Creep Machine Magazine – Contemporary Art & Culture

Category: featured

  • Interview: Christopher Ulrich

    Interview: Christopher Ulrich

    Christopher Ulrich is an artist working out of Los Angeles, CA. His work is filled with surreal, iconographic imagery. Following his Demoneater, and Illuminator shows, Christopher will be opening his latest solo show at La Luz De Jesus, The Reckoning in December 2012.

    Ulrich_LG_Grace

    Creep: Can you tell us a bit about your history with art: how you got started, any formal education, and obstacles you encountered in your journey until now?

    Christopher: On my website I playfully illustrated a map of my life. It starts when I was born and leads up to my second series “Illuminator”. I keep regular journals, and encourage others to do the same. Overall I have found that my sketchbooks have been the most helpful tool, and promote a sense of adventure that is vital to life. The Masters have left behind their individual road maps, and each person marks their own way through the labyrinth of life. At the center is death, but along the way there are golden moments and opportunities, often disguised as obstacles. I believe that Art is a beautiful way of navigating through this maze. Just look at what others have left behind! I am still not entirely sure what all this means, to be an artist. I was not able to call myself an artist for a very long time. Now I am considered to be one. Perhaps when I reach the center, with my last breath, I will understand. Wouldn’t it be glorious to find out sooner! Alas there are no short cuts; I have tried a few with devastating results. Be true and clear. Investigate yourself. The rest will follow.

    Creep: Coming this December to La Luz De Jesus Gallery is your new show, “The Reckoning”. Can you tell us a bit about this new series of works?

    Christopher: On 12-7-12 I will have a show, which I am currently working on, titled “Christ Chronocrater – The Reckoning – Series 3”. It will feature 12 new works. My intent is the creation of something magical. It is an alchemic operation of faith from the perspective of doubt transformed. It is greater and stronger than I am and to speak of it is misleading. The “Reckoning” is not a final judgment; instead it implies a settling of all accounts. The whole body of work is based on the twelve operations. The series climaxes with the “Last Supper” which is located at the point where the serpent’s mouth swallows its tail. This series is the third and last chapter of a process I started in 2005, which I had the opportunity to show series 1 in 2007 on Day of the Dead. Demoneater began the process. It was the black. I then showed series 2 “Illuminator: The Royal Wedding” on August the sixth, 2010. It was the white. This last series will be the reddening, and for anyone who can come to see it on that night will be a part of something wondrous.

    Creep: You work with a variety of mediums. Are there any mediums you would like to work with in the future, such as sculpture, video, digital art or likewise?

    Christopher: What if you had an experience in which artwork was making you? For example, you see something unreal and it “talks” to you. This “thing” will only reveal itself to others if it is carved in wood. Suddenly you find yourself carving wood to find it. The wood mysteriously shapes itself into the form of the very thing that you have imagined communicating with. This is the relationship to the invisible world. I do have things I wish to express in stone, marble, wood, found objects, movies, masks, graphic novels and even toys! We shall see what happens!

    Ulrich_Fertility

    Creep: Can you tell us a bit about the visual language you developed over the years?

    Christopher: Over a period of time I have begun to feel that I am not developing anything, I am being developed by my art. You create a body of work. Then you are known for it, it defines you- whether you like it or not. Eventually you wonder: Why did I make it? Why does my work look like that? Why doesn’t it look like someone else’s work? Other artists may feel the same way. Do we choose what we make, and who we are? I cannot honestly answer this question. I have discovered that behind the visual language is a code. The code holds meaning and I hope it is as intriguing to the viewer as it is for me.

    Creep: After looking at the La Luz De Jesus website, and some of the shows you have had there, it shows you not only create concept sketches but also discovery works. Along with the phase of discovery and the steps leading towards the completed works, what are some of the other methods of inspiration you use, such as music, movies, etc?

    Christopher: The thing that moves me more than anything is a sincere moment. Truthfully, in this phase of painting “The Reckoning”, I find myself retreating to nature for inspiration. Quite frankly, I need to quiet my mind in this stage of my process. Our world is very loud, full of distraction and chaos. I am not insulated from it, and do not work in a vacuum. The suffering and noise can be overwhelming. Gossip is especially destructive, and our communications are impregnated with it. Long walks seem to help.

    Ulrich_Humility

  • Marco Mazzoni

    Marco Mazzoni

    I first saw the work of Marco Mazzoni, currently based in Milan, Italy, last year and shortly after he made the cover of Hi Fructose magazine. It’s not often that you see an artist use a medium like colored pencils, and produce something so painterly and delicate at the same time. The works are filled with color and have a sculptural element to the figures that Marco achieves with the chiaroscuro technique, rendering with darks and lights. I am very happy to have Marco kick of the site as the featured artist for 2012, the 5th year the site has been going. After the images and short interview, make sure to head over to Marco’s site for more work and updates.
    (Interview has been edited slightly for translation)

    Creep: You have drawing since you were younger, did you attend an art college and if so what was your experience like?

    Marco: I attended Brera Art Academy in Milan, but in 4 years of school a lot of the professors tried to get me to abandon drawing to be a painter.. so I really think my “school” was all the time I spent using pencils.

    Creep: Who are some of the artists, current and past, that have influenced your work?

    Marco: I love some current artists like Nicola Verlato and Nicola Samorì¬ because they are italian in their works, and I think that the roots is the basis to be international, I really love Martin Wittfooth, Turf One and Josh Keyes, but the artists that influenced my work the most are Ribera and Goya. Their chiaroscuro technique is the fundamental part of my drawings.

    Creep: You primarily use colored pencils. What is it about this medium that you like?

    Marco:MIt’s a medium for children, and I am interested in bringing a medium considered easy to be extreme. The pencils are fantastic for glazing and also doesn’t have the drying time that oil has.

    Creep: When did you start creating your current style of work, figures with plant life, and what was the inspiration for this?

    Marco: I started this kind of work after reading “Malleus Maleficarum” in 2009. I try to speak about the women and their knowledge with medicinal plants. Here in Italy we lost this knowledge because the church eliminated those who could use alternative medicine.

    Creep: In each of your work there is a variety of plant and insect life. Can you tell us a bit about your favorite plants and insects, and what they mean to you?

    Marco: In my work the plants are all medical or hallucinogenic plants, I did a lot of research to select the floral subjects and the insects. The birds are most of the time butterfly and hummingbirds because they are the animals that move pollen, so it’s a kind of circle that creates and cares for life.

    Marco Mazzoni Blog

  • Stop SOPA

    Stop SOPA

    One of the most amazing about the internet, is the ability to connect with people from all over the world. After just a few short years, I was blown away to learn the Creep Machine is visited by people from over 130 countries around the world. Quite an amazing feat by someone who at one time knew nothing about websites, and how to gain a wider audience. The power of the internet was that someone, like myself, was able to start a website and share what inspired me, in this case art. I try to keep politics away from this site, as they are often depressing to no end, and I like the idea that the Creep can be a place to enjoy art and share the creations of others. Every year some politician creates a bill that threatens the freedom of the internet, the most recent one is something I feel I needed to share.

    This week the SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act is making its way around and could very well be passed. The intention of this bill is to curb the amount of online piracy that is going on. I personally believe this specific issue would entail coming up with new ideas of how to share digital information, and even consider that many forms of entertainment are simply too expensive, and the the temptation is too high to resist sometimes. It’s only recently that may labels have begun to reduce the price of cd’s, even though the price of the technology has gone down considerably. With SOPA, any site that features copy-written material could be shut down. Now I am all for the idea of protecting the copyright of art, music, and film, however this includes sites like Youtube in which a group of youngsters uses a famous song to dance to, or an up and coming artist covers a famous song. Even closer to home, what if a big name artist or gallery decides they don’t like an art blog sharing images from a recent exhibition. There is no conclusive proof that things could go this way, but the threat is real enough that companies like Google, Microsoft, and even Wikipedia are fighting it. Wikipedia is even considering a blackout that would shut the site down for a day or so (source), and considering the site gets more than 2.7 billion views per month it’s a big message.

    When recordable tapes came along the music industry cried the sky was falling down, it didn’t. It also didn’t come crashing down when recordable cd’s or the mp3 player and mp3’s as whole came around. Piracy will always be there, but it can be curbed. The more important question is if this is the right way to do it. If you think this is the wrong way to go about it, and that the way we see and view the internet is being threatened, make your voice known. Boing-Boing recently posted some more information on the bill with some ways you can help, and there is even a dedicated forum over at Reddit.com that will give you more information and steps to take (here). Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian even posted a video talking about how Reddit, a site that gets more than 30 million unique visitors per month, could never have been created with SOPA in place (here).

    New ideas and solutions will bring us forward. As Albert Einstein once said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

    Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson

  • The Decline of Conceptual Art

    The Decline of Conceptual Art

    Those few people that have talked with me about art, something I am always excited to do, know I am not the biggest fan of conceptual art. I don’t dislike all of it, some conceptual artists have done some amazing things such as Joseph Bueys 7,000 Oaks Project. Always good to plant more trees, even if it’s labeled an art project. However, most of the time when I think about conceptual art I think of Paul McCarthy’s Class Fool performance in 1979, in which he threw himself around in a ketchup splattered room at UC San Diego until injured, vomited a few times and then inserted a Barbie Doll in his anus. Most of the viewers could not stand to finish watching the performance. This type of art makes for great headlines, articles, and conversations, but in the end I feel that this kind of art takes attention away from those artists that create something as skilled technically as it is conceptually, but lack the instant shock factor, or as Jonathan Jones states in his latest article “it’s a laugh, it’s entertainment, it’s spectacular, it’s cool … art now aspires to be all the things fashion is.” (source)

    Entitled Art As We Know It Is Dead, Jones talks about the idea that current art is over. It has shown itself as nothing more than “the decor of an age of mercantile madness”. To a certain extent I agree with this. One can no doubt look at pieces by Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, and many more as art-factory-made products, in which the money attached to the piece is more important than the art itself. Of course many of the fans of lowbrow/pop surrealism know that not all current art is like this, and many of the ideas and political/social connections that the more public contemporary art is lacking, this scene is more attuned to. I often think of artists such as Francisco Goya, being inspired by the invasion of the French, created his timeless works The Third of May 1808 and The Disasters of War series and wonder where are the artists today that are creating art based on the issues that are going on in the real world. I think it’s great to be entertained, to escape, and most importantly laugh, but is that balance between reality and fantasy even there with the majority of the conceptual art world? I would like to see more reality based art in the contemporary scene we pay attention to, but I know it is at least going in that direction.

    Read the Article Here
    Above image is Medicine Cabinets by Damien Hirst.

  • Reviews: “Semiprecious” by Sam Wolfe Connelly @ Spoke Art

    Reviews: “Semiprecious” by Sam Wolfe Connelly @ Spoke Art

    On October 8th, Spoke Art in San Francisco opened the first solo show of New York artist Sam Wolfe Connelly. Having recently graduated with a degree in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design, it’s amazing that Sam already has a solo show, and a very strong one at that. He has previously shown work with Gallery Nucleus and Bold Hype, but this was his opportunity to show a series of works that will not only show his considerable talent, but the consistency, and cohesiveness. I stopped by the reception night, took a look at the works, snapped some photos, and was able to talk to Sam for a bit about his working process.

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  • Political Art for a much needed time

    Political Art for a much needed time

    As some of you may know there have been some very newsworthy events happening in the past few weeks, and I’m not saying that there hasn’t been newsworthy events in the past year, but what about positive events? It feels as though all we have heard for the longest time is negative news stories, and sure they sell, but does it help moral and does it foster change? Currently the Occupy Wall Street event is going on and spreading across the nation (Reddit, Twitter), people are standing up for change and what they believe in, and the very idea that the news media is ignoring this proves that the event is powerful. The camera has the ability to make things important, to focus our attention at what is deemed important and what is not, but who are those people curating the world for us? Do we really find it a good idea to allow those with vested interests to tell us what is really happening?

    This site has always been about art, and always will be. It’s what I am passionate about and what I think about every second I can spare. So I spent some time looking around at art with a political and social message. Art that has the ability to not only look amazing, but art that has the ability in itself to spark change. To light the fire inside of us to see things move forward, and to take a look at the world around us and realize that it could be better. It should be better. In the last year I have been to countless art shows, and very few had works that fit this vibe. I can understand the idea of creating art that helps to teleport us out of the negative things that are going on right now – art can act as an escape just as much as movies or music can – but there comes a time when the viewers needs a slap in the face, and not a mellow hand lulling us to sleep.

    Is it that the viewers do not want to see this kind of art? I have a hard time believing that lovers of art, and even those that simply crave change would not desire images that help to foster change, and at the same time mark a point in history when great change will happen. Jacques-Louis David’s Death of Marat (shown) is the most iconic image from the time of the French Revolution, and has also been called the first modernist painting. The painting has been reinterpreted by a countless amount of artists. The power of the image stays strong to this day, which is also why it makes it a good candidate to be taken as inspiration by a contemporary artist. So when I see a new series of work, a new show, or happen to introduced to a new artist, I have been looking for those works that hold that power that previous works have held. The last time I went to a show and walked away still a true feeling that the art changed me, was the Jonathan Darby solo show that took place at White Walls (reviewed). The work was well executed, powerful, and most importantly educated me on a issue that demanded more attention. This was one of those that I walked away hoping more and more people would see, they needed to see it. I sit here now perusing though articles of protests, corporate greed gone rampant, and political corruption presented bare and I wonder where is the art created in reaction to this? Are we simply left with a small handful of artist such as Banksy or Shepard Fairey? I know there are more out there, and I have been keeping my eye on many of them, what I want to know is what you think. How do the fans, the patrons, the lovers of art feel about what is going on. Is it really a missing void, or are you quite happy with the art that helps you escape, or laugh, or weep? Or do you crave the art that makes you want to stand up in the the manner of Peter Finch and scream “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”.

  • New work by Aaron Nagel

    Aaron Nagel is currently painting away for his upcoming solo show at Thinkspace, in which he will show 5 new paintings alongside Jennifer Nehrbass and Jeff Ramirez. I took a look at Aaron’s blog to see if there were any sneak peeks of some of the paintings that he will show, and I was very happy to see there was. A few in-process shots as well as a finished painting entitled “Drift”, oil on canvas 48″ x 32″. Besides the pearls, this almost looks as though the model was captured directly after a fluid movement into a new position directly after the painting “Shrapnel”. In this new painting Aaron has started to play with the color values in the flesh tones. I’m very excited about these new works, the in-process shots look amazing as well. Head on over to Aaron’s blog to see the works, and keep up to date with news and events.

    Aaron Nagel Blog

  • Review: The Blab! Show @ Roq La Rue Gallery

    On August 12th Roq La Rue in Seattle, WA opened the latest Blab! Show group invitational, with a specific theme of the Krampus as inspiration. For those not familiar with the Krampus, he is a pre-christian demon like creature that accompanied St Nick during Christmas and punished the bad children. The exhibition features work by Ryan Heshka, Nicoletta Ceccoli, Erik Mark Sandberg, Yoko d’Holbachie, Travis Louie, Travis Lampe, Martin Wittfooth, Ana Bagayan, Owen Smith, Chris Buzelli, Shag, Brian Despain, Mark Garro, Marc Burkhardt, Laurie Hogin, Andy Kehoe, Derek Nobbs, Alex Kuno, Andrew S. Arconi, Julianna Swaney, Jason Holley, and Fred Stonehouse. The folks over at Loved To Death, made their way from San Francisco to Seattle to check out the show. Brennan was nice enough to write a review for the Creep and share some photos as well. Take it away Brennan, after the jump.


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