peripheral arteries art review august 2014

Special Issue

Luiza Zimerman

August 2014

(photo by Sabina Chodorowska)

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Luiza Zimerman Eike Waltz20202020

Matthias Callay78787878Art is ever changing and in constant motion so we can only narrow down specific movements in hind-sight, in any case I can only think of something as art when it is relevant to the specific cultural and ethnic group we inherently are part of.

Kadi Kusnets 62626262

Sumiko Shimada 30303030 S. Thornton46464646

PeripPeripPeripPeripheral heral heral heral ARTARTARTARTeeeeriesriesriesriesA R T R E V I E W

August 2014

"The stylistic perfection but, a sensual body language mixed with a mesmerizing musicality. Lifting the score to yet another summit. Breathing the soul of the performance through your whole existence. Touching the audience…"

Art, expression and creativeness have always been at the forefront of my creative endeavors. Being able to speak without words but through a medium is extremely powerful.

I create art that exhausts your eyes and challenges the spirit.

"To make consider a work as a work as a work of Art I have to confront it directly or also indirectly and I have to feel some emotions towards it. It should bring some reaction and provoke my intellect to questions and desire to deepen my understanding."

While I am manipulating the materials, I feel that I coexist with the drawing and the materials, a form arising from another form, like biogenesis in nature. Another reason that I use a technique based on process is that I think it mirrors the organic character of the natural world.

"For me nature has always been the biggest inspiration – the most talented and powerful and heartwarming artist of all. After all, we are a part of it and living in tune with nature’s vibrations is, in my opinion, the most natural environment for all humans and other living beings. "

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106106106106"The artist is a tool sculpturing his own time and art is an everlasting product of that expression. I believe we think different, deal and live in different times but I also believe that when it comes to expression anything else is allowed except defini-tions or restrictions of any kind."

Banaz Jacob 94949494

Erin O’Malley

“With digital macro photography I have been exploring the interaction of light with transparent and reflective surfaces.

I consider my photography a series of experiments, a process of trial and error

that builds upon past succes-ses through the

manipulation of variables”

116116116116Renata Gandra 124124124124 Jodie Woodcock

David Wilde 132132132132

Feel free to submit your artworks to our art review: just write to [email protected]

"I like to create new, original and unexpected images in my work, drawing, painting and photography. Whereby the human ( mostly the woman) always states in the central in my work. (…)the human body and our daily events, play the emotions beside the human body the most important role in my work"

would say my art is mostly abstract. I like different,

always have. The way I create my work

haschanged since I started painting, I have changed.

I started painting in 2010 and for awhile I could

hardly stop. My ideas and Visions just flowed out of me. I been into drawing

since I was young.

"I define a work of art as one which can convey feelings to the viewer : for example "The Kiss" by Klimt, which conveys passion, tenderness and beauty and " The Scream" by Munch that conveys anguish and existential despair . I believe that the work of art has to be able to touch somehow the viewer"

140140140140The process of creating and the presentation of art is a fundamental blessing and encouragement for human society that arises from the artists' ability to open to the primal elements of life's appearances. Feeling the heart of events and finding the freedom to express that in media and terms beyond the distortions of ego is a liberating thing that wakes people up to the natural benevolent vividness of circumstances.

Alberto Zita

http://peripheralarteries.yolasite.com/submit-your-artworks.php

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries

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Righteous Exploits

performance, photo by Matt Lewis

(USA)(Greece)

Captions 1

Luiza Zimerman

Enceladus, installation 2014

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Luiza Zimerman

an interview with

Hello Luiza and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? Do you think that there's still an inner dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Hello. This is an interesting question. I could recite the definition of the work of Art but it wouldn't be my point of view. To make consider a work as a work as a work of Art I have to confront it directly or also indirectly and I have to feel some emotions towards it. It should bring some reaction and provoke my intellect to questions and desire to deepen my understanding.For example my nephew's drawing could be a form of Art for me. It pulls me, makes me happy while looking at it, every time I look on it I feel different emotions. I think that art become an art in the context in which it stands .If everyone would present their favorites works of art at the same time, the exibitions would be totaly different so the public's opinion would differ dramatically.

In my opinion the features that mark the contem-porariness is a huge possibilities. Nowadays, there is a bigger variation of materials and techniques. The artists have access to more,they can use and join so many techniques. The variation it is the symbol of our modern world. Despite the growth of the contemporariness, we won’t forget about “old” techniques . I think that the traditional approaches will never disapear. It will blend with the modern. Contemporariness will always be inspired by the past.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You are a graduate of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at Wroclaw University of Techno-logy and you are currently pursuing a degree at the Department of Painting and Sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw...How do these experiences impact on the way you currently produce your Art? By the way, what's your point on formal training? I often ask to myself if a certain kind of training

Peripheral ARTeries

An interview with

Luiza Zimerman (photo by Sabina Chodorowska)

Luiza Zimerman

Luiza Zimerman

could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

Studying architecture on Wrocław's Technical University was crucial in developing my space awareness, mostly because I was studying there technical drawing. I have learned how to present the 3rd dimension using only 2 dimentions. It became an important part of my artistic process. It makes everything a lot easier because I see the final effect before I start building it, my work already has character on paper. Studying also

helped me in understanding and feeling space and the proportions of my projects. My profession requires conscientiousness and solidity. I learned how to go through the whole artistic process - from the first drafts to actually creating a building. It's a big responsibility which also reflects in other parts of my life - also in my works.

Thanks to architecture I'm not afraid by the complexity of my projects, it gives me confi-dence. I have to be very patient and focused be-

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Peripheral ARTeries

Captions 2

Life form 2, installation from Forms series, 2011

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries Luiza Zimerman

cause the whole process takes a lot of time and it's usually complicated.

After I have finished architecture I have started studying painting on the Academy of Fine Arts. It was an important moment in my artistic background. I have collided with new approach to art. I've gained confidence, I've started believing in myself and my creations. I had access to more materials and I have received huge support from my professors. Also the people, surrounding me there, had a massive influence on my art. They helped me in developing myself and my craft. Both, friends and professors understood me completely and

supported me. They taught me how to relax and distance myself from my art work. They made me who I am right now- as a person and as an artist. In my opinion skills such as technical drawing, painting and sculpture are essential to be able to look critically at piece of art, also creating while it. I am afraid there are some teachers that could nib creativity in the bud and suppress the artist's developement.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In par-ticular, what technical aspects do you main-

Life form 1, installation from Forms series, 2011 Life form 2, installation from Forms series, 2011

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Luiza Zimerman Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with

Vanishing Point, Mixed media trid.piece, 2012Piedad

ly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

The whole idea of my work is to create new life forms. To achieve this goal I had to sit down and consider the whole concept from top to bottom ,to make my organisms reflect natural organic processes. This is why some of my pieces emi-tate light, sound or even move. Each of my creatures speaks its own language.The artistic process from the first drafts to the final stage is very long and complexed. I'm using all kinds of machines- engines ,controllers, programmers and LED systems. My artistic process is a huge

challenge for me, but I enjoy every moment of it- from planning to creating components. I start with a basic draft, and then I carry on with technical drawing- it's an important stage to get from point A - conception to point B- realisation. In the last stage of planning I'm thinking about the materials I will use and I’m ready to start building. Some of my works are more complica-ted than the others. This is why some organic processes are happening simultanously.

First I focus on the mechanisms that will make my little creature "live" - movement and light. I use special engines to make them imitate reactions. This is when you can see the analogy

Light shapes no 1, 5, 3 ,7 installations from ”Światłokształty” series 2013

between my organisms and real well-known animals. To achieve this goal, usually, I have to use phisics laws. To make my projects more realistic I have to make them oppose to force and find the center of gravity. Thanks to that my organisms move similar to animals living on our planet. I’m using electrical cables to imitate the circulatory system and the nerve system. The project is so long and complicated that I start considering it as a real creature, as my little pet. I get really attached to my projects, they are like my babies. I have to take good care of them – clean and maintain them.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would

like to start with your recent ENCELADUS, an extremely interesting piece that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest them to visit your website directly at http://luizazimerman.blogspot.it in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production... in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

Enceladus was my first three dimension work after a series of light-paintings "Światłok-ształty" ("light shapes"). I have used here all kinds of light phenomena - reflection, interferen-

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Enceladus, installation 2014 Enceladus, installation 2014


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ce, or just playing with the light beam. This process was very educating for me. I have learned some features of light and translucent fabrics. I have used this experience in my further works. I have used two overlapping fabrics and let the light through them ,which made an amazing phisical effect known as the Moire lines. "Światłokształty" (Light shapes) revive only when using electricity. Unplugged ,they seem to be a one color sheet, after turning on the electricity the plain surface shows some pictures. This series is a continuation of my artistic con-cept - it shows new life forms. It presents living cells, radiography of unknown life organisms and futuristic buildings.

One of them shows an organism with a spiral construction. During the process of creating it I knew I will do it in the third dimension, using the knowledge I gained with the light shapes. This is why Enceladus is a creature that comes to life when I turn on the lights under the fabric. It's obvious ,it's hard to imagine something that doesn't exist. Because of this, when I am developing the physical form of my creatures I have to acquire some knowledge about the body of the real beeings. It's because, our reality shares the same physics laws with the non existing one. Those creatures can be different, but in my opinion alter dimensional beeings should have some common features with the

Light shapes no 1, 5, 3, installations from ”Światłokształty” series 2013

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#196 Winter


Nude, oil painting, 90x61cm, 2011

ones from our world. Due to that, nature is my biggest inspiration. I have been interested in nature and living forms for many years.

Maybe because I have myself a scientific background, a feature of your art practice that has particularly impacted on me is the deep synergy that you are capable of esta-blishing between traditional techni-ques and digital technologies ... so I would like to use this occasions to ask what's your point about he contamination between Art and Science... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between art and techno-

logy and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this?

I have to agree that art is getting more integrated with technology. Nowadays, artists reach for new, exciting ways of expressing themselves. I find it very interesting. It's a new concept for Polish artists, by far more traditional than the foreign artists that I follow but fortu-nately this new approach is getting more popu-lar. I am trully supporting those techniques but can we call it science? This kind of works are very spectacular but besides the visual stimula-tion they don't have strictly didactic use. I mean


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an interview with

Caption 4

they do not teach us about the modern technolo-gy. The idea of science is based on objective approach, opposite to art. I think technology will appear more often, what I consider as a good phenomena, but the traditional methods will never disapear. Of course, I use new technolo-gies in my art work. People, looking at my art , can not see what is inside, so it doesn't pass any scientific knowledge. I use it to express myself. I hope, in the future I will be able to program them by myself so I keep studying science. In this moment I am forced to ask the Wrocław Science Club for help.

Another interesting works of yours that

have particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words are from your FORMS series, which are the result of your investigative process about new forms fo life... by the way, I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

I agree that some information and ideas are "en-


crypted". We are not aware of most of the curiosities of the universe. Well, a bit more about our planet, although there are still some uncertainties. The amount of the unknown is overwhelming but it gives me some kind of hope, it's a huge inspiration for me. I would like people to be aware of the undiscovered, however I would stop here. In my opinion, art should be a trigger of emotions, some reflections, associations but it shouldn't act as a didactic tool. To perceive art, you need some subjectivism, which makes it automatically an unscientific approach. Although my project's purpose is to focus the recipients on the greatness and complexity of the world, I don't want to teach them anything about it or the bio-

logy of animals on our planet. "Forms" is a series of 6 art installations, where each of them show various material usage. While creating this collection I wanted to put emphasis on diversity. I wanted to show something completely detached from the well known reality, which was not an easy task. I have managed to create 6 different beeings, each of them emitting light. None of them is moving though, I was focusing more on the light. From my point of view, "Forms" were supposed to be one of the solutions, at the moment unknown. It's like with our limited knowledge about the world or our planet, every day we discover something new. All those curiosities make me start to wonder and think

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SURVIVAL Art Review 2013, Wrocław, "Vibrating waves" , installation, Luiza Zimerman

Live performance, photo by Mark Hamburg


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Caption 7

deeply about how little we know, how much is there to discover. This is the effect I am trying to achieve with my recipients. To make people wonder, to provoke a reflection. I would like them to realize how hopeless they are. I would like them to start taking care of the nature around us, because we are only a tiny meaningless piece of a bigger picture; that the idea of us beeing "the rulers of the world" is wrong.

Multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice and if I have been asked to choose an adjective that could sum up in a single word your art, I would say that your it's "kaleidoscopic": as our readers have al-

ready noticed in the pages of this article, you love to mix many medias and your artworks are in a certain sense the symbio-sis between apparently different techni-ques... while crossing the borders of dif-ferent artistic fields have you ever happe-ned to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

Thank you very much, I like the way you have put it. Indeed, I am mixing different medias in my work for a long time. It gives more possi-bilities. Sometimes I call myself "an experi-menter"(works called “Vibrating waves” or “Line moiré”). I like to search for new ways, solutions . I do it unintentionally. I have always been a collector and some kind of a handyman. I find most of my materials on the streets or in the trash. Sometimes I look for them around construction materials. The inspiration is everywhere around me. I am not wasting my time. I have to keep focused so I will not let the inspiration get away. It's a very useful attribute, especially when it comes to my favorite matter - living organisms. They require using new materials and technologies.

Line moiré, installation 2014

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#196 Winter


Hence, combining medias together is an indi-spensable aspect of my art. It's the only way to express my concept. It has to be noted that I am not able to construct everything by myself. Students from the Science Club in Wrocław help me with programming. To create the sound effects I contact a great artist/musician-VILGOĆ (started in 1998 mainly as a PE/Harsh Noise project. After years of self-destructive noise struggle, in 2011 VILGOC decided to change its direction towards "self-implosion" and started to act and perform strictly as a Harsh Noise Wall [HNW] project at all. Nowadays VILGOC define himself as: sound-egzaration +HNW+ more info here: www.vilgoc.blogspot.com) He handles all of my installations individually. First, he ob-serves the movement, listens to the sound of the engine and then tries to add an original, independent voice to my works. I am truly sa-

tisfied with our cooperation, and I am sure we will continue it in the future.

I would say that your works comes to free the public from their Platonic caves so that the artistic experience makes it possible to let be judged by others... and moreover, they are both strictly connected to esta-blish a deep involvement with your audien-ce, both on an intellectual aspect and in a physical one... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

My goal is to pull my recipients to a different dimension, take them out of the mundane.

Light shapes no 1, installation from ”Światłokształty” series 2013

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Caption 4

I want them to look outside the box, to expand their perception and look at the world from a different perspective than usually. I wish they could witness something beyond our Solar System. Being aware of how our universe is enormous could be overwhelming and a bit scary, but on the other hand,it helps to notice the beauty of the unknown and complicated world. It opens your mind - you can see a huge variaty of possibilities and solutions, you are able to depict a reality other than ours. As Isaac Newton once said “What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.”, we should jump into that ocean to gain more knowledge and experiance. This is my vision , not everyone has to understand it, but I hope it would at least cause a smile on someone's face. The public's response is a very important matter for me. The most importand thing is to extract any respon-

se. - the need to share my visions and projects with others. In my opininon, there is no act of creation without an immediate, direct experien-ce, both artist's, recipient's, as well as the collision of the artist with the recipient's reac-tion.

During these years your works have been shown at solo and group exhibitions... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of suppor-ting an artist, encouraging her/him: I was just wondering if an award -or even the expectation of positive feedbacks- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder

Light shapes no 5, from ”Światłokształty” series Light shapes no 6, from ”Światłokształty” series

if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

The public response is a very important aspect of being an artist. If I didn't have the oppor-tunity to present my work I wouldn't bother to do it. Sometimes, when I'm very excited by my projects and the progress, I can't wait to show them outside. I cannot say I'm doing it to be praised over the skies, I just want to share myself with others. I love the impact my art does, I'm doing it to see the face of adults and children ,who are at some point convinced they are looking at real organisms. I want to see them lost in their own interpre-tations and thoughts. My aim is as I mentioned before, to reach a bigger audience and influen-ce them with my art. I can handle critics, actually I enjoy it the same way. I enjoy positive comments. I want to develope, so under-standing various points of view, makes me a mature artist. Some recipients say they "don't understand", which also makes me glad because at least I have induced an emotion in them -misunder-stan-ding. We have to remem-ber that people have different tastes and opinions. When I receive positive feedback, I don't take it personally. From my point of view, the moment my instal-lations are showed, they start to live and function as independent creatures.

At this point I disappear, and my life forms are the most important. To answer the question about the business- art collaboration, I think it's possible but at the same time very difficult. We have to remember that the market is not easy. It depends on so many aspects- the country and its economic junctureand the artist's renoma. I don’t have time to participate in this competition. Although, the fact, I can sell my work to someone, who appreciates my art because of the authenticity, is nice for the artist and his wallet. From the other way - returning to the first question, in MY definition of an art, there is no place for sale...

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Luiza. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I would also like to thank you for a nice conversation. I don't have any precised plans for the future. I will carry on with my art, try to expand my perception as far as I can. I was thinking about applying for a new major on Wrocław's Technickal University - program-ming. I want to get more independent in creating my installations. We'll see whether I can pull this off. About my art, the most important aspect of my life, I am planning to find new solutions, like new materials techni-ques to continue my concept- new life forms. At the moment, I am sketching a new creature. I will use the idea of Moire lines, I mentioned before.

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An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

[email protected]

Luiza Zimerman (photo by Roland Okoń)


Sheena Thornton Peripheral ARTeries

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Caption 7Life form 1, installation

from Forms series, 2011

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries

I am with my dearling wife Sheila known to many as a passionate painter and a smile for everyone. Known to me as my inspiration, my everything. I could not have a better supporter. Our home is the Monterey Bay, California, better known to us as our paradise.

My journey started in Germany, via 14 years in England which I left with a heavy heart to finally become an US citizen. Since everybody’s passion has been shaped by their past, a little bit of my background:I was born in Germany at the dawn of WWII. My playground was hysteria, fear, physical and mental devastation, ruins and ruined life everywhere.

After graduating in the 50s from an all boy business school I choose to become an “engineer” working in a dimly lit factory 6 days a week, 12 hours per day and a pay which started at an impressive 5 dollars per month. At night time I closed my eyes and listened to the American Forces Networks and dwelt in Rock & Roll.During June of 1958 a friend asked me to join the local theater as an extra for the upcoming open air season. Reluctantly, I agreed and never regretted it. A whole unknown world opened up. I felt simply awakened and my fascination was crowned by watching my first ever ballet rehearsal. Never before had I seen such graceful girls called ballerinas. I was in awe.

From thereon, events developed breathtakingly fast. The ballet mistress Magda Karder promoted me to be an extra for the ballet. Now I was to touch and hold these graceful ballerinas. Touch and hold tight, and I was paid 5 dollars not per month but per performance. I was in heaven. Was I holding tight.

I became a professional classical ballet dancer looking back at a 12 year career. The stage became my mother, my father, my brother, my sister and my lover. Yes, I did learn that ballet is not only about pretty ballerinas but an Art Form demanding total dedication and sacrifices. An art form with a span of a butterfly’s life. Beautiful but short. An art form which taught me what professionalism is all about.

Eike WaltzAn artist’s statement

(Germany/USA)

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Righteous Exploits


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Eike Waltz

an interview with

Brilliance in classical ballet is not only the effortless mastering of the technique. The stylistic perfection but, a sensual body language mixed with a mesmerizing musicality. Lifting the score to yet another summit. Breathing the soul of the performance through your whole existence. Touching the audience…

Yes, it is hard to reach the top but, I can assure you it is a lot’s harder to stay there. I met and worked with some of the most incredible artists. But that is at least one story of it’s own.

White Ballet is considered to be the ultimate form of classical ballet. Such as Swan Lake, Giselle, La Sylphide, La Bayadère, etc. The highly trained ballet dancers are typically divided into the Corps de Ballet, the Soloists and the Stars. As always, all the glory goes to the Stars. The corps de ballet is to shine in their absolute almost mechanical precision. Individuality or personality has no place in their choreography as personality is reserved for the Stars only.

However, meeting these corps de ballet ballerinas during daily training, rehearsal and privately, their aspirations and dreams become vividly obvious. Yet, once on stage all feelings are capsulated inside that so magically coordinated precision. You could say that corps de ballet ballerinas live a dual artistic life. They train to be a star, they perform as a sophisticated tool.

For a moment, let’s imagine what happened.The year is 1968. The place: the walled city of West Berlin.Inside that wall a bitter cold winter.Inside that wall the remnants of yestersays order was challenged to the core. Inside that wall the student uprising surrounded by battalions of Police. All of us, students, police and I the same generation.Inside that wall the Deutsche Oper.In the audience the Shah of Iran.Outside the Opera protest, shots are fired, death.On stage Swan Lake …Inside my mind contradiction and turmoil…Swan Lake. My Swan Lake transcended into naked surrealism….

My “Pink Point Shoe Company” was born on a piece of black and white paper.

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

Eike as Catull in Catulli Carmina (Orff)

Eike Waltz

Whilst the classical pose and equilibrium of the body is maintained, the dancers heads transformed into trance-like obedience exposing their hidden sentiments in their swan-like neck formations such as fortitude, frailty, vulnerability, vanity….Or is it more like meet the copycat, the aggressive, the timid, the best, the shy, the bitch, the superior, the jealous.A performance within a performance. A dynamic eruption within a now static choreographyMy “danseur noble”, superior imperial decadence.My “prima ballerina assoluta”, forever poetic innocence.

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Peripheral ARTeries

sketch for the Pink Point Shoe Co 1960s

Deutsche Oper Berlin 1968

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Eike Waltz

an interview with

My “soloists”, mature elegance.My “corps de ballet”, like the turmoil on the streets of Berlin…

1972, whilst joining the Royal College of Art in London Professor Misha Black, my mentor, encouraged me to transform my “Pink Point Shoe Company” on paper into life-size three dimensional Sculptures. “Just do it”, rumbled the sculptor Sir Eduardo Paoluzzi, “you will never regret doing it. As you will forever regret not having done it”.And then, 1973, my “Pink Point Shoe Company” became one of the more interesting exhibitions seen in London. According to an Italian Art Magazine the show was interpreted as a metaphor for man’s alienation illustrating Marx’s remark that alienated labor and I quote “mortifies man’s body and ruins his mind”. Wow, was that on my mind?

The “Pink Point Shoe Company” exhibited in different choreographies in London, Harlow, San Francisco and last 2010 in Santa Cruz at our “Sex & City” show. It was always a dream of mine to bring the static figures a life in an animation. After seeing Rudolf Nureyev’s La Bayadère performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene (meaning the “Kingdom of the Spirits”) became my reference for the animation called “The Shade of Amani”. The ballet La Bayadère was most likely influenced by an 1839 touring company of authentic Indian bayadères visiting Paris and London. Their celebrated principle dancer was called “Amani”. During 1855 it was reported that Amani had hung herself in a fit of depression in fog-bound London while longing for her beloved India.A typical artistic side line tragedy, buried in archives, woke my interest.

A side line tragedy which inspired me to bring the “Pink Point Shoe Company” alive.Alive in a choreography only imaginable in computer animation.Digital animation does not only provide the viewer but also the choreographer with seemingly endless view angles inclusive imaginary by allowing the animator to add a new dimension and surreal interpretation creating a digital life form blurring our traditional perception of reality accepting and allowing us to fall in love with alien images.

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

Eike Waltz

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Peripheral ARTeries

The original 18 figures have now grown to 75 including, including an orchestra and a conductor.

Planned to perform in a combination of a static and dynamic display where the visitor finds himself as an extra on stage. The problem however is to find a suitable space. I keep searching…

Returning to the Square & CircleI am a great admirer of Jean Cocteau and met with him (so in a dream) when I was 20 years of age where he confronted me with the importance of “the line”. At the same time when I (then a ballet dancer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin) was told by a family member of Stefan Zweig (the writer) to pursue the meaning of “to say” (say it outside the box – say it differently-say it with passion-say it concise with no frills). This prompted me to define “Sculpitti” my own style of communication, free of any artistic norms and conventions, realizing that I am a member of a nothing has changed world.

Sculpitti is the generic name given to a style of sculptures made to provide for an artistic solid foundation (like the nameless wall in graffiti) primarily to convey a statement or message or short story, which over time may be re-configured / renamed to re-convey a different /new statement or message or story (like over painting existing graffiti on an otherwise strategically placed wall with a new message).

Sculpitti sculpture is fundamentally created free of a permanently attached name and the (technical) execution is only to be seen as the reflection of the artist’s expertise.

Returning to the square and circle in ice is a series of bronze sculptures which demonstrate the result. Both the importance of “the line” and what “to say” expressing a short story using the most basics of shape: 3D squares and circles. Detail and color play little or no role as the overall shape “speaks”. Ice (the choice of the final bronze patina) has many shades of “no colors”, hence also called the “Ice Series”.

The Pink Point Shoe Co. performing


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Eike Waltz

an interview with

An interview with

Eike Waltz

Hello Eike, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

The most complex question first? After I read Tolstoy, Wiki, etc. I created my own definition and escape route for my “work of art” called “Sculpitti”. I do not claim to understand all what is called work of art. But agree that “all art is applied without limits”.

By the way, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Art created in my (our) lifetime, or art created since the 1930’s.

Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

I assume you mean “arts”. Humans are born “na-ked” and learn to communicate. Our home is our tradition (good or bad). At some point in life some of us develope a special human gift and awake a talent for exceptional communication via art, scien-ce, etc. At this point the talent becomes the perso-nality one is identified with. The root of this gift is born in tradition whilst the journey is contemporary. No dichotomy but evolution.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Besides your Fine Art and Indus-trial Design studies at the Royal College of Art in London, you also enjoyed a twofold career as ballet dancer in your native Germany and as an engineering designer and international electro-nics industry consultant, how has these different experiences impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks?

There is no connection. I live and enjoy two different lives. My engineering asperations are as deeply im-

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

bedded as my search for artistic freedom. My biggest joy in engineering is creating markets and competitive products a company can succeed in. For over 20 years I am a USNC (United States National Committee) delegate to the IEC (Inter-national Electrotechnical Committee) defining many international standards.

Yes, I am a liberal standardization guru (it has to make market and technical sense) objecting to my orthodox colleges prefering the rule of conforming with the past. And then, as an “artist” I cant even think in terms of standardization at all. As a matter of fact, I reject it. I was involved creating several industrial divisions of companies in the UK, Japan,

Eike Waltz

Eike Waltz

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USA and Germany. I just love it when a factory is in full production. I enjoy the accompanying sound, the intense activity, the logic, the competitiveness and of course the workforce and the team making it possible. Knowing good engineers is my pride.

Before starting to elaborate about your pro-duction, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

First comes the idea. The idea is enhanced by the choice of the technique. There are occasions where I have a “brilliant” idea but cannot find a technical

enhancing solution. So I have to shelf the idea and wait and wait for a breakthrough.

And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

10% buying the materials, 2 seconds kick starting the process, 50% engaging in the process, 40% let the process guide me into the unknown. 1 second concluding the finish. Yes, I do have a weakness for choosing the eternal bronze as a final media.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with The Pink Point Shoe Company that our readers have already started to get to


Eike WaltzPeripheral ARTeries

know in the introductory pages of this article and I would suggest them to visit www.f-artstatements.com in order to get a wider idea of your work: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of the project behind this project? What was your initial inspiration?

My time in Berlin 1966 to 1970. An extraordenary condensed event of love and disappointment, success and failure, admiration and innocents, confrontation and rebirth, end and a new beginning.

Although the primary audience of this extremely stimulating work are people interested in classical ballet, sculpture and animation, one of the feature of it that has mostly impacted on me is the capability of creating a deep involvement in the viewers, prescinding from the "initial background"... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process...

Well, for the initial creation of The Pink Point Shoe Co it obiously was based on personal experience. But now the performance/show I have in mind is way beyond the initial personal experience and has turned into a life of it’s own as a mix of sculpture, animation, performance and happening.

Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Yes, what about imagination, dreams, hopes, asperations, discoveries, searches, etc. Direct experience becomes a tool in the artists arsenal. An open mind does not necessarely cling onto experience. The moment of surprise is what you aim for.

By the way, I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them.

I leave this need to the pleasure of accidental discovery.

Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

I am not an esoteric, secret heart, or vital principle searching soul. I am a realist, loving to play out of the box, surprising even myself. Just trying hard not to Studio. Orchestra in progress

Peripheral ARTeriesEike Waltz

become the tyrant of my own mind. What is in my soul, my future dreams have to enlighten me.

Another interesting work of your that has particularly impressed me and on which I would like to spend some words is The Shade of Amani, that can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H72C3aOR7nQOur readers will appreciate the deep synergy that this work establishes between Art and Technology... and I'm sort of convinced that new media art will definitely fill the dichotomy between art and technology and I will dare to say that Art and Technology are going to assimilate one to each other... what's your point about this?

Historically, art challenged and sience followed. Since the industrial revolution however, sience (“reason

Conductor

Ciagra et Vialis

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Eike Waltz

an interview with

applied within a framework”) dominates and art fills in the social gaps. Digital media certainly has blurred our otherwise contemporary perception of reality, allowing us to think in new dimensions, view points, social interaction and even fall in love with alien images.

Interdisciplinary collaboration marks your art-works, and is today an ever growing force in Art and that that most exciting things happen when creative minds from different fields of practice meet and collaborate on a project... could you tell us something about this effective synergy? By the way, the artist Peter Tabor once said that "collaboration is working together with another to create something as a synthesis of two practices, that alone one could not": what's your point about this? Can you explain how your work demonstrates communication between several artists?

Well, I could think of several responses. Closest to

me my wife Sheila a painter and sculptor struggles with me to promote political art, a subject matter hashed over in the USA. On the other hand, todays, artists facing the growing trend of galleries turning into community centers away from the holy grail of stale elit art temples. And then, presenting a show containing different art disciplins by different artists where the focal point changes to enhance an overall experience may just captivate the visitor. A good show to me starts with the grasping of the archi-tecture of the chosen place where you strategically place the artwork or activity in such a way that the visitor feels comfortable to be drawn in. The idea of the “synthesis of two practices” applies to me only in terms of getting inspired or shall I say lifted to a creative level by indulging in artistic brilliance of any media. I call it “it’s created to please my ego”.

It goes without saying that feedbacks and espe-cially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or just the

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

The Shade of Amani - animation

Eike Waltz

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Peripheral ARTeries

expectation of a positive feedback- could even influence the process of an artist...

Both, the award and documented feedback are essential information a curator is looking for. Every artist is aware that bio’s and lengthy exhibition resumes are key to recognition. Impressive presentation on sophisticated websites are the norm. You have to become computer literate of somesort and know who is the best geek nearby. And before I forget, an award frequently fills the pocket. And there are the rapidly emerging web galleries where once selected by a jury the feed-back is still sketchy.

By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience?

Well, I grew up in the theater. Performing is in my blood. Contact with the audience is exilerating. When you take the curtain, you feel some sort of an anticlimax. I need the audience to lick or

inflame my wounds preparing me for the next day. I would like to make a documentary of the Pink Point Shoe Co interacting with the audience, my extras.

Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

I create to empty my mind. Then I enjoy for a very brief time some sort of a narcistic satisfaction, take a walk on the beach and forget about it.

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

I am searching for a curator whith access to a large space with whom I can stage “The Pink Point Shoe Co.”

The Shade of Amani - animation

An article by [email protected]

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries

I draw abstract natural environments using the process of pouring Sumi ink and moving the paper. I rely on chance and accident as part of my approach. Once I’ve dripped ink on blank white paper, a certain constant rule occurs.

While I am manipulating the materials, I feel that I coexist with the drawing and the materials, a form arising from another form, like biogenesis in nature. Another reason that I use a technique based on process is that I think it mirrors the organic character of the natural world. For example creatures have evolved to suit to their environment. After these processes, I add hand drawing by using things, which I found by chance instead of a paint brush. I often borrow power of nature such as wind. It makes me imagine primitive drawing technique and beginning of human civilization. The other hand, I occasionally takes photographs of each process and animated these. Sumi Ink changes tone and gradation by dehydration conditions, and it similar to the earth’s surface made of magmas formed by cooling.

I respect nature because nobody can overcome the power of nature, and nothing more is beautiful than nature or life. I believe that humans are part of nature. While being a highly intelligent creature is valuable, our lives were never meant to be more valuable than those of other creatures. All creatures have the same number of roles to play, and their lives have equal value; everything on the earth coexists equally, and eventually everything returns to the earth.

An artist’s statement(Japan)

Sumiko Shimada

Sumiko Shimada

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Peripheral ARTeriesSumiko Shimada

Weather, 2013

Sumi ink and Charcoal, 9"x12"each

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Sumiko Shimada

an interview with

An interview with

Sumiko Shimada

Hello Sumiko, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

In my opinion, a work of art is a communication tool. An artist depicts what they saw and felt, and then viewers receive something. I draw arts to enjoy as a fun association game. Viewer interprets totally differently from my implication.

By the way, what could be the features that mark an artworks as a piece of Contemporary Art? Do you think that there's still an inner dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

I think that the feature of contemporary art is an element of avant-garde. Both of artist’s debate and viewer’s reaction create a piece of art together; viewer’s reaction can be the part of the art. This feature may also be the inner dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Besides a B.F.A of 3D Animation, you hold a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate of Visual Arts, that you have received from UC Berkeley Extension, San Francisco: how have these experiences -and especially moving from Tokyo to the United States- impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks?

Yes, moving from Tokyo to the United States- impacted on the way I currently produce my art-works. One is the weather. I’ve traveled many parts of the US and I experienced a variety of weathers and saw lives: In Vermont tornado attacked so people took shelter basement.

In Texas Summer was extremely hot as 90 F but Sensible temperature was lower than Japan. One day winter came suddenly with huge hail.

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

Sumiko Shimada

" The Nature series branch off into three motifs of the ocean, the sky (weather), and the evolution. Those three are intimately connected and affected each other.

Ocean represents outbreak of the creatures and this evolution from the ocean. Weather describes variable climates, which appears different by a place, a season and a time.

I draw many different weathers (rain, cloud, sunder, sun, hot, cold, etc.) on small papers; I draw each weather in each paper.

Sumiko Shimada

In Arizona, I saw a bird making a nest inside of a cactus. In San Francisco, it keeps the same tempe-rature and weather whole year, while a neigh-boring city has hot summer. The same plants grow differently between Japan and the US, such as a Morning glory. I had believed that it was grass because I only had seen a green stem, but I found it was a tree in the US; the green stem became brown trunk. Actually, the biggest impact was that I started having a dog. First, I was surprised how the dog was smart. (At least, my dog has more intelligence than me!). I started considering about the food chain because I wanted to quit pesticide plants or put a mouse trap for my dog’s safeness.

Now I release a lady bug on the plants to make it eats aphids. I also met many animal lovers and I notices animal protection minds are so wide-range depends on the person. Some people become a vegan because they think eating intelligence animal is crueler than plants because it can feel pain. Some people against a meaningless killing, people shouldn’t kill more than they need.

Those experiences were very interesting and chance to think about human in nature.

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Then I combine together to make a piece of art. Evolution is a short animation piece that depicts 4,600 million years history of the earth; I take photographs of each process of drawings and animated these. "

Sumiko Shimada

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries Sumiko Shimada

By the way, I would ask your point about formal training: I sometimes wonder if a certain kind of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

A certain kind of training could stifle a young artist's creati-vity: I think that training doesn’t affect an artist’s creativity. Creativity only grows in proportion to number of creation, experience and experiment. .

Before starting to elaborate about your pro-duction, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

Before I start drawing, I go out and feel the natural environment by seeing, smelling, listing and touch-

ing. I imagine geometric shapes from what I felt. For example, ocean wave is circle, bright sunlight is a triangle or a smell of warm wind is spiral. Sometimes I make a sketch using the shapes.

I lay two large papers on the floor. I usually draw two pieces at the same time because Sumi-Ink dry extremely slow, so I draw one while I am waiting for another one drying.

I mainly focus on the process. First, I draw the environment by imitating a movement of natural power. In the beginning, I pour ink, and then move the paper back and forth like a wave. I gradually add water and repeat the same movement. Usually the ink traces the exact same way to return, but turn aside some time very slowly. I often borrow a power of strong wind. Wind change shape dramatically and very fast. I have used a shower by pretending rain. “Ocean8” (The after disaster; piece of an ugly example.) was used

Ocean 8, Sumi ink and marker, 30"x51 1/2", 2012

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Banaz Jacob Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with


Ocean 8,

Sumi ink and marker, 30"x51 1/2", 2012

shower. After I completed drawing once, I flash everything off by shower then re-drew on it. Second, I add details.

Besides I use a calligraphic pen or marker, I use found items: sticks, salt, sand, fabric and so on. I may imitate a primitive drawing technique.

Now let's focus on your artistic production: I would start from your interesting Nature series that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest to our readers to visit directly https://vimeo.com/78396033 in order to get a wider idea of the Sumi ink technique. In the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting project? What was your initial inspiration?

Initial inspiration of Nature series came up acci-

dentally. When I drew an artwork at the school, I needed roll it up to bring back to my home before the ink dry. So I covered the wet part by another paper. When I removed the paper at home, I saw a random shape was stamped on the paper. The shape was similar to the rock of the bottom of the sea. I thought that If there were creatures, it would be fun. So I started adding small dots as much as possible. The aggregate of the dot looked like seaweed. It was just like a lot of single cells evolve into different creatures.

One of the features that has mostly impacted on me of your works, is the way you have been effectively capable of re-contextualizing the idea of landscape, and in general of the en-vironment we live in... which is far from being just the background of our existence...and I'm sort of convinced that some informations &

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Ocean3, Sumi ink and marker, 30"x51 1/2", 2012 (1st Place in San Mateo County Fair Fine Arts Galleria contest 2014)

Sumiko Shimada Peripheral ARTeries

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Weather 2,

Sumi ink, 24" x 18"

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#196 Winter



ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

Human is the part of nature and powerless toward huge power of nature. Human are kept arive by the nature so only way to survive is coexsist. This is my personal philosophy. There are so many different philosophys toward relationship between nature and human depends on place, religion, cul-

ture and personal experience. I found out that it is very difficult to exchange opinion about this topic. In my opinion, It is not nessary decipher message. If an audience think “Not sure but probably understand it sensuously”, it is an expected reaction. As I mentioned art is a fun association game, I want audiences to interpret it just as wanted. The same thing is interpreted into totally different thing is also Nature.

As you have remarked once, you rely on chance and accident as part of your approach... I would

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an interview with

Memories of Summer, 2010, acrylic painting, 60x42cm

Caption 4

like to ask you if in your opinion personal expe-rience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

In my opinion, personal experience is indespen-sable part of a creative process. In fact, many ideas of Nature series are influenced by Oriental Philosophy especially Janapense natural worship mind: People have to appreciate for everything surrounding them like sun,air, water, food, plants,

etc... Ancient Japanese believed Each God dwells in each element. Still there is the trace and Japanese thank for everything unconsciously. I even didn’t notice how much I was influenced by own origin until I answer this interview!

And I couldn't do without mentioning Evolu-tion, a short animation piece that depicts 4,600 million years history of the earth; as you have remarked, you take photographs of each pro-cess of drawings and animated them: I have found this extremely interesting and it reminds

me the work of Emily Pütter, a versatile German artist that I had the chance to interview years ago and in particular the idea of showing the process of doing of an artwork... by the way, does the incidental feature of your process allow you to visualize your Art before creating?

I am not sure an incidental feature of my process allow you to visualize your Art before creating, but I can tell three reason I decided makeing anima-tion.

1. I had always been disappointed that Sumi-Ink fade to matt black after having dry. Only the moment I just pour Sumi-Ink, the color is the blackest black and surface tension occur. The glossy surface reflects light and slightly shakes by wind very beautifully. I wanted record the most beautiful moment.

2. In a drawing class, my instractor suggest to make long pieace. Also she showed me William Kentridge animation when I was just wanting to make use of the technique of the animation which I studied before. But at this point, I hadn’t thought to record entire process of the long piece yet. I was just going to make like William Kentridge.

3. The inspiration came up from the “long piece”. The long piece reminded me a scrolled of chrono-logical table. So I decided to record history from bigining of the earth to birth of the primate. The shape of long also similar to filming reel therefore I chose “Evolution” to be an animation.

During these years your work has been exhi-bited in several occasions, and you recently took part to the FLIGHT Group Show, Oakland Aviation Museum: moreover, I think it's important to remark that you have been selected at the 1st Place in DIVISION 302, San Mateo County Fair Fine Art and that you have been awarded at the International Modern Art Exposition in Japan... It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or just the expectation of positive feedback- could even influence the process of an artist...

The FLIGHT Group show is presented by SFWA (San Francisco Women Artists) members.

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This group provides interesting theme every month and members submit some works to be accepted for the group show. I enjoy challenging in new styles. I usually start with Sumi-Ink as the Nature series and add a colorful concrete object.

Competition is important because I like share works with other winners and it make me know what type

Sumiko Shimada in her studio



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Caption 7

of art people like. I guess a work, which seemed to stir and move, receives higher rate.

For both of competitions, I submitted two works together, and one with more movement received award. It definitely could influence the process of an artist. Now, I always have a pressur that I must make better works than those works. I hope it will be a good influence!

By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

It is important. I believe myself the nature series has a very positive concept because it is about the Birth; Birth of Natural environment, and creatures. Creatures evolve stronger… In my experience, many people reacted to the black pigment. While many people said the piece was gorgeous because of the color, some people said scary. Even the contradiction of positive and negative is part of my intense, I very careful about presentation since I received a negative feedback. I have never thought to whom will enjoy my art. One audience said that it matches the wall of the company Building and I agreed so. If it could ever exist a genuine relationship bet-ween business and Art....This is difficult question. Some kinds of arts has a genuine relationship between business and Art. Traditional art exist a genuine relationship. Commercial are is definitly business tool. The contemporary art is a difficult one but still can have commission work or work with partner who has the same thought.

Thanks a lot for your time and for sharing your thoughts, Sumiko: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

My plan is making “Civilization” series. In there, the human being will be a main subject. I am going to add colors gradually and drawings gradually change to 3 dimensional piece. The civilization series will be a link to my previous series “Utopia”, which I had been making before I started the Nature series. It was colorful scul-ptures which are mosaic made of plastic bottles, and puppets made of PVC. All materials were science substance. The concept was that ideal things (fantasy) exist only as artificial.

an interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

[email protected]

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries

Art, expression and creativeness have always been at the forefront of my creative endeavors. Being able to speak without words but through a medium is extremely powerful.

I create art that exhausts your eyes and challenges the spirit. A mixture of raw and real combining sketches, collage work and painting techniques all on the same surface- the blank canvas. Juxtaposing pop art with everyday human opinions, and emotional responses to events, struggles and controversial topics lures the onlooker into my realm.

Sometimes, I never know what will transpire until I stand back and allow the canvas to speak to me. Using mix media gives a left filled attempt at a viewers interpretation of “Art” which is what I strive to do. Essentially, I do what soothes my soul and that is to create.

I am S.Thornton……….

An artist’s statement

(USA)

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Righteous Exploits



Press Fast Forward, 2014

24*36

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S. Thornton

an interview with

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

S. Thornton

An interview with

Hello Sheena and welcome to Peripheral ART- eries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? Moreover, what could be the features that mark the contempo-rariness of an artwork?

I define a work of art as such; Meaning, purpose, controversial, love, faith, empowering, intriguing, interesting, creative and the list goes on.

However, the meaning of art continues to be debated and evolve as we speak. Art stimu-lates different parts of our brains that makes up our emotions. Art can make us cry, smile, laugh and everything in between. Art is therapy, a way to release. Art is everything look around you, it is everywhere its a huge part of our everyday life. Art can be subjective, and mean something different to every single person thats the beauty of it.

For me its all about the message behind it. Without a message whats the purpose? I'm all about the connection. Art that unites people together sparking conversations. I just really want to captivate people for as long as I can keep their attention. Every work has a different message. Every piece has its own story. I want my work to be an ultimate form of commu-nication and self expression.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any experiences that have particularly influenced you and that impacted on the way you currently produce your Art? By the way, since you are basically self-taught, I would ask your point on formal training? I often ask to myself if a certain kind

of training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

My name is S. Thornton and I am born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, I was surrounded by struggle and hardships. Watching so many people struggle with drugs, love, abandonment, financial issues just every-thing. I seen so many horrible things that I decided to release everything in my art.

I just wanted to create vivid images that re- presented hardships but also picking up the pieces and becoming a better person from it. With all that I have experienced I was able find a way to make sense of what was going and released my own inner demons as well as what others was facing around me. For that I am forever grateful. I created an obsession with the past, freezed experiences and juxtaposed them together to create an insight into social issues. Creating art always came easy for me. From young, I was fascinated with art and different mediums.


Vanity Unbroken, 2013(24*30)

Mix Media

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries S. Thornton

I would collect magazines anything visually inspiring. For as long I can remember, all I ever wanted to do create. I am self taught everything I learned is because I decided it was important to put my time and effort and dedication into. Who is to say what we must know and be able to do in art if the production of art doesn't require any particular knowledge or ability?

How can one justify efforts to develop skill in the handling of the tools and materials of art if such

skills does not need to be reflected in works of art? I respect all artist self taught, or with art education. In the end, we are all artist.

Before starting to elaborate about your pro-duction, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work?

My work process varies on my current mood.

Love Is Blind, 2014, 24x30, Mix Media

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an interview with

Piedad

Scorn, 2013(18*18)

Mix Media

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Sometimes, things have to be very silent and at other times music have to be playing. Lately, I prefer silence. I need to hear my thoughts or I can get frustrated very quickly. When its time to create I just have to be in the mood. No distractions, no people around nothing just me and my thoughts.

The main focus is the message thats gonna be perceived. It all begins with a sketch and end's with some kind of sketch. Sketching has been the one thing that holds my pieces together. I love the rawness you see with sketches. The line work, the shading even the mistakes look beautiful. I love how sketch's can look unfini-shed. Something, like life. Sketching can be interpret as a thought process or something your practicing, most of the time sketches are not suppose to even be seen.

How similar is that to one's life journey who want's their flaws out for the world to see? Sketching and creating just gives me the freedom to just release everything going on at once without the fears of making mistakes.

And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

As for the preparation and time I have to be honest I never watch the time I just create. I believe once I get in the habit of looking at clocks I wont be in the same creative space mentally. I believe in creating with bravery mistakes and all. Falling in stagnant patterns is a recipe to disaster just a dangerous territory. I guess thats why I hate the word deadline.

I really enjoy observing the progress of my work so sometimes I can just spend a lot of time just looking at it. I create my best work this way.

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with Generation M and your recent Press Fast Forward that our readers have started to admire in the introductory pages of this article: and I would suggest them to visit your website directly at the following http://www.iamsthornton.com/ in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production... in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this work? What was your initial inspiration?

I swear it begins and ends with life experiences and the

S. Thornton Peripheral ARTeries

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ability to pick up the pieces and move on. The genesis in my work period is HOPE. For this specific piece entitled "Generation M" it tackles a world over the overstimulated experience of social media. A world filled with color symbolizing the many distractions one may face.

The piece entitled "Press Fast Forward" represents everything going on so many mix emotions being faced everyday and having the ability to press a button and go to a whole different place in your life.

Mind Fck, 2014 (16*20) Mix Media

Generation M, 2014 (24*36) Mix Media

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#196 Winter


The concept is all about inner strength. I focused on showing the moments between sadness, anger and putting oneself together. Its all about progression and hope as with every piece I create.

Your works are capable of establishing a pre-sence and such an atmosphere of memories, using just little reminders of human existance, as in Trophy Wife and Massive Destruction... and as you have remarked in your artist's sta-

tement, an important feature of your Art is the juxtaposition of pop art with everyday human opinions, and emotional responses to events... moreover, most of your pieces keep a solid reference to our reality and draw inspira-tion from it, so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Massive Destruction, 2014 (24*30) Mix Media

Good question. I guess, it depends on the situa-


an interview with

Caption 4

Trophy Wife , 2014

Top Piece – ( 20*20) Bottom Piece – (9*12)

Mix Media

tion and depends on the artist. I can only speak for me and my creative process. Everything connects from direct experiences whether from myself or the people around me. I wouldn't have anything to paint. I would have nothing to create. I believe life experience's build charac-ter. Every experience whether it be a direct experience or not It connect's us but than again its varies on the artist. Do not quote me, this is just my opinion. :)

Multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice and if I have been asked to choose an adjective that could sum up in a single word your art, I would say that your it's "kaleido-scopic": as our readers have already noticed in the pages of this article, you love to mix many medias and your artworks are in a certain sense the symbiosis between apparently different techniques... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a

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Love Vs. $$$, 2013 (24*30) Mix Media

Broken Clock, 2014

Top Piece – ( 20*20)

Bottom Piece – (9*12)

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synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

I'm all about creating with a purpose and enjoy-ing what I do while doing it. Being an artist who likes to use a lot of different mediums just brings a tab bit more fun and edge to it.

Another couple of works that have particularly impres-sed me and on which I would like to spend some words are Love Vs. $$$ and Broken Clock... I dare say that these works seek to challenge art in its conventions of exclusivity and question the audience’s role as passive consumer, and moreover I can recognize such a subtle but effective social criticism in these pieces... and I'm


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Not 4 Sale, 2014 (24*30) Mix Media

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sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... what's your point about this?

As, with most things visual it has the ability to effect people behavior believes etc. Thats why I draw connections with real life social issues and my art. So, people can connect feel like they can relate. We can disagree as well but as long as I grasp your attention for that brief moment

my job is done. Hopefully one can take some-thing with them.

And I couldn't do without mentioning Scorn and especially Elastic Heart, which I have to admit is one of my favourite pieces of you: in particular, what have mostly impacted on me of this extremely stimulating work is the the effective mix of colors that creates a synergy instead of a contrast: such a multitude of tones that as in Vanity Unbroken suggests the idea of an explosion... By the way, any comments on

Elastic Heart, 2013 (18*24) Mix Media

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an interview with

Caption 4

Soul Surgery, 2013

(18*24)

Mix Media

your choice of "palette" and how it has chan-ged over time?

Thanks for the kind words. Elastic Heart happens to be my favorite piece as well. It reflects being surrounded by artificial when you have a heart pure as gold. As for the palette it choose me, It always does. I never go in any painting session with a palette choice I feel like that puts my creativity in a box. I create!! Usually it just flows well.

I would say it has changed over time Im not afraid of bright colors as I was before. I'm open to play with vivid colors. My first choice might always be black but now I may think twice and try to shake things up a little. Is it safe to say I'm growing as an artist?

It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, encouraging him: I was just wondering if an award -or even the expectation of positive feedbacks- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

Feedback… Feedback gives an opportunity to motivate. Its an severe source of malnourish-ment. I take the good feedback over the bad feedback any day but I do believe its an essential part of learning. Its a very important part in the beginning of my creating process.

I normally take all the feedback from different situations going on in one's life and create some kind of still life interpretation of it. l always think about the people who will conceive my work. Yes, I want to create good pieces but I also want to reach people and put them in a happier place.

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Sheena. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

What next for me? Hopefully a life where I can create on a larger scale reaching a larger audience. I would love to do street mural's. MIxed with all my techniques.

How cool would that be? I am currently working on a collage series on paper. The concept behind it is being surrounded by real and fake elements. I also hope to do a lot more inter-view's that are as great as this one. I love being able to connect with an audience.

Feels great to be able give insight to my crazy world.

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An interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

[email protected]

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Beautiful Disaster, 2014

(24*36

Mix Media

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Peripheral ARTeries

For me art has always been very personal as well as spiritual. When I create then it comes from within. Colours, patterns, feelings, the people and animals-birds (all living) around me and nature are my inspiration. The quiet moments, hours, you spend on observing, sensing, painting, drawing, creating something that is the sum of the inner and the outer world. For me nature has always been the biggest inspiration – the most talented and powerful and heartwarming artist of all. After all, we are a part of it and living in tune with nature’s vibrations is, in my opinion, the most natural environment for all humans and other living beings. I love the eye of detail that comes through me while walking outside – buildings, trees, patterns, colours, movements... to sense this oness. Art is meditation – it somehow connects you with yourself and the way you sense the world. A journey. A beautiful way of learning to live with yourself. If I truly love something and wish to capture it, I put my soul in it. I create, because it comes from within and if it touches others and gives me opportunities to work in the field I love, then it is a very big bonus.

I also believe in the healing abilities of art, weather it is connecting with yourself or helping others through visual mediums. Art therapy is something that has always interested me. Just letting your hand move, without thinking or controlling it. Without thinking how beautiful or realistic the work will turn out, just trusting the process and transforming your emotions. If some years ago painting was my way of healing stress and getting in touch with negative elements, then now I have gradually started to capture the positive emotions and beauty I sense both in myself and in those around me.

I live in Estonia and I graduated from Tartu Art College in the summer of 2012. 4 years, time, which helped me to learn about many different mediums and ways of self-expression, it gave me opportunities to meet several interesting people and artists, and helped me to find my way as an artist and grow as a person. I have worked with different painting and graphics techniques, I have also done wall-paintings and interior design projects both alone and as a group work. I have collaborated in several group exhibitions with my paintings, installations, drawings and graphics here in Estonia and also in a few group exhibitions in Finland. My works are both soft and fairylike as well as colourful and contrast. I don’t have any particular favourite medium or style. (Although if I had to choose then oil is closest to my heart. Very soft and gives many different ways to work with it.) I discover new artists that catch my eye constantly. Graphics, painting, installation, drawing, sketch, photography, therapeutic art, colours, minimal, optical, soft... – I love it all. Diversity.

Kadi KusnetsAn artist’s statement

(Estonia)

Kadi Kusnets

http://www.coroflot.com/kadi_kusnets

https://www.facebook.com/KadiKusnetsArt

https://www.facebook.com/KadiKusnetsArt/photos_albums

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Righteous Exploits


In Wonderland, 2010

a copy of Seth Siro Anton s Reinaissance

part III (secco)

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Kadi Kusnets

an interview with

An interview with

Kadi Kusnets

Hello Kadi and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. To start this interview, I would pose you my usual icebreaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? In particular, do you think that there's a dichotomy between Tradition and Contemporariness?

Hello :) If something touches a person’s soul, catches his or her eye, makes them interested then it is art. All that has been created is art in some way. As weird as it maybe sounds.. I don’t actually wonder about it very much. Everyone has their own taste. There are some styles of art that I personally don’t really get... but that doesn’t mean it is not art or that it has no meaning, it just means that it doesn’t connect with me at that moment.

And as for contemporary and traditional art.. there are differences as well as similarities. I guess sometimes we are influenced by the traditional styles without even being aware of it. And having a knowledge of different styles and techniques from diffe-rent periods of time it is a bonus for the artist himself, gives diversity. The two can be seperated as well as bined together. �

Would you like to tell us something about your background? By the way, you have� graduated from Tartu Art College about two years ago: how has this experience impacted on you and has that influenced the way you currently produce your works?

Before I went to Tartu Art College I hadn’t had any artistic training. Of course, when I was litte� I drew a lot and folded dolls and all kinds of cute things from paper, made litte maquettes, I was a creative child. �And looking back at that time and sometimes looking at these pictures now, I smile and start to laugh.. it brings a warm feeling inside.

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

But as for classical drawing, painting, basics about art…feels stange to say this now, but.. I had no clue. I hadn’t gone to any art school before. I didn’t know anything about composition or human pro-portions, drawing basics etc…

When it was time to go to University I just felt that it is not for me. I had a hard time choosing a spe- ciality, nothing really connected. Nothing really interested me.. and the idea I had to go to study psychology didn’t feel like the right choice for me anymore..and suddenly I just knew that I wanted to go to art school. I can’t logically esplain it, but I just somehow� k n e w �that paintings department and that particular school was the right way.

I remember how I got � many different opinions about it.. Supportive as well as not so much… I didn’t actually know how to paint or draw.. and how was I going to support myself financially after school as a painter.. and so on.... I took prepara-tory courses for two years, because at the first time I didn’t get into the school. I guess I needed

Kadi Kusnets

Kadi Kusnets

Found what it is that connects with me in every assignment we were given.. And as the time went on I started to grow.. I can’t really explain it, but this school, these four years, the people, this building, the aura around it, the experience, and of course my diploma work made me learn and experience so much. Tartu Art Collage has given a good fundament for many different painting techniques: watercolor, acrylic and oil painting, secco, fresco, sgraffito, collage, stencil, mosaic, stained glass, different graphics techniques, also wall-paintings and interior design. Also the opportunities to present ideas to clients, to participate in exhibitions.

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some more time. Some people have said to me that when it comes easy-it is the right way to go. I do not agree that it is always the case.

For the first two years it wasn’t that easy for me.. The lack of experience made it really hard for me to get the grades and feedback I would have liked to get. But then, in the second half of the second year something changed... I discovered colours.. and I remember this one particular work in com-position and colours course that really made me discover a litte what it is that I m y s e l f like.. I didn’t compare myself to others as much from then on as I did before.

My Meditation Room

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Peripheral ARTeries Kadi Kusnets

As someone once said that nothing great comes out of comfort zones. If I hadn’t gone to study art and hadn’t had �all these different courses, assignements, different subjects to paint and create about, I don’t think I would have ever pushed myself that far to actually learn more about what it is that interests me in art and what are my strong sides and favourite techniques. So – long story short – I am thankful for the time I studied in Tartu art College, and for the life-long friends I made there and the way I know now more about different techniques to use in order to present my ideas. One of the biggest lessons for me was the understanding that everything is a process. That great things take time. It has very much influenced the way I work now: to know how much it takes to prepare something, what materials to use, how to organize everything etc. I know people go to artschool with different backgrounds, but for me it really was a learning process.

Before starting to elaborate about your production, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

First comes the idea. Or the idea of the idea.. I prefer to have a clear vision. I am very organized when it comes to preparation. Obviously it depends on wheter I am working for a client and if I have a spesific deadline or not, or am I just doing something for myself.� If it is for a client then I usually sketch before and search for idea-photos and take photographs if needed. Then I collect the necessary materials and organize my time-schedule. And when I create and do something for myself it is similar, exept for the place and the pace I do the work. �I am a perfectionist about my art… but I am happy to say that with time has come the ability to enjoy the colours, lines, process.. whatever the work is that I am doing. Wherever and no matter what the time limit is. My main focus goes on details and how they start working and holding together he whole piece. What parts of the painting to highlight and what parts to let fade in the background. And of course the colours.�

My Meditation Room, installation

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Kadi Kusnets Peripheral ARTeries

an interview with


Love Math

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with My meditation room, that our readers have already started to admire in the introductory pages of this article and that I would suggest to jump directly to http://www.coroflot.com/kadi_kusnets in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this interesting work? What was your initial inspiration?

It was over- a- year- long process, the main idea stayed the same as the course of the project, the details, changed during the process to fit better with the final work. There is also a very thorough (over 70 pages long) written part that is a part of the diploma work and goes together with the practical work (the room itself).

The written part is in Estonian. Still, there is a one-page summary in English at the end of the written work. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79581576/Minu%20Meditatsiooniruum.pdf (pp.50-51) ( ’The written part of the work elucidates on the essence of the creative-practical part of the work, its content, background, connections, sources and inspirations – only this way emerges the final work. Taking shape in the moment, in the course of meditation. It is a combination, a creative-therapeutic conjunction of colours, sounds and space, of one’s own deeper levels and perceptions, a comparison of the Eastern and the Western notions of the self. All this has sprung from the desire to delve deeper, which is a thrilling as well as beneficial quest – and also a difficult and laborious one.’� From ’My Meditation Room’ – the written part)

The inspiration came to me in Art College, a year before the diploma work ideas even had to be presented for the approval of the school. We had a course about writing and formating written works and the assignment was to just come up with a random idea to practice how to plan and present your work process and idea to the commission to be more prepared when the actual time comes to start working with the diploma work.

I thought about meditation, about how to create a room with optical illusions that gets you relaxed and harmonious using optical patterns instead of psychedelic drugs.

A room that helps you connect with yourself. And as for me op-art somehow creates harmony instead of chaos it seemed the way to go. The initial inspiration came from the book ‘Food of the Gods’ by Terrence Mackenna. Somehow this book really connected with me and really pulled me in. Another influence was a quote from ‘The Doors of Perception’ by Aldous Huxley ‘What the rest of us see only under the influence of mescalin, the artist is congenitally equipped to see all the time. Hisperception is not limited to what is biologically or socially useful. A little of the knowledge belonging to Mind at Large oozes past the reducing valve of brain and ego, into his consciousness. It is a knowledge of the intrinsic significance of every existent. /…/ What is important is less the reason for the experience than the experience itself.’

(http://www.maps.org/books/HuxleyA1954TheDoorsOfPerception.pdf pp.9-10)It seemed a little intimidating as I had never worked with optical illusions before, but there was plenty of time to do that. I started to combine op-art in

the school-projects we had left before starting with the diploma work. For graphics exhibition project works (‘Inner Patterns’, 6 different versions) I started to experiment with optical patterns. For an exhibition project I used optic art to make the maquette ‘My Room’, which was the pre-work for starting ‘My Meditation Room’. The tryptic “New Breathing” was in a way the influence to choose colour in ‘My Meditation Room’ and not to do it in black-and-white. The inspiration came from many different influences and ideas.

With my diploma work I wanted to create some-thing that would suggest a slightly more modern interpretation of an ancient phenomenon�as well as contribute to my own development. Something that would enable one to become absorbed in the internal instead of the external. The idea of the Meditation room was to be engaged in the process, to be able to feel every emotion that arises during the work, meditating on every subject I have read for the written part and meditating on the lines and colours that are coming alive in the practical work.

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The Meditation Room, installation, detail The Meditation Room, installation, detail



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My meditation room is a combination of� colours, sounds and space. The time-consuming technique in my practical work turned that into a meditative process as well: a time alone with myself, a time to contemplate the work while mixing the colours, taping the panels, covering them with paint, waiting for the paint to dry, removing the tape and viewing the outcome. In this way, over time, as the result of a perceptual process, I created the six panels (the floor, ceiling and four walls of the room). Finally I added the lighting and the music to make the work complete.

Another stimulating pieces of yours that have particularly impacted on me and which I would like to spend some words are The Soul and Distorting Mirror... although your works may seem in a certain sense directed to our inner

life, I can recognize such a sociopolitical feature in such aspects of your Art... By the way, I'm sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... what's your point about this?

Art is definately a way to bring people’s attention to important subjects in society, as it gives visual effect and therefore draws in, makes you look, and even better, wonder about different topics. ’Distorting Mirror’ is about self-image. It was supposed to go on an exhibition called ’Food’, but as I thought I won’t manage to finish it in time, I didn’t present it. To another exhibition in Pärnu a year later)(Although it found a wayBut from the word ’food’ came the idea for the painting.

Distorting Mirror. (oil painting)160x125cm 2011 The Soul (collage, acrylic painting, marker pens)

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In other words in a way this work is also about eating disorders, but in a wider picture, as said, about distorted self-image.

The Soul’ is one of the works� which is closest to my heart. It is a self-portrait, consisting of pictures of different animals from the Homeless Animals’ Shelter here in Estonia, Tartu. It is a conceptual work. I have gone to help and to walk and talk with the animals there for years now. Also, I have always had this huge connection with animals (birds, bugs, animals, plants) and sometimes my friends, partly as a friendly joke, call me a Dog Whisperer. A connection. To see pass the external and to see inside one little creature’s soul.

As Anatole France has said ’Until one has loved an

animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.’ We are all equal. No man should be suopperior to animals. They are our friends and deserve a loving home as we do.

As I once said ’My soul is hidden underneath the thick pelage in the caress of animals. On the one hand it is a thankyou for the people who dedicate their time to take care of these animals and find them new loving homes. On the other hand, in a way it describes me, as I often find similarities with the animals I have spent time with. It is a deeper connection I can’t really describe. With one dog, whose picture is also in the work, I spent time for months (she had been in the shelter for a year and a half), I tried to train her, socialise her more, took her to walks.. – we had a connec-


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an interview with

Memories of Summer, 2010, acrylic painting, 60x42cm

Caption 4

tion.. and one day- she got herself a home. So there is also a third aspect – warm memories of those who have found new homes and a wish for the Universe for those who are still searching for one. �

As you have stated once, your art has always been very personal as well as spiritual and that when you create then it comes from within: so I would like to ask you if in your opinion

personal experience is an absolutely indispen-sable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

It is an interesting question... I have created art that doesn’t connect with me. But I believe it is possible to put something from yourself into every painting, drawing, work of art you create. It just depends on the state you are in at the moment,

what are your thoughts at that time, interests, moods, what goes around you.. how well can you connect with the subjec� you are working on at that moment. I have painted and drew models or city-views that I don’t connect with and those works are not my favourite ones, they don’t bring a good feeling inside. While on the� ohter hand some paintings, drawings of models, flowers just click and I find inspiration right away. But peole are different. What applies for me may not be that way for ohter artists. The trick is to find what fascinates you in every work.

The painting ’Memories of Summer’ wasn’t like the result from the start. It was actually a school work. The subject was ’my most favourite memory of the summer’. Memories of that summer held many emotions.. some that made me smile and some that hurt at that moment. While starting the painting I was confused, I didn’t connect and it showed on the canvas. I couldn’t really put myself in it. It was a mix of lines and colours that didn’t really go together.

I left the painting as it was for a few months and in the week of the evaluation I made a new painting, then suddenly I somehow found a connection as I was better connected with myself then, the inspiration of that painting was � my brother :), who came to visit from Spain for a month. I finished the painting within a day.

A recurrent feature of your pieces that has mostly impacted on me is the effective mix of dark tones which are capable of creating such a prelude to light and I couldn't do without mentioning the tryptic New Breathing, an extremely interesting project that I have to admit is one of my favourite work of yours... I also noticed that several nuances of blue and red are very recurrent tone in your works, as in another interesting piece entitled Night-mare… By the way, any comments on your choice of your pallette and how it has changed over time?

When I started painting more, in the first year and the first half of the second year in Art College, the pallette of my works was quite muddy. I wasn’t sure of myself.

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So I tried to use everything. Then with the seires of works from where ’Human Pattern’ is taken from (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.423219137742571.100265.423206547743830&type=3), I discovered bright colour contrasts that are absolutely fantastic together. When I started painting with oil paints I tried the softness of colour without turning it into dark muddy tones. I like the painting ’Nude’ for that reason. It somehow came very easily.

The work ’New Breathing’ was also created for a teachers’-students’ group-exhibition ’Daylight’ here in Tartu, in the Tartu Art College� Gallery ’Noor-

New Breathing. Triptych. (oil colours, marker pen)



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Caption 7

us’. It was also a project between textile and paintings department in our school. The only condition was that it had to be a portrait, consisting of three works. I discovered a fun way of working with layers in photoshop, using different colours and photographs, that, while put on one another, created interesting coloured lines. It felt like a ’New Breathing’, vibrant and �warm. The work ’Nightmare’ is also a portrait, although a collage, but from a darker periood, where I had horrific nightmares for months.. so with ’New Breathing’, before the diploma work-process and after couple of interesting years in art school I really wanted to create something light and happy.

Multidisciplinarity, in the wide meaning of the word is a recurrent feature of your artistic production and I have appreciated the effective synergy that you create between different concepts, using different techniques, as pain-tings, installations, drawings and graphics: while crossing the borders of different techinques have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

It definately gives a new dimention to the work to mix different medias with one another. When you have tried different techniques and know your strong sides and skills, then you know how to com-

New Breathing. Triptych. (oil colours, marker pen) New Breathing. Triptych. (oil colours, marker pen)

Nightmare, 2010

collage, acrylic painting, craquele varnish

bine them. And for me, it is very interesting to work like that. But you can also give a deep dimensioon with using only one media. Also, before ’My Meditation Room’ I hadn’t really done installations before, neither had I used music and light together with paintings that create a room. It definately caused some problems at first, but also teached me well how to use these medias and also that, you don’t �have to know everything, you don’t have to be brilliant at everything, sometimes, besides the creative part, it is your brain that helps you – to know where to ask for help and guidance. But as for now, thank’s to this experiance, the next time I know more about how to make an installation and what aspects to consider. I laughed after the two-month long installation process..

To be an artist is not only to be full of ideas, but you also have to find a way to express them. You are not only an artist, but also a business man, an electrician, a builder, a musician, a writer…. And then… a painter. :) I am not saying I can do all those things perfectly now, but I got an important experience and a knowledge how to search for help. It gave me a better vision of how to organise everything that needs to be done in order to make a bigger project like that to work.�

It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist, I was just wondering if an award or better, the expectation of postivive feedback could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever exist a genuinerelationship between business and Art...

This is also one thing that has hanged over time. I guess at first, to get the confidence, the recognition of others was really important to me. It still is, but most of all, the work for me is good when I feel happy with it.

But the sweetest thing is the feeling, when I create something, go in the process, do it mainly still for myself, and then, after working with it, being alone with it for some time, and then to hear that someone else also loves it, it is a wonderful feeling. To know� that you are not imagining it all in your head, that someone else also loves what you do and that your work do has an impact on others.

I remember when the work ’The Soul’ was on an exhibition, also in Gallery ’Noorus’. I had written a one page text about the conception of the work, about the animals, the subject.. I actually didn’t think that many would stop to read it,visual is the first thing that catches the eye, the text is most of the time, secondary to the viewer, but for my positive suprise, a lot of people stopped to read it and it was interesting and touching enough for them to read it all through. It was one of those moments..��

Thank you for your time and for sharing with us your thoughts, Kadi. My last question deals with your future plans: anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

Thank you! I don’t have any specific plans.. a few ideas I have in mind.. something with mixed media and something with painting and photo-collage. We’ll see… :) And you can also always look for updates from my facebook homepage https://www.facebook.com/KadiKusnetsArt

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An exhibition



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Caption 7project 'My Space' maquette 2011

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#196 Winter

Peripheral ARTeries

Matthias Callay

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Righteous Exploits


(USA)(Greece)

From The Submile series

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Matthias Callay

an interview with

Hello Matthias, and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

Interesting question which I am eager to answer, but I think the real question here is “What is art?”, I say this because of the predisposition the word ‘art’ imposes, in the 20th century, art had a completely different meaning than it has now. Art is ever changing and in constant motion so we can only narrow down specific movements in hindsight, in any case i can only think of something as art when it is relevant to the specific cultural and ethnic group we inherently are part of.

Art and culture are never far apart, with this in mind we can say that what we today view as ‘The fine arts’; The Flemish and Dutch masters, wasn’t art when it was created, it was deliberate, filled with purpose for a client who paid. It was a means to an end.

In my opinion there is always the need for deliberate action, the creator must be aware of the fact he/she is creation a work of art. There has to be the intent of the maker.

By the way, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork? Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

Contemporary art is a tough one, especially since contemporary art can be anything. Since the days of Clement Greenberg, who tried to bring art back to its basic elements: Paint on a carrier, art went through an incredible diverse history. Untill Marcel Duchamps made his famous ‘Fountain’, it’s one of my favourite pieces of art because it reminds me I can do anything, contemporary art is just a name,

made up so people can grasp it, think about it and define it.

Art can be anything, but it also needs the white cube of the gallery or museum to be presented as Art, a normal streetlamp can become art if it is presented as such. It also implies breaking out of the white cube, for every movement there it the opposite, bringing art out into the streets. This incredibly diverse nature of contemporary arts also means tradition and contemporariness can perfec-tly flow into one another, there are no boundries, only hurdles.

Would you like to tell us something about your background? You are currently studying at the School Of Arts in Ghent: how does this expe-rience is impacting on the way you produce your Art? By the way, I would take this occasion toask your point about formal training: I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal

Peripheral ARTeries

An interview with

Matthias Callay

Matthias Callay

Matthias Callay

training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

I always drew as a kid, my parents could never stop me from drawing comics or animals, the third year in secondary school was decisive for me, I had some bad grades for maths (which I still have problems with today) and wasn’t allowed to continue in economics, if I wanted to go to the next year, i had to go to the Arts department. I did and I still think it’s the right decision. Since then I’ve been learning about typefaces, drawing the human body, graphic design, web design and so on, so my education in the arts was quite extensive you might say.

I am currently doing my Masters degree at the

School Of Arts in Ghent, it has influenced me a lot but in a very positive way. I started reading a lot of literature and philosophy. It really shaped me as a human being. My work has undergone a total transformation, I wouldn’t say directly because of the education but more because of the natural process that evolved from it. Our work process was left completely free, the peers would only give advice if asked and nobody expected a certain kind of work or style. Of course, this is my personal experience, it was a rough one because I often would doubt my work and myself and I could imagine this having a negative effect on an artists work.

In general I like the idea of formal training in arts, it gives you a starting point and you have some-

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Peripheral ARTeries Matthias Callay

thing to develop, i got a very ‘academic’ training, which covered all the basics. For me the last three years were about finding my own path and application of those basics. After that, it just evolved naturally and that will never stop I guess. Because of the conceptuality of my work, the formal training ensured access to literary sources and was explicitly important because of it.


I don’t really have a structure to follow when I’m creating art, it all just flows very naturally. Often I start my day at 6 in the morning, all these new

ideas are constantly popping up and I just can’t do anything else than work. While other days I can’t get myself to even think about holding a brush or pencil. Usually I’ve been thinking about my concepts for a while when suddenly a perfect idea pops up in my head and I just need to get it on paper. What usually results in working until the sun is long gone.

Because my works are so diverse I often tend to switch between my different works, I like to think of it as working according to the laws of seren-dipity, while working on one piece I get the idea for a 3D render, while finishing that I get new ideas for drawings or animations and so on...exhausting but rewarding!

Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with your Sign Series, an interesting project that our readers have already started to get to know in these pages


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and I would suggest them to visit directly http://callaymatthias.wordpress.com/ in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about the genesis of this project? What was your initial inspiration?

Well If readers are interested, they can follow my page on Facebook: Caletum for regular updates and more, it’s way more active than my wordpress site.

My whole life I have absolutely loved calligraphy and anything to do with letters, text, words, books and everything around it, I also received formal training in calligraphy and bookmaking, last year

I had an artistic depression, it felt like I was disconnected from my works, I couldn’t make new works that satisfied me. I started to look to what my passion was, what I really wanted to do, what materials I loved. It became obvious that I had to try and work with calligraphy and text in general.

As a member of the digital generation, that started

Xerography

Xerography

Matthias Callay Peripheral ARTeries

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Weather 2,

Sumi ink, 24" x 18"

approximately around 1980, we have seen very rapid and big changes throughout the use of media, for me it’s therefore very logical to view the world through analogue or digital media. There’s barely anything that hasn’t been appropriated by all the different media we know today.

The use of it has become so trite that we don’t even

see the vast amount of reproductions, but see the reproductions as originals and treat them accordingly.Media are so convincing in their personal, politic, economical, aesthetic, psycho-logical, moral, ethic, economic and social conse-quences that they can override any doubt about their necessity and power.

This also includes the new media, which are very good at taking over the work of the old media with incredible ease and efficiency.We impose the form of the old upon the content of the new.

I think it’s therefore very clear that the digital generation, which is growing up in an era filled with media, isn’t able to develop a non-mediated view on things. Each experience and/or image is always indirect: an experience through a medium. This incapability to experience in a direct manner is a immediate effect of growing up in a mediated world. As soon an image has any value we think it’s necessary to reproduce it and spread it.

My initial approach was to develop a counterpart of this evolution, a manual reproduction carried out by a human acting as a machine since this evaluates the act of substitution we place upon the machine. Humans make mistakes, that’s hat makes us human. Reproduction on the other hand is flawless, bringing those two together created a beautiful tension.

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Another series i made that elaborates this idea further for me is my 'The Sublime' series: from personal experience it was always relevant to consult various media for reference material and/or infor-mation. We've taken these things for granted and treat the internet, computers, photographic devices, cellphones, emails, books, reproductions, images etc... In such a way that it has influenced our way of dealing with the reproductions they create. I don't mean this influence in a negative way, but it is crucial to understand this intermediate relationship.

In order to fully grasp this relationship and the way it could impact thoughts, acts and material i needed

a baseline, a sort of foundation to which i could relate my experiments and thoughts.

I found this benchmark in an old abandoned castle, it is a unique place, the castle's location is on private grounds, and since the 50's it was locked up with all the contents still inside, to be never opened again.After a few tries i got official permission to spend a few days inside the castle, and i tried to document this beautiful old place ( build around 1550 ) in every way i could.

It struck me that for the first time i had a location that i could relate to without the interferance of any


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technologic medium, i had complete control about what i could or couldn't do. Experiencing these spaces in person and by drawing them was a decicive step in understanding how my technological heritage influenced the way i looked at the world.

Around this time the title of the series popped in my head: the sublime. A experience so real that it could only be comprehensed by the person undergoing it, it underlined the importance of being in the space itself, no longer having the medium between me and the subject.

My workprocess consisted out of a few things at this location: at the castle itself i would draw the spaces, after that a 15minute video registration of the same space would take place, after that i would take various photographs of that room.It struck me how the drawings i made at the castle carried a sign of discomfort, the atmosphere of the builing itself became present in my works and therefore the drawings were an eerie visual registration, the video i made of the same space gave me the same feeling of being not at ease, even behind the mediated screen of the computer. It became clear just how impossible it was to create a distance between reality and the reproduction on my screen, it was like if those two realities fell together in a sence. The pictures that were taken at the castle were shot on 120mm film because of the phsyical imprint, i dislike digital cameras because of the lack of a physical process, they were remarkable because i chose small details to photograph, it quite depended on the used medium to determine the way

i viewed the space itself. The medium (photograph, drawing,moving picture,...) quite literally changed that.

After my visits to the castle itself i made another series of drawings, the ones featured here in this interview, this time the pictures i took served as a reference to create them. These drawings were completely different, they didn't convey any discomfort like the ones i made at the physical location, they were much more precise and demanded a lot more control. It once again became very clear how the presence of media or reproductions can influence a drawing process and how hard it is to act with full knowledge of this happening.

In this structure of representation and mediatic relations is the figurative act the machine or media carries forth. As example i would use the copymachine, it 'reads' every line on the page en lets her light shine over them, as if the machine was truly a reading and comprehensive being. An actual act,-like reading, is being substituted by a figurative representation of it, like the act of the copymachine.

The philosopher Pfaller points out that that this figurative element of representation is characteristic for a ritual act. In this case it would mean that we don't have a connection between a person and a medium, but a representation of a connection, take reading for example: the copymachine substitutes the act of reading, the machine consumes the text for us, so we don't have to.

From The Submile seriesFrom The Submile series

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As you have stated once dealing with the aforesaid Sign Series, "working with calligra-phic text is the perfect way to reduce myself to a mechanical reproduction machine"... You have developed this idea with another inte-resting work entitled I'm a Machine: modern technology -and in particular the recent development of info graphics- has dramatically revolutionized the idea of painting itself: this forces us to rethink to the materiality of the artwork itself, since just few years ago an artwork was first of all -if you forgive me this unpleasant classification- a manufactured article: it was the concrete materialization of an idea...

Materialization implies a concept as you said

yourself, in the 20th century Art had this epiphany to start focusing on the materiality, it gave us modernism.

The ‘I’m a machine’ works are about countering that well-thought constructing of ideas, it’s still rooted in the idea I explained in the previous question, but it focuses on the act itself. I take the act of the machine (or the printer) on myself in such a direct way i’m actually part of it. I think those opposites are beautiful.

Another interesting works of yours that have particularly impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words are from your Panorama series, which you have definied not just a drawing series, but a registration of a

From The Panorama series

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certain period... so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an abso-lutely indespensable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

I don’t think art or any creative process can ever be disconnected from personal experience, it’s impossible to develop any sort of well-founded process if your personal experience didn’t make that happen, there is no foundation to build upon. Every artist I know personally has used their personal experiences to fuel their creative processes; it’s what keeps them going. A friend of mine (also an artist) went to Indonesia for a month with his father, when he came back his style and ideas were altered in such a profound way by the experiences he had there. The world changes, and we change with it.

The panorama series were no different, I worked at a bar for a few years and saw a lot of different people come and go, each with their own stories and backgrounds. I thought of it as an interesting concept to register that moment as it changed constantly, that’s why some people are drawn partially or just a quick touch to indicate they were there…

From The Panorama series

The drawings themselves are very honest In a way, I drew what I saw, often for hours and hours…

I love watching other people, how they talk, move and behave, in a certain way sitting at a bar drawing them gave me sort of… permission to look at them, study their faces without being conceived as a lunatic or something.

Quite perverted don’t you think?

By the way, I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "encrypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal

unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our inner Nature... what's your point about this?

The artist sees problems before they arise, I think it’s possible there’s information hidden like you said and it’s the eye of the artist that brings them forward or presents them in a new way other people wouldn’t even think about. I’m convinced art lets us see what’s going on in our culture, it’s always a reaction on certain developments or situations that create a tension on a social, structural, technical or political level. Art needs a society, and the society needs art, the one cannot live without the other.

It’s also true in a sense that the artist creates his/her own role in the world, it’s so beautiful to see

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From The Machine Creation series



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how fully immersed an artist can be in his or her subject of interest. To reach such sensitivity and tactility about something can’t be anything else than art.

Multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice: your Art ranges from Graphics to Drawing and you also produce illustrations... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

For me, my works are like a tree figure, my creative process has his roots and they can stretch very far

and the branches can reach far and wide, but they originate from the same tree. It’s all linked and all part of the same process.

It’s thanks to my multidisciplinary education that I try and make use of every tool I have available to fully express myself, either through painting, sculpting, 3D printing, drawing, animation…

I must admit I often try to predict how a certain concept needs to be visualized instead of just jumping in and see what happens, I’m kind of a control freak, I need to have everything ready and the result must be instant.

Although art often doesn’t work that way.

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It goes without saying that feedbacks and especially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or just the expectation of a positive feedback- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

I take my art very personal, It’s hard to show your work when there’s so much of yourself in them…

It has taken me a while to get out of my workspace

and show my works to other people besides my friends and family, but I need the criticism. In my opinion it’s hard for an artist to grow and evolve if there’s no criticism involved, either good or bad. I don’t create my works with an audience in mind; I create my work for myself because I feel it is about myself.

I really get to know my own personality through my works, that’s what makes them so personal.

Thanks a lot for your time and your thoughts, Matthias. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything co-

From the signature publication

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ming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I have quite a few projects running at the same time. I’m working on a new body of works called “One minute drawing sessions”, they show self portraits I make everyday, one minute per draw-ing, ten consecutive drawings per session. I have about 200 of them now and it’s confronting to see my style changing according to my mood or time I choose to make them. It’s really strong when in quantity.

Secondly I’m taking part in ENNE, an art col-

lective, we’re still in the concept fase but if all goes according to plan, we’ll be out there pretty soon.Thirdly I’m working on a publication, I still don’t have a name for it and i won’t tell too much about it. But it revolves around processing random pieces of information I receive at my work; it became sort of a Dadaistic poetry. Apart from that I’m busy reading (I’m trying to grasp Jacques Derrida) and writing about my work.

It’s all in my head, it just needs to get out.

an interview by Dario Rutigliano, curator

From the signature publication

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Peripheral ARTeries

I like to create new, original and unexpected images in my work, drawing, painting and photography. Whereby the human ( mostly the woman) always states in the central in my work.

Just because i'm so fascinated in the humanity, the human body and our daily events, play the emotions beside the human body the most important role in my work, which it often leads to creating of unexpected or shocking results. Hereby is mostly worked from the unconscious mind which creates many of contradiction that not only shows from the deepest content or the purpose of an artwork, but also the used colours and the style.

Through my versatility I do not really have a fixed technique because I love discoveries and renovations, naturally the work remains an self reflection.

Dreams and freedom are very important aspects in my life and so in my work, it especially going about thoughts, ideas and desires to the other reality or the world, to the other humanity without boundaries because I don't believe in boundaries in the art.

Identity and seeking to the identity, who am I? who is an human? I work gladly from my soul and deepen myself in the humanity in general.

My goals as an artist ‘’ except that this is a great way to free my emotions and dreams’’ I like the other (spectator) also make him into thinking, touches the spectator, attracts him to the theme and him to convince. Lastly, I love making of real art because not all we daily see what art is called is art but I want to make the real one.

An artist’s statement

(Iraq / the Netherlands)

Banaz Jacob

Banaz Jacob

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Banaz Jacob

an interview with

An interview with

Banaz Jacob

Hello Banaz, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual ice breaker question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art?

Art is an reflection and conflict of personal life of artist, our daily life and society, literally it means to me a mass of emotions, new creations and message. Good art never comes without meaning, reason or a purpose that will be released in a way that the senses of the viewer strongly captivates.

By the way, what could be the features that mark the contemporariness of an artwork?

Contemporary art is characterized by going about ‘here and now’ our present, our modern life, social issues, technique and the used materials for a work of art without boundaries but with more daring, there predominates in general more freedom in contemporary art but not everywhere and always yet, unfortunately.

Do you think that there's a dichotomy between tradition and contemporariness?

A dichotomy, I declare it as a revolt in contemporary art, as a reaction and response to the traditions, the split between the past and now, no longer accepting traditions, or striving for innovations and changes for the future generations

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any particular expe-riences that have particularly impacted on the way you currently creates your artworks? By the way, I have read that you started drawing at a very small age: so I would ask your point about formal training... I sometimes I wonder if a certain kind of formal training could even stifle a young artist's creativity...

It's not my formal training period at Aki Artez acade-

Peripheral ARTeries

Nico Amortegui

my of fine art or the training there before which has played impact on the way how I'm creating my art work now.

Rather, I think my past and childhood in my homeland -Iraq- has the biggest impact on my work and my sense for the art, although I don't remember a lot about my childhood but I think a war experience and regular house move and the environment must surely played an impact on me as a person.

Banaz Jacob

Banaz Jacob

birth. if you pay attention that the most famous artists in the world are (were) self-taught while, there come manny annual graduated artists in the world, but you hardly hear about someone.


When I have a idea, I make first a basic sketch of it and then I decide the size and colours, collecting of materials.

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Moreover I agree with you, art is a free expression that not always is appreciated or understood in formal training. Personally, I think if someone don't like to be a art teacher is formal training nonsense, which was one of my reasons to stop at the academy of fine art.

There is nowhere a poet who follows a training to learn writing words which spontaneous comes from his heart, so this is the beauty of art 'in his nature' that a person carries in his blood from Self Portrait

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Peripheral ARTeries Banaz Jacob

Sometimes besides the basic materials I use other nature materials as sand or stones etc, and thereafter begins the execution of the real drawing. The time can vary greatly per size and piece, I work very detail oriented and perfectionist so I can stay working until I get the best result. In general, a medium large size takes between one to two weeks usually.

Now let's focus on your art production: I would like to start with Mind, an interesting piece that our readers have already started to get to know in these pages and I would suggest them to visit https://www.facebook.com/BanazJ in order to get a wider idea of your work: in the meanwhile, would you tell us something about

the genesis of the project behind this project? What was your initial inspiration?

Nice question, I had to smile! never told how this drawing was based.

I had a stressful time and my head was filled with troublesome thoughts, when I decided to go drawing, suddenly I saw head with clout-nail in my mind and before my eyes and so was made the 'mind', actually very spontaneous.

And this is what makes drawing so special to me, he understands me better than myself and helps me tremendously to rest.

Another interesting works of yours that have particularly impacted on me and on which I would like to spend some words are "Empti-ness" and especially your recent "Bride": by

Bride, acrylic and stones on canvas

Emptiness, acrylic on canvas

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Vanishing Point, Mixed media trid.piece, 2012PiedadMind, pencil and charcoal on paper

the way, as you have remarked once, many of your works comes from the unconscious mind, so I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely indespen-sable part of a creative process... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Personal experiences can never be separated of creative process of an artist, on the contrary they complement each other.

An artist who actually expresses his own beliefs, visions, dreams and experiences that eventually

are based in the past and from personal experien-ces, regardless of this happens consciously or not ( I think, my previous explanation of ‘mind’ is a best example) where I often afterwards and after com-pleting and delve into my art work I finally find an explanation of my work, while often I don't know it beforehand.

By the way, I'm sort of convinced that some informations & ideas are hidden, or even "en-crypted" in the environment we live in, so we need -in a way- to decipher them. Maybe that one of the roles of an artist could be to reveal unexpected sides of Nature, especially of our in-

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ner Nature... what's your opinion about this?

Absolutely, to respond should I go back to my answer on your first question; how art defines itself, that is the meaning and the message of the art in my opinion.

There will always be hidden informations, facts or taboos in our society and it is the job of the artist to bring it up somehow again to the light and here we can see the importance and value of art.

Multidisciplinarity is a crucial aspect of your art practice: as our readers have already noticed in the pages of this article, your artistic production

ranges from drawing to painting and photo-graphy: as you have stated once, you love discoveries and renovations... while crossing the borders of different artistic fields have you ever happened to realize that a synergy between different disciplines is the only way to achieve some results, to express some concepts?

There are things or results which belong in a particular manner, have to through a particular mediums to be made or the result would be less if it is released by another discipline.

There is big difference between my paintings and photography, my photography reflects the reality

Alienation, acrylic on canvas

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and the modern life and beauty often in creative and artistic way, the human contact state here central.

While my paintings are mostly going about deepest emotions and strive to another reality and society, and provides me the possibility to work alone and in silence.

Working in various disciplines also provides various opportunities and results indeed, it is as a contradiction and continuously pleasu-rable discoveries.

And I couldn't do without mentioning "Alienation", which I have to admit is one of my favourite pieces of yours: I love the way you have been capable of creating a dynamic piece as this... As you have re-marked in your artist's statement, your art work remains an self reflection... but I can recognize such a subtle but effective social criticism in the way you tell us your stories of beauty... So I would like to ask you if in your opinion, besides providing of a plat-form for an artist's expression, Art could even steer people's behaviour...

Good art can affect the feel and behavior of a viewer through both the colors or the purpose of an art work, theme or the used materials. There are undoubtedly works which can make you simply happy but there are also artworks which can make you angry or your mood just lower.

When a viewer see a artwork which is made or mixed with blood, he will definitely react differently than by ordinary painting. So art can sure affect and steer the feel, think and behavior of peoples.

During these years your works have been exhibited in several occasions and you are going to have a couple of solos... It goes without saying that feedbacks and espe-cially awards are capable of supporting an artist: I was just wondering if an award -or just the expectation of a positive feed-back- could even influence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is Flora, acrylic on canvas

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is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces?

The positive feedback and appreciation of work is always nice of course, it’s encou-rages more an artist.

But for me, the love and persistence for what I do and belief in own skills and art is much more important than awards or feedbacks that I can receive, because art can not always and quickly be understood and appre-ciated by audience and this is normal but in this case there are two things more impor-tant for an artist first, the love for what you do and second, persistence and believe in yourself to keep going.

Moreover, I always let the space open for feedback and discussions, art is an platform of different opinions and beliefs where feedback just normally belongs.

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

Thank you also for this nice interview.

For the near future, I start after a few months my preparation for my exhibition in the next year, and maybe I get an very nice expe-rience and project for the next year!, but this is not sure yet.



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Alberto Zita is a self-taught artist born in Maputo. Writing and painting have been a passion since young age. While still in Mozambique, Zita participated in several art competitions organized by National museum of art and was twice mentioned as the prize winning artist. Along with “casas na floresta”, his painting "menino do suburbio" was selected for BIENAL TDM and later to FUNDAC - a private organization founded by former mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, dedicated to promote peace, economic and cultural development in Mozambique. In 2006, his painting “Suburbios da capital” received an honorable mention prize at VII national edition of visual arts. Later this year, Alberto came to destroy the painting under the pretext that as with the jury, something was wrong with it. It was not yet what the “suburbs in the city” look like. Having himself holding a prize for a nonexistent art, came to reflect the position how he is found standing in the artistic world as stated in one of his poems:

The artist’s statement

(Belgium)

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Alberto Zita

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Standing against, distractions of the light;black is the magic out of my mindacting, behind these curtains as if

I exist alone.In my great solitude it was alrightall the things I used to hear and that

nothing else mattersmostly, when the light comes from the deep within.Let the curtains closed, let it be, in the dark

because that's exactly what all the rest refuse to seesomewhere else, deep within

when art is.

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“For me it's hardly enough. The thing is that my hands are too far away from the reach of my mind. So it leads me into a kind of fight within myself, a permanent need to explore it every day more and with such intensity up to the level I am totally out of my mind”. He says.

When Alberto got involved with a community based organization in Maputo he founded and coordinated social projects supporting specially children in difficult situation. “But working with children was more than that. There was something else, something greater than just working with children or being a teacher. Observing the drawings and all the nonsense lines full of art, I could see and understand the less childish side to be seen in every creative child. And that is the spirit art needs: quite childish, a little bit ignorant, and extremely free”, said Zita. After moving to Europe, his visions changed but his soul remained, intact. “It was a long trip and it took me really far. It helped me to put together this two pieces of the world and make something bigger than the distance between me and those I don't see for years now”.

“Out of my mind” is a composition of poems and short stories, portraying the course of our daily lives. The book is a mere reflection of an artist who tries to express in louder voice and paint in vivid colors his visions, his fantasies and dreams. The images and paintings in the book are not only meant to relate different realities in the same subject or simply to create a balance between Africa and Europe, but also to enrich the imagination of the reader by visualizing a very particular message, stimulate him for a wide vision and perception of the subject, free himself from the limitations of the mind and finally, invite him to get involved without excusing himself from the matter.

The book is now “under construction” and if everything goes as planned; it will be published still this year”. For more information and updates please contact Alberto Zita through the following page: www.albertozitha.weebly.com

Alberto ZitaSelf Portrait,

menino do suburbio

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Alberto Zita

an interview with

Hello Alberto, and a warm welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. I would start this interview with my usual introductory question: what in your opinion defines a work of Art? And moreover, what could be the features that mark the contem-porariness of an artwork? By the way, do you think that there is still a dichotomy between Tradition and Contempo-rariness?

Art? I don’t know. And that’s how great art is. Per-haps, it is just the possibility to represent such state of mind; when one knows nothing about it! The artist is a tool sculpturing his own time and art is an everlasting product of that expression.

I believe we think different, deal and live in different times but I also believe that when it comes to expression anything else is allowed except definitions or restrictions of any kind.

We have always been free to represent the same art in the best way we feel it. I don't like to feel this line, this border, this tendency to divide art or define emotions. It is very confusing. I think the word ‘contemporary’ and ‘traditional’ in art is just an excuse to define or hold the grounds of a certain artistic style or group that, instead of being artists, has nothing else to do or say but to be contem-porary and traditional.

Peripheral ARTeries

An interview with

Alberto Zita

Alberto Zita

Would you like to tell us something about your background? Are there any experiences that have particularly impacted on the way you currently produce your artworks? By the way, I would like to ask your point about formal training... Sometimes I ask to myself if a certain kind of training could even stifle an artist's creativity...

Well, my childhood was marked by tough times and as I grew up struggling with it, I've learned a lot and at some point, my life and personality have been greatly affected in the process. It has a huge impact on my way of thinking today, the way I touch life and the way I feel it, and finally, on my creations. I try to share my story in a way that many people (specially children born to raise themselves) can related with as I tend to send them some light, stimulate them to move forward into changes without quitting the struggle which is very hard!Moreover, I am focused on social issues that direct or indirectly are responsible for our living condi-tions today. I have learned to unlearn many things and that feels good. To be able to live naked without being ashamed of your own when exposed in the mirror. I love the idea of being ignorant because it allows you to be without preconcepts, to act without precaution and to say without preparation. And that requires some amount of intelligence. When I came up with IGNORART, I was mostly inspired by children, you know, all that childish stuff, where creativity weights more than formalities. So let’s say that now that we are celebrating ignorance, painting with ashes - from these institutions in decay - is one of our best technics (laughs).

Before starting to elaborate about your produc-tion, would you like to tell to our readers something about your process and set up for making your artworks? In particular, what technical aspects do you mainly focus on your work? And how much preparation and time do you put in before and during the process of creating a piece?

It just happens. It might take weeks before there

comes something to work on or, it can perma-nently be there and keep me busy for days, or weeks. It can be anything; a poem that I can clearly visualize and start working on or, anything. I mean, there is no straight line in this process. As with time, it is almost impossible to define that.

Some works makes you smile instantly while others might keep you dispirited for months. I must confess that I don't like pencils that much. When it comes to techniques, it depends on the textures or effects I wish to combine with the subject I am working on.

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Black Tulip

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Alberto Zita

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Violent Revolution, (oil on canvas)

Alberto Zita

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And there, my tea cup, my dinner plate, my blanket, an old t-shirt, my fingers, my feet, my head or my entire naked body, are very useful. See?

Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like to start with the interesting “Dusted” and “For all the colors we have lost in our battles”, an extremely stimulating works that our readers have started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article, and I would suggest them to visit directly your website at

www.albertozitha.weebly.com in order to get a wider idea of your artistic production... in the meanwhile, could you take us through your creative process when starting these projects?

Thank you. Well, I am not going to take the risk to ruin all the fun of it so I am glad if, in the end of this line, yet, it is all misunderstood. As I said earlier, my mind is set on a range of social issues and these titles simply reflect that. Both are mere definitions of our living conditions, a portrait featuring all of us in the human zoo.

Dusted

Alberto Zita

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Jennifer Sims

We live chasing dreams and believing in pro-mises. So we do, waste the best of our lives in “waiting rooms” because that’s where we are told all these dreams and promises will come true. But these are the times we live in, full of dust in the air and quite heavy to breath. It is suffocating. Some fresh air is needed in both our political and socio- economic environments.

Terrible things keep on happening everyday and you don't need to look far to witness the drama. As we speak in this minute, if not laying already dead on the streets, bodies of innocent children are groaning under ruins like plucked chickens about to die. And all this happens behind political games and often religious excuses. Should we question the human rights or the international community? What can possibly justify so much misery and pain in human beings? Greed? Power? Ignorance? Human beings? Or the kind of leaders we have chosen to lead our lives? Could it be human stupidity or just a piece of land? And of course as always the weak remains the first and the worst victim. You are about to die at any time no matter where you are: in a aircraft or travelling in a bus, in a train or up on the 106th floor in the highest building in the world; it will find you, it will destroy you with pleasure.

But in the dust of our living times, only he, behind the mask, survives.

As you have remarked in your artist's state-ment, "Art should be more explosive than fear, a little bit of freedom and ignorance at same time and the artist, just a simple tool scul-pturing his own message on this walls of our living times": I totally agree with you and I can recognize such a socio political feature in this... By the way, although I'm aware that this might sound a bit naïf, I'm sort of convinced that Art these days could play an effective role not only making aware public opinion, but I would go as far as to say that nowadays Art can steer people's behavior... what's your point about this? Do you think that it's an exaggeration?

Definitely not! Art is intervention. It moves mas- ses. In Art, we come all together, we communi-

FOR ALL THE COLORS WE'VE LOST IN OUR BATTLES

Peripheral ARTeries

Alberto Zita Peripheral ARTeries

Jennifer Sims

cate and share opinion at the same level without any form of “discrimination”. You know what I mean? It is not so complicated to understand. Just colors. So simple as that.

Here, the human value is appreciated and res-pected. Our voices and struggles become one and no one is left behind or marginalized. We all benefit from it equally. Unfortunately this is still a lie. It is a lie because I am sitting here, right now, writing this, with my mind set in a different reality than what the reality is. But fantasy is a great thing. It inspired you to live for something good.

Another great thing about art is that it has the power or the possibility to say the truth without formalities. So you learn, you get to know what it is, you become deeply involved with the matter because it doesn’t lie to you. So my advice would be: when you have it, use it well because to say the truth is a luxury many don’t have. There are a lot of poor people out there, really poor. Take a look. So when it comes to art I don't excuse myself from using it up to the level I believe it is meant to be art. That’s how rich I am.

By the way, what could be in your opinion the role that an artist could play in our society?

A dove. A messenger.

And we cannot do without mentioning Owl and especially Details of a suburb, which I have to admit is one of my favorite pieces of yours: a feature that has particular impacted on me is the nuance of intense red... the first time that I happened to admire this interesting painting it suggested me the idea of an explosion and of burning fire... By the way, any comments on your choice of "palette" and how it has changed over time?

Difficult question.

Another interesting work of yours on which I would like to spend some words is entit-led“Street Kids” which I have to admit have really impressed me: elements of the environment are very recurrent in your artistic produc-tion, and besides a merely physical dimensions,

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After all, how much still to carry on our heads?

Alberto ZitaPeripheral ARTeries

Mother and son (iron on wood)

space has a more symbolic meaning, it can be a metaphor for emotions and associations... it challenges our perception and in a certain sense forces us to fill the "drop-out" what we see...... So I would like to ask you if in your opinion personal experience is an absolutely

indispensable part of a creative process, both for conceiving an artwork and in order to enjoyit... Do you think that a creative process could be disconnected from direct experience?

Exactly. I think one must be fully aware and involved. That’s the only way to keep things real. You should know what you are doing or talking about because art requires some level of honesty. But of course, there is always some space for fantasy in it, which I have nothing against.

It goes without saying that positive feedbacks are capable of providing an artist of a special support... I was just wondering if the expec-tation of a positive feedback- could even in-fluence the process of an artist... By the way, how much important is for you the feedback of your audience? Do you ever think to whom will enjoy your Art when you conceive your pieces? I sometimes wonder if it could ever

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exist a genuine relationship between business and Art...

You must be the master of your own otherwise you are lost in your own reasons. Feedback is a good thing and I think every artist loves to get some. But it is not the feedback that maintains or defines your line. It cannot destroy your line either. You can't frame your emotions in the public opinion. You die and reborn alone in this. And as you reborn you express yourself telling us your story in colors no one else can paint. Let’s say there is an island, a sort of confident beliefs in every artist capable to exist alone and inde-

Peripheral ARTeriesAlberto Zita

Street Kids (collage)

pendent from the sea or, what is being said out there. Any artist without an island is like a fish out of the sea. You know what I mean? If you choose your public or allow the public to define your doings you limit your mind and lose your art.

Moreover, I don’t search for my audience during the process when my creativity is at work because that’s exactly when the originality is lost. I live confident that there is always a certain amount of“insanes” to cele-brate all the “insanities” in every insane”. Well, business? There is no-thing greater than feeding yourself and your cats from what you love to do the most. I love art babe (laughs)

Thanks for your time and for sha-ring with us your thoughts, Alberto. My last question deals with your future plans: what's next for you? Anything coming up for you professionally that you would like readers to be aware of?

I have no idea.

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peripheral arteries art review august 2014

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