One of our greatest pleasures at Cuemars is art, and when we come across good art, it’s an inescapable grasp we just can’t shake until we share it with the Cuemars community. We’re often caught up in telling people the stories behind the works of each artist we exhibit at Cuemars. Over the years, we’ve featured different artists.

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This year we have diverse artists we would like to introduce including Tom Berry, Jacqueline Colley, Hijack Reality, Goodbond, and Alice Wietzel. Most of the individuals we work with share similar outlooks to Cuemars regarding sustainability and conscious living. When it comes to selecting art fitting for our walls, we find that we’re drawn to artists who are making commentary or statements - bold or subtle - about everyday goings-on. For example, Tom Berry’s Daily Rites series is a vibrant interpretation of the humdrum routine of the habitual human. Cuemars’ selection of botanical and Japanese prints is an example of unearthing old artistic gems and bringing them into the present. Goodbond’s practice of selecting art prints involves scouring old botanical textbooks and researching the stories behind art produced by the likes of Hiroshi Yoshida. It’s not just about selling the prints we have on the wall, but the knowledge we can share about the art, the period in history, and the artist. 



How can art be conscious? Compromise is a word which often crops up when it comes to making greener lifestyle changes. However, it’s a word that glazes over how much better environmentally sustainable practices are. In light of this, Goodbond’s botanical and Japanese art, and Hijack Reality’s prints use vegetable ink, packaged in plant-based sleeves and untreated cardboard. So, what’s the difference between traditional inks and vegetable inks? Plant-based inks are made with raw material such as vegetable oil or resin extracted from pine. Compared to mineral based inks, vegetal inks give a better intensity to the colour on paper, it’s also more resilient on some backgrounds, and it doesn’t add polluting materials into the environment. It’s not really compromise when it’s better quality. 

Aside from the processes of producing and printing, we feel like it’s part of our philosophy to spotlight local artists. More than often, there’s a tendency to distillate focus on mainstream art and overlook the profuse talent on our doorstep. That’s why we believe in making bonds with the community around us - we’re always surprised at who and what we end up finding.

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