Y Crazy Mind

Today our guest is J. Ben Moss ("art name" PLOID). He is an artist & illustrator from Shreveport, Louisiana. He tends to do a sort of edgy comic book/lowbrow/graffiti-inspired kind of style, often at odds with the prevailing culture in which he lives, the southern USA. We have conducted an interview with him. Why did you choose 'PLOID' as your "art name"? That’s actually kind of a silly story. A few years ago, when I first started really getting into graffiti and street art, I was in an art crew. Of course, it’s far easier to spray paint a tag name than your full real name, so I decided to choose one that reflected my background in comics. The term “plewd” was coined by famous cartoonist Mort Walker to denote those little “beads of sweat” that were sometimes drawn above a character’s head to express excitement or anxiety. I misremembered the term as “ploid,” and went with it. I later came to realize my mistake, but a lot of artwork I ...

Meet Greg Beebe. Greg is a self-taught, mixed media artist who describes his work as ͞a mixture of abstract expressionism, pop and graffiti street art.  The Miami-based artist is also a successful financial entrepreneur that approaches his art practice with the same intention as he does his business interests...with an unstoppable impulse to create. With artwork featuring Playboy models to Einstein, the general theme that infuses his work is one of positivity where the specific message, elements and composition in each piece is fresh and handled differently each time. "Positive or energetic messaging is my key focus. I want to create artwork from a personal feeling of motivation or positivity. For example, seeing people work hard or working hard myself and achieving something is gratifying to me, so I want to create a piece of artwork that might give the viewer a piece of what I’m feeling.” He achieves this...

Ed Fetahovic is an urban landscape and street photographer from Perth, Western Australia. He is a self taught photographer , and have only been taking photos for over a year and a half. We have conducted an interview with him. How did you begin in black and white photography? I started out in black and white photography shortly after I picked up a camera almost a year and a half ago now. For a long time I felt like there was an artist inside me locked up so I tried various forms of art as release. I tried writing, painting, and music like most others do, but the creative release wasn't there - I still felt trapped and frustrated. Photography has exploded in recent times and I noticed the trend when my dad decided to pick up a camera and it was apparent to me straight away that dad had found an interest and release he hadn't had before. Fast track a few months and his new found happiness didn't really change and he was talking about purchasing a new camera to aid ...

Jack Savage is a fine art photographer and digital artist and a certified expert in Adobe Photoshop CC and trainer. Winner of Gold at Tokyo Foto Awards 2018/2019; Silver from The PX3 Awards - The Prie de la Photographie 2019, Silver from Moscow Foto Awards 2020, and Winner of the Pangea Prize, 1st Place from Siena Photo Awards 2017, and winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award - 1st Place in the Fine Art category at The Spider Awards 2017, 1st Place at The Chromatic Awards 2017 - amongst many other international honours. He currently is the owner of a spacious studio in Northampton, UK where he teaches both Photography and Photoshop classes and workshops. We have conducted a short interview with him. Jack Savage What's so special about your collaborative art project INFLUX with Dominic Abbey? My collaborative art project with Dominic Abbey is born out of 20 years of friendship, together with a joint passion for the arts. Over the period of the global pandemic we managed to visit...

Born in Durban South Africa, Adam Craemer immigrated to Western Australia with his wife in the early 2000s and emerged as an artist shortly thereafter. His main training and influences come from the graffiti art culture in Cape Town and the UK; living and traveling around Europe and Asia; as well as his parents who are both artists back in his native South Africa. Having a graffiti background has heavily influenced his use of aerosol cans in his work, and his use of them can be seen in almost every piece he creates. We have conducted an interview with him. Artist: Adam Craemer What were the challenges you faced (if any) when crossing over from painting walls on the streets to painting on canvas in a studio? The major challenge for me is scale. Going from larger surface areas to areas less than a third in size, and still trying to maintain the ‘street’ element isn’t particularly easy for me to achieve in some instances. I have had to abandon some techniques, but at the sam...

California-resident and Montreal-born artist, Ane Howard, a mixed media artist, is exhibiting this month, at Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, California and London subway and we had the chance to catch up with her between shows. Ane Howard’s mixed media artwork tells an emotional and imaged story in the portraits and landscapes she paints. Using deconstructed form born out of the expressionist movement, bold paintbrush, fabric, wax and papers and contrasting hues of colors, she imbues each brushstroke with meaning to evoke moods and ideas. Following a lifelong exploration of different art forms, Ane is dedicated to full-time painting. Speaking about her passion for oil painting, she said, “Nothing has ever fulfilled my need for self-expression the way painting does.” Ane's vivid oil paintings have been shown at various Art Galleries in Northern California, such as the well-known Claudia Chapline Contemporary Art Gallery, the Marin Society of Artists, and Art Works Downtown ...

In a fresh mix of several medias such as acrylics, spray paints, oil and charcoal, Lee, a Lebanese artist , based in Montpellier - South of France, has a very unique way of expressing herself through color. Her work comes from a rich tapestry of her own life moods and experiences and is peppered with her fascination of science, nature, philosophy, music and astronomy. Besides visual arts, Lee writes in French, English and Arabic and has started blogging last month about art, science and almost everything she’s passionate about on Niume.com . Self taught/ art school? Self taught. I have no formal art education. My work is is eclectic, intuitive and extremely versatile. I really enjoy the freedom of the process. Paintings often start as one thing and end up as something totally different. Part of me likes clean work but mostly I function with chaos and mess. Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get started and what made you want to become an artist? I have always ...

Barb Sherin is an entrepreneur and self-taught painter, who at a very young age, was bit by the fashion bug. Her interest in designing had her juggling both senior year in High School and training at The French Fashion Academy in New York City. She attended Parsons School of Design and was shortly introduced to the music industry. At the same time, she pursued her passion for painting. Her collaboration with Pioneer Hip Hop Photographer, Al Pereria, landed her paintings in magazines with recording artists, Schoolly D, MC Ren, Yoyo, Tevin Campbell, Wu Tang Clan, and more.  Where are you based right now and where are you from? I’m a native New Yorker. However, I currently live and work in NYC and Barcelona. What landed your paintings in magazines with recording artists? Please share with us about your entrepreneurial journey.  In the early 90's I met Pioneer Hip Hop Photographer, Al Pereria. He suggested my artwork as backdrops for his photo shots. He's is a wonderful photograp...

Mahaloness is a contemporary artist from Calgary specializing in full spectrum painting, mural, animation and digital hybrid art. We have conducted an interview with him. How long have you been specializing in full spectrum painting, mural, animation and digital hybrid art? I have been developing my full spectrum art over the last 15 years, really honing in on my skill set in the last ten years. I went full immersion while in Toronto in 2004 attending film school with the aim to become a filmmaker. I was on a quest of self-discovery, with the desire to learn the art of self-expression. While in film school I was introduced to storytelling, and skill sets necessary to make a film. One of the skills I learned was storyboarding which put me into a regular practice of visualization and translating that into drawing. While in Toronto I was regularly exploring and documenting my experiences through street photography, writing and drawing. This was my first real encounter with urb...