Art News

Jon Beinart - "How would you describe your art Madeline?"

Madeline von Foerster - "I make art about this world.

I know that might sound strange, because I paint in a method and style characteristic of five centuries ago. It also might sound strange, because my work is typically classified as surrealist.  However, my art is strongly rooted in my own experiences, and the world occurring around me, though I often choose to express these things symbolically."

Beinart - "What else has influenced your art? You said you express yourself symbolically, are many of the symbols you paint rooted in esoteric mythology?"

Madeline von Foerster - "Sometimes my symbolism might come from mythology or esoterica… These sources are deep wells from which to draw!  I utilize more archaic symbols when their use will not interfere with the experience of the painting.  And occasionally I use images that reference a homemade iconography: for instance, the pair of doves in my trepanation Self Portrait are my own symbol for unity of the spirit and body, since doves mate for life.  (I leave birdseed, for a beautiful pair of doves, on my fire escape, and they inspired me.)  However, I try to make images that will resonate with any viewer who appreciates them.  One needn't know my story about the doves, I hope, to sense their meaning in the painting.  Or the viewer could invent his/her own meaning, which would also be valuable.

I am inspired by so much around me — the very experience of life, and the witnessing of life, inspire me.  I feel so lucky to be alive in an age where we know of so many beautiful and fantastic things, unimaginable to earlier societies — cloud nebulas, nutrinos, and deep sea creatures.  And, of course, those of us alive today have stepped into an unbelievebly exciting artistic heritage!  Our task is to continue its evolution…  But, I also feel another task is to protect our other inheritance — the environment, and civilized culture.  Artists are not exempt from this effort.  We must all bring our skills to the table."

Beinart - "Does your environmental concern find expression in your paintings?"

Madeline von Foerster - "Yes, it is a very frequent topic.  In some paintings, it is a primary theme, but it also makes an appearance in others where it might not be the main message.  My paintings can often be read on several different levels, and so one of those layers might reference our relationship with the earth.

I prefer my paintings to suggest, rather than preach, so I'm sure many other interpretations of that painting are possible.  My three year old niece, for instance, is convinced The Shadow is a painting of Spiderman."

Beinart - "Could you list a few artists who have inspired you and explain what you found exciting about their work."

Madeline von Foerster - "Possibly my favorite living painter is Julie Heffernan, because of her stunning craft, and the incredible worlds she creates.  She is anachronistic yet iconoclastic at the same time.

Finally, the artists I spend the most time with are the Flemish Renaissance Masters: van Eyck, Memling, van der Goes, Goessart, and Bosch.  It would be incredible to know something more about these artists' inner lives, but all I can do is gaze at their work and guess. Only through the diligence of attempting their technique do I find myself hovering somewhere near an understanding of them.  But even that is probably self-indulgent imagining on my part."

Beinart - "Have you come accross any resistance from galleries as a figurative painter with a neo-classical style?"

Madeline von Foerster - "Any painter working in a figurative or neo-classical vein must recognize that their choice is not necessarily "in fashion" at the moment.  I consider that an asset and an opportunity, rather than a limitation, for several reasons.  First of all, imagine the difficulty of standing out as a painter during, say, the seventeenth century, when all working artists were technical virtuosos!  Secondly, by following my own vision, rather than trends, I hope I am creating paintings which will stand the test of time, and not look sadly dated in a few years.  Lastly, in our cynical age of ever more digitized mass production, artworks which focus on craft and beauty give people an alternative, an antidote, to the prevailing culture.  There will always be certain galleries which recognize and appreciate that, but even if there were not, I wouldn't change what I am doing."

Beinart - "I completely agree Madeline. This is a current fashion and I'm sure history will have a very different perspective. I'm also sure your work will continue to attract the attention of galleries and collectors. Thank you so much for this interview Madeline! Do you have any exciting news for our readers?"

Madeline von Foerster - "Yes!  I am very excited to announce my upcoming show, WALDKAMMER. It will be at Strychnin Gallery Berlin, this November.  The paintings will explore my fascination with Cabinets of Curiosities, but I've manipulated this theme, to create images about deforestation and the threatened natural world.  (The title means "Forest Cabinet.") Strychnin Gallery will also be showing my work at Art 21Cologne, in October.

Thank you very much for the interview Jon, and keep up your amazing work with beinArt… it is a portal to many wonderous Universes."

Madeline von Foerster is one of 50 artists featured in Metamorphosis 2 (beinArt Publishing)

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Here is a two part interview with Alex Grey from "Coast to Coast", an American late-night syndicated radio talk show which deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate either to the paranormal, or to alleged conspiracies.

The interview starts with Alex's introduction to LSD induced mystical experiences at college and then moves on to describing various other incidents he experienced while tripping. It also explores how these experiences have influenced his art.

Part 2

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C-realm presents two podcast interviews with Martina Hoffmann and Robert Venosa.

Martina Hoffmann talks about the connection between the visionary states induced by ayahuasca and the visions on canvas that they leave in their wake. Other topics include honoring the divine feminine and finding a balance between living in direct connection with nature and losing ourselves in a haze of techno-mediated busy work. 

Robert Venosa's interview delves into his personal history and development as a visionary artist, Ayasmina and Roberto explore the dark side and ask whether evil exists as a thing in and of itself. They also examine the question of the reality of the subject matter of visionary art.

Both Martina Hoffmann and Robert Venosa are featured in our first publication "Metamorphosis Volume 1 - Publication of 50 Surreal & Fantastic Artists".

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I recently asked Brian Sherwin of MyArtSpace.com if he could interview some of our featured artists for the beinArt.org blog. Here is Brian's interview with Jeremy Geddes. Jeremy is one of 50 artists featured in our upcoming publication entitled Metamorphosis 2.

Brian Sherwin - "Jeremy, can you tell us about your early years? What inspired you to first pick up the brush?"

Jeremy Geddes - "Damn that's hard to say, although, at least in part, it was undoubtedly to pick up the girls. I'm not sure that teenage boys do anything at all that isn't at least tangentially connected to picking up girls (or other boys)."

Brian Sherwin - "Do you have any academic training in art? Can you tell us about your early studies– be it formal or informal?"

Jeremy Geddes - "I did a BA and a postgrad degree at VCA in Melbourne, although it was useless in terms of technical training, it served more as a studio space and a way to pick up Austudy money, rather than a learning environment. I learned everything I know by myself after I left."

Brian Sherwin - "Tell us about your influences… are you influenced by any specific artists or art movements?"

Jeremy Geddes - "It's a hard one to answer, my influences are always evolving, they don't stay static. I don't adhere to any specific movements, I'm skeptical of the idea of labeled art movements, I'm not sure what it achieves."

Brian Sherwin - "Jeremy, the characters in your paintings often appear as if  they are 'boxed' in… there is a sense of claustrophobia about  them. Is that intentional?"

Jeremy Geddes - "It's intentional, many painters compose their work so the edges of the canvas are as invisible as possible. All the points of interest are contained within the middle portion of the image, the tonal and colour construction is designed to keep the eye within this space, to keep them viewing the painting for as long as possible."

"I don't really find that interesting, and I often go the other route of putting the points of interest at the edge of a piece, and creating a design that forces the eye off the edge of the canvas, I'm interested in the tension that that can create."

Brian Sherwin - "Tell us more about the motives behind your work…"

Jeremy Geddes - "The motives for me painting have changed a little over the years, earlier, they were in a large part a sort of exasperation at the folly of my fellow monkey's, these days though I'd say they're about attempting to capture a mood, a fairly specific one, but one that I can't quite grasp internally, I'm trying to work it through in my paintings."

Brian Sherwin - "Jeremy, I understand that you are a gamer… what kind of games do you play? Are you influenced by video games or other aspects of popular culture?"

Jeremy Geddes - "I worked in game development for about 5 years, and have played them since I was a kid. Alas I'm so busy these days I don't really play them anymore. Am I influenced by popular culture? Yeah totally I'd say, although I don't really know what is popular culture and what is not. All these distinctions are pretty meaningless, there's just people creating things they think are worth creating, and some I think were, some I think weren't, the former I gravitate towards and draw off, the later I don't."

Brian Sherwin - "So what exactly are the social implications of your work? What do you strive to convey about society? What is the message that you  hope viewers obtain when they observe your art?"

Jeremy Geddes - "Conveying an explicit meaning without resorting to didactic narrative cliches is almost impossible. If you wish to have any form of subtlety in you your work, you have to accept that it comes with the cost of potential misinterpretation. Meaning for any particular viewer will only be partly informed by the painting, and predominantly informed be the viewers past experiences, and personal narrative associations formed over the course of their life. It's been my experience that viewers will see the broad outlines of a painting at first, begin to construct a narrative that fits their world view, and then selectively ignore details of the painting that conflict with this constructed narrative. So if you construct an image with a narrative, or message that conforms to standard belief, say a moral lesson, the chances that your painting will be correctly interpreted are high, but if you're attempting a dissident narrative you're going to struggle to convey that explicitly."

"If you accept this as a painter, then you realise that your ability to convey any sort of exacting message through your images is severely limited. I try to set up questions, hopefully ones that spark a cognitive dissonance in the viewer."

Brian Sherwin - "Tell us more about your process. What type of surface do you prefer to paint upon? How do you begin a painting? Do you work with sketches first?"

Jeremy Geddes - "I used to paint on board prepared with acrylic gesso, which worked fine, although I've recently switched to linen with an oil primer for larger paintings. Before I begin a painting, I generally do a lot of thinking. I don't go beyond this point until something has formed in my head which I feel compelled by. Then I play around with it, in my head and in small thumbnails. Then I collect what ever reference I need and get busy. After all the planning though, I usually end up scraping out areas of the painting, and changing them as I go. It's a time waster, but perhaps unavoidable."

Brian Sherwin - "Can you tell us about your studio practice… what are the conditions you need in order to paint– do you listen to music while working?"

Jeremy Geddes - "I work with podcasts or audio books going in the background usually, with the occasional bout of music. I generally work form around 8:30 in the morning until about 11:00 at night, and try to make it 7 days a week."

Brian Sherwin - "What are you working on at this time?"

Jeremy Geddes - "I'm beginning work on a five issue painted comic, which will probably take a little over year. After that, I have a huge backlog of paintings I want to get to."

Brian Sherwin - "Finally, do you have any advice for emerging artists?"

Jeremy Geddes - "That's a hard one. The best advice I could give, is to ask yourself, "why am I doing this?" Then try to answer it as honestly as you can, because with this knowledge you can plan a life that you'll find satisfying. If you're interested in money, you can make one series of decisions. Fame? Potentially another. If you want to simply paint what you what to paint, and couldn't care about money or fame, those choices will be different again."

Jeremy Geddes is one of 50 artists featured in our upcoming publication entitled Metamorphosis 2.

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Jon Beinart - "How would you describe your art Paul?"

Paul Freeman - "I don't know what genre I would call it, maybe a mixture of Visionary and Surrealism. Some times I will put a photo up on my wall and look at it for 6 months and let it cook so to speak, and when the time comes I will start to draw and let it extrapolate itself into some thing completely different.. Most of all it is Spiritually INSPIRED, when I am in spirit I AM Inspired!!. As I have said before it is a physical Action that brings about Spiritual Reaction, and I do hope other people feel that when they look at my Artworks.."

Jon Beinart - "Do you use art as a meditation?"

Paul Freeman - "Yes I do use my ART for meditation, I would say the whole experience is just one great big meditation from the beginning to the end, to me it is a means to step out of the mundane reality of everyday life and and go beyond all its vagaries Into a new Spiritual REALITY, and absorb what I AM doing into more Light within myself. There is a mantra I use: From the Light of GOD THAT I AM, I AM the Light I AM… And I find the more ART I work at the more Light I can absorb, and all so I hope it comes out in my Art so others can bring it into their life as well.. It Is a Transcendental Meditation in another form and a great learning Experience as well.."

Jon Beinart - "Which themes and archetypes have you explored with your art? Are these elements usually planned or spontaneous? (or both)"

Paul Freeman - "Jon. The only thing I could say that is planned is the subject, and then it is only the outline, and then What happens inside is Spontaneous,  but their is allways the feeling of going into a Higher or hipper reality it is a very exciting or excited state of BEING And it enables me settle into that Transcendental State of being. My Archetypes can be any thing or any one.  I just love the DOING OF IT ALL…"

Jon Beinart - "Who are your artistic heroes? What have you learned from these people?"

Paul Freeman - "My Artistic Heroes, 1st of all it would have to be THE OLD MASTERS, Caravaggio, Raphael , Michelangelo. A lot of the present day Visionary Artists such as Prof Phil, HR Giger, Gonzalez, Ernst Fuchs. There are so many great artist out there, but what I have leaned from them is to Develop myself as an artist and to teach myself to the best of my ability and keep on evolving as an Artist and find new ways to go about this self evolution, whether it is new techniques or new Visions. The last work I have just finished has taken me 7 months and now I will have a rest from my art for a while and the new work ahead will involve developing my Symbiotic themes."

Jon Beinart - "7 months is a long time to focus on one piece of paper. Do your drawings often take this long?"

Paul Freeman - "No I  usually do not take so long to do a piece, and the only reason it took so long to do the MEDUSA was because of my cancer!! and the time I spent in hospital and time to recover from the operation.. BUT it would have taken 5 months to do it anyway, it is by far the largest work I have done. 1.5 metre X 1 metre or in inches 60 X 40 and about 650 hours?? their is a lot of detail in the work and that was the most time consuming part of it. I am having it photographed this week so I will send you a pic of it, sorry to have taken so long to answer your questions but some days are good and some not so good."

Jon Beinart - "I am looking forward to seeing this latest drawing Paul. It sounds spectacular! I understand that Cancer has been a huge obstacle between you and your art and your treatment has been time consuming and draining. (I send my love and best wishes as always my friend). Has you illness had an effect on the intensity of your subject matter?"

Paul Freeman - "You could say the only intensity I feel from my cancer is to break through the pain barrier as I am working, and that I might not get to finish all the work I have planned for the future, so their is a certain amount of intensity as I AM DRAWING, Whether it comes out in the subject is hard to say, But I do know the next piece will be soft or more subtle, and it is only the pain that puts a stop to things, it has been all most a month since I finished MEDUSA and I don’t feel ready to start this new piece as yet Even though I know how it will look.  Hopefully I will be ready next week to start planning this new one out, this block of units is being fire proofed at the moment so that has delayed my work as well. I have my SON living with me now, and have had to make some changes in my life, but we both love ART and he is on his way to being a great artist as well. AND is a ripper guitarist as well.."

Jon Beinart - "When did you decide to devote yourself to your art? Was there a notable catalyst?"

Paul Freeman - "I decided to devote myself to ART Full time early in 1993, not long after becoming clean and sober. I had always been doing art when I had my moments of sobriety by that I mean I would be sober for a few months and then slowly sink back into My Alcoholism, and this went on for a period of 10 years, and then on the 15th of October 1992 I had my last drink. AT LAST I was SOBER. NOW I could start getting into my art, and just the doing of it gave to me a great deal of BLISS, and the bliss I received led me into a greater feeling of SELF WORTH, and then in early 1994  I started doing a piece of work  called Rhapsody on a  theme  and half way through the work I had an epiphany and started laughing and at last I had found my Genre in ART and was given Visions of what would happen with my ART. And as I have said before Just the Doing of it is ALL that matters. The Catalyst for my ART was the fact that I was at last sober, I was inspired by Rhapsody on a theme and what it was doing to me. To be Inspired is to be in Spirit and that was all that I needed to keep going."

Jon Beinart - "It's fantastic that you managed to kick alcohol and have maintained a healthy addiction to art. How have people reacted to your art in Albury? (the town I grew up in, where Paul and I met many years ago). Have you encountered much interest in The Albury Community for Surreal, Fantastic and/or Visionary Art?"

Paul Freeman - "The responses I receive from people who get to view my ART is all ways very positive, and want to know what genre it is called, when I tell them it is Visionary that is when I get some strange looks and then I have to explain what do I MEAN by that. Sometimes when I have told people that I AM an ARTIST, the question back will be what sort of art do you do and when I say Visionary, what’s that??? So the closest to that I can give to them is Surrealism Art. As far as the interest in Visionary/Surrealism Art goes is a bit SLOW at the moment, and it will take a big Exhibition of Visionary and Surrealism Art to get the mainstream public interested in the movement….All of my Art so far has mainly been sold to private collectors, and as you know this town is very slow to take interest in some thing that is outside of the square!!!, some times I think that Abstract art is something new to the general public in Albury. BUT when the time comes I will be having a Big Exhibition of my work here very soon, hopefully early 2008."

Jon Beinart - "An Exhibition. That’s great! I'll be there. I know your work has been received very well in Metamorphosis. I sold a copy to The Albury Library Museum and another copy to the Lavington Library. I'm sure many Albury Wodonga people will love your art. Where are you planning to hold the Big Exhibition?"

Paul Freeman - "We are hoping to have it at the Wodonga City Gallery, it is all up to my Patron who will be paying for the cost of the Exhibition.  I will let you know when every thing is ready to go ahead for the show and start to send out the invites. Their are already a lot of people who are waiting for it to go ahead, I have been doing a lot of promoting for it and I would like your help in letting me know of people who I can send invites to down their in Melbourne.."

Jon Beinart - "I'll definitely help you get the word out. I'll also post a press release on the beinArt Blog. Thank you so much for your time Paul. I look forward to catching up with you for a coffee next time I'm in Albury."

Paul Freeman is one of 50 Artists featured in our first book: Metamorphosis. 

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Jon Beinart - "How would you describe your work Lukas?"

Lukas Kandl - "I would say that my work is inspired by fantastic and surrealistic art, with a classical Old Masters technique. I take my ideas from literature, poetry, and also biblical and esoteric subjects. I create very realistic but always a bit shift from the ordinary reality details. I think it is very important that everybody can recognize a reality with which he can deal, but I want my paintings to trigger a personal journey through the dream domain or an unusual situation."

Jon Beinart - "What do you find interesting about esoteric and biblical subjects?"

Lukas Kandl - "Biblical and esoteric subjects are eternal subjects, which have been used in the painting for centuries, in the whole world. Each artist has his own vision according to his culture, his own experiences and I am very interested by the comparison between all these visions. Biblical subjects are more concrete as they rely to rather understandable texts, more popularized than esoteric texts. I like esoteric subjects as they are full of mysteries, hidden information, opened only to initiates. My paintings often contain hidden messages, understandable only by people who have the knowledge to access them."

Jon Beinart - "Do you have a particular religious faith, or just a general interest in the myths, archetypes and symbols?"

Lukas Kandl - "I am especially interested in the myths, archetypes and symbols and in the general worldwide culture. This goes beyond a specific religion. I am interested in reading about the different religions and I respect them. What matters to me is the part of spirituality you find in the people, in the religion, in the situations, not the religion itself. I have difficulty to recognize the word God as it is used in so many different circumstances, and as an alibi to make so many horrors. I prefer to believe in a higher spirit. I find my subjects in the different religions when their contents interest me and respect the human being."

Jon Beinart - "When did you start painting Fantastic animals? Has this been a life long theme in your paintings?"

Lukas Kandl - "I always used fantastic animals in my paintings, but at the beginning they were more used as details accompanying other themes. 5 years ago, I decided to make a tribute to Audubon and I painted about 50 fantastic birds. This was the real start of my fantastic animals series."

"But I also work about many other themes. I specially like painting animals and humans for their glances, their presence and all the symbols you can attach to them. I don’t use still life, landscapes or seascapes themes."

Jon Beinart - "Are you able to support yourself financially with your paintings?"

Lukas Kandl - "At the beginning, no. Then about 20 years ago it was rather cyclical: some years yes, some years no. But the French economic situation was better than now."

"Now, even if the economic situation is worst and most of the French artists have real difficulties to sell a painting, I am doing better and better every year and support the family financially very well."

"But that means work a lot, travel a lot, seize the opportunities and also invest time and money to promote the fantastic, surreal international art not only my personal art but a group of artists art. This part is a long-term view."

Jon Beinart - "It is great that you promote the whole movement and other artists as well as your own work. Our movement benefits greatly with the efforts of artists like yourself. Who are some of your favorite contemporary artists within the movement?"

Lukas Kandl - "Some of my favorite contemporary artists are: Parkes, Verlinde, Hernandez, Aparin, Henricot, Arnas, Djurovic, Grasse, Merriam, Zademack, Schmid. This list is not exhaustive!"

Jon Beinart - "What are your thoughts on the contemporary 'high art' world? Do you think there is much hope for the future of Surreal and Fantastic art?"

Lukas Kandl - "I think that the contemporary "high art" world is a world built on a wrong spirit: work very quickly without technique, provoke without any content, no spirituality. It's at the image of our contemporary world. For me it's the MacDonalds of the art! I would make a comparison: let's suppose that the artists were surgeons instead of artists and work in this same spirit. You would have only corpses! I think and I feel that private collectors and the general public start to be tired of this. We have to innovate, even to provoke, but with elegance and panache. To do that we need to know the technique, we need to learn and work. The general public is fed up with all these works which need specialists' explanations for hours in order to try to understand what the artist meant. With the surreal and fantastic art, everybody can recognize the reality of the objects or the situations, even if they are a bit improbable but with technique and quality. From that every spectator can make his own travel through his own dreams because he feels like accompanied. I am quite optimist for these next years."

Jon Beinart - I find your optimism refreshing. Have you observed anything in particular that might indicate a positive change in the art world over the next few years?

Lukas Kandl - "Yes, a few signs:

• "First of all, the remarks I receive during my personal shows or our group shows from the general public. To summarize: “Finally a good painting! Painters who know to paint!…”"
• "During our last group show in Paris during a big “salon” where about 3000 artists were exhibiting, our stall was very much visited and most of the people told us that we had the better one."
• "More, the French TV came to make a short report, about 3mn, about the salon. They showed about 12 works, among them 5 were from our group. And that without any intervention from our part."
• "Last year we participated with our group to another salon in Sedan. This salon existed for a few years, but it was found so good with our participation that for the first time the Ministry of Culture gave a substantial subvention to the 2007 salon."
• "As we are looking for exhibition locations for our group project, it becomes a bit easier to find “official” locations. For 2007 we booked 5 exhibitions."
  

"Everything is not won, but I feel things are a bit quivering".

Jon Beinart - "Things do seem to be picking up for Fantastic Artists around the world. I'm so glad to hear more positive news. Thank you for your time and energy Lukas. Do you have any exciting news for our readers? Upcoming exhibitions, publications, etc?"

Lukas Kandl - "Regarding one man shows there is my exhibition in Montbard for Buffon tricentenary."

"I have also a one-man show in Arcachon (near Bordeaux) Droit de Regard Gallery during the whole year."

Regarding my group activities:

• Our “Ange exquis” ‘exquisite angel’, with 27 artists, will be shown in Sedan at the end of the year and 5 exhibitions are planned in 2008 in France and Germany.
• I am organizing a new group show of 15 artists in the Grand Palais in Paris during the “salon Comparaisons”: Aparin, Bailly, Comand, Coquelin, De Rosa, Djurovic, Ivanovic, Jontschewa, Kandl, Krejca, Mirkovic, Müller, Oscity, Ravski, Tiunine. Theme and special format  will be kept secret until the show, but I have received some of the painting and I can tell you it will be great!

All my activities can be found on my website www.kandl.net

Lukas Kandl is one of 50 Artists featured in our first publication: Metamorphosis.

Lukas Kandl's Gallery.

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Jon Beinart - "How would you describe your art Artur?"

Artur Golacki - "I would never expected someone to burst into tears or laugh loudly while watching my work, but to share a sort of feeling as long as one is connected to it… kind of unconditional togetherness of minds under umbrella of 'What would be like if we just slow down, stop judging, labeling and explaining everything around.  Why not dive into that precious moment of simply being here and now'.

Just a child-like, non-analytical gaze is probably the best way to understand and enjoy my art."

Jon Beinart - "So do you approach a painting intuitively or do you set out to communicate a particular concept or idea? Is your subconscious an important tool in your creative process?"

Artur Golacki - "My intuition is the main tool, helping to recreate a part of that special, secret micro-environment where usually subconscious prevail … sort of telling the never-ending story without drawing a conclusion. There is always plenty of room for any interpretation, depends on the individual."

Jon Beinart - "Do you often interpret your own images after completion? If so, have you discovered things about yourself that were previously unknown (or forgotten)?"

Artur Golacki - "Since I don’t have any specific limitations about final outcome, interpretation happens naturally as work progress and takes form of self-assurance rather than discovery."

Jon Beinart - "I have noticed a recurring tribal theme in your work Artur. I was wondering if you could shed some light on this for our readers. I am especially curious about the African children that appear in some of your paintings. When I first discovered your art I assumed that you were African yourself."

Artur Golacki - "It started in the eighties together with my love to dub music and mutually grown respect to different, less formal approach to art. Constant, sensual bass line and unexpected, abstract journey of tiny sounds around were perfect backgrounds to experiment with my paintings. I just simply wanted to thank for inspiration. Living in London, such a multiethnic city has also been a great influence."

Jon Beinart - "I live in Melbourne which is also very Multi ethnic. That coupled with the fact that my parents are both from South Africa has given me a similar perspective, which is probably one of the reasons why I relate to your work. I am reminded of all of the African art from my childhood. That and my experimentation with psychedelics as an adult. Have you experimented with psychedelics?"

Artur Golacki - "What do you think? I can hardly imagine contemporary artist who have not tried at least once. It is difficult to compare psychedelic with other sixth sense stretchers, somehow they shamelessly grow on this planet and I guess with a reason. However I would never recommend that as the only recipe on how to get in touch with your creative self. There are less dramatic but perhaps more permanent ways to keep your imagination high. In my case, meditation works just fine and process of painting comes as perfect extension. That’s why I ca