SAY Studio Abba Yearbook 2013

2. StudioAbbaYearbook
Editor
Vito Abba
Catalogue editing
Carlotta Marzaioli and Lara Cox
© 2012 Studio Abba
www.studioabba.com
© 2012 Carlo Cambi Editore
www.carlocambieditore.it

3. Welcome to the first edition of the Studio Abba Yearbook!
As many of you will know, Studio Abba is involved in the promotion of
living artists and the organisation of solo and group exhibitions for them. By
producing an annual publication dedicated to the recent work of some of
these artists, I can reach a still wider audience of interested (and interesting)
people.
Indeed, the opportunity to present the first Studio Abba Yearbook 2013 at Art
Basel Miami and to send it to more than nine hundred prestigious recipients
including gallery owners, museum directors, collectors and dealers, together
with Fish Eye magazine, comes about thanks to a long-standing collaboration
with Carlo Cambi Editore. And I would like to thank Carlo Cambi for publishing
our exhibition catalogues and for distributing them in the circuit of museum
bookshops. Over recent years we have produced a large and successful range
of catalogues for solo and group exhibitions, such as for OpenArtCode or
WorldArtVision, catalogues that can be purchased online (paper version) or
viewed online for free (digital version).
Another big ‘thank you’ must go to all the artists who have chosen to entrust
Studio Abba with the promotion of their art, both those who have followed us
over the years, as well as those who have just joined us.
Vito Abba Carlotta Marzaioli
www.studioabba.com 3 info@studioabba.com

4. OpenArtCode London 2010 catalogue signing at the Royal Academy WorldArtVision Barcelona 2011 Eugenio Riotto at Giardino
Garzoni and Parco di Pinocchio
Collodi - Tuscany, 2007
Photo: Danish Saroee
Studio Abba’s artists understand the importance of promoting 2011 at the Real Círculo Artístico Barcelona, Spain. Both
their art, working in a team when they participate in my group exhibitions were enriched by a very successful vernissage, a
exhibitions and even give another artist their back to rest on!! gala dinner which gave the artists the opportunity of meeting
art critics, journalists and important local figures, and a series of
They generously help others too and that is why we were complimentary collateral events including lectures and concerts,
invited to take tea at the Royal Academy by the charity AGBI! at which the artists and public could both participate.
The OpenArtCode artists have sustained charities on more than To give a few examples of solo exhibitions that Studio Abba has
one occasion. In the above—mentioned example, we organised organised in exclusive locations in Italy, I should cite the Garzoni
a successful exhibition at the gallery@oxo on the Southbank, Gardens in Tuscany, the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence and
London in June 2010, where OpenArtCode supported AGBI, a the Arcetri Observatory that overlooks Florence.
British association that helps artists in need and whose Patron
is H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. At OpenArtCode Montecarlo, the Now I come to the practical aspects that affect our work to
group supported Gemluc, an association composed of Monaco promote artists. Primarily I want to emphasize that from 2008
business companies engaged in the fight against cancer and - when the global art market suffered a strong downward
whose Honorary President is H.R.H. Princess Caroline of Hanover. turn - to 2012, a year in which unfortunately the effects of the
They have also united their talents to exhibit together in Paris at economic crisis continue to be seen, events organised by Studio
the Grand Palais and in Shanghai at the Pudong Library and at Abba have been highly successful, have grown in number, the
CEIBS (China Europe International Business School). percentage of artists who have sold their works has increased
and indeed, many artists have seen their prices rise. The choice
I would like to mention another larger-scale exhibition organised of prestigious exhibition locations, from London to Paris, with a
by Studio Abba: WorldArtVision. It has now been held in two particular focus on cities with stronger or growing economies,
prestigious locations and due to its success, we are already such as Brazil or China, rewards our efforts. We have also
working towards the third edition. The first edition took place in fought the crisis by creating more opportunities for exhibitions,
2008 at the Cancun Center in Mexico and the second edition in at the same time increasing the productivity of each event.
OpenArtCode Grand Palais, Paris 2009 Marely Becerra’s performance at WorldArtVision Party Madrid 2012
www.studioabba.com

5. Jerry Carter at the Arcetri Observatory, Florence 2004 WorldArtVision Cancun 2008 - Rina Lazo (Diego Rivera's assistant)
between Los Fridos Arturo Estrada and Arturo Garcia Bustos
(Frida Kahlo’s assistants and pupils)
Photo: Danish Saroee
I will not hide that it has been, and still is, a great effort. Working Finally, I would like to thank Carlotta Marzaioli, who all the artists
at the rate of ten hours a day, often on Saturday and Sunday, we working with Studio Abba know, not only for her graphic design
have been able to gain market space while other competitors are skills of the catalogues and this Yearbook, but also because she is
left behind. We have also seen that the opportunities offered by always ready to help the artists in any aspect of the exhibitions
the evolution of the web and social networks for the promotion of we organise.
artists are of fundamental importance. Our increased productivity I also want to thank my partner Lara, whose passion for art is
is also due to the fact that it is now possible to work anywhere not only demonstrated in her having worked for three auction
and everywhere. We issue press releases, post images on the houses (including the contemporary art department at Sotheby’s
web, inform our social network contacts and stay in touch with London), but also in the help she gives me in my work.
the artists, in real time. Given that at the moment of writing
I would like to thank Danish Saroee, who, with his incredible
50% of internet access is via smartphones and tablets, we have
photos has documented many of our exhibitions; Fabrizio Pivari,
optimised our use of tools such as Blogger, Facebook, multimedia
not only for helping to further promote the artists through the
presentations for tablets, Flickr, Tumblr, Youtube, etc.
portal Art & Artworks, but also for all the tricks of web marketing
We want the artists we collaborate with not only to be visible
that he has taught me and secrets of the trade that he continues
and noticeable, but we also demand that their work be beautifully
to reveal to me (and as you know the magicians rarely reveal their
presented: it is not only essential to use the latest technology
tricks!); Luisa Noriega, editor of Llei d’Art, who has collaborated
but also the style, format and graphic design of the promotional
with Studio Abba on a number of artistic projects with great
piece must be eye-catching. Every day there is a new tool, some
energy and always with a smile.
of these spread and are successful, others have a fleeting fame;
if they offer valid opportunities for our artists, then we are eager
I hope our Yearbook will be of interest to you and I wish all the
to use them.
artists and readers a succesful year.
However traditional methods (the successful ones anyway!) must
not be left aside and for this reason I felt it important to create a Vito Abba
Yearbook.
OpenArtCode
Luisa Noriega Vito Abba Fabrizio Pivari
London 2010
WorldArtVision Party Madrid 2012 Danish Saroee WAV Party Madrid 2012
5 info@studioabba.com

6. Sumio Inoue Silenzioso 5
The world of light and shadow
The world where we feel silence and warmth
The moment when something sparks in the heart
I feel this moment and the eye of my camera seizes it
My gratefulness extends out as a small, silent prayer.
www.sumioinoue.com

7. Sumio Inoue was born in 1948 in Tokyo, Japan. He studied photographic techniques
at Tokyo Design Academy from 1968 to 1970 and at the Japan Design Center from
1970 to 1974. He began his career working in commercial photography and in 1990
changed to artistic photography. He lives and works in New York but still spends
part of the year in Tokyo.
The Japanese photographer has spent the past years carefully developing a series
called Silenzioso: images printed on handmade sculptural rice paper, a process that
takes several months and that depends on weather, temperature and humidity
that all affect the printing. The results are rich with emotions. Church interiors,
important monuments, town and cityscapes are printed with intensified focus and
in infinitely monochromatic shades and shadows. To see something where nothing
can be seen, uncovering and evoking unknown spaces with an antique pathos and
to provoke one’s imagination, are the primary goals of Sumio’s art.
Photo: Danish Saroee
Sumio Inoue has had solo and group exhibitions in Tokyo, New York, London,
Paris, Deauville, Florence, Barcelona, Greece and Mexico. He is a member of the that is travelling to various
OpenArtCode group and also participated in WorldArtVision Barcelona 2011. important cities in China and
In 2007, Sumio won the first prize for Photography at the Florence Biennale has also recently participated in
and won the Prix du Jury at GemlucArt, Monaco 2009. Sumio is currently the group’s exhibition in Art en
participating in OpenArtCode Shanghai 2012, an ongoing group at exhibition Capital at the Grand Palais, Paris.
Silenzioso 32
"To achieve the best result, I normally have to try five or six
times.... Only a few works can be made in a year."
7 sinoue@sumioinoue.com

8. Sumio explains in his artistic statement his working paper) onto which to print my images. It has taken me over
process and the importance of shadow, “Shadows are ten years to develop my skills in printing onto irregular
fascinating to me. They exist where light exists. They surfaces. Weather, temperature and humidity all affect
always follow people, sometimes enormous, sometimes printing. For example, it is almost impossible to print during
small, sometimes lighter or darker. Shadows are always the hottest summer or the coldest winter day.
with us, close by, touching. They grow as people grow and I dye each heavy sheet of paper with colours from tree
disappear when the person they followed passes away. barks and treat it with emulsion. Emulsion is applied to
From their creation to the moment of their destruction, some areas darker than others.
objects also have their private shadows. Although in photography it is the norm to produce multiple
I am attracted to the mysteriousness of shadow. In a prints, I only do one of each. To achieve the best result,
way, shadows can be seen as reflections of the human I normally have to try five or six times. The creation of a
consciousness; they seem to change to match our work takes about a month. Only a few works can be made
deepest feelings. A shadow has width and depth into in a year.
which it draws passers-by with a gentle, cooling gesture. I use thick paper so that the shadows can have more depth.
The immeasurable width of a shadow seeks out the However, because of the thickness of the paper, the colour
incomprehensible universe; the shadow's depth rolls out does not keep on the surface but keeps soaking deeper into
as the roaring sea of imagination. the paper. This makes it hard to create black. In fact, it is
Shadows know no limit. They invite imagination to wild very hard to create anything to look like I initially imagined.
trips even in their most monochrome formats. Where light But that's the way I like it - as a challenge.
hits surfaces, shadows are sharp and strong but where Often, my photos depict churches. They offer a certain
there is a lack of light shadows lazily define their existence. silence of the universe, width and depth for the shadows
When printing a photo, determining the level of darkness to rest.
can be a trial. I like to think of my work as creating unique paintings
I create heavy sheets of Japanese paper (a kind of rice through photography."
Silenzioso 68 Silenzioso 59
www.sumioinoue.com

9. Silenzioso 64 Silenzioso 17
Silenzioso:
a series of images printed on handmade sculptural rice paper,
a process that takes several months and that depends on weather,
temperature and humidity that all affect the printing.
“Several years ago, while I was working on an edition of the Florence Biennale, I had the opportunity to see a work by Sumio
Inoue for the first time. It was in the early days of the event, frenetic times of preparation prior to each opening. I moved
quickly from one side of the exhibition hall to the other (10,000 square meters!) with no time to stop to admire the artworks
then. Every so often, my curiosity would be drawn to some work, but I would repeatedly say to myself, ‘you will be able to
appreciate the art in the coming days, when everything is up and running smoothly.’ And so I kept going, from one side of
the exhibition pavilion to the other until Sumio Inoue’s piece came into my field of vision. At that point I said, ‘I have to stop.’
I could not work out immediately if it was a drawing or a photograph, but I knew instinctively from afar that this was an
extraordinary work. And the closer I got, the more curiosity gave way to admiration. The black and white shades, softened by
an unworldly time, the shot itself, the subject matter, all fascinated me. In fact, even before the brain decoded all the signals,
data and emotion that the work communicated, I had already realised that, in all the 2,000 pieces of art exhibited, I had just
come across something very special.
Several years have passed since that event, years that have allowed me to work with Sumio Inoue on many occasions and
get to know both the professional and precise artist and the gentle and reserved person. It has always been, and is, truly a
privilege.”
Vito Abba (Studio Abba)
9 sinoue@sumioinoue.com

10. Christine Drummond
“The ultimate goal of art is JOY”
(Gotthold E. Lessing)
" 'Joy' is what I want to bring to people through my paintings... 'Joy' through the choice of colours, the theme, the life and
movement I bring to the canvas with each stroke of my palette knife. When I complete a painting, my strongest wish is that
those who see it will be drawn into it and will want to be part of the happy atmosphere. If people feel good when they look
at one of my pieces, if my paintings brighten their day in any way, then my mission as an artist is completely fulfilled."
Christine Drummond
Windy day
www.chdrummond.com

11. Christine Drummond was born and raised in Brazil. She received her formative education at the French Lycée in Rio and sees
herself a true “carioca”, meaning a person born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. A true “carioca” enjoys life, has faith in the
future and is an optimist and she brings these characteristics into her paintings.
In 1999, she moved to the US and started painting using brushes but with little texture, the results revealed extremely
colourful artworks that always depicted her native country. In 2004, she saw a display of Professor Ablade Glover’s work and
this helped her to define her style and gave her a sense of freedom. With the bold strokes of her palette knife, she creates
texture that in turn creates shapes and colours that become alive on her canvas.
Today, Christine Drummond’s artworks are shown worldwide in collective and personal exhibitions, most recently with
OpenArtCode group in the Salon des Artistes Indépendants in the Grand Palais, Paris in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and the solo
exhibition at the Butler Goode Gallery in Sydney, Australia. Christine won the Prix du Concours at GemlucArt, Monaco 2011
and the prize was a subsequent, extremely successful, solo exhibition held at Galerie Ribolzi in June 2012, with HRH Princess
Caroline of Hanover attending the vernissage.
How did you get into the art world?
12 years ago, I met an art teacher who, seeing my interest in painting, asked me if I wanted to paint under him. From my
first canvas I knew I had found my way. In addition, this person immediately motivated me by saying that I had a knack with
colours, that I chose them so easily just by looking at my colour palette, whereas other people needed to use the colour
wheel to associate the correct colours and transpose it on the canvas. This seemed strange because I personally think that a
work of art is a spontaneous creation and must remain an expression of the personality of the artist. This is the fun side, this
feeling of freedom of expression through painting that captured me.
What is your favourite subject matter?
My favourite subject matter is the crowd. I love to paint groups of people in markets, carnivals, favelas. The idea of a crowd
personally matches a sense of diversity, exchanges, a feeling of “everything is possible”. Alone, everything seems more
difficult, while together we can all imagine and achieve. I paint these crowds that are always so cheerful and festive because
I think the positive energy that emerges in a group is contagious in the same way, I hope that this energy emerges from my
canvases.
What are the main stages in the evolution of your art?
It is true that throughout my 12 years of painting it has greatly evolved.
At the very beginning I reproduced in my own way and with my own interpretation of colours, photos of paintings I found in
art magazines. That lasted about 6 months until I went to the Dominican Republic and saw paintings by local artists, depicting
their country, landscape and culture. I went home telling myself that I was going to paint my country, Brazil my way. With my
colours and my interpretation. This trip was important because it made it clear to me what would become my inspiration,
11 chdrummond@yahoo.com

12. Brazil, but in my style.
Then there were the different stages of the evolution of my style: in 2002 I participated in a collective exhibition in Chicago, in
a beautiful art gallery that specialised in Haitian art. The gallery owner, during one of our conversations, suggested that I add
texture to my painting, saying that it would gain more life and dimension. So I started at the beginning, certainly very timidly,
to paint with more material. But it was not until several years later, in about 2004 that I finally understood what this gallerist
wanted me to understand. Coming from a trip to Chicago O’Hare international terminal, I saw a very large painting by the
artist Ganéen Ablade Glover, representing an African market, completely painted with a knife. Looking at this painting and
the effect of material provided by this technique I realized that now I was never going to use a brush again in my paintings.
This was the beginning of the third stage of evolution in my style. The palette knife.
Morro em festa Mercado em festa
Can you describe this very special technique of using a knife?
Painting with a knife gives me a sense of freedom in creation because nothing is static or delimited. Colours, when working
with the knife and applying them on the canvas are not seeking clarification or detail, but rather an effect of motion, an
aesthetic beauty. My technique is a whole: it is the choice of colours, the palette knife to apply the coloured strokes to the
canvas and Brazilian music. It is a combination of visual pleasure (colours), tactile (application of paint on the canvas) and
auditory (music). One without the other does not work for me. It may be the combination of these three parameters that
makes my technique unique. It allows me, I hope, to convey positive energy through my paintings.
Gooooool
www.chdrummond.com

13. Festa do samba
Can you tell us more about your future projects?
From a professional point of view I have solo exhibitions already planned at the end
of 2012 in São Paulo, Brazil and in March 2013 in Sydney, Australia sponsored by the
Consulate who wants to use my paintings to convey the image of Brazil. As a Brazilian
artist, this is a project that motivates me hugely. One of my future projects is to paint
the festivities and celebrations during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The excitement
and energy that will pervade in my country at that time will be unique and I want to be
able to transpose it in my paintings, to be shared with others in my future exhibitions.
From a personal point of view, a project that is close to my heart, is to help a humanitarian
organisation in Rio that cares for street children. I am in contact with the director and
I hope to be able to do a painting workshop with the children. If my paintings can
bring some joy to these children, I will then feel very good and happy about that.
13 chdrummond@yahoo.com

14. Hilde Klomp
Hilde Klomp was born in the Netherlands in 1954. Initially she studied
experimental photography. After attending a five-day workshop on
bronze casting eight years ago, interest in her work began to develop.
Many commissions followed, and she was invited to various exhibitions
in the Netherlands as well as abroad.
Hilde is increasingly becoming aware of her desire to visualize emotions
in her sculptures. Through her passion for photography, film and
sculpting, she wants to demonstrate how apparently simple things can
be beautiful. These basic, intense moments touch her heart, and she
feels the need to visually express this in her work.
The human figure, posture, shape, and especially movement are endless
sources of inspiration for Hilde. Some people experience a sense of
pride, gracefulness and movement in her work, while others feel that
the sculptures express a sense of self-assurance. To Hilde, the front and
back of a sculpture are equally important. The viewer is invited to touch
the sculptures; they can be turned and moved.
Hilde has participated in exhibitions in the Netherlands and beyond, including the first edition of WorldArtVision Cancun in
2008. She is a member of the OpenArtCode group, having exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2010 and in Shanghai in
2012.
Circles of life Circles of life (detail)
www.hildeklomp.nl

15. What were the inspirations and influences for your latest artwork?
My last sculpture is called Coco.
I made the sculpture for my daughter, whose name is Coco and who studied fashion. Last year I was seriously ill and had to
have a major heart operation. My first thought when I awoke from the anaesthetic was that I had not yet made a sculpture
for my children. Coco was born on the 11th of November, so I made eleven torsos and joined them with a chain. One of the
torsos is dressed, to symbolise Coco, having studied fashion.
Do you think that travel and getting to know different artistic styles and techniques outside of your country enriches your
art? Indeed, meeting other artists? If so, how can we see this in your art?
Yes, I am very interested in other cultures, and I find meeting colleagues from other countries at exhibitions a continuous
source of inspiration.
How has the internet changed your activity as an artist?
I find it inspiring to receive emails from foreign colleagues. Chatting about my work with them from various parts of the world
is also very constructive.
How do you see contemporary art moving forward?
In my opinion, photography is on the increase. I am quite pleased about this, as I have actually studied experimental photography.
Balinese catwalk
Do you think the artistic
styles are similar to the
economic recession, that
they move in circles? For
example, Impressionism,
Post-Impressionism, Neo-
Impressionism etc etc?
Certainly, more and more
so. You can see that there is
a great longing for nostalgic
material, vintage etc. There
seems to be a desire for
basic materials; globalism
and individualism are
disappearing.
How important is the
viewer’s interpretation of
your art and more specifically
the comprehension of the
content, for you?
Everybody may see and
feel what they want to see
and feel. What’s important
to me is that my art has an
effect on the viewer! This
is not my intention when I
create it, but I am very happy
when it happens, and when
people recognize something
of themselves in my work.
15 info@hildeklomp.nl

16. Sara Palleria
The painter Sara Palleria was born in Rome, where she lives and works. She received her degree in Education Sciences
and still works in this research field in parallel to her artistic career, with particular reference to the world of colour linked
to the psychology of emotions. She collaborates with various institutions in the visual arts sector and runs education
courses on images and colour laboratories and is one of the founding members of the artistic and cultural association “ARS
arteromasedici”.
Her large-scale oils on canvas stagger the viewer for their intrinsic beauty and use of colour and nuances of texture and
energy. She loves to paint all that “the eye thinks it sees.” In her artistic statement, Sara explains “The crossing of colour,
alternating between heaven and earth, between light and dark ... the expression of colours and materials ... all that seems
to be... and instead becomes something else, where colours and the earth slip away and cling to uncertain boundaries in the
nature of the underlying human journey”. Over the last ten years her abstract expressionism has become more complete,
the space of the canvas refers to inner journeys that the artist has taken drawing out a timeless reality that is vividly
concrete. In the use of light and colour she suggests a hint of a background and foreground, yet it is undecipherable with its
uncertain boundaries of nature and imagination. It is also in the titles that Sara Palleria gives to her works, that can be both
humorous, cynical and certainly poetic, that she also gives the viewer a clue to the canvas’s significance, beyond that which
we imagine for ourselves, Gli uomini nella rete (Men on the internet), Pioggia Estiva (Summer rain), Riflessi d’esate (Summer
reflections) or Isola di vetro (Glass island). Furthermore, “the expressionism of colours and materials, remind us that nothing
is peaceful in nature and it unleashes forces with which man is to be measured. Especially in the case of this artist, who lives
in constant research, in constant tension. These works by Sara Palleria, as indeed for most of contemporary art, are not a
point of final destination, but rather a fundamental choice to work with more changes, ideas and projects”. (Alberto Toni)
La terra racconta
What were the inspirations and influences for your most recent work?
Generally I draw inspiration for my work from my moods, representing my emotions and my feelings with extensive areas
of colour and attempting to get a sfumato, polished or translucent, opaque effect; areas of colour that sometimes seem
to appear on different levels and other times appear suspended in space, that on closer observation, one may be able to
see half-drawn figures. I am particularly drawn to the majority of the Abstract Expressionists, in the true meaning of the
movement: the post-World War II American School where the sphere of sentiments is expressed through action painting.
www.sarapalleria.com

17. L’attesa Passaggio
Do you think travel and learning about different styles Post-Impressionism, Neo Impressionism etc. etc.?
and artistic techniques outside of your own country I think that the cyclical nature of the economy or that of
enriches your art and in particular in the meeting of history can indeed be compared to the artistic movements.
other artists? If so, can you see this in your art? In every period, there are events that overwhelm men and
Yes, I think it is very important to get to know other artists, their products, to becoming restless, so that nothing changes
the different ways of approaching the visual arts and and nothing is ever the same, everything comes back under
sharing these experiences in painting. It is a fundamental different forms that are apparently not recognisable and
collective dimension that any artist can enter into to find everything in art is closely related to each other. And the point
a new very personal artistic path thanks to the discovery of pseudo arrival of each movement is the starting point for
of and the direct comparison with, other ways other than another.
their own, to create art. How important for you is the viewer’s interpretation of
your art and more particularly, to the understanding of the
Are there elements of continuity in your paintings that
content?
attest to the presence of an influence of an artist’s style
The messages in my work are always of a spiritual and mental
rather than another?
nature and the attempt to convey to the viewer these same
I think the elements of continuity in my paintings can be feelings cannot always be interpreted in the same way that
read on the more obvious levels of theme and style of I “imprinted them on the canvas”. I fully realise that every
major artists such as Ad Reinhardt or Rothko.... I don’t observer has psychological connotations and abilities to see
know.... for example, often I love to create paintings within and hear in a totally individual way and of course which could
paintings, paint one area of colour inside another, create a be different from those of the author-artist; so I don’t think it’s
grid of irregular squares like a puzzle, which differ between indispensable for those who are looking at a painting of mine
each other in their subtle or clear chromatic tones, so each to interpret it, it’s not necessary for me as each eye sees what it
piece forces the eye to concentrate to the maximum so wants to see in this type of painting. The viewer has to enter the
as to identify hidden figures, created by these contrasting
painting, live it and "understand", if he wants to adhere to his
colours.
Do you think art styles are similar to the economic downturn, way of "feeling". It's just a question of emotions, an exchange
which move in a circle? For example, Impressionism, between those who produce it and those who can enjoy it.
17 s.palleria@libero.it

18. El se Pi a Mar t i n s e n Erz
Swans From heaven
www.galerie-erz.dk

19. OpenArtCode Shanghai 2012
Born in 1961 in Feldborg, enough still to find in Denmark”.
Denmark, Else Pia Martinen Erz (Tom Joergensen B.A., Editor of
studied business operations Kunstavisen).
management, worked in the From 1997, Else Pia has had
textile and clothing industry for numerous exhibitions in art
some time and then changed organizations, galleries and
direction to study drawing and museums, both on a national and
painting techniques. international level, has created a
large mural for a residence for a
Else Pia’s large-scale acrylic private dementia hospital and
on canvas are an impressive in 2002, she opened Galerie
documentation of and eulogy to Erz. In 2010, she exhibited
nature and in particular, to that with the OpenArtCode group
close to her heart in Denmark. in London, Monaco and Paris,
“For Else Pia Martinsen Erz, the at the Grand Palais, from 2010-
flat marshland of southern Jutland 2012. In 2011 she attended at
(Denmark) is her artistic universe. she depicts her subject in a slightly stylized manner the WorldArtVision Barcelona
This is where she lives and where with a sense of timelessness. Equally, she does not and she also had an extremely
her world begins. With its open, stick just to local colours, but lets the colours take on successful solo exhibition in
overwhelming horizons she paints their own compositions. She is both faithful to nature Flensburg, Germany, where a
the sparse landscape and the whilst emphasizing her artistic interpretation of it. series of her Migratory birds was
animals living there: this may be She has stylistic links with Johannes Larsen and his exhibited. Else Pia is currently
a flock of sheep, but above all she unsentimental pictures, although, with her interest participating in OpenArtCode
is absorbed by the life of birds. in elaborate shapes and patterns, her paintings have Shanghai 2012, an ongoing
She is not a naturalistic painter. an art nouveau element. Her paintings are elegant, group exhibition that is travelling
Her birds are not photographic powerful, precise and poetic and pay homage to the to some of the most important
reproductions, on the contrary free and unspoiled landscapes which we are fortunate Chinese cities.
OpenArtCode Paris 2010 OpenArtCode Shanghai 2012
A day's start at the Atelier:
The morning is casting light over Rømø.
I jump on my bicycle; just reached the dikes,
rain lashing against my face
and my jeans stick to my body.
Nearly a white day,
where all colours lie in the grey tonality scale.
Beautiful!!
I'm continuing;
water dripping all through the house.
Looking forward to a hot shower,
dry clothes and a cup of good smelling coffee
for the review of yesterday's painting.
An inspiring start to a day in my atelier.
19 elsepia@galerie-erz.dk

20. What were the inspirations and influences for your that I meet often gives me new inspiration or other ways to
latest artwork? look at my own art. I am not inspired by the art I see, but
My latest work is inspired by the migrating birds in it is more a way of relaxing and clearing my mind and then
the wonderful Wadden See area and is combined with I am able to look at my own inspiration and expression in
a new source for my basic values in life. The painting a new and stronger way. I love colours and see different
entitled From Heaven is about my desire to express the colour combinations everywhere, in towns I am visiting, in
beauty on earth and the need for spirituality to fulfill the wonderful nature or when I meet people.
my life. Being in the nature always fills me with energy,
How has the internet changed your activity as an artist?
silence and freedom and I hope that everyone can, at
some stage, develop an understanding of the need for Internet has made it easy to show my art at www.galerie-erz.dk
peace and joy. to old and new customers. I see that a lot of people are
following my artwork on the internet and many are very well
Do you think that travel and getting to know different informed when they visit my gallery in Denmark. I get a lot
artistic styles and techniques outside of your country of questions by email about the paintings, people and groups
enriches your art? Indeed meeting other artists? If so, that want to visit me and invitations to exhibit on a national
how can we see this in your art? and international basis. A lot of my organisation and contacts
Traveling to other countries is a fundamental part of my are done by email. However, I always want to know and talk
way of living as an artist. I love to see and enjoy art from all with people who I work closely with on an exhibition and it
over the world and meet new cultures, it gives me a lot of is very important for me to have personal contact with my
energy and motivation to paint. My contact with people clients and people who attend my exhibitions.
Outdoor woodcut printing in Flensburg, 2011 Happy ending of the woodcut printing, Else Pia
www.galerie-erz.dk

21. Dove 3 Dove 4
How do you see contemporary art moving forward? How important is the viewer’s interpretation of your art
I see and believe that contemporary art is moving in all and more specifically the comprehension of the content,
different directions, in different ways for each artist. for you?
I have the pleasure of meeting many of my clients and visitors
Do you think the artistic styles are similar to the economic
at the gallery in Denmark, to talk with them and listen to
recession, that they move in circles? For example,
their interpretation of my art and this is very valuable for
Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism etc.?
me. Comprehension of the content is even more important
The economic recession has not affected my way of painting when I am asked to do special paintings for official buildings,
or selling paintings. I have sold very well over the last years hospitals and schools. An ongoing process makes my ideas
and I am thankful and feel lucky for that. To me it is very transform into something that also corresponds with the
important to keep my own focus and not get affected by location and the people that are using the rooms. Hopefully
negativity you can find in any society. I am always looking my paintings are integrated in the buildings and give
for the positive and try to get away from negative vibes. inspiration and motivation to the viewer.
H.R.H. Prince Joachim of Denmark making the opening speech
OpenArtCode Shanghai 2012 at Under a Black Sun exhibition in Copenhagen 2012
21 elsepia@galerie-erz.dk

22. Kensuke Shimizu
Kensuke Shimizu was born in 1974 in Tokyo, Japan and currently lives in Turku,
Finland, having previously also lived in London and Minnesota. He is an artist,
creative writer and cultural researcher.
Indeed, words and humour play an important part in his creative art works, where
visual art and writing intersect each other to become one. His mixed media works
may include human characters sometimes ballet dancers or musicians, that
appear as part of a story in a dream-like atmosphere. One can see a clear influence
of Basquiat and his use of graffiti but without the violence of the American artist’s
works; indeed Kensuke’s colourful works, on the contrary, are full of humour and
gentle and fun sequences with their characteristic annotations. Bicycles may be
seen as a nature-friendly ecological vehicle, expressing the relationship between
human beings and the natural environment and shoes and shoelaces in his art,
are a recurring symbol of communication.
Kensuke Shimizu has exhibited his artworks internationally in Europe (Italy,
France, Finland, Spain, Austria, and so on), and also in Japan, China, and USA.
His solo exhibitions have been held in Helsinki, Turku, Tallinn, Tokyo, Paris, and
Rome. He is currently also participating in OpenArtCode Shanghai 2012, an on-
going group exhibition that is travelling between various important cities in
China. Photo: Danish Saroee
WorldArtVision Party Madrid 2012
www4.ocn.ne.jp/~kensuke/sub1.html

23. Bon voyage Favorite cafe
Mademoiselle going to the theater Dreaming wondering
23 kensu77taide@hotmail.com

24. Literature... Music on streets
Movement...
What do you want to express in your art?
Literature in art. I like to bring literature (story-telling) into
my art. I often insert words and phrases and also the human
characters are like individuals appearing in some story for me.
In addition to paintings, I sometimes write poems and stories.
I have written 3 books, all of which have been published.
Humour. Another aspect is humour that is important for me
and which I inject in both my paintings and drawings. By using
lines, I create a joyful atmosphere, full of humour.
Movement. I like to bring movement into my art. By my
including bicycles, sport, ballerinas and my way of drawing
human characters, together with these texts, the viewer gets
an idea of movement.
Mademoiselle visiting cafe
What has had a positive influence on your art?
The short stories by Jules Supervielle that depict dreamlike
worlds and thoughts, in particular in the work, L’Enfant
de la Haute Mer (short story taken from the collection
L’Enfant de la Haute Mer) have influenced me a lot. I
read the Japanese translation of this story in 1993 and
it completely changed my views on fiction. After I had
finished it, I wanted to make creative works, in which
visual art and writing were combined, as if they were
inside each other and continually intersecting each other.
Music. Music has been always played an important part
in my life and on occasion people feel music in my art. I
used to play the piano for about 20 years or so, but when I
make my artworks, I sometimes feel music in them too. It
is as if I play music in my art.
Life in foreign countries. I am Japanese, but in total so far,
I have spent roughly 14 years of my life, in places outside
Japan including USA, UK, and Finland. The beautiful
natural environment in Finland and their colours have a
good influence on my art.
www4.ocn.ne.jp/~kensuke/sub1.html

25. Dreaming meeting Why do you live in Finland now?
How is your life in Finland related
to your career as an artist?
When I lived in Minnesota in
1997, I met a Finnish student
and we talked about Finland and
so I became more interested in
the country. I studied Finnish at
the University of Minnesota for
2 years then for another year
in London and subsequently
moved to Turku, Finland in 2002
and have lived here ever since.
The experience of meeting this
Finnish person (still a friend of
mine) changed the course of my
life and so I am glad that I met this
friend. This is related to my art
too, because it is here in Finland
where great opportunities have
started opening up for me and
that I have begun to exhibit more
and more.
...Humour
...Music......
What do you do in Finland?
In addition to being an artist, I
I like doing something creative am a researcher and am studying
for a PhD degree in European
Ethnology at the University of
Where do you get the inspirations or ideas for your art? Turku. For me, doing research
is sometimes creative; as I have
I get inspirations or ideas for my art from many different situations. Sometimes when I said, I also create poems and
walk around a town, travel to new places or when I visit museums, where I try to imagine stories. Recently I have taken up
how the paintings were made, this gives me ideas. Or it could be just from watching cooking too. All of these are, for
TV or old movies; I like drawing hats in my art as I like to recreate the atmosphere of me, related to “creativity” and
old movies. I also often draw ballerinas and this idea first came from my experiences “thinking”. So, I guess I like doing
of seeing a beautiful photo in a ballet magazine. So, I am continually looking for new something creative that also
ideas and inspirations that can come from completely different sources. involves thinking.
25 kensu77taide@hotmail.com

26. Ka r l S te nge l
Figura 8
Karl Stengel was born in 1925
in Hungary. He studied art in
Budapest, where he trained in
painting and drawing and also
received an introduction to the
principles of set design and
architecture, the influence of
which can be seen in his current
artistic style. After 1956, he
studied for a period at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Munich The artist’s works attempt to
and subsequently taught at the answer questions about human
Pädogogische Hochschule at experiences and address life
Munich University. Recently, in all its absurdity, complexity
Stengel has created a series of and tragedy, through surreal
drawings for the Italian Institute expressionism and lyrical
of Culture in Germany that abstraction. Stengel has
were dedicated to Boccaccio’s exhibited his works worldwide,
Decamerone and to Frammenti his personal exhibitions have
by Giuseppe Ungaretti, and been hosted throughout Italy
of late, Stengel has conceived most recently, in April 2011,
a series of pastel drawings in the Salone Donatello in In October 2012, Karl Stengel had a personal
that are homage to Tristano the Church of San Lorenzo in exhibition at the George Toparcenau Cultural Centre
muore by Antonio Tabucchi. Florence, Italy. in Curtea de Arges, Romania.
Figura 21 Figura 16
www.karlstengel.com

27. Figura 24
Stengel’s way of ‘gesticulating’ with blurred dynamic brush strokes (in contrast to the surrounding homogeneity of the
backgrounds), at times ‘watercolourish’, create a kind of imaginary and imaginative alphabet consisting of symbols and
graphic scribbles, an absolute and anti-harmonic ‘graphic-pictorial writing’ that finds inspiration in musical language and
seems to find lifeblood and resonant comments in Schoenberg’s dodecaphonic technique. The artist, with both the inspiration
of a great composer and the skill of a conductor, makes gestural marks and the colours move on the canvas and on the paper
so as to give us emotionally dynamic scores, where a contained and mediated gesture finds its response in a strong colour
that defines an expressionist space, conceived as a place evocative of spirituality. Colour which then takes on a larval form in
the shape of a human figure ‘created’ by Stengel, arising from that very colour to dance free of any grid on the canvas, in a
play of reds, of aqua greens and of silent blacks, with hints of blue, on static grey-white backgrounds, that create the pauses
in the composition. His work, in the predominantly pastel and pencil on paper phase, has never looked to be only abstract
but also suggests a simplified poetically surreal language; in the last period he abandons himself, therefore, to the fantastic
triumph of pure colour, in a joyous, absolute and formal freedom, to then return to a shadow of figuration. […]
In Stengel’s drawings on a big ‘out of scale’ white page, where the existential parable of life is written, pages are taller than
the figures themselves. He wraps them folded in two or three parts like a screen, like the background to a scene where
the characters act and interact but that isolated from each other […] standing out against the coloured background of a
magmatic inner Cosmos to be explored. They are almost shapeless figures, sometimes like a coloured shadow of a man, in
turn projecting a dark shadow onto the big “Sheet of Life”, that whilst revealing on the one hand, the absence of a character
in a specific somatic connotation, on the other they represent a presence that both reveals and conceals, that lies in its
ethereal inconsistency.
(Giampaolo Trotta)
27 info@karlstengel.com

28. Marco Aurélio Rey
Marco Aurélio Rey was born and lives in São Paulo, France and Spain where, in
Brazil. He started painting with oils when he was a child 2011, after three collective
and in the 1980’s he specialised in Industrial Design exhibitions, Marco Aurélio
and Visual Communications. At this stage of his life, he had a solo show at the
stopped painting to work in the world of fashion. Aragon Gallery in Barcelona.
However in the 1990’s, he re-started to paint using In 2010 and 2011, he
gouache on paper and his most recent series Ar livre participated in the collective
or "Free air" shows the relationship between memories show Art en Capital at the
and emotions. His latest style reminds one clearly of Grand Palais in Paris and
Gerhard Richter’s works and they are proud and elegant has most recently had an
eulogies to nature and its intrinsic beauty. The artist has important solo exhibition in
participated in various art fairs in Brazil, Belgium, Italy, Brazil.
Dança com vento 1 Dança com vento 2
www.marcorey.com.br

29. Ar livre (detail)
What were the inspirations and influences for
your latest artwork?
Ecology and the sustainability of nature; I wish
people would take care of it rather than destroy
it!
How has the internet changed your activity as
an artist?
Internet is great because with it, I can keep
in touch with the world and I have more
opportunities to “meet” interested parties
which leads to sales and new exhibitions around
the world.
Do you think the artistic styles are similar to
the economic recession, that they move in
circles? For example, Impressionism, Post-
Impressionism, Neo impressionism etc etc? How important is the viewer’s interpretation of your art and more
All artistic expressions are based on what specifically the comprehension of the content, for you?
happens in the world; if there are problems or In my art I would like to make people think about good things and feel
moments of happiness artists interpret this in positive vibrations and emotions. You can see the good energy in my
their art. Now artists like to show the new age art but with daily life and routine you can lose this; it is important to
and new influences are ecology and of course memorize constructive aspects of life and optimistic feelings and this
the economy. can be through my art.
Caminho
29 marcorey@uol.com.br

30. Mary Brilli
Mary Brilli, born in Turin, Italy is an eclectic artist but has lived in Paris for many
years now.
Only those who know Mary Brilli can really understand her strong personality
and by knowing her world, her work and her loves and passions, can we see her
as a free, self-critical and unconventional artist. In reality, her works reflect her
great faith in imagination and in satire and she wants the spectator to reflect on
her criticism of this irrational and complex world without prejudice. Mary works
extremely skilfully and professionally in a large variety of genres from painting,
sculpture, drawing to silk and painted collages; she has created designs for Hermès-Paris and made installations. Indeed her
sculpture in the form of the Eiffel Tower made up of her catalogues (Passion pour la vie, Art en Capital, Grand Palais 2008)
or her personally-designed silk scarves wrapped round Renaissance statues on the staircase of the Palazzo Viti in Volterra
Italy (VolterraArte 2010) are testimony to her extraordinary charisma and skill as a wide-ranging, multi-talented artist. Her
passion and enthusiasm, strength and vitality for the project she is working on in that moment, indeed her commitment to
it, is outstanding and these attributes all come across in the final product, whatever that might be.
This love of art is also expressed in writing through poetry and journalism. Furthermore, humanitarian work is also extremely
important to her and in December 2011, Mary received the award, Trophée de la Réussite au Féminin, from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in Paris.
Clin d’œil - L’air du temps (two details)
www.marybrilli.com

31. Clin d’œil
Science, d’où prévoyance
31 marybrilli@marybrilli.com

32. OpenArtCode Paris: Mary avec Mme Tacque (Présidente d'Art
en Capital et de la Sociéteé des Artistes Indépendants - 2009 ) Virtuel platonique rouge et noir
As a kid, I wanted to be a racing-driver with
a beautiful red Ferrari!
Indefini 1 Indefini 2
www.marybrilli.com

33. Clin d’œil
I’m completely eclectic...
Oil, acrylics, pastel,
drawing, engraving,
collage, plaster,
installations…
Did you dream of becoming a painter
when you were a child?
No, as a kid, I wanted to be a racing-
driver with a beautiful red Ferrari!
Let’s speak a little about your painting
For me, you either like or dislike a work
of art, but you don’t judge it. It’s as
simple as that.
Your art is very graphic …
In fact, I have created a kind of
figurative art markedly graphic.
Where do you get your inspiration?
From everywhere: a sentence, a look, a
flower, a poem, a song, a reflexion of a
philosopher or even from some social
injustice … anything can be a source
of inspiration for me. You just have
to know how to listen, to see and to
remember.
Do you employ any special techniques?
No. I’m completely eclectic, oil, acrylics,
pastel, drawing, engraving, collage,
plaster, installations…it all depends on
the choice of my subjects.
What determines the price of a
picture?
It’s the emotion of the art lover or
collector which gives it is value. Without
this emotion, the work of art does not
exist.
33 marybrilli@marybrilli.com

34. Agneta Gynning
Agneta Gynning is a Swedish sculptor who
studied under Victor Praznik, a sculptor
with roots in the former Yugoslavia.
He inspired her to specialise in bronze
and marble and also introduced her to
working in Pietrasanta in Italy, a town
of international importance and fame
for sculpture, and where Agneta returns
annually.
She works in bronze, marble, glass and
rubber and her art succeeds in fusing
both classical and modern influences.
It is inspired by the subconscious and is
full of movement; the lines she creates
are elegant, graceful and transmit a
feeling of life and soul, with a free spirit
that seems to inhabit the space both
within and around her artworks. Rubber
is the most recent material that Agneta
is exploring and working with and with
which she reveals an instinctive talent
to uncover the emotionally evocative
power of its colour and movement.
Agneta is inspired by the ocean and
goes for long walks along the beach to
find creativity; she travels regularly and
is passionate about discovering art from
ancient civilizations. Furthermore, she
regularly attends dance performances
to find new inspiration for alternative
movement in her sculptures; as the body
and human interaction are fundamental
aspects of her sculptures.
Together
www.agnetagynning.com

35. Agneta had her first exhibition in 1995 and her work has now where she won the Leonardo Award for sculpture, and at
been exhibited all over Scandinavia as well as in southern the Grand Palais in Paris. In 2013, she will participate at the
Europe and China. Last year Agneta’s work was shown at first London Biennale in January and have a solo exhibition
the Florence Biennale, ArtExpo in New York, OpenArtCode in New York. In Sweden, Agneta Gynning’s sculptures can be
Shanghai, at the Chianciano International Art Awards in Italy, found in both public areas as well as in private collections.
In the center All the same but
What were the inspirations and influences for your latest
artwork?
A few years ago I visited a show with an artist who used
rubber in paintings. I fell in love with the expression of
the material and got inspired to explore how I could use
this contemporary material in sculpting. After a while I
got in touch with Helsingborg’s gummi AB, and through
Dancers
them I learned how to work with the material. In bronze
and rubber the colours are much more subtle, but now I
have found a new colourful world. Using the same forms
as before, I suddenly experienced a new way to express my
feelings through colour.
How important are the viewer’s interpretation of your
art and more specifically their comprehension of the
content, for you?
I make my sculptures for myself. It’s my way to express
my inner feelings. But it’s very interesting to listen to and
get to know how my work affects others. Listening to the
viewers’ interpretation of my work makes me see if I have
succeeded in transmitting my idea for the sculpture. It also
gives me new eyes to look at the world and possibilities to
develop a deeper understanding of how others experience
my art.
35 gynning@telia.com

36. Evelyne Huet The warrior
Born in 1955, Evelyne Huet is a mathematician by training, a
discipline she chose for the aesthetic and infinitely dreamlike
dimension of the objects it describes; she also studied
anthropology. Evelyne lives and works in Paris.
Strongly influenced by the culture and arts of societies seen
as primitive, as well as artists such as Bernard Buffet, Jean-
Michel Basquiat and Marlene Dumas, her paintings speak
of women around the world, often set in a backdrop of
violence. Her paintings depict neither the violence nor its
perpetrators, but instead reflect the courage and dignity
of these women. Their thoughts and expressions show the
strength of their intelligence and contempt fuelling their
resistance to what life has dealt them. Her paintings attempt
to simplify the representation to the extreme in order to
show only the essential. The women she paints never give
up. Many are even in active resistance.
She is a member of the OpenArtCode group of international
artists and exhibits regularly in France and abroad.
The blue Lady
What message do you want to convey through your
paintings?
All across the world, girls are in greater danger than boys,
and unfortunately this imbalance is not going to disappear
anytime soon.
Girls’ access to life, to health care, and to education is obvi-
ously an important issue. As is protecting women against
rape, honour crimes, domestic violence, mutilations, sexual
slavery…
In my paintings I don’t want to show the acts of violence
or their perpetrators but instead they are meant to reflect
what women are thinking during these violent situations,
as well as the courage and strength they are able to find to
resist and bounce back.
I have an unending admiration for all these women, and I
like to tell myself that, even though they all lose under the
blows of their aggressors, they are the ones that come out
on top through the strength of their spirit - because in the
end they are Davids to their Goliaths. However this is of
course but an idealised consolation and as such is illusory.
The full horror remains.
www.evelynehuet.com

37. Hey sister you gonna win
37 evelynehuet@live.fr

38. Tiril
UpalaTiril Benton was born and educated
Woman
in London in 1955 and now lives
in Alabama, in the US. She works
on canvas, paper and board using
a large variety of mediums from
oils, acrylics, watercolours and
gouache to pencil, soft pastels and
pen and ink.
"My work is purely intuitive. The
concept manifests itself as the
painting evolves. Each painting to
me is a record of an extraordinary
moment of existence, a
Odyssey confirmation in the reality of
the journey of the spirit. Always
cognizant of the tenuous balance
necessary for the painting’s
evolution, I yield to a greater
force. It is within this state of
thoughtless awareness that I am able to connect on a level that I cannot
verbalise. I believe that through the language of art, we are able to
communicate on the highest vibrational level."
Tiril has participated in many solo and collective shows in the USA and
her works belong in private collections in various countries worldwide.
www.artbytiril.com tiril@knology.net
Sharon Brill Born in Israel, Sharon
Conch 25
Brill currently lives and
works in New York, USA.
After graduating from
the Neri Bloomfield
Conch 24
School of Design in Haifa,
she worked as a graphic
designer for about 10
years, yet needing to work
with tactile materials
again, she turned back to
her old love for ceramics. The forms are made from wheel thrown and
altered porcelain, fired to 1260⁰ C /2232⁰ F.
The porcelain remains bare. The works are
sanded with various grades of sandpaper from
Her current works are abstract, organic porcelain sculptures.
rough to smooth, before and after being fired.
The natural beauty of the sea and the composition of the
light, air, water and sand, the shapes, textures, colours, Conch 14
softness and intensity are all sources of inspiration for her
ceramics. On talking about her work, Sharon says, “it is an
exploration, a quest that combines spontaneous, intuitive
work with meticulous accurate aesthetics as an expression
of beauty. [...] The concept of my works exists in the marriage
between two poles: aspiration for meticulous and restrained
aesthetic on the one hand, and unrestricted spontaneous Sharon Brill has participated
and intuitive search on the other, the understanding in various group exhibitions
of the integration between perfection and freedom.” in New York and in Europe.
www.sharonbrill.com brill.sharon@gmail.com

39. “Over the years, my search has led to
a colourful and diverse collection of
paintings. My work is usually large in
size and the colour scheme is basically
Annemieke Wolter
Annemieke Wolter was born in Bussum, the Netherlands in 1956. She attended the Gooise
warm, bright and sparkling. Intensive Academy for Fine Arts in Laren and then between 2006 and 2010 she followed a Colloquium
use of paint and minimalizing of Art History, at the Community College (VA) Amsterdam.
colours are responsible for a layered Her works are held in both national and international private and corporate collections.
texture and an abstract perspective. Italian garden Poppies
Life forms an inexhaustible source
of inspiration for me, and rather
than imitate it, for me it requires an
abstract representation together with
a personal vision and a creative use of
brushstrokes”. Although various styles
can be recognised in Annemieke’s
work, as she herself says, her most
recent pieces could be considered Checkmate
to be lyric abstract expressionist
art. The artist has participated in
many group and solo exhibitions and
together with the acknowledgements
that she has received for her work,
she is continually motivated to
add new dimensions to her art.
www.annemiekewolter.nl a.wolter@planet.nl
Maria Rosina Jaakkola
Sitting Nude male
Melkki island
is both a practising
landscape architect and
a regularly exhibiting
artist. Her background
includes various fine
art studies, in Helsinki,
Finland, and Florence,
Italy, where she studied
sculpture. She also holds
a Master's degree in
The heads - Knysna
Landscape Architecture
and works as head of
office in city planning.
“My two careers have taken me around the world in search for beauty. I am fascinated
by nature’s formations, cliffs in their lifeless stability as well as lines of the human body.”
These rapid impressions, travel diaries that are always made in situ, capture a moment in
time and space. The watercolour block and the sketchpad follow her everywhere, from
the stones of remote places in the Finnish archipelago to renaissance gardens of the
Mediterranean or seashores in South Africa.
She has had two personal art exhibitions recently and has participated in many group
exhibitions, both in Finland and abroad, the latest in New York.
Maria Rosina Jaakkola
www.mariarosina.fi 39 info@mariarosina.fi

40. Tomonori Nishimura Ginkgo Ferrum
Tomonori Nishimura and metals each have different properties and he explores
was born in 1978 ways of integrating and harmonising them.
in Osaka, Japan. He He has recently exhibited at the Brick Lane Gallery in London
studied Art at the and participated in the Barcelona Showcase at the Casa Batlló
Chelsea College of in Barcelona.
Paphiopedilum
Fine Art in London and
graduated in 2001. He
uses metallic colours
to paint wild plants
that are extinct or
critically endangered,
and ginkgo biloba
that has existed for
more than 200 million
years. He developed
his work Plant/Metal
on the concept of
duality and harmony
of opposites: plants
www.tomonorinishimura.co.uk contact@tomonorinishimura.co.uk
Contenance of hecate Let’s dance Amy C. Storey lives and works in New York City and studied at
the Vermont Studio Center, Yale University and the University
of Cincinnati. She is an abstract painter and her painting
philosophy starts from reflections on the origins of life and
on mythology. Amy has always been interested in botany,
physics and philosophy and her works often recall humanity
The ancestors
and individuality and they have a sense of aggregation in an
abstract composition in which the image emerges through an
unconscious process. She is engaged with materials, human
gestures, mind and self and non-self-interaction and the
result is the illusion of a spontaneous and natural image.
Amy has had many personal exhibitions all over the United
Eggs of chronos
States and Canada, the Royal British Columbia Museum in
Victoria, Harvard University and City University in New York.
Her most recent solo exhibition took place in 2011 at the New
York Condé Nast Building: Paintings From The Ghost Flowers.
Adieu mon amour
Dream of the white elephant
Amy C. Storey
www.amycstorey.com amycstorey@gmail.com

41. Emmanuel de Brito
Sky NYC
Emmanuel de Brito is a photographer born in Domont,
France in 1972. He graduated in Civil Engineering at Lyon The MonMent of Art
INSA and subsequently studied chemistry and physics in
Paris. He worked as a building engineer and designed the
Sablons Theatre in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris where
he currently lives.
Four years ago, he became extremely passionate
about photography and is now working as a freelance
photographer. He takes great pleasure in rediscovering Central park
urban landscapes, through his lens with a minimalist touch.
Many of Emmanuel de Brito’s photos are taken in cities
such New York, Paris and Venice, revealing for example,
their skylines and graffiti walls. Another recurring subject in
Emmanuel’s photography is nature that surrounds humans.
Detail plays an important part in de Brito’s art and through
this detail the viewer rediscovers beauty in what he was no
longer able to see as it had become part of daily routine.
Emmanuel de Brito has participated in group exhibitions in
Venice in 2011 and 2012 and also in OpenArtCode Paris
held at the Grand Palais, in November of this year.
http://astonmanudb7.darqroom.com/ emmanuel7593@hotmail.fr
Toth t’aime
Christina Jekey
to santa cristina d’arobas
Flying from LA
Christina Jékey was born in Brussels in 1962, of Hungarian
descent. In 2002, she obtained a Master’s degree with magna
cum laude from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels.
Tireless explorer of the many possibilities offered by
materials such as wood, metal or stone, Christina employs
space intensely and brings out the potential of the material
she is working with, giving it new life. Her work is demanding
and she looks for coherence in it; her work questions the laws
of the universe and dares to assert beauty in her work, in the
tradition of great contemporary sculptors. Her sculptures are
fascinating and offer what one could call an “additional soul”.
Christina also produces graceful and rhythmical, finely carved
furniture and mystical, poetical mandalas.
She has won several prizes for her work, it has been shown
in solo and collective exhibitions in Europe and the US and
her sculptures also form part of many private collections in
Europe, the US and the United Arab Emirates.
www.christinajekey.com 41 chjekey@hotmail.com