Emma Riva – UP MAGAZINE

The Art of Angels with Victoria Mary Clarke & Tamara Annis

Emma speaks with artists Victoria Mary Clarke and Tamara Annis about the spiritual connection within sketching angels.

Akiva Listman Lights Up New York

Akiva Listman doesn’t just paint the fantasy New York tourists come to the city for–he depicts the grit and the glow that makes up the city as it really is. (Take it from Emma Riva, a native New Yorker with high standards). Listman’s star is on the rise with a solo show at 188 Allen and a feature from the MTA, so now’s the time to learn what his work is all about.

A Tale of Two Art Fairs: Frieze & NADA

In May, two art fairs – Frieze and NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) showed up in Chelsea. Emma Riva examines the similarities and differences between them and what they might say about the high-end art market – from the perspective of an art critic who both gets up in the streets with graffiti writers and frequents fancy art fair.

Ish Muhammad’s The Astros & Me

UP managing editor Emma Riva came to Chicago to interview Gary, Indiana, graffiti writer Ish Muhammad about The Astros, a graffiti-inspired futuristic retelling of an ancient Egyptian romantic drama, and walked away finding herself in a near-mythical drama of her own.

The Weird and Wonderful World of Gus Fink

Artist and filmmaker Gus Fink’s stylistic mixture of the creepy and the cute doesn’t bring to mind meditation and mindfulness at first. Frequent figures in his paintings are Tim Burton characters, hollow-eyed skeletons, and Alice in Wonderland-esque cartoon interpretations of horror movie icons. But if you look closer, the way that Fink balances the kitsch of childhood with the macabre and the gothic requires an artist with his own sense of inner balance.

Curatorial Statement: NEON GOTHIC

For anyone who couldn’t make it to the opening, the curatorial statement from UP managing editor Emma Riva’s 2/4 show NEON GOTHIC.

Venazir Martinez, Baguio City’s “Anthropreneur”

Meet Venazir Martinez, a street artist creating beauty, depth, and advocacy on the walls of Baguio City in the Cordillera region of the Philippines. Martinez’s mission is to highlight indigenous communities in the Philippines and make viewers ask: What does it mean to be Filipino?

UP Magazine’s 2022 Editors’ Choice List

Here at UP, we chase the wildest, strangest, and most heart-filled stories out there, but there were a few that stuck out to us this year. Enjoy reading our Editor’s Choice Articles of 2022!

Carlos Mare and Michael Walsh on Graffiti Sculpture and Making the Art of Our Time

At the Andy Warhol Museum, graffiti sculptors Michael Walsh and Carlos Mare discussed a new residency at Pittsburgh, PA’s Carrie Blast Furnaces that brings together graffiti and metalworking. What followed was a thought-provoking conversation about post-industrial graffiti and how graffiti continues to evolve with the walls around it.

Q&A With Willem Wolfe

Willem Wolfe is an LA native, raised in an entertainment family with an early interest in art. With eclectic titles like “Vegan Bacon Confits” and “Ambien Palooza,” Willem’s music draws from hip-hop, electronic, and rave elements. However, he spoke to UP about his journey working with iconic street artist Shepard Fairey and his interest in visual art as well as music-making.