that day was pivotal in many ways. Having always loved dance — I had been photographing local dance artists initially for the Oregon Cultural Trust, and then for some of the dance companies directly. For me, capturing these artists out of context, not dancing, but simply being was something I wanted to explore. My daughter, with all the hopes and dreams she represented, was the perfect choice to begin that endeavor.

You resist being labeled as a photographer. How do you define yourself? 

Is it cheeky for me to say I’ve no interest in defining myself? While photography is my current medium, the idea that it defines me wouldn’t be true. I am many things. A dancer, a mother, a friend. “Photographer” seems so limiting. I guess I’d prefer to be thought of as someone who cultivates relationships with like minded collaborators? I’m interested in portraying someone as their best self. I like to strip away affectation and expected scenarios. In many ways I feel like an anthropologist who speculates on the future. I especially enjoy working with artists on the cusp.

What kind of works do you create? What do you like to photograph?

I make portraits. My approach, while on the surface may look simple and formalist, is a bit more nuanced and collaborative. I enjoy spending time within a specific genre of artists and having time to get to know someone before we work together. I like to immerse myself in a scene or a movement. I follow my interests, basically. Not in a social media way, but in a one-on-one kind of way. 

What makes one photograph stand out from another? 

That would depend on the viewer, I think. If you’re asking about my editing process, then that’s pretty simple. When I’m working with someone, there is almost always a moment where they’ve let their guard down. Those images tend to stand out for me.

What inspires you?

This is a question I find difficult to answer, mainly because it really depends on the day I’m asked. Other artists inspire me is the short answer. The long answer could lead me down a rabbit hole, but I generally like to read nonfiction. Mostly memoirs and history books. Right now I’m reading Mediocre by Ijeoma Ouelo. 

You are from the East Coast, how did you land up in Los Angeles? What do you like about LA and its art scene?

I grew up in a small town in Maryland and quickly became disenchanted with what I felt were limited prospects for my future. I did what any normal teenager does and sought out adventure, usually hopping on the train to DC or Baltimore to see bands, art exhibitions, or hang out on M Street in Georgetown. I’m close to my Aunt, who was an artist in New York, and when she moved to LA, I ventured out to spend what I expected to be a few weeks helping out. In a relatively short time, I felt surrounded by prospects, the energy and ease really meshed with my personality. LA has a reputation as a place for reinvention and possibility. For me, it continues to deliver, especially within art and culture. While sometimes seeming to dwell in the shadow of Hollywood, I believe the opposite is true. Instead, I think the scene here flies in the face of it.

What is the focus of your current practice?

Mainly two projects with the dance community: one focused on a single artist over several years, and the other, a more comprehensive overview of dance artists who come through or live in the LA area. 

How did Covid-19 impact your art?

Given that my work largely relies on human interaction in the studio and dance artists touring, the shooting component of these projects ground to a halt. Compelled by the state of things and using this as a backdrop, I dove into the archive, noticing and experimenting with themes and patterns that reflect what I feel is our collective state of mind. I also created an outdoor studio at home and collaborated with friends and family on some editorial projects. 

What are your future projects?

As a result of the experimentation with some of my existing imagery, I’ve been learning new software to integrate these stills into what I’m hoping will be something visually interesting.

Otherwise, I have some ideas but given the uncertainty around everything, I really don’t know.

Tatiana Wills’ Website

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Welcome, Stephen! How did you find your way into the art world? Tell us about your journey.

I initially was interested in art by lots of early exposure to it. My parents took me to great museums like the National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn Museum. My mother used to put me in a papoose-style infant carrier and I’d watch paintings perched on her back. As a kid, I drew and I made Plasticine sculptures routinely and watched my engineer father draw plans for aeronautical projects he did at the Applied Physics Laboratory. Then, after graduating from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, I moved to New York City to make art. I exhibited some work there and came to a big revelation. After experiencing the isolation of making art alone during an ice-cold NYC winter, I wanted to collaborate with other people and use myself as the medium. So, I took acting classes, did professional theater in Washington, D.C., then moved to sunny Los Angeles to act in feature films and network television. After that long, circuitous route, I found an art studio in L.A. and realized plans for dozens of artworks I had been sketching or making notes on the entire time. Now, I’m back.

You are a conceptual artist. For the uninitiated, what exactly is conceptual art? Please, tell us about your conceptual fine art practice.

The traditional definition of conceptual art supposes that the ideas an artist seeks to explore are more important than the objects or events that express them. I think about it differently. While I have developed big and little ideas, the fine art objects I make and their immediate visceral viewer experience are equally important.

My work exists to raise questions about the roles of creation, the people who author our world and those who engage them both. There is obviously a dependence of one upon the other. These relationships, like those in life and society are key to the art experience. Much of my work presents the elements that make up the intimate setting of home interiors. They often say a few things about comfort, class, lifestyle, and – most importantly – personal identity. Our perception wraps up all of the relationships in our lives, which is crowned by our identity and place within those relationships.

At the end of the day, I am an artist – conceptual or otherwise. I create. We all do, whether it’s high art on a white wall or whistling a favorite song. Sometimes, my art is generated from concise ideas that I feel need exploration or an emotional state I feel the audience might want to share, but haven’t been able to.

Your sculptural explorations express domestic dramas. What brought you to that area of interest?

I have always been interested in origin stories. How did it all start? Virtually all of our origin stories began at home with family. Sounds mundane, but it is very complex when, as a young person, you are not equipped to talk about family dynamics or drama. We unconsciously assign value to events in our home lives – good, bad, strange, amazing, disheartening, enlivening. We are, as the saying goes, “meaning making machines.” But we often pack away contorted meanings of our formative upbringing and forge ahead as adults in a rather compromised way.

I was raised in a suburban planned city called Columbia, Maryland, a place where extra care was taken to promote cooperation and understanding among those with differences in class, race, economic power, etc. It wasn’t some idealized “Walden II” town, but had its merits. I experienced family fights, fear of bullies, mysteries of the unknown, loss, love – you name it. I also developed my identity within that experience. The people who made the choice to live there and raise families also chose an aesthetic to populate their homes, whether in step with their station in life or aspirations in life. In my art, I seek to use these home interior design elements and rearrange their context to help audiences review or dispel the meanings we may attach to them.

How do you create your artworks – from conception to completion?

Ideas for new artwork arrive quickly for me. They often come to me in an early morning waking state, a time when we lose consciousness of self, but are brimming with the experience of dreams. When I wake up, I usually write down a working title or a very basic description of what the work will look like and the material it’ll be made of. For days and weeks, I will determine how to refine or simplify the idea.

Sometimes, simply working in the studio helps to generate an idea. A piece I’m currently showing in Hawaii entitled “What’s Right With This Picture?” came from testing out a router radius corner template on scrap wood. I planned to make four rounded corners on the test piece, but stopped short of the fourth corner, keeping the right angle on the lower right side. Then I filled, primed, sanded and finely sprayed it in many layers with a paint gun. It’s difficult to even call it a “picture” at all or say that it is inherently good or bad, right or wrong. It questions perception and judgment, as much art does, but provides very little to gauge or review perception and judgment with. It floats off of the wall and approaches objecthood, but it’s still largely a flat object on that wall. Is it an idea, an object seeking to break out of the idea, a pun or all of the above?

You currently have three exhibitions. Where are they? Is there one that you are enjoying more than others?

I have work right now at the Cameron Art Museum in North Carolina, in L.A. Stories at the Leo Castelli Gallery at Brenau University in Georgia and in Abstract Only! at the Wailoa Center in Hawaii. I think they are all equally interesting spaces and exhibitions. I admire many of the other artists exhibiting alongside me, like Paul Paiement, Abel Alejandre, Cherie Benner Davis and others. I do love the Cameron Art Museum, though. For part of their light-themed Illumination show, I got to do more tech-based work, which I like quite a bit.

Not only are you a conceptual artist, but also maintain a parallel career as a working professional actor on such network TV series as NCIS: Los Angeles. Did you start your acting career first? What brought you to that career?

I started as an artist, but took a long and important detour into the performing arts world. In art college, I took performance art classes with powerhouse playwrights like Ntozake Shange and learned a lot. I later took theater and on-camera acting classes. I love the idea that with my input and someone else’s input, a third unknown thing – a performance, a film, etc. – can be created. That’s phenomenal to me. I figured as an actor, I could make art of myself and contribute to someone else’s art at the same time. I also loved the idea of reaching a great number of people – of affecting a real change of perception – whether it’s in an art house feature film or an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise seen by millions of viewers.

How do you combine your fine art career with your acting career? Do you prefer one over the other?

That’s a great question. There is definitely an overlap between them, so I feel that one informs the other. The activity of making art gives me private time to review my creative motives and a place to decompress from this high velocity world we live in. My acting performance must be integrated with other performances in real time. It takes me out of my comfort zone, but is immediately satisfying. I can’t say that I prefer one over the other, but since the event of Covid-19, making art seems like the best fit.

You are L.A.-based. How do you like the city? Is it part of your inspiration?

Yes, I have been in Los Angeles for many years now, but I also maintain an art studio in Wilmington, North Carolina, so I can be close to family and get extended breaks from the big city. Los Angeles is a fascinating place with a rich history that includes wars, gold rushes, the rise of cinema, agriculture, aerospace industries, the development of suburbs – you name it. It is a city that holds high hopes and uncanny dreams for many people who move there, but tends to be seen and respected differently by indigenous Californians who have an appreciation of the land and what practical life means there.

In some ways, Los Angeles is an inspiration for my art. The sprawl that makes up Metropolitan L.A. is immense, but each distinct neighborhood – from Koreatown to Beverly Hills – can be called home for its residents. Like I said, I am interested in the artifacts that make up “home” in all of those places. The transitory world of Hollywood in particular is, of course, rife with artifice, accolades and anguish that don’t mean much outside of that insular place. Maybe it’s not even a place – but a state of mind. I’m interested in revealing some of that, too.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I see myself making art that really connects with audiences on a significant scale and on a regular basis. Whether it’s on highway billboards, broadcast on iPhones or seen in a venerated museum, I’m totally up for it. I see having significant commercial and institutional solo shows in the U.S., Europe and Japan – and perhaps setting up some cultural exchange programs among artists all over the world.

How has Covid-19 influenced your artwork and your acting career?

Covid-19 is a truly life-altering event for just about everyone, whether they know it or not. Many people who choose to ignore it have to face the bigger change that has come out of this moment in history – and adapt. The people who do accept it also have to adapt and figure out a way to work with those who don’t believe. Clear communication and perception, as well as true acceptance mean a lot in 2020 – and beyond. It has influenced my art. I’m more determined than ever to invite viewers to review their perception, their origins, their home and the world out there, which really isn’t that alien.

Covid-19 has slowed down my acting career, as the entire business has dropped off significantly, but I still audition for network TV. Some safe feature film productions are being made, but only a handful of major television series are being produced for the time being. Many of us are in active hibernation mode; writing new screenplays, pitching media projects and expecting this thing to turn around when scientific and medical officials say we’re ready to go!

Interestingly, even though some art shows I have had work in were postponed, others are still going strong and new ones are coming up. I’ve shown more work in 2020 than ever before. I’m sure you can agree that people truly need art. It’s healing, it’s provocative, and it has an important place in virtually all of our lives.

 www.stephenwozniakart.com

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Clio Art Fair is a unique form of fair because it gives artists the freedom to use different types of material to create their work and they can deviate from the accepted art practice and definitions, unlike in the usual concerns in the art business where there are too many rules on how art should and should not be; after all art is about freedom to express yourself and your thoughts right?

To celebrate or to make famous are the terms that define the Greek word “Clio” and for the second time in 2018, the 7th edition of Clio Art Fair is going to do as per its meaning and norm; to celebrate and make famous works of already affirmed creative minds. The world of art will converge in New York City and this weekend will undoubtedly be an amazing one for artists and art lovers. The four spectacular days from 11th October- 14th October 2018 will be defined by dialogue between artists and collectors, artists and curators, positive energy, colors, and free public viewing. Art lovers will get to see different artworks not forgetting the faces behind them and there will be a chance to buy any piece of art that you will love from paintings, sculptures, digital art and more. Talent from all over the world will all be under one roof.

From October11-14, a group of 69 worldwide artists will be exhibiting their works, they will showcase their prowess and prove their creativity and originality as far as art is concerned. These creative minds will convince the world that art is beautiful, art is capable of bringing people together and that it is a career just like any other. The 7th edition of Clio Art Fair has the privilege to showcase thrilling works of artists such as Francesca Schwartz, Paulina Cerda, Amanda Armstrong, and Emiko Aida among many others.

Art is always up for grabs with every edition of Clio Art Fair and with its unique approach to art, it continues to highlight the achievements of artists. From upcoming artists to the well-known ones, all stand a chance to exhibit in New York. Clio Art Fair is home to creative artists sharing their expression of art to the world.

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We are so thrilled to learn more about her nuanced artistic practice, international career and how her varied, eclectic artistic training impacts her work today. We attended her vernissage at Hellada Gallery in Long Beach, CA and we admired her beautiful artworks. Her desire as an artist is to give peace and joy to people through her artwork as an expression of peace, freedom and jeux du vivre. It’s the union between the energy originated by the strong colors and the quietness of the resting cold colors that makes her artwork unique.

The artist has a prevalent career abroad, especially in the United States, with an upcoming art project in Miami Beach this August, an ongoing art exhibition on Martha’s Vineyard, and an upcoming art show in Los Angeles in November.  The artist has recently collaborated with Aquarium of the Pacific this May in Long Beach, California and Universal Music Group in Malibu.

The vernissage took place on Saturday, July 14, 5 – 8 PM, at Hellada Gallery, 117 Linden Ave, Long Beach, CA. The show will be at display until Friday, September 7th 2018.

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Akiane Kramarik an American poet and also an artist born in 1994, started drawing at the tender age of four and has passionately drawn till today and has even won an award. One painter Etel Adnan on the other hand, took off her artistic career while in her 80s. It might look too late to begin a career because the norm is always to “get started early, get your career rolling early and nurture it early”. Adnan beat the odds and decided to get it done despite the age..

Born in 1925, a Lebanese American, Adnan grew up during the early years of World War II. Her mind was exposed to the ideas of colonialism and cultural differences. At the age of fifteen, she was pulled out of school by her mother to work. She joined other young women who took up odd jobs in order to support their families and help offset skyrocketing prices. Adnan engaged in revolutionary writing having been influenced by the kind of environment she grew up in; the harsh realities she engaged with every day.

Being a poet was what she is well known for but besides that, Adnan is a painter. She began painting in 1958 having been influenced by Ann O’Hanlon. Her work however never really made it to the lime light, until in the past few years when she began exhibiting with different galleries. Over the years, she has made small scale paintings of mountains, skies while incorporating color. She loved color; she still does and is still interested by the “immediate beauty of color.”

She creates her paintings (mostly on landscapes) with a palette knife, shaping vibrant fields of colors on small, intimate canvases. She believes that with a palette knife you just wipe off the paint and carry on unlike with a paint brush which you have to wash thoroughly. Her paintings find their roots in the geographies the artist has navigated throughout her life, most notably her native Lebanon and adopted home of northern California. In 2012, (at the age of 87) a series of her colored abstract paintings were exhibited as part of documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany.

At the age of 93, Adnan has already exhibited with so many galleries and her name is a “big deal” in the art industry; mainly because she is still in the game despite her old age, creating artworks and definitely inspiring young artists. In this year, she has shown her works in three solo shows and two group shows. She is the best description of inspiration especially to young artists.

Adnan was very much on time when she took off her art career, we all are on time, so long as in the end we are willing to make it happen.

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MOVIE REVIEW! Back in 2014 we did a full review and side-by-side comparison of TMNT (2014) with TMNT (1990)… now we’re taking on the modern sequel “TMNT: Out of the Shadows” (2016). We discuss the sequel in the original TMNT trilogy, “Secret of the Ooze” and compare it with this modern sequel. Does it hold up? What does Stephen think about how the Turtles were treated? What happened to April O’Neil? Did Bebop & Rocksteady fit the tone? Was Krang really necessary? Listen to find out what we think!

Preorder Stephen’s Animation Tutorial Book:

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Topics & Timestamps:

Media Referenced During this Episode:

Check out more of your hosts:

Stephen Brooks
Rob Yulfo

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

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HOLIDAY EPISODE! It’s Thanksgiving in the United States so we talk a lot about that – how we celebrate, what holiday specials we like to watch, etc. But this week we also finally get to hear what Pat thought about The Peanuts Movie!! We top it all off by saying what Rob & I are thankful for in the animation world. If you’re celebrating this Thursday, have fun and stay safe! If you’re not celebrating… same. Enjoy the show!

Listen for “All in the Hamily,” alternative modem, sparkling apple juice, and Dunkaroos.

I would love to hear what you think about this episode in the comments section below.

Please Rate & Review us on iTunes

And you can now listen to us out on SoundCloud!

Topics & Timestamps:

Media Referenced During this Episode:

RubberOnion’s Thanksgiving Playlist (the good AND the bad… everything we talked about that I could find on YouTube is here)

Kung Fu Panda 3 trailer

Anomalisa trailer

Finding Dory teaser trailer

 

Check out more of your hosts:

Stephen Brooks
Rob Yulfo

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

The post Thanksgiving Cartoon Specials, crass review of The Peanuts Movie, and what animators are thankful for appeared first on Artiholics.