Artist Statement: 

" My work is a reflection of society and a critique of the problems it generates. ‘Art is a privileged platform and those who we have access we have to tap…’ I single out the two speeds at which society progresses, the vertiginous imbalance in our world, opulence and poverty, culture and ignorance… and on the other hand I show the isolation, mass consumption, alienation and the daily loss of identity. I try to translate these concepts conceptually and formally.

The formal part of the fascination stems from the way our brain receives external afferents, since the image we receive through the retina becomes totally fragmented at the hypothalamus, where a virtual image is reconstructed conditioned by the evolutionary parameters from our species. Which leads me to contextualize elements of reality to place them in another, creating new realities.

The items I use are the result of the photographs captured with my camera, videos and other documentation. These are characters and icons turned into symbols to convey my message in an ironic way. These elements coexist in the works of art of the past, which I use as a support. My language emerges from this combination.
Formally, I use black and white to represent the past and the colour to show our present.

I usually create a relationship between characters of the cultural world, artists, curators, filmmakers, thinkers, religious, political, poor, marginalized, displaced, in contrast to those generated by the star system, as well as works of art, sculptures… I create stereotypes ranging from military uniforms with floral patterns wielding ice cream, instead of guns, in order to demystify the image associated with aggressiveness.
I incorporate tattos of barcode, wich symbolizes the loss of individual identity, approval, alignment and mass consumption.

Recovery of past masters, contemporary artists from different disciplines as Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Donald Judd, Sol-LeWitt, Cattelan, Miró, Matthew-Barney, Richter, Rothko, Vanessa-Beecorft… and also works by artists of the past that are no longer in ‘the art guidebook’ and are almost forgotten, for me it is a contrast antagonistic.
While the classics seek perfection from perfection, contemporaries seek perfection from imperfection. The classics define the work as artistic craftsmanship, and the contemporary mechanization and seriation socializes an important part of art.

The fact I criticize society dramas through plasticity and a nice way is not accidental ‘The more people see atrocities, more likely to raise awareness and stop the same’. The formal part and the complex conceptual part create contrasting microhabitats where past and present lose their effectiveness and become virtual time.

I have a relationship of admiration with art history and I respect the old masters. I think it’s important to keep the roots and our historical memory. The contemporary art today has his foundations in the past masters, for example: Rembrandt and Caravaggio, chiaroscuro was so useful in photography and film. Leonardo structured the foundation of humanism and multidisciplinary art. Duchamp was a precursor, decoupling context of everyday objects and turning them into conceptual and artistic objects: Ready made. Mondrian worked with the structuring of a work, from the formal point of view with his theory of mass volume and colour."

Artist Statement:

"Artheline is the signature of artists Arnaud & Adeline Nazare-Aga. The artist couple’s inspired mission is to bring more joy to the public with their brightly-colored, round-shaped sculptures that everyone can relate to.

Born in 1965 in Paris, Arnaud Nazare-Aga developed since childhood a passion for modern sculpture and architecture, visiting museums with his parents. A trained plasterer -molder, educated in a Buddhist community in Burgundy where he remained 13 years, Arnaud designed the many carved decorations of the largest Buddhist temple in the West, the Temple of a Thousand Buddhas near Autun (France).

Adeline, was born in the northern Philippines in 1971. Passionate about floral art, she served as a florist in Paris and Antibes (France), before settling in Bangkok with her husband, where they set-up the workshop PAJ'Art. Cheerful artist of color and graphics, self-trained, Adeline designs and draws on the final sculptures and also on the models shaped for experimentation by Arnaud, always seeking to reinvent, experiment, and perfect his careful process.

The fruits of Adeline and Arnaud’s collaboration bear the Artheline signature. The forms are infused with gentle roundness and sensual lines. The smooth, colorful works purposefully provide, joy, pleasure, amusement, cheerfulness and optimism to all who look at and touch them."

“Our work brings stars in the public eyes. We long to contribute to the universal search for happiness.” Artheline

CV of Artist Qais Al-Sindy

Qais Al-Sindy -1967 lives and works in California- USA. 

Solo Exhibitions

2015 November 5th, Solo Exhibition (You…&I), E C Gallery, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

2014 November 1st, Solo Exhibition (Deferred Dreams), Syra Art Gallery, Washington –DC, USA.

2014 October 16, Two Artist Exhibit( Encoded Histories) with Doris Bittar, San Diego Mesa College, San Diego- CA, USA.

2014 October, Two Artist Exhibit (Spotlight on Iraq) with Adeeb Makki, Southwestern College, San Diego- CA, USA.

2014 March, Solo Exhibition (Return to the Garden of Eden) Iraqi Cultural Center, Washington DC- USA.

2013 Sep., Solo Exhibition (Colorful Concepts) Ro’iya Art Studio- Jeddah, Kingdom Saudi of Arabia.

2012 Sep., Solo Exhibition (The Struggle for Survival), Foresight Art Gallery/ Amman- Jordan.

2012 Jan., Personal Exhibition (Reconciliation with Oneself), Arts Gallery/ Abduallh Salim- Kuwait.

2012; Solo Exhibition (Who Knows What the Hoopoe Said?), 4-Walls Art Gallery- Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

2010 Dec., Solo Exhibition (The Lost Paradise), Orient Art Gallery, Amman-Jordan.

2009 Aug.-Sep., Solo exhibition (Endless Peace) at United Nation Headquarter in New York.

2009 May, Solo Exhibition (Secrets of the other half), Cirello Gallery, San Diego, California, USA.

2008 July, Solo Exhibition (Love and Peace), Endangered Planet gallery, Laguna beach, CA, USA.

2007 Solo Exhibition (Letters don’t burn) in Dar Al-Anda Gallery- Amman.

2006 Solo exhibition in Fribourg city/ Switzerland, and participated in the conference at University of Fribourg, introducing a lecture about the Iraqi contemporary art.

Education

2004 MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad university / Baghdad

2002 Diploma in French language / Cultural French Center / Baghdad.

2000 BA, Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad University / Baghdad.

1989 B.Sc, college of Engineering, Baghdad University.



Selective Group Exhibitions 2010-2011
 

2016 Jan. 17th, Five Joint Artists Exhibition (East and West…Crossroads) - Demouzy Contemporary, New York- USA.

2016 Jan. 15th. Collective Exhibition- (The Night and the Desert Know Me). At Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington- DC.

2014- Feb. 28th, 6 Artists Exhibit- (Mesopotamian Colors) - Whites Art, Framing & Restoration Gallery in Montrose, California- USA.

2013- April 6 to May 19th - Altered Horizons- San Diego Mesa College Museum Studies Altered Horizons.

2013- April- The Gulf Festival for Contemporary Plastic Arts.

2011 Nov. ‘Impulses from Iraq’, Group Exhibition- Iraqi Cultural Center, Washington- DC - USA.

2011 Oct. 13th,‘ Mesopotamia Art and Artists in Diaspora’, Collective Exhibition of five artists. Edgar Varlea Fine Arts (EVFA) Gallery- Los Angeles, CA-USA.

2011 Oct. 1st. ‘Out of Iraq, Artists in Exile’- Collective Art Show of three Iraqi generations. THE/ Main Gallery, Ohai, California- USA.

2011 June 5th. Group Art Exhibit at HA Gallery- Museum of Contemporary Art-, Los Angeles, CA- USA.

2011 June 3th. Home Interrupted: Aircrafts of Iraqi displacement. Michelangelo Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA- USA.

2010 Dec.12th-Feb.12th- 12th International Cairo Biennale, Cairo- Egypt.

2010 Nov. - Scenery form Memory- three artists’ exhibition with Shakir Al-Alousi and Najwa Al-Amen. Iraqi Cultural Center gallery, Washington DC.

2010 Sep., Collective show- Annual Chaldean Festival- Ronald Reagan Community Center, El Cajon, San Diego, CA.

2010 Aug., (Love Stuck), Collective art exhibition on the Playhouse’s Weiss Lawn, art and fashion event with play of (Midsummer Night's Dream). La Jolla- San Diego, CA-USA.

2010 Aug, Iraqi- American friendship show, at St. Rophael Church Hall, San Diego, CA-USA.

2010 March, Art and Artist of Mesopotamia- Collective exhibition- Art share Gallery- Los Angeles- USA.

2010 February- ( Us)- Group exhibition- Qibab Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

2010 January- (Small is beautiful), miniature exhibition, Foresight Art Gallery- Amman, Jordan.



Professional Memberships
 

Museum of the living artist- San Diego Art Institute.

Association International des Arts Plastiques. (AIAP) -UNESCO

Iraqi Artist association.

Iraqi plastic Artists society.

" Trevor Wheatley has a way of turning language on its head. His recent public pieces—gigantic typography installations that poke fun at popular culture—have earned him a devoted Instagram following, attention from bigtime design magazines, corporate partnerships with brands like Stussy, and high-profile commissions (including a super-secret piece for the first WAYHOME festival outside of Toronto, Ontario). It proves the young multimedia artist is making work that speaks to people—both literally and figuratively.

His public installations started with a commercial edge: “The idea was to critique the place of advertising in the public sphere and construct a hypothetical space where commercial symbols might be neutralized as corporate signifiers.” To Wheatley, the ultimate neutralizing factor is nature, something he learned while travelling in Cuba. “The projects we shot there were all about branding and how its power can be stripped or inverted by creating non-commissioned ads.” By taking commercial logos far away from their typical habitat (i.e. urban spaces), he encouraged viewers to reflect on their relationship with the text. For example, a gigantic Nike logo made of wood scraps, suspended in a barren countryside elicits a completely different emotion than the swoosh on a city billboard. “Cities have a lot of visual noise—my work in visually competitive spaces wouldn’t create the same interruption that it does in nature,” he notes. Ironically, it was after seeing this work that brands like Stussy started commissioning Wheatley to create his own interpretations of their logos.

His recent personal projects—sculptures that read things like SQUAD, BLESS, DIME and FRESH—are a cheeky ode to pop culture and our Urban Dictionary era. In addition to being visually stunning and intricate, there’s still a sense of playful contrast: “The pieces juxtapose the urban with the natural through a physical realization of slang, trend and the re-contextualization of popular language. I generally have some sense of how the piece will react to the location.” For instance, carving FRESH out of ice on a beach was an obvious way to access various levels of meaning. Others, like BLESS suspended over waterfall or SQUAD hanging among fall leaves, were left to the observer to ponder. Interestingly, how the installations decompose is almost of equal importance to Wheatley. “It’s been fascinating to see how the materials age and degrade and become part of the landscape over time.” Wheatley is quick to note that he only leaves behind materials that won’t harm the environment—he’s had an intense respect for nature ever since spending childhood summers at a camp near Sudbury.

Working in the wilderness gives Wheatley a way to control the viewer’s interpretation, but his shoots also rely on nature’s unpredictability. Even with months of planning, his team (which usually consists of Dean and a few other collaborators) is always prepared to welcome the unexpected—like inquisitive horses in the countryside or a torrential downpour. “Weather never dictates the date of a shoot,” he explains. In fact, bad weather can actually make for an even more interesting outcome. When his team shot SNITCH, they were hoping for a calm winter day, but instead got a gusty blizzard. Wheatley ended up wading knee-deep in a stream and almost freezing to death. “The photos came out icy and violent but better than we could ever have hoped.” It’s a testament to his adventurous spirit, and willingness to get a little dirty (or cold and wet), for his work. Despite a strong Instagram presence, Wheatley is cautious about social media—especially the pressure to cater to your fans. “I know what kind of work will be received well on social media, so I try not to let that affect what I do too much.” It’s not surprising then, that he and his partner Cosmo Dean are planning to venture in a completely different direction for an upcoming show this fall—“it won’t be text-based,” he reveals. But blazing new trails comes naturally to the artist, and his fearless attitude keeps fans excited for whatever’s coming next: “As Cosmo and I like to say whenever we agree on an idea: ‘let’s get it.' " Format Magazine 

Artist Statement: 

" All of my paintings can be divided into separate but interconnected series. Two of my current projects revolve around the series Into the Void and Boundaries. Reminiscent of Yves Klein's infamous leap, Into the Void deals with figures jumping or falling into an undefined painterly space, an unknown territory, physically or mentally. The abstract background that is often composed with loose paint strokes, interacts with the figures which are more solid and naturalistic, through painterly overlap, somewhat carrying or holding them. It is this in-between state of the solitary decision to dare and jump until the arrival into the unknown that interests me — the essential courage for change, for letting go, dispersing and disappearing even, and having faith in oneself, stretched into eternity. Boundaries is similarly dealing with letting go and having faith. As in much of my work, a solitary figure places the viewer in the position of voyeur, who bares witness to the attempts at self exploration and expression. I am keen to explore the boundaries of freedom, as well as the boundaries of the body as a mass and an outline, in a seemingly restricted situation. Voluntarily surrendering to some implied person or circumstance, each painting's protagonist renounces control and must ultimately have faith in their own choices and life as such. There is a readiness to let go and disperse into the immediate surrounding, loosening and becoming part at the same time. As paintings, these works investigate where the boundaries of fear, pleasure and dignity reside."

Artist Statement: 

"Geometric figures allow me to work freely with simple shapes, and by repeating them they become complex. This helps me to combine shape and color in a way where the figures seem to dance, and this represents for me the possibility of change, change that is perceived by tiny movements. It is similar to how things occur in human relationships—where self and other have a mutual influence, mainly for the construction of our inner selves providing we allow ourselves to be taken by the differences that may arise within interchanging relationships. All this is symbolized through color and its variations, in the simple shapes that are repeated and lead to the creation of an optical universe."

The idea of cultivating challenging concepts goes along with Ricardo Bellino's background as an individual who sees opportunity where others may not. In Brazil he partnered with John Casablancas and opened Elite Models in Sao Paulo which was successful in launching Giselle Bundchen and Adriana Lima. Years later Bellino met with Donald Trump, who told Bellino he had ONLY 3 minutes to give his pitch, which resulted in a world record for the fastest multi million dollar deal and Trump partnering with Bellino on a Brazilian real estate venture. From the experience Bellino wrote a best selling book, "You Have Three Minutes" (McGraw-Hill). While enjoying a well-deserved break at the Madison Avenue Nespresso Boutique Bar in Manhattan with his wife, Marina, he noticed the beauty and the graphic power of the shiny, colorful coffee capsules displayed on the wall. He immediately came up with a concept of transforming those capsules into pixels, and consequently into art. The idea was to use the pallet of 12 coffee blends to produce a series of portraits in honor of some of the most notorious personalities of all time. The plan was to produce 50 panels, each one measuring 6.5' x 6.5', which would require a total of 120,000 capsules! It was a huge undertaking. Bellino and Marina decided to invite their long time friend, Wellington Amaral, to join them in their venture, forming a six-hand creative/labor force. Amaral is an acclaimed film director and graphic designer from Brazil, and has been Bellino's collaborator in many other projects.Together they came up with the concept "Pixtures" and began to work in order to make things happen. The Deal Maker turned Art Maker by recycling 150.000 Nespresso coffee capsules and having his exhibition premiere being held in the historic pop culture arena of SoHo. Bellino's creative inspiration expanded to almost one hundred pop culture figures, from art, entertainment, music, sports, politics and personalities. In the SoHo temporary instalation built exclusevely to display Bellino's art exhibit comprised by 17 6.5 foot square images, including John F. Kennedy, Ghandi, Marilyn Monroe, Ray Charles, James Taylor, Valentino, Oprah and President Obama. Bellino contemplated the fast paced world of digitized images and envisioned a concept representative of functional object and celebrity defined as a reinterpretation of our cultural process. The Nespresso coffee capsules depict colors point by point -- up close it is a myriad of perfectly aligned colorful shapes, but step back and the iconic faces materialize. From simple object to techno, if the artwork is viewed through a cell phone it is no longer a micro view, but a clear image staring back at us through the phone.

Artist statement: 

" My Folded Spaces paintings demonstrate that one can refrain from many of the elements that have defined painting since its origins—figuration, color, line, composition, subject matter and narrative. What interests me above all is proportion—what I call intuitive proportion. Using irregularly shaped canvases, I examine space beyond the square or rectangle. Gradations of grey create the illusion that the folds project and recede in space. My work is based on models that allow me to see whether or not a painting will function well in space. The use of maquettes links my painting to Concrete art where the study is indispensable to the realization of the work. For years I worked exclusively with variations of grey. For me grey is more a vibration than a color. My most recent work does include diptychs in which I introduce a single color juxtaposed against the greys. The color doesn’t directly intervene in the grey, but rather highlights and accentuates it."

Artist Statement:

"My painting is the transformation of the photographic image on the surface of the picture. The face is a type of laboratory where I build and destroy the identity of the subject. I want to discover the portrait using the modern gesture of traditional painting. I want to show the human body and its fragile image. I feel the urge to eliminate, is the need to erase the essence of the individual in the picture surface. Through my work I want to reflect on the passage of time and the portrait of the current era."

Anne Cherubim is an abstract contemporary landscape painter. She works predominantly in acrylic. Her art is rooted in real life images and textures, with a modern abstraction, often in a limited colour palette. Anne’s other body of work is The Recycled Art Project, a series of limited edition digital paintings.

Her art is a reflection of contemporary art as portrayed by someone who is a product of a myriad of cultures: a Canadian girl, born of Sri Lankan parents, now residing in the US. This unique 'lense' through which she sees the world informs her work, undeniably. ‘Tolerance’ is the word we use to talk about being open to, and welcoming of, one another. Anne believes ‘embrace’ is a much better word for talking about cultures, and the ways in which we can coexist. Art and music transcend language - among other barriers- and create commonalities, harmony. They are universals that can be appreciated no matter where you come from, or what language you speak. This is the type of experience Cherubim hopes that her art allows for.

Though she has been an artist for many years, her professional pursuit of it began more recently.  Anne has enjoyed exhibiting her work locally and internationally. She currently resides with her husband and children in the USA, and is a Resident Artist at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires in 1964, Cukier chooses colors and shades that reveal a yearning for a less superficial, less deceptive reality. The forms, dimensions and colors give shape to dreams and nightmares, and even allude to a notion of hope. Humor is used to reflect fears, habits and desires that most of us deny and suppress deep within.

The dictionary defines surrealism , as a style of art and literature, stressing the subconsciousor non rational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects and unexpected juxtapositions.
Ruben Cukier ,surrealist painter, born and raised in politicallyviolent Buenos Aires, is a member of an illustrious rosterof artists who's vivid imagination and fantasy informed their art making.
Visual artists from Salvador Dali, Fernando Botero , Dorothea Tanning and writers such as Jose Saramago, Carlos Fuentes and Franz Kafka, to name a very few, have mined the rich subconscious for imagery.

unexpected juxtapositions that , at first, are baffling and thought provoking but when considered more closely, produce a frisson of recognition. The recognition of dreams , fears or thoughts that we ourselves may have experienced at onetime oranother. That is why, I feel, his paintings are so appealing . Ruben Cukiers paintings depict images and ideas that are ,not only pleasingand visually stunning, but also somehow universal and timeless.

Architect / visual artist. 
Born in 1977, studied architecture at the Tunis School of Architecture (ENAU). 
Be looking for a type of contemporary architecture of the face. Othmane tends both to a visual drawing passage through beings. Prepare for travel by a set of shapes, flesh tones, stories from characters from different cultures, background and living conditions. 
He exhibits since 2007, represented by Hajer Azouz, curator and interior designer in Tunis.

He tends to a new reading of figurative art and always pushing further the limits of the representative; his representation is a reflection of the socio-cultural issues of our time. 
Othmane Taleb has repeatedly shown his work, particularly in Tunisia, France in Glass Box gallery, the City Hall of Paris, Senegal at the off Dakar Biennale (Bind Contemporary), Switzerland, Morocco. 
“In order to truly absorb every detail of the delicately drawn features on the pictures charting the refugees' exodus to Europe, one must get very close to the canvas. The lines are ever-so-lightly drawn in pencil, yet still manage to provide powerful imagery that one would normally only see as snippets on the daily news” .middleeasteye. Lilia Blaise. 
His works are in the permanent collections of the Tunisian Government, the Attijari Bank and many collectors in Tunisia and abroad. 
Othmane Lives in Tunis.

Peggy Lee was born in Seoul, Korea and has lived in the United States for a long period of time.  Having been educated with a bachelors of fine arts from Korea, she studied art in the United States as well.  Since the beginning of her stay in America, she has been educating art students for over 15 years, while managing an art career for herself.  She has a strong work ethic and keeps busy as a full-time artist.  Her level of creativity is outstanding, and her stamina to continuously produce works is endless.  Peggy's work has influenced both Korean and American culture.  While teaching her students throughout the years, she observed a pattern in their lifestyle, which came about through social media.  Due to the overload of technological information, she slowly began to see that these students were dissipating into their own world of isolation.  Peggy's works can be seen as a huge cobweb in it's entirety, which ironically mirrors how technology works.  It represents our obsession with networking, and the need to return back to tradition, unity, and a love for humanity.  Her work continues to be inspired by mutuality in people and building relationships.

Ray Koh is a California based Artist and Filmmaker who conceptually paints, draws (and erases) using ocean water, time, and light. His process involves a unique mixture of aerial photography, cinematography and fine art. Similar to an archaeologist, Koh removes unnecessary elements in order to extract/reveal just what he needs to communicate his intent and ideas (never adding anything that wasn’t foraged from the original source image). Koh uses color to reveal what we could not previously see. His subject-matter ranges from classical portraits, abstraction, a deep interest in food, and Mother Nature. Koh has a deep fascination with how the ocean meets a body of land and often forages this intersection for what he terms “wild content.” Koh’s Ocean Hides are directly produced from these edge conditions and illustrate his influence from food; instead of an animal hide, he has produced an Ocean Hide. Koh considers his work 100% sustainable, organic, vegan, and local art.