A Conversation with Artist ARASH MOZHDEKANLU

One of the greatest joys of living in my city is its natural light and peaceful atmosphere. The sunlight reveals subtle tones and delicate colors, essential for capturing the nuances and mood in my painting.

A Conversation with Artist MARTIN STOMMEL

All of our dearest wishes and interest is to let something remain, and to look after the remaining signs of life of those who lived. Now I think everything that we do leaves these signs. But the more practical, useful context they have, the less personal they might be.

A Conversation with Artist MANU DE MEY

I have always been an overthinker and analysing person and spend a great deal of time thinking about the big questions in life, like the meaning of life, the (non-)existence of God and why there is so much suffering in the world. All of my paintings reflect this.

A Conversation with Artist ANGELA LEYVA

For me, the importance of the arts lies in their ability to reveal what often remains invisible: the fractures, the silences, and the presences that cannot always be expressed through words. Art creates spaces of connection, reflection, and transformation, both for the artist and for the viewer.

A Conversation with Artist THOMAS BILS

I’d say the better anecdote comes from when I first saw the hit 1999 animated film The Iron Giant and its bohemian tritagonist, Dean. The effortlessly cool sculptor who lived in his own junk yard and drank espresso at night was, I believe, the first time I saw a fictional character in media and thought to myself, “that is exactly what I want to be when I grow up.” Suddenly, all of the inconsequential drawings that I crumpled up just as quickly as I scribbled them became the means to an identity and lifestyle that I found incredibly alluring.

A Conversation with Artist HERMANN JOSEF HACK

If we want to reach people, this is not done by imparting knowledge alone, but above all by appealing to their emotions. Art is a language unto itself, one that cannot be explained otherwise. My images are intended to speak for themselves and allow the viewer to experience for themselves that change is possible.

A Conversation with Artist PHILIP HARRIS

n many ways, this may be the hardest thing to ask of people in the modern world, but if I could ask anything of viewers approaching my work, it would be to take enough time with it to allow the work to open up to you. Also, to have an open mind and heart, to be calm, thoughtful, and explorative. Don’t feel like you need to totally ‘get it’, or secure a certain narrative for closure. If you spend enough time just looking at the work, it should, at some level, begin to work for you; it should reveal itself to you emotionally, and you will hopefully have some intuitive understanding of it.

A Conversation with Artist TALIA YÁÑEZ

I find it difficult to talk about my painting and describe in words the motives, meaning, findings, experiences, or the relationship I have with my work, simply because I feel so comfortable and am so used to practicing the language of painting.

A Conversation with Artist MICHAEL SLUSAKOWICZ

There's a feeling, an emotion, I care about my subjects and I think that viewers can sense that too. 
I'm trying to portrait a humanity.

A Conversation with Artist PETER BURNS

My family is Catholic, and I was immersed in the sacredness and rituals of the church and its beauty. I remember the smell of incense being intoxicating and exotic, the jewel-like beauty of the illuminated stained glass windows of saints and angels & the glow of votive candles beside the altar. The church was a numinous place. 
I try to make my work as beautiful as I can without concealing human frailty, evil and doubt. This is very much the fruit of my upbringing.

A Conversation with Artist CAROLINE WONG

I do wonder what my life would have been like if I had grown up in Asia, and been brought up to speak Cantonese or Malay as my primary languages. Would I still have become an artist? And if so what would my art look like? How would my life experiences and desires shape the content and materiality of the work? Unless I have a doppelgänger on the other side of the world, I’ll never know.

A Conversation with Artist YEZI LOU

The tension between individual and societal norms became less about opposition and more about balance—allowing both to coexist in distinct yet interconnected ways, acknowledging their inseparable significance to one another.

A Conversation with Artist KEVIN DOUILLEZ

I’m not trying to create something “beautiful” in the traditional sense — I paint to release, to let go of what lives inside me.
My pieces are born from that inner tension, from the search for calm after the storm. If they resonate with others, it’s because they come from a place that is raw, real, and sincere.

A Conversation with Artist ROBERT SZOT

I am of the opinion that art (and painting in my particular circumstance) is the last great bastion of the individual. It may be the last place where an inclined individual can create singularities that are of their own making and responsibility.

A Conversation with Artist JARMO MÄKILÄ

After graduating from art school, I broke free from its doctrines, navigating through the currents of postmodernism. It was as if everything was suddenly open, and I felt a rush of freedom—like I could do anything. And so, I did. There was a certain exhilaration in that, but also a challenge. It was both creatively and emotionally overwhelming because I had to rediscover my own voice outside the structure that had shaped me.

A Conversation with Artist DREA COFIELD

The arts are important for so many reasons, but to try to be succinct, to me, art is pure horizon, it's utopia; it communicates and connects across time, dances within the light and darkness of humanity, and is essential to understanding the truth of who we are and the hope of what we can be. It's magic and faith. I really believe in it.

A Conversation with Artist ALEXIS MATA

I draw a lot of inspiration from what I see and contemplate. Nowadays, I take the time to observe a sunrise or a sunset, and that inspires me immensely. It influences the color palette I use and serves as a driving force for my creative process.

A Conversation with Artist SHANGKAI KEVIN YU

The importance of art to me is the exploration of endless strategies, to convey essentially the same things we have been trying to communicate and relate to each other since the very beginning - the kaleidoscopic feelings and stories of our lives, our views of love, hatred, sex, violence, betrayal, happiness, loneliness etc. And every great work of art add to the texture of these things we all experience. As a painter myself, what fascinates me the most is specifically those strategies artists have discovered - strategies that come from their critical minds to communicate their thoughts, that could potentially be used elsewhere.