Category Archives: BLOG

Simon Stalenhgas’s sci-fi digital paintings

May 6, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

I always wondered if I could appreciate ‘digital painting’ as much as more traditional painting, what I mean by that is art which is made with brushes or pencils on some panels or canvases as opposed to via a computer.

Call me old fashion but I like thinking about artists spending hours in their studio, stroking or splashing paint on canvases but I must admit, I now also get exciting with this computer assisted method of painting that we call ‘Digital painting’

And how could you not be when you look at Simon Stålenhag | Art-Pie‘s works – keep on reading

About the artworks

Simon’s paintings and stories take place in an alternate version of Sweden in the 80s and 90s. The central location is the countryside of Mälaröarna, a string of islands and half islands just west of Stockholm. The background is this:

In the 1950s, the Swedish government orders the construction of a large particle accelerator. The state agency RIKSENERGI is tasked with developing this massive project. In 1969 the The Facility For Research In High Energy Physics is ready, located deep below the pastoral Mälaröarna-countryside. The local population soon calls it THE LOOP.

From it’s inception to it’s closure in 1994, The Loop was the largest accelerator in the world. The thousands of staff: scientists, engineers and maintenance workers, all serve Riksenergi during these years – and makes possible tremendous scientific advances. But the power of the Gravitron, the heart of the accelerator, proves difficult to control. The side effects of the project are dramatic. Strange sightings and bizarre rumours taints the scientific image of The Loop.

In the shadow of the weird machines filling the countryside, life continues as normal. The kids of Mälaröarna grew up living above the technological marvel of The Loop, but for them it was just a part of their very ordinary lives. Until strange beasts from another time showed up, that is.

About Simon Stålenhag

Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag burst onto the art scene in 2013 when his first series of paintings were shared on the Internet. His original blend of naturalistic landscape paintings with science fiction elements and a very low key recollection of growing up in the eighties struck a chord. Not just in Sweden, but all over the world.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Simon uploaded his first digital paintings onto the Internet in 2013, since then he has become something of a phenomena in the art and sci-fi communities. Simon shares his time between a small cabin at Mälaröarna (the setting that inspires his work) and an apartment in Stockholm.

BLOG, INTERVIEWS

The striking style of Kerry Beall

April 17, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

Kerry Beal | Art-Pie — Detail of “Space” | This piece will be in our next show

We had wanted for a while to have Kerry Beall in one of our edition of The Creative Bubble, a multi-discipline pop up event atRoxy Bar and Screen, London.

Art-Pie – Can you tell your readers about yourself in a few words?

Kerry Beall – Hello! my names Kerry, I’m a Graphic Designer by trade and been working in the industry for about 8 years, in the last few years I’ve really got into fine art, I wanted another creative outlet away from the computer screen so I went and bought loads of inks and brushes, it wasn’t something I was overly confident in until I drew a face that actually looked like the real deal! that was pretty exciting, and now painting and drawing is definitely a big part of my life 🙂

Art-Pie – Can you tell us about your creative process and where does your inspiration come from?

Kerry Beall – I tend to draw lots of portrait pieces as that’s what excites me, drawing eyes and watching a face come alive from a blank piece of paper is magical to me!
I work with ink and charcoal, I love the unpredictable nature of ink when it hits the page, coupled with the accuracy and precision you can get with charcoal. So I tend to use them both together.
I’m inspired by interesting fashion photography and nature, I gather inspiration from pinterest and instagram, and then visual ideas start forming from there…usually at four in the morning, so I often leap out of bed and draw it before I forget!

Art-Pie – Give us the name of three artists you admire or like?

Kerry Beall – I really love collage, and masking imagery, I came across Joe Webb’s stuff, and fell in love with it a bit.
I also really like Françoise Nielly’s work, with the bold, striking colour portraits.
Lastly I have to say Dali, as he’s a childhood favourite and triggered my first interest in art.

Art-Pie – Street art is something we like at Art-Pie, what is your take on that form of art?

Kerry Beall – I’m a fan of street art, especially having lived in Bristol for a long time, the appreciation for street art is really apparent there, as it’s Banksy’s home town…I like the way whenever I visit there’s something new to look at 🙂

Art-Pie – Are there any other projects or shows that you will be involved with for the rest of 2015 that you want share with us?

Kerry Beal – I’m working on new stuff all the time, my main focus for this year is a project I started called Beyond Words – Gaza
https://www.facebook.com/beyondwordsgaza?fref=photo
I am currently painting the lives that have been lost in Gaza with the intent of raising enough money to have all the portraits framed and exhibited, hopefully in a few places, with the final destination being Palestine, where the family members of the victims can keep the portraits that are of their family.
I know what’s happened can’t be undone, but I just felt a strong urge to do something, by trying to somehow immortalise these people in some form so they don’t fade away forever.

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WHAT – The Creative Bubble, POP UP Art Gallery, Spoken Word, Poetry, Short Films, Music & Networking
WHERE – Roxy Bar and Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB
WHEN – Wed 29/4/2015 (POP UP art gallery opening night) / Thursd 30 (Spoken word)

BLOG, INTERVIEWS

Meet James Kinsella, a visual artist from Austria

April 17, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

James Kinsella | Art-Pie — Detail of “Hofbauergasse” | This piece will be in our next show

We were thrilled to receive James’ submission for our upcoming edition of The Creative Bubble, a multi-discipline pop up event atRoxy Bar and Screen, London. James has been following us for a while and we are delighted to give him the opportunity to showcase his work.

We asked a few questions to the man about himself and his art –

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Art-Pie – Can you tell our readers about yourself in a few words?

James Kinsella – I am Visual Artist, practicing and living in Vienna, Austria. I received my M.A. in Visual Arts Practices from IADT Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.

I have an ongoing work The Socialmaterialbank project, it is an art platform that identifies and maps critical issues that are of immediate concern to our global community. We present the public with questions on these issues and invite the participants to share their responses on the Socialmaterialbank. We collect and document the participant’s responses and collective instructions, on our platform – the Socialmaterialbank. Website at www.jamespkinsella.org

Through painting and screen-printing I explore how we build and perceive our concept of home by ‘investigating’ my subconscious and unconscious records and views of Vienna!

Art-Pie – Can you tell us about your creative process and where does your inspiration come from?

James Kinsella – I believe that through art we can engage with local communities and through participation, commoning and consensus arrive at and create a better and more sustainable world. I paint, draw, photograph and create instillations and I have a social practice (Participatory) where I use my varied art skills to engage with local people at festivals, events and galleries here in Vienna.

Art-Pie – Give us the name of three artists you admire or like?

James Kinsella – I really like all artists as they dedicate so much of their energy to the arts. But as I presently live in Vienna, here I admire Egon Scheele, Gustav Klimt and Viennese Actionism – Brus, Mühl, Nitsch and Schwarzkogler.UK artists, Tracey Emin, David Hockney and Lucian Freud

Art-Pie – Street art is something we like at Art-Pie, what is your take on that form of art?

James Kinsella – Street art has always engaged and impressed me, it occupies public space and is an ancient effective, low cost, un-censored way of communication with the public. To me it’s sort of a democratic way of claiming public space and questioning the statuesque. My wife is a Roman Archaeologist and I had the privilege to attend a lecture by an American Lecturer, that included text on Roman graffiti and street art – it was amazing, shocking, surprising and beautiful lots of sex and erotica. I really admire Art- Pie for their consistent exposure, support and promotion of Graffiti artists, please keep it going as support is needed.

Art-Pie – Are there any other projects or shows that you will be involved with for the rest of 2015 that you want share with us?

James Kinsella – I post my up and coming shows on my website: www.jamespkinsella.org I am organising a number of shows presently but no fixed dates at the moment.

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BLOG, INTERVIEWS

Meet Stephen Whatcott, pastel artist at its best

April 17, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

Stephen Whatcott | Art-Pie — Details of “Alex Reading” | This piece will be in our next show

Stephen Whatcott is now a regular with The Creative Bubble, a multi-discipline pop up event at Roxy Bar and Screen, London.

The first time we came across his work, we just thought that the talent was obvious so we are very happy to have it once again in our upcoming pop up art gallery (see details at the bottom of this post).

Although, his pastel and acrylic works are mostly using black nuances, we think a touch of colours could be a winner, the quality of the drawing is remarkable and some of his pieces are pretty large and imposing when hung on the wall

We asked the man a few questions about himself and his art –

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Art-Pie – Can you tell our readers about yourself in a few words?

Stephen Whatcott – Well, I kind of see myself as a painter who draws or something like that anyway. I think my work is difficult to categorise: I paint with acrylic but draw with pastel, it’s realistic but with a kind of comic book feel, and I often merge lots of images together like a collage to put an idea across to the viewer.

Art-Pie – Can you tell us about your creative process and where does your inspiration comes from?

Stephen Whatcott – I illustrate people in everyday life situations, or doing everyday things, with the intention of capturing the mood or the feelings that the people are experiencing. I’m primarily concerned with the notion of what it is to be human. I like the idea of capturing the time we live in right now and our moment in human history.

Art-Pie – Give us the names of three artists you admire or like?

Stephen Whatcott – It’s hard to name just three. When I started painting in an attempt to earn a living I was massively influenced by the New York artists from the mid twentieth century like Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning. But Edward Hopper was my first fine art crush back in high school, and Egon Schiele, too. Contemporary artists I admire are guys like Erik Jones, Joel Daniel Phillips, Andrew Salgado, Herbert Baglione, Robert Mars, Francesco Francavilla, Rich Kelly… there are so many. I blog about art I like at www.thatguywhodrawsstuff.blogspot.co.uk/.

Art-Pie – Street art is something we like at Art-Pie, what is your take on that form of art?

Stephen Whatcott – I think Street art is another organic art movement that happened as a natural reaction against the formal art world, like Impressionism was. Why enter the gallery arena when the world, and the public, are outside your door? It’s also a political movement, like Punk was in the 70s, but unfortunately it tends to get ignored by the fine art world for whatever reason, because it can be low brow or something, who knows. I think it’s culturally relevant and very important especially in today’s political landscape.

Art-Pie – Are there any other projects or shows that you will be involved with for the rest of 2015 that you want share with us?

Stephen Whatcott – The past year has been pretty crazy on a personal level due to moving house and studio which has eaten into a huge chunk of my work time. I was in the Pastel Society’s annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries last month though which was great. I’m currently concentrating on producing some new work at the moment which I’ll be showing as and when throughout the year… so I’ll be around.

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BLOG, STREET ART

EN MASSE mural at Village Underground

April 15, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

It was a glorious day when we had the chance to see the EN MASSE crew working on anew and huge wall at Village Underground

EN MASSE : (from French) “as a whole”, or “all together”

EN MASSE is a Montreal based, multi-artist collaborative drawing project. It draws life from the many creative individuals who take part in the project to create large-scale, highly spontaneous drawings in black and white.

EN MASSE explores the creation of a collective vision; works created together that are greater than any one person could create alone.

HISTORY

The project was created by Tim Barnard and Jason Botkin in 2009, at the Galerie Pangée. Now under the direction of Botkin and Rupert Bottenberg, the initiative has worked with nearly 250+ artists internationally.

MANDATE

The EN MASSE Project nurtures the broadening and solidification of artistic communities everywhere it goes, serving artists from extremely diverse backgrounds such as graphic novels, graffiti, tattoo, illustration, design and the fine arts.

For the most part, artists participating in the project are self-taught creative entrepreneurs. EN MASSE is a high-profile public platform for these people who have often found themselves in an awkward relationship with many contemporary arts institutions (resulting in their work often being excluded from mainstream galleries, museums, and funding agencies). This is a bridge for artist to institution, and vice versa.

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS