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About Diana Wolf
Exhibitions:
2020 Aug.22 – Sept.4 , group exhibition ROTER FADEN, KreativRaum Galerie – Vienna, Austria
2020 Aug.20-24, SWISSARTEXPO-ARTBOX.PROJECT Zurich 2.0, Zurich Main Station, Switzerland
2016 Oct.-Nov., solo exhibition THE LIPS, Kaiserwasser Bank Austria Center, Vienna, Austria
2015, Oct. 16-22, group exhibition SMALL, Kunstraum SUPER,Vienna, Austria
2014 Dec.-2015 mid.Jan., one artwork show LIPS ZERO, HILLINGER, Vienna, Austria
2000, group photo exhibition, Photo club, Kiev, Ukraine
2000, group photo exhibition, Consulate of Ukraine, Dubai, UAE
1999, solo photo exhibition COLOR OF MY PHILOSOPHY, Photo Studio Fuji, Kiev, Ukraine
*Artwork LIPS has been featured @ ‘Gifts for Lovers’ Collection as part of Saatchi Art’s 2015 Gift Guide Collections http://www.saatchiart.com/art-collection/Painting-Photography-Drawing/Gifts-for-Lovers/722504/119380/view
*Artist photographs have been featured in several Ukrainian art&design magazines: ‘SALON’, ‘Photo-magazin’, ‘STOL&STUL’.
*Artworks are in private collections in Canada, Great Britain, Austria, Ukraine, Italy, Switzerland, USA
Hi Diana, thank you for joining me on Art-Is-In! Could you please tell our readers a little bit about who you are?
Hi Chriselda, I am honoured to be invited on Art-Is-In! I am a Vienna based multidisciplinary artist with the background in architecture, interior design, property and project management. I come from a family where culture was always highly appreciated. My mom is a civil engineer, my father is an architect and he taught me drawing and painting in my very childhood.
I still recall the visits to the Hermitage museum, seeing ‘Don Quixote’ ballet on the stage of Mariinski Theatre in St.Petersburg when I was 5 years old, which left an unforgettable impression on me.
I played violin professionally for 10 years in the music school and risked pursuing a musical career, but my destiny decided differently. Creativity was always present in me…
Diana Wolf
I had my first solo photo-exhibition and created women fashion collections during my university years.
What is your art style or process about?
I call my style – ‘eclectic deconstructivism ‘. The idea of fragmentation of the object into components and revitalizing it on the canvas or in sculpture, maintaining the harmony and continuity despite the loss of symmetry is crucial to most of my artworks. Through the juxtaposition of realistic and ‘disassembled’ elements and forms combined with the playful tone and vibrant color palette the recent series explores the mixed visual effects.
You do paintings, illustrations, photography and sculptures! Take us through them and which one is your most preferred art expression?
Photography was my student interest. It was exciting to explore the possibilities of objects, colors, light and shade. Finding the beauty in routine objects and landscapes surrounding us.
Gradually my interest in unleashing the possibilities of playing around with forms and volumes has brought me to drawing and more complex oil and acrylic painting, culminating into trying out the sculpture. Still my preferred way of art expression is painting .
Where does your inspiration come from?
My universe of inspiration stems from contemporary women, a specific mood, artworks of my favourite artists, architecture, cities, music, nature and especially flowers. I construct and advocate the positive aesthetics and my feminine depiction of the surrounding experiences.
Diana, you have a background in architecture and interior design. How has this influenced you when creating your own designs?
My studies and working experience as an architect and interior designer were a life-changing experience for me. History of arts and architecture, a variety of technical subjects have built the base for my way of seeing and understanding the art. In my artworks I am always intuitively applying the gained knowledge of composition, proportions, color-coordination, rhythm.
How did you learn/acquire your technique?
It all comes via sketching when the ideas pop up. As well as constant curiosity in the new materials and technologies. I am thrilled to explore the new materials – now, for instance, I am trying out epoxy resin.
How has art impacted your life?
Looking back I can definitely state that art had given me a higher sensitivity towards many cross-cultural and inter-personal aspects. Art feeds my mind and my soul. The process of creating an artwork is a sort of meditation for me.
Tell us a bit about your last work.
In my latest series I explore the relationship between shape, colour, texture, realism and abstraction. I reflected the beauty and richness of our diversity expressed in different forms. I have explored the possibilities of mixing deconstructivism and reality as a medium of the representation of reality.
I use a lot of gilding in order to make my artworks shine, sparkle and reflect the changing daylight in my customers’ interiors, just like the precious jewellery in the jewellery box.
What are you currently working on?
Something quite new is under preparation – new series of paintings for the October 2020 exhibition. The ideas that have been cooking for quite some time and new techniques will be used. I want to surprise my audience.
You seem to hold a fascination for lips! Is it true and tell us why?
My artworks often explore the relationship between contemporary women’s appearances, their strength, their fragility, their freedom and their emotions. As for me the lips are the door of the person’s sensuality. Lipstick is so often used to underline the lips as a beautiful facade of eminently personal and original aesthetics. What do we see beyond the red lips on the lips of a woman? Do we feel her vibe? Do we understand her mind?
In my artworks the sensuality, the sensation, the passionate stories of the lips are conveyed when the real shape of lips disappear within the deconstructivism in order to be discovered again…similar to the sense and the signs which are transmitted via the lipstick applied on the lips.
I love “Majestic Flamingos”! How long did it take you to complete it and what process did you go through to get it completed?
I appreciate that. This artwork is one of my favourites. It was inspired by the vacation mood and dream of visiting Cuba and seeing the Caribbean flamingos there at Río Máximo. It took me over a month to complete this artwork. Several different layers of colors have been applied to create the final surface texture and convey the feeling of these majestic birds enjoying themselves in the water.
Some of your paintings are on a round canvas? Is it more difficult and how do you manage to keep it looking so clean and elegant?
It has been a long time since I wanted to try the different shapes of canvas. Round canvas has a perfect proportion and ideal shape. Though it is harder to find the best composition on it. It requires a lot of effort to create the gilding surface. I strive for perfectionism and quite often there are two – three layers of gilding on each painting, to make it look polished and refined.
What does the future look like for you and your art?
I keep developing my art daily. Stability in creativity is the absolute necessity in reaching the goals. Currently there are several other ongoing projects in Luxemburg, China and Austria.
August 2020 is very fruitful to me, my artworks take part in two exhibitions. One is the group exhibition ROTER FADEN – in the contemporary KreativRaum Galerie in the heart of Vienna. Another one takes place in Zurich, as part of SWISSARTEXPO. Part of the funds from the sold artworks at ROTER FADEN exhibition will be donated to the Tabletochki Charity Foundation, which is fighting the child cancer in Ukraine.
Are there other artists/ architects that have influenced you and your work?
Naturally, the influence of my architectural education on me as a creative person is enormous. I admire the Soviet constructivism ( El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, Vladimir Tatlin) and the incredible balances & disbalances of deconstructivism architecture of Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry.
Another my favourite architect is the genius Antoni Gaudí. I am fascinated by the paintings of Tamara de Lempicka and Pablo Picasso, as well as Ukrainian folk art painter, representative of naïve art – Maria Prymachenko.
Some words of advice to aspiring artists.
Keep creating daily, visit museums and different exhibitions, study the history of arts. Travel, discover new countries and cultures, meet new people, read as much as you can. Look for inspiration in various fields and look with the curiosity into the future. Be courageous,persistent and never give up.
Would you like to share any more information with our readers?
I find it amazing that nowadays more and more people are interested in arts, are getting involved into cultural activities, support the emerging artists and promote creativity.
Art enriches our daily existence , broadens our horizons and refines us as personalities.
How can our readers contact you or find your art?
My art can be found at :
https://www.saatchiart.com/dkw and
Contact me at: office@dkw.gallery for inquiries.
Choose DKW art at “Saatchiart” and get 10% off on original artworks of €850+ with the special promotion code ANNIVERSARY10
An Artist Feature by Chriselda Barretto
Signup to receive a reminder to my next Artist Feature on ART-IS-IN
Check out more projects by Chriselda Barretto :
Her Blog – chriselda.blog – 
Her Podcast – The 3 Pillars – 
The Dig —
About Diana Wolf
Exhibitions:
2020 Aug.22 – Sept.4 , group exhibition ROTER FADEN, KreativRaum Galerie – Vienna, Austria
2020 Aug.20-24, SWISSARTEXPO-ARTBOX.PROJECT Zurich 2.0, Zurich Main Station, Switzerland
2016 Oct.-Nov., solo exhibition THE LIPS, Kaiserwasser Bank Austria Center, Vienna, Austria
2015, Oct. 16-22, group exhibition SMALL, Kunstraum SUPER,Vienna, Austria
2014 Dec.-2015 mid.Jan., one artwork show LIPS ZERO, HILLINGER, Vienna, Austria
2000, group photo exhibition, Photo club, Kiev, Ukraine
2000, group photo exhibition, Consulate of Ukraine, Dubai, UAE
1999, solo photo exhibition COLOR OF MY PHILOSOPHY, Photo Studio Fuji, Kiev, Ukraine
*Artwork LIPS has been featured @ ‘Gifts for Lovers’ Collection as part of Saatchi Art’s 2015 Gift Guide Collections http://www.saatchiart.com/art-collection/Painting-Photography-Drawing/Gifts-for-Lovers/722504/119380/view
*Artist photographs have been featured in several Ukrainian art&design magazines: ‘SALON’, ‘Photo-magazin’, ‘STOL&STUL’.
*Artworks are in private collections in Canada, Great Britain, Austria, Ukraine, Italy, Switzerland, USA
Hi Diana, thank you for joining me on Art-Is-In! Could you please tell our readers a little bit about who you are?
Hi Chriselda, I am honoured to be invited on Art-Is-In! I am a Vienna based multidisciplinary artist with the background in architecture, interior design, property and project management. I come from a family where culture was always highly appreciated. My mom is a civil engineer, my father is an architect and he taught me drawing and painting in my very childhood.
I still recall the visits to the Hermitage museum, seeing ‘Don Quixote’ ballet on the stage of Mariinski Theatre in St.Petersburg when I was 5 years old, which left an unforgettable impression on me.
I played violin professionally for 10 years in the music school and risked pursuing a musical career, but my destiny decided differently. Creativity was always present in me…
Diana Wolf
I had my first solo photo-exhibition and created women fashion collections during my university years.
What is your art style or process about?
I call my style – ‘eclectic deconstructivism ‘. The idea of fragmentation of the object into components and revitalizing it on the canvas or in sculpture, maintaining the harmony and continuity despite the loss of symmetry is crucial to most of my artworks. Through the juxtaposition of realistic and ‘disassembled’ elements and forms combined with the playful tone and vibrant color palette the recent series explores the mixed visual effects.
You do paintings, illustrations, photography and sculptures! Take us through them and which one is your most preferred art expression?
Photography was my student interest. It was exciting to explore the possibilities of objects, colors, light and shade. Finding the beauty in routine objects and landscapes surrounding us.
Gradually my interest in unleashing the possibilities of playing around with forms and volumes has brought me to drawing and more complex oil and acrylic painting, culminating into trying out the sculpture. Still my preferred way of art expression is painting .
Where does your inspiration come from?
My universe of inspiration stems from contemporary women, a specific mood, artworks of my favourite artists, architecture, cities, music, nature and especially flowers. I construct and advocate the positive aesthetics and my feminine depiction of the surrounding experiences.
Diana, you have a background in architecture and interior design. How has this influenced you when creating your own designs?
My studies and working experience as an architect and interior designer were a life-changing experience for me. History of arts and architecture, a variety of technical subjects have built the base for my way of seeing and understanding the art. In my artworks I am always intuitively applying the gained knowledge of composition, proportions, color-coordination, rhythm.
How did you learn/acquire your technique?
It all comes via sketching when the ideas pop up. As well as constant curiosity in the new materials and technologies. I am thrilled to explore the new materials – now, for instance, I am trying out epoxy resin.
How has art impacted your life?
Looking back I can definitely state that art had given me a higher sensitivity towards many cross-cultural and inter-personal aspects. Art feeds my mind and my soul. The process of creating an artwork is a sort of meditation for me.
Tell us a bit about your last work.
In my latest series I explore the relationship between shape, colour, texture, realism and abstraction. I reflected the beauty and richness of our diversity expressed in different forms. I have explored the possibilities of mixing deconstructivism and reality as a medium of the representation of reality.
I use a lot of gilding in order to make my artworks shine, sparkle and reflect the changing daylight in my customers’ interiors, just like the precious jewellery in the jewellery box.
What are you currently working on?
Something quite new is under preparation – new series of paintings for the October 2020 exhibition. The ideas that have been cooking for quite some time and new techniques will be used. I want to surprise my audience.
You seem to hold a fascination for lips! Is it true and tell us why?
My artworks often explore the relationship between contemporary women’s appearances, their strength, their fragility, their freedom and their emotions. As for me the lips are the door of the person’s sensuality. Lipstick is so often used to underline the lips as a beautiful facade of eminently personal and original aesthetics. What do we see beyond the red lips on the lips of a woman? Do we feel her vibe? Do we understand her mind?
In my artworks the sensuality, the sensation, the passionate stories of the lips are conveyed when the real shape of lips disappear within the deconstructivism in order to be discovered again…similar to the sense and the signs which are transmitted via the lipstick applied on the lips.
I love “Majestic Flamingos”! How long did it take you to complete it and what process did you go through to get it completed?
I appreciate that. This artwork is one of my favourites. It was inspired by the vacation mood and dream of visiting Cuba and seeing the Caribbean flamingos there at Río Máximo. It took me over a month to complete this artwork. Several different layers of colors have been applied to create the final surface texture and convey the feeling of these majestic birds enjoying themselves in the water.
Some of your paintings are on a round canvas? Is it more difficult and how do you manage to keep it looking so clean and elegant?
It has been a long time since I wanted to try the different shapes of canvas. Round canvas has a perfect proportion and ideal shape. Though it is harder to find the best composition on it. It requires a lot of effort to create the gilding surface. I strive for perfectionism and quite often there are two – three layers of gilding on each painting, to make it look polished and refined.
What does the future look like for you and your art?
I keep developing my art daily. Stability in creativity is the absolute necessity in reaching the goals. Currently there are several other ongoing projects in Luxemburg, China and Austria.
August 2020 is very fruitful to me, my artworks take part in two exhibitions. One is the group exhibition ROTER FADEN – in the contemporary KreativRaum Galerie in the heart of Vienna. Another one takes place in Zurich, as part of SWISSARTEXPO. Part of the funds from the sold artworks at ROTER FADEN exhibition will be donated to the Tabletochki Charity Foundation, which is fighting the child cancer in Ukraine.
Are there other artists/ architects that have influenced you and your work?
Naturally, the influence of my architectural education on me as a creative person is enormous. I admire the Soviet constructivism ( El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, Vladimir Tatlin) and the incredible balances & disbalances of deconstructivism architecture of Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry.
Another my favourite architect is the genius Antoni Gaudí. I am fascinated by the paintings of Tamara de Lempicka and Pablo Picasso, as well as Ukrainian folk art painter, representative of naïve art – Maria Prymachenko.
Some words of advice to aspiring artists.
Keep creating daily, visit museums and different exhibitions, study the history of arts. Travel, discover new countries and cultures, meet new people, read as much as you can. Look for inspiration in various fields and look with the curiosity into the future. Be courageous,persistent and never give up.
Would you like to share any more information with our readers?
I find it amazing that nowadays more and more people are interested in arts, are getting involved into cultural activities, support the emerging artists and promote creativity.
Art enriches our daily existence , broadens our horizons and refines us as personalities.
How can our readers contact you or find your art?
My art can be found at :
https://www.saatchiart.com/dkw and
Contact me at: office@dkw.gallery for inquiries.
Choose DKW art at “Saatchiart” and get 10% off on original artworks of €850+ with the special promotion code ANNIVERSARY10
An Artist Feature by Chriselda Barretto
Signup to receive a reminder to my next Artist Feature on ART-IS-IN
Check out more projects by Chriselda Barretto :
Her Blog – chriselda.blog –
Her Podcast – The 3 Pillars –
The Dig —
Featuring Artist # 10 – Diana Wolf
This Sunday on “chriselda.blog” on ART-IS-IN
Stay tuned…
Find the other brilliant artists in this series : HERE
About Krzysztof Ślachciak
Krzysztof (Eng. Christopher) Ślachciak, born in 1983, Poznań, Poland, is an Artist photographer and a member of The Association of Polish Art Photographers. He graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań with masters degree in Korean Studies and in Poznań University of Economics he did postgraduate studies in the field of Business to Business Marketing with thesis on advertising photography.
From 2008 he runs his own commercial photography studio. From 2011 until 2016, on the invitation of profesor Włodzimierz Włoszkiewicz, he conducted practical lessons of photography and lectures of composition for the Architecture Department’s students at the Poznań University of Technology.
From 2013 until 2016 he ran the photography section of the Artistic Science Club. At present he works for promoting artistic photography as a member of the board of The Association of Polish Art Photographers, Greater-Poland region. He also conducts his workshops and open-air events. Until now he has shown his works at more than 40 collective and solo exhibitions as well as other artistic events.
Hi Krzysztof, could you tell our readers a little bit about who you are?
Hello! My name is Chris, and I am a photographer, sometimes an artist photographer. I think that is the best line to describe me 😉
My everyday routine is commercial photography, I work with various companies helping them to get their products and services to the people they want. I live about 20 kilometers from Poznań, Poland, in quiet surroundings, close to nature, without television, with my wife and a dog. Occasionally, when I must, I become an artist. This is a time of my personal therapy, getting away from the world and closing my dilemmas. Time when I work mostly with my thoughts and eventually conceive some pictures.
Tell us about your art style or process.
From my point of view neither my process nor my art style are based on technical, or even visual aspects. I sometimes work with a medium format analog film, sometimes with a digital camera, sometimes with pinholes, I light-paint, use multi exposure, manually edit or even destroy negatives, and I use Photoshop to achieve effects of digitally edited photographs.
As a commercial photographer I am used to choosing the most appropriate means to achieve my goals. This is also the case when I work on my artistic projects and it all starts with fascination, dilemma or a problem. Then comes ideas how to put them into pictures and these pictures, when finished, tend to close the case of this fascination, problem or dilemma. After that I feel more conciliated with the world. So my artistic creation is more like spiritual experience.
You are a member of the board of The Association of Polish Art Photographers. How do you promote artistic photography?
I am a member of the board of The Association of Polish Art Photographers, Greater-Poland region to be exact. We are actually experimenting with means of promoting artistic photography right now. The key to our way of thinking is realizing that photography is not a monolith. There are a lot of completely different ways of doing artistic photography.
As you probably know, documentary and conceptual photographers are on the top nowadays, but they are not the only ones there. Also, every photographer is different and probably needs different ways of promotion. So our philosophy is not to promote one of the trends but to provide opportunities for our members to promote themselves on their own terms. We also try to show the public the diversity of trends in photography by organizing exhibitions and helping in publishing photography books, and while doing so, we try to embrace every trend our members represent. We also work online, I personally run the website, and the Facebook page of our region: http://zpafpoznan.pl
Where does your inspiration come from?
I suppose it all comes from carving my views on the world. The key factor is probably freedom. When I feel something or someone distorts my freedom, I turn around. I read a lot about science, history, religion. I like to listen to various opinions, YouTube is very helpful here, and which is not without significance, I am an atheist, so a natural septic.
From a visual point of view I do not have any specific inspirations and I sometimes, mostly during exhibitions, I find out that some of my pictures resemble historic art, which is never my intention. Having said that I must admit I admire works of subjective artist photographers, and I consider myself to be influenced by their work a lot. I am also influenced by paintings. Mostly because I evolved as an artist surrounded by painters and sculptures.
Tell us about other artists/role-models or books that played a key role on your artistic journey.
Having a role-model is very dangerous. If you like to be like someone else, it means that you are in some way copying them, making the same mistakes, you’re susceptible to manipulation, and moreover you are not fully independent.
So there are photographers whose body of works I admire, and that would be mostly Polish artists: Stanisław Woś, Edward Hartwig, Zdzisław Beksiński, and the one you might have heard of: Bronisław Schlabs. From let’s say World history of art: Minor White, Otto Steinert, Helmut Newton for sure and some still life works by Edward Weston.
You also conduct workshops and open-air events. Could you tell us something about this?
Sure. A couple of times a year I am asked to conduct workshops. They mostly explore my technical abilities, which are a part of my commercial photography, but sometimes I am invited to talk about my artistic practice.
I am a former lecturer, I worked at Poznań University of Technology, Architecture Department, where I ran an artistic science club for students interested in photography and I have conducted practical lessons and lectures of composition. So, I am quite used to talking to people, and I enjoy it.
How did you learn/acquire your technique?
I am self-taught photographer, so I learn everything by experimenting and reading books on a subject, sometimes using YouTube tutorials. But that’s it. I have no formal education neither in arts or in photography.
How has art impacted your life?
On an everyday basis it is shaped on how I perceive creativity. When someone calls a saturated landscape, or wedding reportage an art, I say “yeah right”, ironically of course. Art also gives me opportunity to blow off some existential steam. In a similar way that church gives it to it’s believers I suppose…but in my case the rules are mine.
Tell us a bit about your last work.
My last work was conceived in a little different way. This time it all started with music. I have found a band which plays music and I thought it would work perfectly with some of my works. So I decided to offer a collaboration, and they agreed. They were working on a new album, so it was also an opportunity to do something together.
I did a cover photo session for them with one of my favorite models. They chose a picture, I prepared it, and in the album book they used my works from “Cosmic Perspective” series. So the cooperation was very successful. I later stated on my Facebook, that it was “a step towards immortality”. However, as I worked with a post production of the cover photo, I realized that this is a good start for something I had always wondered about, and I had been always interested in. Moreover, it is a topic which is included in a concept of this album – future of technology and humanity.
That’s how “Post Sapiens” series came to be, and the album which triggered it is titled “Post Sapiens 101” by Abstrakt Band. I highly recommend their music. Its awesome!
What is your current WIP?
I am currently in a relaxed mode and don’t have any WIP right now.
What does the future look like for you and your art?
In the long term – I just don’t know. In a short term – I am working towards a big solo show in the city of Poznań which I plan for the first part of 2020. There is a lot to do, and a lot of money to gather for it. And I will be hosting, live, Abstrakt during a reception party. There is also a plan for an album or some kind of a listen-book with my works and Abstrakt’s music.
Any words of advice to aspiring artists?
Make your own decisions. Be independent, be yourselves. It needs some courage, and it may make you sometimes feel miserable, but if it works, it really works.
Your photography is absolutely stunning! Which project has been the most difficult or satisfying?
Thanks. The most difficult was definitely “Mara”. It took me 2 years to finish and I couldn’t get rid of it out my head during that time. It’s also the most successful series of mine. It has been exhibited 7 times in the most prestigious galleries, that my works have ever been exhibited.
So in that perspective it’s also the most satisfying. But personally for me, to watch and to be proud of the achieved effect is “Cosmic Perspective”. It’s quite difficult for viewers, but, you know – the Universe is not there to satisfy your aesthetics, nor the art is.
Would you like to share any more information with our readers?
Don’t get me started 😉
How can our readers contact you or find your art?
Everything is on my website, also links to my social media:
http://impurephotography.eu
An Artist Feature by Chriselda Barretto
Contact Krzysztof directly with the code “CHRISELDA” to get 10% off his work
Signup to receive a reminder to my next Artist Feature on ART-IS-IN
Contact : Chriselda Barretto
Check out more projects by Chriselda Barretto :
Her Blog – chriselda.blog
Her Podcast – The 3 Pillars
Coming soon to -chriselda.blog!
About Javier Casanueva
Javier Casanueva was born in Avila the 17th April of 1995. He graduated in Fine Arts at Salamanca´s University. That degree allowed him to study the Painting Master of the Basque Country University, Bilbao and later to continue studying his PHD.
His first exhibition was in Avila, at the Jose Hierro´s exhibition hall, in the Episcopio, when Javier was 21. Commemorating that exhibition the book “Shapeless” was published. In that book, Javier collaborated with the poet José María Muñoz Quirós, which lead to a close friendship. They have since collaborated on many other occasions in the magazine called “El Cobaya” and in other publications, like the “2017 Poetic Round of Ávila”.
Since the first exhibition, Javier Casanueva has done three more solo exhibitions in different cities, like Vitoria and Pontevedra, and has participated in some collective shows, like the Painting Biennial of Ourense or “Caminos y duendes” – an exhibition where other participants included Jesús Mari Lazkano, Joseba Eskubi and Genoveva Linaza, to name a few.
Recently, Javier has worked as an Invited Artist at the Bodin KDA Skole, Bodo, Norway; where he taught a Creative Painting Workshop and made a benefit auction with his painting to assist the center with their humanitarian work.
Hi Javier, could you tell our readers a little bit about who you are?
Well, I am Javier Casanueva. I was born in Ávila, a small city close to Madrid, Spain. Since I was a child I have been always interested in drawing, painting and anything I could do with my hands; so I studied the Art Degree at Salamanca´s University.
Currently I live in Bilbao, where I´m doing my PHD studies that I combine with my exhibitions and art production.
Tell us about your art style or process.
I started painting landscapes, so there´s where everything started. If you look at my first series, Shapeless and BrokenShapes, you will find abstractions that are almost landscapes. After that I started to go deeper in meta-painting, I mean, gestures, textures and composition, so I took some distance with the nature. Now I am more into pure abstraction, close to minimalism.
About the process, I paint in an impulsive way. I usually start and finish pictures without pauses, just observing the changes that appear in the surface of the canvas and working on them. Then I reach a point when I feel is finished.
You have collaborated with the poet José María Muñoz Quirós for the book “Shapeless”. Could you share this experience with us?
José María was my teacher when I was 14. He is an important poet here in Spain and I have always admired him. When I was preparing my first exhibition, I invited him to my studio, and we decided to make a book with his poems and my pictures. The experience was great because we shared most of the process and pieces, fitting and creating new things.
It was so good that for my second exhibition at Ávila, “La Pompa Negra” (The black bubble), we decided to make another book, “black and white”, where you can find one of my texts talking about painting, pictures, drawings and of course José´s poems.
We have also collaborated in different art magazines and we are preparing a big project for the 100 years from Miguel Delibes birth. Collaborating with him is always great, I learn a lot and have fun also.
Where does your inspiration come from?
I understand inspiration like a part of the work. I remember a phrase from Pablo Picasso, who said: “Inspiration comes, but it must catch you working”. My inspiration comes from the own process of painting.
Tell us about other artists/role-models or books that played a key role on your artistic journey.
I have a lot of reference artists, from the great artist like Rothko to teachers I had at the University, like Joseba Eskubi. One artist who changed my way of seeing art and image was José Ramón Amondarain. Blinky Palermo is a great artist to look at too.
Talking about books and theory; Antonio Machado and his writings about intra-time are a pillar of my thinking. Gilles Deleuze has also great books about painting. Ortega y Gasset has an essay talking about Diego Velázquez that has also impacted me. There is a lot of great books I have read for my PHD, I couldn’t choose just a few of them.
Javier, you have worked as an invited Artist at the Bodin KDA Skole, Bodo – Norway, teaching a Creative Painting Workshop? Could you tell us something about this?
Yes. This was something amazing, definitely one of my best experiences. All started when I went to Norway with my family to visit a friend who lives there. On that trip I visited the Bodin KDA Skole and the quality of Norwegian education surprised me, so I started to talk with the school to plan the workshop. I based the classes on the creative process of the students and we made a little exhibition with the works at the school. In addition, I made a painting for the school in order to do a benefit auction. I hope to go back again soon, but my PHD also takes up a lot of my time.
How did you learn/acquire your technique?
I started painting and drawing classes when I was five or six years old in a small academy. When I was 11, I started to go to the Ávila´s Autonomic Art School, where my three teachers taught me a lot. Later with the Art Degree and with a lot of practice I learnt the rest.
How has art impacted your life?
Art changes any life. I am thinking about my series, my concepts and looking for more and more, all day . I think that art gives you a different point of view and it is a job totally different to any other. I can’t explain it, but other artists will tell you the same.
Tell us a bit about your last work.
My last finished work is Beltza. Well, I want to continue with it, but trough sculpture. Beltza means black in Basque. I was looking for the painting that is not image at all. The purest abstraction trying to find a way to reconnect with the primitivism of the human being, investigating about painting as a human fact.
What is your current WIP?
As I said, I am working with José María Muñoz Quirós for the 100 years from Delibes birth. I´m going back to landscape through the humanism and intimism of the author. We are doing a reflection about Delibes work using painting, drawing and poems. You will see more soon, at this moment I only can say that it will be a book and two exhibitions, but we are talking with the promoters and still working on it.
What does the future look like for you and your art?
My closer personal project is the thesis. I want to finish my PHD because I love to teach and I would like to be a University Teacher in the future. For my art, I am preparing two exhibitions for the Delibes projects and I am also investigating with sculpture and installation. It is difficult to imagine a far future because I work on it daily and changes are very progressive.
Any words of advice to aspiring artists?
My first advice is to be patient. Art is something really complex and needs lot of time to develop the skills and the knowledge that it requires. But being patient also means to be a hard worker; you need to be focused and accept critique.
My second advice is to enjoy. Art is a marvelous world, don’t miss the process looking at the goal.
Your art is amazing! Which project has been the most difficult or satisfying?
Beltza. It was hard to find a balance between esthetic and using black with no mixture, but it was also the most satisfying.
Would you like to share any more information with our readers?
Just tell them to keep an eye on this year 2020. Great things are coming on the projects.
How can our readers contact you or find your art?
They can see my finished projects at my website: www.javiercasanueva.com
If they prefer to see my daily work, they can follow me on Instagram: @javiercasanuevaartist
And if they have any questions or are interested in my art, they can find me at:
javiercasanuevart@gmail.com
Also, if they like a work on my website and it´s sold, or is too big or too small…I take orders too, so I can make something similar for them.
An Artist Feature by Chriselda Barretto
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I am so happy to introduce ART-IS-IN’s first young, upcoming and super talented artist “Michael Nette” – Discover more about him and his art below…
About Michael Nette
Michael Nette is an 18-year-old Photographer based in Melbourne Australia. He graduated High school last year and is now studying Photography at a tertiary level and starting his career as a photographer. He considers himself a portrait photographer primarily , but he also shoots landscapes and more recently wildlife.
Hi Michael…Could you tell our readers a little bit about who you are?
I come from a family of artists. My father is musical but it’s through my mother that I developed my love for photography. My sister is a musician and my brother is also quite musical. One of my grandfathers was a painter and sculptor and my other grandfather was a potter. One of my grandmothers was a theatre performer, and further back in my family tree I have more painters and an author. So artistry seems to be in my genes. It was in Year 10 (2016) that I began taking photography seriously. And as my secondary schooling progressed, photography was really the only thing I connected with. After leaving school, photography has become more about self-expression and creativity, discovering and enjoying colour, shape and tone – as well as the technical side of digital editing. For me it’s all about exploration and emotion, which I feel is evident in my work.
What is your art style or process about?
Portraiture when it comes to portraits is hard to pin my work in one style as I love to express my emotions through creative angles and vivid colours. Part of my process is keeping the essence of my model inside the image so I generally try to keep posing looking natural and maintaining a connection throughout the shoot, otherwise the model can appear cold and disinterested. It is important to stay focused on the image you want while taking it and just as important to keep the model focused. Wildlife Wildlife photography is so fascinating to me because we get to see the sides of animals we would otherwise never get to in day to day life. When I shoot wildlife my aim is to show the animals personality and the individuality of each animal because most people don’t tend to think of each animal as an individual and mainly just what species it is.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from a few different sources; one being social media – I tended to gravitate more towards portrait photographers when I first started out and since then I have reached out to a few of the photographers that really inspired me and have since become friends. I also draw inspiration from other forms of media such as movies, books and a lot of time I find ideas in day to day conversations.
Have there been other artists/role-models or books that played a key role on your artistic journey?
Brandon Woelfel was the first big inspiration for me as in his portraits he creates a very magical feel in day to day places. When I saw his “before and afters” of his editing it really put into perspective how he does his work and the power of editing. Another photographer I have taken a lot of inspiration from is Drue Schnelle (@druephoto). Drue was one of the first people to respond back to me when I reached out and he answered the questions I had about portrait photography and helped me out a lot over the past 6 months. His photos are very creative, and he loves to play with angles and reflections so I could definitely relate to his style. The third biggest inspiration for me would be David Attenborough’s Earth documentaries (Planet Parth, Our Earth etc.) as the cinematography is phenomenal and it really inspires me to take wildlife photos while also teaching me a lot about what angles are good to shoot from and how to properly interact with animals to help create the image I am after. a few more inspirational Photographers: @brandontonlu – @benjammixn – @rye_whiskey – @BEACASSO – @masashi_wakui
How did you learn/acquire this technique?
I learnt a lot from Kai Wong (@kaimanwong) through youtube and A LOT of trial and error with various types of photography. I started out taking a lot of photos of flowers and nature by experimenting from different angles and environments. After I felt like I had taken enough photos of flowers I began to experiment with portraiture by going to the city with a few of my friends and getting them to model for me, which was a lot of fun as neither of us really knew what we were doing. Since that first shoot I was constantly curious to what I could do with portraiture so I was always asking my friends if we could do a photoshoot together and eventually I started to get the hang of it and in the process I learnt how to work with models and the importance of keeping them comfortable, how to bring out the emotion I want out of my model and how to think creatively about the space that we are in to really get every angle.
Has art impacted your life and how so?
I have always appreciated art and liked going to galleries when I was younger but over the last 2 years art has really taken over my life (in the best way). Photography has taught me how to see differently and how to view art artforms from a creator point of view rather than an audience point of view, and what I mean by that is I will think about how they created it and the emotion behind the art work rather than purely the art itself. I find that once you start creating art (of any form) you begin to see other artforms differently as art is just as much about the artist than it is the art.
Tell us a bit about your last work.
My latest work was inspired by masashi wakui where I went to the city for some street photography and my theme was to have a red umbrella in each image to link them and to tell a story. The shoot was very successful and I found a new love for street photography so hopefully you can see more in the future.
What is your current WIP?
Most recently I am beginning to expand my brand and split my business into 3 sections. I will be starting an online print store where I will be selling my street ,landscape and potentially wildlife photography prints. I will be continuing to do private portrait sessions which will generally be more on the creative side (depending on client) and I will be diving into the world of product photography by doing contract advertisement work for businesses. If you want to stay updated you can follow me on Instagram or twitter @miggmedia or check out my website to which I will be updating over the next few months.
What does the future look like for you and your art?
I am very inspired to work in all kinds of photography (portrait, wildlife, landscape, product) so the future of my art will be very versatile. Hopefully at the rate I am currently learning, the future is bright for my artwork and since I am only 18 and starting my business, I feel as if I have a bit of a head start moving forward in my career. I hope I can continue to grow as a person and an artist and obtain the success that I strive for.
Any words of advice to aspiring artists?
The best advice I can give is to study your artform. Do this by following likeminded people, watch videos on youtube about the aspects you want to learn about and most importantly CREATE! The best thing you can do as an artist is to create, no matter your skill level you must gain experience and the only way to do so is to put in the time and effort to create. Go out and take photos of things that catch your eye. Go into nature and bring a canvas and paints and just paint what you see or even what your feel. You can create art in your bedroom,studio,garden or even at the top of a mountain. Stop creating excuses and start creating art.
How can our readers contact you or find your art?
You can contact me via twitter or Instagram @miggmedia or send me an email: miggmedia.michael@gmail.com
Also find me at www.miggmedia.com
An Artist Feature by Chriselda Barretto
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