Ana Miljkovac was born in 1967 in Niksic. In 1987 she enrolled at the Academy of Arts in Cetinje (Montenegro) graduating in 1992. In 2003 Miljkovac completed her master thesis titled Base and Sculpture – Realistically Imaginary Relations. She is a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niksic and the co-author of four textbooks and three teacher’s manuals. Miljkovac has had 13 solo exhibitions and many group exhibitions and has participated in biennials.
Born and raised in London, Gary Miller was taught at a young age to repurpose and reuse materials to give them a second life. As a child, Miller’s grandmother, who was a seamstress in a couturier, taught Gary about fabrics, pattern cutting, hand sewing, and embroidery techniques, which he practised endlessly wanting to learn her craft.
Sally de Courcy was born in Canterbury, Kent. She obtained a first-class honours degree in fine art at the University of Creative Arts, Farnham. During which time she developed an interest in repetition using the casting process to make large-scale sculptures and installations.
Ace Alamillo is a visual artist from the Philippines. He obtained his degree in Studio Arts from Asia Pacific College School of Multimedia Arts. His range of work includes paintings, collages, assemblages, and found objects which often drew on abstraction using lines and schematics and their association to his everyday life.
Born in a small town Nils Gabrielsson begun to study philosophy from an early age thanks to his parents, who both studied philosophy at the university. I then travelled around Europe and I’m now settled in Italy where I work as a researcher at the university.
Michaela McManus is a visual artist based in Dornoch Street Studios, Glasgow. Her practice explores both personal memory and wider themes concerning the artifice and fragmentation of our post-modern, post-net era. Rooted in the relationship between the inaccessible and the non-existent, she uses the imagined landscape to represent the psychological space where memories are retraced.
Working in the language of landscape, topography and architecture, Brian Reinker’s colourful abstractions depict real and imagined places with the disciplined approach of an architect. The graphic and geometric elements he uses to create cityscapes, landscapes and atmospheric horizons are rendered in ways that communicate his emotional response to the landscape. Reinker’s aim is to distil and abstract the essence of these places, using a variety of techniques and media – including paint, ink, and collage on Dibond panels.
Tony Black’s bold and gutsy style – influenced by Pop Art, German Expressionism and Fauvism – is rooted in the kind of spontaneous art he enjoyed in his childhood, filling endless notepads with colourful and striking images.
Özlem Thompson was born in Istanbul, and although interested in art from a very early age, she obtained an undergraduate degree in biology and completed her master’s degree in botany with a thesis on the subject of ‘Exotic Plants and Their Usage in Industrial Design’.
Deniz Kazma’s journey seems to show that it is not. Like her art, her life is a “work in progress” nourished by tradition and modernity. Tradition because the Asian cultures are well anchored in her artistic DNA. Modernity because our reality is conditioned, transformed, distorted by a technological comet that upsets traditional landmarks and forces the artist to become fully aware of the new perceptual universes she creates and imposes.
Samantha Louise Emery was born in London during the summer of 1968 to British fashion model Jenifer Wontner and Canadian Olympic Gold Medallist Victor Emery. Her late grandfather Sir Hugh Wontner became Lord Mayor of London in 1973 and her late great-grandfather was Arthur Wontner prolific British actor who famously portrayed Sherlock Holmes in many successful feature films throughout the 1930s.
Shelly Cook 49, was born in Reading but with family roots in Cornwall, she finally felt she came ‘home’ 25 years ago. Cornwall’s rugged industrial landscapes, beautiful coastlines and rich mineral heritage have driven her creatively for all these years
The experience of growing up on Paros, an island in the Aegean Sea in Greece, and Dimitra Skandali’s journey since then to build a community across the oceans, is central to her work. Carrying her island with her everywhere and it shapes the way she sees the world. Creating installations inspired by their exhibition spaces weaving together found elements from those locales to create ethereal forms; reminders of the sea, with its openness and possibilities, as well as its fragile and unstable limitations. The process of familiarizing herself with these new places through the search for materials helps to weave together points of connection in an ever-expanding web, even if only temporarily.
Delighted to be showcasing the work of Emily Shih who is Inspired by daily life, beautiful scenery and things that touch her heart. Shih is fascinated by colour and the journey of living. Through art, Shih can express her truth.
Commodore takes urban walls from drab slabs to beautiful canvases. His stencils aim to evoke action from a static element. The subject matter I focus on varies but tends to evoke nostalgia or movement.
Belinda Pearce is a flamboyant character, a creative artist unafraid to experiment in order to achieve unique yet collectable canvasses. Pearce paints with passion, choosing subject-matter dear to her heart.
Evelyn Polk’s work is centred around the found object, but also overlaps with notions of excavation and the land. Acting as a mediator, selecting and presenting items for the consideration of the viewer. The process of how he works is dictated by the objects he finds.
After successfully reopening all four Tate galleries last week, Tate Modern is pleased to announce that its Steve McQueen exhibition will also be reopening on Friday 7 August and will be extended to 6 September 2020. First launched in February, the acclaimed exhibition spanning 20 years of McQueen’s work has been modified with new visitor signage to aid social distancing and will reopen with a reduced visitor capacity.
Drawing on personal experience and inspired by human anatomy and psychoanalytic theory, Kim explores desire as the main subject matter alongside the concept of life and death.
In her theory, all things stem from desire and it varies depending on how the person’s desire appears. The human figure is a recurring theme and Kim’s obsession with the human body started when she was young after experiencing a rare body condition and medical examinations as part of her daily life.
William Reinsch is a young artist who is perhaps one of the most exciting new talents at work in the UK today. An astounding ability with figurative work, work which conveys as much about Reinsch as an artist as it does about the subjects he paints. Working from his studio in Essex, Reinsch is what the art world classes as an “outsider”, an artist with huge talent and yet not the product of formal art school training; perhaps in this instance, such training may have been counter-productive.
Andrew Graves-Johnston
So, where to begin?
Way back in 1987 I attended a huge squat party in a Kings X disused bus garage hosted by the Mutoid Waste Company. Amongst the live bands, DJ sets, street theatre, and circus acts I was confronted with awesome mixed media sculpture. These pieces included cars, TV sets and found objects. Walking home to Brixton I thought “if they can make art like that, then so can I”. For years I was an Outsider Artist, even if then that term was unknown to me. Using mostly self-taught skills I’ve worked in the creative industries, art direction, puppets and props maker, worked with bands, and even stilt-walked in parades. Since 1990 I’ve participated in over 50 exhibitions and events.
Peter Basden is an artist that produces candid, observational photography that attempts to capture a personal interpretation of honest, in-between, unposed moments. All of his photographs are made with persistence, patience, 35mm film and a small manual camera.
Hannah Sullivan is a young British artist living and working in Manchester.
Self-taught or art school?
I’m currently studying at Manchester School of Art in the UK, and am about to enter my graduate year.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Antoni Tapiés ‘Rinzen’ (Rinzen being Japanese for “sudden awakening”). I saw this in Barcelona last year, and it completely captivated me. The scale of the work is astronomical and completely overwhelming. I like the familiarity of the bed and the mess, and how destructive it feels floating in the air. This was displayed alongside one of his larger cement paintings that upon reflection tonally could have been a suggestion of a mattress. The contrasting ideas between harsh, physical materials and the more empathetic/understood ideas around what it is to be human is something I take a lot of interest in.
Batool Showghi was born in Iran and moved to England in 1985. She received a merit for her MA in Design & Media Arts from the University of Westminster in 1997 just after finishing her BA honours from the London Guildhall University. In 2001 she received a Certificate of Education from the University of Westminster. While continuing her art practice, she taught at Harrow College from 1998 until 2015 as a part-time lecturer. Since then she has dedicated her time to her art and exhibiting her work in both solo and group exhibitions in England and abroad.
Former broadcaster and artist Robin Ross has admitted to finding some cunning ways of escaping the clutches of the law in his youth. The 69-year-old, who grew up in St Annes, was one of many budding DJs pursuing a career in radio and started out the only way he knew – on pirate stations.
Born St. Andrews, Roanne O’Donnell is an award-winning Scottish painter currently working on the series, ‘Surface Work’. She studied Drawing and Painting at the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art and went on to obtain a Masters in Contemporary European Fine Art in Barcelona. After 18 years of professional practice in Northern Norway, she now has her studios in Andalucia and Fife, Scotland.
Kio Griffith is an interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, and arts writer working across themes of social issues, geopolitics and migrating cultures, through multimedia, craft and technology-based works including graphic design, 2D and 3D objects, time-based sound and video compositions, performance, computer programming, writings, installation, and publishing.
Delighted to introduce art student Kelly Wu to The FLUX Review Q&A’s…
Delighted to introduce Paul Blenkhorn to The FLUX Review Q&A’s.
‘For more than 30 years I have been working in the area of sensory stimulation with a specific interest in visual stimulation for children and adults with disabilities. My work has predominantly been with software to attract, engage and interact with people. I am fascinated by the light/colour of forms and their differing relationships to the objects around them. I believe that the nature of the light is somewhat different when it is emitted from a screen rather than reflected from a surface.
Jeremy Gluck is an artist working as a neurodiverse, non-linear fine artist in digital art, film, installation and mixed media. Uncompromising works confront the viewer, encouraging a physical, sensitive, or conceptual experience of each. Radical artistic engagement is the mission statement. Embracing pre-conceptual mind-language art.
The Studio of Philip Michael Wolfson operates in that area between architecture, across the fields of sculpture and installation, experimental design, interactivity, film and art. Trained internationally as an architect, his studio maintains a fascination with and examination of the construct of space and form, while questioning its modern understanding thru the examples given by the early 20th century Modernist Movements, particularly, Constructivism and Futurism.
Though the works vary in scale, the studio achieves a re-positioning of this understanding in the context of embodiment, perception and projection. The works constantly evolve between static and dynamic models, shifting from objects to installations and design, prospecting new visual territories in the field of narrative object and space.
Francesca Busca creates incredible arties during lockdown. A challenge by the Getty Museum.
‘Sharing the love for Art with a laugh: recreating artwork with things found at home, embracing the Getty Museum challenge. One Artie a day during Lockdown 2020.
Arties were made by a ‘one-woman band’, whilst the brilliant soundtrack was kindly composed ad hoc by Moreno Andreatta (www.morenoandreatta.com).
What started as a friend’s challenge for a laugh soon became a daily appointment…and created an amusing bond among quarantined souls worldwide. It was fun and rewarding, especially seeing the tremendous feedback of participation – and challenges! – I was receiving. Such a positive exchange of energy!
Yurim Gough was born in Korea, a country with a historic tradition of ceramics. Gough was a fashion designer and by the age of 30 had been designing high heeled shoes for over ten years in Seoul then in Tokyo and London. Gough emigrated to England in 2007, the first time she had set foot outside Asia. Learning English from scratch and being influenced by the radical change in culture Gough went back to being an artist, which was always her first calling. Starting with life drawing and experimenting with other media, Gough found herself drawn to her cultural roots in ceramics.
Gareth Jones first took to painting following his diagnosis with Bipolar Disorder, ADD, Borderline Personality Disorder and OCD.
After first being advised to try something ‘creative’ in a psychiatric hospital, Gareth then locked himself in a makeshift studio for months. When he emerged, he had developed a specific, autobiographical style which incorporated traditional painting techniques together with a more chaotic approach involving the use of various mixed media
Rosemary Hurrell graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 2017. Initially inspired by traditional needlework Hurrell’s work gravitates towards abstraction, sculptures are created using free motion machine embroidery on soluble film which is subsequently dissolved, shaped, and dried.
For Ashima Kumar – Art is the freedom to live. Creating art is a risk we choose to take in the hope that we can soar to heights imagined and unimagined.
Pam Glew is a contemporary British artist, known for her unique bleaching technique on vintage flags and fabric. Antique American quilts, brocade and old jeans are dyed black and painted freehand with mixed media paint. The portrait slowly develops in the painting process resulting in an image emerging from the textile. Glew is often commissioned by large brands including Armani, Red Bull and Microsoft, exhibits internationally and is found in public and private art collections worldwide.
Phil M Davis was born in 1982 and lives in North Worcestershire, studying Fine Art and Sculpture at Loughborough University where he completed his degree in 2004. Phil began his career as a commercial artist, his early works depict scenes from his local area, as well as places he has visited on his travels abroad, in particular Spain, Italy, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. His work uses intense, bold colours as a way of reflecting a childlike wonder in the new, and in a sense the extreme, sometimes uncomfortable emotional commitment involved in relating to the culturally unfamiliar.
Tamara Savchenko is an artist-explorer who never likes to be put in a box with the label on it. Savchenko has experienced life in so many ways that it is impossible for her to stick to one form of art.
Savchenko has lived in four countries, graduated as a doctor and has a PhD in medicine – she has worked as a librarian, a researcher, taught anatomy in a medical school in Russia; a sales assistant, an Avon representative, a science technician and finally a science teacher in the UK. In addition to beening a mother of two children and a wife to a successful professor of physics.
