I have a special episode for you today with visual artist Shuling Guo. In this episode we hear about her incredible story going from a very traditional, small village in Southern China, and her triumph against a very dominant patriarchal culture structure, to go to art school in Beijing, and ultimately to the United States to pursue her artistic path. We learned about her spiritual influences from the women in her life and how that set the stage for her artistic journey.

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Guo graduated from the Oil Painting Department of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (B.F.A.) in 2010. She moved to the United States in 2019, and currently lives between Philadelphia and aboard the Sailing Vessel Selkie. In 2012, she had her first solo exhibition in Beyond Art Space in Beijing. Since then, her work has been exhibited in New York, Beijing, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Platform Art.

Her works have been included in the permanent collections of Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum (Beijing) and Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (Guangzhou). Her work has been selected to appear in New American Paintings, 2025 Issue 172.

Mindy Solomon Gallery

Shuling's Instagram

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Credits: Special thanks to Matthew Blankenship of ⁠⁠⁠The Sometimes Island⁠⁠⁠ for our podcast theme music!

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In this episode I have an inspiring and fascinating conversation with visual artist Nika Fontaine. We dive deep into her personal history and her exploration of identity and spirituality. We talk about alchemy, transformation, and the ways in which art can become a vehicle for self discovery and ego dissolution.

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Nika Fontaine, born in Montreal 1985, lives and work in Berlin and Villalonga, Spain. She received her master of fine arts degree from the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee in 2013 and subsequently engaged in a post graduate research project funded by the Elsa Neumann Stipendium in Berlin. Her works have been exhibited in North America and largely across Europe. Her works are part of the Royal bank of Canada, Deutsche Bank and City of Laval collections as well as over 100 private collections. In 2010 she co-founded the T10 artists studios in Berlin and in 2019 the organization Aurigin in Berlin and the first Aurigin Center in Spain in 2021. She is currently founding a tokenized real-estate startup to facilitate the acquisition of properties for communities and educational projects. Her artistic and social engagement are working hand in hand to inspire holistic living.

@nikafontaine

@aurigin_center

www.aurigin.org

www.nikafontaine.com

Follow Martin Benson for more insights:

*To stay updated on the podcast and related content, check out ⁠⁠my Instagram⁠⁠

*To support the show and access exclusive content, consider subscribing for $0.99/month on Instagram (link above).

Credits: Special thanks to Matthew Blankenship of ⁠⁠The Sometimes Island⁠⁠ for our podcast theme music!

Support this podcast: ⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/martin-l-benson/support

In this episode I am joined by visual artist, Brent Houzenga, where we delve into his journey of discovering old photographs in a trash bin and how that changed the course of his life in profound ways. We discuss how this discovery ignited his artistic path and led him to reflect on themes of consciousness, synchronicity, and the essence of identity.

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Brent Houzenga is New Orleans-based artist originally from Fulton, IL. Houzenga earned his B.A. in printmaking and graphic design from Western Illinois University and his MFA at the University of New Orleans in 2017. Houzenga's art has been exhibited all over the country and world, including Warsaw, Chicago, Kansas City, Washington D.C., Portland, Los Angeles, Austin, Miami, and New Orleans.

Houzenga’s work resides in many private and public collections. In 2012 he was commissioned to paint a portrait for Matthew McConaughey's personal collection. He is an accomplished muralist, installation artist, and educator.

Houzenga's work has been featured in publications such as Time Out Chicago, Art and Art Galleries of the South, Art+Design New Orleans, as well as the Rizzoli book Stickers: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art. In 2021 his work appeared on the cover of the Image Comics book Primordial. In 2022 he was commissioned by Dark Horse Comics to create a variant cover for a Stranger Things story. In 2024 his work appeared on the cover of the dreampunk anthology Somniscope published by Fractured Mirror. He is the subject of the independent documentary film Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer.

Brent's Website

Brent's IG

Follow Martin Benson for more insights:

*To stay updated on the podcast and related content, check out ⁠my Instagram⁠

*To support the show and access exclusive content, consider subscribing for $0.99/month on Instagram (link above).

Credits: Special thanks to Matthew Blankenship of ⁠The Sometimes Island⁠ for our podcast theme music!

Support this podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/martin-l-benson/support