Breaking Art is a podcast created by photographer Jason Naylor, he travels around New Zealand in his vintage VW Kombi and interviews artists & creatives discussing the alchemy of making art vs making money.
A few episodes feature endemicworld artists Greg Straight & Flox as well as our very own Elliot Alexander. We definitely recommend you check it out, available through iTunes and the Podcast App.
Jen Sievers has dropped us a new original painting of one of her beautiful ladies on perspex ‘With her eyes closed she sees the stars’
Jen’s paintings are always so mesmerizing and this one is no different. The impressive way she lays the paint down on the perspex to build up the image in a reverse makes these pieces that much more amazing. We’re sure this one won’t stick around for long so don’t miss out on your chance to own a Jen Sievers original.
Component based his work on the resident dog here at 62 Ponsonby Road, Cash a playful natured Blue-Heeler that loves a good stick.
Cash and all other dogs from the exhibition can be viewed now online or at various locations around Parnell until Sunday, March 4th (here’s a map). Pre-auction bids are available through the website and the live auction of each dog will take place on Thursday March 8th at 6pm – at Jonathan Galleries.
Jenni Stringleman is a Devonport resident who in recent years has returned to her first love of painting in oils. Having lived in the UK for 11 years, working in graphic design and animation, Jenni returned to New Zealand in 2005. She says ‘For me, painting is an expression of joy. I simply love the act of applying oils to canvas, and recently this has lead me to explore leaving areas of glowing glazes over the original acrylic underpainting, resulting in a fresh mix of thick oils, and semi-transparent washes of colour, high detail combined with gestural strokes.’
Jenni’s work up close appears to be abstract shapes made up of bright colours but as you step back they start to shape and the forms bloom into beautiful floral scenes.
Ponsonby artist Georgie Malyon is addicted to working with flowers. She has over 10 years experience working for some of Auckland’s most high end florists. This creative industry led her to design her own installations using flowers mixed with hand-crafted skulls and vintage ceramic birds. In our interview Georgie shares her fascinating list of obsessions, her latest creative endeavour and how she takes her cup of tea in the mornings.
Georgie in her new florist and curio shop Greenpoint
What do you do? I have been a florist for 17 years and I have been working on my floral art for about eight years. I always had ideas about the different ways to use and see flowers, so that’s where my art started really. As much as I love making beautiful bouquets, posies and traditional arrangements, I felt I wanted to push what I could do with flowers a little more. I had been collecting religious statues for years and so I started incorporating these and taxidermy into the traditional flower arrangements I was creating and photographing it. After that I started making flat lay arrangements with handmade skulls, spray painted flowers and hand-painted backdrops. From there my work has evolved and grown. I’ve taken it in a different direction, creating floral dreamscapes with the illusion of smoke and light floating botanicals. I love working with flowers, full stop.
What did you have for breakfast?
For breakfast, I had Vogel’s twice toasted with thinly sliced tomatoes from my garden with salt and pepper and a good cup of tea, with a dash of milk and no sugar thanks. My partner Tim makes the best cups of tea, he reckons I say that to everyone – I don’t.
What’s currently on your walls at home?
Taxidermy, a stack of vintage ship prints and paintings, religious and floral prints, velvet paintings of animals, anatomical human skull oil paintings, and in between all these the walls are dotted with friend’s art prints and a couple of mine. Also, a stack of Polaroid photos of friends at party times. My walls are covered. I’m the absolute opposite of a minimalist, but hopefully a little less than a hoarder.
If you weren’t making art/doing what you do, what would you be doing?
I have always loved dress up, costumes and makeup. So, when it’s Halloween that’s when you can pull the sewing machine out, hot glue gun, liquid latex and face paint and whip up some Halloween delights! Christmas for some weird reason, I’m not particularly fond of Christmas but for the past seven years, I have been making my long-suffering partner Tim make Christmas cards. Black metal, glitzy glamour, Krampus themed Christmas cards. I even used to post them, like really post, not just to Facebook! So, to translate that into a job, I guess I would have loved to work in film or theatre making costumes and or working in makeup making prosthetics for B grade horror films. Or I would love to make jewelry, I had the opportunity last year with friend and jeweler Chris Sheehan to make some and learn about lost casting also about wax carving. I absolutely love making jewelry and thinking about the design and researching the history and cultural symbolism that jewelry plays in the lives of people it’s fascinating to me.
Current obsession?
I’m always at the markets and watching the second-hand auctions. You will find me at the Avondale or Browns Bay markets most Sundays and trawling second-hand shops and Trade Me. Shells, pink neon lights, vintage and new jewelry, skulls, smoke machines, plaster-of-Paris, cats, cream donuts from Tart Bakery in Grey Lynn and fresh bags of coffee from Mr. Millers on Cross Street – obsessed? Yes! These modest brown paper coffee bags which are simply branded with a stamp, well I’d even hang them around my house and car as air fresheners when I’m not drinking it of course. Hamilton Botanical Gardens totally worth a day trip. Crystals and beaded fabric. Cheese and crackers, vintage vases, Mexico, other floral artists/florists. Long pointy fingernails with glitter finishes, black dresses and black hats. Velvet curtains, peacock chairs, singer-songwriter Marlon Williams, the iconic band Pentagram and Coven. The list goes on but I will stop. Oh, that’s right number one obsession – flowers, but don’t ask which flower, just all of them.
The opening of her 2017 show at The Grey Place ‘Immersed in Flowers’
Career highlight so far? To be honest it was taking that first step in putting my work out there as an exhibition. The support from friends and family really blew me away. I had been working away quietly on my flower and skull series and been getting ready to share them with friends when I happened to walk past a sign at 62 Ponsonby Road that said ‘art prints’. So, from the front window I followed it past the vintage clothing store, down the hallway of contemporary furniture, and down the stairs to a room filled with prints where I nabbed a business card. Got my artwork together, emailed Elliot at Endemicworld, and after a few emails back and forth, he agreed to meet and take my work on. After that meeting I remember the drive back home, I was so happy. From there it has grown. My work has evolved, and I have taken some exciting new directions with my work.
Not sure about a big highlight but there has been lots of small victories that I am proud of. I guess a highlight for me is when someone chooses my work, when I get invited to be in a group show when I get a work into a styled shoot or interviewed about my work, it all makes me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile. I put so much time and energy into making my work. I put my heart on my sleeve. I work hard to keep making art, even when it feels really challenging, to be honest, there’s no other option for me. I’ve always been persistent at being creative in whatever form it takes.
Plans for the future?
I have always been so lucky and felt fortunate to have a home studio, but I have always wanted to have my own space that includes flowers, plants and collectibles and art studio.
I have finally got the opportunity to have this with my partner Tim Castelow, we have set up my floral art studio and collectables, Tim has set up a barber shop out the back and we have called it Greenpoint, after we spent a few weeks in New York in Greenpoint with one of my dearest friends Rose Hardy. We loved it, with a village of its small family business and it’s a little rough around the edges vibe reminded us of our little group of shops in Grey Lynn, which has a real sense of community and old-fashioned edge but with lots of potential. It’s based in Grey Lynn 566 New North Rd Grey Lynn, it used to be an old junk shop, two dollar shop and everything in between, we have even been told it was originally the police station, there still the old holding cells/drunk tank with bars on the windows out the back. So Tim and I have been bringing this little old shop back to life as best as possible; just showing it little love. No doubt in time it will be pulled down to make way for apartments, but until then, I can make flowers, sell vintage vases and curios and play shop and Tim can continue to cut hair out the back. As for a future-plan, making more art and trying different ideas is always in the future.
Build your dream concert, three acts you want to see live. Living or dead.
Honestly, this question had me thinking for quite a while, I was supposed to hand this interview in last year, but I kept changing my mind, as I could have picked 100 different bands for a thousand different reasons, but….
At the Power Station I would like to see Nirvana, Pentagram and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I think the first ever music video that really stuck or made an impression on me was Nirvana, that moment you sit on the floor a metre away from the TV, going what the hell is this! It was a definite favourite growing up, so yeah, I would love to see Nirvana.
Pentagram would be at this dream concert, I have seen them already but would want to see them again. Tim and I saw them in Chicago, but it would be cool to see Pentagram with a big group of friends. Then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for fun.
At the Civic something dreamy like Marlon Williams, Nick Cave and Florence with red wine on tap and all dressed in black.
At Western Springs with a hip flask of something strong, tasseled jacket and black denim with AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Fleetwood Mac all in their prime.
On Thursday 24th of May we celebrated the opening of our group show ‘Too Many Photographers’ as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. We were stoked to be able to showcase a range of photographers that we exhibit at endemicworld and celebrate all kinds of photography in one show.
We had Johnny Crowe mixing tunes for the night (thanks bro) and a Polaroid camera floating around for people to take snaps with. Thank you to everyone that braved the wet and cold weather, Curtis Bunker for taking a few snaps on the night (featured in this blog post) and a massive shout out to all the artists that were a part of the show.
‘Too Many Photographers’ exhibition is showing until Tuesday 5th June at 62 Ponsonby Road, swing by, check it out and grab a catalogue for the Auckland Festival of Photography to see what other shows are going on.
Husband & wife duo Arna Miller & Ravi Zupa have ignited (pun intended) our love for the furry feline. These hilarious matchbox woodblock prints depicting drunk cats in all kinds of all too familiar scenarios are a HOOT, from the size to the simple colour palette everything about them is perfect. Also, watch the quick video below of how they make the tiny prints and be even more impressed.
Elisa Werbler is a designer and maker based in New York City but it’s her serigraph gemstone series that caught our eye recently. Each print is made using 5 layers of transparent color, the overlapping of each layer results in the appearance of 10 or more colors. So clever how the use of shapes overlapping one another to create the look of a sparkling gemstone.
Ellen Von Wiegand is an artist based in South East London. It’s under her instagram handle @ellenvonwiegand that we found her mesmerising videos of her linocut prints. Everyone loves a good reveal and Ellen does them like a pro, cropping in and showing small details of work intrigue the viewer just enough to keep you guessing until finally she unveils the work. You gain a huge appreciation for the finished result by being invited in to view the part of the making process, we could watch Ellen work all day.
Michelle Maguire is a prop and set stylist in Columbus, Ohio, but it’s her collaborative book ‘Salami Dreaming’ that caught our attention. It features eye-popping, hand-printed images of her blunt, funny, completely unimpressed Italian American Great-Aunt Doll, with colorful Aunt Doll anecdotes by Aaron Beck, Michelle’s husband. Aunt Doll, is who we all hope to be at 85. Michelle has managed to create
Uriel Marin hails from the east coast of Mexico and has trained extensively in fine art and the skills of print-making, etching and engraving. Our first introduction to Uriel was through the piece ‘Chapoteando’ which was bought in for framing by one of our customers. We were in awe! The sheer size of the work is impressive (1290mm x 890mm) and we were even more impressed to learn it’s a hand executed woodblock print! A definite high for the team for 2019!
Cloud Nine Creative is a boutique business, creating jewellery, homewares and artwork designed and created by Lee Sinclair in her home studio in North Canterbury. Lee’s ranges are ever-changing, unique and made with great attention to detail, her latest series Floral Wreaths, of collaged illustrations and photographs are packed with a lot of detail. We love getting close up and seeing what gems are hiding in them (those orange watercolour flowers!!!)
1. Tell us about your upcoming show ‘Merging Faces’?
Merging faces is a two-week long solo exhibition held at Allpress Studios in Auckland. The show opens on Tuesday the 19th of March and runs until Friday the 29th of March.
It will feature around twelve large scale works and a light installation, this collection of work is based on various subject matter pulled from different environments and merged together through movement patterns such as twisting, colliding, shifting, intertwining etc. I am interested in both portraying movement through the works and literal movement through light animations.
2. Can you describe your making process and how this influences your style of work?
Each finished painting is the final product of a unique making process. A work will often start off as something quite simple, and through a process of manipulation it might develop into something really complex. This process could include transforming a static painting design into an animated video or gif and then turning it back into a static image again, each time it changes. Through this approach, it extends the work and creates interesting layers of movement.
2. What is the significance of the title?
“Merging faces” is all about taking different subjects and merging them together through lines and colour. These movement patterns have reflective elements around the movement of people and the merging of cultures in New Zealand and the world. Through compiling lots of subjects together in these works, I hope to create a sort of unraveling process as one spends time with the work, and for different things to emerge.
3. Where has inspiration come from for the works of this exhibition?
Often movements catch my eye and turn into inspiration for multiple works. I like how there can be multiple stories playing out in one work, and how each subject is connected and interacting with the subject next to it. This collection of work encompasses the quality of discovering hidden images.
5. Is this a new style of work we can expect to see more of from you at endemicworld?
My style is developing slowly and constantly as I change as a person. So it definitely won’t stay the same. Each piece will represent a static point in time. We will be releasing a limited edition print of one of the works from the show, this will be exclusive to and available for purchase through endemicworld.
5. What can people coming to the show expect to see?
Large works, lots of movement, lots of colour and some interesting light installations projections.
Merging Faces Exhibition Opening
Allpress Gallery
8 Drake Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland
Opening Night
Tuesday 19th March, 5.30pm
‘After Life Arrows’ is a limited edition photographic art print by Grey Lynn local florist and artist Georgie Malyon, it comes from her debut 2015 solo exhibition ‘Into the Mystic’. The work in this series explores the symbolic nature of smoke and botanicals throughout birth, life and death in so many cultures around the world.
We love the simplicity of this series of art prints by George Sand Studio, we didn’t want to make the framing too fussy as the prints themselves are very free and fluid so we went with a natural raw oak molding and an oversized mat, to give the art room to breathe. The result is a classic yet sophisticated look, the series works well as a set or your favourite one can stand strong on its own.
Every so often the team at Places & Graces style a shoot featuring a colour from the Resene Colour collection and the results are always fantastic, much like this 70’s retro-inspired group of shots. We can’t decide which one we love the most, they all make us want to curl up with a book and a nice glass of red. You can head over to the Places & Graces site and read more about how they pulled these together.
Maegan McDowell’s limited edition photographic collection ‘Ice Flowers’ pushes the concept of her debut series which explored the life of dried flowers. ‘Ice Flowers’ is a body of work where flowers have been plunged into icy waters and delicately lock together to create temporary forms, immortally captured. Melting ice exposes welting petals, creating cracked surfaces and minute details that champion beauty in the unusual. The visual style of this series takes cues from Renaissance’s ‘Dutch Masters’ – painters who were renowned for creating art that evoked emotions with story and colour.
‘Ceremony’ is another popular limited edition photographic print by Georgie Malyon from her 2015 series ‘Into The Mystic’. The light and dark balance of the image makes it versatile in any setting, lending itself to a moodier dark space or a naturally light-filled room like the one below.
