The Sublime Zine Issue 2015/8

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The Sublime 1 2015/8 A Magazine for the arts and culture.

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The Sublime Zine

Transcript of The Sublime Zine Issue 2015/8

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    2015/8

    A Magazine for the arts and culture.

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    EDITORS NOTEMEET THE TEAM

    Jon

    Jax

    Mr. Wild

    Luke

    Mottled Gray

    Shelly Wild

    Editor in Chief

    Creative Editor

    Content Editor

    Staff Writer

    Staff Writer

    Food Columnist(skellingtons Bakery)

    Autumn is now upon us and the nights are getting colder, more of an excuse to stay in and create more art (all wrapped up warm). We have another brilliant and arty issue for your eyes.

    Keep your creative minds fresh by reading through this months issue while having your coffee break or commute to work.

    This month two of our regular writers Shelly (skellingtons bakery) and Dunc got married, to each other of course. It was an excuse for the crew in the sublime office to venture out and have a party. The music was loud (and rock!!) the venue was medieval and haunted and Mr wild got very sweaty. So with we would like to invite you all to say a big sublime congratulations (they are currently in Italy on their honeymoon hence no features this month).

    During October we have to say our final goodbyes to our commander, Calum Terras. As most of you may know already he passed away earlier this year. Its a sad time for us in the office but with out him we would never have put together this zesty art magazine.

    For Calum Keep it surreal!

    Jaxx, Jon & Mr WildThe Sublime Editors

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    CONTENTS

    Cover image by Kevin LowPublished by The SublimeDesign by Jaxx Shepherd

    Concept by Jon Wilford

    26/01/1987 - 05/01/2015

    THE SUBLIME ISSUE 2015/8

    IN MEMORY OF CALUM TERRAS

    ALASDAIR MACDONALD 4

    DAMIAN HAWES 11

    DORIZ CORAL 18

    GYN HORN 26

    KEVIN LOW 32

    TOM LOHNER 40

    GRAEME COMPTON 50

    SPACE TO CREATE 60

    AMBIDEXTER 64

    PARDON 76

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    ALASDAIR MACDONALDI am a self taught artist and try to capture not what is visually real but what it makes me feel in my mind, being a gardener I study flowers and nature but dont like to copy how they look, they are already perfect so I try to give them another alternative image, so basically I create and make them my own!I mostly use oils on canvas or board, I also experiment with mixed media, as in different kinds of paint, varnish and sometimes textiles.I never copy or draw, I take my inspiration from dreams and also from my work as a gardener, Im greatly inspired my nature as a whole.My paintings are not about realism, so I would say I was a bit of an expressionist.Im inspired by various artists but I never look too closely at their work as I want to develop my own unique techniques!When you look at my work you will notice they are all very different, I dont like to paint similar or a series of paintings, I would get bored doing this and I would feel like I was part of a production line, so what you get from me is a painting that is truly unique and will be different from every other painting I do!

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    DAMIAN HAWES

    This Months Introducing artist is Damian Hawes, an illustrator with an amazing style. He Has a unique style mixing inks, paint and digital mediums together to show his creative flair. Some of his pieces have some pretty crazy effects that really play with your mind.

    We caught up with him and asked him about his journey.

    I spent my teen years growing up in rural France, which was probably good for me but at the same time cut me off and sheltered me from the modern world. As soon as I hit 18 I relocated to England, and moved around a lot trying to soak in as much of todays culture as I could. Because of this, a lot of my inspirations have been from modern day artists, As well as heavy influences from the fashion world, and from music. I struggled a lot with my identity before deciding Art is the definitive goal, returning to education at 22.

    As an artist Ive found it hard to place myself, and categorising my work has been a struggle for me, I drift so easily between many things. I like playing around with conceptual work, but Im not quite fine art-y, then Im too fashion illustration and digital art isnt a valid art form etc. My tutors seemed to have fun in trying to put me into one box, sending me in one direction and then the opposite. One day I had a lecture with Robert Fearnes at University, and he said that art is, a very selfish thing, that you should create art that you love and thats that. It was a kind of Eureka moment for me and Ive

    stuck by that mantra since.

    The work I do now spreads across many mediums. Its not that I get bored, more so that I dont want to limit myself. I like to think of my artwork as atmospheric and thought provoking. Ive been focusing on digital art and watercolours as of late, but photography and film are something I really want to get stuck into having dabbled a little in both. Fashion films and photography really inspire me with the works of Steven Klein and Bart Hess being my favourites. Ive been playing around with the idea of branding, stylisation, doing more commercial pieces and aesthetically driven work. I think having different practices going on is a good thing, and I love when they cross over and give you new territory to work with.

    Concepts that interest me are mostly contemporary, I think the world is moving into a dark place with the internet and media. The internet can be a powerful tool being greatly misused by the younger generation, and celebrities today market themselves with controversy over talent; Encouraging us to sex ourselves up to be cool, glamorising violence, drugs, rape etc. Im not on a mission to change the way this digital generation is developing, I just find it interesting and a little tragic at the same time. Im definitely more into the darker stuff it would seem.

    My stylised illustrations have led to many commissions, from book illustrations to tattoos, an upcoming collaboration with clothing line

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    White Rabbit Apparel and even a graphic novel in the pipeline. And Fine Art wise, I am continuing work on a solo project which I have already put a year into; creating a large body of work in response to the highs and lows of growing up in the 21st century. With regards to all I have learnt and how much I have developed artistically since dedicating myself fully to my practice, I am excited to see where I end up over the next few years.

    Feel free to get in contact via Facebook and Instagram.www.facebook.com/[email protected]

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    DORIZ CORAL 1. If your in Iceland over the next month you may find yourself in a gallery looking at some beautiful and enchanting ink pieces. A world created in black and white with marks on the paper that seem to be made with normal house hold tools. There is a mysterious air in with in the pieces and a mystery behind the artist them. So who is the ink master behind them?

    (The Ink Master) thats funny, now I know what my friends are going to call me after theyve read this article and on that note i consider myself a very lucky person and a proud father surrounded by good people and good friends who support me in every way. I have two sisters who are both very talented artists and very creative, im pretty sure the creativity part lies in our genes.My birth date is May1 (1982) I live in a harbour town called Hafnarfjrur i was born and raised on the west coast of Iceland and maybe the mystery behind my work lies in the fresh air of living on an island between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. Consider it a great privilege to live by the sea and think it has shaped me in some ways nonetheless it has given me great inspiration for some of my work.Inspiration is all over and i have to say my best investment so far is my library card because I am a real dinosaur when it comes to technology but I do know how to tackle the snooze button when the alarm goes off on Sunday morning.

    2. the title best suits you as your work is beautiful!. You mention your sisters being super creative too, when did it all start for you. What was your first few years of art like?

    A few years after the millennium in december 2004 I decided to make a painting. I had no idea what I was getting into, didnt even on a brush.. so I called up my older sister since she is a professional artist and she pointed out the store and offered to help me with this this idea of mine.Went to the store bought 60x190 cm frame, canvas and some acrylic colors, time was short and I

    finished the painting just before Christmas i wrapped it up and gave it as a surprise Christmas gift to a friend.Little later word got out and I began to paint by order.. flying paintings out of the country at one point, but it became boring the paintings no longer had this emotional value and I had nothing more to give in the work, so I stopped and didnt touch a brush for several years. My first year as an artist lasted short.

    3. So you picked up a paint brush later than most people. What made you try again after taking several years off from painting? was it a hard thing to do or did you fall into it again naturally.

    The language and a collection of words is definitely what drew me to the place I am today and being able to travel the world exploring different cultures and getting lost in foreign countries is probably a big part of it too.

    In this between state or those several years off I continued to write and draw, I saw that paintings and words are the same thing, of course it also depends on how you look at things it is only the visibility that makes the difference the mind does the rest. The eye this complex thing which makes os identify patterns in all shapes and sizes and it does the same with words and of course most people know this but its like five different colors in a painting every single color has its own name five different words in a painting.

    To make a long story short I bought a studio apartment late in the year two thousand and eight along with several furniture I bought a meter times two-meter frame stretch and stapled the canvas and hung it on the wall, the canvas sat empty for some time on the wall. Somewhere in between I was reading about space stuff far away planets and galaxy and so things. Then I had tha crazy idea to paint the whole univers and i I gathered all the colors that I could find, the purpose was to to reach every single word of any language into one painting, on and off it

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    took me seven years to finish it.

    In the meantime the ink style came about its my daughter to thank, one day we had some leftover paint and I asked her to put it on paper and fold it together and see what would come out of it. The result was a pleasant pattern well centered with equal rein left to right, it sat in my mind for some time I had wondered how I could create a pattern equal in both directions and connect it with something that most of us know, the theme was ocean and sky.

    During these months I went to the pool every other day to swim and Ive been to this public swimming pool since the summer of 1998 and every time I swam back and forth was the pattern there to my left or to my right of me depending on which direction I was swiming 247SW or 87E.On the kids pool side is this whale tail with both ends equal from to the center and resembleds both left and right wing of an bird, like a falcon in mid-flight I went home half dry and my first ink work was produced, like life is i named it Fairy Tale.

    4. I see that your family influences you alot, with

    your sister being an estabished artist and your daughter helping you out. What artists have influenced you over the years?

    I was at a dinner party when I saw three portrait paintings by Kjarval it pulled me completely in so Johannes Sveinsson Kjarval is one of my favorite, unfortunately i do not know the names of the artists who had the most influence on my work but there are so-called cave art, for example Bison in Altamira found in Spain 15000 bc ore Palm image in Argentina 9500 bc. and I have to mention Bulls Hall in the cave at Lascaux found in France - one word amazing!But to name more names I must say leonardo Da Vinci admirable touch for accuracy and how he saw the big picture and so it is Pablo Picasso sharp feelings shine in his work it is admirable how he went outside the box and that is exactly what art is all about and i can go on and on..But in the end I would like to mention my sister it was now she who got me started, her name is lf Bjrg Bjrnsdttir

    5. I admire your choice, it has honesty in the art you

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    admire. You mention how Picasso influences you with his thinking outside of the box how do you go about thinking outside the box when you create?

    layer on top of a layer above the layer of ideas combined for one work is looking out of the box, when the work is finished and the signature is on the artwork Im outside it. By that I mean allowing myself not to get stuck in one place and not do what is expected but to follow the emotion that come with the circle of life not afraid of what others think or say about the artwork itself and to be honest, so fare I have a feeling Ive only been looking out of the box. 6. It is a brilliant way to look when creating. What is the next step for your art to progress?

    Art is taking a surprising turn four me at the moment createing big backgrounds for highly respected food magazine, these are large pieces and I see my art is evolving in that direction.So the next step for my art to progress is removing the window out of my studio and get started on my biggest ink work so far.

    7. It has been such a pleasure getting to know you and your art, I hope you stay in conctact with the Sublime. Before we go, we would like to know what is the funniest thing that has happened to you. I have to say left hanging while attempting to give a high five! The sublime is sharing thats caring, thank you for having me.

    We have really enjoyed having you in this issue. We hope it all goes well for you with your art. If you want see more check out www.dorizcoral.com

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    GYN HORN1. A quote I use often from Picasso reads Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. I have found it to be the most relevant quote when often describing what us artists are like, tall, loud and often wrinkly children with grown up jobs and a mortgage. The next artist I want to introduce you to certainly has the imagination of a child, yet the skill of a master. The art is both humorous and well executed and leaves you baffled in discovery. We have something special, unique and truly wonderful, we have Gyn Horn to please your eyes and tickle your minds. So Gyn, brake the mystery.... Who on this planet are you and how did you end up on this little Rock creating your creatures and masterpieces.

    It all started as a small child. I was raised an only child in the country. As soon as I picked up a pencil ( at around the age of 2 or 3) I found I could draw. It just came naturally to me. I was also gifted with a crazy technicolour imagination (big time!) and created my own special friends to fill my world. These were not the usual invisible companions of lonely children. No these were mega-crazy creations. They were giant noses on legs - who later developed mouths and double chins. They had a diet of leaves and earth. They had names like Bumpacha Dee and his brothers Bang Bang and Ding Ding (by the way Bumpacha could play the piano brilliantly and his wife Mrs Dee could as well!). Bumpacha and I used to play ball together - and he showed me how to play Accommodation Two Ball! Wow! As I grew older I created Cracks who were of lesser intelligence. They were much smaller and lived in skirting boards - ooh, and they had wings as well. These and many other beings filled my little world, although they were not appreciated by my parents who could never fathom me out. I guess as soon as I grabbed my first pencil I was coming out with this stuff! Hundreds of drawings of them - and comic strips! The present day Bang Bang & Co pictures I now title as Pictures from the Other Side of the Brush. I love it when I can enter their world. I close the door of my studio and become lost in wonder with dear old Bumpacha and all his friends.

    2. Your creatures and their world are an amazing creation. What is the importance of still having these creations and worlds in your grown up life?

    In actual fact as I grew up I started to forget about them. By the age of about 6 they took a back seat as Superman and Popeye the Sailor took over.

    They were resurrected while I was at art college. I wanted to contribute something to their magazine. The publication was full of crazy stuff anyway - so I thought of my old childhood friends and wrote a totally surrealistic story about them. It was loved! After that I kept writing lots of stories about them - each one becoming more and more involved. The world that they lived in became more and more intricate as did the accompanying illustrations.

    I hasten to add that I didnt draw Bang Bang all the time. It wouldnt have gone down too well at the advertising agency I worked in after leaving college. They wouldnt have appreciated it very much lol.

    3. I absolutely love seeing your creations! I can see from your other work that you have a strong illustration style, did you learn this at art school? (I want to know more about your art education and professional art life)

    Thanks Jon Im glad you enjoy them. I suppose my illustrative style evolved if that is the right term. I have always liked detail and how a subject - whether it be an animal, a person, or even a derelict old building reflected the light, and how this light affected the texture. When I was about 12 years old I started attending weekly art classes. The teachers I had were always so encouraging to me and helped show me how to apply shadow, light and perspective. It was, apart from music, the only thing in my young life that I was good at. I used to leave those classes feeling that I had achieved something. Something good.

    Although my parents wanted me to become a secretary (I didnt!) I eventually had my way and attended the Medway College of Design in Rochester, Kent. I spent four years studying illustration and design - even doing a short spell of window display as a part of my overall training. Those days seem so long, long ago now as it was in the early 70s - before computers took over the art world. Everything was by hand - not by moving a mouse about.

    I suppose my distinctive style started to come about during these days. I have always been a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. No one was taught to do things in any one particular style - just follow the rules of perspective etc. We all had very distinctive styles of our own. I remember greatly admiring the

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    styles of some of my classmates and other artists whose work I saw in books or posters. There were many areas that I was weak in and I worked very hard at these. I incorporated some of the styles of those good folk into my own work and the end result is a unique combination of many differing techniques into one. When I work on a Picture from the Other Side of the Brush I tend to use this style. It is so built in to me.

    Apart from working for an advertising agency, a magazine and for a company producing course books on English language tuition for foreign students I have usually worked for myself.

    I illustrate books, I also have a very successful order book for animal portraits, caricature portraits. I have done technical illustration of life on board an oil tanker. I have had to reproduce how a ships engine room operates, how the ships bridge is laid out and the corresponding equipment in it. How the radar signals are generated etc. All detailed illustrations. I do - and still do aviation illustration World War 1 and 2 plus modern day fighter aircraft including helicopter gunships.

    I have designed, illustrated and produced wall clocks and computer mouse mats - even winning an Award of Excellence for it.

    Apart from all the above I also produce Prophetic Art. As a Christian I sometimes get visions and have painted many pictures of the scenes I see. These pictures often shows the planets and the heavens. They depict the colours of musical notes and a dimension where there is no darkness - only vivid colour with beautiful birds and travel on amazing multi coloured space shuttles.

    4. What other creations did you find yourself making. Bang Bang are an amazing conception but I can see from your work you also have a serious illustrative side too.

    Yes, I love aviation illustration. My father was in the RAF and I inherited a love of aircraft. You could say that I was a rather unusual little girl as apart from aircraft I loved steam locomotives.

    I like to get into the feel of the moment when I do for example a Spitfire or a Lancaster. Imagine the atmosphere of what is really going on. One of my illustrations features an action painting of Spitfires and Lancasters , with Dorniers and Heinkels plunging down in thick wrathes of smoke over the Channel.

    As I also said I was very much into ole steam trains. Up to a few years ago I designed and manufactured

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    wall clocks. I did a whole series of the different locos and sold these timepieces via Steam Railway magazine and other outlets. I produced computer mouse mats adored with my illustrations. I actually won an award of excellence for the most innovative gift ideas by the Herefordshire Times back in 2007.

    Animals feature largely in my work. I do a roaring trade in pet portraits. Peoples dogs, cats, horses even parrots - and yes, rats. This is a real bread & butter income. Sometimes I get bogged down in too much of it, but I still love it!

    Caricatures are another service I offer and get great joy out of.

    Other more serious type of artwork I have done is to illustrate many books on shipping! I undertook a whole series of books whilst working for a company that produced English Language tuition courses for Asian seamen on board oil tankers. Accompanying these books were slides to be shown as an audio visual presentation for the student seamen. These courses were produced for Shell and BP.

    Apart from illustrating each lesson from beginners to advanced I had to do detailed drawings of how the ship worked. I had to produce everything from accurate illustrations of the engine room and how the engines worked, weather and sea conditions plus radar beacon systems that were used through to the ships bridge and

    the equipment in it. Not forgetting the lifeboats and the general duties of the men on board the ship. Everything had to be super accurate as well!

    Ive illustrated many other books including a book called Love Me Love my Dog which is an all about dog training and general welfare. Ive done colouring-in books with accompanying posters. Comic books - and even a bit of journalism with my own pictures!

    Ive turned my hand to heraldry paintings - Oh and Ive even produced mocked up old sea chests complete with faded paintings of old square riggers on them.

    5. A lot of artists produce a huge catalogue of work in their lifetime but some of them never seem to do anything with it. How have you managed to turn your passion and love into a living?

    Interesting question there. First of all where turning my passion into an income. I guess one of my strengths as an artist is persistence. I will just keep on and keep on with something until I see a breakthrough. I hasten to add that I have had many many years of fruitlessness. Ive got the t-shirt so to speak. Many seemingly pointless trips and wasted train fares carrying my portfolio to London and other places. Having toffee nosed art editors sneer at my efforts. Yes, I was very young back then and thought the art world revolved round these people and institutions.

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    Id already had a small amount of success doing portraits of peoples pets and also doing caricatures. After a while I realised that if I could find a way to capitalize on this I could possibly find some bread & butter income. By earning in this way I could also release valuable other time to pursue the kind of artistry I longed to do. Sheer determination kept me at it. At first I would put in ads in my local rags, but found that it worked out so expensive, and that was even doing just lineage ads. The results brought me so little work. I produced my own flyers and posters and took every opportunity to distribute these out whenever I was attending any local business fairs. I would leave these around at every possible place I could think of. Ive tried with a couple or so websites, but found them a waste of time and money. Yes, they can look good, but what good are they just floating round in cyber space and thats even with fruitlessly attempting to promote them. One of the things that really turned things round for me was good old Facebook! Since having a business page I now have a constant flow of commissions. Goodbye to local rags. They no longer get my hard earned money. 6. I could sit for hours talking with you about your experiences with the art world, you are one of those rare artists who has made your own path and not been born into money, or a dad that has a gallery. So imagine you are in a room full of 17 year old art students, fresh pack of paints in their bag ready to become artists and study hard. You have centre stage and youre about to give them the most important advice of their art lives.... what would you say to them?

    Thats a good question - a very important one too.

    As I remember well being just a youngster who wanted to be taken seriously as an artist. I would simply say to them to follow their hearts. If they are really serious about their art and arent just playing at it to stick at it - no matter what. Id tell them that it wont be easy. Only a very rare few have it all fall into their laps. I had to work, work, work and work at it. I had rejection after rejection, heartache after heartache - but I didnt give up. I was determined to fulfil my dream. Only now much later in life am I now finding a degree of success.

    You have to ask yourself why as I doing it? Is it because you want to be famous? Is it because you want to earn loads of dosh? Or is it because you just dont want to do anything else? It is your heart, your very life?

    Youve got to be prepared to work long hours and to travel

    about displaying your wares so to speak.

    I can honestly say that social media has been a tremendous boost for me as an artist. It is now so much easier to reach out to a potential sea of clients. For example start your own Facebook page as an artist. Be prepared to spend a little money and get your posts boosted. I have received an avalanche of work through simply doing that. Honestly. Build up your likes by having the whole page boosted. Keep your page regularly updated. Dont let it slide. Let those growing likes see your constant posts on the main feed. If you dont all those lovely people out there will forget you. That would be a shame.

    Build up a portfolio. Ask yourself what are your strongest points? How can I utilise these into making a healthy living? Are you strong at animals? Theres a massive market out there whod pay you really well to do portraits of Rover and Tiddles! Are you good at landscapes? Cartooning? Vehicles? Graphic design? The list is endless, but each one is packed with potential. Let the world see what you can do.

    Ive been there guys, and Ive got the t-shirt believe you me. Ive only been able to skim the surface here, but once again I will stress that you simply follow your heart. Believe in yourself. Stick at it and dont give up!

    It has been such a pleasure talking with you Gyn, Im sure our readers have fallen in love with you and your work just as much as we have.

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    KEVIN LOW

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    1. In the fast pace world of the internet we are subjected to a huge amount of images everyday, flashes of fashion, art, peoples diner and holiday snaps all swiped away by our thumbs, we see them and in a flash we have moved on. But then you get those artists who appear in your instagram wall, pop up in your news feed and even after you have swiped them away their images have been imprinted on your mind. Kevin Low, our cover artist is one of those creators that creates beautiful work that you will see in your sleep. So Kevin, who exactly are you?

    Well I was born in Forfar, Scotland, where I grew up in a series of isolated cottages and hamlets. Its still an odd part of the country with a peculiar ambiance to it. Not exactly out of time, but at the same time the 21st century seems to lie across the county rather lightly. Even though I live and work in Glasgow - a city I love - its the countryside around the small sandstone towns of Brechin, Montrose and Forfar that obsesses me, thats the world my work inhabits.

    2. I love Glasgow, I have recently watched the film god help the girl written by the front man of Belle & Sebastian. It really does the city justice (especially after the bad press from the knife crime a few years ago). How does the contrast of the historic busy city and the peaceful contours of the highland country side influence your work?

    I suppose the answer is, it doesnt. The work and the world it inhabits exists in a very separate and private place to the real city that I work in. Glasgow is however important, in that its a vibrant and incessantly creative place that just wills you to create. The themes and subjects have been a life long obsession, generally, sex and death... yes those ones again. These are not subjects that havent been tackled many before, but this is my sex and deaths and loves. Im remembering.

    3. I was going to ask about the themes, they are very poetic and personal pieces. Even though they personal to your own experiences what do you want people viewing them to experience.

    You want people to be drawn into the scene. In the end its all about the atmosphere. You hope people notice all the little things - there are a lot - but you want them to smell the damp grass and the smoke in the end its all about the atmosphere, not details. You invite people to look and hopefully, they ask what the hell is going on here? Id be happy with that.

    4. Personally I get those feelings when I see your work, Im drawn into the whole scene, I start to investigate all of the instances you have created. Your work makes my eyes take a journey across the whole plain and not just concentrating on the figures; the discovery of something new every time I look is exciting. Lets talk more about your medium. You have managed to create such beautiful pieces, Im intrigued, have you used a digital brush or real paint brush? I use a Wacom tablet and pen, a tool that can be whatever I choose, a pencil, a rubber, brush or a pen. Using this technique means that when I draw/paint on the tablet - a black piece of plastic - flat on my table, my work appears on the MAC screen in front of me. I use is Photoshop, which Im lead to believe, is not the programme to use if Im to paint digitally. I did hesitate for a while wondering if I should explore what was out there, but decided, nope Ill do it my way.

    Ive been working like this for around 5 years now so it has become very instinctive. I dont think about the technology. In fact when I work, I dont think of the colour and textures as being virtual. What Im working with are thick, mobile colours that Im pushing around with a stick. Thats what is happening in my head. Most of the time I dont actually use the programmes brush tool to do the painting, I apply the colour to the surface with it, but then use something known as the smudge tool to push and shape the work. I hope you realise that in no way am I a tec junky. Im self-taught, which really means, Ive stumbled into my approach.

    The paintings are then produced with archival inks and papers, in editions of 10, or 7 for my larger pieces.

    I suppose in the end it comes down the image. It really doesnt matter how it got there, the choice of paint or brush, its what it conveys that matters having said all that, I am envious of oil painters paint splattered floors.

    5. How would you progress your work further in your future projects? (not that your work needs any, its all amazing)

    Bigger I think. Messier maybe. At the moment Im working on a couple of pieces that are over a meter tall now,

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    working digitally, this presents a bit of a problem, my screen is 27in, at this size its difficult to see or feel the complete image, so Ive printed the pieces at a stage where they are not jet complete, more than just under-painting, but with some way to go I need to see the images at life size to really see whats going on Im finishing them with acrylic paint and pastels. These pieces will be unique. This may be the way to go but then again? That really is the joy and frustration of making stuff, once you feel, yeah, I got it, thats it, they will be this size, they will be printed on this particular paper, I will only populate hedgerows with foxgloves and violets, thats the point where you get bored. You only get to settle for a moment.

    Thank you so much for sharing your art with us this month and letting us have you as our cover artist. If you want to see more of Kevins art or ask him more questions be sure to check out www.kevinlow.net.

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    TOM LOHNERLets start from the beginning! Here we have Tom Lohner, an artist who very much brings to mind authors like Aldous Huxely, Phillip K. Dick and J. G. Ballard - That beautiful dystopian vibe. So! Tell us, where did it all begin for you?!

    Where did it all begin? That is a fantastic, exciting and deep going question - something I often get asked, but never really answer in detail as this never ending journey probably goes back to my childhood, to when I lived behind closed doors in a world of my own. I was a fun but kind of lonely child / not saying I didnt have any friends or the best brother in the world, but coming back from the states with almost six years of age, having lived there for two and a half years, made me definitely different, telling one (in my opinion) exciting USA tale after the other, confusing my school colleagues. This made me - lets put it that way - a rather lonely and unpopular kid.So I continued to create my own world, something I started back in Florida. I often wandered off, saw the most exciting adventures and images in everyday situations / was it clouds, a carpet lying in the hallway of my grandmother, or the typical cloud wandering across a summer sky. I love(d) this world and all its images - not leaving me any other choice then making me bann all these captions/emotions on paper. Suddenly I felt this power of creation, it felt as if I had all the power in the world to create whatever I wanted.I continued drawing, painting excessively, something I learned in my earliest days (probably a gift my mother passed on to my brother and me). In joined forces my brother three years younger of age and I built castles, sky cities, action figures, comics and its characters all only with the help of pencils, pen, ink and water colours.At this point I dont want to head out too far - as I am known for loosing my golden thread in conversations, therefore I rather want to mention what made me head into the artistic direction I am working in now.

    I vividly remember the first CD I got for Christmas - it was Michael Jacksons Dangerous album, with its detailed and complex cover art work I still loose myself in (thank you Mark Ryden for making me go NUTTS of the inspiration I got of that album). Amazing and breath taking images such as, inspired me along the way - with a heavy note of Walt Disney influences - knowing that anything can be possible if you only believe in it; actually something I still live by. I know many people might say how cheesy of me thinking about Walt Disneys Mickey Mouse, Donald, etc. But I actually try to look beyond the figures - I see the idea and what was before that. I see the greatness of a mind that managed to develop an entire universe still existent and evolving. THAT is what inspires me (of course plus all

    its re-invented stories, colours, wonder and wow). I still get goose bumps and feel like an 8 years old when visiting Disney World / Land.Taking the happy Disney approach of an idea and putting it into the mixer with Tim Burtons visualization of a story, adding a more then covered tee spoon of Christopher Nolans dark knight and a breeze of Gottfried Helnweins world might create an inspirational explosion I can nourish myself of for an entire art series. That of course PLUS a decent spectrum of music!

    Having said that and cutting to the chase - for me anything can create a creative spark, leading to an unstoppable apocalyptic fire of inspiration - I am still that lost boy, now only 32 years of age and with the difference that people take me more serious then what they did 20 years ago.

    and if my art makes you think of such great minds as authors like Aldous Huxely, Phillip K. Dick and J. G. Ballard I know that my work has touched someone, maybe even in an inspiring kind of way. If so, my art is my little thank you to the world for inspiring me on a daily base.

    2. How are you turning art into a career these days, You have had such an interesting journey through art over the past 20 years or so but how do you manage to keep the brush on the canvas?

    Luckily I have two great mangers/marketing people that know my art and the business from the inside out. Both of them take care of all the things I used to do by my self.I like to think that we do things a bit differently, as for example the approach in marketing - we kind of handle Tom Lohner as a brand. I still create anything I want and I am absolutely free in how I approach a new concept / series or whatever, but we set goals and very strict timelines all the time, whether it concerns exhibitions, photo shootings, preparations for a new project, meetings, concepts, etc. However - with the help of these two professionals (now close friends) I find enough time - next to my emails and meetings - that allows me to paint.AND I honestly can say that my work improved over the time we are working together; what was divided in 20% art and 80% emails, other designs jobs, meetings etc - not joking - is now just the other way around. I guess that another aspect of being successful is my motivation. I am absolute dedicated to my work and with the each piece I work on I find my inspiration within that piece itself. I am extremely grateful to have my hobby as my job / profession. I am endlessly grateful for that which

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    gives me straight to keep pushing myself to new things constantly. Nothing better then exploring new territory!

    3. If you had to choose 3 artists who have influenced you more than any of the others who would you pick and why?

    1. Salvador Dali: He was the first artist that just wowed me - with the age of 10 his art simply kicked me of my feet! I remember to have tried to imitate his work back then. Still today I am fascinated by his fantasy, the colours in composition, the messages he delivers, a door to a new world he opened for us all and the TECHNIQUE / many of his pieces arent actually that big in scale but executed as if they were huge.2. Lori Early:She was the first artists who introduced me to pop surrealism. Many of her pictures / characters communicate this sad but grand feeling of darkness (but in a warm kind of way). Each piece could as well be hung on this typical top floor of a staircase in a haunted mansion. She is also an extreme inspiring person - we met in London at her first EU solo show in 2012 I believe and I remember after the show has ended I walked home with my head full of ideas and concepts. Her style is also remarkable and flawless - something we all can only strive for.3. now thats a hard one - as there are still so many artists that inspire me:Mrs. Van, Nicholas Thomas, Tara McPherson, Gottfried Helnwein, Alex Pardee, Sean Freeman, Jeff Soto, Conrad Roset, Bruno Dayan, Aunia Kahn, Marilyn MansonManson, Oleg Dou, Ray Ceaser, (even the incredible afro hairy Mr. Bob Ross when I was a kid :-D )...I honestly cant decide on the third artist(s)... I guess it must be a mix out of all of them.

    4. Thats a good list of some strong artists. We once had the pleasure of interviewing Aunia Kahn. If you didnt have your art what would you be doing instead?

    Well - without my art I would for sure be pursuing my dream of being a great designer - as you might know I started a design studio in collaboration with my brother - we then got a couple of other great people involved. One of them - for sure our third thriving talent being the spanier Carlos B. Aranda. Design is also a super creative way to communicate ideas and transform the world we live in.

    However - if I werent able to do that I for sure can give you a list of things I would LOVE to do for a main living:

    1. drummer in a band (I played in three bands before I pursued my art / I still love to play gigs! Which I havent done for some time now)2. create a sun glass company3. create a fashion label (hey - theres just really a lot of that already out there - with high competition - BUT what the heck - you got to live the DREAM! No risk no fun - no dream that turn reality, right?!)4. start a chocolate factory5. build a hotel no one has EVER seen before (that incl. all the marketing, pitching- and pre-financial stuff that you have to do before starting such a project). I love pitching new ideas - and for when they follow though - it just gives you (me) a BOOST you cant imagine6. start a drum set company...

    Thinking about it, I think almost anything might be appealing to me... I remember waiting tables in bars and/or restaurants when I needed some extra money. Even that gave me total joy - I always loved the people I worked with and we made us a super time! I was bar tender in a bar for three months - that was fun too. I think - for me its a matter of commitment.

    5. I am picking up on the fact that you have a business mind, or at least would like to go down the creative business route. Recently you have shared with us some of your success. Whats your best tip to turning your art from something you do in your room to something you bring to the public?

    Yes / I would totally agree on that...Good question. I am very lucky and fortunate to have come to where I already am, but theres still so much in front of me (us). US - as I am not the only one working on my success: There are the people that follow me and the people that push me. Very important in this case my two mangers if you wan to say so. One introduces me to the right people - the other one does all the bone work such as developing kind of marketing campaigns we then follow...Success in overall, concerning my passion that now is my job:

    Well - I think everyone experiencing this might have an own approach in how they climb up the ladder. I am not sure if there is a specific formula, but for me what I can truly say and believe in is are the following 4 points:1. Your work must be true unique / it should be

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    something that makes people go WOW - that really touches me! It should be something you believe in a 100%.

    2. Speak to people! Market your self again in a true way - dont lie about anything - there is no need for that as where you are is the furthest youve ever been and you can be proud of it. BUT YES - communicate your art out into the world!! AS LOUD AS YOU CAN! And then - try to get someone who helps you doing that. Here I want to say THANK YOU Klaus and Steff! (my two marketing geniuses)

    3. The Network: You really need to know the right people / buyers, promoters, PR people, magazine people, investors, company owners,... - and art is not only sold by its appearance - art is as well the artist (so that kind of goes with point 2.)

    4. A long breath and trust into what you do! Believe in you and then just pull through and if money goes tight - get a job you do art next to.

    6. It has been a real pleasure talking with you Tom and getting a brief look into your world. One last thing from you for our readers. What is the best advice you have?

    My advice (I guess I am not the first person to say this):Concerning a happy life (that goes beyond Saturday and Sundays) - strive to make your passion a real job. Whether its painting walls, cooking, writing, directing plays or little commercial clips, music - listening or creating, planting trees, travelling the world, dancing in front of people, drinking beer (become a beer blogger or beer brewer), knitting, looking at stocks, etc... anything can be your real job from Monday to Friday or even the entire week.So I leave this interview with the final words of my brother:There is always something you are the best in the entire world - and if it is only something very small like being the quickest and most passionate person on this planet who cleans out a dishwasher. Find that talent and passion make it your profession.

    Thanks Tom, it has been a real sublime pleasure to get to know you and your art.If you want to see more of Toms work be sure to check out www.tomlohner.com.

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    GRAEME COMPTON1. To me a strong artist has the ability to express their ideas across many mediums and in many styles, being diverse as an artist always helps with keeping you fresh. While looking through the work of Graeme Compton I have been taken from a middle ages war with dragons, to an oriental mystic beast all the way through to normal everyday life. Many themes and styles perfectly executed. So Graeme, where did the journey start for the artist behind these wonderful pieces.

    Ive always loved drawing. My earliest, clearest memory is of drawing a card for my friend, a neighbour, for her birthday when we were about four or five. I can remember the picture with clarity. I can also remember hiding the card and not giving it to her because I was too shy. The shyness and the love of drawing have continued all of my life, but I seem to have improved with the giving. I believe my ability as an artist is measured by my ability to give. Give everything and work at giving more. As a child, I was fortunate to be given (by my parents) an environment to live in which stimulated my imagination. Mum and Dad moved out to a hobby farm of a hundred acres, built their own house (we lived in tents for a year whilst this took place), and powered it with wind and solar energy. Along the rear of the property ran a ridge of sandstone cliffs, covered in conifers and dotted with caves shallow caves, but real and great places for adventures! The lifestyle was rugged and my parents were strict, yet there existed this precious freedom, this place for the imagination to grow. All through school I drew pictures, in my Maths books, Geography books, English books, Science books, oh and in my Art books. I tended to be distracted, my imagination had the better of

    me, so, although I achieved fair grades, my reports read as average and I was advised that I could have done better. My only distinctions were for story writing in English and major works in Art. The stories and artwork of those times display a predilection for dragons and sci-fi, influenced by my voracious reading habits. In the end I dropped out of school. I missed out on the Higher School Certificate and, initially, on University. I was an ignorant young person, misdirected and unguided, who just wanted to sit in my own space and write and draw. And had little interest in anything else other than books and wandering about amongst the trees. Throughout my twenties I studied music, particularly the practice of the pianoforte. I taught myself guitar, formed oh-so-briefly a band for which I wrote songs, and forged away with the help of teachers at piano practice. Drawing and writing were still with me, but I churned out only a few intense, intricate ink drawings of beasties, the odd graphite portrait, many unfinished works and hundreds of pages of typed other-worldly fantasies. And my means of earning a living? Until my mid-twenties I was a shearer and a woolclasser noble professions, but, no greater motivation existed for me to improve my education! At twenty-five, after two years of learning at piano, I began to give lessons at the piano myself, encouraged by an excellent teacher. I have maintained this role for over twenty years, sharing my hard-won knowledge of music with kids and adults who want to know something about it. Through music I have met some of the most wonderful people, including my beautiful wife and best friend, Donna. And with her my life as a visual artist began. Donna encouraged me to buy paper and pencils. Draw more pictures! she said; And use some colour, please! Visitors to our house saw a portrait of Donna on the wall, commissioned me to draw their kids and so it began. That first commission was almost ten years ago and gradually it continues to grow, the life I

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    wished for as a teenager. One important aspect of my life has been comics and graphic novels. This thread wove itself into my teaching to inspire my students and amuse them I began drawing cartoons for my newsletters of elephants having mishaps at their pianos elephants playing the piano the kids loved this idea. Eventually, through a connection with my brother, a childrens book author took notice and three years ago I illustrated my first childrens book. Ive just completed number nine.

    2. Your life sounds so similar to mine (although I am only in my late 20's) The difference is I spent 7 years at art school studying painting and drawing, since passing through into the real world I have realized that the art world is split 50/50 by artists who went to art school and artists who didn't. How have you found your Journey through art without art school and do you think your music background helps with your creativity?

    The journey since leaving school at not quite sixteen has been both tough and fulfilling. Looking at my life now, I feel that I am in a good place, not content, but happy and purposeful. I see that my knowledge, such as it is, of people and the world around me, is constructed on my past experience and my curiosity, and that it is useful to me in most decisions I make artistically. Looking back, I sometimes wonder, would I change anything if I had a time-machine and changing the past were actually possible? As I mentioned, I left school and became a shearer. This was due to my own ignorance, or innocence, of the world, of the possibilities. I went shearing with my Dad, because he was a shearer and he advised me that I should be earning a living. At the time I wished every day would end, that the shearing would end, that I could find a way to escape I hated it. Not the hard work - because it is hard work but the shear mind-numbing repetition. Sheep after sheep after sheep. And all the same. There was such a lack of forward movement, of any creative function at that end of the line. And yet, I learned something from it. I learned a little more about dealing with adversity, about dealing with people, sometimes very unusual people, difficult people, people who were there because they had nowhere else to be. I met a bloke

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    once who looked like a pirate, with multitudes of rings in his ears, a Satyrs hair, and the eyes of a killer, who had an effeminate voice and the tattoo of a shotgun and a wild boar emblazoned across his chest with a banner shouting a warning at the world. He told me the police wanted him in three states, but he talked so softly, so gently, and of such normal feelings about the world, that I found it difficult to believe him. I also learned from shearing, and then from the woolclassing job that joined it, that I needed to use my brain. I began to study music. I was writing and sketching at the time, but music held an interest for me. And it proved to hold my salvation. My first teacher was tough, kindly old spirit who taught me how to read the notes again and guided me through my first grades. I sensed that she would not take me where I needed to go, however, and sought out another instructor. My new teacher lived in a larger town, practised yoga and held performance nights for adult students. I skipped some grades and made shaky progress. This teacher encouraged me to teach music and through that I began to earn an income aside from the wool trade. I met Donna, we married and she encouraged me to earn my diploma. For a time I taught between fifty and sixty students a week, whilst practising for my diploma. There was little time for drawing or writing. Yet, I learned more about people, more about my world, more about art and the intricacies of design and the beautiful simplicity of line and the never-ending multiplicity of artistic identity. Dealing with children has been a great joy for me. Oh, yeah, it is frustrating at times Im certain every parent and teacher will admit that but I love kids. It is easy to communicate with them, to share their world of learning, the search for information, for knowledge. It is fun to point to a direction and say to them What about this? or Did you notice that? or What did you see? What did you hear? How did that make you feel? Kids always have tales to tell. I love sitting there with the shy ones, who can hardly speak a word, and gently coaxing them, letting them know that they, too, have a worthy voice and can join in when they want to. Sharing my learning of music and of drawing with kids inspires me. Searching for ways to express ideas to them I have drawn some great cartoons; the wonderful thing being that some of my students have actually kept these, framed them and hung them on their walls. Apart from the kids and their parents, there are the amazing musicians I have met through my work and study in music. Donna phoned me up one day, in the days when we first met; she had been listening to ABC Classic FM and Margaret Throsby came on with her morning interview. She was interviewing this fellow called Gerard Willems, a Dutch-born Australian pianist who was recording the Beethoven Sonatas on an Australian-made piano. Racing over to Donnas, I sat with her and listened to Gerards soft, deep accent for the first time. A few months later, I heard that he was being sent as a replacement for another tutor to a workshop in a neighbouring town. The organiser of the workshop phoned me and said Theyre sending this Gerard Willems

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    person Im not sure if we should have him I said Yes. You should. And so I met this incredible, kind, gentle, generous character. He went on to complete his recordings and to win acclaim, and I went on to paint his portrait my first portrait on canvas, in fact. The link between my life as a visual artist and that of music teacher is inextricable. Parents of students have commissioned me, I have painted more of my musician mates, and finally, because of my cartoons for kids, I found work as an illustrator of childrens books my drawings for these will be forever indebted to the knowledge of children I have gained through teaching music. There is one other facet of this relationship between the musical and the visual I would like to mention: When I listen to music, or sounds, my mind experiences it not just as sound, but as visual input. Images and patterns explode, gyrate, whirl, evolve and fractalise within my mind. It is something that I am aiming towards expressing in my art, if I ever attain the skills required to communicate it.

    3. There is an English musician living in New York called Blood Orange, he has a condition called synaesthesia where he visually sees the notes in music with colour and sonically hears colours he sees. I think this physical connection between the two is one of the strongest marriages in our world. What does your environment have to be like when you are either making music or creating art? Do you have to have the right conditions around you to be comfortable to create?

    Whilst answering this question, Ive plugged the headphones in to Blood Orange, listening to his Anxiety lecture I had heard of Dev Hynes, but had no knowledge of his artistic efforts.

    Synaesthesia is something I came across in studying musicology and then in my later readings on psychology and neurology, specifically Oliver Sacks book Musicophilia. Its an interesting phenomena. It leads me to think: we are all - all of existence is - patterns of frequency, vibrations which build, bind and influence matter, sound, light; the human brain is a focal point, because it is aware, because of its sensory functions; and within this neurological receptacle, experience is ordered, sequenced, remembered; but at the same time, each brain is a chance design,

    influenced by the circumstances of its conception and nurture; synaesthesia is an outcome of this, as is bipolar disorder, epilepsy, autism and other challenging physical variations in the brain; ultimately, our own substance and its interaction with the vibrations around us shape what we are. We have to ask, then: what do we know and understand of the world? Except that which we experience through our own specific filter.

    I suppose my point is: everything influences everything. For years my inner mind influenced my external life, because I was incapable of proper social interaction at times, because I saw everything in intricate patterns, because I felt everything far more intensely, more empathetically, than I could at times bear. As my mind developed, as its experience grew, as my neural patterns changed, my over-sensitive perceptions were calmed by understanding and more rational thinking; in turn, this rational thinking calmed my inner thoughts and allowed me to translate the external world more capably. Much of this happened later in life, through necessity, through discovering that a beloved friend would come to harm if I could not learn to think more clearly; this particular experience galvanised me, focused my mind.

    My comfort zone has extended over time. Once I needed to be alone, in my own space, and I would draw, only kneeling on the floor, or only practice the piano when others couldnt hear and part of the explanation for this lies in not wanting to invade other peoples space, which is still a great inhibitor in my thinking. Eventually, some inner compulsion drove me to push beyond that and I actually placed myself in front of people to perform and began to understand that other people wanted that sharing, wanted to hear and to see. Sharing is a great healer for loneliness of mind. We need to communicate.

    Physically, I am now happy to draw pictures anywhere, anytime. It is nice (and useful) to have an easel and a drawing board, but the floor or any flat surface will do. Notepads in shopping malls or gardens is fun!

    The right conditions no longer have to exist for

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    me to practice my art, to engage in artistic activity. I think this concept of the right conditions is an inhibitor we comfort ourselves with when we lack the necessary skills to express ourselves; and when we lack the necessary sense of purpose to drive ourselves to learn what we need to know. We continue to repeat the same old patterns, to form hard to remove habits, as we convince ourselves that we need a certain pen to use, a certain room to sit in, certain music to listen to, or silence to dwell in. The concept of a right place only exists in our minds and we perpetuate it through our own ignorance, or inability to see a way out, until, hopefully something inspires us, or leads us, or forces us to realise there is a way out. That is my experience, at least.

    Back to synaesthesia: What I experience isnt quite as precise as that. The volatile, spontaneous, morphic nature of my sound/pattern perceptions has probably been a factor in helping me pass the inhibitions mentioned above: I never see the same stuff as far as I am aware, my brain assigns no particular colour (or pattern) to any particular sound. My mind constantly plays

    music frequently invented and usually plays variations on anything that I have heard. I can find listening to actual music disruptive to this process, or calming, depending. At the same time, shapes, colours, pictures, stories are constantly developing, and I sometimes sincerely wish that I had some way of magically and instantly processing it all for others to experience, as it would save me physically having to learn how to do it and only ultimately processing the merest fraction.

    3. I find it so interesting speaking with other artists, we have all such a diverse yet similar connection with art. I find that being destructive helps me discover and create, the destructive nature comes from my late teens, I felt that I needed to create destruction in my life with my relationships and surroundings. I then got into graffiti and felt that I was harnessing my destruction creatively by destroying things that didnt belong to me. Then in my early twenties I realised that destruction was my connection to creativity and I should harness it

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    on a canvas. Funnily this lead me to be so calm and precise and my work shows great patience these days. Yet I always start with destruction as a performance it calms my mind ready for the concentration needed. I think we have this in common even though our approach differs as it shows how we have an emotion that we have come to accept and enjoy through our art. This to me is the connection all of us artists have in common. If you had your art taken away from you (maybe in a dystopian world like Fahrenheit 451) what would you have to do to feel alive?

    One of the ultimate questions for an artist: what if you could no longer create?

    What you say about destruction is interesting. I once strongly felt that destruction caused by the human mind was a terrible event. Part of this feeling was driven by a strong sense of preservation, of sustaining and nurturing, which is still strong in me. You are talking about using destruction as a creative energy, which I have slowly grown to admit, appreciate and finally to understand. Destruction is, after all, a part of the process. Graffiti, which I would have dismissed in my youth as destructive, mostly because I had been taught to think that way, I now find one of the most enticing art forms another language, a form of expression and insight into the our socio-cultural diversity, a highly charged, highly developed form of expression. I have some good friends who are exceptional street artists.

    Embracing that which is different, embracing that which causes us fear and doubt and anxiety, searching it out in our minds, analysing it, pondering it, expressing it and transforming it, this is our drive, our purpose as creators, I feel. And emotion, that sometimes tangled mass of complication that weaves its way through our rationality, can be harnessed, untangled, alleviated, through this expression. (Theres such a broad field of research and practice opening up in the area of mental health and

    healing connected with art forms, and it is not difficult to see this as the beginning of a healthier world.) Destruction/creation, the natural course of events in the universe, this is the paradox we need to come to grips with.

    Then we come to this question, what if our ability to function as an artist was removed? What if we were damaged? What if we were enslaved? What if the physical world around us, our culture and society, collapsed and we faced the task of survival on the most functional level? This is a thought I have often had. Its an odd thing, as I view myself as a positive, optimistic person. Yet, underneath that optimism there is an understanding of ending, of lack of purpose, of unbearable sadness and of death: my realist. How can an empathetic being not know these things? And so I know there is the chance of being prevented from this vital form of expression, which I am only beginning to be capable of.

    It would be tragic, and yet, having lived long enough to begin to grasp what life is and to accept this, I see that whatever I have in this moment is a brilliant opportunity, an assemblage of infinite chance moments in the course of

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    life, to which I can respond as I am able. At this moment I am able to respond as an artist. In some future moment, crushed by a bus, in the grips of starvation, in the midst of some insane war, I might only be able to respond at a very basic level. In the case that the world had become more volatile and everyone suffered, I hope that my response would be compassionate and useful to others, because that is my basic drive, underneath the artist. In the case that I alone was disabled in some way, I hope that I would be patient and learn to live with my lot, so that I wasnt too much of a pain to others. Beyond these hopes, I have to admit, it is a sad and difficult thought to imagine not being able to physically create. However, what matters most to me above everything is people and the life of the world around me if I didnt have art, then I would live to help others.

    One additional thought: if my mind could still create, if I could still imagine, then there would be some sense of self. Imagination is reality. You dont necessarily need an external expression of this. The external is only one dimension of our ability to create. But there I am being optimistic again.

    4. That is the best answer I have ever had to that question. You have really opened my eyes into the thought that there is more to life to what we already know and do. With your knowledge and wisdom that you have gained so far I am interested to know what the next step for you would be. What do you think/plan on doing for the next creative steps?

    Another great question, Jon. As I contemplate the reply, I glance around my slightly messy art studio and count the planned and unfinished projects and an almost overwhelming anxiety kicks in: where to begin? A lifetime of imagining things and often not having the opportunity to actually complete the picture leaves an artist with a backlog of sketches; and then, if the artists mind is still churning over ideas, there seems to be this mountain of physical labour to overcome. This is where acceptance is key: I accept (after some frustration) that everything I imagine is simply not going to make it to paper.

    And so I think: What really matters? Do I do what I really love and hope someone likes it? Up until now, that has been my attitude as an artist. And it has taken some time to find a small audience. The important aspect to this scenario is that I see a

    powerful joyful response to my art work. Even if only a few people see it, that is a few people who I have helped to feel happy and interested in the world, and they can share that feeling with others.

    Opening this interview you commented on diversity being a key element in keeping an artists work fresh. This is an encouraging thought, to me, as I love to work in different styles, to explore. Planning ahead, I would like to tackle more projects in the same vein as The beggar on a platter, touching on subtle Surrealism; making a picture which looks real, which is believable to the mind of the audience, and yet, breaks a law of physics, dispels reality. I enjoy that shock when viewing a picture which is almost photographic in quality, and then the realisation strikes that it is not possible. The work of Jeremy Geddes is a brilliant example of this kind of art. He makes something outrageously impossible appear absolutely believable.

    At the same time, I am rapt in cartoons and illustrations. In this vein, I can communicate with kids. Children, with their awakening awareness, humour and curiosity, are great to communicate with. Its simply brilliant fun to amuse them, to play the game in pictures and see if they notice what has been done. I enjoy that simplicity, the economy of line, a composition which tells a story with just a few elements. And at the same time, I am offering a child a glimpse of that other world, that adventure they want to have, the place we all want to go to. Here it is, see, it is real! Theres a project I am working on involving a young elephant who re-imagines his world of play; Im enjoying exploring digital illustration with this one.

    Then there is my love of fantasy art. And here there are two elements I wish to explore much further: stylised symbolism and pure fantasy. The world of myths enchants me. When it comes to exploring new shapes, in anatomy, in geology, in the physicality of all things, the possibilities are endless. I also have a fascination with rhythmic, morphic pattern work which seems to work well within fantasy settings. This is my favourite, most meditative pursuit (very time-consuming, though, and I tend to forget to eat). Once again, I like a sparse composition, however intricate the body of the piece becomes. And there needs to be a story. At the moment I have a series on the drawing board which centres on the idea of the alchemical creation of creatures Im hoping

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    somebody out there thinks it as cool as I do.

    Finally, there is straight realism. I look at this genre as a learning tool, but a crucial one. Drawing people and animals, drawing any feature of this amazing world is delving into the natural balance and weight of reality. Fleshing out the three dimensional into two, causing it to appear real to the observer, is a pathway to understanding how our human perceptions work. We constantly measure, explore elements, look at individual components, and then link everything together again; and yet, we remain only a part of the whole and so are only capable of realising existence through our finite fleshy filter. At the same time, it is an incredible experience and for me, any opportunity to portray an element of the natural world is an opportunity to contemplate it, to meditate on it; and to then see how it might be transformed, to be used to say something in pictures.

    Tagged onto the end of all of this is a really exciting offer from a composer friend of mine, to collaborate on a visual-audio endeavour. We are still plotting this one, but it could take shape with stills and animated elements, combined with the score. It might even be a live performance, with the visual component abstracted ad lib from the live sonic performance akin to the Blood Orange experience you drew my attention to. Absolutely looking forward to this adventure!

    Yes, diversity is the key to life, and it helps the mind to stay alive. Accept diversity. Be open, be ready to experience anything, because whatever you plan to do, the universe is churning away and in every moment you have to adapt to its phenomena. Enjoy it and try to help others where you can. I hope that I occasionally succeed in this.

    5. Judging from your work I think you have already succeeded in this. One last question. If you could go back in time right to the beginning of your art journey what would you do different and how would you think your art may look today?

    To be honest, Jon, I rarely think retro-hypothetically. But, if I did

    If I could change one thing (and yet still meet my beautiful friend and share my life with her see how this is not going to work?), then I would give myself the gift of certainty; I would love to visit my young

    self and say: Hey, mate, you are going to be alright. Life wont always be what you expect, thats just the way it is, but you will stick to what you love and it will help other people to be happy.

    Thats all, just reassurance and encouragement; its all I have ever wished for.

    How would a confidence boost have changed my art? There would certainly be more of it. Perhaps I would have felt more certain that it was worth doing. Perhaps I would have begun to learn the skills necessary to interpret my thoughts earlier. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

    I suppose this is why I do what I do as a teacher. I tell my students they are going to be alright, that mistakes are alright, that shyness is alright, that curiosity and imagination are their greatest gifts and that they can step into their own life with confidence. I help them laugh about themselves and what they are learning. I hope that they grow into adulthood and remember this part of their life with satisfaction and happiness.

    Truthfully, I wouldnt change a thing. This is my life. I accept it. I am happy.

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    SPACE TO CREATE

    Mottled Gray

    As with many (well, almost all) of my articles for my friends at The Sublime, this piece is a bit of a reflection on my past experiences. Its a piece about how movement from one physical space to another can have an enormous affect on the way that you think and your general mentality and quality of life, and how despite it being difficult to argue with that old saying, a pain in the heart cannot be solved by moving the body from one place to another, its also clear that your physical environment has a huge part to play in how you perceive the rest of the world. This all comes because these past 3 weeks have been a massive transitional period. Put yourself, if you will, in a one-bedroom ex-council flat, situated on the fifth floor in a block that is one of ten, and in what used to be one of the roughest estates in Hackney. My friend and me had been living there for the best part of two years, and apart from the relatively frequent water stoppage that plagued the whole block, there had been very little problems. The space was small but the rent was cheap. We really couldnt complain. Then all of a sudden on a Friday night at 10pm, we get a visit from our Landlord and his representative agent. The bomb drops: we have 24 hours to clear everything from the flat so that come Sunday morning, we will be ready for the removal van. Now, you can imagine that given both me and my flatmate make music, we have accumulated quite a bit of equipment over the past 2 years, which in reality, there was no room for in the flat: several costly synthesisers, multiple keyboards, five sets of speakers and accompanying amplifiers, several guitars, cymbals, microphones, snare drumsthe list goes on. And not to mention the furniture that we have for day-to-day living!

    So equally as reluctant as we were frantic, we boxed everything up, and loaded it into the van that arrived very promptly on the following Sunday morning. Suddenly finding yourself homeless with a flat full of stuff is enough to spoil anybodys week, but especially when you are mid-way through finishing an album (as me and my flatmate were, and still are) it can really put a downer on your vibe. Despite this, I was feeling remarkably energised by the whole situation, which lead me to ponder what it was that I was excited about. From the outside, it would seem that this whole ordeal was nothing more than a major inconvenience, but I found myself feeling almost relieved that we had had no choice but to vacate what had become our musical-cave of isolation in search for different (and hopefully greener) pastures. It was only then that I realised how claustrophobic and stagnant I had been feeling from the inherent lack of change, and I finally understood that for me at least, chaos and uncertainty are the two most inspirational things.

    With that realisation, I begun searching for new places to inhabit, and after many viewings of properties that realistically we couldnt afford (and a nasty situation with an agency trying to steal our moneya situation which has still yet to be resolved) something pulled through, and we finally landed on our feet. And thankfully, what we had inadvertently stumbled upon was a music making paradise. The scheme that found us is called a Guardianship. Legalities of occupation are a grey area, but essentially, you are licensed by a security company to occupy a vacant building that would otherwise be left derelict and boarded up. Buildings like old Police stations, hospitals, schools or warehouses. Its essentially a way for the new owner of an old

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    property to make money on it whilst waiting for planning permission to pull through, and to stop squatters from moving in and messing the whole place up. Our specific property was an ex-old peoples home. An absolutely massive building, surrounded by million-pound town houses in Fulham and right next to the Thames, it couldnt have been further from the one bed flat the two of us had lived in before. Comprised of two stories, twelve rooms, three kitchens, seven toilets, three massive town-hall-esque rooms, a private garden/courtyard (complete with naturally growing grape vines and novelty benches marked smoking area) and to top it all off - a lift! We quite literally couldnt believe we were aloud to live in this place for cheaper than where we were before. That said it definitely did require an open mind. When we first viewed the place it was a wreck, with dirt and dust everywhere, lots of old decorations left up that had obviously been there for years, and a creepy collection of hospital equipment that had been used to transport the decrepit elderly from one place to another. The automatic doors at the main

    entrance had been locked, but not switched off, so there was an eerie clink every time you walked past as the doors attempted to open but were clamped by an ill-fitting metal bolt. The post box was crammed full of junk mail and cobwebs, and the building itself was addressed with only a hand-drawn note on a piece of scrap paper that simply read, 147. But if you could see past all these things, there was definitely a unique experience to be had. And so we had it. Within weeks, two other close friends who were also doing music had moved in, and I found that my creative mind had been completely reinvigorated. I suddenly found myself with a new crop of motivation to go with my new studio setup, and things that needed to be done in the album which had become a chore, were now a joy to complete. I surprised myself with how much of a difference a truly inspirational place could make, and it felt like we were the outsiders that had accidentally fallen into a place of exclusivity so that we could fully exploit the things that it had to offer. Its truly a marvel to now have a place that you could really look forward to coming back to; where you can skate, scooter or cycle from

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    one room to another, be as loud or isolated and quiet as you want, and really feel free to be whoever, whenever you want. These kinds of properties are certainly not for everyone, but if you are willing to sacrifice certain creature comforts (ones which in our, case, we had been living without for several years anyways) then there are some amazing places that you can potentially occupy. This is a prime example of one, and how your physical environment can really affect the way you create, or even just the way you perceive your own place within a city as complex and chaotic as London. With this building, I feel that we are our place is almost as pirates, plundering what we can to make what we need, and creating diamonds out of what others think is nothing. I love it, and I feel that it has been a privilege and an incredible stroke of luck to be fortunate enough to have found a place like this. Fingers crossed, when they knock it down to build over-priced and ugly flats for foreign investors and Russian Oligarchs to buy and then not live in, all of us inhabiting this space will have a permanent memory of what there once was. And with any luck, we will find another ridiculous building to inhabit, so that we may re-imagine the potential of what an old-new space can help us all create.

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    AMBIDEXTERts not often that we get a sculpture artist and its not often that we see some daring satire executed in such a comical way that we all have a chuckle in the office. Enter stage left AmbiDexter. This month I would like to bring your attention to an up and coming artist whose work speaks volumes of political unrest, socially commentating on our relevant times with such humour you can forgive the content and relax about the context. Ambidexter is an artist whos vision is well worth watching out for in the future, and although we dont have much to show you at this moment im sure you will be seeing a lot more stuff appear over the next coming months.

    In a time where ironic illustrations and showing how bad ass you are at drawing something cool (and hip maybe) Ambidexter has managed to create a unique style, on the box it looks like an illustration, it should be an illustration but when you see these in person you are met with the delight that they are little hand crafted 3d pieces (who needs a 3d printer these days) they have a somewhat cartoonish touch to them, making them friendly on the eyes but behind the bright colours and interesting contours there is a message, they rip apart our modern society and narrate our influence of popular culture. These arent sculptures you can weigh down your childrens best homework with. They are the little secrets you get out at dinner parties to show how you, just like the pieces dont care about society, they show that you can sit back and laugh it all of.

    The size of these things is impression. There is no ego in these little gems, no, they are not huge nor in your face! They are small hand held pieces and from that I have a lot of respect for Ambidexter. Being able to contain so much detail in such small things is an impressive achievement in its own right! With them being so small it invites you to walk over to them, to inspect them even more. A powerful idea that makes you follow the narrative of the composition.

    Maybe this feature is too small in itself but the work speaks volumes. In a future issue of the sublime we would like to spend some time with Ambidexter in his studio. Showing you how these things are born and getting to know the master behind them.

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    Deaf in one ear, deaf in one ear, From this ear, I cannot hear, I cannot hear, from this ear, Because this ear is DEAF!

    Deaf to left, deaf to left, Hearing left, is now bereft,

    Bereft on left, my hearing cleft, Because its fucking DEAF!

    Deafy deaf, deafy deaf, Deafy deafy deafy deaf, Deafy deaf, deafy deaf,

    Its really fucking annoying!

    PARDONMr Wilds


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