ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Sonomi Kobayashi
We recently went for dinner with some friends on a chilly evening in New York. The restaurant wasn't much larger than the first bedroom I had in this city yet the vibe was warm and the food was exquisite. Mayanoki is one of the first fully sustainable multi-course omakase restaurant in NYC.
The evenings menu was executed by Chef Jeffrey Miller and Guest Chef Yoni Lang, while oysters, uni and variations of mackerel were the show-stoppers. As anyone that may have ever worked in the restaurant industry, you pay closer attention to the details of such an evening.
One element that shown as bright at the food and the beverage pairing of Briana was the art that adorned the walls. Sonomi Kobayashi born in Japan, she grew into her artistry organically after moving to New York. Sonomi never thought of becoming an artist but believes it was meant to be, recalling watching her father at a young age creating and sketching doodles here and there after he got home from work. In a way it influenced her own start as an artist.
After Sonomi began to settle into the Big Apple, meeting many artists and musicians, inspiration set in and she started drawing New York life, its people, their lives on the streets and corner cafes a ‘visual personal diary’. A short while later she found The Art Students League of New York, there Kobayashi completed a four- year studio certificate in painting, and minors in sculpture and printmaking.
With numerous international gallery shows including Japan, the U.S. and Europe under her belt, you will find beautiful detail and mastery in her art. Having participated in residencies at MASS MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, ASL Vytlacil Campus, and Cat'Art Contemporary Art Centre in France, receiving a Will Barnet Grant in Printmaking, a Joseph Bartnikowski Scholarship, and Ruth Katzman Scholarship at The ASL are only naming a few of her accomplishments. The numerous private collections she has done are extensive, a portfolio even including Yoko Ono.
Working from her Studio in Brooklyn you will find her dabbling with her favorite color shades of blues, greens, purple, and gold. Mainly obsessing over inks, alcohol inks and collages using her house plants and nature as inspiration.
Recently, Sonomi has returned to oil painting, using outputs of her mediation and natural shapes as a focal point. She says that her inspiration is to use natural physics, science, spirituality and stars as a muse to her ‘MU’ - a japanese term for ‘emptiness or ‘nothing’. This feeling of ‘emptiness’ is at times hard to achieve yet it is her way of creating these stunning pieces of art. Looking inward through her meditation and finding a mind set of quiet and peace.
‘My work is usually abstract’ she states. Having a strong sense to mix traditional and contemporary techniques while experimenting with materials, color, and shapes.
By dropping and moving the paint, very carefully she works to create the spontaneous beauty of life, full of accidents and happenstance.
Artist Of the month
The youngest ever Education and Public Programs Director at the Cleveland Museum of Art this power house is an artist through and through. Elizabeth grew up in Connecticut where she found a passion for Photography and Mixed media at an early age this made her pursue an education at a liberal arts college with focus on Writing, Art History and Design - one of her favorite courses she took was Studio Art, this really put a lot into perspective for her to become her own artist and encouraged her to experiment with new art tech and non-traditional painting media supports.
The past years at Cleveland Museum of Art she has been busy working along side members, curators and various other departments at the museum to set all these stunning art collections and shows, into a reality for the museum. These exhibitions need a lot of attention before they get to the public eye and this is where Elizabeth works her magic. One day you can find her doing in depth research into an array of subjects for up coming shows, the next a film screening, symposia, or a gallery talk. She also supervises in the distribution of resource material and grants for educators, and building a community based, educational curriculum for all of the museums visitors.
This coming summer Elizabeth will be transitioning into a new position in associations with the Cleveland School District as their newly minted Arts Education Director. Here she will be continuing the mission to provide high quality arts curriculum and services through arts and classroom instructional support, while working with over 40 Cleveland based art and cultural partners including Beck Center for Arts, ArtNEO, the Cleveland Orchestra and Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland to name a few, to help deliver art instruction while providing access and education to the underserved population in the city of Cleveland.
When she has a moment of down time from her demanding job she paints herself. Most of her creations are done as commissions. She's currently working on a painting for the city of Chagrin Fall, Ohio. This piece with be used for posters, t-shirts and canvas bags as part of the media PR for it’s Blossom Time Festival 2018, on the shows denouement her piece will be auctioned live.
Elizabeth has her heart set on creating texture in every painting that she does wether using sand, clay, paint or even eggshells. A creative way she has been adding deep visible brush stokes and spatter on her painting recently, is using a toothbrush! This she says ‘ is remarkably effective at suggesting noise and grain’. She is also experimenting in a more abstract technique called ‘paint-pouring’. Its a new world to her, but she is enjoying the journey just as the paint flows itself.
Ever since working at large museums filled with hundreds of famous pieces, she as an artist can’t get enough of this quote ‘To know where you are going, you need to get a handle on where you’ve been’. This rings true to her as she dives into the history of art and the pieces surrounding her daily, saying ‘I can learn a lot from artists of the past and techniques that I can incorporate into my own art’ thinking everyday ‘why did they use that?’ Those “new” ideas are what sparks her creativity.
Artist Of the month
I actually didn’t! He says as we ask him what made him keep the Twin Cities his home base. Ganzobean ( Morgan Willenbering ) a native Minnesotan is a well rounded musician and DJ. Right out of high school he moved to New York for a Audio Engineering program, the teachers were amazing and there was much to learn but in the end he states, it didn't get you a job. Honestly it didn't get you anywhere. Yet it did spark an interest to turn this into a career. Ganzobean soon after started to tune for Musab.Saab also know as Sab the Artist doing a handful of tours with him. On tour with Musab.Saab is where he crossed paths with the famed Minnesotan group Atmosphere. This is when he decided he was onto something and truly turned it into a career for himself. Ganzobean moved to Las Vegas living there three years while touring with a handful of artists around North America. Living in Vegas had its own struggles as an artist and not being a huge name such as Guetta or Diplo who he finds ‘fucking brilliant’. He relocated to San Diego for a fresh chapter of music exploration and also for better gigs.
‘It showed me ‘- Ganzobean rattles off ‘that no one is selling music anymore. They are all selling merchandise. Atmosphere would do ten thousand in just T-shirt sales in one night. It was obnoxious amount of money going towards merchandise over artists. But it didn’t help or sell music. No one sells hard copies anymore. I was making enough money to sustain myself but it was also an eye opening experience to what the industry had become. To this day I often need to pinch myself for who I’ve gotten to work with, who I’ve made music with. But at the end of the day they’re just people. I know some that are really well known, that are just assholes you don’t want to know them. Just know them as an artist. And theres the ones that are like “Wow, you're the coolest motherfucker ever and all I want to do is hang out with you”. Sean Daley (Slug) is one of the most humble, incredibly genuine, just a legit human being. All of Atmosphere have always been “good people”. Always appreciative of where they’re at and they are aware of what they’re contributing’.
The conversation shifted slowly into the local scene, the Twin Cities. ‘It’s where I’ve lived the past 5 years,’ Ganzobean says taking a sip of his cola can. ‘We all know that some huge international artist come to us in Minnesota which he finds very beneficial to the scene here. Yet, there isn't really a cross over between the ‘moneymakers’ and the local artists that are readily available here. But because of the local scene, and those big acts rolling through they are hearing about the shows here and they have and are going to pay attention to the music scene, so he sees it only as a benefit. ‘I do think our scene is actually at a weird point right now, A little saturated, the most cliquey I’ve seen it. There is a group here or there that never acknowledge each other, or work together. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing butI find it a weird “something” going on in the Twin Cities. You're famous in Minnesota yet, nowhere else. I often see performers make it beyond Minnesota that wont come back to collaborate with locals artist any longer because it isn't beneficial to them’. If Ganzobean hadn't stayed in contact with musicians in Minnesota, he would have never heard of anything from here. Saying ‘I went to New York thinking people across the country knew of Atmosphere. A bunch of classmates who were in hip hop scene and all of them stating “Who is that?” It’s a strange phenomenon. You can be famous. Here’. Artists go on tour and sell shows all the time, but they’re not selling out shows when they go out west or down south. So you end up with an artist who gets enough support from it’s own state that they don’t leave for 20 years because the support of locals is constant. ‘If I hadn’t left, I don’t believe I would have the same feeling towards this’. What Ganzobean finds very strange is that Minneapolis is bigger than Eau Claire (Wisconsin) in terms of national influence. Yet, Eau Claire has twice the national influence than anything going on here in our local music industry.
Talking trends in the music industry Ganzobean recently just chatted to an fellow artist DJ and producer about what the trends are right now. He listens to a lot of, what can’t even call it top 40 rap anymore, but that real hugged auto-tuned rap that is so hot right now. Noticing that not a lot of artists are doing because they don’t have the correct tools to do it. Yet, know it’s been a growing phenomenon this past decade so Ganzobean says ‘I don’t know what the “new” trends are anymore’. To him the trends, if there are any… is trying to find a way to make an organic raw sound in 2017 with computers and technology. There is a trend he does see growing with a more analog sound, and a little less techie additions. However at the other end of the spectrum, its ‘lets use as much technology as possible’. I’m a huge fan of trap and EDM. Ganzobean a huge supporter of Diplo thinking he is a mastermind of this particular sound and that he's really contributed so much to that sound. Believing that there may be a weariness of this trend but if theres any trend, it’s still festivals and club music.
ÔRKiD has spotted you at various restaurant in St. Paul. Lets talk a little food, are you an undercover foodie? My favorite bar *laughs Ganzobean would be Emmett’s Public House on Grand Ave. I love that little place. But favorite restaurant, he draws a blank.. there are just so many new places popping up everywhere Yet, I would say Meritage is a place I can always go back and never be disappointed and ÔRKiD couldn't agree more ( have you had their oysters, pommel frites or daily macaron? ) Ganzobean has also been really obsessed with rooftop at Ox Cart Ale House. ‘I go there to drink and I could hang out there all day no matter what time of day’. Also, He mentions that he could probably go to Café Latte every day. So there it is, it would be Café Latte on Grand Ave. It’s my staple and it’s been there forever
Any future shows coming up soon?
‘I have a monthly through December at LynLake Brewery in Uptown, Minneapolis. The event is called Hip Hop & Hops. I’ll be hosting it with a rapper named Moonlight Grammar who also is a talented bartender.’ Ganzobean also is wrapping up his solo album that he has been working on with hopes of a release date this fall of 2017. Even having the first music video for it that he has just finished shooting.
Stating ‘Its actually short film, with a seven page script. I presented the song to a director, and he called me the next day and said “How about a ten page script.” Lets do it! He called me two days later and informed it was going to remain a seven page script. The script itself is fucking hilarious, and we put out a casting call and we got 4 actresses to come join us. The song is called Lava Sex. The concept of the song is Burt Reynolds, naked on a bear skinned rug. The director ( Mercies May ), the joke with him has been the consensual alpha male.. and I may or may not be wearing leopard briefs!’
Ganzobean and team will be submitting it to the Short Film Festival and he is mixing and editing some audio for that now.
Keep out an eye out for Ganzobean. Check him out, give him a shout out and follow him on the numerous media links supplied here through ÔRKiD!
ARTIST OF THE MONTH
Rachelle Rickert found her way of expressionism at a very young age, designing elaborate seascapes chalked on the driveway during sunny summer days and moldings of mini clay fruits and the like… this was her way to escape says the then ‘very shy little kid’. She cant live life honestly without being some form of maker and this was solidified at the young age of 12 when her father bought her a film camera. Over the years her art has become more formal and refined with the knowledge she gained attending the New England School of Art and Design. Yet painting became secondary after she found a love for floral design…Saying “Exploring this has been the most fulfilling and challenging medium thus far. It's also been a trip to realize how my training in painting has affected my arrangements.”
With this new found passion for floral art Rachelle became the full time floral designer at Sprout Home, Brooklyn. Here she has done many jaw dropping arrangements and most recently a massive piece for Bergdorf Goodman on 5th Ave. in reflection to Alessandro Dll’Acqua new line of shoes.
To this day Rachelle is obsessed with the mixture of colors and a mediums.. either the buttery texture of oil paint or the delicate three dimensional relationship of colors in a natural bloom. “Luckily”, she says… “There’s a movement happening with floral design where foraging for materials, creating more thoughtful arrangements, and usingseasonal blooms takes precedence over something like say a dozen roses with babies breath. It really has become a medium that artists work with that I find really remarkable. It's also impressive that people are returning to nature and growing their own flowers - like Erin at Floret Flower, Sarah at Saipua, or Gabriela at La Musa de las Flores. I find it fascinating to be able to grow your own medium”.
As for traditional painting, Rachelle Rickert has been using watercolor to paint little "planets" as a quick and meditative outlet. Taking inspiration from some of her favorite artists Stella Marie Baer, Jenny Saville, and any one of the Dutch masters.
ÔRKiD’s Artist of the Months has this to add.. She finds it vital to be self-reflective and understanding how, especially in her case, different mediums that you may use will continue to inform each other. Rachelle said it took her a long time to let go of all the walls she had built and be able to run with a particular medium fully… and loves that quote from Little Miss Sunshine - "Do what you love and fuck the rest.
She also freelances and can be commissioned to do special projects just for you!
Artist Of the month
Jennifer DeJesus Sabella a native of Connecticut and daughter of the famed Bambi Linn a Broadway dancer and last living legend of the original Oklahoma! musical cast. Having grown up with such a mother, always surrounded by art, music and culture she absorbed it all. After many years of experimenting with various mixed mediums and colors Jennifer has procured her own style that I find is a perfect matured balance of adult sophistication and detail all the while upholding bright bold youthful colors. Her work can be found in private collections around the globe. Jennifer also has done dozens of gallery shows and is available for public and private commissions. Check her out!