curate magazine - the portrait issue

THE SECOND ISSUE THE PORTRAIT ISSUE

APRIL 2015

(n) a painting, drawing or photograph of a person that usually shows only the head and shoulders.

Portrait

If portraits were to be defined strictly by the text found in a dictionary, there would be no need to create an issue focused on showcasing how vastly dynamic the visuals of this art-form truly are. In most cases words tend to leave out that which matters most - meaning. The meaning of portraiture is not bound by showing one’s head and shoulders, it has been used to record and preserve the likeliness of a moment or phase in a person’s life, an expression of the person being portrayed or an expression of the creator of the portrait itself and that is where the meaning of portraiture resides. Portraits offer an alternative view to the faces and figures we perceive as ordinary in everyday life.

This issue will act as an extension to the common and concise definition of the word ‘portrait’ and reveal its partial involvement in the far much broader idea of the art-form. Each person that has contributed their portraits to this issue has extended the definition much further than the word and has created a broader outlook to the art-form.

Hopefully, this issue will help us acknowledge the faces and bodies that most of us take for granted each day and forget to consciously admire the beauty that we human beings are. Let this issue not only be a new way to define portraiture, but a different way to define beauty in the people from which this art was made and the people who have made it.

Thank you to all the artists for contributing and thank you all for taking the time to read through this publication. Let us begin the re-definition of beauty, art and portraiture.

- THE CURATOR

Featured Artists

JAREK PUCZEL

FREDRIK RÄTTZÉN

DANIEL SEGROVE

DALIAH AMMAR

FRÉDÉRIQUE DAUBAL

SCHALK VAN DER MERWE

MOHAMMED RASOULIPOUR

CARNE GRIFFITHS

OSBORNE MACHARIA

LEE GRIGGS

Jarek PuczelOLSZTYN, POLAND

puczel.pl

Born in 1965, Jarek Puczel graduated from the University of Warsaw and has gained his multidisciplinary artistic experience as a filmmaker, graphic designer and painter.

Jarek’s artworks lend from each of the disciplines he has dabbled in; from his use of colour and tone to his work’s titles, the evidence of a multitalented and knowledgeable artist in Jarek begins to surface as he blends various principles from each of these disciplines smoothly to create something that can only be described simply as different.

Jarek’s difference amongst many other’s is his take on reality as we know it. He persuades the viewer to cross-over to a world where a face is not descriptive of a person or where a shadow is an individual and not just cast by one.

He invites us into his world-on-canvas with his cool-toned colours and his silently deceptive brush strokes and we accept the invitation with ease only to find that we are not in any way the same as the fellow attendees of this ceremony but yet we manage to find a way to enjoy this ball all together.

Jarek’s work is represented by various art galleries from Warsaw to Miami and his involvement in the art world has not been for a short period of time.

Featured in this segment are the works shown that serve as a small piece of earth dug out from Jarek’s different world.

JAREK PUCZELOLSZTYN, POLAND

‘BELOVED’

‘HEAD’

‘LOVERS’JAREK PUCZELOLSZTYN, POLAND

‘RGB (JESUS)’

‘RGB (MAN)’JAREK PUCZELOLSZTYN, POLAND

‘ROMANTIC I’

‘ROMANTIC III’JAREK PUCZELOLSZTYN, POLAND

‘AGNIESZKA, AGNIESZKA’

Fredrik RättzénKRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN

fredrikrattzen.com

Like the style of most Scandinavian art and design, the words to describe how beautiful Fredrik’s work are as such - minimal.

Swedish artist Fredrik Rättzén’s work explores portraiture and its deep rooted bond to paint and canvas through a contemporary lens, enabling us to see a new age fine artists’ view of an ancient art form. His work is variant in technique and a wide display of an archive of brush strokes pulled out of memory, skill and talent when needed to achieve a distinct stylistic effect on all of Fredrik’s art.

His old master approach to painting young individuals emits a nostalgic feeling leading back to the times of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; although his Ophelia’s may stand silent with eyes shut for eternity on canvas, they have never been

FREDRIK RÄTTZÉNKRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN

‘EAR’

‘PROFILE’FREDRIK RÄTTZÉNKRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN

‘EAR II’FREDRIK RÄTTZÉNKRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN

‘DREAM TELLER’FREDRIK RÄTTZÉNKRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN

Daniel SegroveSAN FRANCISCO, USA

danielsegroveart.com

Daniel Segrove is a figurative mix media artist based in San Francisco, California where he displays his work in the Bay Area. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from the Academy of Art University in May 2014.

His work mainly revolves around Identity; how we identify ourselves, others, and our environment. He tends to leave his mix media drawings “unfinished” in a technical sense, but Daniel feels that his work is finished when he has captured the right mood and energy he looks for in an artwork. He wants to leave his work ambiguous, leading us to look for what we feel in the work and to leave the rest to the viewers’ imagination.

He hopes by doing this he can engage and provoke the viewers own thoughts about art, design, and expression and referring us back to his work’s premise regarding identity and how we identify with and perceive the things around us.

DANIEL SEGROVESAN FRANCISCO, USA

‘MUSE’

‘THE GAZE’DANIEL SEGROVESAN FRANCISCO, USA

‘SMALL PORTRAITS AND MISTAKES’DANIEL SEGROVESAN FRANCISCO, USA

DANIEL SEGROVESAN FRANCISCO, USA

‘I CAN’T PUT IT IN WORDS’

Daliah AmmarCHICAGO, USA

daliahammar.com

Daliah Ammar is a Palestinian-American artist based in Chicago. Daliah is currently earning her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The purpose of Daliah’s work is to transcend the notion of the self and the physicality of paint, resonating from her own vulnerable and personal experiences – as a means of conveying life as it blooms and decays from within. Expressing that awareness of the self and reflecting to the viewer establishes a relationship between themselves and herself.

Daliah’s works are confrontational, yet, intimate and personal – using the painted surface as a trope for the physical and psychological presence between the inner self and external viewer.

‘THE BETRAYAL’DALIAH AMMARCHICAGO, USA

‘REMEMBER TO FORGET’DALIAH AMMARCHICAGO, USA

DALIAH AMMARCHICAGO, USA

‘AN OCEAN CALLED YOU (TEACH ME HOW TO SWIM)’

‘EMPATHY’DALIAH AMMARCHICAGO, USA

‘DOPAMINE (PILLOWTALK)’

‘THE WAKE’DALIAH AMMARCHICAGO, USA

‘SUFFOCATION’

Frédérique DaubalPARIS, FRANCE

daubal.com

Parisian artist, photographer, fashion designer and graphic designer, Frédéreique Daubal has an eye for finding the unusual and making it all work with what we think is normal. Her approach to visual arts is from an angle that not many people see, she has a unique perspective and her vantage point allows her to see each and every discipline she’s engaged well enough for her to grab each of the elements she fancies from every one of them to create her very interesting masterpieces.

Her work is mostly untitled and detached from any great explanation as to why it looks the way it does; her vision consists of stockings and yarn, shredded paper prints over models’ faces reminiscent of Islamic veils and other interesting and fascinating elements that not only intrigue the viewer but are created in such a way that brings comfort in seeing her strangely beautiful works.

FRÉDÉRIQUE DAUBALPARIS, FRANCE

‘UNTITLED’FROM ‘HIDE AND SEEK’ SERIES

‘BIG EYES’FRÉDÉRIQUE DAUBALPARIS, FRANCE

‘BIG MOUTH’FRÉDÉRIQUE DAUBALPARIS, FRANCE

‘HAIRY HEAD’

‘BIG SMILEY’FRÉDÉRIQUE DAUBALPARIS, FRANCE

Schalk Van Der MerweCAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

svdmstudio.com

Cape Town artist Schalk van der Merwe’s visceral portraits have a directness about them, yet are underpinned with a tangible fragility. Ambiguous features can morph from immense beauty into utter despair, with hints of the eyes breaking the surface beneath layers of paint, charcoal, turpentine, expressive brush strokes and often the physical DNA form the artists’s fingertips.

Schalk’s work explores the concept of taking the mind out of the creative process to allow for a more honest expression. His art captures a vast range of emotions and often provokes a strong reaction from the viewer.

“My work is not reliant on a cognitive process. I believe over thinking can destroy originality. My portraits aren’t about realism, perfection, gender or race. They explore and attempt to capture those qualities and emotions often hidden from view.” says van der Merwe of his work.

Schalk’s work is arresting, intriguing and oddly attractive. Each portrait has a delicate, melancholic expression with a coarse and visceral application of paint. Each face offers some deeply personal recognition of the subject even though the features are blurred to the point of anonymity.

SCHALK VAN DER MERWECAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

‘THE IDIOT’

‘SAMSARA’SCHALK VAN DER MERWECAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

SCHALK VAN DER MERWECAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

‘VISCERAL’

‘THE STRAY’SCHALK VAN DER MERWECAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

Mohammad RasoulipourLAS VEGAS, USA

rasoulipour.com

Iranian born Las Vegas based industrial designer and artist Moahammad Rasoulipour’s work is only as fascinating as the concepts which accompany it. Rasoulipour is one of the few artists in the world who express a concept as clearly as possible and leave very little space for questioning and makes more room for understanding and appreciating.

However, understanding and appreciating his work does prove to be challenging as it is not what one usually expects to see when they think of portraits; his blatant merging of digital media with traditional painting techniques results in these complex creations that cannot be mistaken for anything but beautiful.

Rasoulipour’s “Hip to be Square” project is a series of portraits based on the 80s song with the same title by Huey Lewis.

This project intends to play with the word ‘square’ visually and conceptually in a nontraditional way.He has used multiple methods to incorporate the idea of squares into different portraits and has named each portrait according to the type of ‘square’ it represents.

MAHOMMAD RASOULIPOURLAS VEGAS, USA

‘MONOCLE’

‘NIQAB’MAHOMMAD RASOULIPOURLAS VEGAS, USA

‘TAPEFACE’

‘LIPSQUARE’MAHOMMAD RASOULIPOURLAS VEGAS, USA

‘PYTHAGORAS’

‘MONGOL MASK’MAHOMMAD RASOULIPOURLAS VEGAS, USA

‘SOBEK’

‘DIGITAL’MAHOMMAD RASOULIPOURLAS VEGAS, USA

Carne GriffithsLONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

carnegriffiths.com

Working primarily with calligraphy inks, graphite and liquids, such as tea, brandy and vodka Griffiths’ fascination with drawing focuses on the creation and manipulation of the drawn line. Images explore human, geometric and floral forms, in a combination of both literal and abstract translation and in response to images and situations encountered in daily life. Images are recorded in a dreamlike sense onto the page where physical boundaries are unimportant. His work creates a journey of escapism which focuses on scenes of awe and wonder, projecting a sense of abandonment and inviting the viewer to share and explore this inner realm. Originally from Liverpool, Griffiths graduated from the Kent Institute of Art and Design in Maidstone in 1995. After completing a one-year KIAD fellowship and moving to London he served an apprenticeship at the longest-established gold wire embroidery firm in the world. Here he worked as a gold wire embroidery designer for twelve years, eventually becoming the creative director.

Carne produced intricate designs for the military and the film, theatre, fashion and advertising industries. His designs were used for the uniforms in the films Valkyrie, The Last King of Scotland, and in particular his ‘Red Death Coat’ was used in The Phantom of the Opera. Carne’s elaborate floral designs for Asprey were included in their first ever catwalk collection and his work was featured on the embroidered cover of the 80th Royal Variety Performance programme in 2008. Since establishing his own studio in 2010, Carne has exhibited in the UK at the London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy, the London Art Fair in both 2011 and 2012, and overseas at Urban in Ibiza in 2011 and Arts After Dark, New Orleans in 2010. Carne also collaborated with the British photographer Rankin for a feature in the 2nd edition of Hunger Magazine early in 2012.

CARNE GRIFFITHSLONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

‘DEFIANCE’

‘THE GATHERING’CARNE GRIFFITHSLONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

‘THE MYSTERY’

‘RISE’

‘ORIGIN (EMBROIDERED)’CARNE GRIFFITHSLONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Osborne MachariaNAIROBI, KENYA

k63studio.com

Architect turned self-taught commercial and contemporary photographer Osborne Macharia’s work displays how much further creativity stretches beyond a qualification in a particular field. Born and based in Nairobi, Kenya, Osborne has an approach to photography that seeks to explore the true essence of the people in the photographs and directly link that essence to that of his concepts and ideas.

This approach has landed him projects from Coca-Cola to Toyota and even with his internationally recognised esteem, Osborne still stays loyal to his soil and continues to be the driving force of pushing Kenyan art and design to be on international standards and at the rate he is going, he has began to set new international standard’s of his own and has brought forth a new kind of perception when one imagines ‘African’ artworks.

OSBORNE MACHARIANAIROBI, KENYA

‘NYWELE ZA KALE I’

‘NYWELE ZA KALE II’OSBORNE MACHARIANAIROBI, KENYA

‘NYWELE ZA KALE III’

‘NYWELE ZA KALE IV’OSBORNE MACHARIANAIROBI, KENYA

‘KAWANGWARE MAN I’

‘KAWANGWARE MAN II’OSBORNE MACHARIANAIROBI, KENYA

‘KAWANGWARE MAN III’

‘KAWANGWARE MAN IV’OSBORNE MACHARIANAIROBI, KENYA

‘MADIGAGA MAN I’

‘MADIGAGA MAN II’OSBORNE MACHARIANAIROBI, KENYA

Lee GriggsMADRID, SPAIN

leegriggs.com

When it comes to digital arts and the complex medium of digital image rendering, particularly the Arnold Global Illumination Renderer, very few have pushed the envelope as much as Lee Griggs has.

Based in Madrid, Spain, Lee’s work and his handling of medium opens up a portal to a universe where form is as fluid as can be and holds no knowledge of being bound by a skeleton or muscles and the portraits he has created allow us to imagine the human skin in all kinds of different materials. This realm of portraiture Griggs’ works reside in is phenomenally overwhelming, from the way he has made us be able to recognise the faces of the people he has rendered to how he has rendered them, everything about Lee’s work literally oozes awe.

The digital art world has been growing ever since the medium has been invented and it is because of artists such as Lee who tirelessly find means to expand this medium and assist others in learning it that the world will take this medium as seriously as they do oil on canvas and for that, Lee is not only a great artist but also a public servant that the art world needs.

LEE GRIGGSMADRID, SPAIN

‘UNTITLED’

THE SECOND ISSUE THE PORTRAIT ISSUE

APRIL 2015

THIS IS NOT FOR SALE

All the artworks in CURATE are the intellectual property of each stated creative. Any unauthorised reproduction, adaptation or modification thereof without the written permission of the creative shall constitute as copyright infringement. Each

creative who’s work is featured in this magazine has agreed to have their work displayed in CURATE.

www.curatemagazine.com

curate magazine - the portrait issue

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