musetouch_issue_15

musetouch 

Visual Arts Magazine 

November 2011 

Christian Weiss 

A Curse and a Blessing 

Vicente Romero 

Unrivalled Delicacy 

Christy Lee Rogers 

The Phenomenon 

Tore Hogstvedt 

Petrova Julia.N 

Giulio Rossi 

Simone Held 

Danilo Martinis 

Ana Fagarazzi 

Michal Mozolewski 

musetouch.org

Dear readers, 

I am dedicating this edition to one special person, a beautiful and magnificent 

artist, creator and admirer, a great friend of mine who is momentarily 

fighting for her life. To Ljiljana Bursac. 

I also want to thank to Nini Baseema, Jelena Grujic, Kiyo Murakami, 

Murielle Mirabelle Velay Michel, Ian Furniss, Gines Serran, Mark Sadan 

and Milos Djajic for being there for me and supporting me. 

Special thanks goes to all of you. Without you Musetouch would not exist. 

I would not exist. 

Maia Sylba

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Join our creative FB fan page and stay updated! 

www.facebook.com/musetouchvisualartsmagazine

Layer Studios is offering beautiful web sites, online 

galleries and presentations, blogs and FB fan page designs, 

at affordable 

prices, uniquely designed by Maia Sylba 

contact: maiasylba@gmail.com 

skype: maiasylba 

www.layerstudios.net

THE FORM OF 

BEAUTY 

blog 

by Nini Baseema 

theformofbeauty.tumblr.com 

KIYO MURAKAMI 

photography 

www.kiyomurakami.com

www.theunbearablebeautyofexistence.com

MUSETOUCH MAGAZINE November 2011 

Editor 

Maia Sylba 

Graphic designer 

Dejan Silbaski 

Contributors 

Nini Baseema 

Ian Furniss 

Cover 

Kiyo Murakami 

MUSETOUCH is a magazine about visual arts. It has been created by Maia Sylba out of a love and passion for 

art with the hope that people will be able to use the publication and website as a platform to showcase their 

skills and gain recognition. 

Facebook 

facebook.com/musetouchvisualartsmagazine 

Twitter 

Linkedin 

Mail 

twitter.com/musetouchmag 

linkedin.com/in/maiasylba 

maiasylba@gmail.com 

Submission Guideline 

If you want to contribute to the next edition, you can send us an email with your data and a PDF file that 

shows your works, also a link of your website if you have any. 

We would love to see your art so don’t hesitate to contact us and welcome. 

All artwork in this magazine is copyright protected under the MUSETOUCH Magazine brand or remains 

property of the individual artists who have kindly granted us permission to use their work. 

musetouch 8




Magical 



010 

182 


A Space beyond the Painting 

062 

Ana Fagarazzi 

Trip Full of Dreams 

216 

Christy Lee Rogers 

The Phenomenon 

102 

Giulio Rossi 

Imagination is Enough 

Simone Held 

The Thin Line 

238 


A Path for Myself 

134 

268 

Michal Mozolewski 

Losing my Reality 

158 

292 



Tell us a little bit about yourself... 

I am a freelance grafic designer, illustrator and photographer living in Munich, Germany. 

How did you first get into photography? 

My father had an old Voightläder-Camera. I startet to use it I think when I was about 10 years 

old. My Father wasen’t really happy about that. This old camera ment a lot to him, because he 

bought it as student and used it eversince. In those days I was very interested in technic, what 

means I used to decompose every technical instrument to see it from the inside, and when 

iI tried to reconstruct it, there were always some spare parts left :) For some reason I did not 

do this with his camera... In the following years I always carried a camera around and took 

plenty of experimental, banal, weird and under- or overexposed pictures . 

Did your early photographic goals include earning a living from photography, or did it start 

as a way to express yourself creatively? 

My first passion in art was concentrated on drawing. I knew right from the beginning, that 

i wanted to do this professionally somehow. Photography came a little later and was a logic 

consequence of looking at the world more intense. When you paint or draw you gain a “visual 

treasure”. It teaches you to understand perspective, texture, light and shadow... With this you 

can recall or invent anything with your imagination. That is a great advantige of drawing over 

photography. You don’t need reality, imagination is enough. Photography also tought me to 

see, but in a different, more lazy and mechanical way. 

What do you think is the most important factor in making a good photograph? 

Today I think a good picture has to convincingly talk about an emotion. My pictures are projections 

of my dark or bright, romantic or greedy, shy or agressive side. Although most of my 

pictures are somehow arranged I think they have true emotion in it and should not leave the 

viewer untouched. My pictures usually don’t have a clear message. I just try to give them a 

strong mood to let the viewer see his own stories in them. I think everybody can adress to 

strong feelings and can recall crises or highlights of the own life. 




A certain amount of technical skill surely helps to make powerful images. I am still very fascinated 

by the endless possibilities of light. Here I am always experimenting and never satisfied. 

In that sense technic plays a certain role. But I move back to less complex light-setups now. It 

is better to keep things simple and concentrate on pose and expression. 

And about what is making a photographer a good one? A passion, sense for beauty, imagination, 

technique...? 

In people photography I think a technical perfect and formal very beautiful picture is empty 

and meaningless, unless it has no other message then just showing beauty or being perfect. 

To me a good picture is somehow subversive by shifting the viewing habits a little bit. It has 

to tell a story and make you think or feel. Thats why I try not to give the pictures a clear message. 

That makes them more open for interpretation and adresses the viewer more universally. 

In life nothing is only beautiful or only ugly. Everything has it’s light and shadowsides. I like 

to show this in my pictures. 

How does your profession as an artist influence your life? 

A lot! This is a 24-hour job! One just can’t stop seeing, combining impressions to ideas, be 

inspired or pissed of by the world and culture you are born in. Even when you sleep all those 

coincidently collected imressions of the day have a big orgy in your brain and make funny babies. 

As artist there is no such thing as “free time”. Sometimes for example after a exhausting 

project or in a holiday, I try to do just nothing. But after two or tree days I am getting nervous 

and have new ideas and plans and need at least a sketchpad to hold some ideas. This is a curse 

and a blessing at the same time. Another influence as an Artist is the finances. No fix income, 

no time out, even with broken bones... 

Do you feel that you see things around you differently than others? 

I think so. Very often I realise that for example friends who are not into art, have a very different 

concept of beauty and also of life. As a grafic designer and “commercial” photographer 

I have to serve this common sense of what is “normal” and “beautiful”, because this sells. And 

I have no problem with that. I also like to see things bright and beautiful. But as artist I know, 

there is more to tell, because there is a lot more behind the surface. 

There is beauty in almost everything. My art teacher who had a big influence on me used to 

say: “You have to see and draw an old shoe or a rotten apple with the same tenderness as a 

beautiful woman.” Maybe because of my bread and butter-photography I show mostly the 

darker images of my own free work. But I also have very sweet, romantic and funny pictures. 



I love to serve those opposite poles of my own personality. 

Your photographs are quite shocking, quite provocative to the most people but still their response 

is very positive. Nobody stays aloof. Why that type of photography? 

I do not think of my pictures as shocking. Actually i consider myself as quite romantic and 

sensitive. I do not show to explicite things as for example violence, weapons, blood or genitals.... 

As said before in my work as artist I am not interested in reading messages easily. The 

provocativ elements in my pictures are ment as projections of the soul. They are metaphores 

for inner states. For example nudity is not only an erotic symbol, but also an expression of 

innocence, defenslessness, truth, purity... A good working title for my work might be “mixed 

emotions”. I like this ambivalence of a “beautiful tragedy”, or “seductive horror”. 

Could you share a favorite recent image and tell us a little of the back story behind it? 

“Passion”. There are millions of pictures of women with read floating hair. A tandard romantic 

sudget. I shifted this into another context. The main inspiration for my work are old paintings.This 

picture is a quote of Botticelli’s “Venus” and medieval religious art like for example 

hans Baldung’s “Three ages”. Through the harsh and cold lighting and the treatment of skin 

witout makeup, freezing from the windmachine, in merciless sharpness and 

detail, I tried to give the picture the tragic power of religious passion and extasy. I wanted to 

create the biggest possible contrast between the beauty of a young woman at first sight as in 

the birth of “Venus”, and the shere pain and tragedy of existance as in the “Three ages” when 

looking closer at it. Do not get me wrong, I do notc ompare myself to those masterpieces, 

but they were my inspiration for this picture. I had several discussions about this picture, because 

the setting is so beautiful and raw at the same time. This contrast seems to be confusing 

to people and that is exactly what i wanted to achieve. 

How do you see yourself in the future? 

Hehe, wealthy, healthy, happy, calm, free...Everything i am not at the moment. No, it is not 

that bad. I changed my life dramatically in this year and have new goals. But I will not reveal 

them to everybody:) 

MS 

musetouch 14 

weisschristian.com

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Vicente Romero Redondo is a Spanish painter born in Madrid in 1956. He graduated from 

The Faculty of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. He owes his technique in oil painting 

to his academic training, although he has increasingly explored pastel, wich he finds more 

direct, more spontaneous, and as he quotes provides the opportunity for “unrivalled delicacy”. 

Recently, however, he is returning to use the oil in his work (almost forgotten in the last 4 

years), thus producing a mutually enriching dialogue between the two techniques. He has 

been living on the Costa Brava since 1987, choosing a luminous and peaceful setting on the 

Mediterranean for his studio. It is certainly this luminosity that prevails in his art. 


vicenteromero.wordpress.com









































Ana Fagarazzi 

Ana Fagarazzi is a 20 year old digital artist born and raised in Split, Croatia. Completely self 

taught, started with digital media at the age of 15 after joining online art community called 

deviantArt, and since then focusing mainly on developing her digital artistic skills. During 

the years had the pleasure of working with many clients, from bands to photographers and 

models. Ana is currently working as a freelancer, specialising in photo manipulation, mixed 

media and graphic design. 


freaky665.deviantart.com 

ana.noirbleu@gmail.com

Trip Full of Dreams 













musetouch 115



















Giulio Rossi 

“ I was born in L’Aquila in 1983. My passion is art, ever since I was a child, I was attracted to 

this field. I’m a self-taught artist exploring different techniques from acrylic paintings to ink and 

chalks drawings. 

My favourite subjects are landscapes and portraits. Recently I started drawing with a digitizing 

tablet and I discoverd a whole world to express my creativity and to improve my artistic skills. 

That’s how I decided to be an illustrator. 

I’m looking for new working experiences in the amazing world of graphic art. I used to realize 

my latest digital artworks thanks to a digital tablet, Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator, Mypaint, 

Artrage, Corel Painter, Zbrush. ” 

Giulio Rossi 


giuliorossi.weebly.com

Imagination is Enough 
















musetouch 150









“On October 13, 1963 in the small village of Siljan, Norway, Tore Hogstvedt was born. From 

an early age, he enjoyed his pristine and simple home town, drawing and painting to pass the 

time as many other children do. Noticing his abilities, Tore’s teachers encouraged his talent and 

repeatedly reinforced that some day he could became a famous painter. At age 12, a painter from 

Porsgrunn began mentoring young Tore. 

After several years of guidance, Jøntvedt’s death brought Tore’s pass-time to a screaming halt. 

Frustrated because he was unable to further develop his artistic abilities, he put down his brushes. 

At 18, Tore considered becoming a priest and began an intensive study of Theology. Never regretting 

his choice, after 4 years of studying religious truth and the rational inquiry into religious 

questions, Tore left and started working random part-time jobs until settling in and using his 

skills becoming a life coach and teacher. Tore married in 1989 to French wife Meriem and had 

two sons. 

Later in 1995, after meeting Norwegian wildlife artist, Jan P. Bratsberg, Tore was inspired once 

again to paint. Now energized, he dusted off his brushes and headed out doors reigniting his passion 

for nature. 

Hogstvedt works daily from the window filled studio in his home and his backyard that provides 

a 360° sweeping undeveloped picturesque backdrop that Norway is known for. Tore Hogstvedt 

has painted a path for himself with enough light and colour to grab the attention of Norwegian, 

European, Canadian and American collectors and has exhibited in more than 100 shows in his 

15 year career”. 

Kelly Strantz 

musetouch 158 

torehogstvedt.info

A Path for Myself 

























Petrova Julian is an art photographer based in Moscow, Russian. She makes stunningly glamourous 

pictures and her use of light is just wonderful. Individual creative approach is used to 

each model. Petrova specializes in Portrait, Fashion, Glamour, Advertising. In each picture 

she puts a piece of their soul ……. and tries to turn every photograph into a work of art. 


petrovajulian.com

Magical 

































musetouch 215


Danilo started painting in the 90’s making a series of works-style material using stones and 

enamel. Later he devoted himself entirely to research of a kind art where art and design draw 

mutual inspiration. 

Art, painting, design. 

Danilo Martinis creates a combination of different elements, mixing the idea of opera as a 

contemporary design and the use of shapes that recall Vasarely, but also the Pop movement. 

A seemingly simple painting, in the preparation of uniform color, where the nuances assume 

an almost mathematically precise, perfectly weighted, but built on complex structures and 

three-dimensional. 

Martinis us into a space beyond the painting, leaving the door ajar as the eye can blink to 

other art forms, cinema and contemporary culture of the graphics. 


danilomartinis.com

A Space beyond the Painting 






















Christy Lee Rog 

“I grew up on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There, the water consumed much of 

my life, just as it now dominates the foundation of my art.” 

Christy Lee Rogers (Hawaii-born) is a self-taught photographer who indulges in her obsession 

of water as a medium for breaking the conventions of contemporary photography. 

Resembling Baroque paintings and mastering the chiaroscuro qualities of light, her subjects 

bend and distort; bathing in darkness, isolated by light, and brought to life by ones own imagination. 

With light refraction as the technical foundation for her work, Rogers utilizes this 

phenomenon of light as it passes from the air, which has a lower optical density, into water, 

with a higher optical density, to capture in-camera images, without the post-production 

manipulation. Rogers’ mastery of this phenomenon allows her to create sun-dappled figures 

afloat in dim waters, and figures whose clothes take on a Baroque complexity and vibrancy. 

Through this very sensitive process, she has found a myriad of ways to create images, manipulating 

only water depth, light, and movement. Despite the highly technical source of the effect, 

Rogers is only interested in the science insofar as it allows her to express herself through 

her art. “It’s a means to an end. I’m interested in whatever allows me to produce my vision, 

and I had to search for and perfect a method that would allow me to deliver the images I had 

already conceived. But it had to be a way that wouldn’t dilute them or concede to the limitations 

of reality.” In order to achieve a sort of photographic mise-en-scène, she had to find a new 

way to create her images. They couldn’t be fictitious; as that would undermine her intent to 

demonstrate that there are still mysterious, impossibly beautiful things on Earth—not solely 

in our imaginations. The work of a true artist lies in manifesting their inner world externally. 

To accomplish this she turned to water. Born in Honolulu, and raised in a family of musicians 

in the small beach town of Kailua, Hawaii, on Oahu’s windward coast, Rogers is also a filmmaker 

and musical lyricist for alternative rock band “Forty Point.” 

Her work is represented by The McLoughlin Gallery in San Francisco, CA; Barclay’s Club in 

Monaco, Europe; Laura Rathe Fine Art in Houston, TX; Samuel Lynne Galleries in Dallas, 

TX; Graphite Galleries in New Orleans, LA; Shelley Lambe Fine Art in Ontario, Canada and 

Cedar Street Galleries and Fine Art Associates in Honolulu, HI. She will be exhibiting in the 

New Orleans 2011 PhotoNola Photography Festival and Houston’s 2012 FotoFest Biennial 

Photography Festival. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California and Kailua, Hawaii. 


christyrogers.com

ers The Phenomenon 






























Simone Held 

“ I am from Germany. Originally, I haven’t been professionally involved with art at all: I’m a 

teacher. I teach English and German to students aged 10-19 and I still like it although it can be a 

hell of a job sometimes. Art is a good possibility to get rid of all the negative thoughts and vibes... 

Sadly I can only spend time on my art during the holidays or at the weekends because there’s not 

much time left. 

My focus is on photo-manipulation with surreal themes. I sometimes do landscape manipulations 

too but no matter how “realistic” my works may seem, there’s always some surrealism in 

them as well. “ 

Simone Held 


bigfoot112.deviantart.com

The Thin Line 
























Michal Mozolew 

Michal Mozolewski is an amazing visual artist living and creating in Poland. His favorite technique 

is photomanipulation, and favorite categories conceptual and abstract. 

xnagux@gmail.com 


ski Losing my Reality

musetouch_issue_15

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