I’ve been recently exchanging information with Satoshi Sakamoto for our individual project research on Fantastic and Visionary Art.
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.”
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.
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.
