Following is a video interview with American Artist, Chet Zar whom I met in London last year at his Strychnin Gallery exhibition. Chet talks about how he moved from sculpting for Hollywood films to painting.

My artwork was recently featured in the publication Invisible College. It also includes a three page interview and my artwork on the front and back of the magazine. This is the fifth edition of the magazine. Previous editions have featured Marina Hoffmann, Roberto Venosa, Andrew Gonzalez and Maura Holden. Also included in this edition is the artwork of my good friend Amanda Sage. The magazine looks just fantastic. I had already purchased edition 4 which featured Maura and had been aware of the magazine for a while. So it was a great surprise and honour to be included.

Invisible College is a full colour magazine edited by Gwyllm Llwydd. In his own words:

“The Invisible College was born partly out the urge to communicate about the emerging cultural forces of our times, and to anchor these cultural groups into perspective within the continuum of the twin streams of the Bohemian & Acadian memes. The magazine came into being about 2.5 years ago.There seemed to be a serious gap in the magazine/journal world for publications that was tracking and recording what has been evolving in the world of arts and consciousness.

The motivation was to shake the tree a bit, and get the coconuts to start falling. What The Equinox did for London in the teens of the 20th century, and what the underground press did for the US, Europe, & Australia in the late 50’s through early 70’s, and what the zines did in the 80’s and 90’s, we wanted to do for the new century. We were motivated by the examples of Mondo 2000, The Oracle, Oz, the publishing of Little Caesar Magazine & Press… and many more publications that stimulated vast creative changes in society.

We wanted to present art, poetry, tales, interviews and reviews in such a way to lift consciousness, and to engage the reader to consider alternatives to the current cultural systems that have now peaked and are now in decline. As artist and poets have been in the forefront of the various struggles and movements in society from time out of mind, journals and magazines in recent centuries have become an important part of the documenting process and have served as a focal point and organizing organ of the various aspects of what seems to be transpiring in current times.

The Invisible College evolved out of Earthrites.org and my blog, Earthrites.org/turfing. There was a prototype magazine being developed on ER, and Turfing was/is a running social and arts commentary blog. Someone… Roberto Venosa, or maybe Martina Hoffman or maybe Mike Crowley suggested that I consider doing a pdf magazine. After 2 issues of that, we went into printing via Lulu.com. It came out rather rapidly at first, and now has slowed down a bit. We are going to keep going with the print on demand situation until we can find funding to print. We have had some amazing artist, poets and writers grace the pages of The Invisible College… You can go to the Invisible College web page for the PDF versions or order a printed copy of The Invisible College from Lulu.com.

People’s reactions have generally very good. Some people want the online version in html. I understand that pdf’s are a pain, but it is absolutely free via pdf… The printed version gets rave reviews. It is pretty intensive visually. We are in the process of starting a publishing house, for poets, artist and malcontents, dreamers and drummers of various stripes. Here is to the r/evolution in your consciousness, where ever you may be.”

My painting “Manifest” at the Exhibition of Sacred Art

The Sacred Art exhibition, organized by the Society for the Art of Imagination, has opened in Bavaria, Germany and will run until June 7th. Included in the group show, is my painting “Manifest”.

The Lofthouse gallery is located inside an old monastery in Bavaria. Astrid Eulberg, the gallery owner, agreed to offer a space permanently for members of the Society for Art of Imagination.

Place: Lofthouse Gallery, Klostergut 2, 82405 Wessobrunn, Germany
Gallery owner:Astrid Eulberg
Ph: +49 8809922314
Email: AEulberg@gmx.de
Mob: +49 176 9674 8940

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

I am pleased to announce my first giclée print, or my original artwork “Manifest“.

The print is printed with durable inks on acid free paper of museum archival standards. Which means it will be around for a long time.

It is signed and a limited edition of 500.
Print size: 25.5 x 34 cm
Paper size: 29.5 x 42 cm 270 gsm acid free paper (Hahnemühle Lumijet).

“Manifest” is available to purchase from the beinart.org shop.

$160.00USD shipping included.

The print is of the same painting I exhibited in Japan last year. “Manifest” has been reproduced in a number of publication projects. The original will be exhibited in the Sacred Art Exhibition at the Lofthouse Gallery, Wessobrunn, Germany, 4th April to 7th June 2009.

If you’re obsessively fascinated with Old Masters paintings as I am, and being a painter, you might find yourself wishing for a neck like a giraffe to peer closer at the paintings on the museum walls with out raising the ire of the security who will bark at you for standing too close.

Well you need not strain your neck or the patience of the museum staff any more, at least Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.

The musuem partnered with Google to photograph some of the most famous works in their collection, such as The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. The images of the paintings contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels). With this high level resolution you are able to see fine details such as the tiny bee on a flower in The Three Graces by Rubens. 14 of the museum’s masterpieces were incorporate into Google Earth as well as the Google Maps web application. The Google Earth Prado layer also includes 3D models which allow you to fly around the Prado buildings to experience the museum as if you were actually there.

Time to finally write about exhibition opening in Barmstedt at Galerie III with Anja Brinkmann and Micha Krebs. The show went off nicely with a slew of articles in the local press. I arrived a couple of days early to be present when some of the journalists were due to visit. The gallery’s location is very picturesque, being situated on a small island on a lake. This and a number of historical buildings attract day visitors from Hamburg ensuring that that the gallery has a steady stream of visitors.

When I arrived I found the gallerist, Karin Weissenbacher, who is also an artist busy sculpting in her studio which is down the hall from the gallery. Karin had done a wonderful job of hanging our works by nicely balancing our individual styles across the rooms.

Since I was the only one of we three present, I had to meet and greet the media alone. It was a little difficult to explain Anja and Micha’s artwork, but perhaps more so my own as I had ensconced myself in my studio for half a year and talked to few people about my artwork.  While I know my own feelings and thoughts about my artwork, having to articulate these ideas on the spot to journalists required some creative thinking.

However, over the next days we discovered scant mention of anything I said in the press, but rather a rehash of the basic details sent out in the press releases. Ah well, so much for the 15 minutes of fame. At least my photo was in the papers.

The day of the opening arrived. A number of the local politicians were present with one of them giving us an introduction. It was pleasing to hear that he had dug through my website to find out a little background information to help with his speech. Micha was extremely nervous leading up to his speech but he did admirably well.

Present also was a long time internet contact, Dennis Konstantin, who lives in Hamburg with his girlfriend Natalia. They had both come out Barmstedt for the exhibition. It was our first personal meeting and we had much to discuss. I agreed to visit him at his studio the next day.

The exhibition finished well and we all had a very entertaining time with Karin and her housemates.

When I first came to Berlin, I set about finding where action in the art scene was. I soon discovered a problem however. I was about ten years too late. Everybody had stories of how things were and seemed a little depressed, if not nostalgic for the heady days after the fall of Berlin Wall. There were however a few lingering corners of memorabilia clinging to Berlin like chewing gum stuck to your shoe. And just like the chewing gum, they’d been chewed up and spat out and trodden on, being devoid of their original colour and flavour.

While this all might sound rather depressing, it was rather fascinating to seek out other people’s Memory Lanes, especially for an Antipodean whose own state of origin roundly frowned on any independent art scene that got too big for its boots and would be soundly rounded upon by the local authorities for being a hotbed of radical subversive activities. One of those Memory Lanes led me to the legendary Tacheles. A large dilapidated disfunctional building which was in the center of a post Cold War Berlin art vortex of near anarchy where being radical and subversive was the norm. In short a dreamland that was a world away from my overgrown country town called Brisbane.

What was Kunsthaus Tacheles then? A former department store, then SS headquaters, a prison for French war prisoners, various offices during the DDR (GDR), neglected, partially demolished and then housing a self-organized collective of artists on Oranienburger Straße in Berlin-Mitte. One could question if the collective is indeed self-organized. There used to be all manner of events and parties hosted in the building and a constant stream of artists coming and going, some leaving there mark around the complex such as with the sculptures in the empty space behind the building. Today it is mostly the street “artists” leaving their marks on the walls with their graffiti.

I met a few people who had studio spaces in the building, and came to know one artist in particular. And so I came to be informed of all of the internal strife that forms its colourful history as an artists studio complex. I tried for a while in vain to land myself a studio space there, but in the end gave up, as I discovered a more lively scene over in Friedrichshain that was not the focus of morbid tourist curiosity.

Since 2003 when I first explored it, little seems to have changed. Strife still abounds as the collective is trying to secure their future in the building by purchasing it from the owners, with whom they’ve had a very rocky relationship.

The collective is seeking €3.5 million in funding. However, there does not appear to be any suggestion of where that is coming from. There is also a dispute over the status of the lease since the beginning of the year.

Although I rarely go to the Tacheles these days, I would miss a place that has become part of my own Memory Lane.

As hinted in my previous post, “Exhibitions in Germany” there were other exhibitions pending. I can now confirm that I have been included in the 6th Annual Interdimensional Art Show 2009 Tour. The event is produced by Tribe13 and Starborne who have produced other wonderful events featuring underground electronic music, ritual theatre and fire, thematic and elaborate environments.

The event will tour the following cities:

• San Francisco,USA, May 3,Temple Niteclub
• Montreal,Canada, May 9th at the Pound
• Seattle,USA, May 23, Columbia City Theater
• Eugene,USA, June 5, hanging for a month long show at Fenario Gallery

Showcased are original artwork from the ever growing visionary community.

Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Martina Hoffmann, A.Andrew Gonzalez, Pablo Amaringo, Kris Davidson, Carey Thompson, Ka, Andrew Jones, Amanda Sage, Mark Henson, Luke Brown, Roman Villagrana, Xavi, Chris Dyer, David Heskin, Eric Nez, Aloria Weaver, Raul Casillas, Leo Plaw, Satoshi Sakamoto, Imago Dei, Lindy Kehoe, Andreas One, Nate Valensky, Phidelity, Mathew Poplawski, Nemo, Jacob Aman, Andy Thomas (android), Simon Haiduk

This will be the first time I have exhibited in North America, with much thanks to my good friend Delvin Solkinson who has been instrumental in securing my participation and a number of other artists.