Contemporary Art Keen Enthusiast

February 22, 2020February 22, 2020

Nikoleta Sekulovic

We are all intrigued by the naked form, it’s what expresses the vulnerability of being human, we come into the world this way. The larger than life paintings of naked mothers, all slightly turning away from the viewer; encapsulate the beauty of the female form in all her shapes. The gentle curves of the voluptuous, the body language in how we sit, lie and hold ourselves. Nikoleta’s paintings are life drawings with life painted into them, and it’s what makes them so unique, her subtle use of colour, her style encapsulating the differing characters of each of these women, all in the brush strokes of the skin. The kindred spirit of all who have experienced the journey of becoming a mother along with all the gifts and sacrifices motherhood encompasses. How mothers can feel like the unseen, yet are the centre of the universe to the children they bring into this world. Nikoleta’s paintings highlight this part of womanhood, to be seen, how our lovers may look at us or how our bodies communicate with the world around us.

SANDRA artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — SANDRA by Nikoleta Sekulovic

MICOL artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — MICOL by Nikoleta Sekulovic

TOSCA artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — TOSCA by Nikoleta Sekulovic

Being naked reveals who we are, when we haven’t exercised enough, or when we have comforted ourselves with too many midnight snacks, when we feel fit and invigorated, or fragile and tired. Nikoleta’s personalties come to life. Her paintings are mostly from the back, nudes have been sexualised for so many centuries, she tells me. No distractions with face, breast and other parts, each muse still recognises themselves. The only clue is in the hair, that gives life to the person that may be seated or laying softly, with her naked body, portraying the very essence of who she is.

AGNODICE OF ATHENS artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — AGNODICE OF ATHENS by Nikoleta Sekulovic

ODYSSEY artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — ODYSSEY by Nikoleta Sekulovic

I am interviewing Nikoleta whilst she is on a working holiday in New Zealand with her family, we are talking as she sees her children off to school. She explains that she is giving her daughters a different experience in New Zealand. She has been living in Madrid for the last 18 years and that’s where they call home. She is a bit of what I would call an international, her father from Serbia and her mother from Germany. Nikoleta was born in Rome, her parents moved to Switzerland when she was three and that’s where she grew up. Spending most of her childhood up in the idyllic mountains, skiing every weekend. Her education at the French and then Italian schools, followed by the international school in Geneva. She always painted often pretending to be sick so she could stay home and paint, everyone around her always commenting on her artistic ability. She did graduate at the International Baccalaureate in art, however she was put off by the art department. She felt the teachers kept on telling her how to be an artist, a different structure compared to how she wanted to work, describing her style as “a gut feeling”.

ISOKRATIA artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — ISOKRATIA by NIkoleta Sekulovic

Hydna of Scione ny Nikoleta Sekulovic — HYDNA OF SCIONE by Nikoleta Sekulovic

MAYA artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — MAYA by Nikoleta Sekulovic

So she continued her nomadic life, ignoring her obvious talent as a painter, and left Switzerland at 18 to pursue a career as an actor. Surprisingly she admits to being always a very shy child, acting is by all accounts a very extrovert and social profession, however she always liked the spotlight, therefore going against her natural persona. She went the extra mile to study acting in Exeter in the UK then Paris for five years, somehow she didn’t fear the stage as an actor, Nikoleta explains. One year in London, then to New York, where she was asked to illustrate children’s books; 100 paintings in total. Although her focus at the time, was her acting career, which lasted 18 years. Her performances often involved, speaking in Italian, French and English. She could also play the piano, and her desire to be with people; she started to attend the jazz clubs in New York. Although, fearful of singing, her next adventure was as a singer on the jazz scene, even though her boyfriend at the time told her she couldn’t sing. Almost as personal challenge to herself she started singing on stage as she stumbled upon a restaurant and joined a band. However, she points out that she was always stressed before going on stage.

NEREID artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — NEREID by Nikoleta Sekulovic

SOLON artwork by Nikoleta Sekulovic — SOLON by Nikoleta Sekulovic

As a singer she became a regular at the jazz clubs and that’s where she met her husband, her biggest fan. He came regularly just to watch and listen to her. They now have two daughters and have been together for 20 years. She confesses that being a mother was her next big fear. Motherhood did end her acting career Nikoleta confesses. Her children took her to the next level she explains; as an actor and singer she always felt she was swimming up-stream, by returning to fine art she felt she was going with the stream. She never tries to be perfect whereas she tried to be perfect as an actor, she explains.

Nikoleta describes being an artist as like being a beginner, because she came into it very intuitively. She always had an agility with the paint brush. Although she did go to art school, she defines herself as self taught, her inspirations Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha. Nikoleta started her series of paintings, when she asked a friend to pose for her, her friend brought her lively dog. Nikoleta started taking images of the moments with her camera, and so she began her series of paintings. All of them mothers, as they were her friends. This led to her commissions and it took off, now she has collectively painted about 200 mothers. She managed to publish a book of her artworks, presented the works which led to solo shows in Madrid, New York, Paris, as well as with prominent galleries in London. Most recently she has had two exhibitions with the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in the West End of London. This is where I discovered her work, they had a stall at the London Art Fair, I literally stopped in my tracks when I saw her painting.

January 29, 2020February 17, 2020

Masayoshi Nojo

If you have ever driven past a forest at night, when the full moon is out and thought about pulling over in your car to walk through the trees in the moonlight, something probably stopped you, in most cases a bit of fear. Artist Masayoshi has re-created this foreboding of darkness with the experience, of immersing yourself in this mystery of being lost in the silver and shadiness of tall shadowy trees. A forest where things are hidden is replaced with the true beauty of this natural phenomenon. The forms of forest foliage picking up the rays of moonbeams, in an array of iridescent reflection as it glimmers and glows, immersing you in shadowy forms that engulf you, much like our childhood fiction. You can almost feel the presence of souls and spirits, as your imagination journeys with the cavorting light in the night of nature. Especially when standing in front of his six meter forest. The body of work ranges in scale and size as he focuses on other forms of nature as light leaps on top of leaves, or the moonlight in the opening of the woods with the softness of water at night. Hints of yellow gold and shades of green resonate through in a delicate dance. The body of work is currently displayed at the JD Malat gallery in Mayfair, London. The space itself lends to the experience of Masayoshi’s giant artwork.

Under the Moonlight by Masayoshi Nojo — Mirage #45 by Masayoshi Nojo

Under the Moonlight, Mirage by Masayoshi Nojo — Mirage #36 by Masayoshi Nojo

The method of his creations is what gives them this immersive and luminous quality. Inspired by his walks in the deep forests, surrounding the Meiji shrine, located in Shibuya, Tokyo. Masayoshi explains that 70% of Japan’s landscape is mountains, mostly covered with woodland. His artworks identify with Japanese culture, embracing the natural phenomena of nature, a very popular motive in Japanese art, he explains. Paintings of flowers and blossoms and the use of gold and silver leaf on artworks going as far back to the Azuchi–Momoyama period from 1573 to 1615. However most notably Ogata Korin from the 17 century Edo period, famous for his blooms on gold leaf and marbled silver rivers. The changing colours of the metal through oxidisation over time, that has become so symbolic in Japanese art. It is this very combination of the influence in the elements in Korins work reflecting the passing of time, combined with the western contemporary approach in Masyoshi’s work that is so extraordinary. It is reflected in this multifaceted layering. He first creates a marbled base made of acrylic, then he photographs the natural environment of the woodlands, emphasising the passage of time with the use of metal leafs. Images can vary from the time of day, the weather changing the lighting and ambience, therefore the art is influenced by the effects of time, Masayoshi explains.

Masayoshi works on his images in photoshop, manipulating the photographs, which are then transferred via silk screen printing onto the acrylic marbled base; inspired by the traditional techniques used to create patterns on Kimonos. He does the screen printing himself, creating a multi faceted depth to the works and then additionally applies silver and aluminium leaf. Refining the intricacy of light and shadow. He describes at as a ‘mirage’ depending on how the light effects the artworks, a perception of time, the relationship of memory using light to transform the reality of the artwork. He references “wabi-sabi” a world centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, the aesthetic in Japanese culture, that beauty is in all things, even those that are imperfect. This appreciation of change is reflected in his materials and his process of creating the art.

Remarkably, Masayoshi reveals that he made the screen printer himself, the actual machine, he explains it was cost effective to make it himself, which he keeps in his one of his two studios in Tokyo. He was born in Kanagawa, in 1989, to an artistic family. I ask him if always knew he would be an artist, and he reveals, his early years as a boy he was always painting, the only member of the family who isn’t a professional musician. His mother a piano and music teacher, along with his sister a professional violinist and his brother plays both the violin and guitar. However undecided on his career choice, Masayoshi went to an academic school and he didn’t paint during this period. His mother did encourage him to paint; after graduating from high school, he decided on the Kyoto University of Art and Design to study Fine Art for four years, along with a masters for two years in art and design. During his masters in 2014, he made his first visit to London, inspired by the museums, galleries and art fairs the experience left an impression, “There were so many differences from Japan” he explains and decided that he wanted to exhibit in this city famous for its diversity. Additionally Masayoshi is Influenced by artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Michael Borremans, Olafur Eliasson,On Kawar and Rudolf Stingel.

JD Malat gallery — ‘Under the Moonlight’ by Masayoshi Nojo at the JD Malat Gallery

Masayoshi’s work has appeared in various art galleries in Tokyo. However in the spring of 2018, is when visionary and internationally recognised Art Dealer Jean-David Malat discovered Masayoshi’s work at the Volta NY in New York, US. Jean-David exhibits contemporary artists in his gallery, advocating the emerging and modern talents, to some of the most prominent collectors. That vision Masayoshi had as a student, has become a reality, now exhibiting at the JD Malat Gallery, in Mayfair. The series of work, his ‘Mirage’ titled, Under the Moonlight his first solo show.

The exhibition runs until the 15 February 2020, at the JD Malat Gallery just next door to Claridge’s.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

January 13, 2020February 3, 2020

Adam Robinson

Clear lines and geometric shapes, the finest of the architectural eye, with methodical detail and accuracy, until you move in closer and the closer you look the more complex it becomes. Within Adam’s artworks is a collage artist who reflects the complexity of our world in the detail, giving the frameworks of something clean and mathematical. It’s what architecture does, it’s intimidating as we stand in awe of it. It is however a large part of his work: the mathematics, calculations and geometry, precision and patience. Though the realms of the meaning are something completely different. His works are reminiscent of those days in the 50’s when men in advertising like the television series ‘Mad Men’ sold a world of sexism and clichés, men’s DIY at home and women with aprons in the kitchen. Letters with postage stamps, all with hidden meanings. The nostalgia of this capitalist era seen through the eyes of tower block windows and old printed material.

The stamps reflecting the times when there was no other way to communicate but with a letter by post. The designs of old wallpapers and postcards, old Monopoly cards, vintage paper targets, old Polish board games, bird and flower collectible cards from old tea boxes, antique maps and old seed packets. All selling that Western dream created by those in the marketing world. His collage art is a journey through flea markets, vintage shops and the nostalgia of what is a bygone era. However many alive today remember with a vivid accuracy as if it was still here. Adam has taken this time in our recent history of a world just as it began to recover after the Second World War, and brought it into the 21st century. Taking in elements of architecture, typically styled upon the classic high-rises from the 50’s and 60’s up to today, he has made his artwork ultra-slick and ultra-modern, the perfect circles of carefully placed artefacts, raised and organised, playing with shadow and light, to create artwork for the most modern contemporary. Yet when you stand up close you are drawn into an era of longing for a time when the world appeared pitch perfect in its portrayal, however in reality far from it.

Artwork Adam Robinson — Sunset by Adam Robinson

Artwork by Adam Robinson — All Over the World by Adam Robinson

Originally from Sydney, growing up in the suburban Hills District, his father a policeman and his mother in sales, he is reflective of where his creativity comes, and is reminiscent of his grandmother, an art and crafts teacher. As a boy he recalls that he was always collecting and making things; an achieving academic however loved art at school. His parents divorced when he was 12 and his family moved west to a more rural district. He took more art classes, yet outside those; his parents looked at the life of an artist as a life of poverty, and persuaded Adam to study something that would result in a job so he chose Theatre Design. He loved his degree at Wollongong University, he tells me, with a beaming smile; “it was very creative and you could really go for it, with ideas”. He learnt to draw things in 3D for theatres which is why he uses it now in his art, the precision with technical drawing with which he was trained. He was additionally responsible for supervising the theatre set during its construction.

Adam then tells me, after graduating as a young man in his early 20’s, he worked in a cinema as an usher, or in hotels, and whilst working these jobs he was making artworks, often bigger pieces with stuff that he would find, pull apart and then put back together. With this he created his first body of work, and contributed to a group exhibition titled ‘Walking the Streets’. At that time he discovered how he loves the complete creative control of making art. Then his life took a different turn: a friend of his got him a job in the art department at the legendary Aussie soap Home and Away. This was the beginning of a 16 year career in television, and suddenly earning good money. His career as an Art Director involved standing by during shoots coordinating everything for the art department, script reading, gathering and making props off all kinds, including computer and graphic props, so he had his hand in most pies. His four years with the soap led him to London where he worked on Eastenders, The Bill, Holby City, CBBC and film commercials, to name a few, however always doing his art on the side. His art was always in the back of his mind, Adam explains. Whilst living in the UK, he started finding new materials to use and began his next body of work with the notion of using components that have an essence of the past but in a new contemporary context. He recalled his grandfather, a teacher in mathematics, who had tools in his shed, and this helped him harness the idea: the feeling of domesticity and those masculine elements, the ideal life of that time, and the cross-over of the two.

Four years ago he gave up his TV career to focus on his art. Three years ago it took off when an artwork was sold to the Hoxton Hotel, and he hasn’t looked back. He has been accepted at The Other Art Fair in London and Brooklyn N.Y, Roy’s Art Fair in London and Sussex Art Fair, as well as numerous group shows and a solo show at a gallery in Clapham, London. In the first six months a lot had been happening but he did have doubts about taking the plunge to be an artist. Just before this time he had been living with his husband in New York for one year above Hell’s Kitchen, near Central Park. His husband’s company needed him in the US for this period and during this time Adam was a ‘housewife’, he tells me. However he would go to the flea markets and start collecting, especially American materials, incubating his ideas to become the artworks. Those pieces are reflective of the high rises, and the American dream. His husband who he has been with for twenty years is his biggest champion.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

December 30, 2019December 31, 2019

Nic Gotch

Pomegranates and peppers, blackberries and wild garlic, sounds like the ingredients to a menu. Using her camera, Nic Gotch has created almost an Alice in Wonderland perspective in a glass dome, using an amalgamation of ingredients. There is something of a fairytale, the idea of being lost in the depth of the woods, the etherial mystique of the unknown shifting amongst the foliage, the richness of colour, the vibrance of earthy tones, and as you linger in the fantasy, you can smell the environment. Fruits and roses, an array of vegetation, captured in this magic of colour and texture. These artworks have elements of an old Rembrandt, in beautiful seasonal colours, with this idea of a romantic aura, as if coming out of something else. Gazing at these works you may think you are staring at a painting until you realise, all this terrific illusion is created with a camera. Images of roses using reflection and playing with light and shadow, every detail of the pale pinks in the rose or rich blood reds of the pomegranate seeds, the elements of the delicate and fragile, combined with the softer shapes and tones of peacock feathers, berries and a complex mix of flora and fauna, encompassing this modern take on Victorian Circular art.

artwork by Nic Gotch — Storyspheres by Nic Gotch

Nic captures the nostalgia of the Pre-Raphaelite era in her still-life artworks. Yet her modern take on this idea, using her camera, with her abundant detail and intense colours of the kitchen cupboard and garden foliage, is deliberate to appear as a painting. She uses specialist fine art paper for her prints, to add to this effect. I meet Nic at the gallery where her work is being exhibited, which runs parallel to the Shapero antique book shop. We chose to chat nearby, in the Sotheby’s coffee shop, just opposite to her show. Surrounded by an eclectic mix of artworks covering the walls. Nic becomes reminiscent of her early influences, her grandmother’s rose garden and her prints of Victorian paintings and old Dutch Masters. Thomas Cooper Gotch a distant relative, was one of the last British Pre- Raphaelite artists, who additionally left his influence on her work. Nic was born Fulham, London, however she spent a significant part of her childhood in Belgrade, where she attended the international school in Serbia. The family returned to Buckinghamshire England when she was eight, Nic attended an academic girls school and then graduated from Brighton University reading Visual studies and English.

She loved her first job as a Production Manager, for Broadcast TV, working on international outside broadcasts – large scale concerts, sports events and music programs with musicians such as Paul McCartney. However she decided to do a MA in Film Making and TV Production, with the hope she could be more hands on and create. This led to working in live studio productions, and then she ran her own Production company, with writers and producers commissioning her to do pilots for documentaries. Her career was adjourned in the discovery that what she was really interested in is the concepts behind the documentary ideas. She then achieved a diploma in Design at the Open University. Idea Generation interested her, especially the part of that process involving the incubation of an idea where you let your intuition and unconscious be the inspiration. She followed this interest further which involved completing a conversion course and then undertaking a full-time MSC in Psychology. This enabled her to study intuition and creativity and its role in decision making with the hope of working in this field. Alongside this study, her path as a photographer began. She had always been interested and loved taking photos since she was six years old, always working behind the camera.

Artwork Nic Gotch — Storyspheres by Nic Gotch

Although she is accepted more as an artist than a photographer. It’s the immediacy about photography that she enjoys, Diana Arbus and Dayanita Singh are among her favourites. She really likes how other photographers can capture the essence of a person, something she finds hard to do herself. This interest in photography inspired her to set up the North London Photographic Society. Using her own intuitive creative process to develop her own style, she started taking photography more seriously. Her first body of work was Street Photography where light plays a strong part and she began experimenting with reflection. She then changed to still-life photography and four years ago she started her ‘Seasonsphere’ collection. Working on each change of the season, going for walks with purpose, noticing the smaller changes in the natural environment and collecting natural objects. Her next collection was the ‘Rosebowls’ inspired by differing aspects of romantic attachment. Her current series is called ‘Storyspheres’ where the gathered dried flowers, fruits and vegetables convey hidden and mysterious tales. Her life is split working between European cultures, half the year she is in the beautiful Pyrenees, surrounded by the mountains on the borders between France and Spain and the other half in North London. In Europe it is where she does her workshops in intuitive photography, and in London, her works appearing in the prominent Art fairs and galleries.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

Artist Nic Gotch

December 15, 2019December 30, 2019

Peter Moolan Feroze

Gazing at Peter’s artworks has the nostalgia of walking around Paris in a late afternoon, the casual refinement of people lounging in an illustrative style, reminiscent of Toulouse Lautrec’s posters of the Moulin Rouge, somehow lingering in the background. The slick lines sketching the outline of the naked female form, or capturing the ambience of a room in the late afternoon, the view of the ocean through an open window, a girl in a yellow dress by moonlight and a cat watching a girl sit alone. The post impressionist style lingers in these colourful prints, in rust orange, cobalt blue, bright turquoise the simple shapes conveying the fluidity of movement and shape, drawn with simple curves and lines. It’s life drawing in a moment, sketching the alive and spontaneous, capturing the overlooked and unseen on an average day. This is what is so captivating in Peter’s illustrative artworks; it unfolds a narrative open to interpretation, allowing us to take us where we want to go when looking at his work.

Artwork Peter Moolan Feroze — Flower Girl by Peter Moolan Feroze

Peter is an illustrator and a painter, you see his life drawing technique shine through, however he has encapsulated the story in the artwork with these swift movements of an artists pen, as if it were a sketch, added to this, his play on colour. What is even more extraordinary, these artworks are masterfully painted on his iPad, he is adept at using the tools available, the use of colour and the editing process, drawing with the pen and even his finger on the iPad. Playing with different edits on the computer, creating artworks to be as natural as possible. This high resolution illustration, is then masterfully developed. The second stage, his relationship with the printer! Knowing what lends itself to large format. He was always fascinated with drawing, loves the early Italians as well as Matisse and Cézanne. Peter has also explored music through songwriting and teaches creativity at the London Business School.

He went to boarding school and having experienced dyslexia found solace in the art department. He achieved A levels in Medieval History, Art and History of Art and then attended a foundation course at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. He went on to attend the famous Slade School of Fine Art at London University. After graduating he visited a friend in America and toured on Greyhound buses. Returning to the United Kingdom he was accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts for a post graduate. After his studies at the Royal Academy, he started teaching in a sixth form college which resulted in him and his wife Liz setting up the Royal Academy of Arts Outreach Programme for schools, influential creative life drawing workshops that resulted in three exhibitions of children’s drawings in the prestigious galleries of the RA. His art work continued but without exhibiting as he was committed to teaching in school and businesses. It has come as a welcome surprise to be selling prints of his art and enjoying an enthusiastic audience later in life. It was his brother Jonathan who saw the potential and introduced him to the art dealer Nic McElhatton who is now his Gallery owner. This resulted in selling limited edition prints at the Affordable At Fair Battersea and Hampstead. People are beginning to recognise his works, and it’s exciting, next is Miami, and a charity event as he makes his mark on the American market.

Peter and his family left the United Kingdom and moved to France 15 years ago, purchasing a house with plenty of space for his young family as well as their seven cats. He travels to London and other countries where he holds seminars and creativity workshops for The London Business School. His recent artworks are influenced by his move to the continent, creating pictures such as Tasting Olives, which was inspired by watching people tasting in the market place in Aix en Provence. The influence of his life in France combined with being an English native, is what gives his work so much appeal, it’s about observation from two perspectives. The sensuousness of the south and the intensity of light, colour and expression, combined with a northern, cooler regard for qualities of traditional drawing and an economy of means, this combination is at the heart of his work.

His ideas also stem from his teaching in businesses which focus on different ways of thinking. Peter explains “Innovation is crucial too many organisations, businesses are always looking for new opportunities and realise that ambiguity, uncertainty and change are all key aspects of the modern business context. However ambiguity and uncertainty don’t always sit comfortably in the business mind so having the opportunity to experience these concepts through drawing themselves can be very powerful and useful.” Then Peter tells me something fascinating, that it’s the ambiguity and uncertainty that is an artist, the not knowing where you are going, these are the things that are like breath for an artist. Then he quotes TS Elliott “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

Thank you to Nic McElhatton, Gallery owner, Jonathan Feroze, business associate and Jill Mosovich, U. S Agent

Interview: Antoinette Hasehorst

December 1, 2019December 12, 2019

Corinne Chauvet

It’s not often you see a contemporary version of Buddhist art in the style of Corinne, we are all familiar with Buddha crossed legged, the majestic symbolism of reincarnation, nirvana, yoga and liberating insight. Corinne’s work is reminiscent of that spiritual quality, in as such that most of her art is of Buddhist monks, combined with an observation of the human face. There is something droll about her artwork, they convey interaction, the variety of expression, different happy faces, along with the enjoyment we seek as humans in being together. Sometimes it’s just the faces and then the whole person and the overall effect is this contemporary rugged refinement. The theme of concentrating on these monks began with her choice to go travelling, focusing on Asian countries like Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, the Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 ethnic groups, and this is where she discovered the face, she tells me. Describing how she became attracted to the Asian face, she explains that she couldn’t read anything when she arrived. Purely for the reason that the language and written word in this part of the world was so alien to her. That the way you see the world is like a child, she emphasises. This observation is very prevalent in her work.

sculpture by Corinne Chauvet — Conversation by Corinne Chauvet

Sculpture of Buddhist Monk by Corinne Chauvet — Hitsuko Shima -3-8 Bronze by Corinne Chauvet

What Corinne observed, is how these Monks in Myanmar who have taken a vow of poverty by choosing this lifestyle and when they weren’t meditating, they were happy and smiling, this made her think of her own country France. The French have everything a social security system, free healthcare and they are always complaining and unhappy, she tells me, this trip gave her a new insight and she fell in love with the Monks faces. These sculptures one could say represent the best of ourselves, they have wisdom and an innocence running through them. Then Corinne discusses her earlier sculptures; they were straight, simple and really long elongated figures, she saw herself as shy but really strong, and this body of work represented this, she titled it ‘La Femme Fille’ (The woman Child). She believes this is when her real life began. Corinne was born near Poitiers in the centre of France, her father an engineer and mother a teacher. They moved to the South of France, when she was very young, her father had decided to become a goat farmer and produce Capri cheese. Corinne grew up in the countryside, and spent plenty of time moulding the white clay from the lake, observing how her mother took the same clay from the lake and started to make things during the summer months. Our mother opened my brothers and my mind, she explains, educating us in music, dance, theatre and art, she wanted us to be artists and now her brother is a photographer and graphic designer. At the age of 12 her parents divorced and they moved to the city where Corinne attended the high school near Toulouse.

Buddhist Monk bronze sculpture by Corinne Chauvet — SOHIRE Bronze by Corinne Chauvet

Sculpture by Corinne Chauvet in CAKE — Classroom by Corinne Chauvet

Corinne studied Fine Art and History of Art, for five years, three in Montpellier, followed by one year in Bordeaux, she was primarily a painter, but didn’t really enjoy it, her final year she spent in Leicester, in the United Kingdom. She recalls visiting Chatsworth House where she encountered the sculptor Elizabeth Frink’s work, she was so impressed by her work, her bronze sculptures of figures appearing to be running through the woods, this inspired Corinne, and she decided this is what she wanted to do, be a sculptor. Today Corinne spends half her time in Paris with her husband and the other half in her larger studio, in the town of Albi.

Sculpture by Corinne Chauvet featured in CAKE — Hashima Gres Noir by Corinne Chauvet

Artwork by Corinne Chauvet — Conversion Bleue Izenajima et Bentojima Gres Noir by Corinne Chauvet

She is currently completing a Public commission, her first public sculpture in the town of Montauban near Toulouse, the artwork is a homage to the legendary artist Antoine Bourdelle. The artwork stands 3.5 x 3.5 meters in size and is made primarily of resin, a modern form of sculpture, it’s a majestic piece of art, in brilliant white of Hercules, titled ‘Herakles’ as he comes out of the earth with his bow and arrow; 40 sculptors applied for this commission and only four were given the chance to showcase their artwork. She used a new method of sculpture as she anticipated that Bourdelle would do the same, as he was one of the leaders of modern sculpture along with his friend and colleague Rodin.

Corinne, has dedicated herself fully to her life as a sculptor, I worked for a museum and didn’t work as a sculptor for 10 years, everyone was telling me being an artist wasn’t a job. Then she tells me of how one rainy night she had a huge car accident, nearly loosing her life. They had to do a skin graft from her leg to her arm, to prevent her from loosing it. When something really hard happens in your life, it changes you, you begin to realise the price of life, Corinne explains. You can choose to be happy or choose what is considered right all the time. “The way of Buddhist philosophy is when you are doing something, it’s about what you are doing in the moment. You don’t think about the past or future, you think about the now”. As an artist she has exhibited around the world, with her work being shown in Monaco viewed by Monegasque Royalty Princess Caroline. Clearly the enchantment of her clay and bronze sculptures resonate that kindred spirit of happiness and joy with a trendy ethereal quality. For that’s what makes these sculptures so powerful, they represent the faces of wisdom with a modern edge.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

November 16, 2019February 10, 2020

Sara Pope

When we walk down the road and smile at a stranger, or sit in a coffee shop sipping on hot coffee and talk to our friend sitting opposite us. We don’t necessarily think about our lips, maybe only to apply lipstick or to moisturise them when they are dry. Actually our face has a significant amount of information in every detail, how our faces communicate is what fascinates contemporary artist Sara. She has narrowed it down though and is concentrating on just lips. We may notice those lips, when you watch the news reader discuss the topics of the day, or the musician on stage as their mouth touches the microphone, or that sensuous excitement the moment you stare at a someones lips just before you are about to kiss them. Her pop art style entices the very essence of the mouth. Beautiful sumptuous full bodied kissable lips, mischievous lips, shy lips, nervous lips, sexy, deliciously glamorous and erotic lips. In flamboyant reds on gold, sparkling diamonds on pinks, baby neon blues and black there is something devilishly dramatic in her art, with a sophisticated edge.

Neon lips artwork by Sara Pope — LIT by Sara Pope

Contemporary Neon lips artwork — MIAMI REALNESS by Sara Pope

When I first meet Sara, it’s almost obvious that she would be the artist, as I enter the Turner Barnes gallery in the affluent Brentwood. Standing tall and elegant amongst her rainbow of red paintings displayed on the fresh white walls, she brings me some water as we sit down to talk. Her lips are painted red and I am immediately looking at them as we start to chat about communication. She started her first collection about ten years ago, her fascination with the human face are her inspirations. Her portraits of elderly women in New York resonate that desire to transform ourselves, next a series of distorted paintings of glamours women with applied make-up, particularly resonate the influence of Francis Bacon. Expression, it all comes through the face she explains, you don’t even have to say anything, “it’s the curl of a lip!” and Sara demonstrably curls her lip up. She is equally fascinated with how people modify themselves. How make-up and dressing changes the way you feel, it’s transformative, and we discuss a time when this was the only way women could express themselves and communicate, especially with each other.

Lips artworks by Sara Pope — BOSS by Sara Pope

Artwork by Sara Pope in CAKE — APHRODITE by Sara Pope

portrait of artist Sara Pope — Photo: Antoinette Haselhorst

Sara grew up in the industrial town of Stoke on Trent near Manchester, not a visually striking place as she describes it, and although she loved to draw from a young age and had a love for fashion and make-up. She went on to have a very academic education. School was terrible for art, where she grew up, dry and boring, is how she explains it. However Sara was particularly excellent in maths and she has a degree in Mathematics. Her mother was a teacher and her father a computer scientist who headed a computer firm, ahead of his time, leading the way in the computer science industry. They retired at 50, moving to Spain. She tells me how when she visited Barcelona at 21 that she decided her path was in the creative industry so she made the choice to live in this beautiful city and applied for a short course in Graphic and design. Always fascinated with how people dressed and expressed themselves and how it changes the way you feel. Sara returned to London and started working in the magazine industry as an Art Director and designer. Addressing her passion for fashion, she became an avid collector of Vintage shoes and clothes and then created a vintage shop with parties selling her precious finds. Then she met a fashion designer who invited her to design a collection of shoes.

neon artwork of lips by Sara Pope — SPOILER ALERT by Sara Pope

Modern Lips artwork by Sara Pope — PSYCHO CANDY by Sara Pope

This incredible turn in her life led to a degree at the London College of Fashion graduating as a shoe designer, drawing shoes and working for many years in the industry, for designers such as Paul Smith, as well as projects for brands like Zara designing for catwalks, in Spain and Paris. As she talks to me about her career in shoe design, I am thinking to myself, this has got be the perfect job, however Sara didn’t feel she was fully expressing herself. She secretly started dabbling in her own art, “I felt compelled to start painting” so Sara started teaching herself how to paint, working with oils and acrylic, diluted, blending and reapplied to create a smooth effect, that in some cases her lips look so realistic you think it’s a photo.

Artwork of lips by Sara Pope — SCARLET STARLET by Sara Pope

Contemporary artwork of lips — VILLANELLE by Sara Pope

Inspired by perfection of the finished image, she works with models, taking photographs of her subjects expressing themselves, then amplifies the mouth, it’s super slick, ultra polished all creating an illusion and influenced by working in the magazine industry. It becomes even more fascinating when you look at the mathematics behind of what is regarded as beauty or perfection, some plastic surgeons work with the theory of the symmetry of the Golden ratio. Arguably some may disprove this notion of what is beautiful, but it’s interesting nonetheless. There is equally another theory of the ratio between things the Rule of thirds, this applies to the composition of paintings, photography or graphic design. Don’t forget Sara is also a mathematician. Then she quotes Galileo “Nature is written in the language of maths”. Sara may no longer work in the fashion industry, she has made a name for herself an artist, exhibiting in galleries around the world. A current project with Tiger Heart Creative, is taking her to another dimension, an Artificial intelligence (AI) experience. A large scale hologram of lips and viewers can have a conversation with these AI lips, and the conversation can go anywhere.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

Photoshoot location and cakes courtesy of Turner Barnes Gallery

Photography by Antoinette Haselhorst — Photo: Antoinette Haselhorst

November 2, 2019November 3, 2019

Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

Anne’s artworks are so interesting in that her collage is ultimately a personal journey in time, combined with an almost fixated observation of human behaviours. Exploring the attic of her grandmother’s old home and discovering old photographs from the 1960s and 70s. They represent a modern timeless quality in as such that our society at present has almost shifted into a nostalgia of the simplicity and elegance of this period; which makes Anne’s works so captivating. Much of her collage cut outs are a Namibian history lesson of a time in our society, it has that resonance of the old colonialism of young Europeans exploring their new conquests, learning to integrate in their alien environments, embracing the new and marking their territories with a naïveté and youthful arrogance. You can imagine what it must have been like, the excitement and challenges. Depicting a time when we were free to rebel and pushed forward new ideas, how we changed the world without knowing the consequences in our vigorous candour. That real time is what Anne manipulates, it is to create art so controversial it will raise your eyebrows.

collage art by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn — Lets Take a Dive by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

Homeland collage Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn in CAKE — Giraffes and Dirt Roads by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

collage art Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn in CAKE — Hanging on a Dream by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

It’s when she discovered her grandmother’s old photographs, she started creating her collage art, capturing moments of her life in Namibia, juxtaposed with her life in London. It’s the comparative of the then and now. Her observations of two alien cultures trying to exist together. What fascinates her is people’s responses. How some from the different countries react to her works, a Londoner being shocked with an artwork of a hyena with a woman in her mouth and Namibian shocked by a woman exposing herself. Most of her work is unconscious, 85% of her time cutting out all sorts of images and in a meditative state the artworks come together. Anne always appropriates things, making weird combinations of the little resources in Africa, that you use everything and then Anne draws reference, how poor people will find old tins cans, plastic bottles, lids anything and create artefacts which they sell to survive. We talk about mass media and how it’s only relevant for five minutes, but she gives them another lease of life.

Homoerotic/Homeland Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn in CAKE — Homoerotic/Homeland by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

Daydreamer collage Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn in CAKE — Flower Girl by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

Born and raised in the harsh Namibian landscapes in Otjiwarongo, which translates into ‘where the Cattle graze’. She did grow up in the centre of nature in the middle of a cattle farm, where she was taught to hunt antelopes, in an environment where death was different. You learnt to hunt your meal. She recalls she once killed a Kudu with a gun and she can still remember the feeling of guilt she felt. All the meat was used, it fed 30 workers. This relationship with nature and how taking a life to feed is treated with respect. This reality of life combining the wilds of natural Africa, living with indigenous people from this part of the world, within the time of European integration. She remembers the Chagall painting hanging above her parents bed. Her mother was a Goldsmith and her father a designer and maker of fur coats. Both her parents, creative hippies, as she describes them, until they moved to run her grandparent’s cattle farm. Anne attended the University of Stellenbosch, in Cape Town were she studied Fine Art and graduated with Honours. Her works in Sculpture, installation, photography, and video work, are what inspired her at the time, “I couldn’t draw, or paint” Anna sighs.

collage Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn in CAKE — Sheep for Sleep by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

Shy Wild collage art by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn — Ball Games by Anne Lacheiner-Kuhn

After Anne’s fine art degree, she decided to come to London, she came to do a gap year 13 years ago, and fell in love with the energy, there is always something going on, she explains. Eventually moving to the UK permanently, her graduate work was just video art at the time. She started work as a runner for a film production company in Soho, then junior editor, before long she was editor for the film company for three years. She was always interested in storytelling, however she felt the work was too commercial and not very creative working on day time television programs and decided she didn’t want to sit in a dark room any more. So Anne applied for an MA at Central St Martins, and after one year of courses across the board, she applied for a job posted at the University and started teaching Media Techniques; in adobe photo shop and other media softwares. She loved the teaching Anne emphasises, but then explains how she became disillusioned with the politics and began to focus more on her own art. Anne has a business mind and as a freelance artist she bolsters her income with mobile network apps for summer music festivals and then she tells me of a business making fake snow for film and TV. They dress huge areas for film sets, including the renewal of the film Murder on the Orient express.

Then Anne expresses how African artists influenced her, it’s how they see things she exclaims, and we talk about the Shona Sculptures carved with Soap stone, the modern art movement originally from Zimbabwe and how these carvers took their skills to other parts of Southern Africa, many European artists including Picasso and Matisse were heavily influenced by these artists as well. Anne resonates, that Southern African artists have a political agenda in their work, it reflects their society, huge aspects of humour in their approach to art. This is what is essential to Anne’s work, it’s controversial, non mainstream, with somewhat humorous topics, from random dark fetishes and ideals, to the psychology behind people and what makes people different.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

Photography portrait of artist — Photo: Antoinette Haselhorst

October 14, 2019October 23, 2019

Androulla Theokle

Portrait of artist Androulla Thoekle — Photo: Antoinette Haselhorst

Andi’s recent artworks of water painted on canvas originate with her fascination with this element. Our blue planet is 71% water, it is what makes up about 65% of our bodies, depending on our weight. It is the compound we most depend on. It is the most ordinary but yet one the of the greatest mysteries, it takes us into the darkest secrets of the oceans, the curiosities of lakes with monsters and stories, it seduces us, as it dances with light in every change of the day, it’s blue and turquoise, white and black, this odourless almost colourless and tasteless compound. This magical matter has been photographed, filmed, and documented, and this is what Andi’s recent collection of paintings represent, she paints abstract versions of water.

artwork by Androulla Theokle — Hartwell by Androulla Theokle

Her artworks that explore the sunrises and sunsets in her skies in Africa and landscapes of cities or mountain ranges, which hint on the Chinese ink wash, as she blends the delicacy of water and ink on canvas. Or her artworks on the human form in motion, some with splashes off colour, resonate the deep emotions of passion and love. This intensity is still present in her recent works, It’s how she sees the dance of light on what she calls ‘the mirror to the world’. Water the only place where she can relax, but she confesses, to me she can’t swim. Being thrown into water as a very small child, is something she hasn’t got over, yet.

Andi, as she prefers to be called, is a North Londoner, she grew up in Cockfosters with her traditional greek family, raised to be a wife and have children. Even though Andi’s educational path was accelerating, her parents were not willing for her to move away and study. However she went to Manchester metropolitan university to gain her independence and forge a career.

Andi’s foundation tutor advised her career choices to continue her studies as an interior designer, but to never give up on art. During her dissertation work she traveled to Canada and North America, studying Henry Moore and Barbra Hepworth, 70% of Henry Moore’s work is in North America, she informs me. Her work was published and placed in the Henry Moore foundation in Bishops Stortford. “I blagged my way to stay longer” Andi confesses, and an intense three month round trip from Toronto, New York, San Diego, Vancouver Andi was always sketching and painting architecture whilst travelling. She continued to the Iberian peninsula, this was her first collection of works; ‘Iberian impressions’. The sketching and painting continued, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid and Naples. Her first art show was on Frith Street, Soho, her works hanging for two months. She was 23 at the time, her next show titled Origins, narrate the topics, Greece as the Motherland, Cyprus as being her roots, London her home. The exhibition comprising 3 sections and 42 pieces.

At 26 she decided to take a break from interiors, so she took a sabbatical and headed to Cyprus, and created her next body of work, `The Human Form and Movement Collection’. The collection that followed was Man made natural world which was a departure from painting and sketching as it focused on digital manipulation of photography. A combination of nature and architecture, the ‘paintings’ were one off prints of abstracted digital montage. This was followed by her photography and painting artworks, traveling to Egypt and Jordan for inspiration. Still working internationally as an interior designer. Meanwhile, winning awards, she won the BCO award for interior design 12 years ago for Network rail, for their HQ in Manchester. She designed the famous Sky Garden reception area and won a BCO for Gartner 2018. Her show in 2017, titled ‘90×65’ paintings of Cyprus and Jordan made up of 2/3 or five 65 x 90 sized canvases, nearly sold out over the course of two weeks, including the biggest piece she ever sold. “I was awestruck, I thought I had won the lottery” she tells me beaming, and was able to place a deposit and buy her second property.

The reflection on her face then takes slight turn, she looks at me with a teeny bit of sadness, not everyone is happy for others success, but what she wanted was to give the message to others, “If she can do it so can I”. For the mother of a little girl herself, nothing could be more profound. We as women can facilitate and liberate ourselves from those shackles by which many of us have been conditioned by raising each other up. “I have always been fascinated with reflection” she tells me when she describes one of her first sculptures made with glass. This reminds me of a saying I heard a long time ago, ‘Our children hold the mirror to us’ and if our children can learn anything today, is that we are equal no matter what sex we are.

Her next show will be 14 November at Herman Millar, 61 Aldwych, Holborn, London.

Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst

Portrait of artist Androulla Theokle — Photo: Antoinette Haselhorst

September 10, 2019September 11, 2019

Simon McCheung

Simon’s fine art photographs are defiantly contemporary, surreal, extensively complex, yet with this etherial simplicity. The elegance of his compositions highlight a drama in the cleanest of formats, using himself as the subject matter. Some people may refer to his artworks as self portraits and in a way they are, however he manages to convey the political and personal message with his intelligent art direction using himself as a model rather than a portrait of himself. This is what makes his work so interesting. This self awareness that Simon has, in that he recognises the advantage of his photogenic and adaptable persona, his face is able to characterise the narrative so well, with a subtle ingenuity that anyone who gazes at his work can slip into the identity of the spirit he projects. His artworks are both courageous and unique with an affable flair that makes them completely different. In some cases the photographs are taken in separate settings, he uses his animation and photoshop skills to combine the images to create a separate piece of art, the result; an award winning image, ‘Underwater Spell’ of the man in his pyjamas sleeping as he floats under water. Then there is, his Cat as a Hat, the forest of broccoli as lungs, or man on top of the Chinese house.

artwork by Simon McCheung featured in CAKE — An Underwater Spell by Simon McCheung

The communication of Simon’s work addresses topics with relevance and political savvy. His most recent works represent the inner antagonism of his sisters struggle with autism and how he projects the conflict that she encounters in her daily life. Simon explains the spectrums of Aspergers, and that communication is hard for his sister. She can write to express herself however signals to her vocal cords is limited. He explains to me the emotional traumas she endures in public, when people stare at her when she makes a sudden noise when she vocally expresses herself with excitement at something she may have observed. Or her sensitivity to sound and how excruciating certain sounds can be. This series of works covers all areas of her life, as he tries to engage with the frustrations she feels, using his body to express this empathy in these photographs. What he cares about is making his sister integrate into society and empower the public with knowledge what an autistic person feels.

All of Simon’s works cover conversations with current affairs from climate change, to consumerism, population, retirement, you name it he addresses subjects that you will talk about daily. Thinking with the brilliant lateral thinking that is the pulse of the diversity of London life. Simon was born and raised Grimsby by his Chinese parents who run a Chinese takeaway. He was sent to a Chinese language school in Grimsby, however when he was six years old, in the 1980’s, his parents sent him to a catholic school in Hong Kong for two years, when they still had corporal punishment. This, so he could learn to speak Cantonese fluently. Simon talks to me about not being conditioned in one culture or the other, and how his experience of learning another language is in the subtly; he explains to me that Cantonese has many puns in its language and how just the slightest change in tone, the word can have a completely different meaning. That sometimes Cantonese speaking people would laugh at him when he spoke. His wife Yumi who is originally from Hong Kong is fluent in Cantonese, and this is helpful. However his charming use of Cantonese is what attracted her in the first place, he claims, smiling at me.

artwork by Simon McCheung — Turned On by Simon McCheung

Simon is a self taught photographer, he spent two years teaching himself, taking portraits of himself as practise. The more he took the more self expressive they became, he tried using models, however they never captured the expression he wanted to express, and whereas with himself he has all the patience in the world. Now his face has become his Brand. This intelligent thinking has its roots. He does have a Foundation in Fine Art as well as Degree at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, he studied animation, went into Digital advertising at Ogilvy and Mather and is a pro with flash animation. He additionally works in Soho London designing and creating computer games. His artwork, Underwater Spell, has become famous, the curator at Saatchi Gallery contacted him about using his image, as it appeared on their website and Facebook page. Additionally he has been published in the desirable and exclusive Italian Vogue Magazine. He has just finished directing his first music video, and is already working on another one. He recently started a project 365 days, took a photo every day, most of them self portraits, exploring elements of the surreal, he likes to tell stories and capture viewers imaginations and place them into a sense of disbelief. Then he tells me Yumi is expecting their first child and they will be parents this autumn.

Interview Antoinette Haselhorst