Richard Metz

Artist Q&A with Richard Metz

“The Mythic Moth Menagerie the Orchard”, egg and natural pigments on tree, 120 x 55 in | 305 x 140 cm, 2018 (Park Hill Orchard, East Hampton, MA)

Why did you become an artist?

Being a visual artist grew in me slowly over time, but it was always the only path forward in my life. The process of making visual art is so satisfying and so all encompassing to me, that of course I wanted to keep doing it.

I also have a strong environmentalist side, and to some extent these have merged over the past 20 years. Being an artist now is how I explore nature and merge with the natural world. It is how I want to encourage others to explore and protect the public natural areas near them.

I have subtle visions of images, sometimes touching on a feeling from my past experiences that move me very much, and I feel so strongly that I want to portray them in my work. I have also been very moved by expressionist artists who have come before me including Chaïm Soutine, Jean Dubuffet, Phillip Guston, Susan Rothenberg, and Pierre Bonnard. Native American, African, and Polynesian art have also been influential to my work, as well as Illustrators Theodore Geisel, Franz Masreel, Lyn Ward, and Art Spiegelman.

How is your work different than everything else out there?

Some of my work is in more traditional formats, and some has struck some new ground. The tree paintings seem to be an original format that I came upon late in grad school. They are different in several ways; they are ephemeral

The works decay as life is born, lives, and dies. So much art work battles with nature, to be preserved for ever, and adds to … Click here to read more

Frodo Mikkelsen

Artist Q&A with Frodo Mikkelsen

The last ride, acrylic on canvas, 80×70 cm, 2020

Why did you become an artist?

My father was an artist, and when i was 8 years old, I told him that I wanted to be an artist. He gave me all the support I needed and told me that i had to choose a path. That path started in 1984 when I started painting graffiti at just 10 years old.

Frodo Mikkelsen, photo by Nikolaj Palmskov

How is your work different than everything else out there?

I have heard many times that my work is unique, even though I use symbols like the skull a lot. Other artists use them, but mine is just still mine, being clean and crisp.

What’s different about your current body of work?

My early work was very crowded, and I tried everything. I still do a lot of different things, but I don’t mix it anymore like I used to. I’m working on getting my art more clean and graphic; it’s shaping up!

Totem dreams, painted oakwood, 100x100x50 cm

What’s coming up for you?

Right now I am showing in a gallery in Brooklyn called Java Project Brooklyn, in a show that me and Paul Brainard curated with American and Danish artists. I am also showing at The HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum, and Vestjyllands Art Museum, all here in Denmark. There are also group shows in Kode, Bergen Art Museum, and in Mocak-Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow. Next year I will be showing at Vrå Art Museum, and a gallery in Hamburg and Berlin in Germany.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out today?

A lot of people thinks that being an artist is easy, but it is hard work 24/7, so think big, have fun, and … Click here to read more

Paul Brainard

Artist Q&A with Paul Brainard

“Lexicon Leader”, oil on linen, 40 x 55 in | 102 x 140 cm, oil on linen, 2020

Why did you become an artist?

I really don’t think that I had a choice. Making art is something that i do every single day; it is in my blood.

How is your work different than everything else out there?

II think that it is an interesting blend of the absurdity of existence, modernist formalism and vulnerable self effacement.

What’s different about your current body of work?

I am simultaneously trying to combine elements of the personal and the formal in a way that makes a very diverse visual language.

“Moron at the Genius Bar”, oil on linen, 18 x 17 in | 45 x 42 cm, 2020

What’s coming up for you?

I just did two shows back-to-back at the Java Project Brooklyn. The first one “Covid Kids Club” was work that was made during the Covid – 19 lockdown in NYC. March and April were especially difficult in Queens with constant sirens and death all around you. I was a few miles from the epicenter of the epicenter of Covid -19 in the first wave, so it was comforting to stay home and make art. The second show at the Jave Project is “The boring Gaze” a group show of NYC and Danish Artists co-rated by myself and Frodo Mikkelsen. It was very difficult to install 15 artists in such a confined space but i am very happy with the result . The gallery is open by appointment from November 7th to December 7th, 2020.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out today?

Listen to your own inner voice because this is the thing that makes you a … Click here to read more

Lin Evola

Artist Q&A with Lin Evola

“Peace Sign”, watercolor, ink, and decommissioned nuclear stainless steel, 32 x 24 in | 81 x 61 cm, 2015

Why did you become an artist?

I learned to walk and talk at the same time that I began to draw, and I continued to make art as I grew up. At 10 years old my mother took a group of us children to The Art Institute of Chicago. I remember very distinctly how I felt when I looked up and witnessed huge paintings by Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell – which became known as Abstract Expressionism – hanging on all the walls around us. I felt like my skin was turned inside out. I knew who I was.

How is your work different than everything else out there?

Every artist discovers their own visual language that is based on how we see, how we hold our tools, and what tools we choose to make art. My art is produced partially or completely from metal from weapons. I use a lot of reflective surfaces to engage the viewer in reaching a conceptual interaction with the art itself.

Lin Evola, portrait by Udo Spreitzenbarth

What’s different about your current body of work?

Visually my art adds information and layers of meanings, staying tight to the basic empowerment for humanity to build peace. Implementing physics, numbers, and writing, I use a tempo bringing the viewer from a microcosm to a macrocosm in vision. Are you looking at a microscopic image? Is it pulsating? Are you looking at outer space? The layouts of the Peace Signs take about a month. I mix my own paints from pigment, and often include the weapons metal in the ink.

What’s coming up for you?

The Peace Angels Project is working on the 12 … Click here to read more

Robert Curcio

Q&A with Curator Robert Curcio

How did you get started in the art world?

I went to Tyler School of Art where not only did I study art, but I worked in the school’s galleries learning about installing, curating, and the business of art.

What advice would you tell your younger self?

Many in the art world talk a big game, but only a few can actually make things happen. So don’t waste time with all the “talkers” and find the people who are actually doing something.

Do you have any advice for new dealers/artists?

If you don’t really love what you are doing and are willing to do the work, don’t bother.

What advice would you recommend to your clients?

For collector clients its about collecting what you love or have an interest in. Don’t just think about flipping and looking at the auctions, because if you’re chasing the auctions, running around to the “it” artist and all the hype, you’re not going to end up with much of a collection.

For artist clients it is the same, follow your own ideas, interests, and inner creativity. Don’t rely on gallerists, curators, and others for your career; make your own career happen first.

For art fair clients, it will get better, and make the virtual fair as best as possible.

What projects are you currently working on?

I have two articles I should have finished, but have barely begun. Curating two exhibits; one online and the other in real life, both for next year. And, redoing my website.

What are your influences and inspirations?

When I was a kid I read all the articles, books, and interviews I could on Leo Castelli and Jasper Johns. Even back then I knew I was going to be in art, … Click here to read more

Eva Petrič

Artist Q&A with Eva Petrič

“Collective Heart”, found handmade lace assemblage, (St. Stephans Cathedral, Vienna, Austria), 2016

Why did you become an artist?

I do not think it was really a choice, but more like a calling. It was something that chose me. As far back as I can remember, I have always been creating or taking part in something artistic, having to do with music, dance, or performance. Mostly, I am drawn to the quality of art as a means of translating something negative into positive, as a means of healing. And art as a language of uniting people through the language of metaphors activated by the fusion of our various senses.

How is your work different than everything out there?

I think to say that my work is different than anything else out there would be quite ignorant and too confident. Perhaps the only way I could say it is different than anything else out there is that every human, every life is a unique being and irreplicable in the sum of thier experiences, and so also my artwork when, attempted to be transcribed by someone to its last detail is impossible. We, each and every one of us has a unique life, with unique experiences that interrelate in a yet even more unique way and besides this, when we include also the perspective of the inner reality of each and every one of us then this becomes a whole new reality, non-transcribable in its entirety as we are dealing with other physical laws. One thing people have commented to me about my work is that it takes on a unique approach of combining materials and thoughts that one would not think could be combined, and that yet, the end result is luring and esthetic and thought provoking. … Click here to read more

Marcelle Murdock

Artist Q&A with Marcelle Murdock

“Sigil of Gemini”, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in | 76 x 102 cm, 2010

Why did you become an artist?

I didn’t become an artist, I just never stopped creating. I was always drawing, painting and discovering new mediums as a kid, which continued through my teen years to this day. Whenever I can learn a new medium I continue to challenge myself and try new techniques. Painting for me was always my main medium and I would spend hours of my days and nights painting, which was not only enjoyable but also a form of therapy for myself and I simply never put the paintbrush down. Creating isn’t a hobby, it’s an absolute need whether it brings me somewhere in my life or if it’s just for myself personally.

How is your work different than everything else out there?

I feel there are two main aspects of how my work is different than a lot of work I see around. The first is that I have a background in photography and photoshop, so when I create a painting I’m also treating it the way I would a digital photograph with the type of lighting I paint and the way I view the full frame. The second is the main difference which is that I don’t base the work on myself nor do I base most of the aesthetic on my personal taste either, I try to completely match the painting techniques and imagery to the style of the person I am painting a portrait of.

Marcelle Murdock, portrait by Marie Nyquist

What’s different about your current body of work?

Each of my portraits are really to honor the style, aesthetic and energy of the subject I am painting. The ideas for each … Click here to read more

Lee Harvey Roswell

Artist Q&A with Lee Harvey Roswell

“Lil’ Piggy Goes to Market”, oil on wood, 14 x 11 in | 36 x 28 cm, 2020

Why did you become an artist?

Becoming an artist seems fated to me. I’d established an early propensity towards creative activities, most specifically drawing. By the time I was a young adult making a conscious decision to be an artist I had already developed my art into a habit. So, there was never a question of why am I doing this in this formative years. Since then I suppose I’ve asked myself the question, and given myself answers, but the answers never fully cover the matter. As therapy, as a skill set I can make a living off, and as a way of contributing to a better world are all fine reasons, but beyond all that, I feel that I create art because I was meant to create art.

How is your work different than everything out there?

Well, it’s certainly not an all-consuming matter being different. If an artist finds “their voice” they will inevitably be different from others. Sure, there’s a lot of living working artists in the world today, more than ever, but creative expression is so diverse really. I can say I have been working in my craft for a good many years and people have come to recognize each work as a Lee Harvey Roswell, speaking in terms of “the new Lee Harvey Roswell,” or “it was like something out of a Lee Harvey Roswell”. So, in that I am the only artist out there making authentic Lee Harvey Roswells.

What’s different about your current body of work?

The most obvious difference in my new work is thematic. I’d already been pushing a dark take on life, and now with the pandemic, unemployment, … Click here to read more

Patricia Abramovich

Artist Q&A with Patricia Abramovich

“Psifas 2”, oil on canvas, 31 x 39 in | 80 x 100 cm, 2009

Why did you become an artist?

I always have been creative. I loved to draw from just an early age, learned to play piano and guitar, and wrote poetry as a teenager. I began to paint again at the age of 40, and it was a became a sort of obsession where I painted every free minute I had. In 2009 I published some of my paintings on several art sites, and was invited to show at the Biennale in Florence soon after. I think that is the exact time I would say I became an artist.

How is your work different than everything out there?

“Patricia Abramovich presents colorful abstract paintings, with almost sculptural strokes of frenetic color forming the basis of the painting’s composition. The oil on canvas works are performed in spectacular colors that show great boldness, expressing the personal language developed by the artist over the years, a coloristic language with an identifying character and presence. In this completely abstract and well-constructed language, the paintings are made of strokes of color, placed in an intensive process using only a spatula on the canvas.”

–Daniella Talmor

I always search for different ways and new techniques, and always painting from my imagination. Sometimes I look at inspiring landscapes, whereas other times I just put color on the canvas or paper giving my hands total freedom. It almost feels as the painting appears by itself. The moment I look at the blank surface brings an exciting feeling, as my next creation is on its way. I need to be totally in the mood with nothing around me, only my painter knife or water moving the colors on the paper. It is only me and … Click here to read more