Indonesian artist Setiawan Tangsek answer my interview and tell us more about the art scene in Indonesia.
I met Setiawan thanks to my friend Hatemachine666.
The guy is a talented indonesian artist and a real person. When I meet someone like Tangsek, I’m happy to hang out with indonesian people, and not with the stupid expats who lives around. Bali is a soulful island, and this heritage of talent and creativity keep being alive in a modern way with the art of people like Tangsek or Hatemachine666. You guys are the future, the talent, the reality. Thank you for sharing your art with me. More about Setiawan Tangsek.
Artwork by the indonesian artist Setiawan Tangsek
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Hello, my name is Setiawan Tangsek. I live in Bali, Indonesia. I fell in love with drawing, graffiti and skateboarding since I was a teenager. I’ve got drop out from school and street life is my choice. Now I work as a freelance Illustrator, do T-shirt graphic, posters, sticker art, etc.
Devil drawing by Artwork by Setiawan Tangsek
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
It’s an expression of my emotion, I just draw every stuff that comes out from of my head. I love black and white, and I’m obsessed with scales.
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
I basically do all my works with my pencils and marker pens, no computer.
Illustration by the indonesian artist
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
I’ve been spending a lot of my time in the street, skateboarding, tagging the walls, making murals, so it has a great influence on my work. So do my fellow artists I hang out with. They inspire me a lot.
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
My friends. I feel very lucky to have great friends involved in art who support and motivate me.
Skull drawing by the talented illustrator from Indonesia
Sang Noir is the art studio from the talented French artist Koa, which I interviewed for this blog.
Koa and I share the same French illustration representative.
I have been knowing Koa for a while since he invited me to collaborate on his illustration book called War Of Monstars book.
I invited him back to do an illustration collaboration when I was working as an art director for WAD magazine.
It’s all about collaborations baby…
In this interview the illustrator and artist tell us more about his working process and his art influences.
Koa draw his own version of Spongebob for Sang Noir
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Illustrator, Graphic designer and cook lover 🙂
Character design by the artist
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
my work is a world were monsters are not dark or negative. it s a world between pop surrealism and cartoon.
Black and white drawing by Koa from Sang Noir
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
I write ideas on a black book. Making a quick sketch or starting directly with ink. After i scan the black and white artwork and i colorize it in photoshop if the image need colors.
Colorful letter design
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART
Like everybody i think. When you are in a bad humor you don t have ideas or good feeling. When you move you have more ideas. Don t stay static 🙂
Detailed artwork by Koa from Sang Noir studio
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
Old cartoon, Durer, Bosch, Bruegel, and Escher.
ANY LAST WORD?
My forthcoming book Sang Noir should be released later this year so stay tuned. 🙂
Rodrigo Level is a Brazilian street artist I interviewed for this art blog.
Peace and chaos.
I wouldn’t find better words to describe this land of contrast. Living in Brazil for a year I saw those 10% of the rich brazilian people living in a mental and social ghetto, afraid with the guns, sex, music, soul, friendship, violence and love that you find everywhere in the other 90% of the population. Rodrigo Level is a real artist with both the talent and the brain. His art is beautiful, real, brazilian. More about the Brazilian street artist Rodrigo Level.
Brazilian graffiti by Rodrigo Level
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
My name is Rodrigo Level and I first started to paint the streets in the mid 90’s in my hometown, São Paulo. At first my work was influenced by the traditional graffiti but as I got older new experiences such as living in different cities had an enormous impact in my art. Today I live in a small town in the south of Minas Gerais where I develop my art.
Exhibition of paintings by the street artist Rodrigo Level
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
I never worked with a specific message, I believe my eyes reflect like a mirror my daily life, the people who surround me, peace and chaos together. I’m a great observer of myself, everyone and everything around me and all the inversion of values, human behavior and the world we live in are transferred automatically into my art.
Illustration artwork by Rodrigo Level
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
It’s a unique moment when I truly find me, myself and I and all my thoughts, it’s the time I’m able to let go and translate everything I observed before this moment. Not one trace is only a trace, the symmetry reveals the density of the character’s imprisonment. Sometimes these moments are much lighter and free, when I just let the brush run aimlessly trough the canvas to get something dirtier and dense.
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
My influence comes from the mistake and conflict behind the average human behavior, the need to hide from one’s self, turning life into an endless run from your roots and values.
New school Brazilian street art
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
Since an early age I’ve been surrounded by excellent artists who influenced me in one way or another, be it by their actions or art. I’m always open to absorb influences in every way, I’ve always admired and followed the art of artists such as Hebert Baglione, Vitché, Speto and can honestly say that they have influenced me a lot.
Nowadays that relationship has changed but it’s inevitable not to find details that I admire and respect, lately my respect and admiration go to artists like Fernando Chamarelli, Medo & Dementia, Olivier Vrancken, Remed and Fefe Talavera.
Pimlada Phuapradit is an awesome artist, and a really cool person.
The artist was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand.
She earned BA in Textile design from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and worked as a knitwear designer and freelancing for surface design in Bangkok from 2004-2008.
Her love for drawing led her to pursue further training in figurative and narrative arts.
In 2011, she was graduated MFA (Illustration as Visual Essay) from the School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York.
Pimlada is currently working as a freelance designer and illustrator in New York City, USA.
Here is an interview, where the artist talks about her influences, her working process, and tell us more about her artistic background. Learn more about Pimlada.
Artwork of a dear by the artist Pimlada Phuapradit
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Hello I am Pim, Pimlada Phuapradit, Thai artist and textile designer living and working in NYC.
Drawing by Pimlada Phuapradit
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
My series of personal works are based on the juxtaposition of broken objects, abandoned places, characters of unknown persons, hybrids and insects.
Colored illustration called The Glass House
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
I rely on the same process of drawing as I drew when I was a child.
Follow the instinct and let the fracture of vague ideas grow.
The Beer Keeper by Pimlada Phuapradit
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
I love the energy of the city. Quite often, I find balance from quietly making drawings.
Yone spend his life photographing nude sexy girls. I interviewed him about his dream job.
Soft porn, strong talent.
Way before his art was ripped off by American Apparel, legendary photographer Yasumasa Yonehara has been a talented force on the Tokyo scene for decades. His artwork is now eventually recognized on the international scene, and the photographer can enjoy a nice life, shooting half naked babes from allover the world. It’s all about love. More about Yasumasa Yonehara, the Japanese photographer known as Yone.
yasumasa yone yonehara photography
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
I shoot photos and create artworks, However, basically I am an editor who is trying to connect between the times.
When you do this job, you end up meeting a lot of attractive Japanese young girls
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
I am documenting women who are symbolize the era. A piece of work transforms to an art piece or pornography by how you edit.
Photo of a sexy Asian girl by Yone
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
Regardless, chasing the times and scene。Searching the reason why it is produced during the times. Then, reflecting my finding without changing the shape.
Taking pictures of half nude girls sounds like a cool job
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
I believe that we are connected to our environment surrounding us whether it is intentionally or not.
Therefore, my environment is the main influence to my motivation for creation.
Japanese girl in a bikini lie on her sofa
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
I don’t have now, but I was influenced by the methodology of Andy Warhol before.
Another sexy picture by Yone
ANY LAST WORD?
Act before you think, think after you act.
Yone, could you please give me the phone number of the sexy models?
Interview with the NYC-based illustrator Jungyeon Roh.
I love Korea.
First of all, South Korea got the most beautiful girls on earth.
South Korean girls cuteness is an absolute scientific fact.
South Korea got the best movies on earth (check my selection of amazing Korean movies I did for a french website).
And they also produce great artists like Jungyeon.
Jungyeon’s artworks mix Asian and Western culture in a very modern and nice way.
The artist tells us more about the working process behind the art, and let us know who are the major influences behind the drawings.
I told you, I love Korea.
Oh, and they got kimchi too.
[Update] This article was written before the whole K-Pop phenomena.
Just to make things clear, I hate K-Pop.
Artwork for the cover of the book American Boys by Jungyeon Roh
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
I’m a NY based illustrator from Seoul Korea.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
Energetic, over the top, funny and honest.
Jungyeon Roh drawing
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
Roughly sketching ideas
Penciling on Bristol
Inking directly
Making color separations by hand on vellum
Scanning, and coloring by digital or silkscreen
Jungyeon Roh illustrations for the Good Fortune book
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
Ideas are based on Asian culture. Add the experiences I had in New York when using my visual language.
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
My major influences are David Sandlin, Marcos Chin, Josh Cochran.
My favorite NYC-based artists were Adrian Tomine, Jillian Tamaki, Sara Varon, Leanne Shapton and Yuko Shimizu.
I also love Kelly Cutrone from People’s Revolution, and Erin Kaplan who was a formal youngest director of ELLE magazine and Oprah Winfrey.
Published illustration by Jungyeon Roh
ANY LAST WORD?
I’m working on another Miss Eggplant series these days. Wish me luck!
Interview with the Spanish photographer Cecilia De Val.
Cecilia de Val is a photographer based in Zaragoza, Spain.
Her beautiful work has been exhibited in prestigious galleries across Spain and Europe, and she won countless art prizes. She is represented by Camara Oscura in Madrid and Spectrum Sotos in Zaragoza.
In this interview the artist introduces herself. She explain us more about the working process behind the inspiring pictures.
Cecilia also tells us more about the fellow photographers who influenced her work as an artist.
On another hand, the photographer is the beloved wife of the talented Spanish artist Leto. More about the Spanish photographer Cecilia de Val.
Cecilia De Val portrait
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
My name is Cecilia de Val, I am a Spanish photographer who lives and work between Zaragoza and Madrid.
Artwork by the Spanish photographer
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
My photographies could be affiliate to the narrative photography movement, as my artwork challenges the individual’s relationship with its environment.
Photography by Cecilia De val
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
Usually I work in series.
Those series come from an idea that I later developed and materialized through the pictures.
Photography by Cecilia De Val
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
My work is based on my environment …
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
Julia Margaret Cameron
JH Lartigue
Marcel Dzama
Helen Van Meen
Andreas Hofer
Georges Rousse
Lise Safarti
Joan Foncuberta
Gregory Crewdson
Neo Rauch
Robert Gober
Photo portrait of a girl sleeping with a tiger
ANY LAST WORD?
In November, come to my next show at gallery Camara Oscura in Madrid.
Gant is a Baltimore artist now living and working in Brooklyn.
Ok, he will say that in the interview so…
What more can I say?
I just arrived in Paris, it’s 6 in the morning and I’m a bit exhausted.
While I go get a coffee feel free to read the whole thing.
He says a lot of cool things. More about the Brooklyn artist Gant Powell.
Black and white drawing
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
My name is Gant Powell. I was born in Baltimore MD and now I live in Brooklyn. I’m an illustrator.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
Whenever I think my work is one thing it starts moving in another direction, so it’s easier for me to talk about the things that influence my work, the ideas that motivate me. I have a love for campy movies, which might come from my Baltimore roots, but also probably has a lot to do with older gay culture. LGBT issues and struggle filter in regularly, with perceived gender roles and internal struggle featuring largely. I stay current with news and culture, I think that’s important for a commercial artist because our job is to distill and interpret our world for the masses. Just like it is a journalist’s job to stay as analytical as possible, I think we should be opinionated and fearless. I don’t know if this describes my work, but these are goals and ambitions I have for my work.
Artwork of a devil creature sitting on a sleeping man
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
I start with brainstorming, often writing some lists, either on sketch paper or just keeping it in my head, and i search the web and books for images that I think show a mood I want. Sometimes i search for examples of Baroque ornamentation, sometimes scenes from Casablanca. It depends on the project, obviously. After I find some images that offer me a foundation I start thumbnails for compositions. I work from reference fairly heavily and so I am usually simultaneously searching for more images while drawing. Then it’s on to a larger sketch, then a sketch in light pencil on heavy paper. Once that sketch is finished, I will start using washes to build up tone in the composition. It becomes a weird combination of structured and organic process here. I know what steps are necessary to make the image, but it is through constant analysis and experimenting with mark-making that the image becomes strong and interesting and mine. So I keep building up and painting with gouache all of the things I had planned on including, and then at ever stage I am also thinking about where I can use pencil marks, chalk, and maybe I want to try something new like spray paint (i haven’t gotten there yet but i’m working towards that).
Painting by Gant Powell
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART
I keep my studio relatively organized. Folks I’ve shared studios with might scoff there, because it wasn’t that way when I was in grad school, but since working from home it has been necessary. The added bonus is that when I don’t have to search for an eraser or that pencil for 20 minutes, I really can just focus on the art. And that is the point, right? I work in my living room, where I am surrounded by books, artwork, interesting furniture, patterns, and really good light. I have to be around things and people I like or everything gets pretty crappy.
Drawing by the US artist Gant Powell
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
I love Mark Ulriksen’s work. And Demetrios Psillos too. Picasso, during his early years. I look at a lot of fashion work because I think that really good fashion illustration is all about the mark making and I focus a lot on mark making. So I like Bil Donovan and David Downton. 60’s lifestyle illustration, and Robert Weaver. All of my professors from college. My classmates, my roommate. They’ve all influenced me.
Gant Powell artwork artwork of a man attacked by girls
ANY LAST WORD?
Don’t force decisions, just allow them to float to the surface. I think forcing decisions often leads to inauthenticity and that will be a struggle to get right if you commit to it. I have to go through so many options before I can commit to something that actually feels right.
Interview with the inspiring Australian female artist Lisa King.
Recently I told you about Lisa King last show Fanciful Faces.
I’m back for more, with an interview and more artworks.
The artist did a lot of successful shows recently and will come to visit me in the island of gods in December.
See you there mate. More about the Australian female artist Lisa King.
Portrait of Lisa King creating a street artwork
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
My name is Lisa King. I am 29 years old, I currently weigh 45 kilos, I can drink like a 45 year old man, I have a neck tattoo of something that resembles symmetry (yet not one on the other side), I am very much a lady that loves wearing black, I recently fell in love with the visual representation on the hindu religion (however as yet has not made its way into the influence of my work) and I hold a beautiful compulsive disorder where I have to be learning new things all the time. Either that or drinking too much wine. My name is Lisa.
Series of three gorgeous artworks exhibited
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
I usually get in trouble for saying cross medium, but today i dont care. Im way too much of a baby in this game to be knowing exactly what the fuck Im actually doing. So… Im a cross medium artist. I work in the areas of oil painting, sculpture and woodwork and would probably label myself as a low brow painter that is paving a path to a career in fine art. Hectic much?
Sculpture installation for an exhibition
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
I have recently just finished two small solo shows in a few underground bars in Adelaide. The pieces mostly consisting of woodwork and oil paint on longboards, along with some portrait drawings, paintings and prints. Up next Is my very first Gallery solo show, which will be at Magazine in Adelaide, end of November. The work will be a deeper investigation to the process I am working on at the moment; Start with drawing a portrait, sculpt it on a deck, add some woodwork, make some oil paintings and print some stuff here and their. The primary piece for this show however will be the very first large scale oil painting that I have done on canvas. Its a self portrait, a wanky one at that so i wont delve too much. From here i head to Bali, make way to melbourne for some change, hopefully get a residency in Paris for three months and return home for a big fat exhibition titled The French Connection. Downtown LA with the Guys who sponsor me from Loaded Longboards in CA is on the table also. Plans always change though.
Drawing by the Australian artist Lisa King
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART
The environment in my head? Im actually a bit of a hermit, so if you can call my apartment an environment then I say… mediocre! The balcony is perfect for the morning coffee and the lounge with the internet gives me all the investigation I need for my influences and updates on the world but besides that Its pretty low key. No plants and landscape thats for sure! Of course I have all the art on my walls and my canvas in front of me which is pretty damn sweet but the city generally does not give me too much, I mean well besides the pub and the regular pissheads. My work is very much people based and as much as i love the characters in this town, im ready to travel, meet new folk and be in fresh environments that do influence me a little more.
Artwork installation based on customized spay-cans
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
Brett Whiteley, Bill Henson, Mark Ryden, Sam Flores, Os Gemeos, my parents, Alonso Sanchez, Miss Van, Camille Rose Garcia, Kathie Olivas, Ron English… to name a few. I would probably throw Andy Warhol in their for being a dick…
Lisa King artwork detail
ANY LAST WORD?
Yeah, more people should: watch less TV, drink more alcohol, eat only when hungry, take more influence from simpler and healthier ways of life, give more money to the less fortunate in the world, and try to seek more innate happiness.
Learn more about Aron Wiesenfeld in this cool interview.
I wish I wasn’t an artist.
Because if I wasn’t an artist, I would probably make way more money, and would love to spend that cash on Aron’s art.
I’m a total fan.
Of course the artworks are more than impressive on a technical level, but it doesn’t even matter because of the emotional feeling that this artist manage to infuse in every piece.
But we are not here to talk about me.
Let’s listen to what the master has to say. More about the US artist Aron Wiesenfeld.
Aron Wiesenfeld charcoal drawing called David
PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
My name is Aron Wiesenfeld. I’m an artist, and I work mostly in oil paint and charcoal.
Landfall, another inspiring artwork by Aron Wiesenfeld
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
I do a lot of large scale paintings and drawings, usually with one central figure. The relationship between the figure and their environment is important, and the relationship between the figure and the viewer is also important.
Princess, black and white drawing by Aron Wiesenfeld
PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
My inspiration is usually based on something I had an emotional reaction to. The initial idea isn’t even an “idea”, more like an instantaneous flash from something I saw, or read. I usually don’t know the reason why it struck me, only that it hit something down deep. Then I sketch the idea, and mess around with it to try to distill that strong feeling that I had. The subsequent decisions during the process of painting are likewise trying to get closer to that feeling, and to express it. When the painting is finished, I like to think about the stories that could be behind it, and what it’s world is like outside the edges.
Snow bed, colored drawing by the US artist
HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
Anything I see could be the spark for the next painting, like something in a movie, a person I saw while driving, or a sentence in a magazine.
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
I go through phases of loving certain artists. Right now I’m really excited about these small paintings that Goya did of bandits in caves. The is a lot of suggestion of violence, but the details are obscured by the darkness, leaving the worst of it up to the viewer’s imagination. I find it absolutely intoxicating when an artist leaves that opening for the viewer to participate in the telling of the story. Goya did that so well in his later, more personal work. Generally I find I’m very drawn to scenes of twilight and the mystery of near nighttime, by artists like Whistler, Millet and many others.
The Nightingale, gracious girl by Aron Wiesenfeld
ANY LAST WORD?
The paintings are made totally for myself, but hope others will feel something like what I felt while making them.
