musetouch_issue_21

musetouch 

Visual Arts Magazine 

ISSUE 21 MAY 2012 

Steven DaLuz Oleg Dozortzev Chris Sedgwick Ania Tomicka Olga Boris 

Natasha Milashevich Jaroslaw Datta Jennifer Healy Eleanor Bennett Casey David 

musetouch.org

Dear readers, 

I felt a need to share with you an email I have received a few days ago. 

I have sensed it as a voice of people, a message from all of you, and 

I must admit that it has made me feel special. It proved me, one more 

time, that I am doing something important, worthy, huge. 

“Dear Maia, 

This is just an email –among others that you receive- which try to express 

how grateful I am for the work you are doing with Musetouch. 

I am not going to say that you –and the rest of the team obviously, as 

well as the contributors- are way better than the existing examples 

out there, this would indicate that the message is exactly the opposite of 

a ‘spontaneous’ reaction. Moreover, I believe is unnecessary to 

tell you that each issue is extremely influential because you already 

know that. I am an architect my self – among other things- and I know 

to separate pure art from wanna be ones. So, please accept my sincere 

thanks along with our commitment to your work.” 

I want to thank to my dear friends Ljiljana Bursac, Nini Baseema, 

Kiyo Murakami, Jelena Grujic, Murielle Mirabelle Velay Michel, Natalie 

Shau, Ian Furniss, Bolek Budzyn, Thierry Bruet, Dejan Bogojevic, 

Gines Serran, Mark Sadan and to all of you. 

Maia Sylba

Like MUSETOUCH MAGAZINE 

and become part of it 

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 

KIYO MURAKAMI 

photography 

theformofbeauty.tumblr.com 

kiyomurakami.com

NATALIE SHAU 

natalieshau.carbonmade.com 

MURIELLE MIRABELLE VELAY MICHEL 

mirabelleart.com

MUSETOUCH MAGAZINE May 2012 

Editor 

Maia Sylba 

Graphic designer 

Dejan Silbaski 

Contributors 

Nini Baseema 

Kiyo Murakami 

Ian Furniss 

Cover 

Elena Kalis 

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

Olga Boris 

With whole Being 

Jaroslaw Datta 

Lost in a Dream 

Steven DaLuz 

Sense of Mystery 

010 

164 

Ania Tomicka 

The Dark Sky of Innocence 

046 

Jennifer Healy 

Beautiful Burden 

196 

Eleanor Bennett 

Emotions on the Outside 

068 

Chris Sedgwick 

Intense Emotional Response 

Oleg Dozortzev 

Illusion for Real 

224 

098 

Natasha Milashevich 

Escape to Magnificent 

Casey David 

The Story 

248 

130 

280 


Olga Boris With whole B 

“Olga Boris is the collaborative name for the work of Boris and Olga Sargina from Tyumen, Russia. 

In describing their work, I feel it would be overly simplistic to say that this is “Fine Art”or “Erotic 

Art” as this would be an injustice to expression which transcends any single category. Techically, 

we can talk of a beautiful use of shadow and light, the use of black and white tones, exquisitely 

highlighting shape and form as a sometimes minute level, but there is so much more here than 

just technique. From the finely detailed texture of “Absinthe” - an image that glistents and tingles 

through every pore and hair of your skin – to the serene complexity of 03/07/2009, there is a passion 

and appreciation of the senses you can almost feel and touch. An invitation to explore each 

image. Not only with your eyes, but with your whole being. 

In creating these images, Olga and Boris shows us that beauty is so much more than just curve of 

a breast, the shape of a body, or the feeling glimpse of an intangible moment. It is a quality that 

pervades every sinew and fibre of our being. It breathes in our soul, and it drinks in our heart. It 

dances in the light, and glides through the shadow. It is our muse, it is our life.” 

Ian Furniss 

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photosight.ru//users/241485

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Steven DaLuz 

“I am compelled to do work that conjures up a sense of mystery and ethereal light, whether 

figurative or abstract. My interests are evenly split between the two. While identified more 

with abstract works that are often landscape-referential, employing a process using metal leaf, 

chemically-induced patinas, oil, and other mixed media, I also consider the figure as endlessly 

relevant, with inherent potential for poetic introspection. Landscape, spirituality, and the figure 

all serve as inspiration for me. Collectively, my work often reflects upon primal questions about 

origins, the expressive beauty of the human figure, the aesthetic power of light moving through 

an imagined atmosphere, and the sublime. In my search to find a genre that best describes my 

work, I’ve chosen the term, “Neo-Luminism. 

Like the “Luminist” style of the mid-19th century, for my purposes, “Neo-Luminist” art concerns 

itself with the glowing effects of light. It differs, in that “Neo-Luminism” does not necessarily 

concern itself with traditional landscape, does not rely on the masking of brushwork, nor is it 

overly concerned with detail. While it may share a feeling of tranquility, calm, and the sense of 

light piercing a soft, hazy “sky”, Neo-Luminist” works may also be dramatic and turbulent. It 

normally has aspects of ethereal light, and hazy atmospheric qualities. It may also be present in 

figurative works, so long as reflective properties of underlying surfaces are exploited to convey the 

effect of light. 

My intention is not literal narrative. Instead, I strive to evoke a feeling within the viewer. As 

Magritte aptly said, “People who look for symbolic meanings fail to grasp the inherent poetry 

and mystery of the image.” My artwork need answer no questions, present a political position, 

nor expound upon a narrative. For me, the pure “beauty” or personal aesthetic of art need not 

explain anything. At its best, the raw image alone can be enough to pose questions and ignite the 

imagination of the viewer.” 

Steven DaLuz 


stevendaluz.com

Sense of Mystery 























“ I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “ doodler “. 

From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy 

things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my 

high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercollor. Watercolor is what birthed 

my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital 

painting and my newfound passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past 

years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 

2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. ” 



beautifulburden.com

Beautiful Burden 






























Chris Sedgwick 

Chris Sedgwick was born in Florida in 1981 and began painting at a young age. He graduated 

from Florida State University and began a career in painting after moving to Asheville, NC. 

His inspiration spans from the spiritual to the scientific and his work often evokes intense 

emotional responses. His work is in numerous private collections worldwide and his housed 

in the permanent collections of Richard Kessler, Florida State University and Western Carolina 

University. Sedgwick currently lives and works in Colorado Springs, Colorado; drawing 

inspiration from the surrounding natural beauty of the Pikes Peak region. 

Who are you Chris? 

I am an artist from the United States, living in Colorado. I live in Colorado Springs at the base 

of a 14,00 ft. Mountain, I find the scenery here very inspiring. I live with my wife, young son, 

and dog whom we call “ the scrum ”. 

Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one? 

I always feel a need to communicate what is going on inside me, I am not the best with words, 

and I am not the saviest socializer, so I learned to paint in leu of other forms of communication. 

I first became an artist In middle school, I moved to a different town and had trouble assimilating 

in school. That period of my life was awkward and disorienting. I began using art in a 

different way, I really just delved into my own world for a year, and art became an escape. 

Could you tell us some more about your painting? 

My painting technique is very methodical and slow paced, I use oil paint, gold leafing, and I 

also like to smash up small minerals and add them to certain parts of paintings. Most of my 

work has a spiritual undertone to it and at first glance is cryptic in nature. 

What famous artists have influenced you, and how? 

I went through a couple different phases of influence. During high school I was obsessed with 

Dali, I liked his technical skill, in depth conceptual symbols, and I was envious of his avant 

garde personality. In college I delved into the European Renaissance masters, particularly 

Michelangelo, I loved his perfectionism and sheer drive to complete immense tasks. After college 

I went through an Odd Nerdrum phase, I started painting desolate earth tone scenes with 

figures in high contrast lighting. I was introduced to Odd’s work the last day of college when 

I was cleaning out my studio. A local painter was walking through the studios and we started 

talking. 


Intense Emotional Response 


He told me my art looked a lot like Odd Nerdrums work, then when I saw Odd’s work I 

thought to myself- damn, someone has already done what I wanted to do, and they did it so 

much better. I think that happens to most artists at some point, discovering that a predecessor 

has already laid out similar concepts, I used it in a positive way and began studying his work 

and practicing my craft until I felt that I could walk my own path. 

I am currently influenced by old alchemical etchings, esoteric theologic diagrams, and the 

wealth of amazing contemporary artists. A lot of creators of esoteric theological diagrams and 

alchemical etchings were not “ professional artists” , they were practitioners who wanted to 

capture a concept through art but didn’t necessarily have the refined skills. There is something 

immediate and important about that style of creating, akin to some outsider art, you now that 

the need to lay out a feeling or concept has surpassed the technical wherewithal but the task is 

completed anyway. I find that drive and passion very influential. 

What inspires you to create? 

I have a favorite Chuck Close quote that really sums up how I feel about inspiration... 

“ Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work. ” 

I think Inspiration can take you a long way in the beginning of your career, and I still get 

inspired, but eventually you need a strong work ethic and an inner voice that validates your 

choice to be an artist when times get tough. You can’t really wait for inspiration to provide 

those qualities, you have to work for them. 

Some things that continue to inspire me are spirituality, art, psychology, science, and symbolism. 

I love studying esoteric artwork and breaking down the messages and symbolism behind 

the works. I love noticing layers in the narrative of an artwork, discovering that the artis was 

brilliant enough to essentially paint two pictures in one, camouflaging secret symbols and 

subtextual narratives into the veneer of the piece. One of my favorite pieces of esoteric artwork 

is “ The Grand Rosicrucian Alchemical Formula ” by J. Augustus Knapp. Not because 

the piece sub textually communicates a narrative but because it successfully communicates so 

much philosophy in such a small space and is still incredibly appealing from a pure aesthetic 

perspective. 

What is the message of your paintings, and also your own personal message to the world? 

Each painting has a different message, some of them are in depth and layered and some of 

them are meant to be simple and visceral. I provide conceptual breakdowns of work on my 

website, I also make videos detailing the messages behind some of the works, it is very important 

to me that a piece have a purpose, even if is simple. I utilize philosophical and religious 

beliefs from numerous spiritual disciplines, though my favorite is the occult sciences, they are 

so diverse and symbolically rich. 

The subjects emotions in my work are generally serious, I feel this draws the viewer in and 

offers them a voyeuristic view into an event that may not be intended for them. I often use 

myself as a model in my work and often have the same figure two, three, or even four times in 

a piece. 



This practice was inspired by the Renaissance and Byzantine artists who would use the same 

figure twice or more in a piece to communicate that an event was happening at a different 

time but to the same subject, kind of like a comic strip all smashed together. I use this conceptual 

technique similarly but instead of applying it to events in external time, I use it to depict 

the events occurring internally in the psyche of the subject - like being inside the subject and 

watching the way the self splits and diagrammatically weaves it’s way through an event. 

How do you see yourself and your art in the future? 

I see myself leading a similar life in the future, living off of your artwork can be a struggle but 

to me it is worth it. Life is short and is best spent when you are doing what you love. 

I am constantly drawn to more color, gold leaf, and design elements. I try to paint brighter but 

the dominant part of me favors low diffused light conditions with subtle tonal ranges, I find 

them more challenging to paint. I think I will slowly gravitate towards more high contrast 

figures, they can be dramatic which is where I want to go in the future. I have been essentially 

taking philosophical concepts and giving them human structure, next I plan on delving into 

the psyche more- exploring the universal emotions and dynamics of the psyche that influence 

our decisions. I just began adding cyphers into my work, I find myself wanting to add visual 

words or phrases as I have in the past but I wanted to find a way to hide them and render 

them a more dynamic part of the composition. 

MS 


crsedgwick.com



















musetouch 121









Natasha Milashe 

Natasha Milashevich was born in 1967 in Dushanbe in the former Soviet Union. She started 

her studies locally, graduating from the Art College of Dushanbe in 1989. She continued her 

studies in St. Petersburg in the studio of the renowned artist Vasili V. Sokolov at the Repin 

Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, widely considered the finest art academy 

in Russia, from which she graduated in 1995. Since that time, she has been a member of the 

Russian Fine Artist’s Association. Her work has been included in more than 30 exhibitions in 

Russia, Finland, Holland, France, Chile and Kazakhstan. 


academart.com

vich Escape to Magnificent 


































Jaroslaw Datta 

“ When they ask to see your gods, 

Your book of prayers, 

Show them lines drawn delicately 

With veins on the underside of a bird’s wing. 

Tell them you believe in giant sycamores, 

Mottled and stark against a winter sky. 

And in night’s so frozen 

Stars crack open, 

Spilling streams of molten ice to Earth. 

And tell them how you drank 

The holy wine of honeysuckle 

On a warm spring day. 

And of the softness of your mother, 

Who never taught you death was life’s reward; 

But who believed in the earth, 

And the sun, 

And in a million, million light years of being. “ 

J.L. Stanley, ” Catechism for a Witch’s Child ” 


jaroslawdatta.com

Lost in a Dream 
































Ania Tomicka 

“Ania Tomicka is a contemporary artist of the pop surrealism movement. She was born in 

Poland but now she lives in Italy. 

Ania starts to paint when she was a child and she has experimented different painting, drawing 

and illustration tecniques. She graduates in painting at the academy of fine arts in Florence 

and in illustration at Nemo academy of digital arta. Now she continues her artistic career 

in continous evolution. 

Her paintings are on sale at Mondo Bizzarro Gallery in Rome where she has on plan some 

exibithions.” 


ania-tomicka.webnode.com

The Dark Sky of Innocence 














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Eleanor Bennett 

Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a British Teenager who had has her photography exhibited around 

the globe in galleries and published around the world in magazines. 

She is the winner of the UK National Geographic Kids Photography Contest 2010, The World 

Photography Organization’s Photomonth youth award 2010 , The February 2011 winner with 

Nature’s Best Photography, Winston’s Wish 2011, Papworth Trust (under 16s: 1st ,2nd and 3rd 

place) and has also won three National Art contests (from the age of 11) with the Woodland 

Trust Nature Detectives. 

In 2009 out of the whole of the UK she was the only entrant placed in the competition (Highly 

Commended) ran by Airbus and National Geographic called “See The Bigger Picture”. 

A few magazines that have published her work include Dot Dot Dash (Australian), Alabama 

Coast and Alabama Seaport (USA), The Guardian (UK)Revolution Art (USA) , The Big Issue 

In The North (UK) , RSPB Birds and RSPB Birdlife magazines (UK) and the worlds most 

popular children’s magazine NG Kids. 

Eleanor has also had her work sold for charities - Great Ormond Street, Lovedrop and The 

Red Cross. 


eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com

Emotions on the Outside 
























Oleg Dozortzev 

Oleg Dozortzev was born in 1957, in Luga, Russia. He graduated from secondary art college, 

Odessa and I.E. Repin Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, faculty of graphics. 

Expositions: 

1992 - group exhibition of Russian artists in the private gallery, Karlovy Vary, Chech Republic. 

1993 - movable group exhibition of artists of Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, Saint Petersburg. 

1995 - personal exposition in Art centre “World and Delft”, Delft, The Netherlands. 

2001-2002 - museum exposition “Russian art - new generation” Het Slot Zeist, The Netherlands. 

2004 - Artexpo Fair, New York. 


academart.com

Illusion for Real 
































Casey David The 

Tell us a little bit about yourself? 

I am from Birmingham, Alabama and I’ve moved at least fifteen times in my life – all within 

the state. I have finally settled in the city of Birmingham where I attend school. I am majoring 

in English and minoring in Creative Writing; I graduate in a year. Being a writer really helps 

with the story and narrative element of photography. Besides photography, I am love video 

games, reading and writing, Netflix marathons with my boyfriend and friends, finding beauty 

in the everyday, and meeting new people. 

How did you first get into photography? 

I first began experimenting with photography when I was 14 or 15. I had a small following 

on the now defunct MySpace and took a lot of typical MySpace-style photos. I eventually 

began experimenting with Photoshop and created clones (see photo below), but photography 

remained a very, very small hobby. My passion was writing and I was determined to become 

a famous poet. It was not until a year and a half ago in November of 2010 that my true photographic 

journey began. 

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

as a way to express yourself creatively? 

Initially I just took photos for fun and as a hobby. I never really thought about it becoming a 

career. I wanted to focus on my writing and change the world with words. Now, I incorporate 

my writing with my photography by writing a small/flash fiction piece for nearly every photo 

I write. It may just be a sentence, but there is a story. These are on my Flickr in the description 

– usually italicized. 

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

Besides the technical aspect, honesty, vulnerability, and the ability to tell a story are the most 

important. I think someone can be the most technically incredible photographer and know 

lighting and how to use camera and find light, etc. but if they cannot tell a story, then, for me, 

the image doesn’t deserve more than a glance. Not that this means you need to go in to every 

photo with the need to narrate something larger, but I think something needs to be there. 

Even if it’s small. 

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

technique...? 


Story 


A passion to create and share and the need to use one’s imagination. I try to incorporate magical 

realism in my work. This is typically a literary device where you have ordinary objects like 

books, newspapers, ice, etc. and they are seen as magical or have magical qualities. My Flight 

of the Book Birds series (http://www.flickr.com/photos/caseydavid/sets/72157627555391072/) 

tries to do this, and I think I convey a sense of magic with them. 

How does your profession as an artist influence your life? 

I would not yet say that my profession is just yet a photographer. I don’t make nearly enough 

to live on, but I do make a decent amount monthly. Regardless, though I feel like I am connect 

and network with people well because of my photography. I am given a lot of incredible 

opportunities that I am just so grateful for. My favorite, I think, is being able to create magic 

for my friends and family through photos. I’ve taken photos of my sister’s newborn son, photos 

of my other sister’s family, portraits for friends, and they have these to cherish and look 

back on years for now, and I really could not ask for more. 

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

I think I do. I think all artists do. For me, I try to find every day, ordinary objects and create 

beautiful images out of them. I want to find magic in mundane. I think as an artist you have 

to see things differently. You have to be able to imagine something that isn’t there especially if 

part of your art is created through photoshop where a lot of the magic happens. 

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

This image is one of my more recent works.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caseydavid/6999952811/in/photostream. 

It was taken on March 18th of this year. The model is my 

boyfriend. I’d been wanting to photograph him for a long time. He’s incredibly handsome and 

sweet and I knew he would be great in front of the camera. His family is from Chattanooga, 

and they have this huge farm. There used to be an old house, his great-grandparents, where 

the picture was taken. It was burned down when he was a child, but the chimney still remained. 

When I first saw the chimney, I knew that I had to design a shoot around it. It really, 

for me, represented destruction and the need to live and persist even after death. Despite the 

home burning, the chimney still remained. 

How do you see yourself in the future? 

I hope that I find success as a photographer, and I can support myself and my family through 

my work. I would like that more than anything else, to be honest. I’ve found some minor success 

and made some small victories with my work – an art show, a book cover, magazine and 

website features, and I can only hope that I continue to grow and learn. 

MS 


facebook.com/caseydavidphoto

























ACADEMY OF ARTS FOUNDATION 

To draw public support and to popularize the Russian Academy of Arts I. E. Repin 

Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Saint Petersburg “Academy of Arts” 

Foundation has been founded in 1996. 

General objective, pursued by The Foundation, is domestic and foreign promotion of 

I.E. Repin Institute’s students and graduates through expositions and media projects. 

Web site of the “Academy of Arts” Foundation (www.academart.com) has been created 

in 1999. To familiarize the broad audience, comprising museums’ and private 

galleries’ personnel, collectors and amateurs of fine arts with the avenues, explored 

by The Foundation, it was further revised and updated on 2002 and 2011 years. 

Website organized as online galleries of the artists graduated, teaching and studying 

in the I. E. Repin’s institute. Main goal of the gallery is providing the best creative artworks 

by academician artists all around the world. Foundation’s online gallery united 

over 50 well known figurative artists with recognizable manner and progressive style 

from Saint-Petersburg. 

Worldwide promotion of Saint-Petersburg modern figurative art is main strategy of 

the Foundation’s activity. 

Outstanding paintings of the most of participants in Foundation’s projects combined 

classic traditions of figurative paintings with contemporary mentality. 

In the nearest perspective of the our activity is creating of wide database of I. E. Repin’s 

institute graduates for last 50 years. We also provide online exhibitions of the 

best works, artists and important art themes. 

academart.com 


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