Why does someone become an artist? It's a big question that can yield seemingly inconsequential answers. Sometimes, it all comes down to a chance encounter — stumbling across a comic strip, accidentally walking into a band's practice session or visiting an artist studio for the first time. I ask our feature artist, Jose Jimenez, to tell us about the pivotal moment that inspired his desire to create and set him on his career path. [...]
Why does someone become an artist? It's a big question that can yield seemingly inconsequential answers. Sometimes, it all comes down to a childhood chance encounter — stumbling across a comic strip, attending an art exhibition for the first time or an emergency trip to the hospital. I asked Rubeena Ratcliffe to tell me about the early art memories that inspired her desire to create and set her on her career path. [...]
Elissa Cristall is pleased to present our Artist Spotlight interview with Toronto-based artist Mara Korkola. In conversations and email over two months in 2021, Mara spoke to me about her path to contemporary art making and the curiosity that continues to drive her work. Korkola's captivating works compress worlds of information into small intimate oil paintings. The interplay between the landscape and the light is perhaps what excites Korkola most, prompting buttery brushstrokes in electric colour. [...]
In this interview we present five new large-scale paintings by Dutch-Canadian artist Jeroen Witvliet. Witvliet's art is a response to contemporary times; to be aware and to find a sense of the poetic while questioning current events, historical accuracy and memory. Tell us about yourself. My country of birth is the Netherlands. I would like to be objective and without irony when describing myself but that is an impossibility. [...]
