photo: Birdman (birdmanphotos.com)

Interview with GREG SIMKINS:

Your childhood ambition:

To be a veterinarian or work with animals. Also to make cartoons : )

Something you treasure:

My family.

Your worst habit:

Getting distracted easily.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Sketching in my small sketchbooks and creating stories.

Your first job:

Janitor age 12. I worked there 4 years while also working at a kennel washing and walking dogs. Also was volunteering at a veterinary hospital. At 17 I quit those jobs to deliver pizzas for a couple years, then waited tables and did freelance art through college.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Living: Mars-1.

Dead: Emanuel Leutze.

See more of Greg Simkins’ work here.

Pause to Give Thanks That We Rise Again from Death and Live
oil, Flashe, spray paint, charcoal and pencil on canvas
35.5″ x 32″
2014
Courtesy of Nationale (Portland, OR)

You Will Become Me
oil, Flashe, spray paint, charcoal and pencil on canvas
48″ x 58.5″
2013-2014
Courtesy of Nationale (Portland, OR)

Seer
oil, Flashe, spray paint, charcoal and pencil on canvas
35.5″ x 32″
2014
Courtesy of Nationale (Portland, OR)

Thank You for Restoring Me to My Whole Body
oil, charcoal and pencil on canvas
40″ x 40.5″
2011

Interview with ELIZABETH MALASKA:

Your childhood ambition:

I wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic. Mostly this was because I loved (and love) animals.

Something you treasure:

The ephemeral—and often beautiful—moments that constitute daily life, along with the awareness to appreciate them.

Your worst habit:

Procrastination.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

The psychological solitude that I find only in the studio.

Your first job:

My first job was babysitting, but if we’re talking tax-paying, legit-type work it was at a health food store. The grocery-bagging skills I learned there serve me to this day.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Francesca DiMattio.

See more of Elizabeth Malaska’s work here and here.

Self Portrait as Catastrophic Failure
Oil on canvas
68″ x 68″
2013

Self Portrait as After Party
Oil on canvas
74″ x 68″
2013

Self Portrait as Millenium Burial Mound
Oil on canvas
68″ x 80″
2012

Self Portrait with Cargo
Oil on canvas
68″ x 66″
2014

Self Portrait as Tree House
Oil on canvas
64″ x 60″
2011

Interview with JULIE HEFFERNAN:

Your childhood ambition:

To be a nun. Later on, as the visionary counterpart of that early wish, I fell in love with El Greco’s painting Fra Paravicino, which is a meditation on interiority: all the meaning in the painting is parsed through shapes of black and white and where they locate in the composition, dividing his body up and creating zones of binaries—up/down, sky/earth, heaven/hell and even male/female, suggesting a proto-Jungian self, the uniting of opposites.

Something you treasure:

There’s a tree in Prospect Park, Brooklyn that has a knothole that looks like a gargoyle of marbleized, aggregate stone shaped into a gorgeous lump that I pass everyday when I take my morning walk.

Your worst habit:

Probably my lack of driving etiquette: the only way I can justify spending long hours on my couch, staring at whatever painting I’m currently working on is by moving full tilt through the rest of my life, and sitting in a car is the last way I want to spend my life.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Seeing more and more deeply within. Making paintings allows me to spend an inordinate amount of time introspecting, looking around in my psyche for imagery and particularities that I might want to see outside of myself. It’s a huge indulgence, I know; but there’s a rich world inside each of us and I want to experience more of it.

Your first job:

Turning wine bottles for hours on the bottling line at Almaden Vineyards so their labels faced outwards. I met a small man there at the factory who showed me the drawing from the Little Prince of the elephant inside a boa constrictor, and asked me what I thought it was. Like the prince, I thought it was a hat, which tells me now how unimaginative I had become in that job.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

The early work of Robert Greene. I saw his paintings at Robert Miller Gallery in the early 90s and found his fraught, obsessive brushwork depicting wide lawns and mad trees wildly interesting. He was working in a mode that anticipated Doig, Bas and others; then he disappeared and now he’s painting grid-based abstractions. To me that’s a loss.

See more of Julie Heffernan’s work here.

Interview with PIERRE SCHMIDT:

Your childhood ambition:

Being different from the usual suspects.

Something you treasure:

Listening to wonderful music from all genres.

Your worst habit:

Being easily distracted by minor details.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

The ambition that my works are not pinned down to any fixed form of interpretation. Furthermore, I feel able to embrace all kinds of new techniques and styles. At the moment, for example, I really enjoy working on collages.

Your first job:

Working in a warehouse of a beverage outlet. I was 16 back then, if I am not mistaken.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

San Poggio (http://cargocollective.com/poggiosan).

See more of Pierre Schmidt’s work here.

Interview with SARAH DEREMER:

Your childhood ambition:

To work with animals in some capacity, create art, and to travel the world.

Something you treasure:

The friendships and connections that I’ve made across the globe, the experiences I’ve had while traveling.

Your worst habit:

Sticking to a routine, and nail biting

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Constant evolution and innovative idea development. I like creating work that people haven’t seen before.

Your first job:

Working at a theater for hearing impaired children over the summer, age 12.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Ian Francis, Jason Shawn Alexander, Brooke Shaden.

See more of Sarah DeRemer’s work here.

Midnight Lust
100 x 80 cm
ballpoint pen

The Fight
120 x 85 cm
ballpoint pen

Cover Girl
80 x 100 cm
ballpoint pen and yellow color pencil

The Piercing
70 x 100 cm
ballpoint pen

Interview with HELENA HAUSS:

Your childhood ambition:

To be a kid forever.

Something you treasure:

My memories and my journals. I kept them from age 10 to 25. I’ve got loads, and I’m so happy I did so I never forget about my life and all my personal adventures, feelings and struggles.

Your worst habit:

I’m a control freak. And I tend to get batshit crazy when something doesn’t go the way I planned. I wish I was more of the “zen” type, but I’m really not… Then again I guess it goes hand in hand with the stuff that got me where I am today, like being a hard worker and demanding a lot of myself.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

I love the entire process, but what I like best is telling stories: my work is about memories and the strong feelings brought by the loss of innocence, first times, youth and discovery.

Your first job:

Spoiled brat.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

I really love Ugo Gattoni’s crazy dystopian landscapes. Joel Daniel Phillips’ amazing life-size charcoal portraits. And Violaine & Jeremy’s insanely intricate and delicate pencil illustrations.

See more of Helena Hauss’s work here.

Interview with MARIO SUGHI:

Your childhood ambition:.

To play for Juve.

Something you treasure:

The way I see.

Your worst habit:

Cutting my hair myself.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Elegance and style.

Your first job:

Cartoonist for il Male Magazine in Rome.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

American Master Alex Katz, of course!

See more of Nerosunero’s work here.

Pregnant
acrylic on canvas
80 x 90 cm
2014

Meeting Lovers
acrylic on canvas
80 x 60 cm
2015

Tristán
acrylic on canvas
60 x 60 cm
2014

Cat White
acrylic on canvas
80 x 60 cm
2014

Fear
acrylic on canvas
25 x 25 cm
2015

Interview with NAWAR HAIDAR:

Your childhood ambition:

When I was a child I dreamed of play music.

Something you treasure:

My mother, family and memory.

Your worst habit:

Insistent.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

It brings me back to the important moments of my childhood.

Your first job:

TV camera.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Yamen Youssef.

See more of Nawar Haidar’s work here.

48 X 60 inches
 

48 X 54 inches

48 X 60 inches

42 X 48 inches

Interview with MARK TENNANT:

Your childhood ambition:

To be an artist.

Something you treasure:

New York City.

Your worst habit:

Dwelling on insignificant things.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Drawing.

Your first job:

Delivering the Washington Post.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Adrian Ghenie.

See more of Mark Tennant’s work here.

Hunger IV
mixed media on cardboard
36.5 x 85.5 cm
2014

Till We Meet Again
mixed media on MDF
220 x 170 cm
2010

The Beautiful Outlaws
mixed media on MDF
220 x 170 cm
2011

Hunger II
mixed media on cardboard
141 x 97.5 cm
2014

Grandiose Delusions
mixed media on paper
40 x 28.5 cm
2014

Interview with ERKUT TERLIKSIZ:

Your childhood ambition:

To be an artist.

Something you treasure:

My wife.

Your worst habit:

Overthinking.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Creating intuitive stories from unexpected accidents. Encountering these forms leads to another creative process, which actually shapes the consequence and at that point craftsmanship starts. This can be an accident or even the texture of the material that I paint on. For instance, I’ve been collecting dumped furniture, woods or whatever I can work on from the street. The imperfection of the texture triggers my next move. I really enjoy when it doesn’t end as how it starts.

Your first job:

I studied graphic design. When I was a student, I was designing posters for the state theaters. Thanks to the support of my university’s valuable lecturer Esen Karol.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Phil Hale, Joakim Ojanen, Jonas Burgert.

See more of Erkut Terliksiz’s work here.

Giggles
oil on canvas
105 x 76 cm
2014

After Dinner
oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm
2014

White Wall
oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm
2014

Break In
oil on canvas
50 x 60 cm
2013

Swimmer
oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm
2013

Interview with MAKA BATIASHVILI:

Your childhood ambition:

To be an artist.

Something you treasure:

Vision of the world which is beautiful.

Your worst habit:

Thinking about 100 things together.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

To be simple but strong.

Your first job:

Teaching painting.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Levan Mindiashvili.

See more of Maka Batiashvili’s work here.

Time Controls
oil on canvas
48 x 48 inches
2014

Timeless
oil on canvas
48 x 48 inches
2014

Scripsit
oil on canvas
48 x 72 inches
2015

Fresh from the Coop
oil on board
16 x 16 inches
2013

Interview with CIBA KARISIK:

Your childhood ambition:

To be a soccer player. In my native city, Sarajevo (Bosnia & Hercegovina), I played at a near professional level. My dream came to an abrupt end around the time I entered the Sarajevo Academy of Fine Art. It was my own mother who thwarted my sporting ambition. She made up an elaborate lie about my having a heart condition, which would only be exacerbated by my soccer practices. This false health scare catapulted my focus into painting and drawing. My mother revealed this to me only a few years ago, but I thank her today for channeling me in the direction of art.

Something you treasure:

After escaping from war-torn Sarajevo in 1994, and before coming to Canada in 1996, I was exiled in a charming seaside town in northern Croatia called Rovinj. My wife and I ran a tiny studio/gallery in a 15th-century church hugging the Adriatic Sea in the old part of town. I will never forget the freedom of being an independent solitary artist represented by my wife who has always been a fortress in my artistic development. I treasure those romantic days of yesterday, and the small town that was my saviour from the seemingly infinite shocks of war.

Your worst habit:

I have a short fuse—that is, I’m temperamental. I’m a Taurus. Astrology is to blame.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

My paintings are symbolic, experimental and nostalgic, telling eloquent stories of humanity. They are deliberate statements against the impersonality of our ephemeral world. I would like the viewer to pause, consider, and behold timeless objects that keep our memories and communicate messages across time.

Your first job:

I worked as a primary school art teacher for two years right after graduating from the Academy. It was refreshing to learn from the kids I taught, especially after completing such a rigorously academic artistic training. I loved hovering over the simple and honest drawings of those children. Inspired by their rich imaginations, I changed how I viewed my own works then when I was still young enough to alter my perception of what art could be.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Bosnian artist Safet Zec (b. 1943).

See more of Ciba Karisik’s work here.

Myanmar.

Buddhist Monks in Bagan, Myanmar on their daily collections.

A slum area of Yangon on a rainy day.

From Aureum Palace hotel you can see a sample of the numerous Bagan temples.

A novice monk fixes his robe in the dormitory of local monastery near Lake Inle, Myanmar.

Interview with JUSTIN MOTT:

Your childhood ambition:

I wanted to play professional sports as a child.

Something you treasure:

I treasure my mother and all she did raising 4 children on her own.

Your worst habit:

I live in Vietnam and my mother lives in the USA so my worst habit is not calling her enough.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

I love telling stories. No matter if it’s a commercial shoot or an editorial shoot, every image should tell a story.

Your first job:

I was a dishwasher at an Italian restaurant in Rhode Island.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

I highly recommend the work of photographer James Nachtwey. I love the art in his documentary photography.

See more of Justin Mott’s work here.

The White Sky XIII
digital composition printed on photographic fine art paper
60 x 90 cm

The White Sky III
digital composition printed on photographic fine art paper
70 x 120 cm

The White Sky XI
digital composition printed on photographic fine art paper
100 x 170 cm

Mad Parade – Frame #5
digital composition printed on photographic fine art paper
100 x 80 cm

A Bad Dream
digital composition printed on photographic fine art paper
70 x 50 cm

Interview with STEFANO BONAZZI:

Your childhood ambition:

Become a porn actor.

Something you treasure:

An original photo of Masao Yamamoto that he gave me personally after we met in Italy.

Your worst habit:

Waking up in the morning, look at what I made the night before and notice that it wasn’t as nice as I remember.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Never be satisfied, there is always a chance to improve.

Your first job:

Pastry chef.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

There are a lot of artists, directors, writers and even common people that I appreciate their work. I will mention just a few contemporary names: Adrian Ghenie, Gottfried Helnwein, Bill Durgin, Floria Sigismondi, Nicola Samorì, Jamie Baldridge…

See more of Stefano Bonazzi’s work here.

Interview with BROOKE SHADEN:

Your childhood ambition:

To be a writer.

Something you treasure:

Strangeness.

Your worst habit:

Chocolate.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Storytelling.

Your first job:

Ride operator at a small-town theme park called Dutch Wonderland.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Ashley Lebedev.

See more of Brooke Shaden’s work here.

Billy #2
94 x 42 inches
charcoal & graphite on paper
2015

Billy
94 x 42 inches
charcoal & graphite on paper
2015

Spaceman O.T. #6
94 x 47 inches
charcoal & graphite on paper
2015

Theresa
94 x 42 inches
charcoal & graphite on paper
2015

Tinesha
94 x 42 inches
charcoal & graphite on paper
2014

Jack L.
94 x 42 inches
charcoal & graphite on paper
2014

Interview with JOEL DANIEL PHILLIPS:

Your childhood ambition:

When I was a child I wanted to be a poet or an itinerant swordsman. Wordsmithing turned out to be too difficult and no one was hiring mercenaries, so I settled on drawing instead.

Something you treasure:

Outside of art I love to grow things, and am currently in the process of turning my studio into a jungle.

Your worst habit:

Smoking. I need to quit that.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Hmm, this is a hard one to answer. I draw because I’ve found it to be an incredible way to process and understand the world around me, so I guess I would say that the most important aspect of my work is its meditative nature.

Your first job:

Mucking out horse stalls, of all things.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Christine Aria Hostetler: www.christinearia.com

See more of Joel Daniel Phillip’s work here.

Interview with SAM CHIVERS:

Your childhood ambition:

My childhood ambitions didn’t extend much beyond ‘I want more Lego. I want more Star Wars figures’. (Lego usually had the priority as Star Wars stuff gets boring after the novelty’s worn off. It looked cool but I’d end up playing with the box it came in.

Something you treasure:

I like walking. I’m very lucky to be living in the Southdowns National Park in the U.K. I go for a walk most mornings before work, I find a kind of meditative peace in doing this. Over the years the landscape has subtly manifested itself in what I make.

Your worst habit:

Procrastinating, which assumes many forms for me. Staring out of the window, reading the news. Constantly checking Social Media whilst not actively contributing to it. But this is supposed to be part of the creative process isn’t it?

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

That I get some sense of satisfaction from it.

Your first job:

Delivering newspapers when I was about 12.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Lorenzo Mattotti.

See more of Sam Chivers’ work here.

EF 135.16
2014
photography
50 cm x 33 cm

EF 127.5
2014
photography
50 cm x 33 cm

EF 122.25
2014
photography
50 cm x 33 cm

EF 137
2014
photography
50 cm x 33 cm

EF 137.63
2014
photography
101 cm x 67 cm

me with dad’s head, 2009

Interview with JAMES OSTRER:

Your childhood ambition:

To see more of my dad and to watch scarier and scarier movies.

Something you treasure:

My family.

Your worst habit:

Sleeping in bed with my huge white slobbering old dog and waking up with as much hair on me as he has.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

Being honest and the personal healing that comes from interrogating myself.

Your first job:

I was a film extra on movie sets from age 13…but the toughest day’s work was when I was 14 years old and worked a 16 hour day without official breaks bottling milk on a farm where the illegal immigrants only took one day off a year for the beginning of Ramadan. This supply chain is brutal for everyone involved from the owners, the humans working, to the animals in order to supply the false economies on prices demanded by the major super markets.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

My sister has written over two thousand poems and has never shown them to anyone and they are amazing. One day I will steal them and publish a book.
Before that go check out my best friend Antony Micallef or anyone’s work in a church in Venice.

See more of James Ostrer’s work here.

Haunt and Hunger
2015
24 in x 17 3/4 in

Silent Havens
2015
20 in x 13 in

Paper and Stone
2015
14 in x 12 in

Breathing
2015
15 in x 18 in

Interview with MATTHEW SABA:

Your childhood ambition:

I spent all my time reading and drawing but had little to no direction until I was in my twenties.

Something you treasure:

My wife’s support, patience and opinion.

Your worst habit:

Over thinking and over working paintings, and letting my studio become a pit of discarded drawings and coffee cups.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

There’s no one thing or element that’s particularly important to me as long as I push the work as far as I’m capable.

Your first job:

I started bussing tables when I was thirteen.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

Norman Blamey.

See more of Matthew Saba’s work here.

José
pastel on tree stump
2013

Raga
23 x 17
pastel on paper
2013

Self-Portrait
15 x 23
pastel on paper
2014

Bobby
pastel on tree stumps
2013

Interview with CLAUDIA BICEN:

Your childhood ambition:

I wanted to be something different every year growing up…I still do.

Something you treasure:

The unwavering love and support of my partner, family and friends.

Your worst habit:

Getting so focused on my work I won’t even “waste” time sharpening my pencils.

The aspect of your work that’s most important to you:

To take people to a liminal space where they can soberly observe the condition of being human and the meaning of their life.

Your first job:

Wrapping presents in a local gift shop on the weekends.

Someone whose work you highly recommend:

I recently fell in love with the work of Andrew Mazorol & Tynan Kerr (AMTK).

See more of Claudia Biçen’s work here.