We begin to close out the year with another special list: the stories you read the most, printed in our Quarterlys but also here on Juxtapoz.com. The world shifted in October, but these stories, quotes and artists speak about something universal: the right to expression, the right to community, the right to create. That is important. As I wrote a few weeks back, "the artists we speak to on this anniversary, speak about art as this vital lifeblood of humanity, of time turning in on itself, of finding inspiration in the contemporary, classic, and future at all times in their process. We leave our comfort zones, push to connect, and challenge to find a community and commonality in the expressions of mark-making, even when there is conflict all around us. Art is a collective, permeable history, yours and ours."
George Condo, The Artificial Realist, by Charles Moore, Winter 2024
"What I find fascinating about Western culture is the insatiable urge for success or the good life. This kind of strange self-empowered drive is what I see happening in the younger generations who haven’t really gone through the motions of, say, working in a factory like I did. And I don't mean Andy Warhol's factory. I mean a real one, making plastic cups, working in air cooler factories. And getting to that point where I would say, 'Listen, if I don't get my act together and make it as a painter, I'm going to be working in this place for the rest of my life!'"
Gregory Rick, War and Peace, by Alex Nicholson, Spring 2023
"And as far as making decisions, you know, you can't really take 'em back, but you can make amends and you can make a different decision if it was the wrong one the first time. All you can do is learn. And maybe that's how you establish your values, by learning from your decisions. But it's gotta rhyme, you know? We're just humans, we’ve only got so many tricks. We have to eat. We strive for certain comforts over and over again. Nothing's unprecedented for the most part. Everything that happens in my life and all the dilemmas are not unique to me. It may be helpful to have some goals and try to align your goals to values as best you can. Not to get all Dr. Phil on you... does that answer the question?"
Peggy Kuiper, Her Emotional Landscape, by Gwynned Vitello, Fall 2023
"I wouldn’t say that swimming or swimmers are a massive topic for me, but what is an important recurring theme throughout are my self-portraits. I’m at this age, 36, where as a woman you start being confronted with your fertility and your aging body. We change all the time, our moods change all the time, and I believe there’s tremendous beauty in all of this. I try somehow to capture the many identities that I hold within me through times passing, and that way, try to make sense of my innermost self and the world around me."
Olivia Sterling, Rage Comedy, by Shir Cohen, Winter 2024
"What also pulls me out of thinking that way… how do I say this without sounding a bit wild? At least our marginalization, and thinking that it could be “over''—that's based on discrimination. I don’t want to say that at least our complaints are valid, whereas incel complaints are very one-dimensional and self-positioning, but a white CIS man being sad about how’s not banging a million chicks… that's not a systemic issue."
David Shrigley, A Serious Man, by Evan Pricco, Summer 2023
"The thing about interviewing me, Evan, you need to understand, and I should have told you this before we started— but I have a habit of contradicting myself. So you may find that I've given you answers to questions and told you anecdotes that really are very much counter to previous interviews I've done, where I've said something completely different. But having been interviewed many times over the years, I realized that part of the joy of being interviewed is that you can change your mind."
The Lexicon of Sadie Barnette, by Shaquille Heath, Spring 2023
"I think there's something about waging this love through this practice that is sometimes abstract or slippery. I get to say, 'I think there has to be a better way for people to interact and to be together…' But I don't know what the answer is and I'm not a community organizer, or a politician who’s proposing a platform. I'm just hoping that we can be imagining something else. It isn't prescriptive in a way of saying, 'This is what we need!' Like, I don't know what we need! I don't even know if we can be better. But it seems like a worthwhile way to move through the world. At least on most days, and with most of the actions that you take, do it in a way that assumes that maybe humanity is not totally a trash fire… all the time. It's a 50/50 chance."
The Perez Brothers, Low and Slow, Mean and Clean, by Gwynned Vitello, Summer 2023
"We go to car shows or cruise at night and photograph whatever catches our eye. We then go to the studio and look through our photos and pick out the ones that resonate with us. After that, we erase the background in Photoshop. Then we project the image onto the canvas and start painting it from there. We work on two paintings at a time, with each of us working on one individually; then we trade off once we’re done with our part of the painting, and it always looks like one piece. This process takes us about two months for big pieces, smaller ones usually take a week or two. It all depends."
Mohamed l'Ghacham, The Time Traveler, by Evan Pricco, Winter 2023
"That feeling of painting 'life' in dead places increased even more when I started painting more realistic scenes that had more to do with painting than conventional graffiti. On the other hand, I am part of a generation that grew up seeing a lot of pieces by Aryz, Gr170, Kikx, and that group. They had spectacular pieces both for quality and size in any abandoned factory you visited. Those people, in particular, made me see that there were other languages when working in the street and that by replacing the sprays with paint, rollers, and extension sticks you could take advantage of a wall much more, and reach higher to achieve finishes that are unthinkable with the spray."
Zoé Blue M., Finding the Sound of Emptiness, by Holodec, Fall 2023
"'We’re American.' Which is true, they are, you know. Then there’s my grandmother on the immigrant side who doesn’t really identify with the Japanese-American community because she’s Japanese. There’s this mix between the two ways. As we got older, what I found interesting was the duality of rejection. But the constant underlying spiritualism is everywhere. She would have this attitude of, 'No, not subscribing to that.' But at the same time, she would say, 'This is a good omen here, a bad one here.' Doing things without saying them and growing up with an underlying spiritual and cultural current."
Danielle Roberts, Night Light, by Kristin Farr, Summer 2023
"Maybe the tension also comes from the color palette. The muddy colors against really vibrant colors set up this psychological discomfort because it’s simultaneously bright and dark at the same time, which creates an uneasy feeling. Also the placement of the people and how they’re either looking at each other or not. There’s a painting of a picnic on the roof, and there’s a knife in the foreground between two people. Little things sometimes refer to people or friendships that have come and gone, or had conflict, which also creates tension. It’s subtle, just a knife with oranges or lemons in the foreground, but that was a painting of people that I’m no longer friends with, so it was like a joke for myself."
Cinga Samson, In the Depths of Mystery, by Charles Moore, Fall 2023
"There’s something very romantic about being alone in the studio. It’s sensual. It can also make you lonely. I see myself as a poet. I don't have to be logical. I don't have to make sense. I love the sensation of ambiguity.”
Fatima de Juan, Fruit Force Femme, by Kristin Farr, Spring 2023
"Fruit is always present in my work, its pure connection with the earth, and, at the same time, its erotic power and an irresistible color. Fruit is a symbol of abundance and of the eternal feminine. The crocodile represents the wildest, most ironic part. Often the women also appear together with other animals such as spiders or cats, which makes it a kind of double self-portrait, where woman and animal identify with each other and create dialogues between them." 
Taravat Talepasand, Bold Blasphemy, by Kristin Farr, Fall 2023
"So that was a problem for me to try and figure out my identity and wanting to connect with Iranian culture. I masked myself in so many ways and didn’t accept the culture that I come from until I researched it on my own. So that’s why part of my practice is still discovering, negotiating, and renegotiating the parts of the culture that speak to me, as well as the parts that don’t."
Cristina BanBan, Big Energy, by Gwynned Vitello, Winter 2023
"I don’t believe in keeping track of ideas. For me, painting is something more emotional than intellectual. Painting has so much to do with emotion and mood, so I find that whatever is happening in my personal life, my thoughts, or even the music that I am into will influence and take part in the process. I often feel that painting is the closest thing to a journal for me."
Stipan Tadic, Night Seer, by Evan Pricco, Winter 2023
"I don't know. I think New York is interesting because I can go out anytime, have a walk and come back to the studio with five ideas for paintings. It’s really like that. He’s an example from the last show. There's this bar, The Magician, and I painted three people in it. I really like picking out these places, which only locals would understand. And I'm also testing myself in spotting those places and seeing what people will say. I have a lot of fun with that. And I also painted Tompkins Square Park, which is really an interesting cultural spot. So, in general, New York, I don't know what to think. I'm really critical of all of it but I like these certain spots. Yeah, I have my certain spots I really like."
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