September/October 2009 Cover Artist
Taking Two to Create
By Anna Todaro and Jennifer Mercede
Art is usually a solitary process, but amazing images can appear when artists combine their creative flows. Apparition, on the cover of New Connexion, is a collaborative work by Portland-based artists Anna Todaro and Jennifer Mercede.
Todaro, an acrylic painter in the styles of modern myth, urban pop impressionism and lowbrow, specializes in mythological imagery inspired by what she calls ancient spirits from the future.
“I like to think of them as ancient spirits, angels, goddesses from the future,” says Todaro. “Like warriors, lovers, winged Nikes — they come to guide us, their eyes alone telling the story of their age, their culture from the memories of many.”
Mercede’s primarily abstract paintings consist of free flowing text, bright color fields and crazy energetic doodling. Internally guided, her creative process involves letting go, taking big risks and trusting that there is no such thing as a mistake. She is inspired by color, children’s art, life adventures, old school hip hop flavor, graffiti, abstract expressionism, inner spirituality and her creative friends.
“To me, Apparition is about letting go of control,” says Mercede.
Visit www.annatodaro.com and www.jennifermercede.com.