Artist interview with Michał Karpiński ‘Karpsky’

November 13, 2020

Michał Karpiński

**Place of birth: Poland**
**Current location:** Warsaw, Poland
instagram: Karpsky
E-mail: karpskyart@gmail.com
**Facebook:** https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004080395609

Michał Karpiński is a Warsaw-based young artist. Born in Lublin, Poland 28th of September 1998. He is devoted to figurative painting and portraits. Michał paints in a realistic manner, combining it with a touch of impressionistic and academic approach.

- 2017 - I place “American Art Awards” in graphite/ink/charcoal portrait category

- 2017 – III place “The Artist’s Magazine” in a Student division

- 2019 – Finalist of the “14th ARC Salon” portrait category

- 2020 – currently (09.11.2020) semifinalist in “15th ARC Salon”

In 2017 quoted by “The Artist’s Magazine” along with Jie Zhuang and Matt Herriot as a “…tomorrow’s masters”

I know my artwork is finished when…?

Usually when the deadline is over.

Which are your favourite artists?

Lucian Freud, Antonio Mancini, Menzel, Rembrandt of course and Francis Bacon. I admire their style very much.

Greatest person you ever met?

Hard to chose only one. For sure I would mention a physicist Rector Prof. W.A. Kamiński, that I had a pleasure to paint as a commission for my university. I would mention the capitan Waclaw, (man on the painting) a good friend of my grandpa and many more who were significantly important for my attitude towards art like painter mr Leszek. There are couple more people to mention but for sure there will be chance to write about it more in future.

What does your work aim to say?

Except from ‘Mum and dad, that wasn’t a joke when I said I will be a painter’ it’s up to the viewer’s interpretation. But now seriously. Hans Zimmer once said: “Even If we still haven’t build the highest possible skyscrapers, there is always a time and place to tell a story.” Sometimes I feel an urge to elaborate (ponder) on this thought. We all seek for role models, especially when we’re young. It strikes me that the criteria of what is deemed to be a good life change so much, thereby making people feel bad about themselves even if they are actually doing OK. The media sells us stories about lives of famous people, praising almost every word they said. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think that being famous is bad, and we shouldn’t pursue that. I reckon that the message I want to put across is to just look around. Not every hero is on a TV show. For e.g maybe not that far from your house there is a single mother with a bunch of kids, working a part time job just to make the ends meet. There are many people who for example have gone trough addiction or been subject to domestic violence and their life’s achievement is be to remain unnoticeable and never go back to their previous condition. Sometimes I just want to convey a real life story of interesting people that never had an opportunity to speak, ‘capture’ their stories on my paintings.

Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?

I wouldn’t say lonely, more likely I would use a term as ‘individual’. Yes it is. I’m quite an introvert, so I’m fine with spending the time in my own company. To counteract? – I got wonderful friends always just one call away.

Artist interview with Saddaf Saeed (Qalb Art)

October 30, 2020

Saddaf Saeed Artist Photo.jpg — Saddaf Saeed

**Place of birth: United Kingdom**
**Current location:** Manchester & Dubai
**Email: qalb_art@hotmail.com**
**Instagram:** @qalb_art/
**Facebook:** Qalb_art-by-Saddaf-2162699060715049/
**Tiktok:** https://tiktok.com/@qalb_art/

Saddaf Saeed, born in 1981, is a contemporary artist, from the United Kingdom and currently splits her time in her residences in Manchester (UK), and in Dubai (UAE). Having gained a GCSE in Art & Design, she has also achieved her eminence in Law & Mathematics. She has nevertheless always surprised the art fraternity and attracted many appreciations and recognitions from the Art Industry. Her paintings have been exhibited in the UAE, UK, Turkey, Mauritius and most recently in Italy. Saddaf was selected to represent the UK for International Women’s Arts Day 2019 and featured in the book ‘Women Artists Around The World’. Earlier this year, she was awarded a Certificate of Recognition as an Outstanding Artist in the UAE from H.E. Suhail Mohammad Al Zarooni. Being a commercially successful artist, her creations have rooted inspiration, as her works form part of the private collections of both local and international Art lovers and collectors.

If you were to be interviewed by the press (TV/Radio) with your artwork – how would you describe your work to stand out from other exhibitors?

Saddaf is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist. She creates 3D paintings and sculptures working with an array of mediums including resin, semi-precious gems, acrylics, crystals, glass, glitter, and cosmetic pigments. Saddaf has a unique style from other resin artists as she pushes the boundaries of resin, combining it with different mediums, and her work continues to evolve. Her work is made to capture the light from different angles, creating a different look, mood and feel as the light shifts throughout the day.

1. Where do you get your inspiration?

My work is internally driven, and emotionally charged. It is influenced by my faith, spirituality, nature and all things sparkly. My artistic journey has been a spiritual one, as I explore my spirituality I create more and as I create more I become more spiritual. My pieces are designed to stir the heart and to create the sense of awe and inspiration one may feel when surrounded by nature and its treasures and the awakening of ones spirituality.

2. What does your work aim to say

My work doesn’t aim to say, but to make the viewer feel. There is a story, a very personal story behind each piece of my art, but the art itself is a representation of the emotions that I experienced as oppose to the actual events. My story, my journey is different to the viewer, they may or may not have experienced something similar, but where we can connect is in the experience of these emotions. Emotions are the one thing that humans have undisputedly in common, in their existence they are free of gender, race, religion or politics etc. We all feel happy, sad, anger, fear, love albeit in different ways and for different reasons, but the bottom line is we feel. My art alias ‘Qalb’ in Arabic means the heart that stirs, and this encompasses the very essence of my work. I want to entice the viewer to think, feel and to be present here and now.

3. I know my artwork is finished when

I don’t aim for perfection, but I do like to make pieces that are aesthetically beautiful even if the art represents a negative emotion, however I can’t stop there. I know when I am finished when I stand back and look at my work and something inside me stirs, I feel a rush of emotions and I feel excited thinking about how the viewer may be impacted by it.

4. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Don’t stop. Don’t stop learning, don’t stop exploring, don’t stop seeking knowledge, don’t stop yearning for more, don’t stop connecting. Especially when you find something that you love and are passionate about. And I don’t intend to.

The Golden Chaddar (Scarf) & The Crystal Jhoola (Cradle)

5. What role does the artist have in society?

Art can be a powerful way to bring different communities together. Creativity is not limited by language and so it’s a beautiful tool to share different cultures. It can bring unity.

6. Who is the greatest person you ever met?

Mrs. Bilquis Bano Edhi, heads the Edhi Foundation, a charity running the largest ambulance system across Pakistan as well as Edhi Homes for abandoned children, orphans, the elderly and vulnerable women.

Mrs. Edhi personally manages the Jhoola (Cradle) Project, a project that has saved and continues to save the lives of tens of thousands of abandoned children. Over 300 cradles have been placed throughout Pakistan, where abandoned babies maybe placed rather than being killed or left for dead. Each cradle carries the heart-felt message “Do not kill, leave the baby in the cradle”. These babies are cared for in Edhi orphanages where they are loved, educated and as they grow they are taught vocational skills until adulthood. Some of these abandoned children are fortunate enough to find their forever homes through domestic and international adoptions.

I had the honour of personally meeting Mrs. Edhi in her home, a small modest apartment, annexed to the Edhi Orphanage centre in Karachi. I asked her if she knew the identity of the mothers of the abandoned children to which she very proudly replied “Yes I do, ME! I am their mother”.

My artwork “The Golden Chaddar (Scarf) & The Crystal Jhoola (Cradle) is a tribute to Mrs. Edhi. The ‘Chaddar” worn by Mrs. Edhi is a traditional Pakistani head dress, however it is also the name given to a bedsheet. Additionally it symbolizes the protection, shelter, safety and love a mother provides for her children.

The use of crystals for the ‘jhoolas’ depicts their valuableness, as they save the lives of thousands, saving the future generation. These crystals sparkle with the hopes and dreams of a better life, outshining the sorrowful beginnings. They cradle the hope of child-less mothers yearning to be united with the soul-child God has destined for them.

Artist interview with Clark Medley

October 15, 2020

Screen Shot 2020-10-15 at 12.22.49.png — Clark Medley

Instagram: clark_medley
Website: www.clarkmedley.com

Clark Medley (born 1971) in St. Louis Missouri, is an artist who currently splits his time between residences in the small town of Fairview Heights, Illinois (just outside of St. Louis, Missouri) and New Orleans’s lower 7th ward. He started his professional career as a Tattoo Artist and over the last 25 years has honed his skills in a variety of mediums. His skills include carving large scale woodcuts, sculpting, illustrating, tattooing, and painting. In the early 2000’s he attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville focusing on sculpture to expand his knowledge and skills which would further his career aspirations. By the 2010’s he began using paint in the study of dancing forms which lead to the creation of a cryptic language. After creating and refining these forms into a complete set of symbols he began to explore using the contrast of color and texture to balance and compliment the symbols in beautiful and eloquent manner. He has assembled this collection in a way that is modern and contemporary. The inspiration for this collection is rooted in his dyslexia which created difficulty reading and spelling in school. Clark’s inner spirit to triumph over adversity drove him to take his biggest weakness and turn it into his biggest strength. He paints daily but will work with any medium, his style is easily recognizable in any form.

Clark has earned many awards over the years. He loves showing his works. Showing everywhere he can, in 2019 alone he showed at the Javits center in New York for the ICFF, in Miami during Basel at Curations voice gallery. Biennale in Venice Italy at the European Cultural gallery. As well as many other shows that same year.

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you:

I was traveling to china with a friend when I was playing on my ipad, playing with human forms, letting them dance in sketch form. Exaggerating them and then refining them into simple form. After some time, hours on the plane the forms began to speak to me. I became obsessed with this. I tuned the dancing forms into a language. It changed the way I look at art. Now every painting I see I also see what it would look like if I added my words to it.

What does your work aim to say:

I want my work to say I’m here, see me. I want the work to be the showcase of the gallery, Loud/bright/reflective. Even if you see it out of the corner of your eye. I want the viewer to notice it. And every painting I do if from a moment in my life, a moment from a conversation. A song. Something that inspired me, and I run with it, its instant inspiration.

Can you tell us what you have going on right now:

Currently I’m working on a series that reflects the 1920’s art deco movement with the current contemporary street art movement. Juxtaposing them in a way that brings what was contemporary 100 years ago and showing how it may have evolved if it was all the rage today. I also like paying respect to the masters. Following in some of their exercises in working in series, Picasso did a 13 painting bull series where he deconstructed a bull drawing from a portrait to a simple line form. I did the same with my “A Mothers love is never forgotten” series.

Greatest achievements so far:

This one is easy. Seeing my painting at Biennale in Venice Italy changed how I thought about my work, knowing that 600,000 people would see my work at that show made be focus more on showing and not caring so much about selling. I wan my art to be seen!

Lonely Is The Soul That Outshines Their Lover

What memorable responses have you had to your work:

I don’t have a memorable response, as much as I always love watching people looking at my work from afar. They seem to know its writing, or that it has a message. Seeing them trying to figure it out always is fun to see. It starts conversations, they instantly want to know more and talk about the inspiration and how I came to this style of art.

I know my artwork is finished when:

I sign it. It’s a strange moment, all the time and thought to go into a painting, then when you get to sign it you are putting your stamp on it, literally saying I’m now done. This may be the end of the painting process but not the paintings journey. So even though its finished, there is more to be done.

What makes you angry:

People that say oh this isn’t art or that isn’t art, I see art everywhere, all around me. Everything I see, hear, eat, touch is art, and it inspires me constantly.

The Global Art Awards 2020 SHANGHAI EDITION

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Artist interview with Michał Karpiński ‘Karpsky’

Artist interview with Saddaf Saeed (Qalb Art)

Artist interview with Clark Medley