Valerie Meotti

Working in a range of disciplines, Valerie Meotti strives to give her art immediacy and understandability.

She explained, "Painting and creating visual art has been my passion for most of my life. My motives are not to send a message but to be felt. What one takes from my imagery is yours alone. I have a difficult time explaining why I create but I can tell you how. I have never felt I was a catalyst trying to reveal a profound message. 

I am not a singular artist in that I can not settle on one technique of expression. I enjoy having the versatility and knowledge to explore and experiment.  Watercolors are my base of operations, the one thing I rely on most. My unique digital transfer technique utilizes my graphic capability but lets me develop it freely like a painting, using both my major influences.  With this I cross over into collage components developing most of my mixed media works. Oil painting, I am new to but I love the color and luminescence that can be achieved.  I will continue my learning. Ceramics are mainly for the quirky characters I developed called Pistachio People and I still illustrate the little guys. I believe they can be in a successful mass market someday.  Someday I will achieve the independence to sustain my art. Just looking for some glimpse of encouragement."

 

Patrick Christiano

New York based artist Patrick Christiano sold his work on the streets of the city.

According to Robert Lederman, President of ARTIST [email protected], "Pat was one of the City's most beloved street artists. He was an artist, writer and poet who sold in many parts of the City, including Union Sq Park, the Met, and Strawberry Fields.

 

Pat was very active throughout the years of our legal struggle. He provided a lot of help and research for the lawsuit that overturned the Parks' Department's artist-permit. A 1999 criminal court ruling issued by Judge Lucy Billings dismissing some of his park summonses was an important step in winning that case. Pat will be remembered as one of the friendliest and most helpful street artists."

 

You can view some of Pat's art and poetry here:

https://www.patchristiano.com/

https://twitter.com/christianopat

http://www.subwaymusicblog.com/union-square-subway-station/%E2%80%98danny-boy%E2%80%99-banned-by-police/

http://www.artistkunst.de/pat/pat_pictures.html

 

Claudio Parentela

Claudio Parentela is an illustrator, painter, photographer, mail artist, cartoonist, collagist, journalist free lancer. He has been active for many years in the international underground scene and has collaborated with many zines,magazines of contemporary art,literary and of comics in Italy and in the world. His work can be categorized as street art but with a variety of mediums. He describes his illustration style as,"anarchic, cool, conceptual, twisted, schizophrenic, obsessive, and chaotic."

"I feel completely absolutely free only when I’m amongst my 'artistic things' and in my studio, with my photos, my papers, my colours, my glue, my scissors, my ropes, tapes, plastics, all my 1000 things I found around in the city. It’s been difficult to arrive here where I’m now but it’s a wonderful continuous magical journey, every moment and every day," he says.

What advice would you give to other artists?
To be and to continue to be, and try to be themselves. It’s so important, and then to have fun to have fun to have fun.

 

Laura Lappi

Laura Lappi works in a wide range of media including installation, sculpture, photography and video. Her work crosses the boundaries between our perception of space and time and between reality and fiction. She is interested in creating bewilderment, uncertainty, unexpected situations and mystery by shifting the form of space and the viewer’s point of view. Emotions such as loneliness and yearning are important concepts within her work.

Lappi's work has been exhibited widely in solo and group shows in Europe, US and Asia including AC Institute in New York, Galleri Vest in Reykjavik, Galleri Uusi Kipinä in Lahti, Gallery Titanik in Turku, Kunstpodium T in Tilburg, Gramercy Gallery in New York, Fotogalerie in Rotterdam, Re:Rotterdam International Art Fair in Rotterdam, Twente Biennale 2013 in Enschede, Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm, Access Art in New York and Green Papaya Art Projects in Manila. She has received grants from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, FRAME (Finnish Fund for Art Exchange) and the Arts Council of Finland.

Laura Lappi lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and Asikkala, Finland.

Stan Ragets

Stan Ragets could almost be considered a "new age" or metaphysical artist. That is because his work is mezmerizing and mysterious, using fractiles with almost a mathematical bent.

 

Fractal artwork in the “fine art” sense is relatively unheard of at the current time, and Ragets' goal to eventually make it a household term. Of course, for those who enjoy Escher, Raget's work will resonate. 

He says, "Art is something that I've always enjoyed; not just the creative process, but also viewing the final results. I strive to create artwork that you can 'get lost in', pieces that can be viewed over and over again, always finding something new. I want to create engaging artwork that pulls you into the image.

My computer programming background allows me to design my own custom parameters that give me a unique edge among fractal artists. I constantly strive to push the limits of current technology and am always learning as new developments take place. As technology grows, so do I as an artist."