Featured Artist – Manana Tsilikishvili

When I was born in Tbilisi, the Republic of Georgia was a satellite state of the USSR. Communist control often made daily life a challenge and constrained the art world. It discouraged new ideas and pushed artists towards traditional expression. However, I was fortunate enough as a young girl to have a schoolteacher who recognized my talent and encouraged me to express myself in line, form and color.
In order to support myself during young adulthood, I enrolled in the Light Industry Technical College and obtained a degree in textile manufacturing. I used the skills I acquired at the college to open fashion boutique. My ability to use color and form in design made the shop successful. Yet the boutique was not enough to quell my intense desire to paint. I yearned to experience artistic freedom, which America seemed to offer. In 1999, I came to the United States and was tremendously inspired by possibilities for art in this country. I rediscovered my love of fine art.
I found myself surrounded by a free artistic environment, new material, rich literature, incredible libraries, and museums. Using these new resources, I explored new techniques, often times teaching myself. Studying the likes of Jackson Pollock, Amedeo Modigliani, and Willem de Kooning, along with other masters, I began working with acrylics and oils. I honed my techniques and developed an individualistic, contemporary style. My work is now possessed by a spirit of freedom, which lives in a wonderful world of lines, forms, colors and symbolism textured by oils and other mixed media. Each piece of art is an honest and pure expression of various periods of my life; my paintings capture emotions from my heart and soul. Finally, they depict my experience of life, growing up in an repressive society and ending up in America; at times intense and dramatic, my style has also become feminine and uplifting.
Although I continue to develop as an artist, I have settled into my style and found an engaging audience on the East Coast. I have exhibited my works in locations around the tri-state area, including in Philadelphia and New York City. I am constantly searching for new opportunities for collaboration and engaging with new audiences and perspectives. I look forward to working with you.

Featured Artist

Manana Tsilikishvili – Normandy Beach, NJ
Instagram

Dividing Medium Mixed Media Size 36”x 48”x 1,5” — **Dividing**
Mixed Media
36”x 48”x 1,5”

Revenge Medium Mixed Media Size 36”x 48”x1,5” — **Revenge**
Mixed Media
36”x 48”x1,5”

Art Statement Medium Mixed Media Size 54”x 42”x1,5 — **Art Statement**
Mixed Media
54”x 42”x1,5

Stop Atack Size 38”x70” — **Stop Atack**
38”x70”

Featured Artist – Jeff Klena

I briefly attended the Cleveland Institute of Art (1992-1993) but found hanging out at the Euclid Tavern and the Cleveland Museum of Art much more educational.
Music And Art have been a constant force in moving my life forward. Although the past is a constant reminder of promises forgotten. I now make good on the little lies that get me through the night. The reinventing of the dream-self on every new morning. The doorway between the conscious self and the subconscious ideal has been left open. What remains of the journey lies in paint. My Style is subjective to the viewers preconceptions. I am a figure artist. The rest is up for interpretation.
The artistic influences on my paintings are quite varied. I am most influenced by the Symbolist. Which turned into the modern Illustration movement. Everyone from Klimt to Schiele from Bacon and Auerbach to Frazetta and Giger. All my idols are dead. It is my time to start a new generation of dreamers.
All my work is for sale. I am sick of being a slave to my alarm clock

Featured Artist

Jeff Klena – Elyria, OH
Instagram

Touching the Darkness in Death Medium Latex on Wood Size 23x36 — **Touching the Darkness in Death**
Latex on Wood
23×36

Fertility Goddess Medium Latex on Wood Size 24x36 — **Fertility Goddess**
Latex on Wood
24×36

First Glimpse of Fire Medium Latex on Canvas Size 30x32 — **First Glimpse of Fire**
Latex on Canvas
30×32

Source of Origin Medium Latex on Canvas Size 30x32 — **Source of Origin**
Latex on Canvas
30×32

Featured Artist – Mista Fig

Considered an ‘outsider artist’, I express through sculpture, exploring my ideas using a variety of media.
Inspiration for my art, comes from dreams, myths, intuition and adventures.
My work is mainly figurative with root influences from what I experience—–the pain and pleasure of life.
I aim to create with passion and freedom, to tell a story through my work, of my life and the life of others.

Each sculpture is individual and an edition of one….

Featured Artist

Mista Fig – Tau, UK
Instagram

Each sculpture is individual and an edition of one….

" CELEBRITY # 2 " from the series, ' Girls on Tour ( who haven't yet toured ).....' Medium Mixed Media ------ after creating her shape, I dressed " Celebrity #2 " in layers of mosaic, thinly rolled treated lead, glitter paint, diamante, found objects plus some inspiration..... Size Life Size — **” CELEBRITY # 2 ” from the series, ‘ Girls on Tour ( who haven’t yet toured )…..’**
Mixed Media —— after creating her shape, I dressed ” Celebrity #2 ” in layers of mosaic, thinly rolled treated lead, glitter paint, diamante, found objects plus some inspiration…..
Life Size

' Learning to Fly ' from the series , " My little people that have come down from the hills....." Medium Mixed Media ------ created from found objects, put together in my ' Frankenstein ' way, then dressed and highly decorated, including thinly rolled treated lead, wax, glow paint, altered objects, plus some inspiration....... Size 42 inches / 107 centimetres tall — **‘ Learning to Fly ‘ from the series , ” My little people that have come down from the hills…..”**
Mixed Media —— created from found objects, put together in my ‘ Frankenstein ‘ way, then dressed and highly decorated, including thinly rolled treated lead, wax, glow paint, altered objects, plus some inspiration…….
42 inches / 107 centimetres tall

" Sexin' Up Minnie '' from the series, ' My little people that have come down from the hills....' Medium Mixed Media ------ created from found objects, put together in my ' Frankenstein ' way, then dressed and highly decorated, including layers of feathers, paint, altered objects, plus some inspiration....... Size 26 inches / 66 centimetres tall, plus plinth seat — **” Sexin’ Up Minnie ” from the series, ‘ My little people that have come down from the hills….’**
Mixed Media —— created from found objects, put together in my ‘ Frankenstein ‘ way, then dressed and highly decorated, including layers of feathers, paint, altered objects, plus some inspiration…….
26 inches / 66 centimetres tall, plus plinth seat

Featured Artist – Marilyn Richeda

My creative process is based on working intuitively from feelings, memories and my imagination. I usually work in a series which can lead me into extensive exploration of an idea and form. Form is an essential element in my work. My secondary focus is to develop different types of surfaces that will enhance and support the form. I can’t say enough about color. In many ways, color is the most important part of every piece I make. The dance begins as soon as I start brushing the glazes onto bone dry terra-cotta. The clay draws the slips and glazes in, sometimes making a particular sound; I like that. I layer the slips and glazes until I achieve a result which is emotionally satisfying to me. The use of color is more emotional than logical. Although my figures are pared-down minimalist in outside appearance, I mean for them to have complicated and subtle inner lives. For me, they carry the heavy weight of emotional fragility. They are simultaneously grotesque, beautiful, repulsive and mesmerizing. The figures I create, some creepy and dark, are not to be found on the street, but rather in one’s imagination or dreams creating an alternate universe. My use of wagons, carts, wheels, boats and chairs place the figure in or on an object to transport them to another place.

Featured Artist

Marilyn Richeda – South Salem, NY
Instagram

Gentle Empathy Medium Ceramic Size 7.5"h x 8"w x 4.25"d — Gentle Empathy
Medium
Ceramic
Size
7.5″h x 8″w x 4.25″d

Put Together Medium Ceramic Size 14.25"h x 15.5"w x 4.5"d — Put Together
Medium
Ceramic
Size
14.25″h x 15.5″w x 4.5″d

It's Complicated Medium Ceramic Size 14.5"h x 8.5"w x 11.5"d — It’s Complicated
Medium
Ceramic
Size
14.5″h x 8.5″w x 11.5″d

The Searchers Medium Ceramic Size 17.25"h x 6.5"w x 15.5"d — The Searchers
Medium
Ceramic
Size
17.25″h x 6.5″w x 15.5″d

Featured Artist – Fernando Carpaneda

Fernando Carpaneda is an underground punk artist. He works with clay sculptures and paintings. His main theme is always the human being.His sculptures and paintings capture subjects that reflect the extraordinary side of the human element. Homeless people, punk rockers, pop stars, unknown artists and outcasts are recreated to the minutest detail in his clay sculptures. Parts of the artist’s own clothing are hand tailored into miniature wardrobes. In the style of the 17th century paintings of secular subjects, human hair and modern day relics are incorporated into each piece to reflect a sense of capturing a moment in time. The artist takes his inspiration from the urban element and uses the language of the street along with his own experiences with punk rock and street life. His bold artistic statement as a punk activist is painstakingly expressed through this controversial work. Often sexual in nature, his “In your Face” approach to the acceptance of sexuality and the Punk lifestyle are recreated to provoke and inspire the observer.

Featured Artist

Fernando Carpaneda – Freeport, NY
Instagram

His voracious engagement in the cause of diversity and punk culture led him to exhibit at Art Basel in Miami, the Tom of Finland Foundation in California, The Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis and The Leslie Lohman Museum in New York to name a few. His works are included in multiple art collections, galleries and museums around the world while also appearing in publications as The Best of Punk Globe Magazine, alongside Debbie Harry, Jamie Oliver(UK SUBS),Sid Vicious,Earl Slick,John Lydon,The Adicts,Glen Matlock,Joe Dallesandro,Andy Warhol,Pauley Perrete also in Treasures Of Gay Art, a book featuring Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, Jean Cocteau and many others. In June 18, 2012, some of his works were selected and exhibited at Times Square in New York, during the opening of the exhibition Art Takes Times Square. The works were exhibited in 10m² LED panels covering 23 floors (Nasdaq screens, Thomson and Reuters, Clear Channel Spectacolor, and A2aMedia’s Port Authority) the exhibition was seen by over 1 million people.

Award

Fernando Carpaneda was named as a Juror’s Choice for Visual Art at the 2016 Seattle Erotic Art Festival. “The Rebirth of Punk” sculpture was one of three pieces of art to receive the award.

Mars Bar Medium Acrylic on Canvas Size 5"x6" — **Mars Bar**
Acrylic on Canvas
5″x6″

CBGB Medium Acrylic on Canvas Size 20"x 30" — **CBGB**
Acrylic on Canvas
20″x 30″

KEN Medium Acrylic on Canvas Size 20"x24" — **KEN**
Acrylic on Canvas
20″x24″

Featured Artist – Joyce Thornburg

RAW AND INTUITIVE
I am a compulsive artist…I paint everyday because I have to!

My images are raw and intuitive. Colors harmonize in unexpected ways and exuberance often collides with angst.

Faces predominate my work, many in frontal gazes that meets the viewer head -on; faces as maps that reveal places we’ve been…or may be going.

In the words of Zorba the Greek—

Featured Artist

Joyce Thornburg – Asheville, NC
Instagram

RAW AND INTUITIVE
I am a compulsive artist…I paint everyday because I have to!

My images are raw and intuitive. Colors harmonize in unexpected ways and exuberance often collides with angst.

Faces predominate my work, many in frontal gazes that meets the viewer head -on; faces as maps that reveal places we’ve been…or may be going.

In the words of Zorba the Greek—

I embrace everything…the full catastrophe, speaking to the human condition of joy and triumph, suffering and celebration.

ARTIST BIO
Working studio/gallery at Wedge Studios in The River Arts district Asheville, N.C. 2009-current

Member of the Circle Foundation for the Arts, London.

EXHIBITION HISTORY:
American Folk Art Gallery/ Asheville 2007-2009

Atelier Gallery /Asheville 2007-2010

Attic Gallery /Vicksburg, MS 2012 to current

Beverly Kaye online gallery/ 2015

Cherry Bounce/American Politics / William King Museum Abingdon, VA., September 2016-January 2017

Saatchi Art / Urban Edge, New Street Art collection 2016

MUSEUM AFFILIATIONS/COLLECTIONS:
Victor Keane collection at the Bethany Mission Gallery/ Philadelphia, PA.

Title Dance of Impermanence Medium Mixed Media on panel Size 36" x 48" — **Dance of Impermanence**
Mixed Media on panel
36″ x 48″

Title Sad Clown Medium Acrylic on Strand Board Size 18" x 24" — **Sad Clown**
Acrylic on Strand Board
18″ x 24″

Title Homage Medium Acrylic on Canvas Size 30" x 31" — **Homage**
Acrylic on Canvas
30″ x 31″

Title Jolly Good Fella Medium Mixed Media on Panel Size 12" x 12 — **Jolly Good Fella**
Mixed Media on Panel
12″ x 12

Featured Artist – Glynn Galloway

Glynn Gallowayis a self taught artist that has been described as an “oblique artist”; not parallel, not perpendicular, not outsider but definitely not mainstream. He creates unusual mixed-media, assemblage sculptures that are constructed primarily of antique objects he has collected from antique stores and markets from every region of the world. Glynn integrates these vintage items with wet-molded leather, stiffened fabrics and hammered metals to create extraordinary, free standing and wall mounted sculptures. His engaging fusion of period artifacts and new materials is achieved through the use of time-honored artisanal methods such as cuir bouilli and metalsmithing. The end results are distinctive sculptures imbued with an eccentric mix of the incomparable patina that nature has ingrained on the antique objects, the vibrant air brushed finishes he applies to his leather components and the stunning “flame painted” designs he sears into his copper elements.

Featured Artist

Glynn Galloway – Las Vegas, NV
Instagram

ARTIST STATEMENT 2019

“If only there were a way to wear rust and verdigris as clothing! Nature has found the perfect formula to transform common, ordinary items into brilliant works of art with the color and texture that only prolonged exposure to the elements can achieve. How incredible it would be if you could wear the distress marks, cracks and other signs of disintegration like jewelry to enhance that remarkable ensemble! Personally, it is the bling and trinkets that draw your eye to look a little closer and appreciate the details of a well styled outfit.

“My creations are dressed in the attire of rust and decay, as if time and nature had embellished them in a colorful palette of unique and vibrant visual textures. They are collaborations with nature and the long forgotten craftsmen who created the exquisite lines and details of the antique components. They are also born in consort with the housewives, carpenters and laborers who used these items over the years and bestowed upon them the character of imperfection. My foremost intention is to enhance these elements with modern, repurposed materials and capture the beauty and spectral energy of those bygone times. In the process, I strive to create a coherent, meaningful work of art with unmistakable historical allusions outfitted in the apparel of contemporary twists!”

Title Sonoran Fireball Medium Mixed Media Assemblage, wet molded leather, hand hammered copper, antique objects Size 36"H x 21" W x 48"D — **Sonoran Fireball**
Mixed Media Assemblage, wet molded leather, hand hammered copper, antique objects
36″H x 21″ W x 48″D

Title The Man on the Bus Medium Mixed Media Assemblage, wet molded leather, antique objects Size 16"H x 10"W x 6"D — **The Man on the Bus**
Mixed Media Assemblage, wet molded leather, antique objects
16″H x 10″W x 6″D

Title Pucker Medium Mixed Media Assemblage, wet molded leather, antique objects Size 26"H x 18"W x5"D — **Pucker**
Mixed Media Assemblage, wet molded leather, antique objects
26″H x 18″W x5″D

Title The Scream of Nature Medium Mixed Media Assemblage, stiffened fabric, antique objects Size 17"H x 11"W x5"D — **The Scream of Nature**
Mixed Media Assemblage, stiffened fabric, antique objects
17″H x 11″W x5″D

Featured Artist – Sally Mandl

I am endlessly inspired by the natural world that surrounds me/is me. My drawings are portraits of you and me. My name is Sally Mandl and i was born and raised in Montreal (but ran away to the country as soon an i turned 25. Right angles aren’t my thing – surprise, surprise). Growing up i was always encouraged to be creative in any and every way possible. Both my parents and brother are artistically inclined and i really do feel like it’s in my blood. My veins are full of it.

My work is a depiction of how strange it is to be alive. We are all just vibrating sacs of fluid. Temporarily eternal fleshy temples living beside and within each other. Teeth and hair and fingernails floating through space and time.

What a world.

Featured Artist

Sally Mandl – Quebec, Canada
Instagram

What a world.

Title Eclipse Medium Pen on paper Size 8.5x11 — **Eclipse**
Pen on paper
8.5×11

Title Dehydrated Medium Pen on paper Size 8.5x11 — **Dehydrated**
Pen on paper
8.5×11

Title Mother Medium Pen on paper Size 8.5x11 — **Mother**
Pen on paper
8.5×11

Title Silver Tongue Medium Pen on paper Size 8.5x11 — **Silver Tongue**
Pen on paper
8.5×11

Featured Artist – Cat Vaganay

My paintings are a critical response to the political and cultural issues crystallized through the social media anonymous human interactions. Beyond emoticons and slashing words, and through enigmatic appearances, my work puts a grotesque, loud, distorted, and caricatural emotional reaction on faces that never “face” each other.

Through the context of emails, texts, Instagram and Facebook posts, those imaginary faces hide behind bold, blunt, and aggressive tirades illustrating the fragmentation of human interactions. Jean Michel Basquiat, Franz Kline, and Robert Motherwell are my most significant influences when using percussive, and raw brushstrokes to build a snapshot of the emotional reactions to these exchanges.

Featured Artist

Cat Vaganay – Norwell, MA
Instagram

Category: Issue Zero

Featured Artist – Manana Tsilikishvili

Featured Artist

Manana Tsilikishvili – Normandy Beach, NJ
Instagram

Featured Artist – Jeff Klena