The exhibiting artists

Seeing a brilliant opportunity, at very short notice, Amanda Sage organised an exhibition of Fantastic Visionary artists at Galerie 10. She and Laurence Caruana, along with Andrew Gonzalez had been giving a painting seminar in the Summer. A number of artists had travelled to attend their course in Italy. Thus she came to the idea of organising a show while everybody was in Europe.

After a late night skype session between Amanda, Dennis Konstantin and myself, Dennis made himself busy with the flyer and Amanda busy organising the other artists, which is often compared to herding cats.

Dennis drove down from Hamburg in his spacious blue VW van. A vehicle well kitted out for adventures, so it fitted our needs very well. After stopping over for the night in Berlin, we loaded my artwork into the van and began our long road trip to Vienna.

René and Lisa graciously housed us in their living room for our stay in Vienna. So I must thank them again for their hospitality.

On Tuesday we made trip out to one of Dennis’ collectors, who endless numbers of Fuchs prints and sculptures and now had a growing collection of Dennis’ artwork.

After too many coffees and a light lunch, we trooped over to Amanda’s studio to catch up David Heskin and Aloria Weaver who were staying with Amanda. It is a pleasure to meet the real face behind an internet presence, and more so with David and Aloria. Both had been on Amanda and Laurence Caruana’s painting seminar idyllically located in a medieval village in the Italian hills. They were now making the most of Amanda’s studio in Vienna to finish of some works for our group exhibition “The Irresistible Flow of Time” at Galerie 10.

Wednesday brought Emma Watkinson to Vienna and us to Galerie 10 to hang our artwork. Not all of the exhibiting artists were present and there was much to do. Although we started early in the afternoon, we worked into the night to complete the hanging of 69 artworks in total, making at a very large show. And by the time the hanging was completed, it looked amazing. It was such a wonderful collection of high quality artwork.

Our work was done, so we adjourned to Amanda’s studio again, taking Galerie 10 owner, Michael Scheer along with us. It was again a long night as artists are wont to do, however, we could sleep in for our big day, the opening of the exhibition.

When I arrived, the gallery was wall to wall with people. The opening also brought all of the local Fantastic Painters, and then others from far away elsewhere who just happened to be in town.  Many of these faces I met for the first time outside of the internet. Its reassuring to get to know the real people of these ever present internet avatars.

Two of the other exhibiting artists managed to make time from their busy schedules back home and fly into Vienna for the exhibition, Daniel Mirante and Basia Wiacek.

De Es Schwertberger did all of us younger artists the honour of exhibiting with us and bridging the worlds of the established Fantastic Realists to that of the emerging, oft referred to as, Visionary artists. However, the term Visionary is still up for debate.

We the exhibiting artists were of course very busy the whole evening talking to various people about our art, and of course catching up with and meeting the other artists. Not surprisingly, it ended up being a very late night.

And similarly unsurprising, was a few of the taught faces present the very next morning for breakfast at De Es‘ studio. In De Es‘ expansive inner city studio, we took advantage of the far more relaxed atmosphere and conversed at leisurely pace. Sadly however, this gathering of new and old friends had to eventually part ways, as flights were waiting to whisk people off to new adventures.

As for Dennis and myself, our next adventure was to commence the following day when we returned North to Germany and headed to the Bavarian Forest to visit the opening of  the 1st Biennial of Fantastic Art in the Town of Viechtach. But this is the next news entry.

Following are all of the wonderful artists that I exhibited with.

De Es Schwertberger (A), Amanda Sage (USA), Dennis Konstantin (D), Leo Plaw (D), David Heskin (USA), Aloria Weaver (USA), Adam Scott Miller (USA), Gregory Pettit (USA), Autumn Sky Morrison (USA), Daniel Mirante (GB), Basia Wiacek (GB), Emma Watkinson (GB)

The Irresistible Flow of Time

The exhibition flyer designed by Dennis Konstantin utilising artwork from Amanda Sage.

Back of the flyer

My artwork, Adam Scott Miller, Dennis Konstantin

Dennis and the Blue Mean Machine

Nine hours later we were in Vienna.

Which is your favourite?

Visiting one of Dennis' Austrian collectors.

Trophies

The Dennis Konstantin Collection

The Ernst Fuchs Collection

Only a small part of it.

David Heskin and Aloria Weaver's co-production

Aloria and David made themselves busy in Amanda's Vienna studio.

Up close

Dennis inspects David Heskin and Aloria Weaver's co-production.

David Heskin

Moi?

A meeting of minds

The great debate

Who you looking at?

And this goes with that.

I was Napoleon in a past life

Michael Scheer

Galerie 10 owner

Busy people

The overview

Arranging the exhibition

Amanda and Michael work together on the exhibition hanging.

Working it out

Amanda Sage

Smile for the camera!

Artwork of Dennis Konstantin

Artwork of Dennis Konstantin

Spirals and Waves

Aloria, David, De Es and myself

Artwork of Aloria Weaver & David Heskin

Amanda Sage, Dennis Konstantin, Gregory Pettit

This means whoa!

Dennis Konstantin

Amanda Sage & Dennis Konstantin

Emma Watkinson, De Es Schwertberger and myself

My artwork alongside De Es'

Artwork of Amanda Sage

Adam Scott Miller & Dennis Konstatin

Artwork of Daniel Mirante & Basia Wiacek

What's your thoughts?

Michael Scheer

Time out in Amanda's studio the night before the opening.

Otto Rapp

All the way over from Canada and back in his native Austria.

Otto Rapp and Peter Gric

Lenka Gric and Wessi

Old Friends

Michael Fuchs and Phil Rubinov-Jacobson

Michael Fuchs and Phil Rubinov-Jacobson

In good company

Phil Rubinov-Jacobson, myself and Michael Fuchs

Luigi La Speranza and Sigrid Nepelius

Also in good company

Benedetto Felin and Sigrid Nepelius

The Artists!

All present exhibiting artists line up for a marathon photo shoot. The poor photographers were busy with all of our cameras.

Amanda Sage

De Es and Daniel Mirante

Explanation

Benedetto discovers Dennis' Artwork

Illumination

Phil Jacobson discusses Dennis' Artwork

Aloria, Michael and Amanda

The Travellers

A gathering in the De Es' studio the morning after the exhibition.

Two and a half Sumos

Fishy tales

...and the fish was this big!

Daniel Mirante

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Earlier that week I managed to persuade Norman Dziegel, the proud owner of my Gelbe Spiral painting to loan it to me, so I could take it to Hamburg for scanning. I packaged it up for the journey along with two other paintings. Meeting up with Dennis we drove out to Scan Discounter. Hidden on the ground floor of a house in the suburbs is the largest scanner I’ve ever seen. They tell me that they can scan up to 2 and half meters in length at 300 DPI. That makes for very large files, and you’d better have enough RAM on your computer to open and modify them. (drooling while dreaming…)

With the scans done in no time, we were off to Dennis’ apartment in the Caroline Quarter of Hamburg, the not so famous sister of the Schanzen Quater. Both are like a mini versions of Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln in Berlin. But it wasn’t the distractions of Hamburg street life that interested us. There was painting to be done!

Dennis and I have on a number of occasions have had joint painting sessions, over the internet. While it is interesting to have a bit of virtual company, to share the same space is far more productive. I am always curious to look over other’s shoulders and to see how they work. Its a great chance to trade tips on technique and talk paint.

Along with my paintings that I’d brought to Hamburg to scan, were two small collaboration pieces that we had started on, last January when Dennis was in Berlin for our Fantastic Visions exhibition. We set about finishing the two off. However, Dennis is much quicker than I and finished his, while I have not yet. I’ve included some photos below.

A tale of two spirals

Gelbe Spiral on loan from Norman Dziegel alongside the blue. I had both scanned so I can make high quality prints.

Dennis' studio wall

Dennis' studio wall

Dennis busy painting

Putting on the final touches

The finished work

Dennis' painting

My twin painting

I'm a bit slower than Dennis, and so it's not finished yet.

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Sinneswandeln - black light mini-golf

On a very hot Friday evening I made my way over to the Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg. There in the only remaining buildings from the former railway station was the new cafe Isa Mitz opening. In the basement for the past three months a collection of UV artists from the Sinneswandeln project have been busy building a black light mini-golf course.

Ellen Harting headed up the project to organise painters and sculptors create 5 unique themed rooms. Ellen herself also provide a number of sculptures and installations, some also being internally lit with changing colours. One of the artists she brought in to the project was my friend Micha Colory Krebs.

I was called in on the opening night to make a photo documentation of their hard work. I had visited the worksite a number of times before, but on the opening night with all of the tools and materials cleared away and the UV lights turned on it looked very impressive. It looks like they might already have another project waiting for them.

After departing with Anja Brinkmann and stopping off for a cooling icecream, we paid a visit to Strychnin Gallery‘s latest exhibition opening “FutureScapes” featuring the artists, Michael Page, Sri Whipple, Jason Wheatley and Damon Soule. After a run of shows that didn’t interest me, Strychnin finally had some great paintings to satisfy my eye with great technique and attention to detail. Of most interest to me were the organic like collaboration pieces. While there Yasha Young had a chat to me about the many things she and the gallery are involved in. I don’t know if she ever takes a rest.

We also caught up with Wolfgang Reimers at “FutureScapes” and then later rediscovered we all our favourite vegi-burger shop in Berlin to round the evening out.

But that wasn’t to be the end of my evening, I then went on to meet up with digital artist Héctor Pineda from Mexico. But I’ll tell you more about him in my next article.

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CoSM Journal 6

I just received my copy of the latest CoSM Journal today, courtesy of Delvin Solkinson.  I’ve known Delvin for some time now, initially from the Tribe 13 project to his ongoing Galactic Trading Card (GTC) set. Through the course of building his GTC project, he’s come to know and meet many artists the world over. One such artist of note is Alex Grey.

Alex and his wife Allyson, have for many years now put much time and effort into their Chapel of Sacred Mirrors project which was initially based in inner city New York. As of last year CoSM relocated to the countryside just outside of New York. Now that things are finally taking shape on the new property, there is the time and energy to turn back other things that have lain fallow for the interim.

And so with new vigour they have released volume 6 of the CoSM journal. Part of that new energy comes from Delvin, who now works as the managing editor of the journal.

The CoSM journal is a gorgeous A5 sized full colour publication, illustrating the planetary culture of visionary art and showing how this reflects the human relationship to nature, the new Journal includes artists from all five continents of our world including Mark Ryden, Pablo Amaringo, Alex Grey, Allyson Grey, Brigid Marlin, Isabela Maria Hartz, Steven Kenny, Andy Thomas, Akiko Endo, Mitsuru Nagashima, and Anne Mwiti. It also features some major visionary arts organizations including Beinat.org.

Creative Director and Designer: Marisa Scirocco
Managing Editor: Delvin Solkinson
Chief Editors:  Alex Grey and Allyson Grey

You can go to www.cosm.org for more details.

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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

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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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