Sarah Miller Creations

Artist • Writer • Wanderer (USA)
Contact: sarah@sarahmillercreations.com
Website: sarahmillercreations.com

“Very few things are more beautiful to me than our own ugliness.”

artscum.org: What I find fascinating about your great work is this contrast between often bright colors and a very sinister mood. To me, they rarely seem threatening, rather melancholic and somehow familiar. Surprisingly, many people can quickly agree on what they find ugly. When it comes to describing “beauty,” opinions often differ widely. How would you describe these two poles of perception. Is there beauty in ugliness and vice versa?

Sarah: Absolutely! At least, to me there is. Beauty may be subjective but at its core there is also a universal language, unspoken and deep-rooted, that guides our aesthetic preferences. We are collectively drawn to symmetry, to symbols of health and fertility, to nature, to death even—images that trigger biological and psychological responses so deep within us we often aren’t even aware of them. The same goes for repulsion, motivated instead by fear and the unfamiliar. “Beauty” and “ugliness” are really just measurements of feeling and association. And though they are often at odds, one cannot exist without the other, and they can easily coexist.

For example, I paint a lot of death and horror, and to some, the inherent fear of dying might cause my art to translate as “ugly.” At the same time, however, one might simultaneously feel comfort in openly contemplating their own mortality and impermanence, and therefore find my work beautiful. (I’ve actually had many people tell me my art was “beautiful and terrifying!”)
What we find familiar in the dark and sinister are often just pieces of ourselves we don’t yet know how to name. We can be both horrified and enchanted by the same ideas, by the same unknowns within us, and that’s why I find these subjects so fascinating. In the deepest parts of our existence is a language we all feel but don’t know how to speak.
And what is art if not the unspoken conversation of these concepts and connections.

That’s what much of my original work is about: exploring the bridge between art and psychology, having conversations in pictures what may not be able to be shared in words. I am an autistic artist, after all, and am better versed in speaking feeling through creative outlets.

Is there beauty in ugliness (and vice versa)? I believe there is.
Very few things are more beautiful to me than our own ugliness.

artscum.org: In the course of the Corona pandemic, a survey was conducted in Germany on the social relevance of occupations. “The artist” was one of the last to rank. I think that art is the only language that can be understood by everyone. The visible bridge between reality and fantasy. What “function” does art have for you and what relevance could or should art have in a society?

Sarah: It’s a shame the public stance on that is taking so long to evolve. (Though I’m glad you personally agree on the importance and reach art has in society!) The answer to this question bridges quite nicely from the last: if art is a universal language embedded deep within us thanks to evolution and expression, I daresay it’s as important as language itself, if not more so.

Picture a world without art of any kind—painting, graphics, architecture, illustration, film, fashion, music, dance, literature—and what you’re left with is a void of existence unimaginable because of just how essential expression is to living. It doesn’t matter the form it takes; we evolved to need art as a way to communicate, to reach one another beyond the borders of standard language.

Thanks to entertainment and mass media, “art” is often mislabeled as a luxury or privilege. But art should be treated with more widespread reverence. It should be more commonly practiced, shared, and celebrated—accessible regardless of class, grown and nourished regardless of what “value” one’s current skill level offers society. Let art be spoken without need of cause or reward, without comparison of voice. Let it be as natural as our right to speech

artscum.org: I read that you can speak Japanese!? Apart from the fact that it’s a very difficult language, what fascinates you about the country where even adults are allowed to find everything cute (keyword “kawaii”)? Are Japanese allowed to be kids longer? Do you have a connection to the anime/manga culture of Japan?

Sarah: Oh yes, I am a huge nerd for anime & manga! I grew up on fantasy, comics, and anime, and also happened to be a big nerd for languages (I considered studying linguistics among my many interests before I decided to be an art student), so studying Japanese was inevitable for me.
I took classes in high school and college and just sort of kept up with my lessons (thanks to language apps). I can’t comment much on the culture itself as an American, but there are definitely differences in lifestyle that have always fascinated me. It’s been a long-time dream of mine to visit Japan one day and learn more about the culture and its people firsthand!

artscum.org: If you met the most evil person on this planet, what would you ask that person?

Sarah: I don’t believe a person is inherently good or evil, and don’t even truly believe in evil beyond in concept. People can be born without empathy for other humans, or raised in an environment that does not teach them to value compassion for others, and most people we see as “evil” may well have turned out differently if their life circumstances had been different. Even the most cruel person can be guided toward understanding if given the right amount of time and support.

But, hypothetically, I might ask the most “cruel” or “wicked” person, “What is the most painful thing that has happened to you?”
Or maybe about the last time they felt happy.

artscum.org: If we want to see more of your art: Are there any exhibitions, books, prints of yours? Can you be booked for commissioned work?

Sarah: Yes! You can find my work on my website, sarahmillercreations.com, and buy your favorite pieces, or sign up for my newsletter to get updates on future projects and exhibitions! You can also check out my upcoming psychological web comic, Crow & Arrow, on my Patreon: patreon.com/sarahmillercreations (in fact, the piece ‘Crow’ you’ve featured is concept art for an upcoming cover page).
I have other projects in the works as well, including my first Art Book, which I plan to release soon!

As for commissions, I have worked with game companies and individuals on a variety of different pieces, and I always encourage people to reach out with commission opportunities (even if my waitlist status is closed on my FAQ page). Just drop me an email at sarah@sarahmillercreations.com and I’ll let you know if I can work with you!

But, hypothetically, I might ask the most “cruel” or “wicked” person, “What is the most painful thing that has happened to you?”
Or maybe about the last time they felt happy.

artscum.org: Mankind more and more develops into a heap of selfish, daft selfdestructors, both as for globalization and respect for one another.What is left of the beauty of the cosmic creation? Of the creative spark for perfection? Does Mankind still have a chance, or would it be better to flush the whole shit down the toilet of the evolutionary failure to give the future protozoa a shot for life?

Sarah: These are quite possibly the best questions I’ve ever been asked, formally. Hahah
I’m an existential optimist at heart, so I’d like to believe Mankind has not quite doomed itself. Not yet, anyway. Though we’re likely to suffer through many more fumblings of progress while we wrestle with our greed and learn to prioritize the good of all over the good of one.
There is still so much yet for us to learn, to grow from, to see and understand—about ourselves and one another. Better to keep trying to get it right, so long as we’re able to try.

Hércules Santos Trigo

– Concept Artist and Visual Development (Brasil)
Contact: contactme@hstrigo.com
Website: www.hstrigo.com

“…everything is in our mind, we just look for places to enhance the unknown.”

Q: Who are you?

Well, my name is Hércules Santos Trigo, I’m Brazilian and I’m trained in fine arts and graphic design.

Q: Darkness is not only the absence of light. What more is lurking in the shadows (of mind)?!

We can find everything we want there. Because everything is in our mind, we just look for places to enhance the unknown.

Q: What is the most important taboo in art?

For me there is no taboo for the art world, at least there shouldn’t be. The way each artist expresses himself is unique and necessary. There are those who express themselves through classical painting, sculpture, engraving, some are very expressive, others not so much, some with more color, others with less.

Q: Why is the beauty in ugliness so fatal?

In general, the beautiful is placed in art as a form of perfection, a way of subjugating everything that is considered ugly. However, such perfection and beauty loses its position when we have new perspectives in the art world. In this sense, new conceptions are acquired giving us different options and access. All this generates representation. Therefore, this question about beauty in art is very subjective, because what is beautiful for some may not be beautiful for others.

Q: What question would you ask the most evil person on this planet?

I never thought about it…. but I think I would ask: Do you have a cigarette? ha ha…

Q: The world seems to become more and more a violent, unkind place. Greed and egoism seems to be the only impulse of any change. Did mankind still have the chance to build a peaceful, sustainable world for every living and feeling being or would it be better if somebody dispose everything in the sewer of the evolutionary failure?

Well, we are driven by desires and many end up generating greed, envy, neglect and a hundred adjectives that disqualify human beings. I think that we are very attached to the matter and that makes it difficult to have a true look at the other, in the human sense. I personally believe in the human race. I believe that one day we will be able to overcome many of these vices that torment us and that our evolution will not only be technological, but human.

Griffin D’Zmura McGuire

– mixed media painter (USA)
Contact: griffindmcguire@gmail.com
Website: Linktree griffindart

“The looking glass has broken, we must brave the Kaleidoscope mirage…”

Q: Who are you?

I’m Griffin, an artist on the other side of a degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley. My favorite mediums are acrylic paint and ink. One of my aims is to invite viewers into another world, one which will remain with them in the hidden alleyway of the subconscious mind.

Q: Darkness is not only the absence of light. What more is lurking in the shadows (of mind)?!

Shadows conceal, but also provide form and feature. The play between shadow as a metaphor and shadow as absence of light provides an interesting field of exploration. In my work I often explore autonomously without intention. I feel that this allows me to explore the shadows in my own mind without censorship.

Q: What is the most important taboo in art?

For me, I find the association of a price tag with a piece of to be a taboo that is worthy of deeper exploration. Many of the artists that are most widely spoken of are known in part due to the notoriety of their sales volume as opposed to the questions their work explores. In this strange dynamism between value and creativity there’s much more to think on and is one of the reasons I decided to move my digital work into the blockchain space.

Q: Why is the beauty in ugliness so fatal?

Art is not just a pursuit of Beauty. In the unsettling, and disturbing, a whole range of emotions which are under-explored and critical to artistic exploration are able to be brought into the open.

Q: What question would you ask the most evil person on this planet?

Though I’m not sure there’s someone who is the most evil, I’ll ask them if they enjoy Pineapple on pizza.

Q: The world seems to become more and more a violent, unkind place. Greed and egoism seems to be the only impulse of any change. Did mankind still have the chance to build a peaceful, sustainable world for every living and feeling being or would it be better if somebody dispose everything in the sewer of the evolutionary failure?

From my perspective, it seems that history shows us a world in which violence is the norm. We see much more of the ugliness in the world with news and the advances in new media, though this doesn’t imply that the world is actually more violent than it was in the past. A new slate, a Tabula Rasa, can be an appealing idea but in practice only leads to forgetting our standing as humans and moves us away from working on the problems we face.

Felix Roca – Figurative painter (Spain)

Contact: frocaganges@gmail.com
Website: @felixrocaart

Statement:
Faith and fear of Death, an action reaction to each other, come together to be opposed, for the same duality,
by Childhood and Game. The Summing of the four concepts can be understood as the day to day struggle of the adult life. Not as a pessimist view, neiter, as a chant to innocence, but a consecutive presentation of individual postcards as allegories in which one of those four concepts is more imperant than the others.

Q: Who are you?

I am a Barcelona Based painter. born in 19991 who is scared of death and paints about it, and what it means or we have been told it is supposed to be an adult, that will be all.

Q: Darkness is not only the absence of light. What more is lurking in the shadows (of mind)?!

Answers, the shadows are those spots on your mind that you have been luring into, your self doubts and where you really find yourself, if you are sure about everything, which is imossible, you are dead and an estatich creature. Is that doubt that will move you forward and keep evolving. Like the Age of Empires Pc game map.

Q: What is the most important taboo in art?

Money, everyone works and paints for it, but it is supposed for us painters, in the art business, to paint and draw because we need to express ourselves, and to have a large mistic reason paint for paying your bills is not what it is expected for us to say.

Q: Why is the beauty in ugliness so fatal?

Those fucking greeks and the renaissanse, god is beauty and the devil is ugly.

Q: What question would you ask the most evil person on this planet?

Would you pose for a portrait? The prison guards will let me in once a week if that’s ok for you.

Q: The world seems to become more and more a violent, unkind place. Greed and egoism seems to be the only impulse of any change. Did mankind still have the chance to build a peaceful, sustainable world for every living and feeling being or would it be better if somebody dispose everything in the sewer of the evolutionary failure?

Self destruction is an inner part of human nature. Technology has put it on a great scale. But at the same time humor and going down the pub is as human as well, and for those as we are, interested in creation and art, let’s have a beer an art talk and paint it until the bomb explodes near us.