AIDAN LAPP

“I’m Aidan Lapp (b. 2000, Los Angeles), a Brooklyn-based artist making portraits on paper. My pieces begin as graphite drawings made from life in long sittings with friends, peers, family, or myself. I use the portrait session to stay in dialogue with peers, following the current of friendships and local watering holes to find sitters and those I return to over time.

“For inspiration in painting, I look to the School of London, especially Hockney’s California works and Lucian Freud’s female sitters in fur coats. I also feel a strong kinship with Alice Neel as a fellow New York portraitist. I spend a lot of time with Derek Jarman’s writing, in its frank, imperfect honesty, and with Joe Brainard’s journals, which are funny, endearing, and timeless.

“Right now, I’m presenting Hold Still at Auxier Kline in New York City, on view through February 13. The show features a selection of portraits in graphite, and oil and graphite together. I hope to see you there.” – Aidan Lapp

FRIENDS OF FRIENDS 

“My name is Dililah Gonzalez and I’m a multidisciplinary creative working across fashion, editorial, and visual storytelling, with a focus on building spaces that feel human, curious, and collaborative. I am also co-founder of Friends of Friends Zine, alongside Tiarra Smith and Caroline Halloran – an independent publication rooted in the idea of connection; how people, scenes, and ideas intersect organically. Our zine came to life in March 2025 on a spontaneous winter trip to Coney Island; an oddly warm Saturday spent breaking routine, ending up in a small bar and talking about our friends, our work, and how often creative communities go undocumented. We realised we all knew each other through a friend of a friend, coming together at unexpected moments despite different jobs, skill sets, and social circles. What connected us was creativity and the absence of a tangible space to showcase it. Friends of Friends became a way to solidify that community in physical form, and in doing so, invite more friends of friends in.

“The zine exists as a safe, accessible space for independent artists to share their work, connect with like-minded creatives, and feel encouraged to keep creating. Each volume centers around a specific theme chosen by the founders. Our first issue, Metamorphosis, explored growth, transition, and evolving identity. Our upcoming volume, Dissonance, challenges artists to find beauty in tension, contrast, and things that don’t quite fit. While themes shift, community remains the through-line. Our creative scene lives across Brooklyn, but it’s less about one place and more about the people and moments that invite connection. 

“Friends of Friends Vol. 2, Dissonance, launches with a public release party at Dear Friend Books in Brooklyn, NY on Friday, 13 February, 6:30–10pm, featuring music by DJ Lilla Abrar and featuring artists from the issue. Copies will be available at the event and online shortly after at fofzine.com.” – Dililah Gonzalez

ELISE CHUN

“I’m a 23-year-old Korean creative from the suburbs of Los Angeles. I work traditionally and digitally, and dabble in visual art, graphic design, and photography. I’ve loved art since I was little, going to a small private school with big city dreams. My approach to creating is centred around the idea of play and experimentation. I love being able to turn the mundane into something extraordinary.

“I enjoy creating work that feels authentic and raw, yet sort of surreal, like taking an artwork made of paper and altering it digitally to give it an otherworldly look, or using toys and trash to tell an eccentric tale through a photo story. I’m big on storytelling and visual narrative, and am interested in using a variety of mediums to illustrate my vision. I’m influenced by music, fashion, film, art, pop culture, and everyday life. Some specific inspirations off the top of my head are David Lynch, Alexandra Levasseur, Nadia Lee Cohen, Moni Haworth, FKA Twigs, Aidan Zamiri, and John Galliano. The way they have all created their own captivating visual language and artistry is fascinating to me.

“I’m planning work on my next project, Suburban Deities, which will be my first conceptual photoshoot. It’s an ode to the kind of Asian suburbia I grew up in, with a dreamlike wash. I’m interested in working more with photography and film, so I’m excited to dive in.” – Elise Chun

FREDA OSAYUKI IGIOGBE & KANDRE ARÁMIDE HASSAN, EMBER & ETHER

Kandre: “I’m a cross-disciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, writing, and community facilitation. My practice is intuitive, often beginning with dream states, bodily sensation, and emotional shifts. Through gesture and mark-making, I reimagine the body as both vessel and storyteller, where personal experience and collective histories intersect. Rooted in emergent Afro-diasporic perspectives and informed by my Nigerian heritage and background in anthropology, my work explores movement, memory, belonging, and liminal states of becoming.

Freda: “I’m a multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in storytelling, working across ceramics, film, and illustrative drawing. My practice explores identity, spirituality, and cultural memory, blending African heritage and spirituality with Christian symbolism to navigate the tension and beauty between these worlds. I primarily work with clay, creating symbolic sculptures that merge human and mythical forms, drawing from African ceramic traditions and matrilineal knowledge passed through generations of women.”

Kandre and Freda: “We met through shared creative circles in London and quickly recognised a strong sense of synergy – in our identities, heritage, outlooks on life, and the stories we felt drawn to tell. Although we work in different mediums, our perspectives overlap in meaningful ways. Studio visits and long conversations revealed a collaboration that felt inevitable.

“Ember & Ether is a duo exhibition and public programme exploring Afro-diasporic memory through material experimentation, gesture, and community exchange. Set between the elemental states of ember and ether, the work traces how identities form through cycles of change, erosion, and return, with charcoal and clay acting as active material collaborators. 

“Ember & Ether runs from 17 Jan to 28 February. We have an artist talk (7 February) and a final workshop (11 February) for Ember & Ether, which you can RSVP for on the Dazed Club app. Kandre is also preparing for her first solo showcase ‘First Winds of a Shifting Season’, presented by The Palace of The Dogs at The Bussey Building, Peckham, in April.”

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