interview

Ian Moore’s works not only satirize the absurd aspects of living in the 21st century, but are a visual treat on their own. The Bristol-based artist uses media ranging from digital illustration to murals and Riso printing to showcase his vibrant style and textures. Read today’s feature to learn about Ian’s insights into visual storytelling and why he uses 1-star TripAdvisor reviews as inspiration.

Charlie Mars’ works span illustration, animation and video, and his unique style inspired by a diverse life trajectory has led his works to attracting significant acclaim. Having taken a 15-year-long break from illustration, Charlie is now back and his newfound creative freedom shines through his glazed textures.

“In video games, nothing interested me more than character creation.” Since Polish fashion designer Maja Bączyńska founded her eponymous label, she's been gracing the world with her sometimes sleek, most of the time maximal and opulent silhouettes. In the interview, Bączyńska sheds light on her playful pieces featuring frilly and sculptural textures, unexpected twists and reference layers, and clever and uncompromising tailoring.

“The bug has always been a reflection of the self”, and Riniifish’s illustrations and animations explore the unique beauty and mystical activities of these seemingly uniform creatures. In her works, the artist creates a mythology of the M7 Planet, which her bugs co-created and have since thrived on. Join us on Sugar Rush’s first sweet feature to these vivid worlds of wonder.

“In general, people stay much longer at raves than in a gallery.” The Slovak creative duo behind AUSGANG Studio, Alex Zelina and Radovan Dranga, craft menacing and sometimes unsettling sculptures and mobile installations from materials typically considered waste with an occasional AI crossover. You can run into these in a gallery or, unexpectedly, at a dim dancefloor.

Mikhail Ermakov and Dahlia Kurmanguzhina, the self-titled “digital fetish artist couple”, are relationship goals in more ways than one. In the interview below, the duo talks about the organic mutuality and reciprocity of their creative processes, the touchingly introspective and respectful way of co-creating that was cultivated with immense care, Slavic folklore, and more. Get lost in their shiny, alluring, and squeaky world.

“The feeling of having enough time, the luxury of boredom, is very important to me when making art,” quips Bronislava Orlická, the idiosyncratic Czech painter and tattoo artist, whose iconic gradient “flames” adorn countless limbs and torsos across the world. The scope of her artistic practice is broad: from the aforementioned tattoos to large-scale paintings to machine knitting. Get to know her below.

Kaja Horvat’s esoteric illustrations depict hidden realities that tap into the collective unconscious. In exploring these psychedelic utopias, the young Slovenian artist uses her masterful form to re-find that sense of wonder one feels all too rarely. Today, Kaja brings it back, and sheds light on her artistic journey and inspirations.

Beca Alcorta is a Berlin-based self-taught sculptural artist with a MA in Psychology, infusing her pearlescent, corals-like creations with what she knows about the human psyche and gothic aesthetic influences. In the exclusive interview, we delve into joy of working with randomness, adaptive and maladaptive illusions, never-before-felt hopelessness, and more.

Matej Stetiar’s signature paintings explore the marks we all leave in the world and how memories transform with time. Fascinated by the processes of human meaning-making, he creates canvases of possibilities in which everyone can find their own constellations. Read today’s interview to learn more about the emerging Czech artist’s style and insights into consciousness, relativity, and perception of reality.

“I believe that I can open the closed doors of your soul.” Polina Revunenko, Ukrainian metalsmith and designer, unveiled a sliver of her magical inner realm for us in an interview. In her jewellery collections, she uses a special casting technique, which makes the resulting jewellery appear molten and crudely wrought, reminiscent of some sort of mediaeval or druidic cult insignia.

“Complexity isn’t always necessary for impactful design.” Being a Swiss citizen of Vietnamese descent, Duc Siegenthaler has been navigating the ebb and flow of blending in and standing out since childhood. SWARM Mag interviewed the founder and Creative Director of the Siegenthaler label about avoiding reducing modularity to “a gimmick”, constant self-discovery, indulging in play, and more.

Mossy, mouldy, earthy – all these adjectives give you a very rough outline of the garments the Copenhagen-based Solitude Studios craft and sometimes even grow and ferment. Their A/W23 collection, Wood Wide Web, hints at the recently popularised notion of “mycorrhizal internet”, the sprawling matrix of mycelium that connects fungi and various members of the plant kingdom, ferrying nutrients and other kinds of “information”.

Voidbug blends the inspirations she finds in science, fantasy, and vintage encyclopedias to map the inhabitants of the fairy realms. Join the artist on this journey of playful discovery, and let the fae help you re-find the purity and joy that often go amiss in today’s world.

In her artistic trajectory, Dan Yang’s works trace themes of ancient ancestry, spiritual transformation, and all that is uncanny. Through installations and objects, the Chinese multidisciplinary artist explores her mythic visions of the otherness of human bodies subjected to natural cycles that climax in apocalyptic decimation.

The goal of “bringing visions to life”, so essential and ubiquitous in the art world, is often hindered and challenged by compromises, most often on the technological and material side of things. But putting Susanna Pugliese's fantastical fashion sketches next to the near-identical final garments is a testament to her commitment to fulfil this goal no matter its labouriousness. Read on for the interview with the Italian-born fashion designer in possession of a wide range of artisanal skills.

Form, movement, and materials are the tools of Diana Orving’s trade: the Swedish textile artist expresses herself through a dynamic interplay of techniques, material choreographies and animism to find the interconnectedness of all things and beings.

Olga Wieszczyk's intensely corporeal, borderline body-horror, and uncomfortably seductive illustrations feel like your eyes have been spellbound not to look away… or blink. In the interview, Olga shared with us her childhood fascination with the occult, dark Catholic themes, sombre Slavic folk tales and myths – and, clearly, manga.

The Czech ceramist and designer Johana Hnízdilová was always drawn to working with clay and making palpable art. Having studied illustration, she eventually abandoned screens for her passion, creating and finding purpose in manual craftsmanship, staying true to her own words: it is the needs of spirituality in today's rational world that I respond to in my work.

Dominik Málek’s explorations of selfhood, binary opposites, and fantasy have led him all the way to the Světova 1 gallery, where he has recently presented his installation Jacuzzi of Despair. For today’s feature, we sat down with Dominik to learn more about his work, creative approach and inspirations to gain deeper insight into the mind of the upcoming Czech artist.