Art Toulinov Jody Morlock Marko Velk Kiko Alcazar Alex AG Mariano Rennella Claudia Summers ...

82 Pages·2015·9.96 MB·English

OOMM EE NN
o
N 14
Fall 2015
Art Toulinov
Jody Morlock
Marko Velk
Kiko Alcazar
Alex AG
Mariano Rennella
Claudia Summers
Joanne Dugan
Maria Bacardi
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Omen Magazine Marcus Leatherdale – Art Editor / AD
Omen is a visual online magazine, an international showcase for multi- Jorge Serio – Fashion editor
medium creativity. Paying homage to the strikingly visual in art, photography, James Caldwell – Graphic editor
fashion and design, Omen also presents literature, music, hybrid and
interstitial forms. The magazine aspires to explore and expose a vast array Correspondents
of artistically forceful and thought-provoking work, much of which is off the Jorge Socarras – NYC Art Writer
commercial radar, and that often eludes simple and hierarchal classification.
Whether the artists are up-and-coming, widely recognized, or decidedly Art Correspondents
underground, Omen focuses on the distinctive creativity of their work, the Alexandra C Anderson – NYC
unifying context being the power of art to inspire. To this end, the magazine Martin Belk – London
curates and juxtaposes a heterogeneous collection from sources and Paul Bridgewater – NYC
contributors around the globe for a community that transcends geographic Walt Cessna – NYC
parameters. Uniting the Omen audience is its enthusiasm for that which, Bunny Oliver – LA
however renegade or variant in form, might be considered “beautiful.” Andrea Splisgar – Berlin
Fashion Correspondents
Kim Johnson – NYC
Jonathan Daniel Pryce – London
Michael Schmidt – LA
Rebecca Weinberg – NYC
Cover
Literary correspondents
Venomous
Christina Oxenberg – NYC
Jody Morlock
Claudia Summers – NYC
www.theomenmag.com
© 2010-2015 theOMENmag. All Rights Reserved.
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Editor’s Note Contents
Asides from digital technology itself, if there is anything that predicates 5 Art Toulinov
the experience of art in the digital space, it’s the curatorial aspect. No 25 Jody Morlock
longer limited by the physical space of museums, galleries and salons, the 45 “Interface” / group show Leslie Lohman Museum
ever expanding array of digital and social media is largely shaped and, in 59 Marko Velk
turn, exerts its influence by way of curatorial choices. From the beginning, 77 Kiko Alcazar
OMEN has attempted to give form to curating in the strongest, largely but- 93 Alex AG
not-exclusively visual terms. It could be said that OMEN is as much about 113 Mariano Rennella
curating as it is about art. This extends all the way to its audience, itself a 123 Claudia Summers
mix of diverse backgrounds and histories, and involved in the discerningly 129 “Summertime” collective photo book by Joanne Dugan
curatorial process of reading and visualizing, contrasting and integrating. 155 “Deseo” CD by Maria Bacardi
photo: Jonathan Daniel Pryce
161 All artists online
Omen 14 features artists whose work might also be seen as drawing from
and playing on curatorial elements of art and art history: the religious and art-
historical references of Art Toulinov’s photographs; the decidedly 21st-century
re-thinking of 20th-century art evidenced in Jody Morlock’s work; Alex AG’s
perspective-altering urban panoramas, and Kiko Alcazar’s savvy winks to
kitsch – to name a few. On a vocal note, singer Maria Bacardi revisits her
Cuban roots by interpreting period music in a style at once updated and
authentic.
As Artist-curator Walter Cessna writes in his introduction to the show at the
Leslie-Lohman Museum, “Although it’s easy to build an audience of enviable
online numbers, it’s those who mix up their art like a cocktail that succeed—
a little of this, a whole lot of that, and the viewer is left shaken or stirred….”
Like an art cocktail, we hope OMEN 14 shakes and stirs our readers’
imaginations.
Marcus Leatherdale
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The Soul
Imprisoned
Art Toulinov
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by Carol Schaefer
Art Toulinov was born, February 22, 1960, in Tuapse, Russia, a seaport on
the Black Sea. From a young age, he was sculpting, painting and drawing.
He graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in law, which he
practiced until he immigrated to the United States in 1991. Toulinov began
photographing in 1993, but it was after a personal crisis in 1999 that his work
took a more profound direction.
Toulinov began his latest body of work with the idea of exploring, in the
tradition of Memento Mori, the beauty in death and the fact that our death is
always with us and thus should be treated like a companion that enriches our
lives, and not to be approached with fear. Toulinov attributes his comfort with
mortality to having a twin brother, who died in infancy, as all his life he has
had to seek answers to life’s mysteries in order to live with such a great loss.
Then, when he re-carved an old crucifix that he found at the flea market, a
whole new body of work, which he calls Parables, emerged, inspired by the
Russian icons that fascinated him in his youth. Over time, the two bodies of
work merged, as they began to naturally complement each other.
Preferring to make pictures rather than take them, Toulinov’s studio becomes
a miniature theater, the backdrop always black and the image always square.
Some images are inspired by a prop, more than likely found at the flea
market, some by a song, or by childhood memories, his motherland, Russia,
and growing up in the Soviet Union. Intuitively, he finds the right model to
emotionally express his concept, models that come from all walks of life.
The images are photographed with a Hasselblad and printed in a refined
silver gelatin format. His work is in the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent
collection and has been shown in galleries in New York and Europe.
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