Meet the artist

Annieo Klaas

By Articentric Blogazine Staff | June 2, 2026

“There is an invisible realm where things merge and essences reveal themselves. I call that Emergence Beauty.”

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Meet Paddy Cohn

“There is an invisible realm where things merge and essences reveal themselves. I call that Emergence Beauty.”

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MEET
TRACY BOYD

“I am constantly looking for imagery that is shocking in a nuanced way… like taking a typical subject such as a horse and or a figure and put them in different situations… off balance or larger than life for example.”

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MEET
YVONNE FERG

”My process starts with the subject, I immerse myself in their music, interviews, pictures, and video clips virtually anything I can to get a clear mental picture of how they present themselves in action. I operate primarily with whatever energy I interpret from my subjects or the energy I feel from how they shift my creative experience.”

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Spotlight on Art:
“Tuxedo” by Paddy Cohn

The moment we saw this incredible, almost 4D work of the incomparable NYC abstract artist Paddy Cohn, we had to know more, and more importantly, we had to share it with our articentric community.So here, in her own words, is the artist…Paddy Cohn.

• Read The Interview

Meet Annieo Klaas

Every so often, you encounter an artist whose work doesn’t simply ask to be viewed, it asks to be experienced.The paintings of Annieo Klaas occupy a rare and fascinating territory somewhere between observation and memory. At first glance, her imagery feels familiar: sunlight filtering through curtains, silhouettes of branches swaying beyond a window, clouds drifting through a delectably blue sky. Yet the longer you spend with her work, the more those ordinary moments begin to transform. Colors glow beyond expectation. Forms dissolve and reappear with every move of your eyes. What first seemed recognizable slowly reveals itself as something far more elusive.There is a dreamlike quality present throughout Klaas’ paintings, but not necessarily the kind born from fantasy. Instead, her work feels rooted in those fleeting moments we all experience yet struggle to articulate, like how the instant sunlight catches a curtain just right, the way a memory softens around the edges with time, or the sensation of being fully present while simultaneously lost in thought.Raised in Dakar, Senegal, Annieo developed an early fascination with light, atmosphere, and layered perspectives. Today, those influences continue to surface throughout her work, where translucent forms, saturated color, and shifting planes of perception invite viewers into spaces that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar.What makes her artistic journey especially compelling is the balance she maintains between seemingly opposing worlds. Holding both a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Klaas moves comfortably between science and imagination. In many ways, that duality becomes visible in her paintings themselves, works that explore illumination not only as a visual phenomenon but as a metaphor for perception, awareness, and discovery.As viewers, we often approach artwork searching for answers or explanations. Annieo Klaas offers something different. Her paintings create room for reflection, encouraging us to slow down, linger, and perhaps see the ordinary world with renewed curiosity.Recently, Articentric had the opportunity to reconnect with Annieo to discuss her creative process, her fascination with light and atmosphere, the influence of growing up in Dakar, and the quiet wonder that continues to shape her evolving body of work.Ladies and Gentlemen,Meet Annieo Klaas.

Q: How has growing up in Dakar shaped your artistic perspective, especially in the way you perceive light, color, and atmosphere?
A: I think I fell in love with sunlight when I was growing up in Dakar. There were very few cloudy days, and one of my favorite things to do was sit on the rooftop of my apartment building in the afternoon sun, drinking hot coffee.There’s a textile called Wax Cloth in Dakar that’s used to make clothes (getting garments made by a tailor is common there). It has a complex history, and while I don’t feel I should use it directly in my work, I’m inspired by its rich, sometimes bizarre patterns and saturated colors.As for atmosphere, I’ve always been drawn to layered, ethereal images. I think growing up in Dakar influenced that in two ways. First, the people I grew up around were from many different countries. We were a small, international community within the city, and as I got older, I became aware of how many different viewpoints surrounded me. There was always another side to the story, another way to interpret what was happening. That idea — of not seeing clearly, of having to sift through the air in front of me to discern what’s going on — still resonates with me. It makes sense that I’m drawn to images that aren’t immediately obvious.Secondly, in the spring, Dakar can be very dusty because of the Harmattan, when dust blows west from the Sahara. I remember being able to see the layers of dust in the sky, physically looking through something to figure out what was in front of me. Those early experiences made me aware that what we see is never the whole picture. There’s always another layer, another filter, and that tension continues to shape how I see and paint light.

Q: You hold both a PharmD and a BFA, a striking contrast between science and art. How do these seemingly divergent paths inform each other when considering your creative process?
A: As a nuclear pharmacist, I compound radioactive drugs used to diagnose and treat disease, essentially, medicines that let clinicians see what’s happening inside the body. There’s something both scientific and mystical about working with a substance powerful enough to illuminate the unseen yet safe for the human body. That paradox of light revealing what’s hidden mirrors what I try to explore in my paintings.

Q: Your work repeatedly evokes a dreamlike sense of solitude where the ordinary begins to feel, as you say, uncanny. How do you cultivate that balance between the familiar and the fantastical in your artwork?
A: I think cultivating that balance is something I’ve been working toward ever since I started painting seriously. In my Daydreams series, I explore that tension through sunlight that over-saturates color and curtains that distort the view outside. Recognizable fragments such as a branch or a leaf give the viewer something to hold onto while the rest drifts into abstraction.

Q: In your recent work, the motif of sunlit windows softens your viewers’ entry into another world. What drew, and perhaps continues to draw, you to this subject, and what emotional threshold do you hope it opens for your audience?
A: I’ve been noticing the sunlight and the paintings it makes of its own: outlines of trees cast onto walls, patterns of golden bars stenciled through venetian blinds. I would try to paint them but could never capture the vibrant, otherworldly quality the sun’s own paintings have.When I saw sunlight streaming through a window and catching in its curtains, drawing distorted pictures of the view outside, I realized that might be the visual metaphor I’d been searching for — a way to convey the feeling of being caught in a moment of magical, filtering light, a moment that becomes its own world.When I began painting this series, I was going through a lot emotionally and leaning heavily on my meditation practice. These images connected deeply with that experience: they opened a space where I could watch the light make its own paintings, hear it sifting gently through the leaves outside, breathing its warm breath on my skin. That space held me while I watched the emotional storm in my life unfold.For my audience, I hope it opens a window into that same sense of presence — the idea that they can be their own home in the midst of whatever is happening around them.

Q: Talk a bit about your approach to layering color and light. How do you translate emotional intention into such visual diffusion and glow?A: When I was in fifth grade, I learned how our eyes read color through signals from the cone cells, and I misinterpreted that to mean that when I looked at something red, I was actually seeing green and blue. I loved thinking about the hidden colors in everything I saw. My favorite part of that fantasy was that every time I saw white, I was actually seeing all the colors, which is a magical thought.One of my painting teachers in college gave me an essay about light by Claude Monet that made a big impression on me. It discussed how shadows are complementary colors, not just gray. For example, a building bathed in yellow light would cast a purple shadow. That challenged me to think about color relationships in light and shadow.As for translating color into emotion — that’s an enticing and frustrating idea, because people associate colors with emotions differently. Red can mean love and anger at the same time. I got really into Kandinsky’s writings on color because he wrote out an entire theory of what each color means and even ended up writing plays and poems where colors were characters. That same college professor gave me probably the best advice: to keep my eyes open and take notes on the color combinations that evoke specific feelings in me and in others. Ultimately, I try to let the colors breathe on the canvas the way emotions do — shifting, overlapping, and sometimes contradicting one another.

Q: Over the course of your career, you’ve shown your work in both galleries and public settings, including a permanent mural in Seattle. Talk a bit about how the environment, museum walls versus public spaces, affects how your work is made and received.A: That mural was such an honor to create. My friend Mars Sohn and I designed it to reflect the neighborhood’s layered, creative energy — inspired by the rain-soaked posters that cover its telephone poles. In that case, the environment shaped the work and then became part of it.Gallery settings feel different, they feel quieter and more contemplative. I like that shift though. It invites a slower kind of attention.

Q: Whether it’s a commissioned mural or a canvas for a show, what remains constant in your creative process, and what adapts when scale or context shifts?A: Something that remains constant, no matter the scale, is my love for exploring the different marks I can make with paint. I’ve always preferred painting to drawing because it feels freer and more fluid. I can drip, bleed, brush, stain, scumble — the possibilities are endless.

Q: During your residency at Two Dot Schoolhouse in Montana, did the landscape or solitude influence new directions in your work?A: Yes! I was captivated by the fields of color that almost-but-not-quite clashed with each other: silvery green, acid yellow, dusty lavender. They somehow worked together to create a graphic, velvety pattern unlike anything I’d seen before. Ever since then, I’ve been interested in finding color combinations like that and using them in my work to create visual tension and richness.

Q: In magical realism, the viewer is often invited to dwell in subtle strangeness. How do you hope people, as they stop to reflect on and take in your work, enter that delicate space between presence and imagination?A: It’s an invitation to a space where they can observe and savor something beautiful and strange. I’ve realized that when I really connect with a painting (by someone else) I often think, I just want to crawl inside it and take a nap. Someone who bought one of my paintings recently said something similar: “I can’t wait to look at it all the time.”I hope the viewer’s experience is like that, I hope the painting gives space for a rest that sparks new ideas.

Q: As you continue to explore light and quiet wonder, what’s next? Are there new motifs, media, or narratives you’re eager to explore?A: Yes — I’ve been thinking about the idea of elemental decay and the illumination of what was previously in darkness. Just as sunlight transformed the ordinary in my recent series, I’m curious about how decay might reveal hidden radiance — another way of finding light in what’s overlooked.
But I’m going to let that idea germinate for a while. I can’t quite look at it directly yet. The sunlight idea took years to incubate and offered so much inspiration along the way, so I’m content to let this new one develop on its own and show its face when it’s ready.

Thank You so much for your time with this Annieo, your journey is deeply inspiring, and a beautiful testament to how curiosity and imagination can merge to illuminate the ordinary with a calm, quiet sense of wonder. Your work reminds us all that there is magic in stillness, and your path encourages fellow creatives and those yet to discover their own artistic voice, to first and foremost trust their vision. Let people know where they can follow along this next chapter with you? Socials? Website?My website is www.annieoklaas.com. People can see and collect my work there as well as sign up for my newsletter!.My instagram is @annieoklaas . Readers, please follow along with my process and send me a message! I have a solo show coming up at Cerbera Gallery in Kansas City next summer, I’m about to be featured in two publications: New American Paintings (South #178) and Booooooom’s Tomorrow’s Talent (Tomorrow’s Talent 5), and I’ll be part of an exhibition by Gaudium Gallery in Naples in the next year, so please do follow me and sign up for that newsletter via my website so you can get more details on all of that.

OK Annieo, here’s your chance to shout out artists and/or content that you feel has inspired you along your journey. A playlist of sorts for other people to explore as well. Social Media accounts you like, music you vibe to, other artists/galleries you follow that fuel your spirit, etc…Ok firstly, I want to shout out my friend Mars who created the mural in Seattle with me. They have opened up a gluten free Korean-American fusion restaurant and I’m always wishing I could still be living in Seattle so that I could be a regular there. Seattle readers- please go check it out, its Yeobo Cafe and Bar (@yeoboseattle on Instagram). I’ll try and keep the rest of this list from going on too long because I could go on forever but-Galleries:Ground Floor Contemporary, Birmingham, AL (@groundfloorcontemporary)
This is an artist-run gallery started by Sara Garden Armstrong (@saragardenarmstrong), who bought a building and turned it into studios for artists. She lives and has her studio on one floor, the gallery is on the bottom floor, and the rest of the building is studios. I’m so happy to have my studio there, Sara has created a rich community of artists and I’m so honored to be a part of that.Room 412, Birmingham, AL (@room412__)
This is a gallery that the curator set up in his apartment! It is super well done and well attended. I would absolutely love to have a show there.Latitude Gallery, New York, NY ( @latitudegallery_newyork)
This is another gallery I would jump at the opportunity to be a part of. It is so inspiring in its commitment to grow and support its artists.Gaudium Gallery, Naples, Italy (@gaudium_gallery)They have put on a couple shows that are the kinds I’d imagine in my dreams- a show of paintings with actual trees in the middle of the gallery, and one where winter flowers grew and bloomed for the duration of the exhibition. I’m excited to say I will be working with them soon!Painters:
Mary Royal (@maryroyalstudio)
Kevin Yaun (@kevinyaun)
Shuling Guo (@shulingguo)
Amy Wright (@amywrightstudio)
Scotty Peek (@scottypeekart)
Andy Cash DeLapp (@andy.delapp)
Mark Rothko
JMW TurnerMusic:
Maggot Brain by Funkadelic, Before the Beginning by John Fruichante, Erika de Casier, Saba, Blood Orange, The Roaches, Lous and the Yakuza, Kehlani, Aya Nakamura, Marine Eyes, Obongayar.. I also listen to the radio station KEXP from Seattle ALL the time. I don’t know what I’d do without it.Also, I feel like the book of poems “Sounds” by Wassily Kandinsky is a style of poetry all its own. It's incredible.

A sincere thank you to Annieo Klaas for sharing not only her work, but the layered thought, memory, and quiet wonder that continue to shape it. Her paintings remind us that light is never just light, it is presence, perception, and possibility.

Meet Paddy Cohn

It was a balmy December evening in Miami when I attended the 2018 Spectrum Art Fair during the much lauded ArtBasel weekend. After being quite impressed with the variety, the breadth and depth of what the show had to offer, I came across this incredible artist. There was something cerebral that jumped from her canvas, grabbed hold of your pulse and quickened it as if you were about to downhill slalom in the olympic finals. There wasn’t that “what could it be” sense of wonder. You just knew it. It just connected with you and resonated in your subconscious immediately. This was my experience anyway. Paddy’s work emotes the viewer's imagination, sense of place, and emotion all at the same time. Beyond her incredible work, she is one of the most centered artists I’ve ever met. She maintains that innocence that begets the most humble of artist, without being exhaustively apologetic or stylishly coy.
It has been a long time coming but I’ve finally had the opportunity to publish the interview with her that I’ve been looking forward to since that encounter. Hopefully you’ll see through the words and the images below just what I’m talking about, even though you HAVE to experience her work IN PERSON every chance you get. The scale alone will blow you away.Thank you for opening up your studio to our audience Paddy...We will link up sooner than later to catch up on everything you’ve been up to already in 2020. Everyone stay safe and get ready for the reboot coming soon!!Without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, Paddy Cohn!Hi Paddy, as we approach 2020, tell us how 2019 treated you.
2019 was the most transformational year I’ve had in my career. I’ve been experimenting with different textures and materials in a more physical and conceptual dimension. I’ve had incredible response to my new pieces called Rustic Series. This past year has been very exciting, I’ve had the opportunity to exhibit in many shows around the country, equally important I’ve met wonderful people in the art world.Excellent, tell us more...Last Spring I exhibited in ART EXPO NY and from the contacts I made there I secured a permanent exhibit in the Hamptons this past summer. July was a busy time, I exhibited in ART MARKET AND DESIGN, Hamptons NY and REVEAL in Saratoga Springs NY. In September I created a vibrant series of paintings called Harmonious Balance with a 3-dimensional flair. These have been a huge hit. I moved on to exhibit in the SOFA Show in Chicago and I am proud to say I also became member of ARTISTS OF ST BARTH’S which showed in NYC in September. I will be exhibiting my work this winter in St Barthelemy FWI. where my grandfather was born. I am now in the process of getting ready to show in this year’s ART BASEL.Any life-changing events?Recently I found out my mom has cancer. This has refocused my creativity to another place. Seeing with sensitivity and feeling is important and having the courage to get outside of my comfort zone is how I create meaningful and powerful pieces.Any happenings in your world that influenced your creative style in any way? Talk about some of your highs and lows this year.My highs have been tempered by the condition of my Mother. Art has a way of reaching deep inside our souls and connect us to our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, with outer realities and with our own experiences. Having such a deep understanding I have expressed myself in a more spiritual way.
As a general rule, I like to explore these themes with artists who are actively creating and allow other artists to learn from them. Often we feel as though we may be experiencing something incredibly unique and wonder how that impacts our art, maybe even so far as to question if we should even bother continuing to create. We know that the notion of quitting is craft-suicide, and an action executed often by those who were never true creative talents to begin with, as those artists who embrace total creativity throughout their life, almost can’t help but to create at some level. The highs are creating meaningful work out of the lows.I have been working on a series based on the x-ray scans of my mom. This will be a story of her journey through her illness and I will be taking that journey with her. By using her x-ray images in my art it will allow me to feel connected and show my emotions that are often difficult to show in words.Now, as far as new work, I want to learn more about what influenced the Rustic Series, what were your inspirations? What are your aspirations for the series?
I am constantly taking notes of what I see in nature. I am drawn to old and distressed objects and surfaces because they have a history and a story to tell. I’m using organic materials in a 3 dimensional way with intent to evoke emotion. “there is an invisible realm where things merge and essences reveal themselves. I call that “Emergence Beauty.”Is the Rustic series born from a greater collection of work, any influences from which you’d like to clue us in to?I have a passion for layers and distressed materials including the forgotten elements of nature, from sand, mica to driftwood all inspired by the landscapes of CaribbeanAs we approach the Holiday season, most importantly the dawn of a new year, 2020, what are your aspirations for the coming year? Are you a long term goal setter? Have you identified any opportunities you’d like to explore in the coming months?I always challenge myself to a new level always breaking the boundaries because there is no rules in art. I love what I do and can’t wait to see what happens in 2020. I always leave myself open for the unexpected which always works out to be a good thing.Thank you for taking the time to catch up with us. I look forward to sitting down in the near future and participating in a much more in-depth exploration of your story. But for now, let us know how we can keep in touch with your latest and greatest?You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook and my website
Face Book- Paddy Cohn Art
Instagram- @paddycohn_art
Website- paddycohn.com