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Somewhere between imagination and Berlin lies a special place called Zozoville. The doorway to this land of oddball under the bed monsters, devils and dysfunctionally cute can be found at Mainzer Strasse 12, Friedrichshain, Berlin. The only characters that you will find within approaching any possible sense of normality are Johan Potma and Mateo.

Some years ago when I was hawking my artistic wares on the Boxhagnerplatz flea market, myself and other artist friends found an abandoned American artist in a cardboard box on the market with his brushes and colours. Taking pity on the poor starving creature, we took him home to our corner of the market where we fed and watered him with our artistic comrade and the occasional coffee or morsel of food.

So it came to pass that Mateo was in our midst every Sunday. At some point later like a rabbit out of hat came Johan. We were not sure where he came from, but we were almost certain he was one of Mateo's magic tricks.

Thus began the creative partnership that was to evolve into the multi-eyed organism called Zozoville. Housed in a tiny shop front on the streets of urban cool that are Friedrichshain, this industrious pair founded their creative factory.

The Zozoville window is like some aliens come to earth and hiding behind a thin veneer of normality, but with an odd suspicious appendage popping out film. The sort of shop where you take a strange cute pet home, but not realising it is some ravenous beast from another world whose soul intent is to eat your geraniums. 

Johan and Mateo's endevours grow from strength to strength and people are starting to notice. In the past year they've had a run of media coverage, culminating with several TV interviews.

As I write this they are currently exhibiting their artwork in Paris. Their artwork is taking them to the corners of the unsuspecting world.

Zozoville.com

All great adventures involve something not going to plan, and so it was on the very first day as I set out for the IFAA exhibition in Japan. After not sleeping for two days to complete all of my work and tasks before I departed to the other side of the globe, I found myself standing in a queue for two hours after my flight was cancelled due to strong crosswinds at the London City Airport. To complicate the situation further, I was meant to be meeting with Anja Brinkmann and Luigi La Speranza at the Frankfurt airport for our connecting flight to Japan. So it came to pass that they had to fly without me and I then came later via roundabout journey through various airports.

After long and uncomfortable flights I finally arrived at Kansai Airport some twelve hours after Luigi and Anja had been collected by Shoji Tanaka and Satoshi Sakamoto. I was very grateful that they both made the complicated journey back into Osaka to fetch me from the airport also. This was not an easy task given the chaotic network of roads that snake through Osaka and the navigation computer that was giving wrong directions.

Late that Saturday night I was finally united with Anja and Luigi. I was also finally united with a bed in which I could lie horizontal and sleep comfortably.

Recently, artist Otto Rapp wrote a response on my "IFAA Exhibition Kyoto" which I was very pleased to read. He brought to my attention an essay in progress on his website.

His article about the Vienna School of Fatastic Realism is by far the most succinct and informative writing I have read yet. He presents a great deal of detail that I have not seen yet. He goes on to explain the central characters and protagonists and give them life. I had from various sources previous heard that Ernst Fuchs can be somewhat of an agitator, or provocator, but now I have an appreciation of why and how that has been a central benefit to the life of Vienna Fantastic Realism.

I believe Otto's essay brings some clarity to the "mythos" that surrounds Fantastic Realism, or dare I say some realism to the fantastic?

It has given me cause to go back to my personal library and dig out a book purchased per chance on a Berlin flee market. "Die Wiener Schule des Phantastischen Realisums" by Joahnn Muschik (ISBN 3-570-06123-x). At the time I did not delve into the book as my command of German was rather lacking, but now, I feel it should be sufficient.

While this book may also be illuminating, Otto's essay also elaborates on Vienna School's influence outside of Vienna, especially that of Japan. With my recent contact with the Japanese Fantastics, Otto rightly reckonned that I would find this relevant and interesting.

I certainly look forward to Otto's further work on his essay, and thank him very much for bringing it to my attention.

Otto's essay: "The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism"

The day draws near when I fly to Japan with Luigi La Speranza and Anja Brinkmann, where Luigi and I will be participating in the International Fantastic Art Association annual group exhibition. I feel honoured that the director Shoji Tanaka has extended this wonderful invitation to us. I have previously written about Shoji and the IFAA, and how I came to know them.

I am excited to be visiting Japan, and more so Kyoto where one can still find much of the old Japan that no longer exists. I am also excited to be meeting the other artists and seeing their artwork. A tiny image on a web page does not compare to the real thing.

Likewise, meeting cyber friends and contacts is an interesting experience. I am looking forward to meeting Satoshi Sakamoto who I "met" on MySpace. It is good to meet the human face behind the digital text and images.

I will be updating the blog with further news about my travels to Japan, and about the exhibition. Make sure you come back and read about it.

Details of the exhibition follow:

International Fantastic Art Association
Fantastic Art Show-Kyoto-2008
Exhbition 1th April to 6th April

DOHJIDAI GALLERY

F1 1928 bldg. Gokomachi Sanjo Nakagyo-ku Kyoto Japan

Participating Artists:

• Miyuki Aihara
• Katsumi Asano
• Shinji Asano
• Kyoko Baba
• Yasuko Fuchioka
• Yasuo Hagiwara
• Akiko Ijichi
• Koichi Iyoda
• Shu Iseki
• Kashima
• Kuniaki Katsu
• Kazuaki Kita
• Kaoru Koga
• Tetsuo Koyama
• Satomi Kuwahara
• Yoshiko Maezawa
• Midorineko
• Chinatsu Miyake
• Taeko Mori
• Mitsuru Nagashima
• Akiko Oikawa
• Hitomi Okubo
• Shigeo Otake
• Kyoko Ote
• Akiko Sakagami
• Satoshi Sakamoto
• Kyoko Sato
• Leo Sawaki
• Tomoko Segawa
• Yuko Shiizaki
• Takashi Sotohara
• Hazuki Suketake
• Hayato Suzuki
• Minae Takada
• Mitsuo Takeda
• Shoji Tanaka
• Itsuki Tatsukikawa
• Hiroko Yamaji
• Sayaka Wakabayashi

Special Guests:

• Leo Plaw
• Luigi La Speranza

Like most artists, I dream of seeing my artwork in print and better still that being a book. After watching Jon Beinart go through the motions of publishing "Metamorphosis" (which I am in) I have feeling for the reality of it. There was some serious financial outlay to produce the book, which puts this sort of activity out of the reach of most people.

But then there's on demand printing. With the advent of digital printing, it became viable to do short print runs. Traditional offset printing is still the most cost effective for high volume runs or 500 or more.

The internet has made the ease of getting your idea to print even greater. There are now a number of companies, such as Lulu.com and Blurb.com which allow you upload the files for your book through their website. They then print your book and post it out to you. Both also offer online store facilities to sell your publication through

Both offer templates for those of us who are not professional layout artists. But that said, it still makes a world of difference if you enlist the help of some one who has skills in those directions. Book formats vary from soft covers to hardback and in set size ranges

Charley Parker on Lines and Colors has a more detailed view of on demand book printing

C. B. Newham makes very detailed comparisons between the largest online print on demand pubishers.

I recently visited Japanese artist Shinji Himeno in Berlin. It was a great surprise to discover him there after I had lived there for three years, never knowing he existed. I wonder who else is hidden there.

Myself, my girlfriend Anja (http://anja-brinkmann.net) and Micha Krebs (colory.de) all went to visit him and were amazed by his superb work!

His works often have figures whose heads are covered with a cloth, and many then have hovering masks. When we asked him if there was a meaning to this, he simply replied yes, but never elaborated further.

What I like about his work is that while he is obviously trained in classical Western painting technique, the influence of his homeland is evident in his work. This immediately sets him apart from others that have trained the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism.

He started his studies at the same university that Peter Gric and Luigi La Speranza were finishing at and it is through them that I've come into contact with him. He studied from 1993 - 1997 under Arik Brauer at the Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna. While Fuchs is certainly famous, Brauer has trained many of the outstanding artists of the current generation of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism.

Shinji most certainly falls into the category of outstanding artist, with his fine technique and orgiginal themes and content. His works are usually rather large, which I find a pleasure because it allows the artist to indulge in more detail. But this does make for slightly crowded conditions in his home studio.

We spent several hours talking, drinking tee and eating freshly backed cake. I of course brought his attention to beinart.org, and I am very pleased to say that he agreed to have a profile and gallery on the website. We naturally also spoke about Shoji Tanka the forthcoming IFAA exhibition in Kyoto.

After having a very enjoyable time, we all had to part ways because of other commitments that day. I certainly look forward to staying in contact with Shinji and seeing his new creations.

His website: shinjihimeno.com

When you squeeze that black paint from the tube, have you assumed that is the limit of blackness?

Well apparently it is not so black after all. Standard black paint still reflects about 5 -10% of the light that falls upon it.

Scientists now have developed a substance that reflects less than 0.1%.

Researchers say the new black could be applied to solar and other technologies. But in that list is also mentioned "defence" (a.k.a. war).

New Material Pushes the  Boundries of Blackness - Reuters, Tue 15th Jan 2008

The "art establishment" once again shows how inane and conceited it is by awarding £25,000 to Mark Wallinger for a shaky 154 minute long video of a man walking around a gallery in a bear costume. He is prize winner of the 2007 Turner Prize, Britain’s foremost contemporary art award.

Lauding their lack of perspective, the Tate said that there were parallels between Wallinger and the Berlin gallery, and Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel: “Both artists were interested in transforming spaces.”

This month, Anja Brinkmann and I went to the Dalí Museum in Figueres, Spain. We hired a car and drove north from Barcelona. We were both excited to see the museum. Having wound our way through the tiny streets of the old town center, there were the unmistakable eggs sitting atop the museum.

Having seen many photos of the museum, there were many moments of aha, so that's where that feature belongs. Entering the museum, you are greeted by Dalí's raining car, however it is not raining. To my disappointment, I discovered that you have to put money in a coin slot. This was the first of several instances in the museum where things are coin operated, "Avida Dollars!".

Mounted on the bonnet of the car is a grandeouse sculpture that Ernst Fuchs cheekily gifted Dalí for his museum. But Dalí was the master and had a surprise install for Fuchs. At the grand opening of the museum, there was his sculpture perched on bonnet like an ornament.

Scattered throughout the museum are a number of his famous works, but also many others that I found of little interest. As a painter I guess I'm biased. As a lover fine painting, I guess I'm biased again. So it was with great interest that both Anja and I studied his most famous paintings. What surprised me, was how small these paintings are. A few years ago in Berlin, I saw Dalí's famous melting clocks, "The Persistence of Memory". It was tiny! So I've come to realize that finer works are usually small and the larger somewhat more rough or simple.

His Sterogram paintings were fascinating to look at, and did create a great sense of depth. There were numerous examples of these about the museum. I was wondering how he chose the colours to created the depth illusion.

At the end of it all, I felt like there was something missing. After being so privileged to have meet so many superb and talented artists in the recent years, and then visit them in their studio, I realized that this was not possible with Dalí. But on our last round of the gallery we did find his tomb in the basement of the museum. So he was there, but not there.

After a very late lunch, we then drove to Port Lligat (Cadaques) to see his home. After travelling on the "senic route" to Port Lligat along winding hillside roads, we arrived rather late, just as his home, now a museum was being closed. The only residents to be seen were the multitudes of cats. I could instantly see what attracted Dalí to Port Lligat. Beautiful clear water in a protected bay, and very secluded.

And so ended our Dalian journey, from the outside of his house we looked at the garden walls and could only wonder and imagine at the parties and visitors that came to see the grand surrealist.

On Lines and Colors I found a post about Roy Lichtenstein by Charlie Parker. Now I did a small amount of study on Lichtenstein for my high school art, and of course have seen him reproduced in numerous modern art books. I never gave a thought to where Lichtenstein sourced his images from. I had assumed that he created them. Rather it is the opposite. Apparently he plagiarised the images from existing artworks with out even crediting the original artists. Now here comes the insult. Because the original art was "comic book" (ahem, graphic novel as we call it today) it was never considered artwork by the art snobs anyway, Lichtenstein then "elevates" it to the level of art, all with out due credit.

The original article points out that there is now a book which shows you all of the original sources that Lichtenstein lifted "his" artwork from.

I must say I view Lichtenstein in another light now, and that being rather dim.