Tag: Nexus III

Interview with Leon Keer

Dutch artist Leon Keer’s anamorphic paintings hung in the Brand Library last year for NEXUS III, and are currently on view for our inaugural exhibition Aloha, Mr.Hand. Keer comments on society, cultural issues, and the environment by creating narratives with familiar objects that force us to re-examine how we interpret the world around us. Below is our interview with Keer discussing the inspiration behind his most recent pieces with us, getting into a creative flow, and Funky Fridays.

What was the inspiration behind the body of work that will be showing at the Brand Library & Art Center?

The freedom of speech is the most important right in our constitution, the way demonstraters are being chased and hammered down in many countries is an annoyance for me. Also, I find the abuse of power a tricky issue. You see it on the street on a small scale. You see it on large scale in political decisions, both in developed and underdeveloped countries. I am not a speaker, but I feel inspired to make a visual story about the abuse of power. When a certain group of people is demonized, I denounce the situation. 

Do you have any pre-studio rituals that help you get into a creative flow?

I mostly travel by bike to the studio. Takes me half an hour in where I soak in all the energy around me. That’s what I also do when I am abroad. I scout the neighborhood to find the energy for the next work

When you were working on this body of work, what were you listening to in the background? Do you have a different soundtrack for the various stages of the creative process? 

There is a variety of music I listen to. The broadcasting station I listen to has a variety of music, games and interviews. I like this variety as I get bored very fast if I listen to too much of the same music.

One program on that radio station that I like most is ‘funky friday’ which will bring you to the smooth funky music of the early 90 ties. 

Is there an artist or piece of work that has made a significant impact on you? Has that work influenced your own artistic voice/style? 

I really love the work of Leandro Erlich. The grandness of his work and the way he is putting the spectators to another dimension of reality.I love the work of Leandro Erlich. The grandness of his work and the way he is putting the spectators to another dimension of reality are very inspiring

What piece challenged you most in this body of work, and why?

The piece Withered Bauhinia was most challenging to make. The background tells the story that many Hong Kong people took to the streets to protest against the ruling power for the sake of democracy. People are left with the choice of either staying home and keeping their opinions to themselves, or attending an unauthorized protest and risking police violence, judgment, and imprisonment. To underline this thought of oppression makes me humble towards these protesters and obliges me to approach the situation with honor and respect.

What do you think will be said about the New Contemporary Art Movement in 100 years?

An era of reflections of the people’s voice.

Schedule a visit to see Leon Keer’s work and the other talented artists in “Aloha, Mr. Hand” here. Masks required!

Inside the studio of The Perez Bros as they prepare for ‘More Bounce’ showing at The Brand Library & Art Center

Inside the studio of The Perez Bros as they prepare for ‘More Bounce’ showing at The Brand Library & Art Center for NEXUS III.

The Perez Bros are identical twin brothers Alejandro and Vicente (born 1994) from South Gate, CA. After graduating from South East High School, they attended Otis College of Art and Design to pursue a degree in Fine Art focusing on painting. At Otis is where they began working as a collaborative duo.

They were exposed to the car culture in Los Angeles at a very young age. Their father has been a part of a lowrider car club for as long as they can remember. They are fascinated with the culture, from the cars to the models, to the people and the music. Through their paintings, they try and capture certain moments that they see when they attend car shows, that personify the experience for them. Larger paintings seem to capture the mood and feeling of these car events, while smaller paintings tend to capture more intimate events. Through their paintings, they hope to make the viewer feel as if they were attending a car show.

Inside the studio of Yosuke Ueno as he prepares for ‘Majestic Parade’ showing at The Brand Library & Art Center

Inside the studio of Yosuke Ueno for ‘Majestic Parade’ showing at The Brand Library & Art Center for NEXUS III.

A self-taught painter based out of Tokyo, Yosuke Ueno is known for his imaginative, character-driven worlds created in symbolic pursuit of innocence, hope, and positivity. These loosely narrative-based paintings evolve intuitively, the artist’s approach to his compositions seldom premeditated, preferring instead to embrace the creative tangents of his subconscious. By allowing the process of painting to dictate the outcome, the works host a recurring cast of playful creatures, hybrids, and psychotropic fantasies. The artist, amidst these playful gestures, emerges as an inventor of psychedelic metaphor and cultural pastiche, freely combining references to everything from Japanese culture, ancient Greek mythology, Tokyo Street fashion and video games to Disney animation and the Western canon of art history. Driven by a genuine desire to capture our philosophical interconnectivity through art, Ueno’s multicultural references coalesce through the unpretentious spontaneity of his imagination and a fundamental belief in the universality of a shared condition.

Unexpected juxtapositions and cleverly contradictory elements emerge and interact within Ueno’s worlds, while a surreal freedom conflates the ordinary restrictions of time and space in support of its fantasies. The ancient and the contemporary are continually recombined, existing on a timeless plane through the simultaneous referencing of the traditional and pop-cultural. The unexpected poetry of these alliances, much like the paintings themselves, reveal complex accretions of cultural sediment, the result of an unimpeded admixture of worlds. Anchored by the concept of Yin and Yang and the elemental balance of the light and dark forces it implies, Ueno’s works strive to capture the plasticity and flux of these energetic constellations as they vie for poetic balance and positive resolve.

Interview with Amy Sol for NEXUS III at The Brand Library & Art Center

Technically self-taught, Amy Sol has spent many years perfecting her own mixed pigments and materials. Known for a distinctive palette with a subtle ghostly cast, her compositions possess poetically measured images that invoke melancholic pause in spite of their idyllic beauty and calm, feeling at times like the magic of fairytale tempered by the ambivalence of the adult.

What was the inspiration behind the body of work that will be showing at the Brand Library & Art Center?

I painted these works over the summertime of 2020 during the pandemic. I approached these pieces as a form of meditation & introspective peace I was searching for at  the time. The portraits for instance, are focused on medicinal plants I had as reference in my studio with a very limited colored palette. This allowed my mind to wander and relax a bit while I got lost in the small details. I had to look inwards to find calm during times when I could not find it in the outside world. It was my goal to communicate this with each of the paintings. 

Do you have any pre-studio rituals that help you get into a creative flow?

I always drink tea and try to go on a walk before I work. I’m lucky to live in a pretty beautiful area where there are abundant trees and plantlife to look at. 

It’s was a challenge to stay free of distractions during some of the stranger times this year. I found that if I went straight to work and stayed away from my phone a bit, it helped me maintain a flow state necessary to paint. 

When you were working on this body of work, what were you listening to in the background? 

I listened to a lot of new music I found online, I really enjoyed instrumental lo fi and wavy music playlists just to have going in the background. I spent more time with my windows open just hearing bird sounds as well. I have a broad taste in music, it just depends on the mood and vibe of the moment!! 

When I start sketching, I definitely go for music to help with the creative flow. As things start to get technical and tedious I’ll put on an audio book or podcast to keep myself entertained. 

Is there an artist or piece of work that has made a significant impact on you? 

Many many, but off the top of my head I saw some Eyvind Earle originals at an art fair while I was a teenager. These works definitely sparked something in me and kind of woke me up to the possibilities. 

Has that work influenced your own artistic voice/style? 

Sure, I do think his work inspired me to explore and experiment to find a way to uniquely communicate my love of nature. I also loved animation and his art was a sort of bridge from illustration to painting mixed with a strong visual language he made his own, I found all of that intriguing and inspiring. 

What piece challenged you most in this body of work, and why?

I think the painting Biome was a challenge to paint because I was trying to express a very strong feeling I was dealing with. It was challenging to synthesize this feeling into one simple and emotionally nuanced portrait but that was my goal.  

This piece started when I was experiencing some old emotions stirring up from my past trauma dealing with severe pneumonia. That trauma sort of re awakened because of this pandemic. This feeling blended into a concept, the reality of interconnectedness of humans and nature and the need to recognize vulnerability as awareness not weakness. 

I started off sketching mycelium-like forms to represent the lungs of the subject. The salamander is a symbol of vulnerability & vitality. I choose an Amphibian because they are sensitive creatures being both land and water borne. Because of this, they are considered accurate indicators of the health of the environment they dwell in.

Her floating head in the darkness sort of reflects this idea that because our minds & egos are all encompassing to our own human experiences, we sometimes forget how interconnected we are to other living things. 

This piece really helped me put some closure on my past experiences & navigate some unresolved emotions. 

What do you think will be said about the New Contemporary Art Movement in 100 years?

I hope it will be looked back upon as a time of positive & progressive transformation in the psyche of humans and our push towards a better future. Many artists make art to send messages about what we care about & we communicate what matters most to humanity across a broad spectrum.

 

Visit https://players.cupix.com/p/r6FRkjOZ for a self-guided virtual tour of Nexus III featuring a solo exhibition from Amy Sol at the Brand Library & Art Center .

Virtual Tour of Nexus III at The Brand Library & Art Center

November 7, 2020 – January 6, 2020

The Brand Library & Art Center in collaboration with Thinkspace Projects is pleased to present a virtual tour through Nexus III featuring solo exhibitions from Yosuke Ueno, Perez Bros, Leon Keer, Reen Barrera, Amy Sol, and Uriginal aka Uri Martinez.

Visit https://players.cupix.com/p/r6FRkjOZ for a self-guided virtual tour.

Tour by Birdman