Another year has come and gone and 2024 promises to be one that embraces, perhaps more than ever before, art that takes risks and challenges previously held opinions about approaches to technique, materials, and multi-sensory exploration.
Here at Moonlight Arts Collective we are blazing a trail for showcasing the work of multidisciplinary artists through unique special editions, original artwork showcases, artist interviews, custom goods, community events and more. 2023 was a big year for our Moonlighters with many of our represented artists expanding, innovating, and collaborating in new and exciting ways that promise to evolve over the next year.
NATALIE KRIM & KATHRYN BOYD BROLIN - COLLABORATION:
Photo courtesy of Kathryn Boyd Brolin & Natalie Krim
Collaborative work can be an exciting opportunity for artists to come together to create something new—and that’s exactly what happened when Moonlighters Natalie Krim and Kathryn Boyd Brolin fused their art styles for a collection informed by two distinct approaches to art making.
Photos from Boyd Brolin’s desert series shot in Abu Dhabi become something new when embellished with complimentary color and line work by Krim. The styles of these artists in collaboration with one another offers unique insight to their influences and perceptions of the world around them. Moonlight Arts Collective caught them together for the signing of these limited edition and original works where they shared more about the inception of this collab and how each other’s work informed their own.
KB: The photo series began when I was in Abu Dhabi for about 2 to 3 weeks and I had a show coming up later that year. The way the light hits the sand in Abu Dhabi is so stunning and so unique and it started to become very clear to me that I was living in the exhibit I was supposed to show. Every time I looked up at the sand dunes I saw the female form. The desert carries such a feminine energy and I was in the throes of new motherhood again because my youngest was so little when so I was doing a lot of self exploration as a wife and a mom and who I am in my own personal identity. It perfectly mimicked what I was going through at the time.
NK: I just love your work, it’s like your eyes can spread out and relax and you have such a beautiful sense of light. It’s like you paint with light which is such a talent and a gift and you were able to capture that in the desert which allowed for a really beautiful backdrop for the drawings.
KB: So much of shooting the series felt like a surrender to my circumstances and my life and allowing things to be as they are. Trying not to be so rigid about how to manifest things, to be more in flow is my ultimate goal and I feel like when I’m in surrender mode that’s when the best things happen.
NK: I mentioned your use of light is so beautiful, and I would say light is a guiding force because even through your use of darkness and shadows there is always light coming from the subject.
KB: When you collaborate with an artist you try and find the cohesive through line that can connect the two styles and this one felt very easy. It was an easy relationship to blend our similar vibes because even though different media is being used it’s ultimately brought together in this cohesive sense of spirit. The sense of your aloneness in the desert makes you travel through this illustration.
BRANDON BOYD - INNOVATION:
Brandon Boyd with RetroViewer on Instagram
A lot of us may remember using a View-Master as kids. Popular scenes from movies, photos of our favorite cartoon characters, or educational images of historical monuments were displayed on circular cardboard reels that could be inserted into the top slot. These reels were rotated by a lever allowing the photos to align with both the left and right eye pieces and by holding the View-Master to face toward a light source, the photos came to life.
RetroViewers operate in largely the same way, and are the brainchild of the same man who worked as lead photographer for the original View-Master for twenty years. These “reel-builders” allow for artists, makers, and anyone interested in the format to build custom and personalized reels for RetroViewers.
Brandon Boyd’s custom RetroViewers are the perfect example of how a unique and long standing artform can be used to tell a story, share a piece of art, or invoke a sense of nostalgia while enjoying something new. These RetroViewers allow patrons to experience and enjoy Boyd’s art in a completely fresh way.
RetroViewer Reels - Brandon Boyd
These RetroViewers feature art from Boyd’s ‘Give Me a Minute’, ‘Gold’, and ‘Portal’ series — each reel containing photos of different works. By experiencing these works in a new format and in new environments, each view through these RetroViewers becomes its own standalone art piece.
BOOBOO STEWART - EXPANSION:
Photo courtesy of Park West Gallery
Last year was big for actor, musician, artist, and Moonlighter Booboo Stewart. When he’s not busy starring in the hit show Good Trouble he’s sculpting, sketching, and making work that has made him one to watch in contemporary art. In a recent interview with INLOVE magazine Stewart said “I love creating, making something from a blank canvas, adding some color and energy into the world. I listen to music while I paint, every genre, sometimes interviews of people, things that get me inspired.”
The Well - Booboo Stewart
Stewart’s work was featured in two gallery exhibitions in 2023 and his art will assuredly gain even more attention in 2024 and beyond. The first opened in New York City last July at Park West Gallery - Soho and the second in Las Vegas last October at the Park West Fine Art Museum & Gallery in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. These exhibitions featured sketches, sculptures, and a live drawing performance of work from his “Things I Don’t Know How to Talk About” series.
A talented musician as well, Booboo Stewart’s band That Band Honey will release new music this month with Something in the Water streaming January 25th.
Learn more about the moonlighters:
Kathryn Boyd Brolin - @kathrynbrolin
Natalie Krim - @nataliejhane
Brandon Boyd - @brandonboyd
Booboo Stewart - @booboostewart.art