JULIA SINELNIKOVA

Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

The core drive behind my practice is to create immersive environments for healing and learning. I have always been heavily inspired by music, including my background growing up with experimental electronic music and raves in Texas as well as touring as a choirgirl around ages 9-14. I am particularly drawn to ambient music and interested in poetic chants throughout the history of civilizations, ways that sound has drawn together people over millenia. I see my sculptures, light art, music, performance, poetry etc. as activations within my attempt to translate harmonies from nature into designs with new architecture.

Nature and its patterns are a direct inspiration for me, as well abandoned structures, as well as sun and water refractions. I document these minute details wherever I travel through photos and videos, and later incorporate the inspired patterns into my hand-cut sculptures and large scale forms.

Through my public sculpture practice, I work to create lasting environments for imagination and play. To help build diverse representation in public art, I employ LGBTQ, disabled, POC, and underrepresented artists when I direct the budgets to create my public works. My public sculptures aim to reflect powerful natural elements, create meditative environments, and inspire dreaming for all ages.

What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

Eastern European folk tales from my upbringing in Russia, which center the witch, filter heavily into my understanding of mysticism and storytelling. I see my sculptural objects as artifacts from a synthetic whole, an expansive performance ranging from research of natural moss patterns to poetry, light art and theatre. Light is the fluid medium serving as the foundation of my practice, determining how audiences interact with my immersive environments. Through my sculptures, performances, videos and installations, I use ever-evolving modular forms to transform space and examine perception. My intricately hand-cut light sculptures, the Fairy Organs, draw on the myths of the fairies and today's malleability of human appearance in both physical form and online. I perform with these works as a character called “The Oracle,” who I see as giving birth to the living sculptures, channeling an archetypical woman sorceress.

What are your immediate and long term goals?

Cultivating sustainable, diverse and accepting creative communities has always been my goal, and being a part of the community in New York City is both a gift and a privilege. I look forward  to organizing more public art projects as well as curated events here and around the world. I would particularly love to collaborate with a science center like CERN or a center for astronomical research, since my visual art is concerned with translating the patterns and languages of nature into new healing forms.

I’m making more pop music as ORACLE666 and looking forward to performing more. I am also continuing to work on a book on Vector Gallery and my time with the Crown Prince of Hell, JJ Brine.

Anything else you'd like to mention?

I am thrilled that several of my permanent public sculptures have opened recently, including “Dream Waves” commissioned for the History & Culture Trail in Tallahassee, Florida. I am looking forward to documenting five total permanent public works that are being unveiled one by one, my monumental large-scale sculptures. 

RICHIE MORENO

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

I think of my art practice as a sort of alchemy, I usually start with a found object that resonates with me and my collection of friends, it's usually something from the natural environment out here in South Florida, be it a wild boars skull, the corpse of an iguana, or an alligators spine. From here the objects transform and take on new meanings as I build out a sort of microcosm or reliquary of sorts.

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

I'm interested in the phenomenon of Distortion, where the truth lies and how meaning takes on different forms over time.

I think a lot about Samuel M. Morse's first telegram, "What Hath God Wrought," to me it symbolizes both entropy and the opportunity for new meanings to emerge. The pursuit of truth amidst warped and interrupted signals captivates me, leading me to construct meaning through mining symbols and developing personal rituals. My ultimate aim is to attain a crystal-clear signal.

For years, I have dedicated myself to crafting functional amplifier sculptures, firmly believing in the magickal power of sound and music to connect us. My work encompasses chambers housing specially fitted speakers that immerse various objects in sound. These objects hold sentimental value, generously given by close family or friends, resonating in unique ways. From cherished trinkets and family heirlooms to plants gathered from special places and remnants from past performances, they all find their place in my art. Each piece undergoes multiple performances, accompanied by numerous compositions, as I strive to add layers of significance and evoke a profound visceral ambiance.

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

Long term goals are to create larger projects and collaborate with more people. I co-curated a show in NYC called Everything Ends Eventually at LatchKey Gallery this past summer and I'd like to put together a new show this time in Miami, hopefully at some point in 2025.

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

I'm part of a collective of artists called Tunnel Projects here in Miami, Florida. We have studios in the Little Havana neighborhood as well as two gallery spaces. Follow us on instagram @_tunnel and come by for a studio visit if you're in town.

THE HUXLEYS

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

We like to think of our artistic process as queer wizardry. Its surreal creative lunacy. We draw shapes, designs and scenes of glamorous utopias and set about to bring them into the world with costumes, photographs, music, performance and video. It is a visual assault. A saturation of senses where too much is never enough. We make everything by hand and photograph and video ourselves with timers. We work in an intimate and chaotic bubble of love, absurdity and hectic hysterics. 

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

The core concepts in our work stem from 'wrapping your troubles in dreams'.  We take things that society might tell you is wrong about yourself and amplify them to a state of glamorous terror and make our own queer utopia where you can be any shape, any gender, any reality you can dream of. It is escapism and magic and is set about to inspire that freedom in others. We embrace failure and humour in all our work. We always put our queer love front and centre in our creations as we grew up in times that were deeply closeted and homophobic particularly in suburban regional Australia. We celebrate our love and embrace the fact that life is absurd and everything happens for no reason. 

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

Our goals are to be able to keep making a living from our art, in Australia it is hard to survive as independent artists so if we are able to keep living off our art that is the best thing. We would also love to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale, be in Eurovision and come to Miami to fulfill a lifelong love of the Golden Girls. 

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

We live by this quote by punk impresario Malcom McLaren who said "It is better to be a spectacular failure then a benign success" 

Moises Sanabria

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

My creative process starts with a curiosity about how technology influences our lives. I immerse myself in the latest trends in artificial intelligence, social media, and internet culture. Research and ideation is a big part of what I do—I love learning from experts in media studies and technology. I experiment with tools like AI algorithms, live streaming, hardware, and video to create art that connects technology with human experiences.

I aim to create pieces that not only engage viewers aesthetically but also provoke thought about how digital advancements impact our lives. My art is a dialogue between digital newness and human emotions, bridging the gap between technological innovation and the intrinsic aspects of being human.

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

At the heart of my work is the entangled relationship between technology trends and internet culture. I'm fascinated by how machines think and how that changes the way we live and communicate. My art seeks to visualize the rapid rate of technological change while highlighting language and emotions that connect us all.

Themes such as machine philosophy, commercialization in the age of artificial intelligence, and the aesthetics of internet meme culture are prevalent in my work. Through humor and irony, my goal is to critique and reflect upon contemporary digital life, and highlight both the exciting possibilities and the challenges that come with our increasingly interconnected world.

3. What are your immediate and long-term goals?

In the immediate term, I aim to continue creating sculptures, installations, and video works that bridge the gap between technological advancement and emerging internet meme culture. I want to further explore using readily available electronic components from maker spaces and online shopping to create interactive artworks that engage audiences in real time. Collaborating with other artists, technologists, and thinkers is also a priority, as it allows for the exchange of ideas and pushes the boundaries of what's possible in the era of tech-romanticism.

Long-term, my goal is to contribute to a more ethical and reflective dialogue about the role of technology in society. I aspire to expand my practice globally, exhibiting in diverse spaces and engaging with varied audiences. I hope to influence the discourse around techno-poetics and AI politics, encouraging others to consider the ethical implications of technology. Ultimately, I want my work to inspire a deeper understanding and appreciation of how digital advancements shape our collective human experience.

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

I'm passionate about using art to bridge the gap between digital innovation and human emotion. I believe that originality is an evolution of existing ideas, and my role as an artist is to add commentary between the digital and physical world. My projects are not just visual artifacts but reflections on the complexities and nuances of modern existence. I'm committed to pushing the boundaries of digital art and media critique, and I'm always open to new collaborations that challenge conventional norms. Through my work, I hope to encourage people to reflect on their own relationships with technology and imagine positive futures.

NITIN MUKUL

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

Around 2008, while living and working in India, I pioneered a process which bridges painting and motion pictures to arrive at a new format for painting as an event. The process is called “‘durational painting.” These pieces begin by layering paint in sheets of ice, freezing each layer of acrylic and material so that they accumulate layers of color and texture. Placing the frozen mass outside, it melts according to natural weather conditions while it is filmed. The resulting pieces are records of slow transformation, offering a meditative glimpse into elapsing geologic time. My intention is to create a space of collective healing, in which viewers can find space to build empathy with more-than-human forces. Durational paintings function both as an empirical reflection of the site on which it is made—recording light, temperatures, time of day, location, and our climate-at-large—while also positing new paradigms for how abstract painting might function as a durational, borderless experience.

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

In my work, the process of erasure and incremental distance from one generation to the next manifests through the use of areas of intense color and texture alongside ornamental patterns, motifs and structures that fade in and out of the surface of the canvases. The paintings are situated on physical as well as psychological planes, a palimpsest where fading ancestral memories are screened through a present moment that feels less than stable in some ways. 

My work encourages participants to momentarily disconnect from the spectacles of today’s digital media in order to connect with a more meditative and contemplative pace. Durational Paintings are a series that engage with particular micro-atmospheric conditions at the site of their production. This is ambient art that also functions as an empirical reflection of the site on which it is made: light, temperatures, time of day, location, and our climate at large. This is a new context for understanding abstract painting as a durational experience.

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

I want to keep finding time and space to make and share my work and build an appreciative audience. I would like to be a change agent for, and part of a more inclusive version of art history. I embrace opportunities for collaboration and have had several rewarding experiences working with musicians and performers at institutions that included The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pioneer Works, The Queens Museum, Lincoln Center, and The Rubin Museum, among others. 

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

In 2020 at the height of the pandemic I co-founded Epicenter NYC, which started as a newsletter to help underserved communities, navigate Covid through journalism, an artist program, small business coverage and on-the-ground resources. Today, it is an award-winning multiplatform community journalism organization that also includes podcast and video content, and features small businesses, culture and things to do, artists profiles and exhibits, and coverage on issues that impact people's everyday life. Epicenter connects, informs and engages people IRL and digitally through the power of culture and community. 

MELISSA HAIMS

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

Hi there! I am Melissa Haims and I'm a sculptor based in Philadelphia. I create large-scale installations, knit graffiti, and soft sculpture, using traditional handwork methods like knitting, crochet, and weaving.  I also sew unconventional quilts using found and vintage fabrics paired with subversive text. The majority of my work is produced using post-industrial pre-consumer waste.

When I begin to design a large-scale installation I always start with "why". Why is this subject significant? Why should I document this? Why should people know about this? Why should the audience be compelled to engage? Since I work in textiles, the next thing to consider is  "how".  How am I going to build this? How am I going to transport it, exhibit it, manage it? Scale can be difficult and has led me to my own demise. Once. Maybe twice. Textile work (like knitting, weaving, or sewing) is process heavy and I love getting into the weeds. Handwork (what we call the act of the aforementioned) allows a lot of time for thought, reflection, and conversation. All of these ingredients are important for any project to succeed. Especially when the community gets involved.

Community engagement is vital to my work. Creating with an audience can be fulfilling but also frightening. There have been many tragically beautiful moments in my career whether it was in a fair booth, a gallery or museum. And I treasure each one.  I remember one of the earliest experiences I shared with a fair goer was ten years ago at the Satellite Art Show in Miami when a young man walked into my space and immediately started to cry. I was walking around the booth while knitting and he had just lost his grandmother. The act of knitting, being surrounded by yarn, and the smell of wool overloaded his senses. There were a lot of tears followed by a lot of laughs. And that's exactly what I want people to take away from my work: pure and unadulterated joy.  That will make more sense in answer to question 4, btw. [insert winky face here]

So the next question is "and then what".  What can I use to engage the audience to work with me? What can everyone do with a little bit of direction? Not everyone can knit or crochet. But with guidance, everyone can sew. Everyone can weave, and make knots. That's what I love about making interactive textile work: we're never allowed to touch anything in a gallery or a museum but my work is made to be handled. 

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

The majority of my work is based on death, dying, and mental illness. These aren't the prettiest things to talk about, nor are they the subject that people want to bring home and hang on their walls, but they are important. They are essential. And the more we talk about them, the more comfortable we can be with grief. People don't want to talk about dead children and gun violence. We don't want to talk about mental illness. No one wants to talk about the "broken system" but fixing the system is crucial. This is why I work. These are the things that we need to be talking about to make progress. And if I can talk with you about it then maybe you can take that and bring it to someone else. And that's how we can move things forward. That's how we can heal ourselves and our communities.  

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

In the next 12 months I'd like to finish some UFO's  (Un-Finished Objects) that have been occupying the far corners of my brain and my studio. Further afield I'd like to explore residencies, specifically ones that are independent and remote. I love the idea of being so far off the grid that the only thing I can do is make work. No phones, no internet or TV. Nothing to distract me from making. Except not so remote that I can't swing by the shop and pick up a bag of chips. 

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

I am often asked how I manage the devastating sadness in my work.  Dissociation is fairly easy once you circumvent the enormity of the subject matter. *But in reality, I think that grief is just the price we pay for love. Grief is healthy. Jamie Anderson, best known for his work with Dr. Who, says it beautifully. “Grief, I've learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All of that unspent love gathers in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in the hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”

STEVEN HARWICK

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

My art practice, mainly under the umbrella of my project "Bound Leather", can be described as an ongoing archival project, started as a means of exploring and documenting the contemporary leather and BDSM communities through a photographic lens, leaning on cultural history and traditional fetish imagery while simultaneously subverting those standards by showcasing an array of people more inherently inclusive than the long-established canon. I'm a photographer first and foremost; however, my process and creative output often encompasses moving images, sculpture, poetry, collage, and installation. "Bound Leather" captures intimate moments and powerful symbols, revealing the beauty and complexity of BDSM practices and leather culture. The work created is testament to the diversity and richness within these communities—celebrating empowerment, consent, unyielding authenticity, and the freedom of self-expression.

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?
Central to "Bound Leather" is the act of unraveling the threads that weave through contemporary masculinities and fetishism, drawing inspiration from the roots embedded in mid-century Americana. Figures like Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, and James Dean stand as tent poles, their cultural impact resonating through decades, influencing notions of identity, gender, and power. My work is grounded in the ambivalence of this through-line: translating its endurance and obsolescence in contemporary queer culture. In "Bound Leather," boundaries blur and identities converge, offering a profound exploration of human connection, liberation, and the transformative power of embracing one's true self. It invites viewers to journey beyond the surface, to engage with the complexities of desire and the raw beauty found deep in the shadows.

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

My long term goals for my practice are to continue to establish a brand as a self-publisher of physical print media, work on more involved short film work, and continue showing in galleries. In the short term, to work towards this, I aim to publish at least one issue of my physical zine each year, begin fleshing out ideas for a short film, and just continue to put my work out there, in the hopes that I'm invited to participate in more group shows at different cultural institutions. Another ongoing goal for the project is to foster a sense of community and this can continue to be realized through working with different people in the scene, but also can be more directly engaged with through workshops and studio visits.

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

Support artists while they are living.

DAVE TAVACOL

Describe your creative process/how do you make art? 

I juxtapose materials, surfaces, colors, images, textures, and space to express my point of view. My work often employs the use leather and porcelain. Leather is an organic and sensual material. Its incorporation conveys the theme of sacrifice, echoing the profound role of redemption within the Judeo-Christian tradition, which is a recurring theme in my practice. Recently, I've taken inspiration from the world of fashion, drawn by the undercurrents of fetishism, violence, and the dynamics of exclusivity versus inclusivity. This confluence drives my art as I continue to explore the complexities of human relationships.

What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

Intimacy, sensuality, ecstatic beauty, and the exploration of otherness are central to my art. Growing up as a gay, Iranian-American teenager in the tumultuous 1980s left me with a lasting sense of otherness. In the aftermath of the hostage crisis, the rise of Christian fundamentalism, and the early days of the AIDS epidemic, my sense of existential alienation was profound. My ability to pass as a straight, white, cisgender kid in a hostile, heteronormative world kept me with a feeling living undercover. This confluence on my experience drives my art as I continue to explore the complexities of human relationships.

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

While I maintain a rigorous art practice, my attention has been inwardly focused last several years. My goal is to is to look for opportunities like the Satellite Art Show to make my work more publicly accessible and look for communities for which my work will resonate.

Anything else you'd like to mention?

Thanks for reading :-)

CLAY WOMAN • AKA Michael Cavadias

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

The process varies a lot depending on what I’m working on.  A lot of time, Claywoman’s material comes directly from improvisations during a show, then I’ll watch the video and build on whatever she said and expand on it for other pieces.  Most of the best ideas seem to come when I’m not trying and just letting the ideas flow.  If I’m trying too hard or overthinking it just doesn’t work.  

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

I think a sort of universalism or humanism.  Claywoman is an alien who has an outsiders perspective on Earthing's and so to her, our differences seem particularly insignificant.  

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

Currently working on some video projects about Claywoman with some wonderful people and I’d like to keep going on that as well as explore other stories as well. 

Courtney Frances Fallon

1. Describe your creative process/how do you make art?

My creative process is never the same, it depends on the project and how the idea came to me. My field of study was literary theory and cultural studies. The theory informs my concepts and writing is the backbone of my work as the process of articulating a concept strengthens it. From there, I’m self-taught as a visual artist so my art making is pretty scrappy and inelegant. 

2. What are the core concepts/ideas in your work?

My work is almost always political and leans toward activism —  most often it’s related to feminist issues, gender-based violence, or reproductive freedom. I’m also very concerned with voter turnout/voter suppression and climate change. I’m incredibly aggressive but also employ absurdity.

3. What are your immediate and long term goals?

One of the immediate goals for my political art is to inspire widespread action and/or prompt tyrannical world leaders to curse me by name. In the long term, I hope to gain the resources to complete large-scale public works of art that are permanent/semi-permanent installations.

4. Anything else you'd like to mention?

I’m a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and an alumna of the EMERGENYC Artist-Activist Incubator. I make art to communicate – to ask questions, challenge the problematic, fight injustice. I work in whatever format will successfully communicate whatever concept is speaking to me. Devastated by Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, I started exploring protest art in 2017 because it’s how I’m able to fight. If I were a lawyer, I would litigate, and if power is going to shift, we need to fight on every front we have – cultural, legal, financial, etc. Art is a productive and provocative way to challenge the current status quo. Performance and art are appealing as methods of protest because they’re generally more dynamic than traditional forms, requiring less organization and fewer participants than boycotts or marches. 

I have been deeply influenced by the punk movement’s commitment to democratizing art, performance, and music. I try to make work that is accessible in terms of price (free or low cost), physical location, etc. I’m very drawn to public art, like urban interventions, that is free and outside of the typical places like white-walled galleries. In 2019, I did an installation on the façade of a building in downtown Houston, and it was joyful for me that viewers stumbled upon the work in an unexpected context. 

I’ve traveled to over forty countries and most of the US, which allowed me to see and experience many wonderful things. It also contributed to my radicalization. During party chatter in Turkey, seemingly cynical people will tell you unprovoked that it wasn’t a genocide (of Armenia) – state-sponsored propaganda works devastatingly well. While living in Poland, I went to Auschwitz six times – it’s devastating, but there are also exhilarating examples of prisoner resistance. In Phnom Penh I felt compelled to make multiple visits to Tuol Sleng, the notorious prison and torture center, in order to learn as much as possible about Khmer Rouge practices and history. All of this, and more, inspires me to make political work.