The "Journal of Creative Arts and Minds" - published by Jumbo Arts International

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Journal of Creative Arts and MindsVol.1, No.2, December 2015

An Original Publication of Jumbo Arts InternationalRed Springs, North Carolina, USA

ISBN: 978-0-9965432-1-7 / ISSN: Pending

Jumbo Arts International

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Journal of Creative Arts and Minds

Published by

Margie Labadie, PresidentJohn Antoine Labadie, Senior Editor

Larry Arnold, Board Member

Electronic Links

https://www.facebook.com/JournalofCreativeArtsandMinds

http://www.jumboartsinternational.org

Jumbo Arts International Contact Information

217 South Edinborough St.Red Springs, North Carolina 28377-1233

01.910.734.3223

Editorial Artists, John Antoine Labadie

Editorial Writers, Margie Labadie

Design The JCAM Team of Jumbo Arts International

The Journal of Creative Arts and Minds is a publication of Jumbo Arts International. This electronic publication is free. The views and opinions expressed in this

publication do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

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Journal of Creative Arts and MindsVol.1, No.2, December 2015

CONTENTS

About this Publication pages 3 & 4

Contents page 5

Message from the President of Jumbo Arts International page 6

Message from the Editor of JCAM page 7

Visual Artists pages 8 through 213

Creative Writers pages 214 through 225

Information for Potential Submitters page 226

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A message from the President

We at Jumbo Arts International are so excited to publish the December 2015 issue of the Journal of Creative Arts and Minds. The JCAM gives members of the global creative community the opportunity to both define and express themselves. We take pride in offering a glimpse into international culture through these many interviews and creative works of individual artists and writers.

Everyday at Jumbo Arts International we strive to see what good we can do through the sharing of creative work. To accomplish this, we have made sure that Jumbo Arts Internationals Board of Directors and International Advisory Council is purposefully made up of artists, musicians, song

writers, poets, authors and advocates for cultural and community diversity. We consider ourselves to be part of a global creative community, not just reporters looking in from the outside.

This issue features visual artists from Belarus, Belgium, Bahrain, England, Germany, Ghana, India, Spain,Taiwan, Ukraine, and the United States. Also featured is the poetry and prose of two outstanding women writers. One is Native American. The other spent her formative years in both France and the United States. Additionally our Visual Arts section includes an inspiring interview of a Pakistani artist-entrepreneur who supports an entire community of artists known as the Tribal Truck Art initiative.

It is our hope that the words and imagery we share through the JCAM serve as a bridge toward understanding all people. Together we can redefine the cultural differences we place upon ourselves and each other and come together in peace.

Margie Labadie President, Jumbo Arts International Red Springs, North Carolina, USA [email protected]

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Journal of Creative Arts and MindsA message from the Editor

Today, 30 December 2015, we publish Vol.1, No. 2 of Jumbo Arts Internationals Journal of Creative Arts and Minds. As with the many other projects developed for and offered to the public by Jumbo, the JCAM has evolved over time and is connected to our mission to support the arts, creativity, and improved mutual understanding of life ways and creative passions on an international level.

Both 2015 JCAM publications have been developed completely through personal networking with social media as the primary means of communication. The JCAM has been grown though text messaging and emails, built through cloud storage, published online, and is now available as a free PDF download all made possible through the free side of site hosting the journal. We should not take the possibilities of

21st century electronic publishing for granted.

The creatives whose works are included in the December 2015 issue of the JCAM represent a wider range of countries, cultures, media, ages and levels of experience than in our June publication. Each submission is unique and was allowed to evolve as unhindered as possible given the technical limitations of our current publishing format.

Jumbo Arts International is a highly collaborative endeavor. We continuously seek to identify and publish original creative work from local, regional, national and international sources that are known to us. Our outreach will continue in the issues to come.

Do you know of an visual artist or creative writer JCAM should know about? Email us at the address below. In the meantime, enjoy our latest publication!

John Antoine LabadieSenior EditorJournal of Creative Arts and [email protected]

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Yusuf Afzal HussainThe artist Yusuf Afzal Hussain was born in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India in 1952. His artistic training was in fine arts and in sculpture in Gwalior. Since the 1970s his artworks have been included in a large number of exhibitions in many countries. Yusufs art is held in many public and private collections and he has been involved in artist residencies and other significant artistic activities in Turkey, France, India, Japan and Dubai.

When asked by JCAM to describe his philosophy of art and artistic practice Yusuf responded as follows:

When describing the ultimate purity of a line Paul Klee opined that a line can never be drawn in its purest form. Whereas, I believe that if a line has no true existence in nature, then how can anyone judge its purity at all. A line is an invention of man, who believes

that it actually has a place of its own in nature.

So far a line has been used to explain accessible things, to give expression to the shape and form of projections, to define circles, etc. The basic line is drawn to express the texture. A line plays a very important role in giving a dead form to any creative effort. It is light that enables us to see natural shapes clearly. The capacity to reflect light gives things their colour. Two opposite colours make it possible to see the outlines clearly and markedly.

The reflection of light enables the line to determine the outside limits of any thing thus making them recognisable. I believe that a line should be viewed only by its basic character of art lining. Normally I keep a line ___________ in the space and then without making it give a shape to any natural commodity, I let it take its own form, or let it loose to create its own line and shape.

When a point moves, a line is drawn. In my art the line plays a very important role. When I picturise the group of lines as a basic element, a strange happening occurs. Many lines emanate from this indivisible point, which then give birth to innumerable unrecorded lines. So, when I draw one single line I an actually creating two of them positive and negative. The white lines between two drawn black lines is not purely space that has been left out. It is actually a deliberate effort. They also form to my line

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drawings, the same way as the black lines do. The two combine to produce a sensuousness which breathes life into my lines and gives them dynamism and mobility.

In my paintings the lines maintain their basic linear character, and pictures drawn with them are also linear in character. My shapes and forms are not surrounded by lines, in fact they are left independent and given an infinite form. In this way a line remains a line in my pictures alternately running, turning, sustaining, joining, rising, flying, breaking and sometimes creating a net like texture. Some times the line goes back to its origin, becomes a point and then just disappears. And in the midst of all this query quietly, without disturbing the linear character, my paintings get filled with colours.

For me the line is a living unit, full of limitless possibilities I believe that when an artist creates a shape using the line, then it is the line that gives it a definite shape, then ending all other possibilities. That is why in my line drawings you do not see shape of any natural thing my group of lines is full of possibilities capable of being taken anywhere. My creations are not created through extraneous lines. In fact they are a group of innumerable lines which can be increased or drawn in any direction. And so my line drawings have their origins from the lines, their space and form is always basic where the innermost values remain the same and where the possibilities are endless.

My paintings are musical notations of music yet unborn: They are the concrete shapes of vocal tunes that cannot be sung or played to music. The scattered notes are abstract musical notations, but we feel their vibrations in our senses. While a linear drawing is an extension of a point. The lines (in my painting) seem to be quivering on that point where lines would transform themselves into music and are scattered. This is my notion to draw.

Visual art is the art of details, how to see any object and show the object. In this art along with the superficial view, i intend to teach beyond there visual image. The common eye only see the visible and restrict itself to see beyond its superficial layer.The basic myth about seeing is that, if the human eye is physically present , the reflection of light will happen in such a way to produce the image, due to that a person can see. So here the question comes, what is the need to learn the art of seeing.When the process is naturally occurring, why do we need to learn, how to see?

My experience with this concept is that most of us have meristematic lines that allow out lives (our growth) to continue. My art works are the same. Yusuf, 2015

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Yusuf Afzal Hussain, Untitled / Print on Paper

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Yusuf Afzal HussainUntitled / Print on Paper

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Yusuf Afzal HussainUntitled / Ink on Paper

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Yusuf Afzal Hussain Untitled / Ink on Paper

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Francis ShepherdJCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

FS: In the city of Richmond, Virginia at Grace Hospital. I am influenced significantly by a large extended family, diverse network of friends, and cherished childhood experiences. There is a tremendous sense of history in Virginia. As I get older, the context of time and culture extend aesthetic relevance to personal values which are expressed in my projects.

JCAM: Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?

FS: I live in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Technology innovation, creative sandboxes, travel explorations, and the global art community shape my views.

Observations of these experiences provide perspective about modern life and future initiatives. It is a unique mix of political imbalance, suburban southern living, and natural beauty. Culturally, it is a moderately progressive convergence of diversity.

JCAM: Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life?

FS: I am inspired by the world around me, the people I meet, and sustainability of our global ecosystem. I love to discover creativity through the lens of the internet and immersive visual experiences. Through the years, I have met interesting artists, seen amazing exhibitions, and admire those who channel new directions and influence culture. I am especially enlightened by thought leaders who challenge traditional philosophy and pioneer exploration of the arts through manipulative invention. Personal interactions with my children and grandchildren inspire me to enjoy life and relive childhood memories.

JCAM: When and how did you start making art?

FS: I think subconsciously when I was a young child. I have vivid memories at two years old focused in wonderment at flowers, insects, birds, and trees. This experience inspired me to assemble found objects into shapes and creations in my backyard. As I grew older, I explored natural works of nature which sparked my passion to capture its

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beauty. The vastness of the universe and natural ecosystems inspire me to explore art. Nature and science became the foundation for my creativity.

JCAM: Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do?

FS: Somehow it seems to have always been part of my being. I dont think there was one specific moment, but a series of occurrences which continue to evolve. Every day, I am influenced by random inspirations and observations.

JCAM: Why do you makeart now?

FS: I am stimulated by an ethereal aura of perception which reflects lifes observations and confluences. Art represents an aesthetic vision of context and emotions, of personal explorations, and the inspiration to explore abstractions sensed through ones visual cortex. I am motivated to create undefined representations, potentially expressed in unanticipated forms and dimensions.

JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?

FS: As life evolves, change is inevitable. My personal efforts reflect a constant state in dynamic discord with quantum mechanics. Technology has the potential to be the arbiter of this conflict and helps facilitate the organic evolution of creative thought.

JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?

FS: Art is often expressed in nature through math in the form of fractals. Geometric expressions reflect abstract ideas in recurring themes and infinite forms. The idea that aesthetics can be communicated though abstraction while representing passionate thoughts inspires me to put form to ideas. Visualizations reflect the investigation of thought limited only by the confines of space. If abstract ideas reflect the journey of life experiences, I will feel nourished.

JCAM: Of the artworks published in this article, is there one of you are which most proud? If so, why?

FS: Concentric Coils. Life is about continuous loops and interactions.

JCAM: What kind of creative patterns, routines or rituals do you have?

FS: I constantly observe the world around me. It is a dynamic exchange of visual patterns, thoughts, and emotions. I carry a camera with me everywhere to capture the world I see based on random moments of inspiration. Photographs become inspiration assets, a sketch book of experiences, and the foundation of my work. Life is woven into canvas though moments and art is a mirror of everyday experiences.

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JCAM: What element of art making do you enjoy the most and why?

FS: I find unexpected and accidental expressions to be the most exciting. Sometimes, you walk down a path expecting usual experiences, then the unexpected happens. It is the instant excitation of neurotransmitters which create a state of mind stimulated with emotion.

JCAM: What is your most important artist tool(s) and why?

FS: I think my camera is the most important tool as it allows me to capture moments of time and preserve thoughts even when recollection fails the senses. Images exist on a spatial plane, in a different time and dimension, much broader than my own context. When the creative process is finished, you see your vision expressed on paper. The image completes the experience.

JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished?

FS: Most of the time, I think my artworks are never completely finished. It is often difficult to step back objectively and say something is complete. There is always an afterthought demon which poses a dilemma for creative minds. Generally, I have to wait weeks before I can call a work finished. Time allows objectivity to overcome never-ending questions.

JCAM: What are the art making tools you use now?

FS: I primarily use raw digital images, 3D image manipulation, and archival inks mixed with traditional media (pastels, charcoal, pencils) on paper. Each piece is an original work.

JCAM: What new creative medium would you love to pursue?

FS: I love 3D visualizations, music, and interactivity in immersive environments. Walking in and around art in the context of dimension with sound heightens the sensory experience.

JCAM: What's the first artwork you ever sold?

FS: My focus is primarily on creating original art. Many years ago, my sister purchased one of my compositions for her home. Since then, I have had corporations and individuals collect my work. I do not actively pursue selling artworks and remain mostly unknown.

JCAM: Do you make a living from your art?

FS: Currently, I am employed as a creative markets consultant for a 1970s California

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technology company. I plan to work full time on art explorations in retirement. Money does not seem to motivate me to create art.

JCAM: What are your goals for the future, both work-wise and life?

FS: I plan to retire soon and will spend the rest of my life in the pursuit of creative explorations. I love to travel, cherish time with family and friends, and find deep inspiration in the creative process.

JCAM: What are you working on at the moment?

FS: I am finishing a piece created specifically for an alumni exhibition. It is a abstract expressionist work which utilizes geometry to divide relationships prismatically between light, textures, and objects.

JCAM: What or who inspires you?

FS: Im humbly reminded of genius when I stand before artworks created by Picasso, Van Gogh, Henry Moore, Kandinsky, and many others. When I lived in Germany, I once held photographs by Man Ray which stimulated a unique aesthetic connection. Artistically, the dynamic interaction of elements, with infinite possibilities created from moving, fluid interpretations of color and light inspire me to create luminous works on paper.

JCAM: Do you have a favorite living artist?

FS: I admire the work of Kwang-Young Chun.

JCAM: What work of art do you wish you owned and why?

FS: I purchase art when inspiration moves me to buy. There are many excellent artists represented in galleries and exhibitions. I collect pieces which I admire and find unique. I have a small collection and no hope of actually owning a Picasso.

JCAM: When addressing a particular work to be published in this interview: Can you explain what inspired this particular piece or idea?

FS: When I travel to other countries and cultures, I find inspiration as I journey through experiences. In Ireland, I once stood in the center of a prehistoric ring. It seemed to connect me to a concept much larger than my personal existence. This cognition transformed my visual imagination which is then reflected in my art.

JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work?

FS: I read daily and am influenced by philosophy and science expressed and observed

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in nature. The universe is a cathedral from which inspiration becomes existential. Discovery fuels my imagination.

JCAM: What does being creative mean to you?

FS: Simply a reflection of observations, emotions, and personal interactions which guide the principles of an artists life.

JCAM: What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative?

FS: Pause to observe the context of your surroundings, breathe deeply, listen to ambience, and surround yourself with life.

Francis Shepherd Stainless Spiral Descending / Digital

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Francis Shepherd Museum Mirror Reflection / Digital

Francis Shepherd Intersecting Waves / Digital

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Francis Shepherd Cosmic Strings / Digital

Francis Shepherd Pipeline Bulb Maze / Digital

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Francis Shepherd Stardust Bulb Maze / Digital

Francis Shepherd Elemental Construct / Digital

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Francis Shepherd Concentric Coils / Digital

Francis Shepherd Stray Light / Digital

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Francis Shepherd Bulb Mazes / Digital

Francis Shepherd Fin Lake Lillies / Digital

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Adam WallsAdam Walls is an artist and university professor. Adam has taught at the University of North Carolina Pembroke since 2007. His previous teaching experience includes Limestone College, USC-Upstate, and an assistantship with Winthrop University. Before teaching at the college level, Adam has taught six years in the public school system, three years for art centers and other private institutions, and operated his own ceramics studio where he taught pottery and won numerous awards for his ceramics as well as hiswood working and steel fabricated sculptures.

Professor Walls received his MFA in Sculpture from Winthrop University in 2005 and his BA in Art Education from Limestone College in 1996. He is a member of the College Aart Association and Tri-State Sculptors. Adam's sculpture has been

exhibited in numerous sculpture parks and sculpture exhibitions across the country. Adam's current work is predominantly monumentally scaled steel fabricated forms which often reflect his interest in escapist fantasy.

As an educator with over a decade of teaching experience, Adam's dedication to his students is embodied in his pedagogy. In his studio practice Adam covers a variety of subjects that include steel fabrication, plaster casting and carving, wood working, the creation of volumetric forms using found objects, stone carving, and the creation of functional art and sculptural prosthetics. His teaching philosophy promotes students to find their own voice and to make use of a variety of materials to do so.

JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

AW: I was born in Gaffney, SC and I do still have ties there, but I wouldnt say that the area holds any specific influence on my current work.


AW: I currently live in Hope Mills, NC and for the most part I do tend to show my work within a fourteen hour drive of my home. So, where I live does make a difference in where I show my work. I am sure that it plays a role in other aspects of my work on

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other levels such as the fact that if I lived in an area that would change my space restrictions and access to materials, then I would make smaller work or work of a different nature.


AW: My early work was in some very abstract ways directly referencing my family life in ways that slowly became apparent to me. My current work hasnt revealed all of its truths to me as yet, but I strongly suspect that it is all related to my current want to start my own family and change my role from son to that of father. I do have to stress that I often work intuitively in a way that allows me to recognize what I am trying to say during or after the process of making my work.


AW: I was consciously making art as an infant. It is clear to me now that I had begun creating my own visual language very early in life. My mother saved some of my early work that I can interpret now as an adult.


AW: In undergrad I realized that I was spending all of my free time in the painting studio even though I had taken an art class as an elective. I though I was meant to be a writer, but soon realized that the narratives that I wish to tell are not best conveyed in words.

JCAM: Why do you makeart now?

AW: It allows me an opportunity to vent frustrations by engaging a material in a way similar to how someone else might use a psychiatrist as a sounding board to find their own way through problems issues. Of course, I have been fortunate enough to have found an audience and a market for my art and I must admit that this too is a driving force in my work as well.

JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time? What are you trying to communicate with your art? I

AW: I feel that I should answer both of these questions together since I find them to be incredibly connected. My work has always depicted my place in life at the time it was made, so as my wants needs, and interests change.so does my work. My interests in materials chance as well, but I dont always release my work in public venues.


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AW: I honestly could not say that one piece is any more important to me than any other. Its like asking if I prefer my heart to my lungs, they are all a part of me and I need them all. Admittedly, there is some belly fat to be found in my work just as it is in my body and I may not be equally proud of everything, but I came by it all very honestly.

JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making?

AW: I used to draw a lot to prepare for making three-dimensional work. I had the intentions of predicting the finished look of the work before I made it, but I have found that I draw so much faster than I sculpt, that I had sketch books full of great ideas that no longer represent me in current time, but were reflections of me as I was. If I sketch ahead too much, Im afraid that my work would lose some of its honesty in self revelation. I feel that I am currently creating a new body of work that allows me a small ability to plan, which is useful, but with a great deal of room for intuitive decision making.

JCAM: What element(s) of art making do you enjoy the most and why?

AW: The potential for self expression and revelation is what seems most important to me at this time in my life.


AW: My mind is the simple answer to this question.


AW: When the work has finished telling me something about myself that I had not yet fully accepted or recognized.


AW: I do currently use a great many steel fabrication tools that I love.


AW: I honestly have no idea and I dont think that I ever have known.


AW: Wow, Im not sure if it counts, but I guess I started by selling drawings of Garfield, superheroes, and aliens to other school children in grade school.


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AW: I would hate to give up the security of a monthly paycheck, but I do very well with my artwork with a minimal effort.

JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life?

AW: My plan is to start a family and continue seeing where life takes me and my art.

JCAM: What interesting project are you working on at the moment?

AW: I feel that most of my efforts of late have been in building a studio in which to make my art.


AW: I am inspired by people who love what they do.

JCAM: Do you have a favorite or influential living artist?

AW: Not really, but I do enjoy the fluidity of the thoughts, mind, and expression of Richard Serra a great deal.


AW: The doodles that my Mother sketched while talking on the phone as I watched as an infant.


AW: All of the works from the Core series that I am currently developing have to do with new life being formed for the center of another. I am inspired by this concept in large part because of my interest in becoming a father.


AW: From any thought or moment that I experience, it might sound silly, but it is true.


AW: To me, it means being fortunate. Not everyone on this planet has the freedom to be creative, so I link the terms as the same concept.


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AW: I have never been told this by a specific person, but I believe that the advice of Follow your instincts and pursue your passion. makes more sense to me than anything else I have ever heard.

Adam WallsFaith / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsSelf Portrait / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsStructure / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsTaking the Hill / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsWeight and Balance / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsToy Defense / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsGetaway Car / Painted Steel

Adam WallsTime Line /Painted Steel and Mixed Media

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Adam WallsWar Stories / Painted Steel

Adam WallsP.OW. / Painted Steel

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Adam WallsFigures / Steel

Adam WallsCreepy Crawley 3 / Painted Steel

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Alexsandr GrigorievAlexsandr Grigoriev is a Belarusian artist. Alexsandr was born in the village of Mazurkee, Belarus in 1955. He has exhibited internationally for more than 30 years. His creaitve works include paintings, book plates, drawings, printmaking, book illustration, sculpture as well as scenery and costume design. Grigoriev is also an art curator, exhibition jurist, exhibition organizer and author. Grigorievs works are held in Brest region museum of local lore, in gallery and library collections in Belgrade, Serbia; Ankara, Turkey; Lamaze, Milan, Asuka and Terme, Italy; Arad, Romania; Ostrow Wielikopolski, Gliwice, Sanok, Nice and Malbork, Poland; Lefkada, Greece; Havirov, The Czech Republic; Sofia, Bulgaria; Cadaques and Herron, Spain; Winkfield, England; Bages, Spain; Guadalupe, Mexico; Sichuan, China; New York City, USA; and Ufa and Vologda, Russia.

JCAM: Please tell us about yourself.

AG: My family is my wife, Tatiana, and son Andrew Buchik (Sharpay). They are my love, my inspiration and my wealth my life. I must thank everyone in my family for the opportunity to work in the arts. Having an artist in the family is a serious test for all concerned.


How have I managed to live a creative life and make art? It's simple! I was born that way! As I can remember, at about four or five years of age, I was very different from my peers. I did not have or share their children's ideas. I found it hard growing up because even then I thought I was an adult. It is only now my wife calls me a child.

Creative activities that are out of the ordinary for me has never been difficult. Perhaps this was helped by having friends were much older than myself. Even so, it is hard to say when my passion for art began. I just did not pay much attention to how my artistic ideas developed over time. It always seemed to me that this is as it should be and that there was nothing special about being an artist. All I know how to do is to write, to count, to read and to draw. All these ambitions smoothly and mysteriously fill my life now as they did when I was younger.

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JCAM: Can you speak about your creative process and practice?

Ah, the creative process! This is absolutely not an understandable thing. Each creative event occurs differently and is never repeated. Can a few hours of thinking about this process quickly and easily solve the problem an artist sets? Sometimes it a decision takes years and years. Even so, sometimes I work in another way. Then I love and cherish everything I do. I have no favorite and favorite works. I say to myself, These are my beloved children. Interestingly, sometimes I remember and think about them for a long time while after they have left my studio. But, in the end, I have to tell each art work, Go away and live your own life.

JCAM: Can you speak about your creative process and practice?

These creative patterns you mention; I do not use these. Such things are excluded from my working process. Routines and creativity are two different concepts; these are not the same ideas at all. For example, with any new work I come up with new ways of working and new solutions exclusively just for this work. Each master has his/her own secrets relating to their craft. As an artist I have no secrets. I am open to everyone who sees my work. It does not matter if it is painting, drawing, sculpture or any other form of art. I try to come to my work without standards and patterns. I never cease to recognize the need for this. I know the internal content of my work more than external. This, I think the result of many years of working on yourself first, and your art later on.

JCAM: What's the first artwork you ever sold? Do you make a living from your art?

To create a picture is art. To sell a picture is another matter. For me, it is easier and more pleasant, to give my work away than to sell it. Sometimes we must work with the dealers, but these people are not artists. I would much rather have serious guests in my studio who say they enjoy my creative work. If this conversations is possible the viewer will be able to obtain the artwork. This method of creative commerce is known to all artists.

Yes, I have always made my living as an artist, And in the of doing so process I learned much about how to live as an artist. For example, for years I worked as a designer (interiors, advertising and shopping facilities). This work provided the life of me and the family. However, creativity and artistic freedom won, that took precedence over the guaranteed income. But, that was only possible after my son graduated from university.

JCAM: Can you share your views about contemporary art and the art market?

Here it is necessary to define what is meant by the word art. Art should contain at least two vital components: ethics and aesthetics. The pedestal on which stands the history of Christian art is ethics. Today, in my view, much of humanity is losing forever those ethical values. Art, in turn, also has changed its external and internal content. It is strongly, and perhaps wrongly, deformed. Yet this product of the creative efforts of individuals is still referred to as an art. In fact, the art of such efforts is irrelevant. Still, art has two basic principles: ethics and aesthetics. Some people continue to push creative experiments by deleting these main arguments. This is a road to nowhere.

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There are sculptures, paintings, graphic arts that are being produced ... but the essential ethics and aesthetics of the works are (most unfortunately) gone from them. The intelligent viewing public sees this. I am suggesting nothing new here.

In the 21st century we now have huge mass of art being made without being imbued with the essentials of art. The eternal, incorruptible, honest, sparkling-like-a-diamond ideas are most often lost among the cheap glass of popular, gallery art-making nonsense and selling to the art collector/investor. Even so, in spite of these banal and misguided practices, the ethical and aesthetic diamond that is truly art will always be brilliant, even if it is covered up by the popular shit of the moment. A supposed work of art that is truly shit would not become art, even if it is mixed in with diamonds!

JCAM: What or who inspires you as an artist?

What inspires me? Simply being an artist is in itself inspirational. Here is why. There are three professions which should not be practiced by random people: the doctor, teacher and artist. From my own experience I can only speak about the artist. (Some less informed people say that artist is not a profession. This is, of course not true.) Artists have perhaps the most important role for all people. What is this role? Artists bring us closer to ourselves, and even more importantly, closer to God. A true knowledge of God is essential for the future of all people. What is happening in our world today, in the arts we see around us, these are the fruits of people accidentally fell into the artistic profession.

On a personal level, true art stirs my mind and makes me work harder than ever to express my ideas. Through my art I want, at the very least, (perhaps just a little) to stop the ethical decline of people. I fill my works with irony. I will not argue over the importance of this approach. I work at my art to provide a glimpse, a hint, a reflection about who we are, about where we are going and about what will happen to us in the future. It is my firm believe that real (ethical and aesthetic) art can help us to understand these things. I am happy that God has given me such a burden as to be an artist. Through my art and artistic practice, I will try to justify his confidence.

Alexsandr GrigorievHost / Oil Painting

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Alexsandr GrigorievHost / Pencil on Paper

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Alexsandr GrigorievJudith / Pencil on Paper

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Alexsandr GrigorievFive / Pencil on Paper

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Alexsandr GrigorievBookplate / Etching

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Alexsandr Grigoriev45 / Oil Painting

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Alexsandr GrigorievSower / Oil Painting

Alexsandr GrigorievCode Systems / Oil Painting

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Alexsandr GrigorievFisherman / Oil Painting

Alexsandr GrigorievPatriot / Oil Painting

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Anand PrakashThe artist Anand Prakash lives in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. B.A. University of Allahabad (2001),B.F.A. University of Allahabad (2006)M.F.A. RMT music and art University of Gwalior (2013)

Artist Statement:

My art is self-expression. My idea and concept for my art is abstraction. In my art I want form, shape and composition to become new again. I have an intense desire to live life which is quickening every day. I thrive on contemporary art, psychology, philosophy, scriptures, meditation, Sahaja Yoga and Hinduism. The nature of energy

conversion is tangible and the intangible tangible, at least in the abstract. (The universe is running correctly.) My art is very personal, as well as psychological. I am driven by both aesthetic and social influences. As an artist I have secluded myself, as making work takes great concentration. It is through art that the individual receives self-esteem.

JCAM: Tell us about yourself.

AP: My name is Anand Prakash in the field of art.

JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you?

AP: I was born (09/15/1981) in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet with one other. Two rivers are seen absolutely but the Saraswati is an abstract river according to Hindu mythology and yes, it does influence me because of its rich culture.


AP: Currently I live and work in Bhopal the capital of Madhya Pradesh where a multi-art centre BHART BHAWAN is situated which is a popular rendezvous of very seasoned and senior artists and critics. Being connected with Bharat Bhawan I often happen to get in touch with these artists and that helps me know arts much deeper and this becomes the energy source of my inspiration.


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AP: My father Shri Thakur Lal Yadav who is no more now supported me a lot. My mother Mrs. Sarojni Yadav plays a vital role in my art journey. I will always be indebted to Mr. Yusuf (well-known abstract artist) who has been my mentor and a wonderful friend, for his support. Last but not the least I am thankful to my colleague and wife Mrs. Shalini who herself is an artist.


AP: I dont remember exactly but when i was in my 7 class, my house construction work was going on. Soil, cement, sand and bricks continued coming, in which the Ganges and Yamuna sands with wet clay pieces usually came. With that I made a lizard which seemed to be real. I stuck it on the wall of my house; whenever any guest would visit my house and used to see that lizard they would get surprised to see that. For the same reason my father gave me the opportunity to go into arts. Thus art became a part of my life.


AP: I took arts subject along with other subjects in the Ninth and Tenth classes. Similarly, in the Eleventh and Twelfth classes arts subject was there. But then, the struggle began for the course which could be useful for future. I did B.A. then I did PGDCA, from APTECH -Allahabad. After that I entered in another technical course ITI with electronics but I could not complete. I was very upset and frustrated. Due to which my father not only allowed me again in the field of art but also brought himself the form of B.F.A (Bachelor of Fine Arts). Then I realized I was on the right track. From the first day of Arts College I felt the blood in my body increasing. That was the time I decided art to be a part of my life.

JCAM: Why do you make art now?

AP: If I dont think about it every single day, I feel what have I done today? Art is part of my brain. I feel incomplete without it.

JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time?

AP: First of all, as the time passed I have started realizing my responsibility as an artist. My works have got better and my vision has broadened. My artistic skills have been polished. My connection with my art has got deeper.

JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art?

AP: It is the realization of my brains abstract imaginations and it also works on all those aspects of life which develop human civilizations, traditions, culture and internal peace as well as world peace. My abstract painting and arts stream also emphasizes on meditation. For these reasons I want to impregnate my art in the world.

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AP: I am proud of my painting RUPAKAR SERIES because there is lots of texture in this work. Due to which the imagination gets freedom, and it takes that to the depths of the subject. That is an extension of my time and it gives rise to new changes. This work is an emotional combination of colors, shapes, lines, forms, texture and space. The domination of texture in my paintings gives a sense of touch.

JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making?

AP: My painting style is same but the method, time, location, and environment are uncertain according to Medium, but the theme is always changing. I fix colors layer by layer on canvas to get a number of textures. I dont like to stick to orthodox patterns.

JCAM: What element(s) of art making do you enjoy the most and why?

AP: I am fond of textures, tone and space. My art is an activity of the human brain, which with experience expresses these certain art elements and principles on the basis of aesthetic expression, and makes them vital.


AP: Well, I am not fussy about any special tools in my art works but of course I cant go without canvas, brushes, paints ....


AP: When my painting absolutely matches my thoughts and ideas. I spend a lot of time with my work to reach that state where the work is an absolute vital world.


AP: I am not particular about any special art making tools. I use everything whatever is available at the time of making painting.


AP: I would like to pursue nano forms and multimedia in paintings.


AP: The art work which I sold first time was a painting from RUPAKAR SERIES.

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AP: Yes, I do

JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life?

AP: I have observed art and life helping each other in present time. I started my art from exploring life. While making paintings so many questions arose but my art answered all of them with ease. Each and every rupakar (form) presented many kinds of solutions which themselves give a new direction. Today my art journey seeks new heights in the zero which every moment keeps heading towards eternal peace and the world.

JCAM: What interesting project are you working on at the moment?

AP: Nowadays I am searching for abstract sound. Abstract vision is already there and I wish to give voice to it.


AP: My inspiration comes from the persons energy and ability which takes them to a very special position. I like their concepts and ideas and that provides me energy. And the person who inspires me the most is Mr. Yusuf. He understands my inner feelings and gives me his valuable pieces of advice.

JCAM: Do you have a favorite or influential living artist?

AP: Yes, I do have a favorite living artist who always influences me and my work and his name is Mr. Yusuf.


AP: Most of the works of Mr. V. Gaitonde fascinated me. I wish I owned them because as far as I think they were not made rather created.


AP: While making RUPAKAR I was in the search of shaping my thoughts. What should be the depth of my thoughts? I wanted to get deeper and deeper into my work and make it alive. This thought inspired me.


AP: Whenever I go for landscapes then I observe that every form has got an outer layer made by nature which itself presents a long time process and space. It is its own

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journey of form. That appears to be a subject of my energy so I think the nature can give a concrete shape to every abstract thought and emotion. By providing shape, form and colors to my abstract thought I can present my feelings.


AP: Being creative means to me that I must think off- beat. I must accept everything but have to change the real form of anything into absolutely different forms.


AP: The best advice I ever got was to ... see beyond the reality.

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Anand PrakashUntitled #8 / New Media

Anand PrakashUntitled #9 / New Media

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Anand PrakashRoopakar-I / Acrylic Painting

Anand PrakashRoopakar-II / Acrylic Painting

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Anand PrakashDiptych - Blue Island / Acrylic Painting

Anand PrakashDiptych - BE DOING / Acrylic Painting

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Anand PrakashBetween Content / Acrylic Painting

Anand PrakashZero is Beginning and End is Zero / Art film Snapshot

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Anand PrakashBeautiful Evening / Acrylic Painting

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Anjum RanaMs. Anj Rana has been called The Queen of Pakastani Truck Art. In 2008 Anj Rana was awarded the Seal of Excellence in Handicrafts by UNESCO. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan and still lives there today.

JCAM asked Anj Rana to describe how she brought Pakastani Truck Art forward as a highly sought after mode of craft design and an internationally recognized style of artistic activity.

JCAM: What can you tell us about the artform of Pakastani Truck Art?

AR: The exuberant and flamboyant style of Pakistani Truck Art is a legitimate and distinct folk art, which represents the values and aspirations of vast majorities of ordinary truck drivers and

artists, who originated from the Northern mountaneous areas of Pakistan.

As the transport industry grew painters are now to be found all over the country and from every province. The artwork differs slightly from one area to the other but cannot be defined commonly by viewers unless you are well versed with the art.

I, Anjum Rana, represent the new Pakistani woman entrepreneur and creative with an eye for the extraordinary in ordinary everyday life. I have made it my goal to bring this art into the mainstream, into our homes and work towards giving it the recognition it so richly deserves.

I admire all the beauty and colour in these designs on trucks or buses which most people would dismiss or take for granted at best, since it is common and easily seen on streets on every vehicle passing by.

I have employed and trained artists and also direct them in painting their richly textured motifs on everyday objects such as kettles, buckets, trays, salt & pepper shakers, mugs, plates, lanterns watering cans, garden furniture, ceramic tiles, diary covers, walls, fans and many other objects.

Many of these painters were giving up on their art due to lack of patronage as modern Photoshop advertisements are becoming more popular on buses and vans. Some artists were unable to continue painting since climbing these buses and trucks became physically challenging due to old age or bad health. Today these painters are able to paint and train apprentices due to this new arena developed by the Tribal Truck Art initiative.

Almost all items are one of a kind and reflect truck art rooted in longstanding cultural tradition.Tribal Truck Art has made a positive impact on the life of the artists and their families. With each item that is sold the appreciation of truck art grows, and it is a positive change. Each purchase

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helps the artists and supports the mission of Tribal Truck Art to foster economic and cultural sustainability for truck artists and truck art worldwide.

Truck Art is a very visible and colourful manifestation of street art in Pakistan, which was created mainly by truck drivers and their conductors and apprentices travelling long distances and being away from their homes and families. To keep themselves, happy, busy, occupied and to fight loneliness they would paint scenes reminding them of home, or war heroes, popular public figures, or scenes depicting the current political situations.

The truck became a canvas of love and longing as well as a space for venting political and literary expressions. These painted trucks and other vehicles are now a part of the vibrant and colorful Pakistani road landscapes.

I have held exhibitions in the U.S.A., Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, France, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, Scotland, and we will hold two shows in Europe in the coming months.A book on Tribal Truck Art, authored by me, with sketches by various truck artists, is being printed by Tara books, Chennai, India. This will be launched in late 2015.

JCAM: Can you talk a bit about your inspiration and the idea of creativity?

AR: Truck art inspires me. Ideas come to my mind when I was doing a piece and hence one project has grown (in terms of painting) to over 50 different objects. This style gives an object a new look and dimension. My team of artists live in Karachi, we are influenced mostly by the frontier province where I grew up.

Truck art first started in the Frontier province. The scenery is about the winding roads, fir trees, lakes and small cottages and is where most of the artists came from when truck art started after partition. The artists and truck drivers mostly came from the North. Later the industry grew and now we have truck drivers and painters from all over the country. These painters make a difference in my life, as I was impressed by their unique art and the bright happy colours.Today I work along with them as a team and travel the world. They have a better living, their families are now able to be much better off.

JCAM: What was the first piece of artwork you ever sold, and did it change how you thought about how you might make a living form your work?

AR: The first art work I ever sold was a trunk made of metal. It was my first piece of truck art and more of an experiment which was immediately sold. Since this was the first time in 2000 that truck art was transposed onto other objects. It is my hobby even yet. I am passionate about my work. The painters are given objects to paint, they are paid for each item, and I sell it as and when the opportunity arises. Truck art has made a positive impact on lives of the artists and their families.

JCAM: What can you tell us about the process of making this artform?

AR: We usually do free hand and do not stick to one pattern or a fixed design. Every artist has his own way of drawing a flower or bird or arabesque designs. Mostly I design where we can draw a particular pattern, what colours to use, but as I mentioned earlier we do not deviate from the original truck art.

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The artists use paint brushes made of real hair, paints, radium or reflective colours and tapes.For hand beaten steel we use hammer nails and reflective sticker tapes. I don't want to modernise this artwork and lose the authenticity of truck art. It is a distinct and legitimate folk art from this region which represents the values and aspirations of ordinary truck drivers and artists.

I grew up in Peshawar and Nowshera in the North of Pakistan, where these heavily decorated and painted colourful trucks were a common sight. We used to stand in front of our gate every morning waiting for the school bus to arrive. As I stood waiting, I used to notice each passing bus and truck laden with sugarcane, vegetables, and other goods being tranported to the rest of the country.

My eyes used to follow the eyes on the truck and colourful scenery. It made a long lasting impression on me. So many years later, I got a box painted by a painter who I found painting a truck by the roadside. The box was liked by everyone who came to my home. Then it started rolling, I would think of all the items I could design and get painted. Then there was no stopping.

Most people did not appreciate what I was doing, but I was consistant, determined to continue getting artists to paint on different objects and experimenting all the time. Gradually I worked my way up, working with the truck painters, giving the original truck art some finesse. Although I have not strayed from the real artwork or designs.

It has developed in many ways. We now paint on furniture, walls, fans, teapots, lanterns, buckets, trays, porcelain plates and platters, We also do handpainted ceramic tiles for indoors and outdoors, and many other items of decoration and daily use.

I love all the items and designs we create, I have a passion for this work and take great pride in this unique art from Pakistan. My aim was to bring this art into the mainstream to foster economic and cultural sustainability for truck art world wide.

JCAM: Can you tell us about your future?

AR: My goals for the future is to take this art all over the world so that the art work is seen and appreciated. This will give the artists an economic boost which will improve their living conditions, give them exposure, and hopefully their children get a better life and education. Also to create intercultural exchange opportunities that unite the people of the world.

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Abdul Qadir MemonPakastani Truck Art / Photograph

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Anjum Rana Pakastani Truck Art / Photograph


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Anjum RanaPakastani Truck Art / Photograph

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Anjum RanaPakastani Truck Art / Photograph

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Anjum RanaPakastani Truck Art

/ Painted Object

Anjum RanaPakastani Truck Art / Painted Object

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/ Painted Object


/ Painted Object

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Balu N. ChaudhariEditorial Note: When asked by the JCAM staff to provide current, detailed information about his art and artistic practice Balu N. Chaudhri provided the information below to share with our readers.

Balu N. Chaudhri was born in the scenic village of Bhor in Maharashtra in south central India. Bhor is famous for its beautiful blue river Neera. Balu recalls that his childhood was colored by the bright glow of reflection of light on the water of this river and the limitless vision of vast fields of barley and rice. Chaudhri says that although he was unaware during his childhood that he is going to become an artist he was mesmerized by the vivacious green color of earth and the reflection of light in blue water and thus his memories of childhood turn out

memories of color. He completed his degree in Fine Art from Pune University and now pursues his creative ambitions full time as an artist.

The present work of Balu Chaudhri can be defined by a spirit of daring innovation. Driven by his yearning to express unknown invisible forms of nature, Balu in the last two years, has totally transformed his medium as well as his forms. Balu used dry thick base of color as a natural metaphor for frozen time and provides fluidity through his use of glass pieces in standing rows. Previous brightness of color in his work has been subdued greatly and this has helped his forms to achieve a natural flow.

For the last decade Chaudhari has been engaged in bringing a similar effect in his creative expression. Balu Chaudharis artwork exudes an indomitable artistic desire to capture fleeting moments of the natural and human world and to cast it into multiple non-definitive pictographs. During the initial period of his artistic career Balu Chaudhari worked within the graphics medium especially collograph. Without getting involved in the debate about the primacy of medium or creative expression, Balu Chaudhri recognizes that this initial association with graphics influenced him greatly. Collographic embossing helped him to bring three dimensional depth and projection into his forms. Gradually when he moved toward through the more conventional medium of paint and brush he successfully brought enigmatic fathomless depth into his work through deep textures of color. His forms share affinity with generative symbols in nature like seeds with their outward manifestation and like leaves with their beautiful web of life.

When asked to explain his approach to making art Chaudhari shared this, If you gaze

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at the surface of a silent stilled lake, your eyes will get lost in the perplexity of surface opacity, but your heart will feel the flow of limitless emotions. In this feeling lays the true purpose of creative expression, it transforms a frozen stilled lake in our eyes into a flowing river in our heart.

In an interview for his exhibition Breathing Forms Chaudhari shared this about his art practice with an interviewer:

Q: What made you to take abstraction as a form of artistic expression?

A: I cannot easily express it in words, although like all fine art students I also started with figurative work, lot of landscape and model portraiture. Gradually I felt some kind of anxiety with definite forms; they always restrict freedom of colors and made them subsidiary to forms. And sometime during the last year of my fine art course I found that my work is taking a course towards abstraction.

Q: In the past decade you began working in a number of different media, do you find any particular purpose behind this meandering trajectory?

A: You applied very appropriate term, meandering trajectory. Yes, sometime when I look behind I myself am baffled by the diversity of my mediums. After completing my fine art course I came to Bhopal and I joined Graphic workshop of Bharat Bhavan. Here I got opportunity to mix my painting with the technique of colograph. Gradually I started working with embossing and placing of true material forms on canvas. After this I turned back to canvas and I started to bring effect of colographical textures by the acrylic colors. One day I found in dry color scrapings of my palette and my color bottles astonishingly beautiful texture. I started using them in my work. Later I found that on glass I can have some control over the textures of these color scrapings like forms and this initiated my association with glass which gradually became more intensive when I started using small glass pieces in my work. Presently I am doing lot of work with Forex and Acrylic sheet. I am doing embossing on acrylic sheet to derive different color texture and form. I believe that I change medium to found which one is more suitable to my own inherent nature and what I learn that you cannot work in that medium which is not suitable with your own nature.

Q: Is there any distinct inspiration behind your work and from where you derive your abstract forms and colors?

A: Sometime I think about that how we create an art work and fail to find an appropriate answer. I think we can bring only those things on canvas which we truly feel while living deeply in nature and human life. That is why painting is not imitation of appearances rather it is a true picture of our inner self of those invisible bonds which we have with nature and other human beings.

Q: Can you share the response viewers have had to your current exhibition Breathing Forms?

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A: The response is really pleasant as both artists and non-artists in the audience are enjoying my work. I am constantly sharing my opinion with them while at the same time some interpretations from the non-artist audience helped to look my work from a very different perspective. One person who works as principle in a school told me that my work can help his students to learn how to think creatively while one medical doctor sees scientific images in work. My fellow artist community is more incline towards discussing the technique of artwork as they found it very innovative.

Balu N. ChaudhriUntitled / Mixed Media

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Balu N. ChaudhriUntitled /

Mixed Media

Balu N. Chaudhri Untitled / Mixed Media

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Chin Chih YangMultidisciplinary artist Chin Chih Yang was born in Taiwan, and has resided for many years in New York City. He studied at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan (BFA, 1986) and graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn with a Master of Science in 1994. In a 2009 review Holland Cotter of the New York Times called one of his projects a magical tunnel of love. That same year he received a grant from The New York Foundation for the Arts; the following year he was awarded fellowships from the New York State Council on the Arts and another grant from The New York Foundation for the Arts.

Chin Chih Yangs most recent work addresses societys efforts to protect itself, both physically and psychologically, against long-term catastrophe resulting from pollution, surveillance, isolation, quarantine, and religious/political/social intolerance. The modern world, as Yang conceives it, is a graduated mixture of anxiety and entrancement. 21st-century products can do wondrous things, but producers and consumers alike wantonly discard waste. He explores such short-sighted practices by combining found materials, video projections, performance, and his own body to make art that spotlights ways forward. He likes to collaborate with other artists to create work which deals with the issues affecting individuals and, by extension, specific communities as well as society at large. Incorporating a touch of irony, his art helps us become better acquainted with the frightening side of human nature, signaling experimental and creative ways to view the planet and ourselves.

In 2011 Chin Chih Yang was honored with a NYFA Digital Electronic Arts Fellowship, a solo exhibition at Five Myles Gallery, and a Franklin Furnace Fund award. 2012 My project Kill Me or Change was selected from among 400+ international applications and this vital institutional support, funded in part by Jerome Foundation and The Lambent Fund, enabled presentation of a major work in front of the Unisphere. With the collaboration of Franklin Furnace, the Queens Museum of Art, The New York City Parks Department, Bay Crane Company, and over 100 volunteers, thousands of members of a very diverse general public watched as a construction crane raised, suspended, and then dropped 30,000 used aluminum cans on me. This intentionally playful and provocative project was an attempt to bring to light the effects of over-consumption. Why this number of cans? Research indicates that 30,000 is the number of aluminum cans one person will throw away in a lifetime. By showing, quite literally, the suffocating

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effects of one person's personal polluting, this piece serves as a call to action for the public to examine their habits of personal consumption.

JCAM asked Chin Chih Yang to describe a significant event in that provided impetus to his career. Here is his response:

My professional art career began snowballing early in 2003, when my digital article "The War Against AIDS " was published in Art Asia Pacific Magazine, and I was invited to lecture about my practice at National Taiwan Normal Universitys School of Fine Arts. In 2005 my new media interactive article "The Control of Fear" was selected for presentation at the ACM 2005 Multi Media International Conference. In 2006 an exhibition of my work was sponsored by The Taipei Culture Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in NYC, and another exhibition was mounted by the Taiwanese American Council the following year. Additional career highlights include a 2014 residency at Arteles in Finland, and artists talks and demonstrations at School of Visual Arts 2012, and for Princeton Universitys graduate fine arts students in 2010.

My first solo project in the United States of America was a video installation in Union Square Park in 2007. That same year I presented solo performances and installations on site at The United Nations building and the Consulate General of China, and have since gone on to share my work with the public in Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Wall Street, and many major public gathering points in Manhattan. I have also presented solo work at colleges including Towson University and Queens College, and at the Manhattan galleries of Tribes Gallery, Tenri Cultural Institute, and CUE Art Foundation.

Chin Chih Yang strives to reach new audiences and relishes opportunities to share his art with people who do not ordinarily encounter art. His work has been presented in forty major group exhibitions between 2005 and today. He has performed and exhibited in universities and museums across Taiwan; and in America at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University. Yang has had work included in the inaugural exhibition at Flux Factory and in prestigious venues from Exit Art to The Nathan Cummings Foundation Gallery. He has shown at art fairs in Miami, and Taipei Art Faire, at the Asian Film Festival in Warsaw Poland, as well as in Hong Kong, and in Singapore.

In New York City, Chin Chih Yang has reached local audiences with interactive events at important cultural centers in all five boroughs, from The Queens Botanical Garden to the DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival, from the Bronx River and Longwood Arts Center to a public pool on Staten Island. On a glorious Saturday in 2009, the audience for his outdoor performance in Union Square Park was estimated at more than 20,000 individuals.

Chin Chih Yang has been commissioned by the Queens Council on the Arts and the NYC Department of Transportation, and has completed residencies at Byrdcliffe Art

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Colony, and at the University of North Carolina Pembroke. He also completed a 2010 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space Residency at Governors Island.

Chin Chih Yangs work has received extensive coverage and critical acclaim in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Art Asia Pacific Magazine, The Taipei Times other major publications. Profiles have been broadcast on television stations from WCBS, NY to the BBC World News, and online coverage has been presented by Art Beat, Art Radar Asia, Flavorpill, NY1, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York, among many other websites and blogs.

JCAM asked Chin Chih Yang two final questions for this interview: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative? CCY: I find my ideas everywhere: in the street, in ads on the subway, in casual conservations with friends and acquaintances. To me, being creative means thinking creatively and acting accordingly. Creativity should not restrict itself to galleries and institutions alone. As for the best advice I ever received about being an artist, it was probably something my high school teacher said to me in my youth, but that was a long time ago and Ive since assimilated whatever words he told me and have built on them accordingly.

Outspace at Taipei Culture Center, 2007. (A computer rendering of the art work.)

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Chin Chih Yang / An Interactive Protest Against Corporate Waste 2015, guerilla street performance/sculpture installation for Earth Day 2015, with public interaction,

Times Square, NYC. Photo by Jing Wang

Chin Chih Yang / Kill Me or Change 2012, (showing cans falling on the artist) Photo by Rodrigo Salazar

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Chin Chih Yang / Kill Me or Change 2012, (showing cans falling on the artist) Photo by Rodrigo Salazar.

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Chin Chih Yang / Trash King 2014, interactive public performance/sculpture installation, created at artist in residency at Arteles Art Center, Finland, using all the

waste the artist produced in the one-month residency. Photo by Johanna Naukkarinen.

Chin Chih Yang / Building a Future Human The Armory Week at Harvestworks, NYC. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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Chin Chih Yang / Protection 2010, interactive public performance/sculpture installation at Surreal Estate, Brooklyn, NY. Photo by Christina Mallie.

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Chin Chih Yang / 123PollutionSolution 2010, Flux Factory inaugural exhibition, Long Island City, NYC. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Chin Chih Yang / Moving History 2011, interactive public performance/sculpture installation, with hand-held video at Muranov, Warsaw, Poland.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

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Chin Chih Yang / Invisible Love and Beauty 2013, interactive public performance/sculpture installation by Chin Chih Yang, Queens Museum of Art, Flushing, NY, for

reopening of the renovated museum building. Photo by Gabe Kirchheimer.

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Chin Chih Yang / Enduring Love 2015, New York Hall of Science, sculpture installation, Pith paper, LED Lights and more. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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Chin Chih Yang / Building a Future Human, The Armory Week at Harvestworks, NYC. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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Eric WeetsJCAM: What is your professional name?

EW: I am Eric G. C. Weets.

JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you?

EW: I was born on the 3rd August 1951 in Merksem, Belgium. My birth place could not influence me much because I stayed there only for 10 days. Thereafter, I stayed in Waterloo for the first 3 years of my life. All that I remember of my stay there, was what my family told later. So I don't believe that it influence me much but my stay thereafter,

with my maternal grandparents, in a village called Donk, influenced me a lot, mostly in a negative way. I stayed there till I was 17 years old. The whole experience of growing up in that village is still well and alive in the back of my head.

I left Belgium and for the last 23 years, that is almost half of my adult life, I have spent in India. The culture has influenced me.

I grew up with my grandparents. I wanted to go to the decorative school of art but my grandparents denied (with the best intention) because they were of the opinion that art does not put bread on the table.

Nevertheless, my grandmother used to give me one franc a day, never more even when I begged, to buy drawing paper for my drawings. She also collected all these drawings and stacked them nicely in the attic. When I was around 15, my grandfather used to help me while I used to make metal wire sculptures. Then my interest was in drawing nudes and my grandmother, who came from strict Catholic background, did not like these and lost her interest and my grandfather got seriously upset and called these drawings, obscenity. This was the end of being a wonder child.


EW: In India I did not really have friends who were interested in art. So, for a long time, it was a lonely occupation. Later, when I shifted to Pune, Maharshtra, I got involved in setting up a menu for a restaurant. Cooking being my hobby and I took it as a challenge to see if I could improvise on my grandmother's recipes and make something for the

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Indian palate. It was a success, by the way. So I have had more love-to-eat sort of friends in Pune, than art friends.

Then I met Filomina Pawar in 1998. Till then, I never really catalogued my work or photographed them, etc. Why? Because for me, the process of creating was more important than the end result. As soon as I finished the work, I liked it but very soon I started seeing the shortcomings and lost my interest in the work. The consequence of this behavior was that I either gave away my work to those who liked it, burned or put a knife through it in a bout of deep depressions, reworked it when I was short of cash to buy new canvas or just threw it way. Sometimes I also paid my pub bills with it.

So since 1998, Filomina started getting my stuff organized and helping me. You can say she became my studio boy/assistant/manager. When I would make preliminary sketches for my large canvases, she would draw the lines on the big canvas, take pictures of work-in-progress, make coffee etc because I would go on painting for hours together without a break. Sometimes she would just be around, watch me work or read about art, while I was working.

When I fell seriously ill with COPD in 2007, it affected my mobility to a large extent. ( Its a gradual deteriorating disease, without any cure) Filomina did everything around my work. Right from ordering or getting the canvas, cutting it, unrolling the canvas on the floor, making arrangements for sitting on the canvas, getting my brush, paint, cloth etc, placing my oxygen cylinder, whatever I needed, she saw that it was there. Gradually, it became a sort of routine, a teamwork. She also handled all the administrative work contact the galleries, museums, dealers, read the art newspapers, manage all the correspondence (like she is doing for this interview because I am not good in these things plus also have developed cataract in both my eyes and cannot read or write on the computer screen) Now, I am dependent on her for 95% of my day today activities because my disease has progressed. So you can imagine what difference she is/could be making in my life.

JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do?

EW: I started drawing when I was 3 years old. From the very beginning, say when I was around 6 years old, I felt drawing or creating was something very important and I could not leave being creative. Its almost an obsession, you can say.

JCAM: Why do you makeart now? How has your work changed or developed over time? What are you trying to communicate with your art?

EW: The first idea, for my pen drawings came about during the years I was in India in the late 1980s, after I saw the South Indian temples. I started drawing small figures and objects juxtaposed randomly, almost automatically, as they were flowing out the drawing pen. This automatic storytelling visually, you can say, paved the way for my series of 2007 oil paintings.

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I make art now or made before because, like I said, I could not leave it. Especially now, that I am almost in bed (I can sit up though) and cannot do anything else, I keep my mind/brain busy with being creative, one way or the other.

My work has changed tremendously over years. In the beginning, it was try outs, copying my role models in art, trying all different styles and isms .... Then, for years on, I experimented to find my unique style.

Even after I found my 'signature' style, due to health issues I have, very often, I had to adjust my art to fit my physical conditions. Like my preferred medium is oil paint but gradually the oil smell started bothering me, so I had to stop working with oil and moved on to use Indian ink on canvas.

Then I could not sit on the floor to paint on the large canvases, which I liked, so I started working on smaller canvases or paper, which I could draw on while placed on the table.

Then my eyesight was giving problems. I could not see when the brush touched the canvas surface. To avoid making mess, (I do not repair my work. Whatever I draw, stays there) I started using sketch pen because then I felt when it touch the canvas. Filomina then went over the drawings, either with oil paint or black ink.

I like to draw very compact/dense drawings/paintings but after I started seeing blurred, the figures came bigger and bigger. I did not like it so much because it did not satisfy my creative need. After creating some works and trying out different means, which didn't really work for me, I stopped painting altogether.

All these changes happened gradually, over a period of 5-6 years. Now I am making sound compositions on my android slate. I can use only the software which has black background. (White hurt my eyes and I cannot see anything) even when I see blurred, on the black background, I see enough to wor

Documents

The "Journal of Creative Arts and Minds" - published by Jumbo Arts International