Portals at Battlebox

A new visual arts exhibition snuggled within the Battlebox in Fort Canning Hill conjures a handful of surprising portals into Singapore’s wartime past, showing that history is more than what meets the eye.

Portals, an exhibition which sees seven visual artists respond to the site of the popular, if eerie, tourist attraction, complements the relatively straightforward storytelling in the bunker which consists of wax figures and historical set pieces. It runs till June 29.

Curators Jonathan Liu and Shireen Marican have adopted a metaphorical approach – avoiding the trappings of crowd-pleasing immersive work while still offering a multi-sensory experience that enlivens the space.

Two sound-based works placed in adjacent rooms demonstrate this. Go near artist Victoria Hertel’s darkmode (2025) and her dangling glass vessels respond with their meditative tinkling and phosphorus glow. Her work leads to the escape hatch and provides a counterpoint to the dark battle scenes around the bunker.

Beside Hertel’s work is artist Zul Mahmod’s Electromagnetic Sound: The Hidden Echoes (2025) – which emits a frenzied white noise as it responds to the changes in surrounding electromagnetic waves. Both works nudge the viewer to reckon with how human and non-human presences affect the environment.

For more conceptual fare, artist Anthony Chin’s BMA (2025) – which references the British Military Administration’s return to Malaya after Japan’s defeat – tackles the import of 50 million grains of opium in 1945. Lord Louis Mountbatten’s hand is tied to a fish hook which pulls on a latex screen projecting archival images of coolies.

The result is a restless push and pull that is at once comforting in its rhythm and disturbing to watch up-close – much like the contradictions of opium, a source of suffering and comfort for addicts.

Artists Dongyan Chen, Ernest Wu, Huijun Lu and Jake Tan’s works are also on show. Skip the textual overload – the Battlebox itself is already pretty wordy – and focus on the sounds and sensations of the work. The art, not the words, are the portals to the past.

Where: Battlebox, Fort Canning Park, 2 Cox Terrace
MRT: Dhoby Ghaut/Fort Canning
When: Till June 29; Wednesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm (last entry at 4pm)
Admission: Free for basic experience; $20 (tourists) and $15 (Singapore citizens and permanent residents) for enhanced experience, which includes an audio tour and access to two projection rooms
Info: www.klook.com/en-SG/activity/116457-battlebox-fort-canning-park-singapore

The Banker’s Journey by Lincoln Townley

English contemporary artist Lincoln Townley’s abstract figurative portraits of financial elites will be on show in Singapore – a finance hub that the acclaimed artist has drawn inspiration from.

In works like Banker At SGX (2022) and Singapore Banker’s Night Out (2022), Townley’s bold impasto techniques create vivid portraits of extravagance, ambition, luxury and greed. Asked what kind of energy he draws from Singapore, Townley says the city resonates with his fascination with the pressures of success. “I find Singapore an extremely exciting prospect to show my new collection of Banker heads on a bigger scale. I’m fascinated with Singapore’s luxury scene – high-end clubs, casinos and extravagant lifestyles align with the themes of indulgence and what successful people are willing to go through to succeed.”

In 2022, Townley sold 20 works to a private investment group in Singapore. He has often said his collectors see themselves in his works: “They hang these oil works with pride and celebrate the fact that they push boundaries to secure 100 per cent of the deals they are working on within their financial world”.

Townley’s portrait works are reminiscent of the late Ireland-born British artist Francis Bacon’s raw and unsettling figures. Townley’s works have been collected by the likes of American actor Al Pacino and his pieces command six-figure sums on the primary market.

After a sell-out Venice Biennale show in 2024, the Singapore exhibition will offer a preview from Townley’s 2026 collection for the Venice Biennale.

Where: Art Works Gallery, One Holland Village, 7 Holland Village Way
MRT: Holland Village
When: April 3 to 20, 11am to 8pm (Mondays to Thursdays), 10am to 10pm (Fridays and Saturdays), 10am to 8pm (Sundays)
Admission: Free
Info: ac.artworks.com/the-bankers-journey-exhibition-page

SAM Access Showcase 2025: common languages

Is it possible to discuss contemporary art in Singapore Sign Language (SgSL)? How do visually impaired visitors get to experience the visual arts? At Singapore Art Museum’s (SAM) inaugural access showcase – an array of programmes about art and accessibility, which includes the Touch Collection – seeks to answer such questions.

From March 27 to April 13, a glossary of art terms in SgSL, a tactile booklet adaptation of artist Nguan’s photographs and a collection of touchable art adapted from works by Singaporean artists will be on show for free at The Engine Room.

The showcase is accompanied by talks, workshops and performances based on the theme of arts and inclusive programming. For those who want to dive deeper into the topic, non-profit arts organisation Art:Dis has an ongoing Arts and Disability Forum at various locations till March 29.

Where: Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road
MRT: Tanjong Pagar
When: March 27 to April 13, 10am to 7pm; various timings for individual programmes
Admission: Free
Info: str.sg/sBD9

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Nathan Portelli is a visual artist from Gozo. His deep connection to his homeland and his concern for humanity’s impact on it are the primary influences in his work. Portelli’s debut solo exhibition, titled Id-Diżappunt, is on at il-Kamra ta’ Fuq, until 13 April.

1. What’s been the most defining moment in your career so far?

It was when I successfully managed to produce a cement ġbejna straight out of the qaleb. This came with a lot of trial and error, seeing the countless sacrifices of failed ġbejniet in the process. It was an aha moment that I instantly knew would shape what was to come next in my work. If this defining moment is to determine my output short-term or long-term, I do not know. Undeniably, for the time being, I am fully absorbed in the experimentation of different cement consistencies and techniques to achieve the desired ġbejna effect according to the idea set for materialisation. The possibilities are endless and this local delicacy (now protected by the European Union) fits very well in my ongoing focus on the identity of the Maltese nation in the context of its challenges.

2. As an artist, how do you navigate the world and speed of social media?

I must admit this field is not my forte. Apart from not being tech savvy I am also not fond of spending too much time on my digital devices, especially so when I’m fully immersed in my work often forgetting to eat or drink for hours on end. By the same token, I surely do not feel pressured with catching up with the fast speed of social media. Those who know me can testify to my online absence at times! Spending time on a screen kills my spirit. I need to be creating things with my own hands; to transform my constant ideas into physical matter. Whilst without any doubt social media can be a fantastic tool for artists to connect with each other and their audience while bringing their work out there in public, I feel that sometimes there is more energy put on feeding the profile than on the content itself.

3. Do you consider artificial intelligence a threat to your career, or an opportunity?

Not really. Technology and its achievements have always worked alongside artists and somewhat influenced them but it has never fully replaced them. The best example that comes to mind is photography. Artificial intelligence can actually serve as a collaborative tool, particularly for conceptual and visual development artists in the brainstorming process, so I do believe the two can coexist harmoniously.

Having said that, I do understand why certain artists such as book illustrators or those in the animation industry for instance may feel threatened by the speedy advancements of AI. I am confident however that the lack of authenticity and surprise of this machine’s output will eventually push people to appreciate the work of traditional artists even more. Artists work through their souls and emotions; AI has neither of these (yet!). AI simply samples everyone’s art and then reformats it into something else and this is where in my opinion a valid concern arises about AI: Isn’t this plagiarism under the fancy name of Artificial Intelligence art?

4. How do you stay motivated and inspired, especially during tough times or when the work feels hard?

The challenge for me is actually coping with the abundance of inspiration that keeps flowing in. More often than not, a piece or a project will spark another idea or an alternative approach in tackling the same idea differently. Motivation follows course with the same speed, at times tempting me to put aside or even abandon whatever I might be working on to jump onto the next. Sometimes I will also stop working if whatever I am doing doesn’t convince my gut. It’s frustrating, to say the least, especially so when your great idea sets your expectations high! Has it ever happened that you witness a breath-taking view and you quickly take your camera out thinking; wow, this will surely make a great picture; but then it actually doesn’t when you look through the screen? When this happens, I will either have to unwillingly accept that the greatness of the idea cannot be replicated or else hope that it is simply not the right time for it to be materialised.

5. How do you balance your creative instincts with the expectations of your audience or collaborators?

I do not compromise when it comes to my artistic expression. I have a ‘normal’ job on a part-time basis outside my art practice which sustains me financially. Thus, when it comes to making art, I enjoy my absolute freedom and that’s the best part of it all! I do not make art with the intention to sell. I do what my gut feels like doing without any conditioning or constraints. My only constraints at the time being, are time and physical space, as I feel there’s never enough of these to facilitate the art-making process!

There were times, especially ones of financial demands when I had to paint for money. I was making art to please my commissioners’ sometimes strict requests and I hated each and every second of it. There is no pleasure, no purpose when work turns you into a machine. On the contrary, it’s a totally different experience when your audience or collaborators give you the space you need while trusting your authenticity and respecting your artistic freedom.

6. How do you approach a new project? Do you have a specific process or routine you follow?

The idea is normally sparked by a shock; a surprise that I either witness or become consciously aware of. Then I try to mentally work out how this idea can look like on the objective canvas. Sometimes this mental visualisation of the idea comes quickly and clearly, other times it takes months or even years. I like to take my time at this stage and I tend to mentally ‘purify’ the idea and ‘work it out’ thoroughly before attempting its materialisation.

Then comes the choice of the medium that I think would be most effective, the colour palette most appropriate, and the size that would work best for the idea. Once the materialisation process has been set off, the work itself takes over and starts guiding me and there goes the most exciting part of the journey! No matter how clear the mental visualisation of the finished work might look at its initial stage, it will always surprise me at the end.

7. Can you let us in on some of the future projects, works?

As I am due to relocate to a new studio I have recently acquired and which needs total renovation, for the time being, I will have to shift my focus on getting this project done. Although there aren’t any major art projects in the pipeline for the foreseeable future you will surely be seeing more of my work out there through upcoming collective exhibitions.

Extra round

Who are your biggest influences, and how have they shaped your work?

There are various great artists I admire for their contribution to the art world. From Caravaggio with his innovative use of naturalism and stark realism over idealised beauty to the more contemporary Anselm Kiefer through his exploration of his country’s post-war identity manifested in physically imposing large-scale work. As much as I can resonate with the works of such great artists, they haven’t necessarily influenced or shaped my work, or at least not directly. I must admit I do tend to work in isolation as an artist.

At 76, James Stanford possesses an energy akin to the Atom Smasher.

Much like that DC Comics superhero, the Las Vegas-based visual artist has battled challenges and persevered. He has witnessed atomic bomb blasts, left his high-security clearance job with defense contractor EG&G in 1978, and later became a blackjack dealer for seven years to support his family — an experience he describes as the “masks of Mammon” and the “Ph.D. of life.”

Even though Stanford is past retirement age, the idea of retiring is nowhere near his orbit.

Last summer, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Derby in England. Shortly after his return to Southern Nevada, his book, “The Atomic Kid,” was published in October. The monograph depicts digitally manipulated images inspired by his experience growing up in the Atomic City.

During Stanford’s youth in Las Vegas’ Huntridge neighborhood, when the bombs exploded at the Nevada Test Site, he didn’t see a mushroom cloud. Instead, he remembers them “lighting up the sky, like the sun was rising,” followed by a shock wave permeating the city.

“It was terrifying especially because Las Vegas was part of the destruction — it was on the target list because of the test site,” he says. “I remember doing duck-and-cover drills at grammar school. The thought I might never see my parents again was a horrible feeling, and they were only seven blocks away.”

Currently, four large-scale lenticular pieces from “The Atomic Kid” collection, curated by his art management team — Gemma Marmalade and Jane Boyer of [cloud] Collective — are on permanent display as part of the “Atomic Odyssey” installation at the Atomic Museum.

Marmalade, a British academic, artist and cultural contributor for Las Vegas, has known Stanford for four years. He’s also a patron of an exchange program she leads with Las Vegas and the United Kingdom. Marmalade describes Stanford’s work as having a “visceral impact” and containing layers of meaning that her collective seeks to help him “draw out.”

In referring to his atomic art, she says the underlying message is we all share a common humanity of what it is to experience the absolute, annihilation, fear and ourselves in the world today.

Stanford’s next exhibit “Invisible Cities,” which he has been working on for over a year and a half for the Museum of Making in Derby, is set to open in January.

“James is taking images of the United Kingdom, of places that are overlooked and underappreciated,” Marmalade says, “And through his own unique eye and interpretation, he creates a sense of celebration, of elevation and awe that comes from images that otherwise would be construed in the United Kingdom as rather mundane and pedestrian.”

Stanford also uses his position to unify and uplift others, Marmalade says.

“It’s never about his solo perspective, his experience, his privilege and things that happen to him,” she says. “(His art is) with and for everyone else.”

Creating new works is how Stanford enters his strongest element.

“I lose myself, I lose the sorrow, I lose the suffering,” he says. “I become part of the Great Mind.”

He says someone once told him an artist’s inspiration and production are greatest in their 20s and their 70s.

“That’s how I feel my life is right now,” Stanford says. “I feel like I’m on fire.”

Created: Mar 20, 2025 05:15 PM (Updated: Mar 20, 2025 05:15 PM)

A New Generation: independent art exhibition by Sophia Tessitore (Photograph supplied)

An art show will put a spotlight on the works of several young visual artists.

A New Generation will feature exhibits from 12 artists all aged under 35 — some of which were created for this very show.

Sophia Tessitore, who curated the selection, said: “I feel that each of these artists represent various facets of Bermuda and what it means to be Bermudian.

“They also represent a range of different artistic skills and mediums from photography, mixed media, painting and pencil drawing.

“Most importantly, they each have a unique voice and artistic vision.”

The show will be hosted at Rock Island Coffee, which will display the work for two months after the opening show.

It will feature works by Art Broken Club, Yassine the Artist, Jayde Gibbons, Nashon Hollis, Phoebe Hughes, Tristan Narraway, Jasthegemini, Makim Ori, DaeLyn Saint-Surin, Nicole Smith, Sophie Stubbs and Chyna Talbot.

The work will also be available for purchase.

Ms Tessitore said that she wanted to give the artists full freedom on creating and submitting their artwork.

She added: “In the past few years, we have seen a renaissance of contemporary artwork that reflects a diverse range of technique and style, both in the abstract and realist styles of art — presenting innovative and thought-provoking concepts relevant to today’s Bermuda and what that means to us.”

The art show will be held at Rock Island Coffee on Reid Street in Hamilton on Friday between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. Beverages will be provided by Goslings.

A New Generation, the independent art exhibition by Sophia Tessitore (Photograph supplied)

Arts Garage in Delray Beach recently unveiled “Icons, Idols, and Adoration,” a showcase of portraiture of cultural figures from multiple artists whose work celebrates those they hold in high regard. The exhibition is on view in the Marshall Family Foundation Gallery through April 28. Featured artists include:

Stephanie Gowdy

Known artistically as Alyrical, Gowdy is a legally blind artist from South Florida. Working primarily with acrylic on canvas, she also explores mixed media, incorporating graphite, watercolor pencils, and charcoal for her portrait work, which frequently references African American women.

Patricia Schuman

Schuman is a visual artist from New York who relocated to Delray Beach after years in the publishing industry. Her work explores the intricacies of human and animal faces, while also reflecting the movement and shifting hues of the ocean. This exhibition marks Schuman’s debut as a visual artist.

Ena Castillo-Barillas

Castillo-Barillas hails from Masaya, Nicaragua, and specializes in photography, exploring interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Islam. Her large-scale archival inkjet prints command attention from a distance, while the smaller, intimate transfers invite the viewer to lean in.

Anthony Primavera

Primavera is a self-taught artist from Parkland. He employs charcoal and oil paint to transform emotion into imagery. Fascinated by the stark beauty of desert landscapes, Primavera explores these vast expanses as a medium for personal expression. He also creates “psychological interiors”—stream-of-consciousness compositions that evolve through an editing process, stripping away the nonessential to reveal their core essence.

Hal Yaskulka

Yaskulka is an artist from Brooklyn, New York, who has exhibited his works in solo shows across the United States. His paintings reflect his inner connections, responses, and observations of the human experience. As an artist, he draws inspiration from nature and is fascinated by creating a heightened reality while exploring the poetic, the ethereal, and the rhythms that create mystery in his work.

The Marshall Family Foundation Gallery at Arts Garage is free and open to tour Tuesday through Saturday, from 1 to 5 p.m., as well as during performance hours.

For more information, visit https://artsgarage.org/past-exhibits/icons-idols-and-adoration/.

On Wednesday, Miami Beach Mayor Steve Meiner plans to present an item to the city commission that could result in the eviction of the small nonprofit movie theater O Cinema from a city-owned venue.

The reason? The organization showed Oscar-winning film No Other Land, a documentary that looks at Palestinians forced out of homes in the West Bank. The mayor has personally objected to the film, calling it antisemitic.

His proposal to evict O Cinema has turned into a major freedom of speech controversy, receiving international media attention. A group of more than 600 artists — including Miami native award-winning filmmakers Barry Jenkins and Phil Lord — have signed an open letter to the mayor denouncing the effort as an act of government censorship.

“O Cinema has a long history of supporting important and diverse viewpoints that foster dialogue. We as filmmakers invite critical discussion of any film, but your decision to punish O Cinema for screening No Other Land is an attack on freedom of expression, the right of artists to tell their stories and a violation of the First Amendment,” reads the letter.

“It is also an offense to the people of Miami Beach, and Greater Miami as a whole, who deserve to have access to a diverse range of films and perspectives.”

The Independent Documentary Association and the independent theater coalition Art House Convergence have issued public statements condemning the effort as an act of government censorship. Civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Florida Muslim Bar Association have condemned the effort.

In a statement, Mayor Meiner called the film — directed by an Israeli and Palestinian film collaborative — “antisemitic propaganda” and said that a city-owned space should not have shown it.

“It is important to work with organizations that reject any form of hatred, including against the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” said Meiner.

The film documents the destruction of several Palestinian villages in the Israeli-military occupied West Bank after a court order declared the area a special military zone. There are scenes of extreme violence in the film, including of an Israeli soldier and a Jewish settler shooting Palestinian residents who protested their displacement. The film was shot between 2019 and late 2023.

‘Canary in the coal mine’

Kareem Tabsch, a filmmaker and co-founder of O Cinema, told WLRN that he fears the attempt to evict O Cinema from the city-owned space and cut the organization off from any government funds is a “canary in the coal mine” that could send a damaging message to the rest of the world about Miami Beach.

The city is in the middle of trying to very publicly rebrand itself from a hard partying vacation destination to an international arts and culture destination. But now, the headline being seen around the world is that Miami Beach could seek to punish venues that show disfavored viewpoints, he said.

“It starts with O Cinema, this little indie theater with 69 seats on Washington Avenue. Next day, it’s a playwright presenting a play. Or a musician performing. Or a visual artist,” said Tabsch. “If you start censoring movies at the indie movie theater, when do you start censoring the art that’s on the walls?”

The city is host to Art Basel Miami Beach, the single largest artist fair in the US. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come every December to see art at the fair and other satellite fairs.

“I guarantee you that folks are not gonna want to celebrate or support a city that exercises censorship of its citizenry,” said Tabsch.

READ MORE: Miami Beach mayor seeks to evict theater over ‘antisemitic’ Oscar-winning documentary

All of the showings of No Other Land were sold out, said Tabsch. No one showed up to protest it, although some people did submit comments that they disagreed with some parts of it.

“We got a few comments from folks who objected to the film, as is customary for many of the films we show, and which I think is healthy in a democracy,” said Tabsch.

The controversy is reminiscent of an episode in 1991 in which the City of Miami commission sought to end the lease of a museum that showed art by artists who still lived in Communist Cuba. This offended the city’s commissioners, prompting the attempt to evict the museum. A federal lawsuit argued that the city was engaging in censorship, a violation of the First Amendment.

The court agreed that the city was engaging in censorship. In an opinion, the court wrote: “Such conduct seeks the type of intolerant governmental behavior that the opponents of the Cuban Museum so rightly oppose in the first instance.”

Decision ‘should not be tolerated’

O Cinema has had a presence in Miami Beach since 2014, when the independent nonprofit arthouse cinema first rented the Byron Carlyle Theater in North Beach, another city-owned space. It has operated at the historic old City Hall building on Washington Avenue, which also houses the Miami Beach District Court, since 2019.

Originally, Mayor Meiner asked the organization not to show the film when he caught wind that it was on the calendar, arguing that it was one-sided propaganda.

O Cinema originally agreed not to show it, but quickly reversed course when the nonprofit saw implications on government censorship, said Tabsch. Besides, the audience had been asking to see it, he added. The management of O Cinema had been tracking the film since it won a top award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024. Since then, the film has generated nearly universal critical acclaim: The critic aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 100% rating, an extreme rarity for any film.

In his public statement, Mayor Meiner equated the film with hate speech and Nazi Germany.

“Hate under the banner of ‘culture’ is still hate; perhaps even more dangerously so,” wrote Meiner. “Nazi Germany used its advanced culture to disseminate and mainstream Jew hatred culminating in mass murder.”

The decision of O Cinema to show the film “should not be tolerated,” Meiner wrote in the statement. If the city succeeds in evicting the theater from the space, it will seek out a different partner that “better aligns with our community values,” he wrote.

For his part, Tabsch says he is taken aback with the insinuation that he or O Cinema is antisemitic for choosing to show No Other Land.

As a filmmaker, Tabsch directed The Last Resort in 2018, a love letter documentary about how Jewish-Americans, many of whom survived the Holocaust, turned Miami Beach into the modern thriving city that it is today. That film won a top award at the Miami Jewish Film Festival, an event actually hosted by O Cinema.

“I think that all we have done over these many many years and the close collaborations and relationships we have speaks to O Cinema’s values and principles,” said Tabsch.

This is not the first time O Cinema has potentially faced displacement from powers beyond its control. The group has been fundraising to try to come up with enough money to own its own space in Little River, something it has been pushing for after being displaced from their original location by an apartment building development in Wynwood in 2019.

“This situation has reminded us that when you are at the whim of other entities, be them private developers or local government, things like this can come up,” said Tabsch.

The arts desperately need government funding in order to thrive, said Tabsht, and for a long time Miami Beach has been an exemplary government in that sense.

“But it has made some missteps along the way,” said Tabsch. “I think this is a major misstep.”

Copyright 2025 WLRN Public Media

VIRGINIA BEACH — Art that pushes the envelope returns to The Z this April. The Z Fringe Festival returns to Virginia Beach Town Center for three days of theater, comedy, and new works, alongside a visual arts installation. 

The Z Fringe Festival was created in 2023 to celebrate new works that “push the envelope.” Inspired by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, the Z Fringe Festival sees more than 200 artists showcasing more than 25 new works during the Festival.  

Now in its third year, the Z Fringe has grown from a two- to three-day event, and sees submissions from both local creators and national talent. This year’s festival selections include performances from artists debuting their first-ever written piece, to seasoned playwrights hoping to debut their latest work.  

Nathan Jacques, a local actor, is premiering his first venue into playwrighting at this year’s festival — a new play about the Carpathia’s voyage to rescue Titanic survivors.  

“The story of the R.M.S. Carpathia is a story not told often. The more I read the story of  Carpathia and those aboard her that night, the more I wonder why that story is never told by Hollywood or Broadway or the like,” said Jacques. “Z Fringe is a great place to debut this as it is still a work in progress. The staged-reading preview style doesn’t fit into a main stage season. Fringe, however, gives this kind of project a way to take its first baby steps toward becoming the full vision.” 

In addition to many new plays and one-acts, the festival features cabarets, sketch comedy, and solo performances that audiences would not be able to see onstage during the average theater season. 

“What’s great about The Z Fringe is you can see so many different genres and styles of shows in one weekend, from a 15-minute pantomime to a full-length new musical,” said festival producer and Z Executive Director Terry Flint. “Our category for Works In  Progress gives artists a chance to introduce their works and start to get valuable audience feedback. All that variety turns into an exciting weekend where audiences  experience the building buzzing with energy from 150-plus community artists.”

Also new to this year’s festival are performance awards. Like that of a film festival, laurels will be granted for “Audience Pick” and “Producers Pick” for both Studio and Main Stage productions.  

Alongside performances, visual artwork will be displayed gallery-style in the lobby through the entire festival. Artist submitted individual works, full gallery displays, and maker space crafter tables. Artists will sell their work and be available during the Festival Gallery Tour. 

What is a Fringe Festival? 

The Z’s Fringe Festival is a celebration of self-produced performance art that pushes the envelope and makes a statement. Performances at The Z Fringe are theatrically based, meaning they have a viewpoint, tell a story, or connect multiple pieces with a theme. Like the origin story of Fringe Festivals, The Z Fringe was created to give performing artists access to performance space and the opportunity to explore new concepts and performance formats that don’t fit a “traditional” production model.  

A full list of performances and the full performance schedule can be found at  thez.org/zfringe. All-access passes, single-day passes and single-show tickets are available online or by calling the box office at 757-499-0317.  

Zeiders American Dream Theater is located at 4509 Commerce St., Virginia  Beach, VA 23462 

Zeiders American Dream Theater is funded in part by the citizens of Virginia  Beach through a grant from the City of Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities  Commission. 

ABOUT ZEIDERS AMERICAN DREAM THEATER 

Zeiders American Dream Theater, known as The Z, is a professional, nonprofit performing arts company whose mission is to provide a wide range of highly entertaining artistic experiences to the community by fostering and introducing new works and exceptionally gifted artists in all areas of the performing arts. The Z is a community hub for celebrating creative growth and entertainment. With intimate performance spaces and unique programming that generates an exciting connection between the performer and the audience, The Z inspires audiences and performers to tap into their own creative spark, unleash their dreams, and achieve their full potential. TheZ.org

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One of the purposes of art is to gain new perspectives.

British visual artist Nick Veasey takes that seriously and does so by looking at things from the inside out.

Veasey’s exhibit “Forensic Beauty,” which opens with an artist presentation on Friday and Saturday at Park Place Fine Art at the Pendry Hotel, examines the world through X-ray images.

“We’re going to show about 30 works, and it’s an exhibition I’ve been putting together for a while,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for about 30-plus years, and these are my best hitters.”

The exhibit title comes from an exhibit Veasey did in collaboration with the 

Victoria and Albert Museum in London a few years ago.

“We did this thing on fashion and X-rayed clothes from the ’80s, and the curator described my work as ‘forensic beauty,’” he said.

Veasey creates his works with real X-ray machines, real inorganic objects as well as human and animal remains.

“I got access to a skeleton from a teaching hospital that was used to teach student radiographers how to do X-rays,” he said. “She’s still in really good shape and is in a museum. And when I do have her, I X-ray her from every conceivable angle, and she becomes my template. Then with animals, I get dead dogs from the vets, and I have used butterflies and snakes.”

Working with a real skeleton from a hospital is much more convenient than robbing graves.

“If you go graverobbing on the weekends, which I’m sure you do, when you pull bodies out of the ground the skeletons fall apart because what’s holding them together is blood pressure, muscle tissue and skin,” he said with a laugh. “When you die and your body has been in the ground for three months, that’s all gone. That’s why you see reconstructed skeletons with pins in the joints and plastic connections.”

Furthermore, working with a dead skeleton does make it easy for Veasey to escape litigation. 

“Every time a human or animal is exposed to radiation, it’s accumulative, meaning the radiation stays with you for life,” he said. “So, the more X-rays you have the more radiation you get. So, my way around that is instead of X-raying living things, I X-ray dead things. If they’re already dead, they aren’t going to sue me.”

Veasey makes many technical adjustments while composing a piece.

“Fundamentally, an X-ray is a ‘same-size’ process, and if I X-ray my phone, it comes out the actual size on the film,” he said. “The largest piece of (x-ray) film is 14 by 17 inches. So, if the object is bigger than that, you tile the film like you’re tiling a bathroom wall with a slight overlap. So, we process each part of the scene individually and we join them back together on the computer. It takes about three months for three people to make.”

Another challenge of creating X-ray art is getting access to the equipment, according to Veasey.

“It’s dangerous equipment, and you can make a dirty bomb with an X-ray machine,” he said. “So you have to go through a vetting procedure, and you also have to understand the health and safety implications of what you’re using.”

Typically, a person can get access to X-ray equipment by being sponsored by a hospital, Veasey said.

“But I didn’t go down the normal way,” he said. “I came at it as an individual from the artistic and photography side. And I go buy second-hand equipment.”

Veasy still had to obtain an X-ray license from the British government in order to purchase and run the equipment.

“They come and visit me once a year and check out the building I use is totally safe and there is no radiation leaking,” he said. “I also have to get a medical (procedure) once a year to make sure I’m OK.”

Still, Veasey doesn’t cover himself with a lead apron when he takes the X-rays. He sets up the scene and simply leaves the room.

“The laboratory I work in has two-feet thick concrete walls, and the doors are lead and steel that weighs 1,250 kilograms, which is more than two tons,” he said. “That traps the radiation in.”
Once the X-ray stops, the radiation stops, Veasey said.

“There are two types of radiation — alpha radiation and beta radiation — and when you get a disaster like in Japan when the tsunami came into the nuclear reactor, that radiation is beta radiation, and it never stops,” he said. “I use alpha radiation. When the machine is on, it’s dangerous, but when the machine is off, it stops, and there is no contamination.”

Veasey’s fascination with X-ray images started with his love of photography, which was one of the only subjects that held his interest..

“I love the analog part of photography, and I’ve always messed around with cameras and film and ways to make pictures,” he said. “Then something happened in my late 20s. Sometimes life just presents you with something.”

At that time, Veasey’s wife, Zoe, then his girlfriend, was working as a graphic designer for a TV show.

“It was a fast-moving breakfast show that was light hearted and wasn’t heavy on news,” he said. “Her script had one of the TV presenters sitting on a truckload of cola cans, and it was in the day when the cans had pull tabs.”

The cola company had just started a promotional campaign, according to Veasey.

“Like the ‘Willy Wonka’ story, one of the ring pulls had a magic letter on it, and if you got the letter, you won 100,000 pounds, which is $125,000,” he said. “The script was ‘how can we cheat?’ and then we’d cut to some X-ray of the cans.”

The couple had been renting an apartment, and their landlord had access to an X-ray machine.

“He then gave me access to it, and I had the machine for the whole day,” he said. “I knew at the end of the day that I found my calling.”

‘Forensic Beauty’ Exhibit Opening and Presentation by Nick Veasey

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AMBLER — Art in the Storefront is hosting a “Crows Among Us” art exhibit, featuring works from artist Richard Metz.

Metz is a visual artist whose paintings are imbued with environmentalism, said an Art in the Storefront press release.

“The process of making visual art is so satisfying and so all encompassing, that of course I want to keep doing it,” Metz said. “I also have a strong environmentalist side, and these paths have merged over the past 20 years. I’m afraid for the loss of animal habitats and for the loss of all the beauty that the natural world is.”

Metz’s work often portrays subtle visions of images, often touching on feelings from past experiences, Some works are more traditional in format, while others strike new ground. His tree paintings are original applications that he began producing late in his graduate school studies. For years, he researched methods and use of natural, non-toxic pigments and egg yolk to create this artwork form, said the release.

“They are different and ephemeral,” Metz said.

Art in the Storefront is located at 41 E. Butler Avenue in Ambler. The exhibit is open to the public. To learn more about Metz and his drawings, paintings and writings, visit www.mistermetz.com.

More than 23 years of ongoing exhibits at Art in the Storefront have been hosted by Denney Electric Supply. The co-curators are Karen Kieser, Immersion Studio, and Mark Elliott, No Bare Walls Framing Studio. The sole purpose is to support local artists; there is no charge to exhibit. The storefront is lit all evening for enhanced enjoyment. For details or to exhibit, call Elliott at 215-654-9106.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 9 of “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

“Severance” is known for its precise visual aesthetic, and that’s seen nowhere more clearly than within the surveilled halls of Lumon. Part of Lumon’s institutional power arises from its ability to make every employee adhere to the ethos of its founder, Kier Eagan, instilling a strict dedication to a mythology that blurs the lines between corporate culture and religion.

Lumon’s way of communicating the Eagan family’s ideals and beliefs is often through visual art. For the “Severance” artisans, using art to canonize the story of Lumon was “definitely intentional from the get-go and very important,” says Catherine Miller, the show’s prop master since the first season.

Art is everywhere in “Severance,” from Season 1’s O&D paintings and Perpetuity Wing wax figures establishing the Eagan history to the animation depicting the innie’s revolt that opens Season 2. Lumon uses visuals to create a specific way of presenting itself to the innies, whose bifurcated memories limit their understanding of a world beyond the office.

Miller emphasizes that “there is nothing random” about any of the artistic choices that go into shaping Lumon’s visual landscape.

“It all stems from this understanding that we, creatively, have about the history of Lumon as a corporation, what they’re trying to achieve and how they are trying to achieve it within these very specific frameworks,” Miller says. “We all keep each other in check to make sure that we’re within this original concept of what this company is, and how this company builds upon itself to achieve what it’s ultimate mission is.”

The artisans have back-and-forth discussions with creator Dan Erickson and executive producer/director Ben Stiller to take a description of an artwork in a script and develop it into something that fits “into the vision of the show,” says set decorator David Schlesinger, who joined “Severance” for Season 2.

Miller and Schlesinger spoke with Variety to break down some of the artworks that appear in Episode 9 and how they contribute to Lumon’s overall image.

“Kier Pardons His Betrayers”

“Kier Pardons His Betrayers” is a new painting that greets the innies in Season 2. Placed squarely in front of the elevator bank, the dramatic, grand scene of Kier Eagan showing mercy to four figures is a metaphor for the four refiners — Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Irving (John Turturro) and Dylan (Zach Cherry) — who are also “trapped up to their necks in the sand” following their use of the Overtime Contingency at the Season 1, Miller says.

The painting marks “a moment of forgiveness” in which Lumon is saying to the refiners that “Kier forgives you for what you’ve done,” Miller says. “It’s two-fold, as a lot of what Lumon artwork and practices are. On the surface, it’s forgiving, and on the underneath part, it’s maybe a warning that maybe next time you won’t be forgiven.”

The painting, which was illustrated and created by artist Danny Aviles, was inspired by Soviet-era propaganda art. The buildings in the background are a reference to the Salt’s Neck-based ether factory that Harmony Cobel worked in as a child, as revealed in Episode 8.

Stiller and production designer Jeremy Hindle were drawn to “deep, earthy reds and rusts” for the painting. The color scheme is rare for innies to see since their world typically features blue and green shades. Miller points out that the arrival of Ricken’s book, “The You You Are,” in Season 1 is the first time red is visible on the Severed floor. “It’s the spark of the revolution,” she says.

The color scheme also builds a sense of renewal, with the sun forming a halo on Kier’s head.

“It’s a new day,” Schlesinger says.

Ms. Huang’s Water Toy

In Episode 9, Mr. Milchick informs Ms. Huang that her Jame Eagan Wintertide Fellowship position has ended early. Ms. Huang is then instructed to use a bust of Jame Eagan to destroy her water game in a ritualistic acknowledgement of her departure.

The idea behind the ring toss water toy was to give Ms. Huang a childlike distraction to match her actual age, despite her preternaturally professional nature.

The team settled on making the toy cell phone-sized, “like this is the Severed floor’s version of what kids do, being distracted by a cell phone,” Miller says.

Because water games aren’t often made in that size, the team “fabricated this from scratch, and modeled it after a real water toy, made it larger, put the Lumon logo on it,” Miller says. Penko Platikanov, who handles the show’s sculpted objects, “actually carved our little Kier swimmer and painted them by hand, and then we attached that into the toy. And it was practical. It really worked.”

The artisans made 12 of the toys, and Miller made sure two were left aside. “We smashed the heck out of the other 10.”

There was some initial difficulty getting the plastic to crack. “We went back and did a round of inserts, very close up, where I was actually the one taking the bust and smashing it so that we could get enough power underneath it or over it to actually have it smash up,” Miller says.

The team originally experimented with different designs for the toy, including one of Kier with a mohawk and one where his arm is extended Statue of Liberty-style. “But ultimately, Ben fell in love with this diver and the old-fashioned swimsuit that was in the water toy because he was in water,” Miller says.

Jame Eagan Wintertide Fellowship Bust

Ms. Huang’s bust — carved from walnut, and as heavy as it looks — is an updated version of Cobel’s same trophy that marked her own fellowship period. Each trophy reflects Jame Eagan’s age at the time that it’s awarded. “When we see Cobel in Episode 8 pull out the bust of her Wintertide Fellowship, Jame Egan — he’s much, much younger. He’s 40 years younger,” Miller says. (Platikanov also worked on this bust.)

The “juxtaposition of the carved wood against the plastic” and “the idea that, as it smashed, the liquid inside bled out on the handkerchief that was laid down … was all very symbolic,” Miller says.

Iceberg Painting in Milchick’s Office

Once Milchick takes over the Severed floor, Cobel’s former office gets a new look. Schlesinger says it was actor Tramell Tillman’s mention of icebergs as a symbol that inspired the artisans to include an iceberg painting behind his desk. With icebergs, “you don’t really know what’s underneath, much like ‘Severance,’” Schlesinger says.

“When we changed the color of the wall to blue, having this very small painting was really impactful,” Schlesinger continues. “So we ended up with this. It’s printed on metal, and we didn’t know it at the time, but the painting is actually of an iceberg in Newfoundland, which is where we ended up shooting Episode 8.”

The piece is by an artist named Lisa Lebofsky. Schlesinger says that multiple sizes were tested, but the larger versions “dominated too much space on the wall,” and “that negative space around it is really powerful.”

Break Room Posters

At the start of Season 2, the innies return to a break room transformed into a supposedly more fun environment. There are new posters, including one labeled “Hang in There” and portraying Dylan facilitating the Overtime Contingency, which was the only one that was scripted.

“It’s just too weird to have only one — if you have one, you then call so much attention to it,” Schlesinger says.

So Erickson wrote up the slogans for the rest, Aviles illustrated the posters and graphic artist Tansy Michaud worked on the final versions.

The posters are Lumon’s “version of trying to motivate these people,” Schlesinger says.

They also serve the mission of trying to change Lumon’s image to the innies.

The design is similarly taken from Soviet-era visuals and “aligns with the idea of Lumon creating their own propaganda for promoting themselves as something new and different to these refiners,” Miller adds.

The purple color scheme of the “Hang in There” poster matches the chairs in the break room, and is an example of the “Severance” artisans and creatives staying within a particular, recurring color palette throughout the set, according to Schlesinger.

Purple shows up in other significant moments.

“Going back to Season 1, [purple] was a color for the empty administrative space on the severed floor that Mark passes through when he’s giving Helly the tour back to MDR, and it was the first time we saw purple in there,” Miller says. “We saw it again when Mark and Helly went in there to have their intimate moment. And then it’s also now in the break room too. It’s interesting that that color is coming up in certain areas.”

Creating the “Severance” aesthetic involves sticking to a number of general guidelines such as pulling from a set of fonts and colors. But the types of artistic mediums that the series uses to portray Lumon varies and evolves, as the company itself finds new opportunities to convey its message to employees.

“There was always a sense of depicting Kier through his different phases of life, and depicting him through those different phases in different art styles that would best explain those,” Miller says.

That includes the Fourth Appendix in Episode 4 in which the innies learn about Kier earlier in his life when there was an incident involving his brother, Dieter Eagan.

The Fourth Appendix is styled after vintage fairytale books and the Grimms’ stories in particular, which can be “terrifying,” Miller says. “Some of them are eerie or left you with an uneasy feeling, and so Ben definitely wanted to lean into that direction because that seems very apropos for what Lumon would be.”

“If Lumon had to create a fairy tale, there’d be some edge to it. There would be some underlying sense of menace,” she adds.

The Lumon art pieces usually carry a sinister feeling. The more absurd or humorous examples, like the animation of Irving that plays at his funeral, can also be disconcerting. “It’s whimsical,” Miller says. “But there’s a duality to it, because Irving is dead and innie Irving won’t come back. So there’s a fun bit to it, but then there’s also the Lumon-ism of it as well.”

The visual development of “Severance” relies on an awareness of Lumon’s “brand identity” and specific choices made around that, Schlesinger says.

Conversations about the “Severance” world were crucial early on, according to Miller. “The culture of Lumon grew organically from understanding what this organization is and what the company does and us building those ground rules together early on,” she says.

The “Severance” team carefully considers every aesthetic detail, down to the clothing and accessories.

“That’s what’s so great about this show, is being in the room and being able to collectively understand and create these worlds that we’re building and have everybody’s understanding of it respected and grow upon it and build upon it and become more and more specific,” Miller says. “So that there isn’t just some random watch on a person for no reason.”