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Painting Diary

@painting_diary

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Painting Diary is a long-form publication & residency led by @claregemima & @andrehemer. Our views on painting should be seen as highly subjective.

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💚 Earlier this year, Clara Simak, director of the Painting Diary Residency, and I boarded a bus from Vienna to visit @andrej_dubravsky in a small village near Bratislava, Slovakia. Our journey between Europe’s closest capital cities, though only a little over an hour, felt more like a passage between two entirely different worlds.

At Dúbravský’s studio, life-sized works of Fragonardesque bodies and self-portraits engulfed us as we found ourselves totally absorbed by conversation, and delightfully lingering much longer than intended.

As seems natural with extremely fun studio visits in countries you’ve never visited before, Clara and I missed our bus back to Austria’s capital… though only one of us really minded.

Andrej, thank you so much for having us visit. It was incredible to be teased by the multiplicity of your world—your characters, your animals—and to be taken through it so personally. 🍃🌺

Full interview published on @painting_diary taken in Bratislava, Slovakia by @painting_diary

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a month ago

“I first encountered the paintings of @paulinaaumayr in a group show at @galerie.kandlhofer when I was living in Vienna during my @painting_diary residency. Curious, I later visited her studio in Ottakring, the city’s 16th district, to talk in-depth about her work.

Our conversation covered topics ranging from tactics of feminist resistance to the politics of visibility, while repeatedly returning to the uneasy territory where intimacy and threat become indistinguishable. Rather than depicting violence outright, her paintings attend to the structures, relationships, and everyday encounters through which they sustain and persist.

Since this interview was conducted, Aumayr has received the 2026 @strabag.art Award, a fitting recognition of a practice that continues to gain deserved international attention. She will present a solo exhibition at STRABAG Artforum in Vienna in March 2027.

Was so lovely to hang out with you and Balu in the studio. Congratulations Paulina 🍸🫒🕊️

Read our full conversation at @impulse_magazine_

In order of appearance:
Männer (Hunde) / Bis ihr genau so müde seid wie ich., 2025. Oil on canvas. 220 x 185 cm. Photo courtesy of Manuel Carreon Lopez.

Jeder Titel würde zu viel verraten. (1), 2026. Oil on canvas. 175 × 155 cm. Photo courtesy of Manuel Carreon Lopez.

Die Narben auf meiner Haut (2), 2025. Oil on canvas. 90 × 144 cm. Photo courtesy of Tamara Rametsteiner.

Bis meine Haut zu Leder wird. (2), 2025. Oil on canvas. 110 x 155 cm. Photo courtesy of Manuel Carreon Lopez.

Paulina Emilia Aumayr in the studio, 2026. Photo courtesy of Hagen Eckstein. taken in Vienna, Austria by @painting_diary

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3 months ago

Thank you @painting_diary for allowing me the opportunity to experiment and take my practice to a new level. During the residency I created paintings on denim using bleach, pastel, and acrylic as mediums. I also made a small series of photographic monotypes and ,oh yeah, I did some walls too! Truly a great experience. I’m so glad I got to discover Vienna ❤️ @ppowgallery @andrehemer @alexandracsws @clara___clarissima @band1sm #vienna🇦🇹 #austria by @painting_diary

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5 months ago

Sofia Mascate’s work is currently on view in Mater at Museu Ibérico de Arqueologia e Arte de Abrantes, Portugal, curated by Sara Castelo Branco. The exhibition follows an on-site residency at the museum, connecting her practice to the local material and cultural context. On view until June 21th.

Role Reversal, 2026, oil on canvas, expanded black cork, 175x145x4cm. Courtesy of the artist and Culturgest. Photography: Vasco Stocker Vilhena.

Research Methods, 2026, oil on canvas, expanded black cork, 75x60x3cm. Courtesy of the artist and Culturgest. Photography: Vasco Stocker Vilhena.

Primary Source, 2026, oil on canvas, expanded black cork, 75x48x3cm. Courtesy of the artist and Culturgest. Photography: Vasco Stocker Vilhena.

Busto Justo, 2026, oil on canvas, expanded black cork, 75x60x3cm. Courtesy of the artist and Culturgest. Photography: Vasco Stocker Vilhena.

@sofiamascate @saraccbranco @museuibericodearqueologiaearte @culturgest @sofalca_ by @painting_diary

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5 months ago

Chris “Daze” Ellis has just landed in Vienna for his residency at Painting Diary.

The post features works from his recent exhibition at PPOW Gallery, reflecting a practice shaped by 1970s New York graffiti and its evolution into the studio. Moving between street sensibility and painterly gesture, Daze continues to explore the city as both subject and atmosphere.

During his time in Vienna, he will develop new work using denim as a support, alongside bleach, pastel, and acrylic, extending recent shifts toward a more fluid dialogue between abstraction and figuration.

Christopher "Daze" Ellis, Orchid Rain on the Underground, 2023, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 165.1 x 149.9 cm. Courtesy of Christopher "Daze" Ellis and P·P·O·W, New York.

@dazeworldnyc @ppowgallery

#ChrisDazeEllis #ppowgallerynyc #ppowgallery #paintingdiary #painting #contemporaryart #kunst #malerei #contemporarypainting #paintingdiarydotcom by @painting_diary

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5 months ago

Painting Diary is pleased to present our next artist-in-residence, Chris “Daze” Ellis.

Daze emerged from the 1970s graffiti movement and the creative energy of New York’s downtown club scene. Transitioning from tagging trains to spray painting canvas in the early 1980s, he developed a studio practice that merges urban realism with gestural abstraction. Inspired by artists such as John Sloan and Joan Mitchell, his paintings depict subways, streets, and social spaces as sites of memory and cultural exchange, often populated by figures from his life and New York’s creative community. Combining spray paint and acrylic with expressive brushwork, Daze juxtaposes gritty city infrastructure with vibrant bursts of flora, suggesting renewal, resilience, and beauty within urban decay. His work consistently reflects on the city as both lived environment and emotional landscape, balancing nostalgia with an enduring sense of optimism.
During his Painting Diary residency in Vienna, Daze intends to experiment with denim as a substrate, combined with mixed media including bleach, pastel, and acrylic. These works will expand upon recent movements within his practice, merging fluid abstraction with representational imagery drawn from both urban and natural environments.

Daze (New York, b. 1962) has held solo exhibitions at institutions including Fashion Moda (Bronx), Palais Liechtenstein (Feldkirch), Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain (Nice), and the Museum of the City of New York. His work has appeared in major group exhibitions at MoMA PS1, the Stedelijk Museum, the New Museum, and MOCA Los Angeles, among others, and is held in prominent collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Brooklyn Museum. In 2025, he was commissioned to create Above Ground Midtown: MCNY x DAZE, a large-scale mural at 550 Madison Avenue, affirming his lasting impact on both street culture and contemporary art.

Chris “Daze” Ellis portrait image. Photo by Kyle Dorosz.

@dazeworldnyc
#chrisdazeellis #painterinresidence #paintingdiary #paintingdiaryresidency #painting taken in Vienna, Austria by @painting_diary

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5 months ago

Read the first of our collaborations with Art & Market, launched with a conversation between artists and writers Ian Tee and Sherman Mern Tat Sam. Link in our bio!

Sherman Mern Tat Sam, seen better days., 2022. oil on panel, 31.5 × 21.4 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Sherman Mern Tat Sam (born 1966, Singapore) is an artist and critic based between London and Singapore, known for his intimately-sized abstract paintings and drawings. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at The Suburban (Chicago), the Rubicon Gallery (Dublin) and Equator Art Projects (Singapore), with his work focusing on small-scale graphite and gouache drawings on paper and oil paintings on wood.

Ian Tee (born 1994, Singapore) is an artist and Editor at Art & Market, an online magazine focused on Southeast Asian art and its global connections. Through his writings and commissioned texts, he aims to share learning experiences across contexts and highlight practices that sustain art ecosystems. His artistic practice is concerned with the experience of seeing and how paintings are “read”.

Ian has presented works at venues such as Art Central Hong Kong, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, S.E.A. Focus, and Ames Yavuz. In 2025, he won the prestigious UOB Painting of the Year Award and was commissioned by the Singapore Art Museum’s public art programme.

Art & Market is an online magazine focused on Southeast Asian art and its global connections. You can read their full range of content at the Art & Market website.

@artandmarket @ianteestudio #shermanmerntatsam by @painting_diary

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6 months ago

For our first Diary entry of 2026, we lead with the first in a series of collaborations between Painting Diary and Art & Market, a publication platform that seeks to highlight artistic voices from Southeast Asia. The piece is a conversation between Art & Market’s Editor Ian Tee, and artist and critic Sherman Mern Tat Sam. It was originally published in late 2023 but has been re-edited and extended to touch upon Sherman's recent undertakings to the present.

This interview recounts a broader history of Sherman’s practice and what it means to be a painter in a holistic sense. It recounts a process of continuously pulling from one’s life journeys and charts a continual conversation between people, places, and the inter-generational changing of the zeitgeist, spanning months and years and decades.

Sherman Sam, Play that funk music right, 2022. Oil on wooden panels, 61.6 × 46.8 cm. Courtesy the artist and MAMOTH, London, UK. Image by Damian Griffiths.

@artandmarket @ianteestudio #shermanmerntatsam @_mamoth_ by @painting_diary

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6 months ago

The following piece is the first in a series of collaborations between Painting Diary and Art & Market, a publication platform that seeks to highlight artistic voices from Southeast Asia. We hope this collaboration will help extend our coverage, offering an even broader global viewpoint on painting and its practitioners.

We open with an interview that was originally published as part of Art & Market's Midpoint series, which invites established Southeast Asian contemporary artists to take stock of their career thus far, reflect upon generational shifts, and consider the advantages and challenges of working in the present day. The interview is with Sherman Mern Tat Sam and it was originally published in late 2023.

When I first read this interview, I found myself taken by Sherman’s candidness and thoughtfulness, perhaps unsurprising given he is also a writer and critic and knows a thing or two about making words dance on the page. This interview recounts a broader history of Sherman’s practice and what it means to be a painter in a holistic sense. It recounts a process of continuously pulling from one’s life journeys and charts a continual conversation between people, places, and the inter-generational changing of the zeitgeist, spanning months and years and decades. We have chosen to publish an edited and updated version of the original interview, which is fitting given the artist’s reflections on a constantly changing artworld and his own evolving relationship to it. Sherman also updates us on what he’s been up to since 2023.

Thank you to Art & Market for allowing us the opportunity to re-publish this piece in modified form—in particular to Ian Tee, its Editor and the original author of this piece, who helped to bring this collaboration to fruition, and to Nadya Wang, the Founder and Managing Editor of Art & Market.

—André Hemer, April 2026

Link for the new Diary entry in our bio!

Image: Alice Walter, Sherman Mern Tat Sam, exhibition view, Kingsgate Project Space. 2023. Image courtesy of the artists and Kingsgate Project Space.

@artandmarket @ianteestudio #shermanmerntatsam
#paintingdiary #artandmarket by @painting_diary

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6 months ago

"Shit Mom Ascending a Staircase adopts the artist’s exquisitely hyperreal painting abilities with the now-recognisable marks of our protagonist sloping upwards, taking distinctly human steps but leaving filth in her wake. Whereas with Stairing Up we crane our necks towards an unknown space, Shit Mom Ascending a Staircase muddies the assumption that there is something beyond ourselves as a human body in this singular moment. The allusion to Marcel Duchamp’s infamous Nude Descending a Staircase (No.2) is a smart and endearing one, playing again with the rejection of social mores that were a concern over a century prior, while posing the question of gendered labour and motherhood, both of which are of little concern to the art world writ large."

Excerpt about Tala Madani's work in our latest Long-Form article by Issey Scott, "Abandoning the slop in favour of Stairing".

Link in Bio!

Tala Madani, Shit Mom Ascending a Staircase, 2025. Oil on linen, 121.9 × 91.4 × 3.2 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias.

#basilbeattie #talamadani #isseyscott #pilarcorriasgallery #halesgallery

@postartclarity @basilbeattiestudio @halesgallery @talamadani @pilarcorriasgallery by @painting_diary

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6 months ago

"Beattie’s painting, nestled among others but holding its own distinct space in part due to its domineering scale, gazed back at me, and whispered, “let’s get out of here.” Of course, ascending a staircase is a form of movement, and in its own small way, Stairing Up is showcasing a way out. Meanwhile, the artist’s style employs an earthy, textured paint that makes itself known in its materiality; the viewer does not assume they are looking at a staircase. Stairing Up is certain in its depiction and allusion as opposed to material being, therefore doubling up its power to lead us in a dream or subconscious state. The domesticity of a real staircase is stripped from the symbolism of the staircase, usurped by wonder and dreaming."

Read about how Issey Scott experienced Basil Beattie's work in the exhibition "Another Place: Paintings from the 90s" at Hales Gallery; in her latest Long-Form article "Abandoning the slop in favour of Stairing".

Link in Bio!

Basil Beattie, Stairing, 2001. Oil and flax, 31.3 × 41.5 × 3.2 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Hales Gallery. Image by Damian Griffiths.

@postartclarity @basilbeattiestudio @halesgallery @talamadani @pilarcorriasgallery

#basilbeattie #talamadani #isseyscott #pilarcorriasgallery #halesgallery taken in Hales Gallery by @painting_diary

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6 months ago

Our first Long-Form entry of 2026 comes from London-based writer Issey Scott, who explores a pair of recent London exhibitions featuring the paintings of Basil Beattie and Tala Madani. In “Abandoning the slop in favour of Stairing”, Scott asserts the act of “looking up” as a tool to move forward through painting, and also change the way we might choose to look at the world and our relationship towards it. By taking oneself outside of one’s own body Scott frames these approaches as a brave and hopeful way of elevating ourselves from the hardship created through inaction; and to be part of a change for the better.

Tala Madani, D.B.W.A.S.M. (Umbilical Discord), 2025. Oil and ink on synthetic polymer, 152.4 × 114.3 × 2.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias.

Basil Beattie, Stairing Up, 2000. Oil and wax on canvas, 213.3 × 198.2 × 8.4 cm. Courtesy the artist and Hales Gallery, Photography by Damian Griffiths. Image by Damian Griffiths.

@postartclarity @talamadani @basilbeattiestudio @pilarcorriasgallery @halesgallery

#basilbeattie #talamadani #isseyscott #pilarcorriasgallery #halesgallery taken in London, United Kingdom by @painting_diary

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6 months ago