interview with Heikki Takala

Q. Could you tell a little about yourself.
A. I was born in 1979 in Finland. I started my journey into art sometime around 1999 by drawing papers full of characters from my imagination. Got into art school 2003 and graduated spring 2007. Now I live and work in Kankaanpää, Finland.
Q. When did you start painting?
A. I think I painted my first painting in 2001.

Q. Can you explain your creative process?

A. It's playing, like a child. It's mistakes. It's strength. It's an elephant. It's memories. It's weakness. It's imagining. It's fairytale. It's output. It's honesty. It's a conversation. It's language. It's worries. It's face of fear. It's confusing. It's the secrets. It's fury and love. It's possibilities. It's roads to take.... And then it's finished.

Q. Do you have a favorite piece that you have made?

A. Both Headspace 1 & 2, because those where a start of a more free expression for me.

Q. You use mixed media, what type of materials do you use?

A. I use anything that is around. Last year I found a lot of used coffee filters in my studio and started to use them. Coffee as texture and the filters as collage elements. Nicotine gum for the eyes and teeth and so on. I also keep old drawings on the floor, for later use. Eventually everything seems to find it's right place.

Q. How long have you been doing animation? Is this something you would like to continue?

A. I've done animation for a year or so. I've made some flash animation and some experiments on puppet animation. I think I’d like to continue animating because I love the idea of getting my characters a life.

Q. You have one painting titled "Paul Klee" Can you explain the painting, and if Klee had any influence on you? (see painting below)
A. Somewhere in the process of painting "Paul Klee" I started to call it Paul Klee. The figure is in a boat like shape and is sailing somewhere in the borders of life and death. It is also an artist's journey in ones Unconscious oceans. I used to look his paintings a lot so I think there has been an influence

Q. Are there any other artists that have influenced you?
A. Certainly I can't deny the influence of the surrealist for it was my first love in art scene
Q. Any favorite artists?
A. At the moment I’m quite exited about the works of a German artist Jonathan Meese.

Q. What advice would you give to fellow artists?
A. Trust your instinct. Go with the flow. Quit smoking. Don't drink too much. Be kind to animals.
Q. Are you participating or drawn to anything outside the art world?
A. I like to make music. Computer based music has been a dear hobby of mine for years. Lately I’ve started to sing horribly and play guitar and other more traditional instruments too.

Q. Any plans in the future?
A.I have an exhibition coming in couple of months so I’ll concentrate on that.

Q. Contact information.

regenbot@gmail.com

http://regenbot.org/

interview with Ann Besier

Q. Could you tell a little about yourself.
A. I was born 1962 in Wiesbaden / Germany. I took autodidactic studies in painting since 1997. I started my degree in art therapy in 2002. From 2002 until 2005 I work by training cultural competencies in the field of psychiatry. Since 2001 I have had continuous exhibitions. Since 2005, I have been a freelancer, based in Berlin.
Q. When did you start painting?
A. As a very little person, my first pictures were rabbits in houses, with furniture and all stuff around.
Q. Can you explain your creative process?

A. It depends.... Since 2005 I really know, I want to do nothing else out of painting. Before I´ve worked a lot, lived a lot, I´ve been a real punk, travelled a lot, maybe I sampled my life to come to this point and to make experiences of my own person. Now I’m quieter ;-). But I’m still a very visual person; I see a lot of picture inside, like visions or dreams. Its always a connection from inside and outside.

Q. I was drawn to your painting " Wir Kommen alle aus dem wasser."

There seems to be an interesting story behind it. Would you care to explain the painting? (see painting above)

A. Translated it means "We all come from the water", I´saw this picture in a dream, made a little sketch, and started with painting a few days later. During the painting I recognized the meaning, it’s a simple view where all life on this planet began, with religious symbols. Three apple trees for the holy trinity. The devil and unredeemed souls for past, present and future, the tiger for confidence, trust and life. The three lines to the clouds are the union between earth and sky, spirit and soul. The little children are a symbol which combine the two parts together with light- and freeness and a softly touch to the infantile past. The dolphin reminds us to do things intelligence and kindly. The little naked woman show us the beauty of our world, she could be also the mother of all, Maria or mother of earth. The skull staff stands for transitoriness. The lotus flower for wisdom. If we all remember about our origins and put our experience together, life would be so much easier. There’s no good or bad, there’s a richness, which we’ve forget sometimes too much.

Q. Do you often have an idea or message when you start a painting?

A. Yes, I´ve see the pictures before I start my work. I see mostly all the colors before it’s finished. Sometimes I think I’m doing painting by numbers, but during the process there comes new persons in addition. I paint the picture out of my head. My motives are an expression of the human vulnerability and they symbolize the purity of the animal soul in every human being. This could be the message.

Q. Do you have a favorite piece that you have made?

A. No, cause I love them all. My favorite piece is always my newest picture.

Q. It seems you moved from painting portraits of people to painting animals. Do you know why?

A. Oh, not really. Perhaps through the eye of an animal I could better express my feelings, it´s nearer to my personal soul. I could say, I create an allegorical structure of human beings and nature.

Q. How often do you paint?

A. What is your painting routine like? Every day, if I'm disciplined enough! I’m started with painting at midday, after a walk till evening, for 4 or 6 / 8 hours, sometimes also in the night until morning. Mostly I cook a big pot of coffee, arranged my painting accessories, sit a moment in front of the picture than I’m starting. Sometimes with music, mostly without. I try to put all arrangements on two (sometimes three) days together. I only could paint alone without any turning away.

Q. Are there any other artists that have influenced you?

A. I’m member of an artist group and we meet and talk about our plans, paintings and work. I need this reflection, cause I’m always work alone. Also my neighbour is an artist and it’s important to talk a few words about new projects and so on. Most of my friends are artists, I think we’re influenced by each other. Sometimes I visit galleries and museums to find new input. I´ve one piece influenced directly from Chagall named "Der König träumt" / "The king is dreaming".

Q. Any favorite artists?

A. Rebecca Horn, Vincent van Gough, Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, Odilon Redon, Matisse, Jonas Burgert, Cindy Sherman...

Q. What advice would you give to fellow artists?

A. Don’t give up!!! Ha, ha- Trust, believe, patience, passion, courage and discipline. No compromises and go outside, look what other artists are doing, create and keep contact. An open mind and a good exchange with artists. Show your art and be attentive about constructive criticism.

Q. Are you participating or drawn to anything outside the art world?

A. I’m writing poems and little stories.

Q. Any plans in the future?

A. Yes, I would like be an international artist. But first I’m planning some new exhibitions in Germany, also a new project with my artist group "The Four" and I´ll work busy.

Q. Contact information

http://www.annbesier.de/

annbesier@gmx.de

Interview with Steve Smith

Q.Could you tell a little about yourself.
A. I live in Sebastopol, CA. I moved here in 2004 from a small town in West Virginia. I worked for many years attempting to come up with a spontaneous style of artistic expression. In 2003, the Dream Matter concept came into being.
Q. What was the first dream matter like? Where did it come from?
A. The first Dream Matter was a sketch to show Debbie, my fiance, the idea I'd had rolling around in my head for many years. It's more simplistic and a little cartoonish in comparison to my current work. I don't show it publicly. It has great sentimental value to us. It marks our beginning as well as the beginning of Dream Matter.

Q. How long does an average drawing take?

A. From a month to a year. It's a very slow process, involving many layers of graphite and/or charcoal. It grows outward through multiple stages.

Q. What influence does surrealism have on your artwork?

A. It had a great influence. My first ideas about spontaneity and automatism came from Breton's Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924. When I was young, I was drawn to the imagery in the artwork of the surrealists, especially Max Ernst, Dali, and Roberto Matta. I wanted to investigate their journey into the workings of the subconscious. Surrealism was and remains important to me because it was the starting point for my artistic ideas and techniques.

Q. Do you create stories or a narrative within your dream matters?

A. No, but as they morph and change as I work, I see creatures and strange objects that my mind tries to relate to the familiar. Organic forms arise, plant-like, or faces--some beautiful, others horrific. It's like observing the birth of a universe.

Q. have you ever used color?

A. Not successfully, but I hope someday to add that to the series. Most artists paint and gravitate towards the use of color. I have nothing against color, but black and white, for me, has a purity and honesty--a primality. I'd like to elevate the pencil to the status of painting in the art world. Also, the black and white look of Dream Matter is, in part, due to my fondness for old etchings.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence on you?

A. Max Ernst and my high school art teacher, Mr. Duckworth, who allowed me the freedom to explore art without limitations

Q. Being a self taught artist, has this helped you or hindered you?

A. I made a conscious effort from a very early age to avoid formal art instruction, feeling that it would impede my attempts to discover my own style. Being self-taught has helped me to explore without a set of preconceived ideas about how art should be executed, or a concept of right or wrong in technique. I believe it would have been impossible for Dream Matter to come about if I had been formally trained.

Q. What advice would you give to fellow artists?

A. No matter how long it takes, find your own unique style of creative expression--Don't mimic, and once you find it, never give up on it. Continue to let it evolve and emerge--ride that ride.
Q. Can you descibe your studio space?

A. You picked a bad time to ask that question, because I recently made the (poor) decision to turn the garage into the studio. It's cold--I intend to move it as soon as possible.

Q. Any favorite artists?

A. Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Roberto Matta, Dorothea Tanning, Yves Tanguy, Picasso

Q. Are you participating or drawn to anything outside the art world?

A. My muse Debbie, music and non-fiction books...usually about art, and eastern philosophies, mainly Taoism and Zen (as told to me by Alan Watts).

Q. Any plans in the future?

A. Just keep slowly moving the pencil on the illustration board, seeking shows, and any opportunities to share my work with viewers.

Q. Contact information.

steve@oneiricrealism.com

http://www.oneiricrealism.com/

Interview with Wieslaw Jarmulowicz

Q. Could you tell a little about yourself.
Well I do not know what I could tell you. Should I describe myself, my character? my age? I am 44, male, 170 cm tall, brown eyes, bald, some people say I look younger. I am very creative, open minded, have a huge cognitive flexibility, I see things from many points of view, I am brilliant ( as is stated in my Rorschach test!) but also inclined to be depressive, to withdraw from the world, feel insecure, anxious.
I was mobbed and almost killed by psychopathic office workers who constitute the majority of the society. I do not want to work at any office anymore! Next time they would kill me.
I am pretty good at foreign languages, I speak German almost without an accent.

One of my hobbies is growing cacti. I have hundreds of cacti, I spend ours caring for them, (kiss the cacti. ) One of my favorites plants is for example Astrophytum asterias. I studied German philology (Franz Kafka!) at Jagiellonian University in Cracow and painting at Academy of fine arts in Cracow.

Q. Could you tell us a little about Krakow Poland.
My Cracow is a place where there is an old university I studied at and an old fine arts academy I studied at. There live people which are my colleagues. It is dirty, very expensive, I can not afford to live there now.
Cracow from a tourist guide is a city of a great history it is the old capital of Poland. Its rich history starts around the year 1200. There is one of the oldest universities in Europe there (Jagiellonian University, Copernicus studied there). In Cracow, on the left bank of the Vistula River, there is a hill called WAWEL. It is made of Jurassic limestone. Within the rocks there are numerous karst forms, and caves. A medieval legend has evolved about one of them, telling that it was reportedly inhabited by a dragon beaten by prince Krak.
The first historical rulers of Poland chose Wawel for one of their seats. Now there is a renaissance castle there with graves of polish kings buried in the cathedral belonging to the castle.

Q. You started to paint at the age of 35 because of a Great Jungian Dream? Could you explain this dream and why it had such a great affect on you?
In this dream (one of most important dreams in my life) I drew precious stones out of a black-red water-lava lake under the surface of the earth. When I poured boiling water on them they turned into my paintings and sculptures. At that time I worked in an office and was an Upie, consuming goods of all kind. I was lost. I had to find something else. I was dying. My soul was dying. I started to drink. I was fired from this office. I recalled the dream I had a year ago. Almost dead I started to decorate my flat. I started to use paint and brushes. This is how it started. After a few months of training I even passed very difficult entry examinations at the Fine Art Academy in Cracow!

Q. What are peoples reactions when they view your artwork?
Most of them do not like it. It does not look like as if it was produced by a machine. Most people can stand only the perfect production of machines. All they possess was produced by machines. They hate the imperfection, the dilettantism and the amateurishness of my works. The Professors at the Fine Arts Academy hated it. They called me shameless. In the end I was booted from the school.
Q. You have a series based on geometry? Could you explain the importance of geometry?
My works from this series are not based on geometry. They are geometry. It began with one of my great Jungian dreams in which I caught a triangular fish with a threefold angle. This geometry is not a part of math, as we know it from the school. Dead and describing nothing. Empty, dry, dead, abstract, cold formulas that no one but scientists needs. They never told me at school what math was good for. Since I did not have a swimming pool I did not want to know how many gallons/liters water it contained. They (teachers, educational system) destroyed my natural knowledge of geometry but thirty years later it came back! It is MY PERSONAL GEOMETRY and not geometry that was appropriated by state, clerks, scientists, politics and all that shit. They appropriated not only geometry but all other parts of the world. Through the educational system you are separated and disinherited from experiencing the world directly.

Q. Can you talk about your creative process?
There is almost always an important dream in the beginning. I try to depict the most important part of it, mostly a symbol which would be very private, bound tightly to my private biography, my development as person. I have to understand the new symbol and I like it when others understand it to. I do not want my works to be mere fiction, another beautiful but empty stylistics. There has to be an objective part to it. I am not producing entertainment I am producing knowledge, as one of polish contemporary artists (Artur Zmijewski) put it. I want to speak as many languages as possible at the same time.

Q. Do you have a favorite piece that you have made?
There are many, it is very difficult to choose. The most IMPORTANT is to me: Soli(j)anna – my coat of arms which I obtained in a another Jungian dream. A drunk guy who looked pretty like young Dionisos said to me: I like your crossed pickaxes, then came a women who brought a painting with two seated females on it, leaning on each other with their backs, their backs were crossed partially creating a sign reminding me of two mutually transgressing brackets. Much later on I found a similar sign on the grave of Jacob Boehme, one of the greatest visionaries (his brackets are not transgressing though). Having a coat of arms I am a knight and a noble man now.
Q. Are there any artists that influenced you?
First of all it was Paul Klee to influence me, he was the OPENING artist to me. I loved his fragile COLOR, his fragile forms and the vast of techniques and materials he used. His art seemed accessible, opening, inviting other people to create. Klee "allowed" other people to be creative in a playful way (There are lots of other artists whose work is the opposite, is excludes others, makes them unable to create, forbids creation, makes them to mere passive consumers of their art). I thought I could paint in a similar way Klee did. That was the beginning. Then came Matisse SHAMELESS COLOR, Picasso – SHAMELESS ECLECTICISM, Dubuffet – a shameless REBEL, quite OPPOSITE to art made at fine arts academies at that time, Hockney- pretty close to GRAPHICS, with drawing as an important part of his oeuvre, Clemente with his SHAMELESS extremely PERSONAL MYTHOLOGY.

Q. Any favorite artists?
Contemporary: Clemente, Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Gober, Laurie Anderson.
Classical modern: Klee, Matisse, Kirchner, Hockney, Kitaj,
I do not like Luc Tuymans – the painter of death!

Q. What advice would you give to fellow artists?
In your creation (dialog) there is only God and you and no others. There are no art critics (they are going to die sooner or later), art consumers (they are going to die sooner or later). Creation is one of your most intimate affairs. This is one of the biggest mysteries. First of all it has to be very important to you, to your soul, in order to survive in this world. It is not an affair of state or institutions and it never was. Culture clerks and politics close their offices and go home to watch the ball game.

Q. Are you participating or drawn to anything outside the art world?
Cacti, I am drawn to cacti, residences in Mollorca J , Chinese food, Italian food, (I am pretty good at cooking)
Q. Any plans in the future?
Exhibiting in New York, becoming internationally known artist, meeting Clemente in NY, moving to Cracow again, becoming independent, big studio J

Q. Contact information.
Mobile: 0048/504 454 646
http://jarmuvieart.republika.pl

Interview with Patrick Jannin

Q. Could you tell a little about yourself.
My name is Patrick Jannin, aged of 36. I live alone, except when my son, aged of 4, is with me, two days a week. A girlfriend.
I'm very interested by psychology, that I studied during 4 years at university, for philosophy ( Nietzsche & Sartre ) and for literature in general. Music also take a great part in my life ( from John Zorn to Ministry ) and I simply can't work without music. I need that energy ...
Q. I read that you worked 2 years with people suffering of mental illness. Your drawings seem to express a mental anguish or disease. How did this experience shape your artwork?
Yes, I worked 2 years with people suffering of mental illness. It was during and after my studies of psychology. Then, I was very passionate by all that, reading a lot of books about madness and not only scientists studies. Lautreamont was my god, and nonsense my religion. But in reality madness ... oh, it was too hard, so much violent for me. Every day, living - cause when you work with, you also live with - with people full of shit and piss and blood, crying and suffering and hurting themselves, and you too. No, that wasn't a job for me. I was becoming violent too in fact. Bad reaction indeed. I preferred stop working and decided to just draw and paint. And I accepted too to not win enough money !
About my drawings ... I'm very anxious, that's normal that my drawings express that. A lot of things are boring me. People disturb me. I don't understand their behaviour. I often feel they are false, stupid and dangerous. Always wanting more power, always lying to get it. I try to express all that in my draws. It was often asked to me who were that monsters I was creating. We are the monsters. I just show it, as a mirror ... Perhaps my experience shape my artwork. That's sure. How can believe everything is alright when you are every day in front of an animal called human ? When you learn that love doesn't exist, because it's just desire, and we only react in step with our hormones. We're living in the liar, and without that we couldn't exist.

Q. Can you talk about the art scene in France? Are they receptive to your work?
I don't know how is the art scene in the other countries. Here there is an Official Art, and if you work for an institution, you have to love it. " Oh,it's marvellous, I don't understand anything but I'm payed to believe that is Art". Art schools make a very good propaganda in that sense. Those artists win a lot of money, live in great lofts and are famous. What else ? Everybody know that. I just don't care. In the other hand, there is a lot of galleries and newspapers ( not a lot of, a few in reality ! ), that pretend to defend an other point of view. More sensitive, more "pure". Oh, how they stink !!! For example : a new fashion called neo-expressionism ( like neo-punk, neo-rock, neo-shit ). OK, the gallerists decided it was time to sell that, so you can see a lot of neo-Bacon ( yes, really ! and they call that expressionism ! ) painting dark canvas, and crying with their dark voice we are living in a dark world. No, the art scene is not receptive to my work in general. Only a few people who try to understand, or who accept an other vision, an other way of living and thinking. I've been recently noted by the man who created the movement Universensualiens ( www.artsetmondes.com ). He tries to organize exhibitions, and to make people react. Good man .....

Q. How long have you been drawing?
Can I say that I have always drawn ? Yes, perhaps, I've always liked that. I was a poor lonely child ( booh-hooh ! ), obliged to create his own world, his own friends. I've always bored me a lot. To draw was natural.

Q. Do you usually have an idea before you start?
No, or it's very rare. And most of the time, the draw will be good for the rubbish box. I HAVE to draw. If I can't, I become sad and nervous.

Q.Would you consider these pieces automatic drawings? Or do you have sketches before hand?
Yes, you can tell that. I just obey to my inspiration, watching and listening the characters on the canvas. What they want, and where can we go together. It's OK for me when I feel a sort of balance, an harmony.

Q.How long does an average drawing take?
That's depend I can spend 5 days on a little canvas, as a 100x120 cm. will just take me one day. I need sometimes to destroy characters on whom I worked for a long time. Because something happened in my life, I changed of feeling. But the destruction is a part of creation, very important for me. Always this relation with violence .....

Q. Are there any artists that influenced you?
It could be very stupid to pretend that's wrong ! I'm so receptive ! My first love was for the surrealist creation, then I discovered Dubuffet, the "art brut" ( raw art ? ). I even joined few years ago the movement "art singulier", and some of my canvas are in one of the most important museal collection ( Musée de L'Art en Marche - Lapalisse ). The way I draw now is recent. Just 3 years. People of this movement are ... People who draw like children ... I'm fed up with that. It's too easy, and fashionable now.
And before all that, I was making comics. Underground labels like the Belgians of Frigo, comics of the eighties, when the world of the edition was more free than today ...

Q. Any favorite artists?
Georg Grotz, Otto Dix. I recently saw drawings of Fred Deux. Amazing ! This man is crazy ! Totally.

Q. What advice would you give to fellow artists?
Art is a vocation. Accept to live for art or learn an real job.

Q. Do you have a studio? If not, where do you usually work?
I was having a studio. But I was in an illegal situation. In November 06, the politician of culture (sic) of my city made me get off. Since, I work at home, pushing the table and the sofa to install my canvas.

Q. Are you participating or drawn to anything outside the art world?
When I was studying in art school, I'm graduate in graphism, I worked 2 times for organisations. Once was for a day-nursery. I had to draw pretty babies. Awful. On the first version, they were having big teeth. Not accepted ...

Q. Any plans in the future?
I joined Figuration Critique and will exhibit with them 2 or 3 times this year. I try to not think a lot to the future, that make me depressed!. Contact information.

www.patrickjannin.com
pjannin@aliceadsl.fr
www.flickr.com/photos/pjannin
and on Saatchi online