We are delighted to publish the excellent article, “Hieronymus Bosch, sweet dreams?” by Artist and Tubes writer Gregory Evans. We have divided this extensive article into two parts. Part One is released in this issue. With Part Two to be published in painters TUBES #17.
Artist and Tubes editor Denis Taylor, has contributed with the essay “creating with pixels or pigments...what’s the difference?” - This essay will also feature artists who incorporate digital painting into their discipline. Super issue with artists from the USA, Europe ad the UK.

TUBES leading art magazine for contemporary art collectors Welcome to issue #15 of painters TUBES magazine.We are delighted to publish the excellent article, “Hieronymus Bosch, sweet dreams?” by Artistand Tubes writer Gregory Evans. We have divided this extensive article into two parts. Part Oneis released in this issue. With Part Two to be published in painters TUBES #16.Artist and Tubes editor Denis Taylor, has contributed with the essay “creating with pixels or pig-ments...what’s the difference?” - This essay will also feature artists who incorporate digital paint-ing into their discipline. We have selected four artists work that we believe areoutstanding examples of digital painting today. They are, Edward Taylor Sawyer, who is alsoa writer and explains in his own words how he sees ‘digital art’ as part of an art movement.Howard Brink who as a former graphic artist who creates digital paintings that are ‘Luxurious’.Hans Reefman, an artist who developed his digital work into an unmistakable style of his ownand Yehan Wang, a painter who mixes both digital and hand-made paintings.We are delighted to introduce to our readers a painter from Morocco, Nouiri Mohamed whoworks in the style inspired the ‘masters’ of 20th century art and yet ensures his own hand isunique and evident in the art he creates.Tubes are particular pleased to publish an update report of the huge ongoing project “FiddlersFerry.” which is a photographic and a painting endeavour taken on by Shaun Smyth and LeeHarrison. Fiddlers Ferry in one of the last major Power Stations in the UK that is run by coal firedturbines. It’s decommission is part of the UK Government determined task to eliminate carbonemissions over the next few decades.Both Shaun and Lee are well known to Tubes from our involvement with them on projects and artexhibitions. i.e. “Constructing the Mersey Gateway Bridge” project exhibited at the BrindleyTheatre in their Exhibition Gallery, St Helens, UK. And “Defining the Elemental” exhibition atCrossley Gallery, Dean Clough Mill, Yorkshire UK. The Fiddlers Ferry project is currently at the‘narrative’ stage where both Smyth and Harrison have made numerous visits, sketch’s, studiesand created images from every possible angle. The project is designed to be in two parts: i.e. asthe Power Plant ‘stands’ and how it ‘falls.’ The second part of the project covers the ‘deconstruc-tion’ which is due to commence in earnest, as we go to press. legal notice painters TUBES magazine and TAG- Tubes Artist Gallery. Publications from Tubes issue #1 to #14 and TAG issue #1 to issue #5 are the copyright of Denis Publishing Sweden . All rights are reserved. Reproduction in any form whatsoever is strictly prohibited. Designed and produced by Studio 5 Sweden, 266 95 Munka Ljungby. Sweden. Online & Printed in the UK for global audience distribution. painters TUBES magazine

Hieronymus Bosch... Sweet Dreams? by Artist and Writer Gregory Evansnote: all images wikipedia commons (inc: Front Cover and the Portrait of Bosch following page)

PART ONEThe power of putting hand to surface, of making marks, is truly a magical thing. It’s this miraculous activity that mimics what it is, that the gods do, it’s how wecreate. An idea becomes a real thing when the hand is the conductor for translationof two seemingly disparate worlds; the world of the non-physical (the realm of theimagination), and the material world. From time to time, an artist appears on this earththat has no hesitation to express this magic to its fullest, to expose a reality that few, ifany, would ever see otherwise.Hieronymus Bosch is such an artist. All things considered, Bosch was certainly onein a long tradition of those who have risked more than most of us would dare inexpressing their magic and their vision in what used to be quite a small world.So, what to do when one wishes to examine an artist that very little is known of, whenthe facts of one’s life are so obscure as to be non-existent? What to do when themundane realities of a man become mystery. What to do when you have only a fewfacts, some near-fact, some veiled and some derived from a lot of guesses (educatedand otherwise), and some circumstantial?What to do with the many assumptions from poor to great, and a short list of nearlynothing to go on? What to do if your subject had disappeared from the face of theearth for hundreds of years only leaving a few of the artists paintings to mark hispassing journey on this planet?What to do when one discovers details so sparse that his life without his paintings wasonly a comment, barely a footnote in the history of art?What to do with so many questions and so few answers?We have no journals, nodiaries, no correspondences written by him or to him. We have no thoughts on his ownwork shared by him. We don’t know what he named his paintings, nor when they wereactually painted.What to do when one is tasked to write of such things?To this, the answer is simple – first, we share a few unimportant facts and “near-facts”, then we learn of life and culture in the Den Bosch (the town where Boschlived) at the time, and then we examine his work. What we do know for sure, is thatBosch was born in c1450 and his real name was Jeroen Anthoniszoon van Aken.He took the name Hieronymus Bosch as his artists pseuodonym.

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Hieronymus Bosch was a man whose history is as much a mystery as his work; so sparse are the facts surrounding his life that we could be tempted to thinkthat his presence in this world was intentionally erased.We do think he was born into a family of artists, maybe, there are some indicationsthat his father, grandfather and uncle were all artists, which could imply a deeptradition and profession bred into him as well as a need to wear the robes of a gildedfine artist proudly.Bosch was born to see the last half of the fifteenth century and a small part of thesixteenth. He was married, and he married up, that is to say he married into a certainamount of money and property. It appears this may have led him to (possibly followingin his father’s footsteps) become a member of a local and highly respected fraternalorder called the Brotherhood of Our Lady.Another difficulty with examining Bosch’s work with fact - while not completely unusualfor the craft – is the discovery of paintings attributed to Bosch that were not painted byhim, but by those who would probably have been a part of his studio, either near-peersor apprentices. This may not be an issue if the body of work were larger, but for eachpainting that may have been done by another, its one less done by Bosch.Also, his paintings were never dated, so our thoughts on how his work progressedover time is assumed, his evolution and development as an artist just “educated”guesswork.Building a time-line of his work is something I wouldn’t attempt, so I am happyothers have made their determinations.Bosch was religious – maybe not or maybenot overly pious, but at the very least, traditional, meaning he couldn’t condonecontemporary changes in Church practice of ceremony, for example; The introductionof Josquin’s new polyphonic music being included in the holy mass.His traditionalism, however, stopped before accepting the standard churchiconography and symbolism. He did paint in a religious motif throughout his life,with the morals and values of a Catholic man, this is evident in his work, but onlyaddressed in already accepted formats, in a vague sort of way – his mission wasalways to make something different.Life in the neighbourhood in the mid-1400s that is in Europe’s neglected northern lowlands (in what we call the Netherlands, and sometimes Holland), ordinary life andbeliefs were as they’d been for centuries, the ideas of the Italian Renaissance hadonly just arrived – the fresh and exciting approach to life was long overdue.The Church controlled all things (as the Church did everywhere in Western society),and in this era it was just beginning to re-market itself by bringing in those ideas fromthe southern capital, that was - Rome.Remember that this world was still a middle-age world, and in this world, if somethingshould is known, then it should only known through the filters, through the lens, of theone true church. If something that the society could know, it had to be disseminated byone source alone, the church. There may have been a God in those Netherlands, butthe word of God could only be spoken by the Roman Catholic Church.

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It was this church that offered solutions for the hoards and masses of ordinary folk who struggled with pains, punishments and plagues that we couldn’t begin toimagine today. Creature comforts had not yet replaced essential suffering. It was anage of sadness where man’s only destiny was an undeniable and tangible pessimismthat went beyond simple belief and was proven to be his daily reality.Hell called upon them all, everyone who lived, and the Church made sure no oneforgot this – this was a tangible thing, you could taste it and smell it in the air.The punishment of the damned was a product handed out from behind closed doorsby men in robes. It was a product offered and given freely, sometimes with credit fordeferred payments, and always with a (non-contractual) verbal promise that there wasa way to avoid this miserable destiny.Meanwhile, even the repentant struggled to avoid the snares of the Devil and hisMinions, proving that credits and promises may not be enough.Most knew that all the saints and rosaries in the world would only save a few fromvery real torment, and so other than hedging ones bets, the only contract that wasguaranteed was a life in hell.An all-powerful Hell called upon them all, and could even tempt those who worked therobes and cassocks. All were born sinners, and Bosch would be as concerned withthis status as anyone.. He knew that he too, might not have that golden ticket to ridepie-in-the-sky promises. Like with everyone, Hell was the great motivator for Bosch.In the village called Bosch (formally called Hertogenbosch) there was a changingcultural tapestry. The influence on art from the Italian Renaissance was revolutionaryeven in these far lowlands. Artists would pick up this new style [enthusiastically) asif there were no tomorrow. Art changing and the church was growing, not only in itscongregation, but in its attitudes and presentation. As a good Catholic, Hieronymus stood resistant to these changes. As an artist, he alsorefused to change to the new attitudes and styles that he put into his images –He had no interest in a rebirth. The late-Gothic ways were well in place for Bosch, andbeing the traditionalist he was, he saw no reason to change. He was married, and hemarried well and into money in or around 1480. Up until then, if we assume becauseof non-existent records, his life seems to have been of no consequence and of littleexistence. It’s likely that some of his works we can view today were produced duringthose times, but we don’t really know that as a fact.Bosch appears again in 1490 as a member of the prestigious and Illustrious“Brotherhood of Our Lady.” His brethren were prominent and rich, and it would seemthat, due either to his marriage or his father’s own membership, Bosch fit into thisrealm and was now hobnobbing with the rich, the famous and the influential.The results of this association are unknown. Did it change his work?Did it change his religious views. Did he sell more work? We can only guess that forthe artist - what was more important was the Work

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While the work of Hieronymus Bosch might appear at first glance to be surreal, his process could not have been, at least not in the theory or process of theFrench surrealists of the early twentieth Century when the term ‘Surrealism’ was firstcoined.If we choose to accepts his symbols as a developed language with direct inferenceto real life, then his work must be excluded from being patently surreal. His approachand technique are too rational, his images too well planned to be surrealist work.If we see post-Bosch works of future artists bearing similarity, it would be due to hisinfluence, not his process.For those later artists who rode that particular current or carried the torch of surreality,all Bosch did for them was provide a framework. He could share his style with them,but he did not teach them his language.To venture to say that Bosch’s work could have even been prototypical for the moremodern surrealists work would also be highly misleading, for a prototype, as originalas it may be, implies that work is still in need of development and completion.This is not the case with Bosch. What he did was done as complete. His was a fluentlanguage that had never been spoken before him. His phrases are thorough, thoughcryptic. His vision, unlike all that passed before him and only copied afterwards, wasalive, a cornucopia of hallucinogenic treats that behave more as parasitic morphonsdesigned to forever chew new pathways through our mortal minds, like demonic‘pacmen’, consuming and corrupting any sense of reality that may have existedonce before.To gaze upon the work of Hieronymus Bosch is to be forever changed – his was anextravaganza of unearthly delights. Bosch is able to paint with such perfect detail thatwe can assume what he’s done is real, not a dream.However, he is not a realist in modern terms, but more a realist as the FrenchImpressionists were realists. Not trying to mimic the appearance of reality, he detailedonly the essential in an object – his was truly representational.The Bosch way was loose and meticulous, spontaneous and planned, dark andbuoyant. It alludes to madness and paradise, to pain and joy, to suffering andlove.His work is to be felt, and can be experienced as personal, as we see a manleaving a small village shoulder-bound by a basket filled to the hilt. His head iscovered while he carries a hat in hand for reasons redundant and unknown, and hewears a shoe and a bedroom slipper.This is us, we are this man, and while similar to the image of the Fool in the Tarot inmany ways, this image has the dog ignoring the man only because they have onlyjust begun the Fool’s journey. There will be kisses given, kisses taken and gallowshanging in his sparse background – these things in place so we know what we areleaving behind. That is the real world, found by following the road to perdition, thoughas we turn to depart, that same road becomes the road of redemption,

a road of adventure, and the road to the great abyss. This is the journey of each ofus, regardless of belief or religion or its dogmas. “Picture yourself in a boat on a river,with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,a girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,towering over your head..Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,and she’s gone. Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain,where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,that grow so incredibly high.Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,waiting to take you away.Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,and you’re gone. Picture yourself on a train in a station,With plasticine porters with looking glassties.Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile,The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.”The words above are not the words of Hieronymus Bosch, but they do seem todescribe one of his paintings so well. The author is John Lennon and certainly hasexperience cut from the same cloth as a Bosch painting.His admiration of the man might be evident, but whether he was a fan or not, theimage that these words evoke is certainly drawn from the same current in the sameriver, I believe they point to the same world that Bosch’s work points to.With orwithout drugs, the Bosch world is the perfect psychedelic world.While gods wanderthe blue skies on flying-fish, trolling for unknown prey with unknown bait, watersidepink-stoned flowering royal castles host masses and mermaids amidst a departingentourage. An alien race of unrobed men and women ride upon and cavort among aplethora of beastly creatures known to be both of this earth and not. This is the landof legend; a land that our moribund land can only shadow. Part Two of Hieronymus Bosch- Sweet Dreams? by Gregory Evans will be published in Tubes issue #16 Gregory Evans artist and writer Gregory is an artist who chose his own path. His work is dynamic and constantly evolving. Not one to avoid challenges Gregory pushes the boundaries of style and content towards the new generation. His writing is in keeping with this approach, but it is also written with great care and consideration to communicate to all levels. Having been born in Wales (UK) and spent most of his childhood and early adult life in the USA Greg now lives and works from his studio in France. He has a multi cultural approach to life and is comfortable in his own environment. Greg is an authentic artist of unique talents. Tubes are privileged to work with him.

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painting with pixels or pigment... ...what’s the difference?“flight from Eden” - Oil on canvas- reworked as a digital painting (photoshop smudge finger control) 1996-1998 ©Denis Taylor

painting with pixels or pigment...what’s the difference?“ Is the time for making Art using pigments on a flat surface applied by handnumbered? Are artworks created using digital assisted software the way to go forartists? A technical driven British painter called Harold Cohen wondered aboutcomputer generated images, if it was possible to create a program to draw a completecomposition for a painting. This idea had been developing from 1970’s and becamethe program AARON - Basically it is an autonomous generator of drawings thatbehaved according to the general rules that Cohen had derived from his own paintingexperience. It made over 7000 drawing without human intervention and no twodrawings were similar [not duplicated - which not something most artists can claim].Cohen saw this as a symbiotic relationship, as it was ‘He’ that ‘coloured’ the drawingsthat his mechanical friend had made. And as it says in the ‘history logs’ - “Cohen hascreated a work of Art that creates a work of Art’” - That does sound like something wecould easily envisage being on display in a contemporary national gallery, under aNeo Post Modern label - with reams of ‘Art-Speak’ to accompany it - obviously, tojustify the cost of the installation to the art-indifferent taxpayer.However, this ‘exercise’ seems to have been forgotten, to a great extent and now it’s aremnant from the heady days of ‘art-techno fever’ - during 1980’s.digital Art has moved on since then - and in most astounding ways.In the last decade ‘programmers have enabled a software with the intent of creating a‘thinking’ machine - we call this artificial intelligence. This software was programmedto scan hundreds of ‘portraits’ of real people and then it was directed to paint acompletely new person as a portrait. It actually produced a mushy mess of a face,one that only remotely looked like a face. I guess you could say, ‘must do better nexttime’ if the machine was subject to a junior art school report. However, this is only thebeginning and the future of painted portraiture does seem that it will go the same wayas iPhone selfies - that is; twee, false and slightly embarrassing, totally useless toimproving any insight of an individual to the broader online society.Two very different digital art exhibitions also got my attention a few years ago and thestory about Cohen and Ai machine, sparked off my memory of it.One of these (specific) digital art exhibitions was in London at the Whitechapel Gallery.It was called ‘Electronic Super Highway’ 2016-1966 - (Jan to May 2016). This was anhistorical, almost celebratory, exhibition running for five months. The idea of the showwas to take the viewer on a journey through time, in a backward direction, introducingthe public to prove how some artists had embraced and dealt with the digital mediumover 50 years. And of course how ahead of their time they were and therefore worthyof investment now and in the future.One of the works shown caught my critical attention, as I recall, it was called ‘DeepFace’ (2015). This is one of series of work created by Douglas Coupland, (who isperhaps better known as the author of Generation X). The image is a large formatphotograph of a human torso with a few square and oblong acrylic shapes paintedover the face.

The art work itself was fatuously likened to “ Mondrian Plastic The approach the exhibition took is notArt.” Their message is it’s crucial importance and not so bias towards ‘digital painting’ whichmuch it’s visual importance or pleasure, so the curator said, I have to say, is unlike the secondthe point was that the public are at a critical point of losing exhibition of digital art that I read aboutour personal freedoms. on a show in the USA in the same year as the London show. I dug out myHere is an extract from the exhibition ‘blog’ (that word dates notes and remarks on the exhibitionthe show it doesn’t it) it clarified that message, one that the entitled “The future is OW”- Marlboroughartist unreasonably insisted that we become aware of Chelsea Art Gallery NYC...(back in 2015) that awareness was that... all images of the artist in this article are “...Coupland’s large-scale monochrome head shots show ©Douglas Couplandfacial features obscured by brightly coloured painted abstract shapes or geometric patterns reminiscent of pixels. The series is underpinned by the technological developments in Face-book allowing the use of facial recognition software, with or without user consent....”This social media corporate misbehavior warning mayhave worried a few, but for the many Coupland’s concernswere probably innocuous. When on the net, do we not allshrug our shoulders and accept the cookies and that thebots collecting our likes and dislikes, what our age groupis, etc... so it can report to ‘advertisers’ who pay for the Goddamn free platforms is a given? It seems the majority of uscouldn’t give a toss who is watching or recording our facesand habits, so as long as we are getting our news, info andentertainment (and visual pleasures) for free.Be that a right or a wrong way to think is probably a debatefor TV pundits or those endless academic expert talks onTEDX (which are also ‘free to watch’ with recorded backissues on You Tube).At least Coupland made a salient point about snooping.As far the image is concerned, using a digital medium forthis sort of message is ideal. It’s slick, clean and requiresno input as such as its mission was designed to be ‘visuallylinguistic.’ and not an emotionally communication.Creating this kind of artwork by hand using pigments wouldnot only be pointless, but would take a great deal of timeto physically execute. The London exhibition attemptedto report what had happened in the digital art world overdecades, rather than indicating where digital art is heading.To me this was a lazy choice, a part of an artists ‘job’ issurely to show what will happen ...and not whathas already happened?

...the press release for “OW” in This exhibition got me thinking as to what are the essential differencesthe introduction paragraph read in between painting with pixels and painting with pigments? A note I made in the margin of the exhibition print-out, hence the title of this article. a tendy dummed down style, Reading my notes was a déjà vu moment. I recalled vividly when I “the ‘Future of Ow’ title is went through a period of artists making Art on Macintosh 7200 desktop computers way back in 1997. And probably when they upgraded later to irrational, but it might be about an Apple club-foot model. Possibly later still on an with an Intel core dual people (artists) saying, processor. All of these PC’s loaded with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe illustrator. I do know this ‘progress’, because that’s exactly how I upgraded “ OW ! when they don’t get to and produced the image from a photograph of what I thought (at the look at their precious brush time) was a failed painting and reworked it over a two year period using strokes anymore.” photoshop’s smudge finger tool. (Digital painting: “Flight from Eden.”) For me this is a great example In the late 20th century digital painting promised a veritable ‘Revolution’ of ‘art-bollocks’ in Contemporary Art Practise. And I for one, found it a very exciting possibility of a promise of great Art. Unfortunately, PS3 and other software manipulation software took over the Artist, not the other way round, and computer art became repetitive, texture-less, and a bit boring before and just after the year 2000. It wasn’t that I thought digital painting by artists was ‘cheating’ in 2000 - I mean technology has been used by artists for centuries - i.e. Vermeer and the Camera ‘Obscura’ for example - So, I think technology is actually just another tool in the artists toolbox. Any dedicated artist can and should be able to use any medium, old or new, that is required to achieve a chosen artistic goal. The digital painting revolution promised to be a turning point in artistic creation. In real life post 21st century it became a slick way of making visual effects, quickly produced on the kitchen table laptop to sell an on line on a cheesy website of cheap digital injet prints or worse, on eBay. In other words, it attracted the ‘image’ sellers, and not the authentic Artist. In bygone days painters actually thought deeply about what Art was for, i.e. if Art is not just an image? Then what is it? - Those thoughts encouraged artists to move away from being merely image makers towards a much broader sense of what an artist is. These type of artists seem still to be in the minority. When the use of the camera became common, (a technology introduced in 1900) it played a big part in artists reassessment of what Art was. Most artists realised the era of ‘image making’ was well and truly over. Wasn’t it Picasso who said... “if you know what you are going to do before you do it, what’s the point of doing it? Natural artistic talent simply wasn’t enough and serious artists needed to create something that didn’t already exist as part of the visible world. The artistic challenge of the transferral of ‘the human condition’ from internal emotions or sensations to a static work of two dimensional Art may never have been expounded upon by Pollock and Rothko, had it not been for the technological advance that the camera represented.

“ painting is not about experience, it is the experience.” Mark RothkoPainters used to whinge that machine creation (using software) restricted creativeexpression. Mainly because of the initial steep learning curve of the software and thebutton pressing or mouse clicking needed to change brush or colour. In other words, itwas far less intuitive. But that was in the early days. Today, with finger touch control onmost devices and the new ‘sensitive-pen direct to screen’ gadgets that are around, allthe technical knowledge issues no longer exist. Does that make creating digital art iseasy or more challenging? For authentic artists, it all came down to a ‘state-of-being.’A state that a minority of artists are able to acquire when painting by hand, but not bypixel. This state, a sort of a ‘no-where’ space that many artists go to, allows the artist tothink about everything in life and beyond and not what they actually paint. With digital painting this ‘state-of- being’ seems more difficult to be maintained perhaps, but only because the person doing it didn’t grow up with digital creation. The next generation will of course be different. I believe it’s what is behind the exact moment before the brush stroke is made, that makes the difference between an image and a work of art. Digital painting on a computer or slate requires you look constantly at the screen (no matter howproficient one is with the short cut key strokes). It’s still a cerebral medium by it’s verynature. Therefore the ‘creative-subconscious-state-of-being is constantly interrupted byhaving this controlling piece of software hovering and breaks the flow of the artist andpossibly restricts the magic from happening.There is a feeling that the processor is constantly looking over your shoulder andstopping the freedom factor (the static position of head to screen preventing emotionalinvolvement.) Digital creation is changing from a static physical point to a flexible onewith a tool that ‘paints’ in thin air. This is already in the first stages of becoming a reality.It will free the individual to ‘make-art’ exactly as a pigment painter does today.The differences are narrowing quickly. When you look at a painting the artists handcomes into play. This retains the tension of when the painting was created, which isprobably one of the connections the viewer feels at first. With hand-made art thereseems to be an invisible force that comes from a painting. A force which can captivateand communicate on many levels, visually, emotionally, sometimes even spiritually.Today, time is at a premium for all of us, but Art begs time. Maybe we have justforgotten how to allow time to look at Art? Unlike music that is allowed much morespace and time, due to its mobility. Maybe we should “listen to Art with our eyes”?Maybe digital art too, will become a victim of this lack of having the time to look atVisual Art (to get something from it worth anything at all?) So as far as Pigment andPixel creation in this scenario is concerned, there would be no difference at all. ©Denis Taylor- artist & writer

Howard BrinkTubes have been sharing Howard’s work on our social media for some time. The visual impact of his work is self evident. His ability to compose these digital creations is truly astonishing. He tells us that he feels his many years as a graphic designer has provided him the essential knowledge based on practical experience. His deep seated wish to be a fine artist has never left him during the years where he needed to ‘earn a living’... ...a common thread in most artists lives. Thankfully for ‘Art’ Howard never abandoned ‘creation’ and the fruits of that dedication are seen here on these pages.

Our opinion is that Howard is an artist of artistic stature -It is perhaps the development of the incredible digital ‘available’ technology that has helpedHoward to ‘visualise’ his inner and artistic sensibility with quite delightful visual results.We have only reproduced a few examples, however we are sure we shall be publishing more ofHoward’s work on the Tubes global platforms.‘Here Howard gives a succinct overview on how he eventually became a digital painter...“..my work speaks in a language which has evolved through the complicated of living in theever-changing spectrum of the human experience. My own part of that experience began inearly childhood; colour and form were the means by which I understood life and made sense ofmy own experiences.......even in my late teens, when classmates were thinking about careers and college entrancerequirements, the only path I could imagine was to enter art school. In 1969 I enrolled in theSchool of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where for three years I found a new world, filled withcolleagues who not only understood, but who also shared what had been a solitary language.Despite this heady environment, the need to support my art led me for a period to work incommercial graphic art. Looking back, I see now that the gift of those years was the discipline ofworking in specific restricted parameters. For the first time, I learned that restrictions can oftencall forth imagined freedom and creativity. Through these years I gained a solid background incolour and composition.“

paintings: left: “Cosmic Dancer.”bottom centre: “Young Hearts” Top right “Origin.”

Build #2 - (FS H3) © Howard Brinknote: all images of this featured artist are ©Howard Brink

Left: “Self Portrait” painted with pigment not pixelsArtist - Edward Taylor SawyerEddie is an artist who has been practising digital art for some time.His research is very specific and to some extent quite complex and academic. Tubesare delighted to publish an in-depth article’ that Eddie has written especially for issue#15. This elucidates the artists main train of thought as far as his digital art is con-cerned. Eddie is also accomplished painter using pigment (the portrait above hecreated with pigment medium) as well as pixels, however it is the digital creation thatthe artist is currently concentrating on Deconstructivism, which is an artisticmovement that started in architecture at the end of the 1980s.The movement criticises the rational order, purity, and simplicity of modern designand developed a new aesthetic based on complex geometries.It’s often considered a vein of post-modernism. Abstract, Neo Modernist, PostIndustrial, Non-Objective are all descriptive phrases describing various stages ofDeconstructionism’ thinking in Contemporary Fine Art. Eddie Sawyer, presents hisarguments for developing a 20th century philosophy that was adopted by visual artinto the realms of contemporary digital art. The artist outlines his understandingand reasoning behind digital painting and gives personal opinions on contemporaryart in general.

“I would like to present my case for the DeconstructionistMovement ‘’ in digital painting.The movement had its genesis with Jacques Derrida, oneof the major figures associated with post-structuralism andpost-modern philosophy. Derrida argues that for there to bea new structure of any sort in art there has to be an ‘originto that structure’.Derrida proposed that the origin of any structure wouldneed be as complex as a new ‘alternate structure’ [sic:another version].The question I would like to present is : What, is theGenesis of the current state of the Deconstructiontheoretical creative standpoint in digital painting?In the ‘’Deconstruction’’ of architecture, for instance,there exists profound examples such as Frank Gehry’sGuggenheim Museum in Bilbao which redefine our notionsof form and function in architecture. Deconstructionistthought has been widely established since the mid1980’s to the present, whereas, the documentation of the‘’Deconstruction of Painting’’ has been sporadic at best.In the early 80’s, sub-movements such as GermanNeo-Expressionism, Neo Pop, the Graffiti Movement,Multiculturalism, and Neo-Geometry, functioned as viabletrends, but have remained loosely defined for the lastforty years. In my estimation all of the afore mentionedsub movements fall in line under the umbrella of PostModernism and in a much broader scope, exist only asingredients in the baking of the Post Modern, Multi-Cultural‘’Neo-Expressionist pie.As the connoisseurs of Contemporary Art as it exists image above: “Infinity” ©Edward Taylor Sawyertoday, we tend to rehash what has come before us. Welong to live within a rise of culture similar to a periodof ‘’High Renaissance’’ in 16th century Europe. Artistsand intellectuals have gathered in physical Geographiclocations, like Florence Italy, or Paris France. However, bytoday’s standard, the Age of Technology has ushered ina World Wide arena, for us to share broad and universalconcepts, virtually at the speed of thought.We are compelled to say that we are functioningas Artists, under the heading of some kind ofmomentary rise in visual, literary, or musical Culture.

We have banded together out of necessity, in large groups tocreate what I call ‘’Affirmation Societies.’We gather together along side the fleeting presence of ourfellow contemporaries.Out of necessity, we tend to take comfort in that we areplaying a role in a popular trend like ‘’ Movement ‘’ in the Arts.”That being said, let us depart momentarily, from the comfortof categorisations, and experience a total ‘’Suspension ofAll Disbelief’’ and agree that the Digital Deconstruction ofPainting is a very substantial reality in today’s contemporaryfine arts world.Much can be seen in the gathering of Intellectual Artisansand Painters that have come together in schools like,The Black Mountain School, 1933-1957, or ‘The BauhausSchool 1919-1933 in Germany. Both of these Institutionssignificantly defined the Modernist High Renaissance of thelast century. Subsequently, ‘’ Modernist’’ and ‘’Post ModernistExpressionism’’, have all but dominated the past century offine art.There has been a long ‘’Neo-Expressionistic’’ fervour surgingacross all geographic and cultural borders, so much so thatalmost every image that we view, is considered to be anexample of Expressionism. Today, we tend to rest easilyunder the blanket of ‘’Expressionism’’, even into the bold newera of the twenty-first millennia. We live in a time where weare inundated with Symbolist Design in fine art.In our daily lives, it’s impossible to explain away the perpetualexplosion of digital imagery that permeates our existentialexperience . It is entirely possible that, under these presentconditions within our co-existing cultures, aesthetics is at bestan antiquated pursuit.Collective minds reel at an endless stream of symbols thatcascade before us on a daily basis. Thus making it almostabsurd to throw a metaphoric rope around any type ofimagery, and call that sub-set of imagery a ‘’ Movement’ .’ Insummation, I ask you, the viewer, to openly discuss amongstyourselves and to accept the premise that ‘’Digital Art’’, at it’sfinest, exists as a sub-set of Post Modern Expressionism.On a personal note, I would like to state that my digital art ismy last effort in favour of Humanity. On my best day, I darenot believe it makes a difference. Yet I’m truly humbled bythose that do.

image below: “Cycles #1” ©Edward Taylor Sawyer At Heart, I’ve always been a fine artist. Painting, Sculpture, Film, Multi - Media, Print Making, and Cultural Studies, in virtually any medium, and every form of image making. Currently I am heavily involved with digital painting and print making, which involves extensive knowledge and a creative drive in the developments in technology where it involves art production. I am friend to countless creative individuals, and curated numerous art shows, including seven international shows from all over the World. I’ve had several shows of my own, and advised on many culture related events. Once again and in essence, I have always been and will always be a fine artist. I can’t say enough as to how grateful I am for those who are lifted up in viewing my digital work . . . and engage in the patronage thereof. written by Edward Taylor Sawyer

image right: “Red Clay #1” ©Edward Taylor Sawyer image left: ”Crescendo” ©Edward Taylor Sawyerimage right: “Patina #1” ©Edward Taylor Sawyer

Hans Reefman“from painting with nail polish to pixels”

Hans is a long time artist friend of TUBES magazine.His digital work was first featured in the special abstract issue thatwas published in 2017. His work has tended to be digital sincethat date, although his former artworks were a medium that isloosely based on pigments. His ‘caustic’ paintings were of a semi-sculptural’ nature, and he used a variety of textural techniques.These ‘effects’ and ‘textures’ began to interest him whilst he waswhilst studying in Paris in 1975.The first experiment was (probably) an accident, when he pourednail polish over a piece of paper and became surprised how itmaintained its colour depth and sheen. He combined ‘nail-polish’with acrylic, varnish and cement to discover new effects Hedecided, not without a smile, that this type of ‘painting’ should becalled ‘Polish-Painting.’paintings: opposite page: “inbetween” - Jan 28. 2020. above:”Humming” Jan 25. 2020

Hans has a ‘dry’ sense of humour which surfaces in most things he creates. paintings AboveOver the last three years he has posted many wonderful examples of his “Corridor” Jan 13 2020digital creations - which always carry a message of some description, oftenquite profound. top right: “No Clue” Jan 27 2020Hans digital paintings could probably be classed as abstract-figurative andto my mind, it often shows the influences of Paul Klee from a compositional bottom right:viewpoint, mixed with a touch of intentional textures, not unlike what Jean “Alternative Truth.”Dubuffet used to experiment with in his ‘mud’ slinging days. Jan 25 2020The artist works from his home studio in Arnhem, Holland. Over the yearsHans has gathered a strong following of artists and art collectors alike andTubes always looks forward to his postings on TAG (Tubes Artists Gallery) -which he does very often as his creative output is prolific.

note: all images ofthis featured artistare ©HanReefman

Yehan Wang“digital or hand made paintings it makes no difference..”

Is this made by digital or hand? Email Tubes magazine if you think you know. The striking work of Yehan is unique. What is significant in this feature about digital art is the fact that painters like Yehan, have no issues whatsoever swinging from creating digital painting to traditional pigment mediums. It’s refreshing to know that digital or hand made painting makes no difference to many artists today. Each has it’s own specific place in the world of art. What is more remarkable is that Yehan’s work also shows ‘no difference’ in the sheer brilliance of the work. It is perhaps an indication of how digital art can be integrated and completely accepted as a viable visual art by the main stream high street galleries. It is clear that digital art has a place and indeed is beginning to demand a place in the toolbox of painters.

Is this made by digital or hand? Email Tubes magazine if you think you know.note: all images of this featured artist are ©Yehan Wang

Below is a critical review of Yehan’s work, wriiten by Gabe Kirkley.“...Yehan Wang explores abstraction through his work in paintings. Through the systematicapplication of repetitive brushstrokes, Wang not only addresses abstraction in terms of painterlyapplication, but also how paint becomes the subject of the work.Devoid of the colours that identify the markings made on the painted canvas, Wang’smanipulated photographs take the angles, lines, and textures of mundane bicycles and tubing,abstracting the content through the form, and its repetition. A loyalty to the formalist approachis evoked in the meticulous treatment of colour, line, shape, and texture in the practice of artistYehan Wang. This formalism is not only rendered through his treatment of the material, but alsoin the dual reliance between content and form. Influenced by the practices of Paul Klee andWassily Kandinsky, Wang has developed a practice rooted in abstraction and its relation to thespiritual.Yehan Wang was born in Shanghai, China in 1959. Graduating from the Shanghai Academy ofFine Arts in 1980, he exhibited China for 15 years before immigrating to Canada, and continuinghis studies in Graphic Design at George Brown College in Toronto. Wang is a resident ofCoquitlam, splitting his time between Vancouver and Shanghai. Wang’s art has been exhibitedin galleries and museums throughout China, Singapore, Japan and North America.” written by ©Gabe Kirkley

sketch - Shaun Smyth ©2019- 2020 Fiddlers Ferry Project, painting & photography...a visual update from ...Shaun Smyth & Lee Harrison

Photograph: ©Lee Harrisom 2019-2020 Shaun Smyth, painter and Lee Harrison, photographer have beendocumenting the renown UK Fiddlers Ferry Power Station which is nowdecommissioned and due for demolition starting in 2020.Shaun and Lee have linked up in projects before today, so this project is adevelopment of their working relationship. They have been documentingthe Power station in ‘operational’ form before it closed down.They also will document the plant as it is demolished. The project is therefore a major undertaking. They have almostcompleted the first stage of sketches and photographs. The first exhibitionis targeted for 2020 with a second show in 2021, and a third during 2022.2023. The first exhibition will show the complex machinery, the buildingsand the people of the power plant. Fiddlers Ferry provided the power that drove a 20th century industrialBritain. The coal powered plant now in its last days of existence with thedemolishers set move in very soon. Fiddlers famous Cooling towers havebe seen across the North West of England with their spectacular shows ofsteam rising from them for around fifty years.

The plant was built in 1971 and was sited on the north ©Lee Harrisonbank of the river Mersey between the towns of Widnes andSt Helens. Fiddlers Ferry is one of the last five remaining above: photograph of Fiddlers Ferrycoal fired power generation stations in the United Kingdom of from a distanceGreat Britain. right: Charcoal on paper Sketch of the Fiddlers Ferry power station covers a huge amount of main towers at Fiddlers Ferryground, and over the years it has seen an ironic naturespin off for the wildlife and water fowl, which have takenadvantage of the ‘use’ of water the plant used for as acooling agent and steam generator.Fiddlers famous Cooling towers can be seen across theNorth West of England with spectacular shows of steamrising to the heavens. One of the many images caught oncamera, on video and in painted images by Shaun Smythand Lee Harrison. The End Game for the power station is the demolition ofit - which will be a visual spectacular, especially when theenormous towers come down. Yet there will be a touchof sadness about the whole closure. Despite the 21stcentury awareness that coal fired power generation needsto be stopped, for the good of the delicate balance of theenvironment as it is today, this power plant has been aniconic emblem of the North’s contribution to the wealth of theBritish Nation. It stood as a symbol for a progressive attitude‘can do’ will do spirit, when it comes to the independenceand non-reliance on imports from outside providers for theessential energy requirements of a nation. The work of Smyth and Harrison do go far beyond thenarrative and the recording function of the iconic industrialarchitecture. Their work must be viewed as works of artin their own right. The extent of the visuals they have andwill create shall prove to be unique and demonstrates tofuture creatives how to set about a prolonged project, withdedicated professional and a high standard of aesthetics. “Fiddlers Ferry as it Stands” and a follow up show:“Fiddlers-Ferry as it falls.” will both act as historic recordsThese comprehensive records of sketch-work, paintings,photographs and video, may well be permanently housedin an industrial dedicated Museum for future generations toview as visual education. Tubes magazine will be followingthe project throughout the second phase of ‘demolition’ - thiscould take another year of two - and it will well worth the waitas and when the Towers will tumble - There is no doubt atall that dramatic and historic event will be expertly recordedand placed at the end of the project by Smyth and Harrisonas the final act - of both the Power Station and the Project’sexhibition.

©Shaun Smyth

©Lee Harrison

©Lee Harrison A few of the excellent photographs an charcoal on paper sketch work of Fiddlers Ferry all artwork ©Shaun Smyth

Sketch work andpainting in progressby Shaun Smytth©2020

Introducing the painter Nouiri MohamedTubes were excited to see an example of the work of Nouiri Mohamed on social media. Aftercontacting him the artist posted a variety of work that displayed his interest in both nature andstill life. The work is mature and accomplished, and intriqued Tubes asked Nouiri to providesome details of his past experiences.Nouiri was born in an urban suburb of Rabat the Capital city of Morocco during the beginningsof the 1970’s. His natural leaning towards creating art materialised having been stimulated bycomics and the cinema as a child. The mix of peoples in Morocco also provided a variety ofcultural and visual inspiration. The enviroment propelled him to be absorbed into the creative mindset. It was when he visited an exhibition by a Brazilian painter that was the final ‘push’ which gave him the ambition to become a painter. Between 1988 and 1992 Nouiri enrolled at the Tetouan Fine Art School (photo left) - Here he focused his talent on expressing himself within a framework of expanding the classical compositions he wasintroduced to as a part of his ‘art-training’. He also became very interested in sculpture, whichwas to have a significance in his artistic development.Nouiri became known in the academic art world in Tetouan by the various awards andparticipated in a number of exhibitions. He then attended the “Institut Francais’ (French Instituteof Art) in Tangier where he further expanded his knowledge as an assistant in the engravingworkshop. It was here that he helped established and accomplished senior artists to translate their work into engravings. Two artists advised Nouiri about directions that could be pursued in paintings. International artists Claude Villiat and Gerard Titus-Carmel were two of the artists who Nouiri had opportunity to discuss art creation with.photo: top: Front of the French Institute (of Art). Bottom: typical space provided for art students.

Landscape #1Stimulated for art knowledge Nouiri examined the work of AntonioTapies, Carlos Garcia Muela and Josep Niebla which deepenedhis artistic aesthetic. The artist stumbled across a book on HenriMatisse and totally digested Matisse’s writing on art creation whichhad an enormous effect on his own work.By 1988 Nouiri gained the opportunity to participate in the DakarBiennial. (In 1993 the structure of the Biennial was transformedand Dak’Art 1996 became an exhibition specifically devotedto  Contemporary African Art. The following Biennial in 1998 thisstructure was consolidated and enlarged)It was at the biennial  that Nouiri met the known sculptor OusmaneSow. This chance meeting and the discussions he had with thesculptor have had significant influence since that meeting.

In 1999 Nouiri spent time in Paris, it was here that thequestions of ‘identity’ grew and as a consequence Nouirispent time in meditation and self examination.“...between figuration and disfigurement accordingto the terms of myself, I became torn by a perpetualquestioning of the act of painting, as if to affirmmy multiple affiliations; urban, sub-saharan, andmediterranean and it’s spiritual connections.”(Editors note: the above is an abstracted comment from theconclusions of the writing Nouiri supplied to Tubes)

paintings: Landscapes#2 #3 and #4.

above: Still Life arrangement #1 right: Still Life arrangement #2bottom right: Still Life arrangement #3’ ©Nouiri Mohamed

TpUaintBersES artists exhibition catalogues written, designed, produced, and published on all Tubes platforms, web sites and social media networksglobal audience with printed copies forexhibition distribution painters TUBES magazines are the writers, designers and producers of artists catalogues for World Art Exhibitions in the UK, Europe and the USA.