Art Squat : Articles : Issue Ten

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Cover Artist

Kevin Cooley has seen many fires in his life. As a photojournalist based in Los Angeles, the artist regularly seeks out active burn areas, documenting the flames, as they devour the places we call home. When the Eaton Fire started, his own home went up in flames. In his interview, the artist shares his story and highlights the importance of longevity and respect in his profession. Kevin aims to make people “confront their relationship with the environment” by exposing them to the reality of climate change and the threat of wildfires in his photography. Kevin’s story is one many Angelenos share; hope remains for what will come next.

Featured Artists

Rachel Berkowitz is an artist whose work explores the profound connection between humans and nature through biophilic structures. Inspired by a transformative “van life” journey across America's national parks in 2019 and a lifelong love of hiking, Rachel translates the serenity of natural landscapes into immersive artworks designed to evoke calm and connection. - by Johnny Otto

Ross Severson is a self-taught artist whose work spans abstraction through collage, painting, and sculpture, blending influences from jazz, literature, and mid-century modern design. - by Johnny Otto

Sarah Hawkins embraces chaos and spontaneity in her creative process, exploring themes of love, adventure, and connection that evolve with her personal growth. - by Johnny Otto

June is an artist with many talents. She draws, tattoos, and sketches. Besides running her successful tattoo studio where she focuses on creating beautiful watercolor tattoos, she also hosts painting workshops and draws incredible images on the side.

Anton Gudim is an artist who creates amazing short comic strips, each showcasing a certain topic or thought critically but in a fun way. His work makes you think, it makes you take a moment to consider his ideas deeply.

Mona Acts [aka: Vania] Art has a profound impact on society because it serves as a universal language that transcends barriers like race, ethnicity, and culture. It allows individuals to express their unique stories and emotions in ways that words alone cannot capture.

Henry Kaye is a brand designer and illustrator whose illustrations of L.A. businesses that were lost in the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton Fires in Los Angeles are giving a slice of home back to the community. Henry shares his sources of inspiration and his view of the strength and resilience of the Los Angeles (art) community with us.

Mad Watson’s art is intriguing. The mixed media fine artist and aura painter lives in Las Vegas, but truly the world is her canvas. The artist combines paintings of landscapes with images of female power. In her work, nature and humans are juxtaposed, as they complement each other. The celebration of life and all its facets – anticipation, joy, passion and reflection – shines through in Mad’s art that offers the viewers a chance for recognition.

SPECIAL FEATURES

L.A Art Rises from the Ashes
LA’s creatives have risen from the ashes – sadly, quite literally. Our beautiful town and communities have had an incredibly difficult start to the new year when multiple wildfires broke out in January and wiped out entire neighborhoods. Artists and others lost their work, their collections, their homes, and their family heirlooms. From paintings and drawings stored at home to whole collections featured in art galleries waiting to be purchased, many important pieces were lost.

Svetlana Talabolina's "FREEDA" Mural
Svetlana Talabolina's mural "Freeda" in Lynwood, CA, unveiled during Spanish History Month, pays tribute to Frida Kahlo and stands as one of 2024's most significant Public Art Projects of Los Angeles County.

The Immigration Paradox: Economic Necessity vs. Political Expediency
In 2025, the United States finds itself at a crossroads: grappling with labor shortages and an aging population, yet intensifying efforts to deport the very individuals who could rejuvenate its workforce and economy. This contradiction between economic needs and political actions underscores a complex narrative that demands closer examination. For decades, the U.S. has relied on immigration to sustain its workforce, counteract demographic decline, and drive technological advancements. Yet, the current policy climate suggests a departure from this historical trend, driven more by political expediency than economic pragmatism.

The Future of the Artist in America: A Dark Parallel to History
The recent actions of President Donald Trump concerning the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have drawn parallels to historical instances where political leaders sought to control artistic expression. Notably, comparisons have been made to Adolf Hitler's manipulation of the arts in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. However, the suppression of artistic freedom is not unique to Hitler’s Germany; history is replete with examples of tyrants wielding control over culture and creativity to shape ideology, manipulate narratives, and suppress dissent.

The Artist and Isolation
In a world that glorifies constant connectivity, solitude has become a rare and often misunderstood phenomenon. Yet, for artists, solitude is not just a preference; it is a necessity.

Featured Artists

Mick Victor is an incredibly gifted artist. His work has something mysterious, something magical. As he worked his way through different styles and mediums and experimented with photography, graphics, and illustration, he found his way to the mixed media world.

Natalia Berglund is a Los Angeles artist who has recently been impacted by the wildfires in Pacific Palisades. Being a portrait artist, Natalia has always given life to and captured the strength and determination of humans in her paintings. Now, after losing her home in the fires, the artist has turned inward, rebuilding from the inside and showing her work in numerous group exhibitions. In her interview, Natalia talks about the creative opportunities that grow from loss and how art has the power to heal and transform.

Michael Deyermond’s art is a testimony to life. Books and words are the poet’s fuel, and his art is his way of communicating. By engaging the different senses and allowing the life of an object to become a part of his work, the artist fuses past, present and future.

Marija Stefanović's drawings are storybook-perfect. They are beautiful images of cozy and comforting worlds, some of which might be familiar to you, dear reader. With her work, she transports you to breathtaking sceneries making you wish you could just jump through the page and escape there right now.

Katie Murken specifies in sculpture, collage, and installation. Her work emphasizes feminine wisdom by translating values of compassion and her understanding of relationships and life itself to the canvas. She recalls important lessons from her early art education and the opportunities that arise from women-owned galleries and inclusive organizations in the SFO Bay Area where Murken lives.

Gabriel Slavitt was by a lot of graphic art like Dave Sim’s and Art Spiegelman’s comics, Raymond Pettibon’s early punk flyers, and all the wild work of the Chicago Imagists.

What is an Art Squat and how did this journey begin?

Well, many many moons ago, circa 1999, my brother Michael Otto, who just prefers to be called Otto, was friends with a guy named Andy who lived in a fourplex on Genesee ave. just south of Melrose, across from Fairfax High school. Andy had told my brother that there was an empty two bedroom apartment on the second level across from his and that the Landlord hadn't been seen in years and nobody was paying rent. He went on to tel my brother that the empty unit was filled with junk that had to be cleared out but once that was done, the space could be used as an art gallery. So, my brother and I and a few other friends, spent a few days clearing out all the junk, and we put large locks on the doors so that nobody could enter without us. There was no power in the unit that we occupied, so, whenever we had an art opening, Andy would run power cables out his back window and into the empty unit. Collectively we came up with the name Art Squat for our new gallery and we had some crazy raging parties. This went on for several years. The Landlord was never seen or heard from. In fact, there was a garage behind the property that had a vintage car in it and boxes of newspapers from the 80's.

Read the full Story about Art Squat's origins

Help Pass This Bill — or America Faces a $200 Billion Crisis
and 35 Million Lives in Limbo

The Issue
Right now, over 3.4 million approved green and fully vetted card applicants — including families, skilled workers, and crime victims — are trapped in legal limbo due to an outdated immigration system that hasn’t been reformed since 1996. Many have waited 15 to 24 years to reunite with family or bring their talents to the U.S. workforce.

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Movie Reviews

A Complete Unknown remains unknown
The musical performances are blistering, the direction confident. For fans of the era—and Dylan’s shapeshifting genius—the film delivers in tone and texture. But once the final chord fades, something essential remains conspicuously absent: the why.

Book Reviews

Luke Wronski’s Stan Jones is a quietly surreal, unexpectedly hilarious, and deeply moving exploration of alienation, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. On the surface, Stan is just a man trying to live a simple life in New York—walking to his menial job at a shoe repair shop, nursing a beer at a dingy bar on Sundays, and working hard at “minding his own business.” But beneath this routine is a man haunted by trauma, questions of purpose, and, as it turns out, a classified past involving deep space, interstellar diplomacy, and loss on a galactic scale. Yes, Stan Jones may—or may not—have been an astronaut sent to a distant planet to respond to alien signals. Or maybe he just needed someone to ask.

BUY ART SAVE A CRAZY PERSON

Svetlana Talabolina

Archives

Camilla Taylor’s body of work is hard to assign to a specific category. Their sculptures incorporate and represent beliefs, ideas, and visions – of the past, the present, and (a better) future. Camilla shares their awareness for and dedication to social and moral justice, doing their part to communicate with the viewer through their art. As an exhibitor in the recent exhibition “Out of the Ashes” at Craig Krull Gallery in Santa Monica, CA, the artist shares their story after the recent fires in Los Angeles took their home and studio.

Somer Manner’s art is easily distinguishable by the combination of wildlife drawings and the earnest looks her animals show. Often, fantastical elements mix with the contours of wild animals. Somer places many of her paintings on imperfect wood panels, a choice that underlines the natural aspect of her work. In her interview, Somer talks about her technique, the intention behind her work and her fascination with bisons.