Anna Hofmann

Location: Germany, between Frankfurt and Berlin

“The work ‘Baby Ride’ on the book cover was inspired by an event from last year. My beloved scooter disappeared after I foolishly left the key in the ignition. Exactly one month later, just as I had given up hope, it came back to me. Inspirations often stem from personal experiences or imagined stories. Fortunately, I can discuss my creative process with my studio colleague, Jonas Wohler, who is also part of TT4. Many other artists inspire me as well, such as Ariana Papademetropoulos. Her enchanting paintings encompass everything!”

Inspirations: Ariana Papademetropoulos, Jonas Wohler, Ivana de Vivanco, Precious Okoyomon

Andrew James McKay

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

“Kouta Sasai — an artist who does a lot of portraits, but even when they’re of himself seems to somehow concoct the images anew and from scratch. I’m made aware, through his inventiveness, that he’s invested in the process of looking and isn’t repeating himself for the sake of establishing a ‘style.’

Kyle Stewart and James Lee Chiahan — two sitters for the portraits which appear in TT4. These images are part of a project where I’ve painted portraits of artists and in turn they’ve painted mine. As with Kouta, both here are again committed to their work: Kyle grappling with the mammoth weight of popular culture, and James with his visual multilingualism, moving deftly from image to image via the forms and techniques best suited to what he is trying to communicate.

Rosemary Lee — I admire her images of the construction sites of where she is located in Australia; I can’t help but draw a line between what she’s doing now and what Auerbach did with post-war London as it was rebuilt. Not only is it an authentic engagement with a unique facet of municipal life, but the images are simply astounding. Alongside Kyle and James, she’s another of the ten artists involved in the forthcoming portrait project I’ve been at. Through this participation on her part I’ve been able to bring her work to Canada and am looking forward to exhibiting it this side of the Pacific.”

Inspirations: Kouta Sasai, Kyle Stewart, James Lee Chiahan, Rosemary Lee

Chalzea Xu

Location: New York, USA

“I often draw inspiration from classic movies, TV shows, and music, like my favorite glam rock band, Queen. I love vintage fashion, and I frequently find inspiration in the mood and style of their music and outfits—it doesn’t directly relate to the themes of my work, but it gives me a creative feeling, a vibe. In terms of painting techniques, I greatly admire the style of Golden Age illustration, especially pioneering feminist and queer culture artists like Elizabeth Shippen Green, Violet Oakley, J.C. Leyendecker.”

Inspirations: Queen, Elizabeth Shippen Green, Violet Oakley, J.C. Leyendecker

Adrian Kay Wong

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

“Some artists I often go back to are Helen Lundeberg, who is amazing at expressing big things with subtle moves, Felix Valloton — love how he embeds intimate moments between figures within great interior compositions — and others like Lois Dodd, Fairfield Porter, and Saul Leiter. Recently, I’ve been really into the paintings of Kyle Dunn, Henni Alftan, Andrew Cranston. And amidst the twenty-odd something shows I went to when I was out in NYC for my own solo show earlier this year (kind of around the time some of these paintings were made), GaHee Park at Perrotin and Rocio Novarro at Thierry Goldberg were real standouts.”

Inspirations: Helen Lundeberg, Felix Valloton, Lois Dodd, Fairfield Porter, Saul Leiter, Kyle Dunn, Henni Alftan, Andrew Cranston, GaHee Park, Rocio Novarro

Amy Erickson

Location: Seattle, Washington, USA

“I take a lot of inspiration from the narrative worlds of Elizabeth Malaska. I love the incredible sensitivity of Emil Robinson’s work. Catherine Kehoe’s color and geometry are also a huge influence. I have a deep admiration for Christina Weaver’s layered shape language.”

Inspirations: Elizabeth Malaska, Emil Robinson, Catherine Kehoe, , Christina Weaver

Emanuela Lekić

Location: Zagreb, Croatia

“Right now, I find big inspiration in the art of 19th century paper theaters and stage design in general, but a few painters come to mind. Victor Man is one of them. I love his ability to blend narratives with subtle, almost haunting imagery. From the classics, I must mention James Ensor, whose work is a constant source of inspiration. His exploration of identity through masks resonates with my fascination for the theatrical and inspires me to think about the interplay between appearance and reality in my work. Oh and also Otto Dix, he is just the best!”

Inspirations: Victor Man, James Ensor, Otto Dix

Emma Ducharme

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“Rita Letendre is often on my mind — her work never fails to bring a tear to my eye whenever I see it in person. Reading Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ was foundational to the induction of such abstract concepts in my practice, & Agnes Pelton’s work calls often with similarly resounding sentiments.”

Inspirations: Rita Letendre, Wassily Kandinsky, Agnes Pelton

Jay Wilkinson

Location: Fort Worth, Texas, USA

“Since the beginning I have always been rocked by the language of distance in Ricther’s figurative works. Those works have clearly been a massive influence on all representational painters and I’m sure one of them. More contemporarily though, I’m bananas for Ruprecht Von Kaufmann’s dreamlike compositions. The design and movement hit on all cylinders for me, not to mention the light. I’d like to learn to remove the weight from my figures the way he has.”

Inspirations: Gerhard Ricther, Ruprecht Von Kaufmann

Jesse Zuo

Location: New York, New York, USA

“First encountering Lisa Yuskavage’s work at David Zwirner in 2021 helped me explore my artistic vision. It inspired me to start using vibrant colors and monochromatic palettes to convey the complexities of womanhood and create dynamic, emotive compositions.”

Inspirations: Lisa Yuskavage

Jim Chen-Hsiang Hu

Location: Taipei, Taiwan

“Most of my ideas arise from reflections or sentiments in my life. More specifically, these drawings document the existential crisis of a dissenter over the years, giving birth to the current theme of ‘problematic reality.’ Regarding my aesthetic inclination, I sense a similarity between the music I enjoy and my drawings, though I haven’t sorted this part to the extent that I can explain this connection concisely. I listen to a wide variety of things, I’ve been listening to Animals As Leaders, Ed Harrison (0edit), Hania Rani, Masayoshi Fujita and Yuukai Kenchiku a lot while working recently. And I always enjoy Steve Reich and John Zorn as well. I haven’t focused much on who has influenced my drawing style directly for decades, but I’m naturally drawn to works that are intricately done, and those with a pure, dreamy, and tranquil tone (whether melancholy or comforting). I also appreciate works whose core idea is poetic or satirical. I have been enjoying artworks from artists like René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, SillDA and so on. Above all, the most influential artist to me remains Leonardo da Vinci, not because of his style, but for his curiosity and his ability to work freely across various fields. As I also work interdisciplinarily, I find inspiration from various sources not directly related to graphic art. Take science as an example: I am also influenced by Richard Feynman for how he points out the aesthetic dimension in understanding how things work, and by Dmitriy Mendeleyev for demonstrating the importance of finding patterns among things, as well as concepts like mechanical determinism and chaos theory. However, these influences are less evident in my current drawings.”

Inspirations: Animals As Leaders, Ed Harrison (0edit), Hania Rani, Masayoshi Fujita, Yuukai Kenchiku, Steve Reich, John Zorn, René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, SillDA,Leonardo da Vinci, Richard Feynman, Dmitriy Mendeleyev

Lucy Ray

Location: Australia and Abu Dhabi, UAE

“Pat Perry, Colleen Barry, and Rae Klein all have engaging narratives in their work. They weave a story while allowing the audience to contribute something of their own. Pat Perry’s compositions and framing are always so intriguing. His paintings and drawings always give me the sense that I’m witnessing something clandestine.
The way Colleen Barry fits her figures into the frame like they are being condensed makes them feel compact yet monumental. I have been enamoured with Rae Klein’s work since I first saw it. Her use of rich colours and isolated objects is weirdly magical.”

Inspirations: Pat Perry, Colleen Barry, Rae Klein

Makoto Chi

Location: Massachusetts, USA

“I’ve been so buoyed by people like Marigold Santos and Tamara Santibañez. They are skilled painters, tattooers, and craftspeople who weave together their practices so fluidly and speak directly and effectively on how their work relates to their heritages, experiences, and values. I feel like a pitfall of identity-heavy artwork can be that the art can feel flat or academic so I’m really excited when the craft and the narrative compliment each other well. I’ve otherwise felt more inspired by my environment rather than individual visual artists (although they are definitely a part of that environment). Living at Lupinewood Collective, a majority trans housing collective in Western Massachusetts, has been a huge part of that for me: the house, its people, the land we are situated on. I went fishing last year and felt tremendous inspiration while gutting the fish we caught in the nearby river. Nature bests us every time: I will never make anything as beautiful as a fish, but that won’t deter me from trying.”

Inspirations: Marigold Santos, Tamara Santibañez, Lupinewood Collective

Nadine Tralala

Location: Germany

“One of my biggest inspirations is Lorenzo Lotto for his ability to capture not only the physical likeness but also the essence of a person. I also deeply admire Bezt Etam’s combination of dreamlike elements with realism. The combination of intense imagery and narrative depth influences my own approach to portraiture – I always try to capture more than just the obvious.”

Inspirations: Lorenzo Lotto, Bezt Etam

Sheida Shekarian

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“Chris Van Allsburg, particularly his book ‘The Garden of Abdul Gasazi,’ influenced the garden theme in my illustration ‘Hushed Tones.’ He’s a master storyteller whose illustrations themselves feel like narratives. His work is so immersive that the fantasy worlds he builds feel completely real.

Frederic Pillot’s work is incredibly detailed and expressive. There is always a sense of movement in his characters and their environments, as if they are in the midst of an unfolding narrative. The flow of energy in his compositions, coupled with the body language of his characters, invites viewers to envision what occurred before, during, and after the depicted scene. I try to incorporate that sense of energy into my own work.”

Inspirations: Chris Van Allsburg, Frederic Pillot

Uma Tufekcic

Location: Sacramento, California, USA

“Hilma af Klint is a huge inspiration to me. The sheer scale of her work, the colors and the subject matter are all things that interest me. I love art work that is ‘channeled’ and that is exactly what her work is about. “

Inspirations: Hilma af Klint

Tomorrow’s Talent 4 is available in our shop while supplies last. 252 pages, 60 artists, perfect bound.