Author: Iris

Allan Wesaquate is a Canadian artist whose creative practice spans both painting and photography. Working across these two mediums allows him to explore the world from different perspectives, capturing moments, emotions, and experiences through distinct visual languages. While photography enables him to document and observe the details of everyday life, painting provides the freedom to interpret those observations through color, texture, and imagination. His work reflects a deep curiosity about the relationship between people and personal experience. Whether behind the camera lens or standing before a canvas, Wesaquate approaches each piece as an opportunity to communicate ideas and stories that…

Born in Lisbon in 1962, Miguel Barros has developed an artistic practice shaped by life across multiple continents and cultures. His experiences in Portugal, Angola, and Canada have contributed to a visual language informed by observation, transition, and personal reflection. Since relocating from Angola to Calgary in 2014, Barros has found himself increasingly drawn to the memory of Lisbon. Though physically distant from the city, his connection to it has only grown stronger. In his paintings, Lisbon is less a geographical destination than an emotional presence—rebuilt through recollection, imagination, and longing. This relationship with place runs throughout his work, where…

Pasquale J. Cuomo has spent more than five decades behind the camera, yet his approach to photography still carries the curiosity of someone discovering the medium for the first time. What began as a teenage fascination with cameras slowly became a lifelong practice rooted in observation, patience, and technical discipline. Cuomo first picked up a camera as a young man and never really put it down. Across changing eras of photography—from darkrooms and film stock to digital sensors, smartphones, and now AI-assisted imagery—he continued working steadily, adapting without losing sight of what first drew him to photography: the act of…

Nicola Mastroserio does not approach art as decoration, trend, or commercial product. His work moves in the opposite direction, away from the noise of the marketplace and toward deeper philosophical questions about existence, consciousness, and the hidden structure of reality. Rather than creating images designed to satisfy expectations, Mastroserio treats art as a form of inquiry — a way to examine what lies beneath ordinary perception. His practice is rooted in reflection and inner investigation, resisting fixed categories or simplified interpretations. At the center of his work is a search for essence rather than appearance. He is less concerned with…

Born in Lisbon in 1962, Miguel Barros has built an artistic practice shaped by movement between countries, cultures, and emotional landscapes. Living across Portugal, Angola, and Canada has deeply influenced the atmosphere and emotional language of his paintings. When Barros relocated from Angola to Calgary in 2014, the physical distance from Lisbon did not weaken his connection to the city. Instead, separation intensified it. Lisbon continues to appear throughout his work not only as a geographical place, but as an emotional and psychological space reconstructed through memory, longing, and imagination. Educated in Architecture and Design at IADE in Lisbon, Barros brings a…

L. Scooter Morris creates work that asks for more than observation. Her practice moves beyond the flatness of traditional painting, building environments where texture, light, movement, and dimension become part of the experience itself. Through layered acrylic, mixed media, and constructed surfaces, Morris develops what she calls “Sculpted Paintings®,” artworks that continuously shift depending on perspective, shadow, and the movement of the viewer within the space. Rather than remaining fixed images, the pieces feel active, changing moment by moment through interaction and perception. Morris approaches art as something physical and emotional before it becomes intellectual. Her interest lies less in…

Growing up in China during a period of sweeping political and social change, Huang YI Min developed an artistic perspective deeply connected to memory, atmosphere, and emotional reflection. Born in 1950, she witnessed a society in constant transformation, experiences that continue to inform the emotional foundation of her work. For Huang, painting is not simply about depicting the visible world. It serves as a space where history, imagination, personal experience, and psychological reflection can exist side by side. The shifting cultural climate of her early years left a lasting impression on how she interprets both reality and human emotion. Throughout…

The name Peter Parker never feels neutral. It carries decades of comic book references, a built-in sense of narrative, and a familiarity that immediately pulls attention. So when a group of works is received attached to that name, it raised an obvious question. Is it real, or is it a nod to something larger? In the end, that distinction fades. What matters more is the position the name represents. In this case, Peter Parker is not the artist producing the paintings. He stands slightly to the side, in a role that often goes unseen. His contribution is rooted in support.…

The name Peter Parker arrives with its own associations. It carries decades of comic book history, a built-in sense of narrative, and a familiarity that is hard to ignore. So when we received a group of works under that name, it immediately raised a quiet question. Is it real, or is it a reference? The answer, in a way, does not matter. What matters is the role attached to it. Peter Parker, in this context, is not the hand behind the paintings. He stands in a different position, one that often goes unnoticed. He supports, encourages, and helps sustain the artist responsible…

Helena Kotnik works at the intersection of emotion, observation, and imagination. Her studies at prominent European institutions gave her a solid technical base, yet that structure never confines her approach. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts at Barcelona University and the Akademie der bildende Künste in Vienna, later continuing with a Master’s degree. That academic grounding is present, but it stays understated, supporting rather than directing her process as she moves between intention and instinct. Her paintings avoid delivering fixed meanings. Instead, they operate as open spaces where reflection can unfold. Rather than guiding the viewer toward a…