Catherine was drawn in to the depths of graffiti culture from a relatively young age, and artwork became a passion born from pleasure. “I first took an interest in graffiti and hip hop when I was 12 years old. I remember my father supporting my interest by gifting me with spray can and various graffiti books. I'd study them for hours. My first experience in graffiti art was my summer holidays spent in Switzerland, where my father is from. I would see it almost everywhere. I'm not sure if I liked the graffiti for its aesthetics, or because I thought it was so cool that a place could allow such artistic expression in public.” However, Catherine’s unique stamp on the street art scene, is arguably thanks to the cultural cocktail that a nomadic youth offered her.
“I'd say that it's Switzerland where I first learnt about graffiti and hip-hop culture. But it's Hong Kong that provided the good hip hop music, because the city is so international and had a great selection of releases. I remember first buying the Luniz and Nas' ‘It was written’ in Hong Kong. Of course, I'd closely observe the European graffiti styles of Dare and Won ABC, but also take some ingredients from the hip hop culture I was getting in Hong Kong. We used to have a Tower Records in Hong Kong and that's where I was getting American magazines like Scribble, The Source and Ego Trip during high school. I'd say my art and graffiti is a perfect mix of these cultural exposures. I was born in Bangkok and in my first 7 years of living there I absorbed a lot of after school anime and read a lot of Thai comics, so these aspects already moulded me aesthetically, prior to my interest in graffiti art. When we moved from Bangkok to Hong Kong, there was less anime (because most of it was shown in Chinese, and I was put in an international school to learn English) and more American cartoons after school, like Hanna Barbera, Nickolodeon and Disney cartoons. I suppose my style is a strange combo of early conditioning and graffiti.”
“I'm not sure if I liked the graffiti for its aesthetics, or because I thought it was so cool that a place could allow such artistic expression in public.”
Working in the present day, Catherine’s diverse style has enabled her to work with some exciting brands, like Jimmy Choo and Kangol, and she loves doing so. “Working for these brands came quite naturally! It helps when you are a big fan of the brand and work with their great representatives. They were easy going and gave me free reign to realise my artistic vision.” Cath is also able to create in Hong Kong’s developing street art scene, and senses the winds of change in the space she works in. “When graffiti first started out in Hong Kong, we were painting more letters, throw ups and pieces. Very textbook graffiti, because we were starting out. However, I think the direction is going more street art, as it is more commercial and accepted.”
Cath’s most disturbing body of work, she calls the “Fast Taste” collection of work. It features more boobs and naughty bits dripping with melted cheese and fryer grease than you’d care to shake your salt-n-pepa at; laced in with the kind of refined character work that wouldn’t look out of place on a New York subway. “I like to mock propaganda imposed by social justice warriors about fast food corporations, uncovering bad practices, genetic modification etc. These are elements you see in my ‘Fast Taste’ artworks, which are fast food related, namely fried chicken.” However, cute creations, like her character Jeliboo (which you can view on Cath’s instagram @cathloverosatwo) are also a large part of Catherine’s artistic identity.
“I don't know why I enjoy drawing both cute, curvy women and cartoons as well as freakier surreal art. It's like I switch between genres, whenever I want a break from one. I still like cute and innocent things, that's why I created Jeliboo. She’s a curvy girl character, that's enjoyable for everyone, including kids, they freakin' love Jeliboo for reason (it's the butt). However, I still have a stupid sense of humour and a knack for painting, so I express myself that way too, showing my abilities as a painter and communicating my beliefs and wit through my creatures and characters”.
Catherine’s character based designs also go some way to combating the school-uniform-wearing, eyelash-fluttering, fat-shaming representations of women in cartoon. Jeliboo for example, is a Yogi, skater chick and huntress, as well as her lucrative career as a plus-size glamour model. “I like to challenge that women need to paint "pretty" and "cute" with extra hearts and female portraits. Women can paint wildly, scary, crazy and ugly if they want to!”
“I enjoy drawing both cute, curvy women and cartoons as well as freakier surreal art.”
Catherine is currently focusing on her personal works, as well as commissions and mural works. If you’re into women with sass-and-ass (and if you’re not, then shame on you) her Instagram will provide your Jeliboo fix, as well as tasters of her more surreal works. Catherine also currently has work available with Moosey Art, and perhaps a purchase might leave your naughty-bits dripping with something better than pizza-grease.
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Adriana’s foundations in photography provide a strong flavour to her work, illuminating the world in two-dimensional form, but her passion for painting stems from total immersion in art history, and culture. “I was raised in the art world. I remember attending art fairs when I was a kid, going to art shows and having artists at home. I didn’t understand at that young age how important it was for me to be part of all of that. Visiting artist studios and having the chance to spend time with artists from all over the world from a young age has being the best learning experience, even though at that time I didn’t give the importance that it has now. When I was 6 my parents gave me an Andy Warhol book with his early works. I was fascinated by it. And this is the life I always understood as “normal”. I’m self-taught and I started this journey of being a painter when I turned 21 years old. Even though I’ve been painting all my life, I decided to take my artistic career seriously 7 years ago.”
“I was raised in the art world.”
Adriana is, however, a strong believer that talent and passion are only the building blocks for creation, and uses hours and hours of dedication in her LA studio to forge her refined paintings. “Painting started as a passion and it tuned into an obsession. I spend most of the day in the studio. My creative process is based on working every day, 7 hours a day. Picasso once said, 'Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.' I could not agree more.”
“My creative process is based on working every day, 7 hours a day.”
A sense of Adriana’s knowledge of art history is prominent in her paintings, which are acrylic on wood and canvas panel. She explains that to her, all pieces of art are “a chain of art history”. This grounding from the masters of the art world is palpable in her work, allowing Adriana to boast a level of confidence and prowess, cloaked by her wealth of knowledge for the subject. Adriana’s work accelerates beyond the work of artists like Andy Warhol and Julian Opie, offering new perspectives and in particular bringing a feminine voice to the pop-art genre. “Women have always played a very minority role in the history of art. I think the female voice brings another contribution on the scene and therefore it is a wealth.”
“I think the female voice brings another contribution on the scene and therefore
it is a wealth.”
Adriana’s refined skill is not going without notice, as well as gaining an ever-growing following for her unique style of work, she has exhibited paintings in Spain, Italy, London, Swizerland and Los Angeles. “Feeling a positive response to my work is an amazing feeling. It is always difficult to expose the works you have done in view for the audience. There is an intimate part of you exposed and it is a feeling of vulnerability. In the whole process you always have a greater attachment to certain pieces, but in the end, I am always happy to know that the works will find a home.” Her success has allowed her further opportunities, such as expanding her studio space, and giving her the luxury of focusing on her work exclusively, going into the future. “My plans in the future are to keep working and make much bigger works. I’ve got a much bigger studio now and I’m able to create in a much more comfortable way. I’m working for my solo show in Montreal, Canada with the Duran Mashaal Gallery on June 9th and then another solo exhibit at the end of the year in Sao Paulo, Brazil with Galerie Houssein Jarouche, and between that attending different Art Fairs, and working on other projects and commissions.”
Adriana also has work available for purchase at Moosey Art now.
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Sujin creates work that comes from her own experiences and feelings, creation takes on the role of therapy and meditation; something that is tangible when absorbing her work. “In my paintings, my characters represent me. I focus on the problems that I feel in my life, it includes sexual problems but also includes so many other problems too.” Sujin applies a sense of the world around her to these introverted obstacles, concerning her artwork with both the political and the personal. “I always think of 'Neglect'. In my life, in my country, in all things surrounding me. There are so many problems always happening and left unsolved. When I drew my girls first, I just drew; but, at some point, I recognized that the girls were me. So, I started to think about why I draw my girls specifically as depressed girls. I had to keep focused on me and I realized that I have inner problems which I've been ignoring. I neglected all my problems for so many years because it's comfortable to; but really, it keeps me down.” The necessity to address internal neglect translates into a real sense of violence in Sujin’s work. Though vulnerable, her characters wield guns and weapons, and threaten while they wallow; a sense of fight accompanies the sense of depression. “These problems are always getting bigger and they destroy everything in the end. It makes me destroy myself. I didn't want to let myself down. I expressed this through my art, slowly. When I expressed my problems, I felt freedom. Even though the problems are still unsolved, I'm trying to show the them to the world. I think it's important to face the your issues. I want to give people a chance to think about their problems which they pretend not to recognize, the problems they have neglected.”
Sujin grew up on an island is South Korean called Jeju-do. “I think it's most beautiful place in Korea. When I was 20, I moved Seoul, the biggest city in Korea, to attend the university. My major was visual communication design. When I was in university, I really loved graphic design, but drawing is more natural and fun for me so I started again to make my art. Seoul is a really busy city, On the other hand, Jeju-do is slow and calm. I grow up in both of these really different places.” The contrast of bustle and calm, sweet and sour, erotic and innocent: balances and imbalances, certainly provide some of the appeal in Sujin’s work. “The contrast makes me confused always. This confusion has an effect on my works in that the girls who I draw are always unstable. There are various elements that effect my work, but place has had a strong influence. I'm a very sensitive person so I'm always influenced by the mood of a place. It's really fun to draw pop-culture because it's always changing, unstable. It makes contradictions. There is no right and wrong. So, when I draw different kinds of culture I feel a great release. But at the same time, I just draw what I like and what I think. Popular culture has an influence on me, but after that I make my own culture with my painting.”
The sexual energy in Sujin’s work is another palpable element of her creative expression and provides a lot of the initial impact to her work. “There are so many sexualities that exist. Each person has their own tastes in sex and in art, at least in the art world we don’t have to distinguish so many boundaries. It's really funny thing to represents other people’s tastes and show my tastes also. In my art, feminine sexuality is my taste. I want to express my desire through my art in order to feel free. I can change my sexuality, as well as my artwork in the future because taste always changes. I just want to experience and imagine new things and try to open my eyes to describe diversity. I make my art because I don't want to neglect myself. I face my problems head on and draw what I think is right and true. Most of the problems that I describe are caused by issues related to gender, and before drawing, I have made these problems bigger and bigger, because I didn’t have a way to handle it - The neglect.”
A sense of fighting for her own sexual liberation through diversity really comes across when Sujin talks about this aspect of her work, and quickly, the upholding of her own moral values becomes a key element in her work. “Fighting for women’s rights is really important and we do have to fight; but, on the other hand, it really is that people just require their basic rights. Some people say women have to fight for their rights; but when they act, their behaviour is met with hatred. In Korea especially, so many problems happen. People cover their loathing for women behind feminism. I think they know what they’re doing is wrong. I have heard so many different opinions, so I have to think “what is the right way for me?”. This is the most important question. People just need to do the right thing in their own positions. If something goes wrong, we have to stay and try to solve that, behaving in the right way for us. I think that isn’t just true for women, it is true for humans.” Her success in the art world has given Sujin a voice, which others around her do not have. A positive education and exposure to a range of cultures has led her to believe her art has an important role in female empowerment. “In art world, there is less sex discrimination. Art always makes me think again about all my problems, especially gender issues. Art opens my eyes and my mind. Many of my friends who are not exposed to the art world are surprised when I tell them about gender discrimination and feel that they haven’t experienced it. They don't know how they are being unduly oppressed because it's so natural to them. Thanks to my involvement with art, I know more about discrimination than my friends and I’m grateful for that. I feel really sorry for my friends, and other women, but I have no power to help them directly. The only way to help my friends and others is to show them the problems through my art. I don't want my friends and other people neglect these problems, I want them to know exactly how they are being oppressed. I think it's my role to expose some of these issues through art.”
Sujin’s goal for the coming year is to produce art books, as well as a private show, and will develop her practise further with these goals. If you want to have your own sexually liberated babe-warrior sitting on your mantel piece, you can find her work on the Moosey Art website now.
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Wizard Skull grew up in a small town outside New York, but a childhood spent hungry for more of life left him breaking rules, before he was even drawing. “I grew up 2 hours from New York City in a small rural town. The road I grew up on was gravel, after graduating elementary school we had to take a bus to a neighbouring town for Junior High. That town had paved roads, so I would stay after school and skateboard. It was a small town and we were constantly getting the police called on us for skateboarding in empty parking lots. Our school even had a policy that if you were caught skateboarding in the parking lot on weekends you would get in school suspension. My only connection to youth culture was skateboarding magazines and vhs tapes, also MTV which was in its last days of heavy music video rotation.” Skateboarding offered for him, as it does for many, an escape from the strict confines of life that surrounded him and a path to the wider world “I liked skateboard graphics but didn’t know the artists names or care who they were. I was more interested in what the pro skaters were doing. I didn’t know anything about contemporary art or that it was possible to be an artist. Skateboarding did give me a place I could see my art.” Through skateboarding, a love for art began to emerge. “I spent a lot of time drawing because there wasn’t much else to do. I think it affected me creatively in a lot of ways, because the school and community weren’t supportive: so, art was something I sought out to do on my own and there were no examples of how one could be an artist. I really wanted to work in cartoons and had no idea how to do that, but I could open a skateboard magazine and find a phone number or address to a skateboard company. So, that was what I focused on for a long time: contacting companies within skateboard culture to do board graphics, T-shirt’s, magazine illustrations etc. I did somewhere around 200 board graphics for companies all over the world like Consolidated, Death and so many others.”
Working in the skate industry was, however, not artistic nirvana for the man most recognisable for putting the fi-i-i-ne back in to fast food with his sexy Ronald McDonald, featuring a full portion of fries hanging all out in front. “I had been doing work for skateboard companies for about 10 years, and I was pretty successful but financially there was not much money in it. It was exciting to have small skateboard shops from Russia, Norway etc contact me to design a t-shirt. I probably did 100s of tshirt graphics. I was on the computer all the time setting up files for printing and I was working a full-time job in Brooklyn where I was on a computer all day. So, to come home from work and do more computer work wasn’t enjoyable. I decided to go back to just making art for myself.” Wizard Skull started more conceptually than a first glance may give him credit for, addressing the taboo in men’s sexuality. “One of the first series of drawings I did was illustrations of powerful men sexualized. It was around the election the first time Obama was elected, so they were all people who were running for office or former presidents. The idea was drawing men as sexualized objects. I had 11 done and needed one more to finish a zine. I couldn’t think of who else to do so just did the Sexy Ronald McDonald which before that I only did my own characters. The sexy Ronald image became the most popular, and the joke of the fries in his underwear may be why, even though the original intent of the series was to challenge the way men and woman are portrayed in popular culture.”
Humanity, however, is well known for a distinct lack of humour where naughty bits are concerned (shout out to a society built on restrictively interpreted Christian values what, what) and the subtle message of Wizard Skull’s work has been lost on many. “Once I was putting up a wheat paste of Sexy Ronald and an older man came up and started yelling at me for it saying kids will see it and it’s inappropriate. He went into a store and bought a can of spray paint and came back and sprayed the entire thing black. But I came back the next day and put another one up. Then I did comic con one year and they made me hide my print of Homer choking his Bart dick. I did a series called Duck Die Nasty with my friend Matt Crabe, we were doing a lot of zine festivals together. We did a release for it at Printed Matter: an art book store in NYC. The surprising part was having people who are going to an art book store be offended. I remember one guy in particular who didn’t like that there was a duck hanging himself in it.”
Wizard has pointed out through interviews that many are determined to get to the bottom of his own place on the sexual spectrum and has received a fair amount of homophobic abuse as a result of his artwork (though, it is worth noting that homosexual men are often attracted to cartoon characters, and so in general, the public are not to be blamed). “I had a hand made sticker of Sexy Ronald in a group show once and a guy came up to me and told me he liked it, but he wasn’t a “faggit”. Around that time, I had people trying to warn me that everyone is going to think I’m gay for drawing sexy men. This was in 2010, and I think maybe I’m not around guys like that these days, or maybe most men’s masculinity isn’t so fragile that they have to worry what people will think of them if like a muscular man drawing.”
Wizard Skull is easily discounted as being thoughtless, thanks to a tendency for culture to dismiss the comically sexual. However, the work is well-thought out, carefully designed and carries an important message. “I worked in a museum for a few years standing in galleries. If the museum wasn’t busy I’d be making mental lists of ideas. For most of my art I already have an idea at the start. I have a lot of sketchbooks where I just randomly draw things and sometimes I take bits from there and turn them into something more. Also, just making art helps me come up with what to do next because in the process of creating you can find new ideas or methods.” Wizard Skull started out with pasting his designs on the streets of New York before the days of social media, and this is a flavour which really remains tangible in his work. “When I first started pasting it didn’t affect [my creative process] at all, but I didn’t have a smart phone or social media presence. I was just going out putting up posters every single night. At the time I hadn’t really become a part of any scene or met many other artists. I’d just try to get a poster on every block possible, but I had no idea what people thought of them because no one knew who I was and there was no way for people who saw them to contact me.” Now that his work is so visible on social media channels, with 32.7K followers on Instagram, one can see precisely how the public respond to these witty pieces: and the upshot is infinitely polarised.
Currently, Wizard Skull is exploring a range of styles of painting, with ambitions to try sculpture work in the future. If you find an itch to see cartoons with their pants down is going un-scratched, or the urge to see precisely where your delicate sensibilities sit on the Wizard Skull spectrum: please call a local advice line, or, alternatively, see Wizard Skull’s work for sale with Moosey Art now.
]]>It’s very rare to experience work where an artist has an interest in both the aesthetic, and the scientific; which really gives Cyrielle a unique edge in the art world. Her designs evoke senses so out-of-the-ordinary that you’re left wanting to more: to explore every perspective of the multi-dimensional platonic solid that is Cyrielle. Her works tangible originality is a result of a personality which refuses to obey the tropes of a modern artist, and when she talks about her work, a new perspective emerges. At Moosey Art, to celebrate the release of her upcoming print run, we caught up with Cyrielle, and discovered the voice of a truly engaging artist.
Stippling is a very historic, and time-consuming technique. Is this process something that offers you a form of meditation, a space to access your own thoughts?
Yes, there is undoubtedly a meditative dimension in my practice of pointillism. Regarding the process, this technique brings me something really satisfying and exciting, especially in the way the drawing takes shape little by little. It makes me keep up even if it takes a lot of time: some of my drawings can take several weeks or months to achieve. The outside world is very noisy, in a hurry and saturated with images. Drawing allows me to isolate myself and take my time, my rhythm back. My mind is quite disorganized most of the time, drawing - especially pointillism - helps me to see more clearly, to reconstruct the puzzle. It is also in these almost meditative moments that new ideas come up. But in the end, I think pointillism is much more than a technique. It is both the form and the substance of my artistic research. It is a way of apprehending and transposing the reality of the physical world, consisting of an infinity of particles separated by space. In my opinion, form and substance must be inseparable to constitute a work of art. To give you an example, I am currently working on visible light, which is both a wave phenomenon (wavelength) and a corpuscular phenomenon (photons). The techniques I use and the style I develop are an expression of the concept of « wave-particle duality ».
“The outside world is very noisy, in a hurry and saturated with images. Drawing allows me to isolate myself and take my time, my rhythm back.”
Could you tell me a little about your decision to produce work in black and white?
I started drawing in black and white in a rather instinctive way, as a sort of learning step, a necessary step. Looking back, I think it was a way of focusing on the subject of my drawings. Then it became an aesthetic choice, I like the ambiguity of chiaroscuro, the expressive charge of black and white. It allows me to sculpt the light and volumes in a more graphic way. From a technical point of view, the ink and the graphite are two medias that interest me particularly in terms of rendering and texture. I started painting in color quite recently. A new dimension is opening up to me.
Your works, even when surreal, have a clean clarity to them. Do you think drawing helps focus your mind, and this sense of clarity expands past the page for you as an artist?
It's hard to describe what's going on in my head when I'm working. I go through long periods of reflection, suddenly I see something, and I go to work to catch this idea or image. Then I’m in a process that is both mechanical and instinctive, everything is clear, I know exactly what to do. What interests me the most, I believe, is the invisible. I draw to capture, represent or crystallize something elusive, imperceptible.
On the subject of thoughts and the mind, your work really seems to explore how people think. Would you be able to tell me what aspects of human thought and expression interest you in your work?
I think it's the creative dimension of our mind, our brain, that really interests me. Beyond our ability to store information and analyse it, we all have an ability to imagine, to create new things. At every moment of life, we fantasize, we hope, we fear things. This reverie is common to all human beings but very few of them share it. In my work I try to provoke this reverie and this creative capacity in the viewer through my drawings.
How do you feel you try to represent the human experience on paper?
I do not claim to "represent the human experience", what interests me is rather to create an experience, surprise and arouse a questioning in the viewer. About our place in the universe for example. My work has an aspect of subjectivity because it is the result of my own experience. However, my approach is evolving and this part of subjectivity tends to fade in favour of that of the viewer. I try to compose images that are both singular to attract the attention of the viewer and open enough to welcome his point of view and his interpretation. It's already very ambitious and I think I'm still wide off the mark. I am only at the beginning of my research and I am aware that the road is long. I would probably make many detours before I can create the human experience I have in mind. And nothing is definitive, what I say today, I would refute tomorrow, maybe.
“I try to compose images that are both singular to attract the attention of the viewer and open enough to welcome his point of view and his interpretation.”
Part of your work features eroticism; Why do you give so much emphasis to sexuality in your work ?
In reality, the erotic drawings that I have made represent only a small part of my work, and sexuality is not so much the subject as a medium for evoking memory, the unconscious, and dreams. How memories can transform, become an obsession and alter with time or idealize reality. It's kind of a psychoanalysis upside down. What interests me is not how the unconscious influences our behaviour in reality but how reality influences the unconscious and our imagination.
Do you feel that the art industry represents the female body in a way that is positive for female audiences?
Since the twentieth century, artists have shaken the codes of representation of the female body and today there are more and more women artists who open the debate about it and offer a new vision of the female body. But I think there is as much way of representing women in art as there are artists to do it. We can’t stop at a single representation, we are not talking here about advertising or fashion, today there is not as much standard of beauty or criteria of representation of the body in the art, everything is possible.
Is there an experience you have had that you feel really affected the course of your life, especially as an artist?
One day I came across Stephen Hawking's book « A Brief History of Time ». I opened it and that was it! I went home at full speed and devoured it. It was a revelation: someone had put words on vague intuitions and confused thoughts. I think that there are two types of works of art: those that disconnect us from the world and put an end to the debate and those that on the contrary open the field of possibilities, increase our curiosity and invite us to go look at the world more closely. This book made that effect on me. I saw the world around me in a different light. For the first time, I wanted to share something. It totally changed the way I drew, and what I drew.
Your work also combines meticulous tricks of geometry which create unnerving and surreal effects. Is this effortless-seeming grasp of geometry something which comes naturally to you?
I like geometry in general, but it all depends on the subject. In “Nude”, for example, the space I represent is an imaginary space in which reality, conscious and unconscious mingle. This space is essentially carved by shadow and light. In the series “The Big Crush”, space is materialized by a geometry that borrows from the representations of space-time as described by Einstein's general relativity. Space-time become a mental space, shaped not by gravity, but by human interactions.
You’ve mentioned elsewhere that your interest in quantum physics, astrophysics and cosmology has opened your mind up. I wonder if you could tell me a little more about how this manifests in your work?
I think that my interest in science comes from my fascination with the invisible, that I mentioned earlier. Quantum mechanics for the infinitely small, astrophysics and cosmology for the infinitely big. I’m a frequent reader of the scientific press. The slightest discovery provokes in me a sensation of euphoria and wonder. All of this shapes my vision of the world and inevitably influences my work. The world of the infinitely small interests me particularly. The equations of quantum mechanics that describe it reflect a reality totally different from the one we observe everyday. It’s an absurd and illogical world, very difficult to imagine and therefore to grasp. It is very inspiring for me as an artist because all the images that spring in my mind seem totally new, because without equivalent in the visible world.
Finally, what are you interested in currently and what are your future projects?
Since my first trip to California, I’m fascinated by the light. It sounds like a commonplace but it's true. Cities are lying on the edge of the ocean or at the edge of the desert. Wherever you are, you are surrounded by a huge dome of light. When the colour of the sky changes and turns red, you’re immersed in this colour and it makes an incredible effect. It's a feeling impossible to express with words, trying to recreate it is my way of sharing it. I started studying the solar spectrum, how light changes during the day depending on its interaction with the atmosphere. I’m very excited by this project because it is the first time that I will show a work in colour. Then I began to observe the sun itself and by extension the other stars close to us. It is also a research on the origin of humanity. The exhibition will be held at the Show Gallery in Los Angeles in September 2018.
Two new prints from Gulacsy have been newly released with Moosey Art and are currently available for purchase. Please click the link below for more info.
]]>Juan Diaz Faes is a master of creativity. Whether his characters are entwining themselves around text on a page or warping the expression of a neglected chunk of concrete, Juan fuses intricate narrative with simplistic, joyful design to create patterns and pieces that reveal more of themselves with each glance. With a background interest in graphic novels, Juan establishes a sense of narrative in his pieces, whose overpowering sense of artistic identity make them addictive and endlessly alluring.
Juan’s art is vibrant, and abstractly graphic: a kind of artistic fluidity which is bestowed on him through an ability to find tangible inspiration as freely as air. “You can draw inspiration from everything. From the colour palette of a cereal box, to the shape that makes a shadow of a tree on the ground, to an oil stain on the wall. I come from the culture of skateboarding and surfing in the nineties, so all of that undoubtedly influences my work in some way.” The nostalgic simplicity of Juan’s designs, which undoubtedly arouse visions of nineties skate culture, also retain something youthful and fun in their workings. Juan attributes this to a joy for designs stemming from a youth spent immersed in his world of globulous creatures. “Drawing and creating were always things I did as a child. My mother keeps lots of drawings in her house from when I was a child. So, we can say that since childhood I have had a pencil in my hand! I never thought about looking for an identifying style or something that would differentiate me, just every time I drew, or saw works of people that I liked, I tried to do it the way I would like it to be. I always say that if you are honest with yourself, inevitably there will appear your own way to draw and “your style”. A style that refers to your passions, your past, your interests ... after all, your personality.” Juan has worked to a variety of briefs, though spanning across his vast portfolio, hosting an array of different forms, a sense of fun is persistent in Juan’s creations. “I think it's always challenging to be creative when there's a brief. Creativity is more or less the ability to solve problems with certain ingredients; The fewer ingredients, the more creative you have to be to find a good solution. So, when you get a brief, it's always time to be creative, because each brief gives you limited ingredients (public, size, colours, dates ...). This type of work is supposed to be something passionate, and you only do it if you love it. But like everything, when it becomes work, many times you have to do things that you do not want to. I've been fighting for years to keep having fun in my work, so I guess there's a part that comes in my DNA, and another part of conscious exercise to remind myself, that you have to have fun. Lately, I try not to take jobs where I'm not going to have fun.” Juan’s extensive experience in working with a variety of mediums and motions gives him a unique, and concise perspective on adjusting work for briefs. “I try to be aware of WHY I do each job for. It is not the same to make an illustration for the press as a personal work. In press you have to stick to a format, a theme, an audience... In the independent work you do the nonsense that goes through your head without thinking too much about whether it works graphically, whether it is aesthetic or not. I do like to differentiate my work when it is a commission for something specific, and when it is a personal project.”
“If you are honest with yourself, inevitably there will appear your own way to draw.”
The sense of narrative and expansive detail in Juan’s designs hark back to a love for comics and graphic novels. An industry which artists can struggle to find lucrative, but one which Juan is fortunate enough to have penetrated, with his persisting sense of artistic identity. “A few years ago there was a boom in graphic novels, and I had the opportunity to do some. Since I was a child, I always consumed a lot of comics, and narrative is something that interests me a lot, so I took the opportunity. The comic or the graphic novel are areas that allow you to develop very personal and complex projects, but unfortunately (at least in Spain) it is not easy to live exclusively from it. So, for the time it takes to make a graphic novel, I'm more interested in the illustration. Also, I think I'm better at making interesting images than complex narratives.” Juan has self-published an array of books based around his unique fusion of design and narrative, for example, the Encyclopaedia of Poo, or Cromaticaca, which is still available to purchase here.
“Every year I try to self-publish a book. A book that I would like to have in my personal library, but I know it would be difficult for me to be commissioned by a publisher, so I try to think what book I would like to be entrusted to me. In the case of Escacalógico, the idea and the execution was quite fast. I made 150 types of poop, with their shape, their name and their characteristics, and Mar Abad (a writer with whom I usually work a lot) made the texts of each of them. The result is a poop book, which wants to be very elegant haha.”
“I made 150 types of poop”
It’s easy to glance at the clean lines, and complex graphic layouts of Juan’s designs and categorise him as a vector-artist, existing only in the digital space. However, Juan also brings him immaculate creations into the third dimension with enigmatic street art, and even sculpture. “I am very comfortable in the digital section. I'm very impatient and I like to see how the drawing is going to work (haha, that's why in analogue I use few colours) so the digital one helps me a lot to understand and see the final result. However, there is no doubt that the analogue has a special charm and everything that can be felt, or seen close up has more interesting readings. I even use digital as an initial idea, and then develop it in analogue.”
“analogue has a special charm and everything that can be felt, or seen close up has more interesting readings”
Juan hasn’t left his natural ability to design distinctive and aesthetic pieces to stagnate for a moment. After following his artistic education to its limits, and even lecturing at university, Juan is undergoing a PhD in Applied Creativity, whereby he attempts to understand the very fabric of creativity itself. “I was interested in studying the creative process when I finished my Fine Arts career. I realized that I did not know very well why we were doing things, or where all those ideas came from. And at that time, I wanted to study something more "theoretical" than "practical" so that's why I started my PhD in Creativity. Of course, it not only helped me to know a little more about the subject, but also to apply myself when I have to face some problems of creative scope.” Juan’s work alone casts such a sense of creative assurance and technical excellence that it sits well to know that he also teaches in universities, as well as doing independent workshops and lessons. “Creativity is a way of thinking like any other. It is a skill that we all have, some more developed, and others less developed. But just like learning a language, or playing an instrument, creativity can be trained to improve it, so with some tricks and daily exercises, we can develop it. And therefore, it can be taught, and learned, even if it is something abstract and complex.”
“just like learning a language, or playing an instrument, creativity can be trained to improve it”
Juan’s work can be experienced through social media, where you can begin to gain a real sense of the scope of creativity and work which this creator offers. Being based in Spain, the majority of publications featuring Juan’s work do implore an unshakable use of the Spanish language, so, if your Rosetta Stone budget is sub-par, you could just purchase a Juan Diaz-Faes piece from Moosey Art.
Ornamental Conifer’s focus on vivid typography catches the eye. Whether a clever pun or a visually striking proverb, his work demonstrates the aesthetic power of language.
Conifer, who spent a transitory childhood in several European countries, says his fascination with typography stemmed from a love of the comic books he had as a child-in place of games consoles. The loud type-face of the comics showing just how visually striking words can be.
After a series of part time jobs, in which he regularly spent more time drawing on bits of material than working, Conifer studied graphic design at the University of East London. After a period working freelance he moved to Los Angeles.
He tells me he draws his inspiration for his phrases and imagery from the everyday. Overheard conversations, shop signs and song lyrics. Conifer combines these seemingly prosaic influences with powerful artistic typography and a good amount of wit to create thought provoking pieces. Work he hopes, is both funny and anger inducing.
He wants this emotion to be immediately obvious in his work: ‘’My artwork isn't the type of painting you have to stand and look at for hours, contemplating the meaning, it’s more like a punchline’’.
Conifer is an ardent believer in how the duality of language affects the way a message is perceived: ‘’You can make a peaceful phrase appear aggressive simply by tweaking the letter formations.’’
It’s not just words and letters that Conifer likes to shake-up. He enjoys working on a wide variety of materials, especially ones which provide a tough challenge: ‘’ I absolutely love painting on glass, it’s really unforgiving. I also love leather as the texture and grain forces you to work very slowly, it has a therapeutic element to it’’
A noticeable theme throughout Conifers work is motorbikes- he has used helmets, jackets and bike themselves as a canvas. Yet he acknowledges that this intertwining of passion and art was becoming restrictive and is now taking his work in a new direction.
Part of this new direction is into online clothing- his prints are available on jackets and t-shirts. However, the move into a more online market raises mixed feeling. Despite the benefits an online presence provides he has reservations. He stresses that although art is so easily accessible online it doesn’t give the same meaningful interaction as when seen in the flesh.
As to social media Conifer feels that the emphasis on likes has clouded people’s perception of what is good art. Feeling people now judge the quality of someone’s work on the amount of likes they receive, rather than artistic merit.
When asked about the rise of emojis in language he replied: ‘’I feel guilty when I use them… I’m scared about the future of both written and verbal language.’’
Rather than new forms of language, Conifer is focusing on new materials and new projects. Moving on to larger pieces with new water-based paints instead of enamel and even some work in 3D. The latter he hopes to include in his upcoming show in Tokyo.
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“My main message is to have fun and do what you want.”
Bryce operates in the fast-paced digital space of Instagram. Behind him are the hours spent ruminating over the armless statues of deities which he satirises, and ahead of us is a world where art is accessible and easy to digest. “My work if definitely more on the visual side. My main outlet is through instagram and I often look at a sketch and think, “will this catch someone’s eye as they scroll”. Basically, I have half a second to get the viewer’s attention so how can I create a piece that will grab them and then bring them in.” Bryce successfully uses his wavy characters to cast aside the art of the past, the art of a tomorrow audiences can’t grasp. This is art for today. There are no heirs and graces. The nature of how we consume art has led to the creation of fast-paced, funny and self-assured work from this comic artist.
“I have half a second to get the viewer’s attention”
Images and ideas surround and bombard the post-truth generation, and Bryce incorporated this sense of business effortlessly into his well-structured designs. He has no qualms about creating in a space where influence is everywhere, in fact, Bryce takes creation to a new level in using the influence of artists around him. “The work of other artists definitely influences what I do. I think specifically, pop culture and media influence my work. To me, comparing the works of Walt Disney and other cartoonists to classical figures of Greece and Rome creates a comical perspective that looking at either one solely does not create.” Bryce even uses memories which take a life-time to build to instil his sense of pleasure in your mind: his half-a-second technique for influencing the sensations in an online audience that a gallery piece might instil. “In most cases, I reference images that either relate to what I’m seeing happening in pop culture currently or something that I can connect to my childhood. I like to use nostalgia to be the main focus on many of my pieces because it is something that evokes immediate reaction.”
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Bryce’s is work is digitally based, but like his tattooing, his designs are machine-free. Though his work exists in such a modern frame, his main platform being digital, his use of hand-drawing techniques injects a sense of artistic validity into our fast-paced lives. Bryce provides a voice that argues artisan work doesn’t need to be separated from it’s audience: from ordinary people. Without the use of Photoshop, a symbiosis of the digital and the physical is installed. “Many of my concepts circle around the same type of idea. It’s the idea of distortion through ink. I take and iconic image or character and try to cut it up or melt it or mirror it. Small changes that are intriguing without altering the image too much. I look at it as an analogue approach to effects that might be seen in Photoshop which creates a strange parallel.”
Bryce’s work is so current that it allows the viewer and the audience to be caught in a moment of transient freedom. “In culture today, everything is about expression and being different. By taking a classical piece and adding a spin on it, you can both reference the past while also creating something that is new and exciting. I hope that such outward and obvious expression continues for a while before the pendulum swings back because I think that this era of art is just fun! People seem to be enjoying the crazy things that myself and others are creating.” The classical works referenced evoke a sense of the past, and the sense of candid pleasure in the moment of pleasure they bring evokes a sense of protectiveness over Bryce’s art form. You sense that as the moment passes, you will have to return to a job you hate, a lover who isn’t a bikini babe with a Mickey-Mouse head, a patch of skin that doesn’t have a distorted furby pressed into it; to artwork that takes itself seriously. For now, you enjoy the embrace.
Words By Meg Ellis
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I LIKE MYSELF
Disquiet is tangible in her work, and Daisy aims to tell a generation trapped in a prism of anxiety that it’s okay not to be okay. “I want to give the message that it’s alright to express emotions and be struggling and to remember to check that people are ok.” The authentic sense of clarity that Daisy’s work offers stems from an artist who uses art like therapy. “I feel like starting from my own experience is key for some of my work, especially my text-based pieces but really I’m most interested in the human condition and relating to other people. No matter where my work is coming from I would hope that some people could see it and relate to something. Making work helps me process my daily experiences and have an outlet for them. If I didn't paint I would be so overwhelmed; everything I had ever felt or seen would just be floating round my head.” In using her art as a method for absorbing her experiences, she creates a symbiosis of repugnance and beauty which can only be replicated in human existence.
“If I didn't paint I would be so overwhelmed; everything I had ever felt or seen would just be floating round my head.”
Experimental confidence facilitates the fusion of silence and noise in Daisy’s work. “Mostly I use oil paint because it’s so luscious and thick. You can be so heavy handed with it or completely gentle. I use raw unprimed canvas because it creates friction with the oil paint. Lately I’ve been using a lot of mixed media and experimenting. I use emulsion paint for fast coverage of surfaces. When mixed with oil paint the two repel each other and the oil seeps out into the emulsion paint which makes the painting look super dirty which I’m into. I like the material and practical quality of paint to be inherent in my work. I use oil pastels for softer hints of colour and oil stick for bold mark making. I’ve figured out ways of using paint to get a contrast and balance of extremes within my work. Sometimes I use brush strokes with as little paint as possible, dragging the paint across the canvas as far as it will go, creating a soft blurred effect. I contrast that with thick, bold, saturated brush strokes, creating a jarring energy between textures.”
In her paintings, Daisy assaults language with the same disregard for convention that inspires her to mingle oils with emulsion on canvas. Words play a vital role in her work, giving the paintings a sense of aggravated poetry. “Language and handwriting has always interested me. I used to be really interested in handwriting in films and wonder how they decide what a character’s handwriting is gonna look like. I remember changing my handwriting every week at school, as though it had some effect on the way I was perceived as a person. Like as you’re finding yourself you change your handwriting to suit the mood. The way something is written can sway how the words are received. Music and film have always inspired my work a lot.”
A sense of the existential is a tone that has flavored Daisy’s work, and has been refined and matured through life experience. When Daisy talks about her time studying at Goldsmiths University, a sense of an artist raring to break free of the restraints that education provides emerges. “My education helped me realise I wanna make art every day. The best part was having access to a studio at college and university every day. I’m not very good at speaking about my work in front of people, so I struggled with that a lot and it made me very wary of the institution’s aggressive, or impatient way of dealing with this; often in a way that hinders creativity rather than encouraging it. I worry about all the students who may listen to their tutors counterproductive criticisms. But you just gotta keep making what you need to make. It helped me realise what I like and what I don’t like. I feel like I’m in my element now; working in my own time, alone in my studio.”
“When mixed with oil paint the two repel each other and the oil seeps out into the emulsion paint which makes the painting look super dirty which I’m into.”
To experience Daisy’s artwork is to experience a moment caught in time. A moment of existing in the fragile space that is an artist exploring her own place in the world. “In painting I can channel emotion from days or even years ago. So there’s always a specific place I can go to. I don’t really plan anything. Even if I have words or a vision in mind of what I want the painting to be, it’s always an organic process where each brush stroke and colour used informs the next move I make. The process of painting is really cathartic for me.”
A prominent influence in Daisy’s paintings is the violence which surrounds her living in London. She hones this focus down to a preoccupation with blood left on the street, weaving haunting narrations which form the backbone of her work. “When I moved to London I definitely saw blood on the street a lot. I started to notice it more and decided to photograph blood every time I saw it and began to make work about it. I’m always intrigued by who the blood belongs to, how the blood got there, (was it through violence, an accident or maybe just a nose bleed), how long it’s been there for, has anyone else noticed it? All of these things go through my head because blood is really precious and seeing it on the streets is really scary actually; it conjures up this fear in me but at the same time I’m completely fascinated. And nowadays it’s quite normal to see blood and violence on the streets in everyday life so I’m sort of interested in the desensitisation of violence and how it doesn’t really affect people anymore cos we’re exposed to it all the time.”
Daisy is the kind of artist fierce enough to fabricate the kind of gal gang you wish could be your feminist #squadgoals. “Ugly Bitch Club started as a fantasy punk band reclaiming the fact that I am an ugly bitch and so what. But now it’s more of a DIY feminist fantasy club or a state of mind where you support your friends and local artists. If you’re feminist and hardworking and are putting out good energy then you can join the club. It’s really important for girls to stick together and to do it ourselves. DIY attitude is really important to me, cos no one else is gonna do it for ya.” Daisy doesn’t only strive to pave the way for her peers in her own fantasy space, but also addresses a very real imbalance in the industry, which leaves a void in the representations of life that we see framed in comfortable galleries. “I do feel one step behind my male contemporaries in art sometimes. I really support them of course but it just makes me determined to work twice as hard to get to where I need to be. It’s like that everywhere unfortunately; in art, music, science, tattooing, film, sport. In my job as a chef I was experiencing this a lot so that was a big influence on my work at the time. Things are slowly changing but there’s a long way to go. I wanna see girls and queers everywhere in every gallery but it’s all male dominated. The number of girls getting shows and solo shows is minimal compared to the boys. I’m really doing this for the girls and the queers.”
“I’m really doing this for the girls and the queers.”
Moosey Art are stocking a limited edition print of her piece ‘I LIKE MYSELF’, which boldly shouts the underused sentiment into the subconscious. The smeared oil is a hopeful declaration: the winning side of a battle. “This print originally started off as a diptych, oil paint on paper. On one side of the work it said ‘I like myself’ and the other it said ‘I hate myself’. I think everyone is going through this push and pull of liking yourself one minute and hating yourself the next. I struggle with that a lot. I’m tryna put out some positive energy this year so it seemed fitting to go with ‘I like myself’ for the print. The way I paint text is almost impulsive, as though I had to capture this in the moment because the feeling of liking myself isn’t gonna last long. And even though it’s written so bold and aggressively, it still has some doubt behind it. The screen prints are hand finished with my signature aggressive scribbles to bring some colour back in.”
Catch this piece hanging on the Moosey site and give your inner Ugly Bitch space to hang.
Words By Meg Ellis
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Cast your memory back to the days of finishing a long hard day of scratching cartoon penises into school desks; switching on the television, and zoning out. Your two-dimensional friends are there guiding you to a land where there is no homework, no bills, no worries, and no responsibilities. Maybe you didn’t know it when you were still collecting Pokémon cards like tesco clubcard points: but you were the happiest you’ll ever be. Salmos is a Brazilian artist who has captured that nostalgic feeling, and sprays it into an array of character designs that he fuses with his own style, inspired by the streets of Sau Paulo.
“The best part of childhood is the memories of sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons. I was happy, even if I didn’t know it. There were no bills or taxes to pay. Doing graffiti using these old
characters is the perfect union to bring good vibrations, good feelings and good memories!”
When Salmos describes his journey into artistry, his love of the vibrancy of his home city lights up his words. “I started to paint seeing works of the few artists who were here in São Paulo in the nineties. It was the best time for graffiti here in my city! It was all new and we learned some new techniques every day. Painting techniques were few, and it took a lot of effort to reach something you were happy with. The discovery of new things in what I do has always fascinated me".
When talking of his early years in the constantly evolving world of graffiti, you’re also reminded of the struggle and determination that being an artist in the nineties entailed: "I remember one trip, where I saw a wall that had been covered by some of the big graffiti artists of the time. I got off the bus before my stop to see if there were any paint nozzles that had been left behind on the floor. We had nowhere to buy them here.”
Firmly rooted in his city’s cultural history, Salmos retains a love for adapting his work for his surroundings, a technique which makes flexibility and happines a natural element in his designs. “I like to get a feel for a place and give the work out what the space needs. I found this is the best way to bring good memories to people on the street. We live in a world of little opportunity, and any pleasure that I can get to the people here is a victory.”
Piercing his effortlessly upbeat and optimistic view of the world, is an underlying passion, and obvious talent for bringing joy to the masses in the face of a world which sometimes seems bleak. Salmos seems to take the concept of global nihilism into his own hands and refuses to accept defeat. A heart of gold penetrates his designs and translates his dominating attitude into simple terms: the happiness of generations is represented by Salmos in the curved lips of a passer-by. “Art moves in a different way with every single person. It embodies the feeling that the viewer is experiencing at a specific moment in their lives. In my art I try to bring positive to things and always feel pleasure. I feel good about it. Sometimes in the street someone suddenly appears...an adult with a child who does not even know the character I'm doing. The Father gets that gleam in his eye and is soon talking about the character and often retelling things about the character I’ve never heard before. It’s great.”
“I do not like the idea of leaving my graffiti serious. The purpose of graffiti is to have fun and always will be! I'm in a very good place now: traveling and taking my art to people and places that I never thought I’d know. I love it.”
Part of the joy in Salmos’s work is its simplicity. There is no convoluted method to his playful creations. There is only memory, environment, and feeling. “I am a cheerful person and my art conveys exactly what I am. I get a lot of influence from where I am at the time of drawing. It’s what I'm feeling. One time I was at the airport and a drawing of a helicopter emerged; in a petshop I drew my Garfield. I never liked cats, now my house is full of them. That’s feeling, that’s how it goes...”
Words by Meg Ellis
Moosey Art spoke to Filipino artist Kobusher ahead of the launch of his new screen print.
Kobusher describes himself as a ‘‘newbie’’ to the art world, but always having a keen interest in painting. He began to produce sketches of popular cartoon characters during his time working as a creative director for the advertising agency BBDO Guerrero in Manilla.
Kobusher gave up his job to focus on what he loved, painting. This allowed what had been drawings of cartoon characters to be transformed into eye-catching acrylic pieces. Work that showed well know characters such as Homer Simpson and Pop-Eye in a completely different way.
His artistic skills were developed during his time studying fine arts at the University of the Philippines. His work combines artistic flair with a childhood fascination with pop-culture. This stemmed from an exposure at a young age to influences from both 1980s Western and Japanese sources, ranging from MTV to manga.
Indeed Kobusher has taken a lot from manga, including his name, derived from a character in Mazinger Z, Koji Kobuto and also his artistic style.
When asked about the message behind his work Kobusher was quick to reply that there was no deeper message imbued into his art, adding: ‘’For me it’s very topical and need not have a deeper meaning…What you see is what you get.’’
Nonetheless he is keen for people to take a message from his work, just not one dictated by him, saying: ‘’That’s the thing about art, it can have a different meaning and effect to different people, even to the artist that created it.’’
Kobusher said that themes of anonymity highlighted in his work were reflections of his own personality, stating: ‘’I try to hide from recognition and fame and would prefer people to focus on the work, not the person that made it.’’
This attitude of shying away from the lime-light was again shown in his playing down of a potential exhibition of his work at the Moniker in Brooklyn later this year. This would add to previous exhibitions with Secret Fresh, VinyonVinl and an upcoming event at the Art Fair Philippines.
Kobusher is wary of operating in an art world dominated by social media, one which at times is saturated with artist all trying to stand out. Seeing it as a necessary if not entirely wanted aspect of the modern art world. Believing a key aspect to being noticed and remaining fresh is one which has always been important, that of originality adding: ‘’it all boils down to the kind of work you produce’’.
In regard to the future Kobusher is optimistic, if unsure of where his work would go, saying only that he wanted to be satisfied with it like any artist. He added: ‘’hopefully as I mature, even if I am already 45, so will my art’’.
Kobushers prints launched on Sunday 14th of January at Moosey Art and https://mooseyart.co.uk/
@Kobusher
Words By Sam Doyle
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Alvaro Naddeo is a Brazilian artist who fuses the effortless fluidity of watercolours, with the graphic and unique composition of the world’s discarded treasures. He creates a strong, probing voice from the remnants of a consumerist society which is ‘both desirable and despicable’.
Casting the viewer into a thought-proving twilight between creation and decay, Alvaro’s works are a stark criticism of a society addicted to waste, built on social inequality; and founded by greed. His paintings capture the spirit of a nomadic artist with an uncompromising view of the world. Originally from Sao Paulo where his artist father ignited a passion for visual creation, Naddeo has also lived in Tampa, New York City and currently resides in the city of Los Angeles. You experience a sense of this freedom as a viewer, with a varied scope of languages and cultures caught up in his complex colour palette: the result is humbling and cohesive. Being taken on a tour of some of the world’s biggest cities, via the back streets and dumping grounds, we not only find a grounding sense of obscure beauty in our litter, but an overriding sense of universal social responsibility.
“The subject matter of my work is waste, overconsumption and social inequality. Trash and objects found in the street are valuable, and not only for aesthetic reasons.”
It takes vision, and a unique eye to spot the commanding value in the objects cast to the streets. In a world where so much energy is channelled into the production and consumption of advertising it can be easy to take the same throw-away attitude towards this profound influence on our visual mind-set as we take to the products which they represent. The sturdy confidence and typographic elements of Alvaro’s works are the product of over two decades working in marketing. Although watching his father work as a child founded Alvaro’s thirst for creation, in his late teens he felt so overwhelmed by admiration for his Father’s technical skill that he felt he could simply not achieve the same level of artistry. This prompted him to pursue a career in marketing. Naddeo explains “I pursued a career in advertising as an Art Director, something that still allowed me to exercise my interest in art but without requiring mastery with the pencil or brush.”
After 20 years Alvaro found himself embracing the quick pace of New York, experiencing it’s stark contrasts and vibrant pulse; and as with so many great artistic voices, the city breathed new life into Alvaro’s neglected technical talent. The resurrection of his artistry has made him a determined and unashamed creator; and the confidence and complexity of a mature set of experiences sets his work apart from those less well-formed. Artwork which cries out to its audience and grasps them unapologetically by the conscience is work with stays with the viewer; which grows with the viewer.
“Trash and objects found in the street are valuable, and not only for aesthetic reasons. The brands, logos and packaging depicted in my work are objects with an inherent duality, both desirable and despicable, a clear byproduct of having worked in advertising for more than 20 years.”
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To celebrate our up coming exhibition with Brazilian street artist Muretz. Our top wordsmith Meg Ellis had a little chat with him.
It Follows me Everywhere by Mauro ‘Muretz’ is an exhibition which sees the artist experiment with a new design front for his paintings, created in early 2017. The artists’ expert use of movement and unexpected composition captures a flow of energy that interacts with his faceless creations and penetrates his haunting scenes.
“Sometimes we ignore it, but it’s there always following us.”
Muretz brings something new to the viewer this year, and it’s something more profound. You feel his faceless characters and strikingly minimal designs somewhere in your core, and it’s hard to pin down what lurks there. There’s a silent poetry found between the effortless outlines of the scenes portrayed. This playful way that Muretz represents this feeling, makes his work more subtle and perhaps also more affecting than his earlier work.
When Mauro speaks about this collection, he really seems to be the embodiment of his paintings: bowling you over by eloquently, minimally and effortlessly explaining something so complex and human. He explains that the paintings portray a kind of loneliness which "is a feeling that we all have, a thought in the back of our minds which follows us. And it doesn’t allow us to fully live in the moment.” Manifesting this in his new collection, Mauro has represented something more enduring than the kind of loneliness that evokes tears and love songs: instead, an ever present kind of loneliness seeps through his images. “We rarely share those thoughts. We keep it for ourselves. It makes us lonely in that sense, even when we’re surrounded by a crowd. Sometimes we ignore it, but it’s there always following us. These drawings are about that.”