musetouchVisual Arts Magazine December 2010

Mark Sadan

On the Unbearable Beauty of Existence

An Exclusive Interview

musetouch.net

Gines Serran

A Wizard of ArtAn Exclusive Interview

Vukica Mikača Lovren

Mirrors

Dejan BogojevićNicole PfundAdam Miller

Kiyo MurakamiMax SaucoTina Spratt

Johanna Knauer

musetouch 2

Dear readers,

I proudly present to you, the fifth edition of Musetouch Visual Arts Magazine.

I would like to dedicate this edition to one special lady, whose life story has inspired me, given me strength and courage when I most needed it. To beautiful, talented and brave Ljiljana Bursac, painter and president of the Art Forum and to wish her happiness and many exhibitions in the future.

The year that has passed has been exciting, passionate and revealing in many different ways, and the best thing, the fruit of my passion, my fan-tasies, wishes and dreams, Musetouch showed up.I want to thank to all of you for your interest and support, to my dear friends, my strength and bliss, Gines Serran, Mark Sadan, Jelena Grujic, Nini Baseema and Ian Furniss, and to beautiful Vukica Mikaca Lovren for her faith in me and this magazine.There is so much to write, so many feelings...but sometimes even I lose my words...I think that the pages that follow will tell you more...

Happy New Year...may it be wonderful, creative and...mysterious:)

Maia Sylba

In celebration of the New Year Musetouch is proud to present to you the special edition dedicated to photography.

Visit us on December 22nd and download it for free!

Layer Studios is offering beautiful web sites, online galleries and presentations, blogs and FB fan page designs, at affordable

prices, uniquely designed by Maia Sylba

contact: maiasylba@gmail.comskype: maiasylba

www.layerstudios.com

musetouch 6

MUSETOUCH MAGAZINE December 2010

EditorMaia Sylba

Graphic designerDejan Silbaski

ContributorsNini Baseema

Ian Furniss

MUSETOUCH is a magazine about visual arts. It has been created by Maia Sylba out of a love and passion

for art with the hope that people will be able to use the publication and website as a platform to showcase

their skills and gain recognition.

Facebook facebook.com/musetouchvisualartsmagazine

Twitter twitter.com/musetouchmag

Linkedin linkedin.com/in/maiasylba

Mail maiasylba@gmail.com

Submission Guideline

If you want to contribute to the next edition, you can send us an email with your data and a PDF file that

shows your works, also a link of your website if you have any.

We would love to see your art so don’t hesitate to contact us and welcome.

All artwork in this magazine is copyright protected under the MUSETOUCH Magazine brand or remains

property of the individual artists who have kindly granted us permission to use their work.

musetouch 7

Vukica Mikača LovrenMirrors

008

Johanna KnauerEvoking Feelings

086Gines SerranA Wizard of Art

020Kiyo MurakamiDreams and Old Memories

040

Dejan BogojevićArarat

100Nicole PfundImaginary World

114Mark SadanOn the Unbearable Beauty ofExistence

054

Tina SprattA Sense of Mystery

128Adam MillerRising Star of Realism

074

Max SaucoMasks Off

146

musetouch 8

Vukica Mikača Lovren

Vukica Mikača, Art photographer and Free-lance photographer, lives and works in Belgrade. Member of ULUPUDS (The Serbian Association of Artists in Applied Arts and Design). vukicam@yahoo.com

musetouch 9

Vukica Mikača Lovren MirrorsIf it was not for photography or for mirrors no one would know who they are or what they look like

Mirrors – Confronting the Self

While leaving out the recognizable subject, the photographs of Vukica Mikača, at first sight seem ambiguous and enigmatic. They are characterized by a range of decora-tive themes of stylized flowers which shine with an intensive shade of yellow, blue and green on a dark and abstract background. The gaze of the beholder, who is so used to the stereotypes common in figurative content of reportage-photography, is powerfully pulled into a game taking place in the Hall of Mirrors. According to the rules of this game, the observer firstly has to reject the every-day habits of simply glancing over im-ages. Thanks to the photos of Vukica Mikača, every glance is returned to the beholder, like a boomerang. Every gaze, only after it is multiplied many times in the different reflections of the Berlin Hall of Mirrors, irrespective of how transient and temporal it may have seemed, is forever captured in the photographic image. And a photograph is always ready to tell a story. There is no photography without visual content, but every photograph is accompanied by a narrative, a story which complements it. The word and the image, that is, the image and the word, are inextricably linked, because they don’t function that well without one other.

Mirror neurons, which are increasingly gaining attention in debates in scientific jour-nals, create an aesthetic experience which is further built upon by unexpected physical reactions. 1 Recent research has demonstrated that that key moment of visual commu-nication and aesthetic experience of the observer entails the activation of mental pro-cesses that is mirror neurons. The process of observing artistic scenes, leads to a simu-lation of emotions and physical sensations, causing empathy, as well as corresponding

musetouch 10

physical reactions. If it has been reliably ascertained that when the observer faces the fa-mous sculpture of Michelangelo’s Atlas, this causes a certain group of muscles contract, then it can be assumed that the eye of the beholder, at least partially, tries to simulate and reconstruct the photographic illusion of the Berlin Hall of Mirrors, which fascinat-ed Vukica Mikača so much so that she created a whole series of photographs.Mirrors/Confronting the Self. The photographs from this series share that exclusive and exciting aesthetic experience of multiplied reflections, causing the observers to, thanks to their own mirror neurons, virtually experience the encounter with multiple mir-rors. All of us shall thus be vigorously pulled into the giddy play of the Hall of Mirrors, thanks to the hidden processes of empathy and feeling which are established during the exploration of works of art, which are in this case Vukica Mikača’s photographs.

The artist, and indirectly each observer of these photographs, is forced to confront oneself and to witness the multiplication and the fragmenting of reflections of the self in the myriad of mirrors. These representations and the torn fractions of existence are deconstructed and dispersed on the shiny surfaces of the mirrors/photographs. Vukica Mikača has shown us that the photograph acts as a mirror, and this characteristic is especially dramatic when it is found in the Hall of Mirrors. A photograph is essentially, a reflection, a throw-away mirrored image on the screen of a digital camera. The self in the mirror, or on the photograph of a mirror, and indeed on the screen of a camera, is not some kind of stable and fixed knowledge or a fact about the object, but – first and foremost – it is a ray of light. The light to which the object is exposed to is a deceived re-flection in the play of the Hall of Mirrors.

dr Milanka Todić

musetouch 11

musetouch 12

musetouch 13

musetouch 14

musetouch 15

musetouch 16

musetouch 17

musetouch 18

musetouch 19

musetouch 20

Gines Serran A Wizard of Art

serran-paganart.com

musetouch 21

A Wizard of ArtArt is not only a way of life but a way to be free.

The artist Ginés Serrán-Pagán has devoted his life to his work and to the defense of human rights. He spent most of his life in New York. Today he lives between Europe, Asia and America. He began his career thirty years ago and to date has had more than one hundred fifty exhibits worldwide. Recently, the mayor of Miami presented him with the keys to the city in recognition of his outstanding work on behalf of humanity. A retrospective of his work was exhibited in Miami’s Wynwood Art District during the summer of 2010.

Before arriving at artistic creation, you first studied anthropology and worked as a researcher for many years. How did your interest in art arise?

Indeed, my first contact with artistic creation was through anthropology. Although I am still interested in the field, I left my work as anthropologist and researcher long ago.

When did the anthropologist join hands with the artist?

I think that anthropology and art joined hands when I began defending the rights of indigenous peoples and Native communities. That is when I confronted a harsh reality-the world in which they live; the problems of resources, unemployment, alcoholism, marginalization; the danger of extinction of their language and culture. This does not only happen in the United States, but also in the rest of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. I realized that I couldn’t express that world with a pen, with words. So, I initiated a kind of catharsis in my work and in my life. One day I started doing pen-and-ink drawings and I realized that these first strokes had substance, that a language was being born. I still didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was the result of my internal rebellion.

musetouch 22musetouch 22

My work began at that moment. In the beginning, I did not reflect on the origin and evolution of my work; however, critics and journalists started doing so. Misao Itoh, a Japanese journalist, analyzed the path of my first pieces and saw that there was cor-respondence among these and the work I had done as an anthropologist and defender of human rights. Bear in mind that when I arrived in New York to study at the age of twenty-one, I had been in a kibbutz in Israel; I had been living in Africa and I had been working with very needy communities, particularly with Arab communities. When I arrived in New York, I found myself with minorities, especially Hispanics with inter-rupted studies who in the seventies came to the big city from their countries to work in factories, earning very little. So, a group of professors and I established an adult education school in lower Manhattan, in which we prepared these people to receive a high school diploma, a GED, or the equivalent, so that they could leave the factories. We started out preparing four people, and in a few years we were working with 1,500 people. Based on that experience, I wrote several textbooks that are pioneers in the field of Hispanic adult education in the United States. I was not only involved with the edu-cational aspect but also with the social problems they encountered in their communi-ties and I began defending their rights. I also defended the rights of North American indigenous minorities after coming into contact with Cree Indians during a trip by canoe to the Hudson Bay. That is how I began a labor with no political agenda, because I have never belonged to any political party.Later on, the UN hired me as a consultant and sent me to Mexico. I was there for al-most three years, carrying out a project I developed to reduce maternal-infant mortal-ity in Oaxaca, Puebla and Nayarit. In Mexico I met very interesting people like Rufino Tamayo, who introduced me to my mentor, the Japanese sculptor Kyoshi Takahashi. I also met Fernando Botero [and] Cristina Galvéz and became closely acquainted with the oeuvre of Francisco Toledo. Direct contact with the problems of indigenous com-munities made me realize that I could not express what I felt with mere words. That is how the world of art reached me, as a reaction to what I was witnessing. It did not come to me through an art school, or by copying Picasso or Van Gogh. It did not reach me through prevailing currents of thought; rather, it came to me through life experience. In my oeuvre, anthropology is combined with art. My painting is born and flows freely, without following any artist, style or specific technique.

musetouch 23musetouch 23

musetouch 24

musetouch 25

What is your creative process? Tell me about the techniques you utilize.

I started using a technique out of necessity, out of the need to create while traveling and working in different locations. I started laying canvas over canvas. As opposed to other artists who have utilized textures, like Tamayo, Burri, Antoni Tàpies, Dubuffet, I started utilizing the texture resulting from the superimposition of canvas over canvas, the superimposition of rope, papier-mâché, modeling paste. This gives the piece a flexibil-ity that allows me to roll it up and carry it wherever I like. I wouldn’t be able to do this were I to use marble powder or sand. I began using this technique because I was not satisfied with traditional media and materials. On one occasion when the walls of my house were being painted, I started experimenting with an old curtain. When I glued it on canvas, I discovered a new possibility. This use of canvas also comes from my expe-rience of living in North American indigenous communities, in tepees, above all when I was living with Sioux Indians in South Dakota, with whom I established a very close relationship. Russell Means, their chief, even adopted me as his brother in 1992 and I am the godfather of his youngest son. The language of an artist arises from require-ments dictated by his environment. Necessity led me to create my technique.In this way the world of art imbued me, becoming an instrument that allowed me to express myself through abstract and expressionist language. It was precisely Misao Itoh who discovered that in my first works there was an evolution. In one of my first pieces, I drew an Australopithecus skull. In a second drawing, I painted the skull but I filled it with screws and industrial items. The figure that followed it was a box, a rectangle. When I first created these three works, I didn’t give them much thought. However, this critic discovered that the box began repeating itself in my oeuvre. She inferred that as a result of my experience as an anthropologist, I see the world, society, as being enclosed in a box, and I try to create freedom in that box by breaking it. The only dif-ference between a piece I create in the United States and another I create in Spain or in Africa is that I become integrated into the culture of the people. I usually go to Native communities and live amongst them, and from there I take some colors, some feelings, something that belongs to that place. This is a kind of rejection of the commercialism of art in Soho, in Paris, in Madrid, in the snobbish galleries where one must follow the popular trends that sell the most.

musetouch 26

I try to live art, to think that all of those communities in which I have lived have given me a creative force, which I believe the West has lost. I go back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when Picasso had to be inspired by African cultures because art was dying in Paris, when Gauguin had to go to Tahiti, and Pollock was influenced by Native American culture. I understand that attitude and I view my thirty-year body of work as an oeuvre of pure liberty.

Do you view observing original cultures as an alternative that allows artists to find a solution to the creative crisis confronting the world of art today?

I can tell you that I respect the language of each artist and each one expresses himself as best he can. There are always currents in the world of art and in philosophical thinking; however, we must consider that art is not merely conceptual. Creativity goes beyond ra-tionality. There is temporal art that responds to trends, but that art is fleeting. Definitive art carries a message, which may be in harmony with its time and may extend beyond.Currently with the Internet, an art work can be in few seconds available for anyone in the world to see. Previously, in Picasso’s time, or Van Gogh’s, artists were not compet-ing with a million artists. Today, we enter Google and find artists from all over the world-from Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia, Ghana, or Nigeria. Since 1989, my first exhibition in India, I have had more than seventy exhibitions in Asia. When I arrived to work in Japan and other countries of Asia, I knew nothing about the art that was being created there. It appeared that the world of art was in New York or Paris. What a mistake! There I found great masters. In China I was invited to speak at art academy conferences, and I would say to them: “What can I teach you? The only thing I can tell you is that you should be free and not be so technical. Let the work speak for itself; let it set the standards.” In the West we are blind and we don’t see what is there. We are very arrogant; we believe that we are the ones who set the standards. However, we are really fools who don’t realize that we must learn from these artists. There is inexhaust-ible creative wealth in these cultures. We must tell the art world that it has to go beyond its own little world of fairs, of snobbism, and we must teach collectors that the artist is as important as his oeuvre. In the West, museums and galleries attach greater value to the work that can be sold than to the artist, his life and drama. Were it not for the

musetouch 27

“Waiting for you”, New York 2000, painting donated to Musetouch Magazine

musetouch 28

musetouch 29

circumstances surrounding the creative process, works of art would not exist. I can state proudly that I have never sold myself or my freedom. What I have created has come from within, and I have contributed my work to people in need. Art is one more instrument. I have donated works on behalf of many causes in five continents. Recently in Madrid, I donated works to an auction benefiting the children of Sudan; in Fort Lau-derdale I donated works on behalf of the Cancer Society. I have donated to indigenous peoples in North America; I have donated in the Philippines, Japan, and China. At the moment I m trying to support 350 AIDs orphans at the Williams Hill School in Uganda, to ensure a sustainable future for them. The project could become a pilot-sam-ple to be follow in other communities of Africa. I don’t do it in exchange for anything. The art world is very different from the worlds of business and politics… Aside of having exhibitions and hanging my paintings and sculptures in galleries and museums around the world …, if I can as an artist reduce misery and suffering, change the lives of people, improve better human and social conditions, support projects en-suring a sustainable future for children and people in need, then Art makes sense to me and definitely it is worth it to be an Artist.

It is very interesting to hear you speak about Chinese artists. Much of the Chinese contemporary art we have seen recently at fairs and in museums is by artists who are copying Francis Bacon, American hyperrealists, and Chagall. So, we ask ourselves: Why, if China has an infinite cultural heritage, do these artists look obsessively to Western art? The answer is obvious: because that is what sells.

This question is very interesting. The big mistake many communities make is that they imitate the standards of the centers of power instead of creating from within. Those communities that try to copy prevailing currents of thought are mistaken. Here, the interesting thing is that they can assimilate those currents and adapt them to their culture but continue creating from their own culture. The Chinese have such a rich culture in ink, in pictorial works combined with words, with language, that they don’t have to copy anybody. I even created a series of paintings inspired by this tradition. It pays homage to poets such as Tagore; the poets of the Tang and Sung Dynasties: Li Bai/ Li Po, Wang Wei, Li Qinzhao, Su Tung Po, …; the Japanese poet Ōtomo no Yakamochi,

musetouch 30

among others. Chinese artists can incorporate Bacon, Picasso, or Pollock, but their work should evolve from within their own culture and in this way they can advance their art. No artist from these communities should view himself as lagging behind be-cause he doesn’t create art that is in vogue.In the world there are thousands of sculptors, painters, ceramists, but not all of them are artists. There are few artists … Art is a way of life; it goes beyond a “profession,” nor is it a pastime. True art is definitive art and it can be very different from the commercial or non-commercial art exhibited by the whim or caprice of many art dealers and cura-tors in countless galleries and museums. A great part of the commercial world of art is pure speculation.

Where did the idea for the retrospective in Miami come from?

It was Nina Torres Fine Art Gallery’s initiative. We organized the retrospective after I unveiled my sculpture The Union of the World in Miami. Mayor Tomás Regalado inaugurated it and I was given the keys to the city, which I think I don’t deserve but nevertheless accept with much honor since to reject such a gesture is more an act of ar-rogance. This exhibition at Nina Torres Fine Art assembled works I created in India, Ja-pan, New York, Spain, Mexico, China, and Australia …, in different parts of the world. Each piece in this retrospective has a unique history.

I would like to know more about the project Monument to World Peace: The Union of the World, which has led to the installation of a major sculpture of yours at Mary Brickell Village. Why did you turn to Greek mythology as inspiration for this piece?

This project arose upon my return to Spain, after having lived for more than thirty years in New York and in various places around the world. I returned with two debts. The first was to my father. I wanted to publish a diary he had left [chronicling] his trip around the world in 1928 aboard the ship Juan Sebastián Elcano. Among many other places, my father had been in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, San Francisco, New York, Johannesburg, Australia, Fiji, Cuba, etc. I published my father’s diary in homage to him. It includes a prologue by a descendent of Christopher Columbus with whom I

musetouch 31

musetouch 32

musetouch 33

became very friendly. The second debt was to my city, Ceuta. I felt that I had to repay its citizenry in some way by helping to improve its economy. When I started studying the history of Ceuta, I discovered that it had been a very significant place during the Greek and Roman empires. Ceuta had been considered one of the columns of Hercules, along with Gibraltar. It had also been mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, and accord-ing to Plato it had been the site of Atlantis. I demonstrated the value of that historic and cultural past to the Ceuta government. That richness had to be exploited. At first, there weren’t enough resources to create a sculpture, but eventually we obtained them. I made mud molds and cast the sculpture in Asia. That is how I created The Pillars of Hercules. While creating this work of Hercules separating the continents, I realized that I had never wanted to separate anything. Then I created The Union of the World, in which the hero appears [to be] uniting the columns. This is the largest work based on classical mythology in the world today. I realized that this was also a monument to peace. My idea is to place this sculpture in twelve places throughout the world in order to carry a message of hope, above all for generations of people who have lived with war for many years in Jerusalem, Kabul, Baghdad, and Cairo. I also want to place it in other important cities such as Geneva, Oslo, Tokyo and Moscow. It is important that projects like this could be promoted; that collectors, politicians, businessmen educate themselves about the world of art; and that artists be supported and protected. Art is the only thing that remains as a vestige of the passage of human-kind; it is the only thing that survives. Political, economic, and philosophical systems become obsolete sooner or later; art and culture, however, remain.

MS

musetouch 34

musetouch 35

musetouch 36

“THE ROAD TO PEACE”

Ginés Serrán, “Monument to World Peace: The Union of the World,” Bronze, 26x20x8feet, 17.600 lb

musetouch 37

Artist: Ginés Serrán

Title: “The Monument to World Peace: The Union of the World”

Dimensions / Weight: 800x5.85x2.50 meters, 8,000 kg/ 26x20x8 feet / 17,600 lb

Technique / Life Time: To create the sculpture, the artist made the mouldings in clay and fibber glass which would allow the sculpture to be reproduced. The foundry is done in bronze. The estimate life time of the sculpture is between 8,000 to 10,000 years.

Characteristics: It is the largest bronze sculpture of Classic Mythology in the World.

Significance: In the same way the “Statue of Liberty” is a symbol of Freedom, the “Mon-ument to World Peace” aims to be a symbol of Peace.

History: Since Phidias and Cares created in Greece more than twenty centuries ago the figures of “Zeus” and the “Colossus of Rhodes,” both of them destroyed by an earth-quake and by fire, no other sculpture has been created of such a magnitude.

Inspired by the legend “The Pillars of Hercules,” the artist has created this monumental sculpture where the hero instead of separating “the columns of the world” is uniting them as a symbol of Peace.

Aim: Most people around the world share a common feeling: to achieve Peace. The Monument expresses this universal desire to live in a peaceful world. It also carries a hope and an educational message to the younger generations. A reproduction of this sculpture aims to be placed in some of the most important cities of the world.

“The Road to Peace”: The cities of Miami, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Hong Kong, Moscow, Tokyo, New Delhi, Río de Janeiro, Sydney, El Cairo and Jerusalem would be linked by the “Monument to World Peace.”

musetouch 38musetouch 38

Ginés Serrán, sculpting the moulding in clay

musetouch 39musetouch 39

Miami, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Hong Kong, Moscow, Tokyo, New Delhi, Río de Janeiro, Sydney, El Cairo, Jerusalem

musetouch 40musetouch 40

Kiyo MurakamiI was born in 1976 and live in Tokyo, Japan. After graduated from the art school, I began to do various art - illustration, design and music. I found the way of expressing myself in the world of photography 2 years ago and I began my photographer career.I get the idea from my dreams and old memories, I’m inspired by old movies and paint-ings, too. Some of my work are self portraits, I think a self-portrait helps our mental health. It’s not only narcissism but the therapy and adventures for us.Recently, I’m collaborating with Japanese corset brand “abilletage”. Classical costumes bring us to the unreal world and highlight the mystique of the woman. We held the photo exhibition in ShinJuku, Tokyo this November.

kiyomurakami.com

musetouch 41musetouch 41

Kiyo Murakami Dreams and Old Memories

musetouch 42

musetouch 43

musetouch 44

musetouch 45

musetouch 46

musetouch 47

musetouch 48

musetouch 49

musetouch 50musetouch 50

musetouch 51musetouch 51

musetouch 52musetouch 52

musetouch 53musetouch 53

musetouch 54

Mark Sadan On the Unbearable Beauty of Existence

Mark Sadan began his work in art as an actor in his early twenties graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Mark later studied as a Film-maker and recieved two special screenings of his films in cine-probes at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Later, he was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Film and Television Institute at New York University where he produced short films for Sesame Street and NBC television. After directing a documentary in Norway, Mark was invited to exhibit at the Preus Foto Museum. This led to a further exhibition at the World Trade Center in 1983 and a subsequent decision to devote himself to photogra-phy as a way to express his passion and vision.

Mark has given workshops extensively in the U.S. and exhibits internationally in East-ern Europe, Scandinavia, North America and the U. K. His work has been featured in many leading photo magazines such as “La Photographica” from Spain, “Zoom” from Italy, “Iris”, Brazil, “Nippon” and Asahi” in Japan, “Scwarz/Weis”, (Black & White) Ger-many, “Foto-Forum”, Norway. His work is also found in many private and museum col-lections. Recently, he has had solo exhibitions at the Julia Margaret Cameron Museum on the Isle of Wight. U.K., the National Museum of Dance in the USA and the National Photo Art Museum in Norway.

How does breath relate to life, that is how passion relates to an artist

musetouch 55

On the Unbearable Beauty of ExistenceWho are you Mark...an artist, a poet, a human being, man, child..what and who are you beyond the illusions we all send to the outworld?

We all have the physical forms we dwell in this life, they are like the surface for worlds within, many realities, many dimensions..in a sense that is why I am often taken aback when I see an image of myself...Like a knarley tree that has been buffered by he storms of life, I was once a slender growing form with branches reaching up to a sky without end...with roots reaching deep within the nurturing soil. Where we are born is not something we control...in a sense our being is like the words of Baha’ullah speaking in a metaphor for the unknown source of creation, ‘before we were born, we were loved, our names were written, we existed...’ and we all are worthy of love, of giving and recieving love in Beauty...that is our essence...all who live. There are those who are born into poverty, hunger, war, suffering and deprivation...they are part of us...but those of us who have the chance and option to grow and appear and realize their beauty are blessed and it is from this blessing we can share the gift of life and love...and each personhas something they can give...for artists it is their art, even as for a mother it is their love and nurture. This mystic I referred to also said that we are not here to judge each other, but that justice is a most important part of existence...and that same source of creation that is our essence can also find forgivness and compas-sion to go on...that no matter what we have done or suffered, that each day we can find forgivness and compassion, is to try to give back this gift of life, to bring beauty to oth-ers...having lost my mother at a very young age...much of my life was a search for that mother whom I could never accept as being gone...who lived within...a memory of love from a flawed human filled with an unending love for her child...and so I have sought her, and also my lost father...in the faces of humanity ...and the suffering of childhood and the hope is in the mystery of darkness and light and my salvation has been through my art, so that when I see this older tree that has weathered life and bears it’s marks...I

musetouch 56musetouch 56

know that within burns brightly that same passion of the child to find and give that love that we all have and yearn for. It is through my work and the reflection of my fellow be-ings and this unbearably beautiful transitory world of creation that I find the courage to to go on, through which I am constantly redeemed and reborn.

Why do you create, what is your purpose?

As one of my favorite artists once said...I do not create, rather my work is a reflection, meditation and celebration on Creation and the mysterious unnamable source of Crea-tion.

Where do your subjects in art come from?

As for the subjects and motifs of my work as an artist...I follow my heart, I follow my passions, I follow the darkness and light that captures and fascinates me, I go into the worldon the edge of darkness defined by the dim light....It is said we are the children of the half light. We see the dawn coming, we see the last rays of the sun...I dwell on the edge where we can at times barely see...but I am blinded by what I do see...I am swept into the vortex of the flower, the child, the man and woman in their full beauty, the aging fruit, flower, tree, the stones...in constant motion and recomposition...the old woman whose beauty lingers and radiates from her gleaming body resting on the autumn grass...I am the lover of all things...I eat the asian fruit, is it called durian...oth-ers are repelled by its smell...I am enchanted...it is fragrent and ripe...it reminds me of things I have never known, and always known..as is the madness of the lover..sifting the sand seeking his beloved...all things of breath, dust and ashes, diamonds and gleaming stars....they are my subjects.

What is the contrast between the intent of your art and the perception of it?

I see when I cannot see. The King said to his son the prince at the start of his journey,’ remember...it is only with our heart that we truly see’. I see when I remember and re-mind myself to see...through the daily veils which tend to obscure both our vision and

musetouch 57musetouch 57

musetouch 58musetouch 58

musetouch 59musetouch 59

awareness of why we are here...which is to find beauty revealed...to see the reflection of ourselves in the loving gaze of our beloved.’Anam Cara’I have a friend who is a photographer...and he finds places of nature filled with light, with ancient memories, with the conflux and configurations that he calls the vortex, in other times he has called it ‘entering the curve’ as a skateboarder or snowboarder or surfer does when they ‘catch the wave’ I know what he means...it is that...catching the wave, entering the curve, the vortex....allowing yourself to enter, to be a part of....in a sense to lose yourself and become a part of that which transcends...so that when this happens I forget who I am, I am no longer aware of my camera and sometimes think...where is my camera...it is all part of something that words cannot express...

How do you see and feel? What is it about a scene or subject that speaks to you and causes you to create the photograph?

I respond as the bee does to the fragrence and color and beauty of the flower...it is an unconscious response... I become lost, rolling in the pollen...absorbing the nectar to bring it to the great hive of humanity....I do not stop to think what does this mean...nor consider the fact that when you begin to interact what you respond to enters into you...and waits to become...and when the art is done...it begins its journey...it is not that we only capture the soul and spirit of the life, but what we see captures our soul as well...our breath...our blood and time are given to the art and those we share it with...we become as the child...seeing as if we have never seen before, drawn into the seeds about fly off in the cold autumn wind from the plant which is dying...to cold waiting earth where in the warm moist spring they will be born again...sometime I will walk or drive by a plant, a flower, a plant...a shopgirl in Talinn...and it all says...come back, stay...let me be seen...take my image and beauty...of the shadow and light...take it in....let it flow outward...do not hesitate...with people I ask, if they say no...it is ok, it is their right...I move on....if they say yes...then we share life force in the process...with all animate and inamite sources all waters and lands and skies...they are ours...our beloved earth with its many realitie...so that at times I do not even know why...it is not an intellectual process, but an emotional response...Diane Arbus said...do not be afraid to follow where your camera and eye and heart go...

musetouch 60musetouch 60

(I paraphrase, it’s not exact...but we know what she means...)

How important is it to remain true to yourself and your individual vision as an artist? When I was starting out in art I loved and still do love and am inspired by many artists and works of art. And was also very influenced by the currents and trends...consciously and unconsciously I would imitate and copy them. At times I was overwhelmed by the great artists...in a sense all children learn to speak and walk through imitation so there is nothing wrong with learning and yes doing art which reminds you of that which inspires you...but it can become imitative and trendy...and you can also become en-slaved to doing what others want for your existence...yes creative and technical but not from your heart and passion...but all of the inspiration and impressions becomes food which can be digested by the imagination...and the there is the leap of faith...like when I jumped from plane with a parachute believing it would open...and it did...sometimes it doesn’t but we can learn...in fact I think you must fail...you much make a mess, bad stuff, work in the mud, with fingerpaints...do stuff that doesn’t work...to find that which does...do the scales to play the symphony, do the basic plies and bar excersize to leap as the swan in dance...it takes time, patience and a sense of humor...to find and realize that vision. Each person, each vision is unique. IF you see beauty...from that same place you can express beauty, but it does take work to learn how, the technique, the language which will become your words, images, music...it can be one note....or a song...a flower, a bird in flight...the city, nature...just do it and enjoy!

How does, or should, the word “passion” relate to an artist?

How does breath relate to life, that is how passion relates to an artist...

What challenges have you faced in your art?

The challenge is to go on...to ‘keep the faith’ when all else seems to fail, when you seem lost in the wilderness...to persevere...it takes time, sometimes their is not enough time...how many great artists, painters, poets, sculptors, musicans, writers, dancers...have

musetouch 61musetouch 61

musetouch 62musetouch 62

given their lives and work and passed in relative obscurity...but their sparks, their love, their art...they are the fabric upon which our art and lives are woven...it is to find mean-ing in all things, not just art... water, wine,sitting with friends and lovers,the great love expressed through cooking and shared food, the fabric we wear, the homes we live in, the flowers in the vase...the view from the window, the color within and without...the presence of light and shadow...and yes the madness in which time can disappear and you can give yourself over toyour art, to your love...to that which it seems will never end...in a sense will never end...and also will end but continue...just like life and death, a continium...so when depressed and overjoyed with success and failure...remember it is transitory, both come and go... each day seek to be illumined without and within...and then get up, stike the sweet chord of life and go on..that is my challenge...

What aspiration as an artist is most important to you?

In the summer...when the nights are very warm..I go to the nearby smaller river flowing into the great Hudson which flows to the sea...there I lay down in the waters, upon the smooth rocks and sand...I lay under the waters flowing to the sea...all of me is sub-merged except my breath...and I am one with the flowing waters..and I am at peace...this is my aspiration...

You wrote me once “ I sense you Maia, your hunger and thirst, for life, for beauty...and you are also the canvass, the caligraphy of your soul...communicating through your presence...” Do we share the same hunger, same thirst… and how do you com-municate through your presence?

There have been times when I have sensed lovers from a distance...there have been times when words written by lovers now gone such as Tagore, Whitman, Dickens, Rumi, Jibran...have touch me with their love...in my mind and spirit their is no limita-tion or barrier, and there have been times when I have loved and been loved when it has been a part of thesame transcendence...but there have also been times...when I have loved but it has been only my imagination and then their is a sense of isolation , sad-ness and desolation...and yes regret and remorse...my challenge has been to discern the

musetouch 63musetouch 63

difference...it is true...but the fruit of our love we shall know...and that is both darkness and light..

Looking back, knowing what you know now, is there anything that you would do dif-ferently?

In a sense there was a time in which I had very little choice...I could not discern the difference between the demons I sense which seemed real and the real world withthe angels and the humans I dwelt with...I was as if possesed...and it was in finding art as a means of expression that I began to find a way to bridge that inner world which wasmy heaven and hell as an adolescent and child ...with the world I was growing into...I sup-pose part of my salvation was that I always doubted the voices I heard...even the visions I had...and it was in a psychiatric hospital as a 19year old when my therapist and doctor said...perhaps you should consider ‘art’ as a means of finding a way to communicate with the world...that I began to find a way to exist...so I cannot change with the way that I am, the way I was born and the factors that shaped me...but from my life, which did include therapy as an invaluable resource, friends, love and also the trauma of roads better not taken...when I first saw Caravaggio and read about him.I did find a kindred spirit...but then there have been many artists whos work I un-derstand in my emotion and heart only to well...such as John O’Donahue, H.Bosch, Exekiel,Revelations,Modigliani, L.Carrol,GunarBindes,S.Moon,Balthus,Kafka,S.Mann, H.Hesse,Walt Whiman,Tagore,R.Frost,J.Baldwin,M.Arnold, Munch, Van Gogh,Chagall,Klee, Matisse,W.Blake, the Pre Raphaelites, Klimt, Hunterwasser,Wyeth, J.Sturges,S.Mann, D.Lange,G.Okeefe,Stieglitz,Morton Hauge, AnnaLise Mjaland, E.Smith,D.Small,B. Kessler,M.Jermyn...Music...always Music, poetry.. the list goes on , each day new discoveries. those named and unnamed inspirations never planned often appear in my work...before I had no language, but was always drawing, writing poems and plays, most of which I destroye in my early 20’s just before hitchiking through Turkey to Iran in my spiritual quest and journey to the east.(to find true meaning, true beauty, which was waiting within) At times I felt and believed that I was possesed by dark forces...perhaps I was, but it was fear and not knowing how to deal or express the angels and demons within...how could I do differently? There are those who say ‘I have

musetouch 64musetouch 64

musetouch 65musetouch 65

no regrets’ I do have regrets...but I also feel that we can learn from the shadows in our life, and without those shadows their is no way to find the light...and yes I deeply regret what has not been good as I celebrate what is good...and the gift I have been given...to bring beauty and awareness to those who see and seek and find..(.in my work is my redemption)

What will happen in the future Mark...what do you wish, what is your main aim?

Looking to the future...I realize now I will never do more that a few stones and gems on the shores of the endless mountains...but for what I have been given I am grateful. Looking to the future I ever seek and rejoice in finding love and beauty as expressed through the touch of our hands, eyes hearts and souls...therein is the key to all things...

MS

The upcoming exhibits of Mark Sadan’s work in 2011:

January to March at The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust and Museum, Isle of Wight, England curated by Stephen Perloff May to July at the RiverRun Gallery in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania June to August at the gallery of the Museum of Art in Solleftea, Northern Sweden ‘Sadan i Skadom’ (Sadan in Skadom)

marksadan.comnudefleur.comdancerzine.comsarazeneditions.com

musetouch 66musetouch 66musetouch 66

musetouch 67

musetouch 68

musetouch 69

musetouch 70

musetouch 71

musetouch 72

musetouch 73

musetouch 74

Adam Miller

Born in 1979 in Oregon, Adam began an apprenticeship to artist Allen Jones at thirteen years old and at Sixteen, was accepted to the prestigious Florence Academy Of Art in Florence, Italy where he underwent an extensive training in classical painting tech-niques and studied the masterpieces of the Renaissance firsthand. For the next four years Miller traveled throughout Europe studying the masters.His work has been commissioned by Robert Pamplin Jr., the Chairman of the Board of the Portland Art Museum, Mike Tyson, and Eric Rhodes, publisher of Fine Art Con-noiseur. Miller has exhibited in both the U.S and Europe.

Adam Miller has been described in reviews as a “rising star of realism” and it was said that he “would be considered a master in any era”.

adammillerart.com

Rising Star of Realism

musetouch 75

Rising Star of Realism

musetouch 76musetouch 76

musetouch 77musetouch 77

musetouch 78musetouch 78

musetouch 79musetouch 79

musetouch 80musetouch 80

musetouch 81musetouch 81

musetouch 82musetouch 82

musetouch 83musetouch 83

musetouch 84

musetouch 85

musetouch 86musetouch 86

Johanna Knauer

Johanna Knauer was born in 1988 in Passau/Germany. She is doing media studies since 2008 and is dedicated to photography and image editing since about 2 years. Johanna prefers black-and-white photography and aims to create images that evoke feelings. She is interested in beauty but more than anything else in profundity.

johannaknauer@gmx.de

Johanna Knauer

musetouch 87musetouch 87

Evoking Feelings

musetouch 88musetouch 88

musetouch 89musetouch 89

musetouch 90musetouch 90

musetouch 91musetouch 91

musetouch 92

musetouch 93

musetouch 94

musetouch 95

musetouch 96

musetouch 97

musetouch 98

musetouch 99

musetouch 100

Dejan Bogojević

Dejan BogojevićSooner or later everyone comes to that. One can travel through prose, aquarelle, or drawing, all that is the same because the question is always the same. When and how it happens to somebody, is always different. It can start with a canonic apprehension of Christian images with a wish for becoming a master, to acquire the substance and subject matter themselves. And later, you can move further, and freely inquire, staying always the same, swimming in the same lake.The beginning can also be converse, to paint something that is yours, and later it doesn’t want to be only yours anymore. It wishes to be somebody else’s, to belong to somebody else and to become by itself a part of that huge sky. That is exactly what mother Efimija is talking about, that an artist has to banish himself painting icons, to be something that she names “prohod”. That situation can be continuous, one general appropriation.

There are also a great number of artists who are simply enjoying, singing in the paint-ing. They are painting the world, clouds, mountains, imaginary landscapes, cheerful fishes…and that also is an answer to the same question, that is my bliss in everything that exists. It is harder to be somebody else, because we don’t know that path, the path to holiness. It doesn’t have only bliss (the bliss doesn’t come until the end ), but heavy tears, suffering and sacrifice, that is why mother is talking about releasing yourself. Which are our paths and do we define them by ourselves?Sooner or later everyone comes to an answer.

Olivera Gavrić Pavić

musetouch 101

Ararat

slikari.rs/dejanbogojevicbogojevicdejan@gmail.com

musetouch 102

musetouch 103

musetouch 104

musetouch 105

musetouch 106

musetouch 107

musetouch 108

musetouch 109

musetouch 110

musetouch 111

musetouch 112

musetouch 113

musetouch 114

Nicole PfundNicoles Pfund’s paintings invite us into an imaginary world which is, however, still close to our own. It is not just a painting of animals but rather a reminder of the in-separable destiny of man and animal. These musicians so focused on their instruments, with their human views attitudes, observe, ignore, and sometimes mook. Where is the man, where is the animal and who is the audience ? Everything is possible into a relationship of love, adversity, complicity or conflict. The unusual architecture, the the-atrical manner ; all is a pretext to tell of serious matters, softened by a marvelous use of colors. These musicians are trying to tell us something.

It is important to take the time to listen these paintings.

RECENT EXHIBITIONS

solo

2010 Salle des Editions, GORDES, Artistes à Suivre, BRENAC, Château Mauregard, MORTAGNE 2009 Centre Cuturel, GAP, Espace Syllabes d’Art, MONTRESOR2008 Galerie Sillage, GRAMAT, Galerie Ancien Courrier, MONTPELLIER2007 Galerie d’art, CASTELSARRASIN, Eglise Notre Dame, PORT-BAIL2006 Galerie Carpe Diem, TOULOUSE, Galerie Sillage, GRAMAT2005 Galerie l’Acadie, CAJARC, Abbaye de Souillac, SOUILLAC2004 Château de Dottenwil, ZURICH, Galerie Léoni, St GALMIER2003 Galerie de la Cité, LIMOGES , Centre Culturel Français, GAZA2002 Galerie de l’Ancien Courrier, MONTPELLIER, Goldfish Galleries, SARASOTA,usa2001 Espace Caviole, CAHORS, Galerie Courrier, MONTPELLIER, Galerie François 1er,LOCHES

Imaginary World

musetouch 115

Imaginary World group

2010 La Bellevilloise, PARIS, capitale européenne de la culture, ESSEN, Gaz’art work-shop, GAZA, Artistes à Suivre, CAMPAGNE sur AUDE, Figuration Critique, PARIS, LeClap, PARAZA, Bann’art festival art singulier, BANNE, 13ème Biennale de St Léon-art de NOBLAT, Campagn’art, St MARTIN2009 Caravane des Singuliers, VILLENEUVE, Galerie Vincent Huot, BRUXELLES, Galerie DVO, BRUXELLES, Figuration Critique, PARIS, ArtVO, CERGY-PONTOISE, Figuration Critique, PARIS , Regards Contemporains Vauban, LONGWY, Fabuleux Bestiaire, Abbaye de Couronne, Place aux Artistes, PARIS2008 Cow, Dog and co, LE VIGAN, SIAC, MARSEILLE, Rue des Arts, CARLA BAYLE, Figuration Cririque, St GERMAIN des ANGLES, Espace Art Gallery, BRUXELLES, Urban Art, LONDRES2007 Biennale 109, PARIS, l’Art sur Place, TOULOUSE, Le Printemps est l’art, LONG-WY, Rencontre des Toiles, MENERBES2006 ArtFair, LONDRES, Musée Filhol, ANNONAY, Artzoomades, LONGLAVILLE, Visarte dans le 6ème, PARIS, Passage à l’art, CHERBOURG2005 Puls’Art, LE MANS , Présence des arts, PARIS, Atelier du Lavoir, SARLAT2004 Artmetz, Metz , Usine à Zabu, St GERMAIN des ANGLES, Galerie Schèmes, LILLE2003 Prieuré St Nicolas, SABLES d’OLONNE, Espaces et Musique, St GILLES Croix de Vie, Artmetz, METZ, Chapelle de Vinetz, CHALONS/Champagne2002 Musée Art Moderne, PEKIN, Artmetz, METZ, Zeichen-Zeichnen, SOLEURE, Suisse

nicolepfund.com

musetouch 116

musetouch 117

musetouch 118

musetouch 119

musetouch 120

musetouch 121

musetouch 122

musetouch 123

musetouch 124musetouch 124

musetouch 125musetouch 125

musetouch 126musetouch 126

musetouch 127musetouch 127

musetouch 128musetouch 128

Tina SprattI have always been fascinated by the skill and draughtsmanship involved in painting. In my own work a great emphasis is placed on the execution, I tend to paint in many layers to build up the glow of light and depth I require to create the atmosphere and mood. I was inspired very early on by the dramatic use of light in the work of Rem-brandt, and later the paintings of Caravaggio. Both had a huge impact on me and have stayed with me to the present day, the lighting being an important part of my own work. I also greatly admire Vermeer for the atmospheric and domestic settings he por-trays with beautiful lighting, not forgetting the amazing fabrics and figures rendered by Velázquez.

My paintings which are focused on the female form, are glimpses of a simple everyday intimacy, I am interested in capturing that fleeting time when a person is unaware of being observed, there is something very honest and private about that moment. I hope to portray a sense of ambiguity for the viewer to arrive at their own conclusions and evoke an emotional connection with the model.

I use a variety of techniques in my painting including glazing which has the ability to bring out amazing colours and depth from the transparency of certain oils, although each painting often has a slightly varied approach depending on what I feel it requires. I am forever challenging myself to develop my painting skills further and continue to explore my subject.

tinaspratt.co.uk

A Sense of Mystery

musetouch 129musetouch 129

A Sense of Mystery

musetouch 130musetouch 130

musetouch 131musetouch 131

musetouch 132musetouch 132

musetouch 133musetouch 133

musetouch 134musetouch 134

musetouch 135musetouch 135

musetouch 136musetouch 136

musetouch 137musetouch 137

musetouch 138

musetouch 139

musetouch 140

musetouch 141

musetouch 142

musetouch 143

musetouch 144

musetouch 145

musetouch 146

Max Sauco Masks Off

Max Sauco is an artist who succeeds in dissecting the inner world, ideas and subcon-scious of a human of today through stripping and taking out from a human’s viscera the most genuine things. Things hiding behind the social masks of statuses and behind biological covers but remain unaltered for millions of years – feelings, emotions, the ego. A lot of people spend their lives remaining unknown even to their closest human beings. Probably this is due to the fear to be disapproved and to remain misunderstood. It is much easier to get dressed in a carnival costume and to put on a mask in order toblend into the pageant and to dance to the music. Max Sauco is a kind of costume de-signer who redresses people and takes off the carnival masks so as to demonstrate: what they try to cover up is in fact absolutely imperishable, beautiful, genuine and actually unique. That said, artist Sauco himself lives in a quiet observer’s costume and takes off his mask only at his desk. Probably this is the real value? In a closed vessel with a boil-ing liquid inside temperature is higher and boiling is more intense but should you open it the liquid will get spilled.

sauco.ru

Masks Off

musetouch 147

musetouch 148

musetouch 149

musetouch 150

musetouch 151

musetouch 152

musetouch 153

musetouch 154

musetouch 155

musetouch 156

musetouch 157

musetouch 158

musetouch 159

musetouch 160

musetouch 161

musetouch 162

musetouch 163

musetouch 164

musetouch 165

musetouchmusetouch.net