News

Myself, Héctor Pineda and Micha Colory.Krebs

Stay still long enough and the world will come to you, or network like crazy on the internet. And so it was when Mexican digital artist Héctor Pineda came to Berlin. We first came into contact through some groups on Deviant Art. Héctor organised and edit the book, “Imagine The Imagination – New Visions of Surrealism“, selecting artists from the Deviant Art groups. I was fortunate to be one of the artists included. The “Imagine the Imagination” book project was organised with the Polish publishing house, nEgoist.

nEgoist supports Abnormals Gallery which is based in Berlin and now with a much larger gallery space in Poznan, Poland. Abnormals Gallery recently caused an outcry in Poland over a large banner bearing a swastika and naked Mickey Mouse model, adorning their new premises. If any thing, the gallery is now known before it even opens for it’s first show.

Héctor was in Berlin to meet with the directors of Abnormals Gallery to discuss a possible future exhibition that would would exhibit the artists featured in “Image the Imagination”. But while he was here in Berlin he also made time to meet up with other artists. So it came to pass when I met him on Friday night with his wife and another artist, I convinced him to come with me to pay a visit to Micha Colory Kreb’s colourful and fascinating studio. His apartment is literally a work of art in itself.

8th Oberbaumbrücke Open Air Gallery

This Sunday, the fourth of July is the 8th Oberbaumbrücke Open Air Gallery in Berlin and for myself the third time I’ve participated with my artwork. My friend and colleague Micha Colory Krebs will also be at the festival also.

The faux medieval bridge over the River Spree that runs through the heart of Berlin, is closed off on Sunday to accommodate 100 artists and their artwork. The event always pulls large crowds usually totally about 20,000 for the day. With such large public attendance its reputation has been spreading far and wide.

I will heading down to the bridge early on Sunday to set up a stand. It takes a little while as everything has to be secured against the wind. I will be taking a couple of my studio easels so I can display more of my paintings.

I will be bringing my latest artworks, as well as a few older ones that are still to be found hanging on my studio walls and are in need of new homes.

The weather bureau is predicting hot and sunny weather, so it should make a great day out for visitors.

The event opens to the public at 10am and finishes at 10pm. So there’s ample time for you come by and visit me on the bridge.

www.openairgallery.de

Zademack - Taube

Next week I will be travelling to Viechtach again as the town plays host to the iPaX 2010 International Fantastic Art Exhibition. I was previously in Viechtach for the Dante exhibition last year and I’m very much looking forward to returning to this charming part of Germany again.

I am naturally desiring to visit the exhibition out of professional artistic interest, but I am also in attendance to document the event for my Fantastic Visions project as I did with the recent Dreamscapes Exhibition in Amsterdam. I will be photographing, videoing and later writing about the event for Fantastic Visons.

The town of Viechtach is the European host of the IPax 2010 peace campaign. On the initiative of Dali expert Roger M. Erasmy, the artists group “Dalis Erben” (Dalí’s Heirs) along with guest artists will be exhibited at the Viechtach Old Town Hall.

Erasmy has been quoted as saying, “The art world is aware of the serious geopolitical situation and wants to participate actively in the efforts for making peace. Expressive images seem more determined than endless political speeches”.

Exhibiting at the exhibition will be:

Angerer the Elder, Alain Bazard, Dragan Ilic, Tues VOGO, Peter Gric, Christian Klepsch, Micha Lobi, Michael Maschka, Fabrizio Riccardi, Viktor Safonkin, Reinhard Schmid,  Siegfried Zademack.

There will also be a slide lecture on the life of the great surrealist Salvador Dali and the smallest Surrealist art collection in the world. The original Dali wagon, the rail car that was the original model for the painting “The Station of Perpignan” will be on display in the town square.

On the Saturday there will be an artists breakfast at Cafe Isis,where there is a permanent display of Reinhard Schmidt’s glass artworks. It will be a wonderful opportunity for everybody to catch up in a more relaxed environment. I could almost say that I’m coming to see some of these artists regularly. It is quite an effort since everybody is dispersed so far and wide about the world.

Details for the event are:

iPaX2010: International Peace Art exhibition – Dali’s Heirs and Friends

Opening of the Exhibition: Friday 18 June, 7pm
Duration to 22 August
Opening times: Mon – Fri 8-5pm, Sa 10-1pm, Sun 10-12pm / 3-5pm

Roger M. Erasmy lecture on Salvador Dali: Friday, 9 July, 19 Clock, Old Town Hall Viechtach
Then open the original Dali wagon on the square Viechtach

Altes Rathaus Viechtach
1 Town Square
Viechtach, Germany

Tel. +49 9942 1661
www.viechtach.de

I once again travelled to Amsterdam for the Dreamscapes Exhibition. This time however, I made things easy on myself and took the train. What a difference it made. I think I’m hooked on train travel.

Early Friday afternoon I arrived at the exhibition hall. The hanging of the artwork was nearing its end and Ella Buzo and Marcel Salome, the organisers were very busy. The exhibition was being installed in the same large hall they had used last time. Its size being very necessary owing to the large volume of artwork. Their exhibitions are some of the largest and best organised Fantastic Art shows I’ve attended. Although, in the Netherlands, “Imaginary Realism” is the favoured term for this sort of art. This year they broadened the scope and included a some artwork bordering on the fringes.

It proved to be a very long day as some of the artists were arriving  only that evening with their artwork. I helped out where I could with the set up.

I occupied myself through out the day photographing and shooting video of the event. Part of my aim in attending was to document the exhibition for my Fantastic Visions project. I’ve begun sorting through the footage and will post a video to YouTube and my website in the near future.

The exhibition was once again in the same large exhibition hall in Amsterdam. It is a truly impressive site to see such a large space filled with high quality artwork. Ella and Marcel put a lot of time and energy into this project to make it what it is. This year they went even further and had large posters of Viktor Safonkin’s artwork advertising the exhibition placed all over town.

Their efforts were well rewarded on the opening day. While it is impressive to see the hall filled with artwork, it is even more impressive to see the same hall filled with people looking at the artwork. Approximately 1000 visitors attended the opening with numerous sales being made. Prominent articles about the exhibition appeared in two major newspapers, the Telegraaf and the Volkskrant.

While not all exhibiting artists did attend, a sizable proportion did. Viktor Safonkin was there with his vice like handshake as well as the very congenial Olivier Zappelli who we kidnapped later that evening on a mystery tour of Amsterdam. I chatted with Siegfried Zademack. We had last met at the Art Imaginär exhibition in Mußbach, Gemany the previous year. Slowly I’m coming to know more of them as I travel about to various exhibitions, but there were still new faces to meet.

At the opening ceremony, Marcel presented the very handsome new edition of the Dreamscapes book. Marcel changed the format and design this year and also adding many more pages to the book. Everybody was thrilled with it. With the larger size, extra pages and of course weight, it feels very substantial and its content is certainly enthralling. It is now one of my favourites in my art book collection.

There were smiles all round as the hall buzzed with activity. Artists were queried about their artwork, photos were taken and autographs given. The exhibition was still busy at closing time and reluctantly, visitors had to be ushered away as there was the long expected dinner to be had. Finally people could rest and relax. It was a time of exchanging email addresses and catalogues.

Come the next day it was work again for Ella and Marcel as they opened the hall again. Where as I boarded the train for a casual return journey to Berlin.

Following is a slide show of photos I shot at the exhibition.

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Dreamscapes 2010 - the book

The book which was released at the exhibition.

Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk and Patrick Woodroffe

Pepijn meets his childhood art hero, Patrick.

All the World is a Stage

Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk and Patrick Woodroffe

Viktor Safonkin

Viktor tries on some wacky 3D glasses to look at the artwork.

Patrick Woodroffe

Patrick with one of his artworks.

Olivier Zappelli

Olivier looks happy to be in the exhibition with his artworks.

Lukas Kandal

Lukas Kandal being greeted by Gerrit Luidinga at the opening ceremony.

Olivier Zeppelli and Frank C. Hauser

This photo cracks me up.

Team Safonkin

Viktor and his agent Ilja.

Siegfried Zademack

It's all a Blur

Olivier and I trying to coach Ella with photography.

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Dennis hanging his artwork

and making the final adjustments

Dennis' artwork

My artwork alongside Dennis'

Quite a nice linear progression with the images.

My artwork

One small artwork yet to add to the wall.

Micha's artwork

With one painting left to hang

Opening night

Micha and Natalia

Darry and Dennis

Darryl flew in from Stockholm especially to see our exhibition.

Dennis' book

Dennis shows off an early version of a book he is designing for his artwork.

After party party!

Anja, myself, Darryl

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Here is a selection of images from our recent Fantastic Visions exhibition opening. It was wonderful to see people make the journey out in such frigid weather, in what was Europe’s coldest Winter in 60 years. We even had a couple of guests from out of the country come to Berlin for the opening. It was also a chance to show off the catalogue of artwork, which we plan to use in assisting us land further exhibitions. When the opening was over, a core of hardy souls braved the subzero temperatures to find a cosy bar, have a few drinks and continue the conversations.

As a footnote, for our efforts with the we received good responses from various people and there are some very interesting opportunities that have opened up for us. There will be more to tell about these when they come to fruition.

Fantastic Visions - Kultschule, Berlin 2010

2010 starts with the first group exhibition project for Fantastic Visions. I will be exhibiting my artwork with my good friends Dennis Konstantin and Micha Colory Krebs at the Lichtenberger Kultschule in Berlin. We will be exhibiting a selection of our paintings.

Having looked at the Fantastic Visionary exhibition projects taking place in other corners of the world and the dearth of opportunities locally, it was often discussed how something could also be done in Berlin. Finally this was acted upon, and now the momentum exists to continue this with further exhibitions in 2010 and beyond.

Recognizing a synergy in our works and our relative close proximities, it makes for an easy step for us to come together and mount this group show. The exhibition is working under the title of the Fantastic Visions project that I recently launched.

On display will also be the first Fantastic Visions printed publication that I designed and edited, a catalogue of artwork from Dennis, Micha and myself.

We will also be offering canvas prints of any of the artwork in the exhibition.

You’re invited, so hope to see you there.

Fantastic Visions

Dennis Konstantin, Micha Colory Krebs, Leo Plaw

Lichtenberger Kulturverein e.V.
in der KULTschule
Sewanstraße 43
10319 Berlin
Berlin
Germany

20th January 2010 – 19th February 2010

Opening: 20th January 2010 19:00 – 21:00

OPEN HOURS: Montag bis Donnerstag 08.00 bis 18.00 Uhr, Freitag 08.00 bis 19.00 Uhr

Womb of Creation - Temple of Visions

I am very pleased to announce that I have been invited to exhibit in Los Angeles, at the Temple of Visions exhibition “Womb of Creation”. I am sending two paintings for the show and will be exhibiting alongside, Martina Hoffmann, Robert Venosa, Mars-1, Oliver Vernon, HR Giger, Mark Henson, Amanda Sage, Adam Scott Miller, Carey Thompson, Satoshi Sakamoto, David Heskin, Aloria Weaver, Raul Casillas, Autumn Skye Morrison & many more.

The Temple of Visions is headed up by Jimmy Bleyer who lives in the counter culture warehouse project, the Hive. Over the last couple of years steady progress has been made with establishing the Hive and Temple of Visions with the L.A. art world. It’s mission is to raise awareness of Visionary art.

The Gallery seeks to create a spectacular environment that will bring people together in admiration of art, and in transformation of self and community. In addition to quarterly epics, the Temple will feature a monthly music & visionary culture party, a ’boutique concert series’, and several consciousness raising classes, workshops, and lectures.

www.templeofvisions.com
“The Temple is inside”

GRAND OPENING:
January 9, 2010 from 8:00pm-1:00am
719 South Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014
U.S.A.
$15.00 includes entry to The Hive Gallery

On Friday the 13th, I attended Strychnin Gallery’s opening for the Magistrates exhibition. This is a video I shot and edited for my Fantastic Visions project. I also had the chance to catch up with Tim Roosen again who had driven a long way from Belgium to Berlin.

Magistrates features over 20 internationally renowned artists. Works in this show range from a variety of different media such as painting, etching, digital painting, photography and sculpture, making for an exhibition featuring many unique artistic positions from pop surrealism to fantastic art, special effects to lowbrow, pop art to urban art.

Art Imaginär curator, Otfried Culmann, just sent a link to a slideshow video that he put together using photos that he and I took at the exhibition in Mußbach back in October.

IFAA – Exposition L’art fantastique Paris 2009

This Sunday, Anja Brinkmann and I will be flying out to Paris to once again meet with our Japanese friends that I exhibited with last year in Kyoto. We have both been invited to exhibit in Paris with the IFAA.

The International Fantastic Art Association (IFAA) is an artist group dedicated to bringing together and gaining more exposure for Japanese Fantastic Artists. The group was founded by the artist Shoji Tanaka and has so far exhibited in Kyoto and Tokyo with international guest artists.

This exhibition is the first outside of Japan with guest artists from Australia, France and Germany included. The IFAA intends this to be the first of many exhibitions abroad for their group. The exhibition is right in the heart of Paris, at the Association Culturelle Franco-Japonaise de Tenri, which is only a few blocks away from the Louvre Museum.

This is my first trip to Paris, a city that has been long on my list of places to go. Anja and I are both excited about seeing our Japanese friends again. It will be also an opportunity to meet some new faces, such as French artist Hugues Gillet who exhibited with the IFAA earlier this year in Kyoto and will do so again in Paris. If we’re lucky, we should also see few other people we know visit us at the exhibition.

Exposition L’art fantastique Paris 2009

Start Time: Monday, October 26, 2009 at 5:30pm
End Time: Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 5:00pm

Association Culturelle Franco-Japonaise de Tenri
8-12 rue Bertin Poirée
Paris, France

tenri-paris.com