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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.

Dennis Konstantin painting in his studio

Today I was painting with Dennis Konstantin while he was in his studio in Hamburg and I in mine in Berlin. What began as just a Skype chat moved onto a dual painting session when Dennis picked up his brush and started to work. So, of course rather than just talk about paint, I also continued with my latest work on the easel.

We both continued to occasionally talk when not fully focused on our paintings. What was interesting, was at times glancing back at the computer screen and seeing that the other was doing the same thing, such as sitting and contemplating their painting. It was also an interesting insight into each others studio habits, and how much time is actually spent putting brush to canvas as verses contemplating the next move. It is rather assuring to see that others are also given over to the same foibles.

It would be a wonderful thing if Skype could do multiple video conferencing, then we could have more people involved from all over the world. It’s a nice thought, since painting is usually a very solitary practice. But there are occasions we do all end up in the same physical space. And I certainly look forward to that.

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

Exhibition visitors peer at Siegfried Zademack’s artowrk.

It was the a last minute snap decision to travel from Berlin to the Rheinland Pfalz, the opposite end of the Germany. I wanted to attend the Art Imaginär exhibition to see some artists I knew and to try to meet some of the people behind the illusive Labyrinthe Gessellschaft. Everything magically fell into place and I arrived in Mußbach on Saturday.

Mußbach is wine growing village which has the oldest vineyard in the region, the Herrenhof. It was peak tourist season as people flocked to the region to sample the new wine. Almost every available courtyard was full with people eating and drinking. So finding a place to stay is impossible and finding a place to eat is a challenge.

The Herrenhof is the venue for the Art Imaginär exhibition. While it may now have a great role as the cultural center of Mußbach, it wasn’t always so. The local council were wanting to demolish the buildings as they were in a serious state of disrepair and they had no interest investing in the buildings. So the local residents took it upon themselves with their own time and funds to renovate the buildings.

The exhibition opening was Sunday, but I visited the exhibition on the Saturday anyway as I knew the gallery would be full with people and I would be preoccupied with talking and photographing the exhibition. I had wanted to catch my friend Peter Gric, but he had already delivered his artwork and left for the day, so instead I looked around the exhibition.

Otfried Culmann, conversing with Wolfgang Harms, in front of Viktor Safonkin’s artwork.

The exhibition was curated by artist Otfried Culmann who has already organized a number of such events. This particular exhibition was three in one. The main exhibition consisted of 75 artists from 10 different countries, from the well known such as Fuchs and Dali, to lesser known, all working in Fantastic Art. Second was the Woldermar Winkler exhibition. Finally was the exhibition of a special selection of Fantastic Art from the Westermann collection. One of the special things about the Westermann collection is that all of the artists are requested to create artworks in the same format, but they are permitted free reign in those constraints.

After looking at the exhibition I started to chat with some of the people that were there, and discovered that they were none other the organizers themselves. So it came to pass that I sat down to tea and coffee with Otfried Culmann, Gustav Adolf  Bähr, the chairman of the Herrenhof association, Gerhard Habarta, the publisher of the “Lexicon der phantastischer Künstler” and Lukas Kandl who organizes the L’Ange Exquis project. Later artist Michael Engelhardt came and joined us. Slowly, I was discovering who was who. It was also an opportunity for me to look through a number of the catalogues and including the “Lexicon der phantastischer Künstler”.

That evening we all met again with everybody’s partners in a fascinating restaurant that used to be an artist’s residence. The front of the house was decorated with stone sculpture, and various surfaces inside had been painted with all manner of pictures. With our large group and it being peak tourist season sitting around the table was very cosy. On offer was all manner of local cuisines and of course, local wines. We all had to be bright eyed and bushy tailed, looking our best for the exhibition opening in the morning so we did not make it a long evening.

I must heartily thank Kurt Kaiser and Gabriele Humborg, who devote much of their free time to the Herrenhof, for their generous hospitality and having me stay with them. It proved to be a full house with the Kandls staying with them also. I very much appreciate how accommodating they were.

The grand day of the exhibition opening arrived, along with a few more of the artists whom I had not seen on the Saturday, such as Bruno Weber, Peter Gric, Viktor Safonkin, Siegfried Zademack and Wolfgang Harms. I think Otfried Culmann and the other organizers were very pleased and relieved when the show finally opened. The hall above the exhibition was packed to capacity with the exhibition receiving some 500 visitors on the opening day. There were also a number of favourable articles of a good size in the press. So exhibition proved be a great success.

The day was a superb opportunity for the artists to meet each other, make new friendships and renew old ones. Many had traveled a long way, seldom seeing each other except at various exhibitions, and perhaps contact over the internet. It was a valuable time to exchange information and ideas, fostering the growing sense of community amongst Fantastic and Visionary artists.

To this end, the Fantastic Art project in Viechtach was mentioned several times. I discovered that there was already dialogue between Viechtach and Mußbach and that a delegation, including the Mayor of Viechtach and artist Reinhard Schmid would be visiting the Art Imaginär exhibition the following week to discuss the possibility of the exchange of projects or the collaboration thereof. If such things come to fruition, then future is indeed exciting for Fantastic Art providing a wealth of opportunities on top of those already offered by events such as Art Imaginär at the Herrenhof Mußbach.

Peter Gric and Siegfried Zademack

Art-Imaginär

Open from the 27th of September to the 25th of October 2009

Herrenhof
Mußbach
An der Eselshaut 18
D-67435 Neustadt an der Weinstrasse
Germany

Featured artists:

Peter Ackermann, Bernhard Apfel, Utz Arnoldi, WESSI Benderlieva Karlhofer, Myriam Bat-Yosef, Nicolaus zu Bentheim, Johfra van den Berg, Serge Brignoni, Alice Buis, Agustin Cardenas, Fabricio Clerici, Otfried H. Culmann, Salvador Dali, Doremi, Tine Duffing & Cocoon, Edgar Ende, Leonor Fini, Ernst Fuchs, Joachim Geissler-Kasmekat, Walter Grab, Peter Gric, Friedrich Gross, Fabius von Gugel, Joe Hackbarth, Veronika Hagen, Wolfgang Harms, Rudolf Hausner, Claus Dietrich Hentschel, Werner Holz, Herrmann Hoormann, Fritz Horauf, Emy Hudecek, Wolfgang Hutter, Michel-Claude Jullian, Edgar Jene, Heinz Jung, Lukas Kandl, Helmut Kies, Karl Korab, Edgar Landherr, Hannelore Langhans, Barbara Lenz, Ellen Lorien, Jaime Makinde, Roberto E. Matta, Max von Moos, Hans-Peter Muller, Alexandra Muller-Jontschewa, Hellmut Neukirch, Wolfgang Ohlhauser, Erik Olson, Wolfgang Peuker, Dieter Peukert, Silvia Quandt, Tamara Ralis, Kurt Regschek, Carl-W. Rohrig, Victor Safonskin, Hundertwasser, Dietrich Schuchardt, URSULA Schultze-Bluhm, Ludwig Schwarzer, Cornelia Simone-Bach, Manfred Sillner, Ernst Steiner, Piero Strada, Charles F. Soehnee, Esaias Thoren, Elke Wassmann, Bruno Weber, Woldemar Winkler, Paul Wunderlich, Siegfried Zademack & Mac Zimmermann.

Nuke Sleepwalker – Dennis Konstantin

After attending the exhibition openings for my recent exhibitions at Galerie III in Barmstedt, I stopped off in Hamburg to visit fellow visionary artist, Dennis Konstantin. I had become aware of Dennis some years ago on the internet while previously living in Berlin. But I never made it to Hamburg to visit him. It was at the Galerie III exhibition that we finally met face to face. He has his studio in the Karolinenviertel which neighbors the famous Schanzenviertel in St. Pauli, Hamburg. The neighborhood is just like a slice of Berlin’s Kruezberg where I had previously lived, so it felt very familiar. However when Dennis and I went for a jaunt through this “alternative” quarter, I realized very quickly how small it all was, and just how lucky we are in Berlin to have so much.

While Hamburg has Altbau houses (late 19th to early 20th century) also, they don’t seem to share the same spacious layouts the Berlin houses do, being more akin to those in Vienna. Berlin’s also have large inner courtyards that the others lack. Dennis lives and works in one of these old houses.

While in his studio I looked out through the window across the small lane to the next house, and exactly opposite his studio was another artist working in her studio. So while Dennis may live alone, at least he does not have the feeling he works alone.

The walls of his apartment are crowded with his original artwork. It is a true feast for the eyes. Even after visiting Dennis two times, there is still much to look at. It is truly fascinating to get up close to his works, as the usual story goes, what you see on the computer screen, in no way can convey how the artwork actually is. His works are very energetic, luminous and otherworldly. Exactly my taste. It was enthralling to look over his should as he worked. His style differs to mine, but the technique is similar, working with underpainting and transparent oil glazes which achieve a luminosity not possible with mixing paint on the palette. A technique which is well adapted to the content of our work.

The themes of our artwork resonate together. We are both interested in the living dynamic of energy that manifests everything around us, our perception of it and ultimately how our consciousness relates to it. This is why we and other artists generally refer to our artwork as Visionary.

Morphogenisis – Dennis Konstantin

Dennis allows the play of chance to inspire the direction of the painting. At times he will allow the paint to have its way creating its own shapes which then inspire him further. He also uses deft fluid brush strokes to create harmonious patterns that vivify his works with a vital dynamic that glows in his twilight worlds.

He originally studied and graduated as an architect, but chose to be “starving in my own studio than in someone’s office”. In the Autumn of 2003 and 2007 he spent time with Ernst Fuchs learning much from him. He also assisted Fuchs on his Apocalypse chapel in Klagenfurt, Austria.

While in his studio we also swapped stories and various bits of information about the Fantastic Visionary network of arts. We also discussed the idea of uniting forces and organizing a group show. There is much happening on the West Coast of America and we both feel something needs to happen here. For now, it is a matter of watch this space. If any one should have suggestions for places to exhibit, please let us know.

As is often when I visit friends in theirs studios, I get itchy fingers and also want to be working away. Visiting Dennis was no exception. It is very inspirational visiting him. And so it came time for me to depart to my own studio in Berlin.

Dennis’ website: denniskonstantin.com

A world away in the Australian bush circa 1997 was a small outdoor electronic music festival called Dragon Flight. At this festival were various people from the Brisbane electronic music scene. In this time I had started with video projections. My friends Tam and Siavash aka Memory Loss were also playing there. These are a few short clips of that party overlayed with some of their music. Ah, nostelgia.

Dreamscapes 2009 – The Best of Imaginary Realism

The new Dreamscape book has been released and I travelled to Amsterdam for the book launch and exhibition. The new Dreamscapes 2009 book represents 52 artists working in imaginary realism from around the world and has 164 pages in full color. As always, the print quality is from the highest level.

My friend Ella Buzo from Cabinodd was one of the organizers for the exhibition. She was working with Marcel Salome the publisher and director of the project. It was Marcel who greeted me first as I entered the door to the exhibition. He said he recognized me from images on the internet and welcomed me warmly. And so it was throughout the evening, finally meeting people who were until that time were no more than a data stream on my computer or perhaps images in a book. Meeting all of these artists certainly was one of the things that attracted me to the event, but more overly it was a chance to see a little bit of Fantastic art history in the making.

The book is the third in the Dreamscapes series. I have the two previous Dreamscape books. The project has continued to grow in strength and mature. A large hall was rented to accomodate all of the works for the exhibition. It looked impressive. Dreamscape unites art movements like magic realism, fantastic realism and surrealism under the collective name Imaginary Realism and brings them with various projects to the worldwide and well deserved attention.

I struggled to look at all of the artwork in detail as much of the evening was spent meeting people. What I did see was of superb quality. Amongst the new faces were one or two that I already knew, such as Brigid Marlin, Igor Grechanyk and Rardy Van Soest.

Many artists had brought books and catalogues to give away or swap. I am very pleased to say that I collected a number of them myself, including a copy of Dreamscapes presented to me by Marcel himself. I had also brought my copy of Jon Beinart’s Metamorphosis book along to gather a few more signatures.

Ella Buzo, Marcel Salome, myself at the Dreamscapes Exhibition, Amsterdam

With so many artists to talk to time was quickly gone and the exhibition opening came to an end. However we all made our way over to a boat restaurant. Brigid called me over to join her table, with Steven Kenny, Rene Zwaga, his wife and Rardy Van Soest. Again time passed quickly and people eventually made their way home.

Many artists had made long journeys to attend, some longer than mine from Berlin to Amsterdam. The journey was well worth the effort to meet the artists and see their artwork. I hope we see many more such events to come.

Participating artists:
Michael Parkes · Lukas Kandl · Bruno Di Maio · Gerard Di Maccio · Herman Smorenburg · Michael Cheval · Ans Markus · Bodi · Fabrizio Riccardi · Victoria Francisco · Imke Meester · Richard van der Koppel · Jake Baddeley · Bas Sebus · Jolanda Richter · Ray Donley · Gabriela Garza-Padilla Adam Rote · Daniel Merriam · David Bowers · Gabriel Meiring · Igor Grechanyk · Jean Thomassen · Kinuko Y. Craft · Micha Lobi · Michael Hiep · Olivier Zapelli · Patricia van Lubeck · Paul Jaarsma · Reinhard Schmid · Rene Zwaga · Shiori Matsumoto · Siegfried Zademack · Steven Kenny · Wim Kuenen · Zeljko Djurovic · Christophe Vacher · Sjaak Kieft · Helene Terlien · Ton Haring · Peter Gric · Sergei Aparin · Viktor Safonkin · Yu Sugawara · Iurie Matei · Boris Shapiro · Tomasz Kopera · Michael Maschka · Imke Meester

For more information about the exhibition and the new Dreamscapes book visit:
www.imaginaryrealism.com

My friend Satoshi Sakamoto was recently interviewed on Lila.org by Daniel Mirante. It is a good example of Satoshi’s complex philosophies and his unique perspectives. Satoshi also mentions our meeting this year in Kyoto for the International Fantastic Art exhibition.

The complete interview can be read on http://lila.info/art/interviews/satoshi-sakamoto-forms-from-the-void.html

After spending time in the Liminal Village at the Boom Festival where he was exhibiting, Robert Venosa made his way over to Vienna. Here he paid a visit to my friend Peter Gric, who he sat down with and discussed his artwork and a little about Fantastic and Visionary art movement.

The video of that meeting of two great artists was only recently made available on the internet.

Luminiopolis – London October 2008

This week I return to London to exhibit my artwork art at Luminopolis with Jarah Tree and Luke Brown. Alex Lee who works with the event had seen my artwork in the Liminal Village at the Boom Festival and invited me along to Luminopolis.

Its a funny twist of events as I had long intended to make contact with the Luminopolis (formerly known as the Synergy Project) crew while I lived in London, and I had no idea that I would be crossing paths with Luke so soon again after the Boom Festival.

Luminopolis is an indoor festival, combining musicians, Djs, Vjs, performers, and artists from all corners of creativity, joined by various proactive NGO’s and charities with the expressed aim to make a difference.

The events gather some of the UK’s leading creative multimedia organizations joined by international NGO’s such as Oxfam, Survival, Speak, Ecoshelter, WDM, Down2Earth, Greenpeace, Campaign Against Climate Change to provide just the right mix of open hearted enjoyment and meaningful reflection for a new direction.

Luminopolis re-invented the clubbing experience by transforming it into an ‘educational’ tool, associating healthy values of sustainability and social justice to strong role models such as respected artists and performers of the entertainment industry.

The event is on Friday the 3rd at the SeOne Club, located on Weston Street under London Bridge Tube Station.

More information on the Luminopolis website: luminopolis.org