In this edition of Venus Magazine, we had the extraordinary privilege of sitting down with four remarkable artists whose work pushes boundaries and speaks to the heart. From bold visual storytelling to deeply personal explorations of love, beauty, and identity, each artist invites us into their world, sharing the inspirations, challenges, and passions that drive their craft.
Their stories—filled with creativity, resilience, and insight—are as captivating as their art. Dive into these intimate conversations below and discover the voices behind the masterpieces. We hope their journeys resonate with you as much as they did with us.
Hello, my name is Ariadne, and I am an expatriate hailing from the planet Baltya in what you call Cosmos Redshift 7 (CR7), a galaxy on the farthest reaches of your observable universe. I’ve been traveling for a very long time (though hard to say exactly how long; I still don’t understand Earth time), and although I don’t usually stay on any planet for longer than a few cycles around its solar host, I’ve decided to stay on Earth for the foreseeable future in order to complete my current aesthetic experiments.
As an intergalactic artist, I have made my artistic debut six separate times on as many planets, spread across five solar systems throughout three different galaxies. Although I expect each time to be easier than the last, this has yet to be the case.
Art is intrinsically vulnerable. Even if the subject matter is devoid of feeling, a piece of the maker’s ego is inevitably bound up in the resulting product. You are as alien to me as I am to you. I offer you this work in the hope of finding enough commonality to bridge our differences. What I’ve made may not be what you consider music, but in my time here, I have expanded my definition of the form to include yours. Perhaps you can expand yours in order to incorporate mine.
All these pieces of art are part of my album SellOut which is available on Youtube, Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify, and Amazon Music, and is best experienced in video format. Visit earthtoariadne.com to explore and learn more bout Ariadne’s work.
I recorded the final IIKY dialogue the same way I recorded the demo: jogging around Manhattan, one sock over an iphone mic in order to reduce wind noise. I knew after only one take that I’d hit on something, dispelled something, professed something true, all while telling only lies. Catharsis happened at a distance. I wanted to hear my hurt in someone else’s mouth.
And I want you to hear it, too.
Seven More is one of the most personal, near confessional tracks on the album. I wrote it in between shifts at my first job here on Earth (during the summer of 2021.) The research I was conducting dredged up memories of the first job I *ever* had, serving emahka to the bustling crowds under Baltya’s red sun. I spent my commutes writing something akin to poetry. It was as meditative as it was creatively productive, an outlet for the angst of adolescence—which I now know to be universal experience, a necessary rite of passage for all intelligent life forms.
“Seven More” is the product of these mirrored experiences, told through a human lens.
You’ve mentioned previously that you leaned toward art because it was more accessible than, say, sports. But I’d love to know what made you connect with art beyond that it was accessible to you.
Did you have any community activities growing up or during secondary school that challenged you and helped you see things from new perspectives?
I didn’t do much in that aspect, I just went through the education and did the work. I did what we call an arts award, which is basically something to put on your CV. I did a bronze and silver arts award. It’s basically “going back to school but not school”. We had different bits and bobs, modules, learning different mediums and such which I did in the local gallery during high school.
I was introduced quite a lot then and especially in the gallery setting as well. I used to walk around after hours and go and look at paintings. I think that was a nice introduction to art outside of being a hobby and more of a professional career.
Did you end up finding community within the gallery at that time?
Not necessarily. I’m not in contact with anyone from that time at the moment, but it’s really weird connection-wise. When I was in university in my second-year I was talking to my tutor about where I’m from, and I was saying that I got the arts award. He happened to have a couple shows in the gallery where I was doing it. Around the time I was doing [my arts award], he was showing his work. It’s really weird that coincidence and link where my tutor from years on—I was drawing his work when I was doing my arts award and not even realizing as well. It’s really weird how paths cross.
I know you’ve gone through a change of more regimented artwork to moving into sculpture and following your creative senses. What phases of experimentation led you to your current art style?
I think it was more, sort of, accepting who I was as a person and as a lesbian and fully embracing that. Before going into uni I wasn’t really out at all, and so when going into uni I was like “Right, now is the time to actually experiment with things and just try to be as authentic to myself as possible.” Weirdly, I thought I’d dye my hair for fun and it’s been like this for four years now. Hasn’t changed. I started trying to represent myself in a different way. I started dressing in pink clothes. Do you know what? As a child, I hated pink. I despised it. It’s that tomboy thing you go through isn’t it? But I fully embraced it going into university. I think it was from there that I really started to see my practice and style change into things I wanted to look into.
You’ve mentioned that your consumption habits and lesbian identity influence your art. How do you see your personal narrative intersecting with broader societal themes in your work?
I think the personal narrative comes out naturally and organically through my fabrication of the work, my stylization, and my preferences of how I want the work to be manufactured in all aspects. But on the wider commentary and how it all interlinks, mainly my themes and my works surround food. Not only do I have a personal connotation to it, so many other people have personal relationships, connotations, and meanings linked to certain different foods.
When I was filming “In Sandwich Counter” I had labored away for a year just making this work and it was basically my child. When I was showing it to an audience and trying to explain my own personal likenings, it was a really lovely conversation. It really highlighted other peoples’ thoughts and links to the work as well. The work is interactive, like, we made sandwiches together and we had a discussion while making the sandwiches. It really became apparent that these everyday tasks—going to get lunch, going to get a sandwich—how interlinked they are into everyday life and what they mean to people. So I think it’s more that the theme is a universal language.How do you see your role as an artist in today’s society? What responsibilities, if any, do you believe artists have in addressing societal issues?
In a way, I think it’s really an interesting one because I think that art can really create change. It creates that conversation of looking at something in a different perspective and a different way through otherwise, say, the news or a serious media. So it does really bring light to all these different issues around the world. I’m really grateful to have my say on different aspects and things that are going on. I don’t know, it’s quite pressurizing in that sense because you are trying to make the world a better place. You’re really trying to implement, even if it’s really small, just a bit of change. That change of attitudes as well. I think it’s a really important role for artists to engage with what’s happening.
About your art, I’d like to know what mediums and what else you draw inspiration from when you're working on your sculptures.
Inspiration-wise it can be anything and everything. A few months back I was absolutely obsessed with pickled onions. I went through a phase where I was just eating so many. This is really weird, but I was eating like four pickled onions a day. Just spooning it out the jar. It was flippin’ insane. Now I’m doing this show about a pub and I’m turning the gallery into a pub. I was thinking about condiments and ketchup and salt and vinegar. Then I thought, “Oh, pickled onions! I could make some pickled onions.” I thought back to when I was eating a lot of pickled onions and the texture and the liquid and the transparency of the onion. It’s basically like weird little everyday things that I go from. Then a lot of my sculptures are made through drawings so they’re more stylized. A lot of my works are a lot bigger than they are in real life. They’re a bit skewed. They’re a bit wonky. They’re a bit more organic. That’s taken from a drawing of how I want it to be represented.
I feel like everyone I know that came out in university had a complete flip. Especially if they came to college femme, their look became like a “Hello, hi… I am queer.”
Yeah, definitely. Do you know what? My parents used to be like “oh we never knew, we couldn’t have guessed.” But I think it was like year eight in secondary school, and I was rocking this pixie cut. There were so many things. The pixie cut, flannel shirts. It’s just hilarious how we go through these changes to try to figure out who we are. And then it just really clicked through the trial and process of who I am as a person. That’s sort of embedded into my work. Pre-university, I think I’ve deleted it from all my socials, but you’d see still-life paintings, really classical paint brushes and pots. It has really evolved.
On the hair topic, I really respect that you found exactly what you wanted and stuck with it because my hair changes like four times a year for the past five years.
But I agree, finding yourself is definitely the biggest thing. With writing music, it became so much easier for me once I was no longer suppressed living at home.
Yeah, no, literally. It’s a really freeing experience to go out on your own. Especially me, with my experience no longer living at home [during university].
Hair-wise, I love my hair. I don't think I’ll change it for a while. It’s really become my identity. It’s really weird to think about because I get recognized at parties by my hair. So people from social media will come up or directors and I’ll get “Mille!” and I go “Oh hi! How are you!” Every time I’m like [gasps] “what?”
Do you see your art going in any particular direction? Do you have any ideas or inclinations on things you want to explore or evolve on in the next few years?
So, my work is more about creating an environment and a space at the moment. I look at the entire picture. That’s not to say I don’t focus on the smaller things like small sculptures and little elements, but I’d really like to hone in on the small sculptures and isolate them outside of the installation. I’d like to learn new skills and techniques to improve my sculpture. Hopefully that’s how my work will progress.
Looking ahead, what are you most excited about in your upcoming projects?
I’m currently working toward a show here in February, which is going to be my debut solo show here in Bath. I’ve been working on it for over a year now. Either way, I’m going to be very relieved when it’s done, but also very sad because it’s going to be like a part of my life is just gone. I might revisit looking at other galleries, but that’s not necessarily like making new work. But I’m excited for the reception of the work and I’m hoping that it goes well. Apart from the other projects, I haven’t got anything going on yet after the show. So I guess it’s going to be nice to have a little bit of a break, do smaller works and sculptures, and focus on maybe not big installations because outside of uni they do take up a lot of time. I think I was using a lot of the university’s resources. All the wood workshops and stuff. Outside of uni when you don’t have that, it’s been hard to manufacture and a bit more money, unfortunately, to try and get things made. It’s all about balancing art and life outside of art. I think it’ll be quite nice to go on hold though.
Hello, my name is Marta. If I have to describe what I do very generally, I would say that my artworks are miscellaneous and I am self-taught artist. For as long as I can remember, I've had a hard time choosing just one thing. Life is like a buffet with so many things to taste and I am still tasting writing, drawing and painting and who knows what will be next? Discovering, testing new things and breaking barriers is the best part of it all. Maybe at first you are afraid and scary but also so excited and then you feel such great pleasure.
Can you describe your early experiences with art, particularly during your childhood? Were there any pivotal moments or influences, especially when working with markers, that sparked your passion for creating?
I learned to draw very early. My mother told me that as a very small child I liked to draw, especially people - with details that seemed interesting to me - like nice clothes, makeup, something that made them stand out from other people I knew and saw. I think I'm doing exactly the same thing now. Unfortunately, my passion faded a bit at school, because the lessons killed creativity. everyone had to do everything exactly the same. And for someone who has their own ideas and methods it is a real torture
How has your artistic style evolved since you first began your current work? How do you balance planning versus spontaneity in your creative process?
I think that spontaneity and a kind of mindfulness are the most important in my creative process. As an overthinker and a person who for a long time was afraid to leave the comfort zone, I needed a space where I could feel good, safe and be spontaneous.
What themes and emotions are you trying to explore in your work? What draws you to explore these themes and emotions? How much of yourself is reflected in your art—do you view your art as a form of self-portraiture, even if the figures don’t directly represent you?
Actually, there is a lot of autobiography and own experiences in my art. I literally drew myself many times - with my hairstyle, clothes and places I was when I felt some emotion. But even if I'm not directly in the drawing, it's about me in some way. Because it is my perspective, my observations. Even if a story didn't really happen, I created it, so it's about me in some way.
In works such as 'BeautyCheck,' 'Secret Lover,' and 'Where Is the Love of My Life?', markers create a sense of permanence in your art. How does this impact your connection to the pieces? Do the technical constraints of the medium push you to make different artistic decisions compared to other mediums?
I really like the fact that the creative process using this particular medium teaches self-confidence and makes everything more authentic. The traditional, durable, analog medium is not suitable for many corrections. There is only here and now. It requires confidence, spontaneity, creativity and naming a specific emotion very directly. It's very important to me.
Before we conclude, is there anything else you’d like to share that you think is important for people to know about you or your art?
I think that in today's world, where there are many problems and the authorities and the media often do not want to speak out on them, art is an important channel of communication.
Additionally, I would like my art to teach self-confidence, a sense of youth and love.
Your pieces often have an underlying narrative, communicated through body language and posture. How do you decide on these poses, and do you consider your drawings as complete stories or part of a larger interconnected world?
Our bodies are our main communication tools, so I like to use them in this way. They are supposed to show a specific state, emotion, feature, but at the same time I leave a lot of space around because I know that these elements are changeable.
What response do you hope to evoke from viewers? Do you leave space for interpretation, or is your narrative vision more fixed?
I am very open to the viewers' feelings, emotions and interpretations. As I mentioned, there is a space and universality in them. Therefore, even if they contain specific symbols, features, etc., everyone can freely add their own story to them.
Your work displays a distinct blend of visual and emotional depth. Could you share some of the key influences—whether they’re artists, movements, or personal experiences—that have had the most impact on your style? Additionally, are there any unexpected or unconventional influences, such as a book, place, or moment in your life, that have left a lasting mark on your creative direction?
I guess it's because I am just such a mixture, often consisting of extreme emotions, styles and aesthetics. I love the atmosphere of the city, its modernity and architecture, but i also need deep, wild nature. I can't point to one style of music that accompanies me most often - I love alternative, techno, ambient, but I'm also a child of the 90s who loves vintage rock and grunge. One day I'm at a rave and dancing with the crowd, and then I'm a typical scorpio, siting at home, listening to Radiohead or The Smiths or Nick Cave and overthinking about life, and then probably writing or drawing something.
I like observing the world around me and I think I'm good at spotting things that some people will never notice. These things often become my inspirations - directly or indirectly. Sometimes I just draw what I see, and the other times something forces me to think and leads me in certain ways to the point where I know what my work should look like.
I’m also a very big fan of polish aesthetic. As a child I soaked into this type of aesthetics, to stop liking it for some time as a teenager. Now I love it again and I think that Polish ugliness can be the most beautiful and I see incredible authenticity in it.
You’ve worked with both markers and photography—have you ever thought about combining the two, perhaps by drawing over your photographs?
There were situations when I first took a photo of something, and then it inspired the drawing. I also used to make collages that were a patchwork of many elements, but that wasn't really for me.
Lastly, how can people support your work and where can they find more of it?
You can see my drawings in posts and featured stories on my Instagram. come there in droves. my name is @marthyev and you are very welcome. Everyone is welcome!!
You can also see my artworks in beautiful magazines and zines that you can purchase to support me and other unique, shining artists. These are such brilliant titles as, for example, „Girls and Queers To The Front” and many others. When the next issue of a magazine with my works will be released, I will definitely inform you on my Instagram.