Art News

Jon Beinart - "How would you describe your passion for painting?"

Maura Holden - "I'd describe it as a loving bigamous marriage to a dominatrix who pays me."

Jon - "Haha. And who is this dominatrix and what is her vested interest in your creative output?"

Maura - "Painting is the indifferent air through which my arrow flies, and my favorite mode of communication."

Jon - "So what do you feel you have communicated through your art? Is your visual voice conscious or do messages reveal themselves as a painting or drawing unfolds?"

Maura - "I hope I've communicated some of the beauty and intensity of the inner hallucinatory worlds… I've always been fascinated by dreams, particularly the mythic/cosmic type. They inspire awe and a feeling of profound awareness or meaning beyond words.

I'm conscious of meaning before I paint an image, but while I paint, my mind often entertains me with parades of alternative meanings. The fascinating thing about parables and pictures is that they're hard to nail down definitively."

Jon - "The way you balance your odd-shaped over-populated compositions is beyond me (a great example of this is Thanatos Wave). I assume that you take quite a long time on each piece. Do you draw preliminary sketches before taking on one of your major works? How much of your process is playful and spontaneous?"

Maura - "Yes to preliminary sketches — I have suitcases full of them! And yes, it takes years to complete the more complicated paintings… Once I've drawn the main figures, I suddenly "see" other figures or structures around them. I click into the playful visionary mode. This is my favorite part of the painting process. It feels like being a magical child — or, if things take a bad turn, the sorcerer's apprentice."

Jon - "What role have psychedelics played in your work Maura. I assume that you're not under the influence when painting your detailed images, but I recall reading that you have experimented with psychedelics."

Maura - "Psychedelics are very important to me. I'll go so far as to call them my sacraments. To me, they are absolutely sacred allies… Mind you, I don't recommend psychedelics to others. People have different experiential capacities. Some people can be psychically injured, or swept into harmful delusions, or they may just never break through into the profound… That said, I'll maintain that under their influence I have traveled through the most sublime and terrifying realms, and beyond all realms — into the Great Unity. The images for all of my major pictures have come to me under the influence of psychedelics. I've done lots of drawing  — those preliminary sketches, as well as highly polished drawings — under their influence. Painting is another matter. My methods of painting are exponentially more complex than drawing. While tripping I need a fast, direct vehicle in which to chase the moving hallucinations."

Jon - "I understand you are a very spiritual person Maura. Can you please describe your spiritual beliefs and how they relate to your art."

Maura - "To be honest, Jon, I don't actually have any spiritual beliefs… I think of beliefs as convictions about things that one has never directly perceived. For me this is, at best, a guessing game.

I have lots of "spiritual" experiences, though — if apocalyptic and heavenly visions; states of blissful beatitude; universal love and compassion; and the acute perception that creation is one, world without end… qualify as such. I've been tempted to draw conclusions and form beliefs from these experiences — the human mind naturally jumps to conclusions — but my path doesn't involve creating a system of beliefs (a religion). If I have any attitude towards the formulation of beliefs and religions, it is that I personally prefer to avoid all forms of religious crystallization.

In my art I'm recording parts of my journeys in the non-material worlds. Between 1999 and 2004 I made pictures of apocalyptic/transcendent realms. More recently I've begun a transformational heaven/garden/love phase, with passages suggesting that wonderful experience, the acute perception that creation is all one, world without end."

Jon - "Thank you Maura. Very beautifully put! Is creative writing also an important outlet for you as an artist? I have always enjoyed your writing style and I'm curious to hear of any plans you have as a writer."

Maura - "Thanks, Jon… Writing is a wonderful, difficult medium… I love to read well-written prose … But my stage of development as a writer is about equal to what my stage of development as a painter was at age 20 (I'm 40 now). I don't feel that I've mastered words in any way — all great art takes long-term dedication — though I do fantasize… I most enjoy writing in the short story form, partly because poetry and novel writing seem too advanced for me, but also because it's a good form for expressing dynamics rather than character… I recently wrote a short story for the Spring 2007 issue of The Visionary Revue. It should be out soon. I have no concrete plans for future stories, but when I'm less busy I'd like to try another."

Jon - "Does humor play an important roll in your art? I remember a drawing of a toilet with teeth that you sent me on a CD once and I am always drawn to the tiny business man with a top hat taking a piss over the edge of a building in my print of 'Thanatos Wave'. (I know my examples were linked to my own preoccupation with toilet humor, but I have found many characters and events in your images quite funny)."

Maura - "When the can bites,

When the pee springs,

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember the humor of things

And then I don't feel so bad.

I'd say that today my pictures are less humorous than they were seven or more years ago, though I don't necessarily consider this trend continuous. "Black humor", which is really a way of providing comic relief to the downtrodden, has always felt natural to me. I'm fairly sure that I can credit my wonderful family and the glories of life on the underbelly of Philadelphia with teaching me this mode of entertainment.

But my circumstances in recent years have been so wholesome… The goofiness of humanity and my own brain may be my only remaining comic resources."

Jon - "Well regardless of your new 'wholesome' life I still detect a hint of Black humor in your work and I love it ;) Thank you so much for your time Maura. Do you have any exciting news for our readers? Any upcoming exhibitions or publications?"

Maura - "The Visionary Revue, Spring 2007, and of course Metamorphosis. I'm preparing to launch some prints through Nemo's Utopia, and I'm working with Delvin on a new card for the Oracle Complex — Galactik Trading Cards. Otherwise, I just want to finish some very elaborate paintings that I've been working on for years.

Thanks for everything, Jon. As always, it's been a great pleasure sitting at the keyboard with you."

Maura Holden is also one of 50 Artists published in Metamorphosis

and wrote the essay: Tsunami. 

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Jon Beinart - "Where do you draw your Inspiration from Tristan?"

Tristan Schane - "From just about everywhere. Much of my ideas come from things I read, anything from book titles (one was a socio-anthropological book title called the "Medieval Identity Machine" — tell me that doesn't inspire all sorts of imagery!), to articles and whole books.

I also get ideas and inspiration from just walking around and seeing things, thinking, looking at other art, which if it's the right artist can be very stimulating. But, pound for pound I think more of my work has been inspired by something I've read than from any other single source.

Much of what I read is non-fiction and my work has always had, at least for me, an undercurrent of sociological analysis or observation. I don't create works specifically to say this or that about life or society or what not, but a great deal  of my work is developed when I am thinking or reading about this facet or quality of human life and culture.

The only area I'm sorry to say I get no inspiration from are my dreams. I rarely remember my dreams and the ones I do remember are nearly always very prosaic and dull, completely barren of any useable imagery or concept. Once in a very long while I will have a very strange dream, from which I always wake with a feeling of real accomplishment! However, never have I gleaned anything to put in a work of art. Not that I'm consciously aware of at any rate."

Jon - "Obviously your imagination is lucid enough. Your sculptures and paintings are certainly very dream like (sometimes nightmarish), so perhaps your dreams are manifesting subconsciously. I have noticed a recurring theme of flesh & infancy in your sculptures (I am particularly referring to the two works published in Metamorphosis: 'Litter' & 'Mermaid' as well as the concept drawing for the upcoming sculpture: 'Starting Point'). What do these works mean to you? And why is this subject important to you?"

Tristan - "Yikes, here's a tough one. I have to say I spend very little time analyzing my work. When I come up with an idea it is usually fully formed, but if it's an idea that develops as I work on it, like one of the more complicated paintings, components for the imagery are arrived at from a more unconscious process then one of deliberation. I never say to myself, " How am I going to say such and such with this piece." Rather, images come to me and they either feel like they belong or they don't. I have a terrible time trying to explain my works at shows. Once an image has appeared which belongs in the work all my thought goes into the technical aspect of executing it.

What I can say is that in works dealing with the human condition, I use what to me are raw, undefined proxies — ants for example to me can symbolize mankind, and have done so in a number of works. Babies may play this role as well, not yet being differentiated in to bankers or soldiers or what not, they can represent humanity in it's natural and basic state. There is also something delicate and sensitive to our psyche about babies so using them in art is for me very potent.

When I show my work in galleries, people who see the work are much better at providing cogent analysis than I ever am. I used to try, but as I create intuitively rather than with a conscious and deliberate scheme, I never was very successful at it. So now when asked I've settled to throwing back this trite refrain, 'Well, what does it mean to you?'"

Jon - "I can definitely relate Tristan. I too work subconsciously and focus mainly on aesthetic and technique. It is always interesting to hear how others have interpreted my work. I'm sure you have received a lot of praise, but have you been criticized or judged for your work? When I have shown off your works in Metamorphosis many people have found your sculptures disturbing (I personally find them beautiful). How do people generally react to your sculptures? Please describe the strongest reaction you have witnessed?"

Tristan - "Yep, "disturbing" is the number one response I hear, hands down. The funny thing is how often that takes me by surprise.

When I was working on the Mermaid Baby I was concerned that people would think it was too cloyingly cute and dismiss it for that. When I sent pics of it to my gallery at the time they took a while to get back to me to tell me they didn't want to show it. Too disturbing.

They had sent the pics on to some other people for more reactions, but everyone uniformly responded negatively to it. The sculpture of the Sphinx I thought also would be safe (disturbing people can often be a sure way to make no money in the arts world). After all, it's mostly a cat and it's smiling. Where's the threat. Again, "disturbing…disturbing…. disturbing…".

On the other hand, in a different gallery one time someone told me the Mermaid Baby reminded them of their own child. Hmmmm…..

I don't think I've had any stronger reaction to my work than just the continuous, "disturbing", but it does sometimes seem to me when someone reacts that way they are blocked from appreciating anything in the work and stop at this first, initial and superficial response. That's disappointing.

It doesn't exactly answer the question but the most significant thing I've learned is that I have no internal meter to gauge what people think is disturbing and what they don't. I've since decided not to try to edit myself away from potentially disturbing imagery (which I'm incapable of doing, anyway, apparently), and to just follow the imagery where it leads me.

Sometimes in a show I will stand anonymously as another gallery goer to hear what people think. Generally, most responses are in the neighborhood of being very positive about the work, but not something they'd want to have in their own homes. Fair enough. I don't make work to go with the sofa or dining room set. Artwork is supposed to stimulate you. It's supposed to get your mind going, on not just that artwork, but as a vehicle for cognition in general. If you do a show and you don't show me things to get me thinking, then why did I leave my house to come see it?

I have several concepts for works I hope to be able to tackle this year and doubtless I will hear the same sorts of Reponses. I'm waiting for that one eccentric billionaire to say, 'Disturbing, but I Iove it! Sold!!'"

Jon - "Well, if I was a billionaire (or even a measly millionaire) I would certainly buy up all of your sculptures and fill my house with them (regardless of what my easily disturbed friends thought). I also can't gauge what will disturb people. I personally find your mermaid so adorable that I'm sure I would feel an irresistible urge to pick it up from a plinth and cradle him/her while wiping the tears away (Don't touch the art!). As we have already established your sculptures are very life like. Have ever worked in the film industry?"

Tristan - "No, not as a sculptor. When I started sculpting, the artists I looked to for technical know-how as well as inspiration were film effects sculptors. It's still that way. By far the most talented sculptors, and many very talented artists in general, are working in the effects industry. Even an unwatchable crappy horror or sci-fi film will often have some great artwork that went in to it.

I have over the years become friendly with a few of the film effects sculptors, and certainly learned nearly everything I know about the technique of contemporary sculpture by talking to them.

Starting in the last year and a half I have done a small amount of work for film, but it has been as a concept artist and only doing drawings, no sculpts. Wouldn't mind doing more."

Jon - "I recall an email conversation we had a long time ago about Patricia Piccinini (The Australian Conceptual artist) and her series titled 'We are Family'. Would you mind relaying your views on Piccinini's fame and her role in the creation of her hyper realistic sculptures?"

Tristan - "All of Piccinini's sculptures were created by Australian artist Sam Jinks. Jinks was a special effects sculptor and concept artist who she hired and who is now starting to get established as a recognized fine artist on his own.

I really have had this discussion so many times with so many artists that while I'm happy to respond, I don't think I'll be as eloquent on the subject as I may have been the first 10 or 11 times. I have, like Jinks, done sculptures for famous international artists who have taken credit for work I did. I have spoken with Sam about it — it's soul crushing to have praise of your own work given to someone else who stands there as says, thank you thank you. Jinks has told me that piccinini was always free herself to disclose who he was and that he made the sculptures, but in truth the machinery behind her which she could have stopped, was deliberate in presenting everything that came out with her name as her work.

My feelings about Piccinini and the artists like her is that they are more like brand names. Also, there's a constant lack of sophistication and depth in the sort of work created by them, despite the technical sophistication added by those of us they hire. This is because people who are incapable of creating artwork are incapable of going through the revelatory and developmental process by which that work is imagined. I grow in my concepts by going through the process of creating. If you can't create it — you can't conceive of it. You can't go through that process by hiring people to create.

When an artist takes credit for another's work it's fraud. When they hire someone else to do their work but give credit than it's not, though there's a wide swathe of gray area there. In the latter case, to what extent the work someone is seeing is actually the product of the titular artist is sometimes hard to say.

I have been hired to do sculptural work which was to be part of a larger installation piece. That overall piece is the work, not merely my sculpture. However, in Sam' jinks case, the whole work of Picciniini's work is the sculpture, so how can she feel any sense of authorship. At best she's an art director. I have ideas for buildings, that doesn't make me an architect. When someone hires me to do a portrait, because they have selected the subject does that make them the artist? On the other hand, an artist sometimes will create pieces which employ the technical discipline of non-artist specialists — engineers, pyrotechnicians, so on and so forth. In those circumstances, by and large I would say the end product is the artist's. As I said; big gray area.

I could go on and on about this and more eloquently too, but you get the idea…."

Jon - "Sorry to drag you through that question again Tristan. I hope your response will direct our readers to the amazing work of Sam Jinks.

I also recall another email conversation when you mentioned that you were in the process of moving away from 'Fantastic & Visionary imagery' in your paintings and that you had coined your new direction 'Subversive Realism'. Can you please explain why you made this decision and what exactly is 'Subversive Realism'?"

Tristan - "Yes, for a while in my art I have been exploring imagery which is much more subdued and only strange in a subtle way. This for me comes from my ongoing interest in hyper-realist painters. However, I have two paintings I am about to start which image wise are entering a new area of more visionary subject matter. Subversive Realism is my term which I started using for the direction I have been trying to pursue in trying to develop a genuinely personal visual language. It's really a work in progress with me trying to configure a type of imagery that represents what it is I'm trying to show with my work. I don't feel a personal connection to traditional surrealism nor with fantastic realism, though what constitutes fantastic realism is a very broad spectrum.

My technique as a painter and sculptor is on a straight trajectory developing hyper-realist representation. However, image wise, Subversive Realism is sort of a goal I'm working towards. It's a style that for me owes itself evolutionarily to various other artistic movements — what style doesn't? — but ultimately can only work as a purely personal visual language which will be authentic in it's connection to the feelings and ideas I'm trying to explore in my work.

Each time I start a painting I feel like I'm finally almost there. By the time I finish the painting I feel like I've still missed again. Somehow the sculptures feel like they are closer to proper Subversive Realism than the paintings. Perhaps I should focus on translating the aesthetic sensibilities of the sculpture to the paintings. Hmmm….."

Jon - "Thank you for your time Tristan. I find your mind almost as fascinating as your art (and you know I love your art). Do you have any exciting news for our readers? Any upcoming exhibitions or publications featuring your work?"

Tristan - "Hmmm… there are some exciting things that may be starting for my fine arts work, but until they're locked down and definite I'd rather not reveal them. In the next few weeks I should be able to be definite. Thanks for wanting to interview me, Jon. It was a lot of fun."

Tristan Schane is one of 50 artists featured in our first publication: Metamorphosis.

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Jon Beinart - "What inspires you Naoto?"

Naoto Hattori - "I simply love to draw from my head. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I always drew made-up characters and made stories with a drawing. Some of my sketch books from my age 3-5 are filled up with tits and peeing images (lol) you can see them on my web page. I remember I drew so many made-up characters when I was in elementary school while in class so all of my drawings from this period are on the textbooks and note books which sucks cause I lost them. I've been painting weird images since I was a kid so I never thought of what really inspires me. Some people decide to become a painter/artist at some point of their life, are inspired by other artists or something, but I can't even recall a point when I became an artist.  I still feel like a kid and paint images from my head. That way I can express what I really want to paint without thinking of other people's thoughts or critics."

Jon - "So your mind was perverted from the age of 3 ;) Some of those early drawings are fascinating Naoto. I have noticed a phenomenal amount of art is shown on your website. You must be very dedicated to your art. Do you make time to eat or sleep?"

Naoto - "I usually paint 12-14 hours a day on weekdays. I don' like the way a day is 24 hours cycle. I usually sleep 4 hours but if I don't get tired, I paint 24 hours straight. Because of the style of my artwork, some people think that I'm on drugs when I paint (lol) but there is no way I could paint on drugs. Working on details is more like a needlework. I have to concentrate on every single stroke. I feel like I'm in a trance when I paint. I start painting in the morning and next moment I look outside the window and it's getting dark. I have so many images I want to paint in my head and I can't catch up to paint all. I always think that it would be great if I could get a copy of myself.

I don't paint at all on weekends though. All I need to do is have fun."

Jon - "Two Naoto's. A scary thought! But I believe the world would be a richer place. I'm not sure if the art world is ready for two of you ;) Your answer takes me to another question I have had on my mind. I understand that you have to be sober when you paint, but during your 'fun' weekends do you ever indulge in psychedelics? I only ask because of the mushroom & marijuana references in some of your paintings. Your imagery is also reminiscent of what I have seen on acid."

Naoto - "I have had many experiences on psychedelic substances but they are not helping the direction of my art, but I'm sure they helped me create my imaginary world somehow. They put me into another place where I can open up my mind. I feel like there are so many doors and windows in my mind and some of them are not able to be opened with a sober mind. I used to imagine a still image in my head when I painted but my imaginary world is more like a zoo now. I see so many images, characters, creatures living in my head. I grab hold of them and paint. Recently, I see so many weird animals in my head and I don't know why…"

Jon - "What kind of feedback have you received in your career. I'm sure you have been praised countless times for your technique and imagination, but have you received much negative feedback or have you been subject to any abuse because of the explicit content of your work?"

Naoto - "I get really good feedback which makes me happy to keep myself busy. I really appreciate people support my artwork. I don't receive negative feedback but sometimes I get a funny email saying that they think I'm a drug dealer or something.  Also some girls keep sending me their naked pictures asking me to use them in my artwork. Oh, I love when people send me a photo of their tattoo based on my art."

Jon - "Naked women and tattoo's eh? You lucky man ;) Who are your favorite artists and why? Have these individuals influenced your own work?"

Naoto - "I like Van Eyck and Bouguereau's paintings. Van Eyck's work is amazing. He puts so many details on a small size board. I believe great artists can paint on a small size canvas/board and show their technique and brush control. It's easy to paint a realistic work on a large scale. My instructor from an art college (School of Visual Arts in NYC) is obsessed with Bouguereau's paintings and I learned portrait technique from his work. But learning from paintings is nothing compared to learning a lesson from nature. Understanding the theory of color, light and shadow, anatomy… etc, makes more sense to my artwork and also help my creatures look alive. That's why I respect Da Vinci. He studied so many things for his work."

Jon - "Many of my friends are obsessed with psychedelic trance (I'm more of an old school Blues and Tom Waits fan myself). I have noticed your images printed on a few psytrance CD's and have always wondered whether you listen to this genre of music. What music do you listen to? Do you listen to music when you paint?"

Naoto - "I like DJing. I spin breaks, drum and bass, Chicago house and hip-hop. I listen to psytrance too. I have a lot of friends into the psytrance scene too. I used to go to parties every weekend when I was in New York. I've been busy painting for upcoming shows so my turntables are collecting dust now. I barely listen to music when I paint. Sometimes I put some music on randomly from my i-pod."

Jon - "Please give us more details about these upcoming exhibitions. Also, will your work be featured in any new publications? Do you have any exciting news for our readers?"

Naoto - "I really love showing my work at gallery shows. It's hard to see details and correct color on the low-res images on the website. the gallery show is the way people look at my artwork up close. I have been working on my book project so I hope I can publish my portfolio book sometime soon."

Jon - "Naoto's is having a solo show of new works from June 1st - July 1st at the Lineage Gallery - 21 N. 2nd Street Philadelphia, PA USA."

Naoto is also one of 50 artists published in Metamorphosis.

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The Dmochowski Gallery website has a collection of black and white photography taken by Zdzislaw Beksiński. The pictures created during the 1950's provoke much of the same haunting and bizarre visions that his fantastic paintings and drawings would display in future decades. Click here to view the photographs.

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Jon Beinart - "What motivates you as an artist Laurie?"

Laurie Lipton - "Ever since I was a little girl, I had the desire to draw. I don't know why. It's an urge, a need. I'm happiest when I'm sitting at my drawing table. The rest of life seems like an annoying interruption. I would gladly just draw and never go out or talk to anyone… but I'm afraid I might disappear up my own whatsit. What a horrible way to go!"

Jon - "Is there something in particular that you aim to communicate with these drawings? Are the themes you explore very personal to you?"

Laurie - "I grew up in the clean & cozy suburbs of New York in the 1950's and 60's. Everything was perfect. Everyone was perfect. I was a perfectly lovely, cute little girl. What the hell was I supposed to do with the swirling mass of anti-Disney feeling careening in my guts? How was I supposed to cope with fear and rage and all the other negative human emotions? If I hadn't found a way of letting out the horror, it would have consumed me from the inside out.

My parents were very proud of my work. They thought I was a child prodigy, a genius. They used to show my artwork at family gatherings. I'll never forget the faces of my aunts & uncles when they looked from me to my drawings! The look of confusion and suspicion…. I was a cherubic child and my imagery was brutal and bloody. One of the great things about my parents was that they never censored me. I was always encouraged to do exactly what I wanted art-wise. In everything else I had to be polite and obedient. Perhaps that's why my imagery is savage but my technique is extremely controlled?"

Jon - "Your technique is remarkably controlled and I assume that each drawing takes a phenomenal amount of patience (and obsession) to complete. I hate to ask you this as I'm sure you have answered this question a thousand times before, but approximately how long does one of your images take to complete? Do you get frustrated when putting so much time and energy into one piece of paper?"

Laurie - "If I sit down in front of a ginormous piece of paper and say, "Okay…. this is going to take me 3 months to complete if I work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week", I think I would just stare at it in despair and not begin. They take as long as they take. It's not the finished drawing but the process that interests me. In fact, once a drawing is "complete", I immediately lose interest in it. People ask me how I can bear to sell something that took so much time and effort. I reply, "It's the NEXT one that's going to be amazing!"

I set impossible tasks for myself; a thousand faces, a city with every window showing, a landscape with each blade of grass……… if I were aware of the time it took, I really wouldn't bother to put myself through it. I'm not a masochist. I approach each drawing with a "Wow! Can I?" feel, and damn the time and consequences. So….. when people ask, as they inevitably do, how long a drawing took me, I lie to them and make up a number. I really have no idea."

Jon - "Yes, I can certainly relate, which is why I cringed when I asked the question. (Although I believe you could fit one of my whole drawings in a blade of grass hidden in one of those ginormous pieces of paper you use). It's wonderful to hear that you approach each new drawing with such enthusiasm. Do you do a lot of planning before a drawing? How much of your process is playful and intuitive?"

Laurie - "While I am sitting doing all those blades of grass, or thousands of faces, images flit through my head. I keep a notebook by my drawing table, or with me when I go out, and I write down images. Yes… write them. They appear in words first: a title or a sentence that encapsulates an idea. Then I do a rough sketch. Then I revise it. Sometimes I play with the composition for weeks. Then I cut my paper and plot out the general idea; i.e. a woman standing in a room. Then I work on the face. The face takes me to the clothing. The clothing takes me to the room, the room takes me to the walls, the floor…and suddenly the drawing is off on it's own and all the plans I had start to shift & change. The deeper I go into the details, the more the sense emerges. It's as if I start with a fuzzy image and it starts to get sharper and sharper until I think, "Oh yes! THAT'S what it's about!" Then I go back over the whole thing and tie it all together, bit-by-bit, centimeter-by-centimeter.

So…. my work is planned but spontaneous at the same time."

Jon - "I’m sure you have received a lot of positive feedback from people who have been blown away by your work and I'm sure people have been distressed and even disturbed by your drawings (I know this happens because of the reaction I have personally witnessed when showing people 'Love Bite' in Metamorphosis). Has anyone ever been so disturbed by one of your images that they felt the need to take it up with you? Has your work ever been censored?"

Laurie - "Actually, my work wasn't "approved" of from the very beginning. My parents loved it, but all of my art teachers tried to discourage me. At my university, my first one woman show elicited an article in the school newspaper saying that figurative work went out in the Middle Ages and "shouldn't be allowed". I recently won a competition on the Saatchi Gallery art website, beating around 4,000 other artists. There was a Blog by the other artists saying that my work was the worst they've ever seen….. mind you, that was probably just sour grapes. I really don't care about other people's opinions of my work. It's lovely receiving compliments, but if people are disturbed, upset or turned-off by what I do, that's their problem. I'm doing these drawings because I must. If I could paint pretty, innocuous pictures and make a fortune, I would do it like a shot! (Just joking)."

Jon - "I have to admit, I find many of your images amusing. I think we share the same deranged sense of humor. Does humor play an important role in your art?"

Laurie - "Yes, Jon, it's major. The one thing I remember the most about my family gatherings was the laughter. We really cracked each other up with our gallows humor. When my mother was dying and I was alone with her in the hospice, we laughed a lot. That sounds odd, but we found life absurd to the point of ridiculousness. It is, isn't it, Jon? Life is surreal…. in a Monty Python kind of way.

I hide jokes in my drawings. I amuse myself with silly innuendoes. I did a show a few years back on "The Day of the Dead" and a lot of the images I came up with really made me laugh. "Family Reunion" and "Lady Death" spring to mind. They just struck me as funny. "Normal" people are not amused, I guess. Do you know any normal people? I've run into a few and they frightened the hell out of me."

Jon - "I couldn't agree with you more Laurie. Life is completely absurd and wonderfully Monty Python like. It's beautiful that you shared that tight bond with your mother up until her passing. Nothing is more bonding than laughter. I'm not sure if normal people exist Laurie. I think the people that appear to be normal are repressed weirdos, but yes. They are scary! Do you have any spiritual beliefs? And if so, do they have an impact on your creativity?"

Laurie - "Ever since I was a child I've been searching for God. This is strange as both my parents were staunch atheists. It may have started in a museum. My father took my brother & me to art museums every Sunday to give my mother some time to herself. I saw religious paintings of Saints and martyrs and spiritual ecstasy and it piqued my curiosity. I asked my mother if I could go to Saturday School (being Jewish, our religious studies were on Saturday in Temples). She was horrified but agreed. The classes were extremely boring…. all about exoduses and tribes and laws…. so I decided to do some research on my own.

After all this time and all my research I've come to the conclusion that I know nothing. Life is huge and marvelous and filled with wondrous, unimaginable things. Quantum physics is uncovering vast anomalies in our perception of reality. "Reality" is an illusion. What is possible? What does the universe hold? I really have no idea, but I'm willing to try to remain open to it all and to retain my sense of awe and wonder."

Jon - "Thank you Laurie. I really enjoyed getting inside your head and I am sure our readers will too. What exciting news is there for you in the future? Any upcoming exhibitions or publications? Do you plan to publish a book of your works any time in the near future?"

Laurie - "I would LOVE to publish a book on my work.

I've just joined the Strychnin Gallery and have a group show in New York on July 27th - August 31st. I also have a show in Madrid that starts on Oct.15th t- Nov. 3rd. I have works currently in the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore until Sept. and am in a touring group show called, "Fellow Travelers", curated by James Lawler, that is going around Denmark, Holland and Iceland throughout the year. You can see all my upcoming shows on my website: Just click on the NEWS section."

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