about the artist

Ejay Khan, was born a long time ago near Boston, MA. The oldest of six children and daughter of an entrepreneurial father and artistic, spiritual mother, she spent her early adulthood climbing the corporate ladder. She began painting in 1990, after leaving her position as a corporate risk manager for a large Boston-based real estate development/management firm, and moving to Newburyport. Prior to that, she had been an avid photographer for many years, and today enjoys digital photography. 

She is a self-taught painter, photographer and graphic artist, who studied portraiture and life drawing with Copley Master, Mark Hayden, while living in Newburyport. In 1994 she moved to Jamaica, where she lived and painted for four years. During this time, she developed her love of bold color and deep respect for the Rastafarian way of life, which her work has become known for. After returning to the US, she settled in Key Largo, FL, where she and Joda Khan owned and operated Jah Works Gallery and Cultural Exchange Center, which became a hub of cultural activity drawing artists, poets, musicians and actors from Key West to Ft. Lauderdale and visitors from around the world for weekly open mike poetry, experimental theatre and music jam sessions. 

Ejay has created an extensive collection of works in collaboration with Joda, expressing subjects ranging from abuse, homelessness and addiction, to God and the devil. In July 2003 Ejay returned North and settled in East Boston, where she owns and operates Khan Studio, a gallery, eclectic art gift shop and artist services studio providing fine art printing, matting and framing services for fellow artists. Ejay also developed and administers Khan Studio International, a large and growing Internet gallery site. She currently is primarily working in oils, focusing on peaceful representational landscapes and florals, in a time when peaceful is too often missing in people's view of life. 

Ejay's works have won numerous prizes and awards over the years, and are in private collections around the globe. She is a past board member of the Newburyport Art Association, artist member of the Boston Copley Society, member of the Upper Keys and Marathon Art Associations, and currently is an active member of the East Boston Artists Group and is involved with East Boston Open Studios. She also operates 80 Border Street Cultural Exchange Center, a nonprofit center for visual, literary and performing arts.

artist statement

I believe it is an artist's responsibility to create, using whatever medium best suits, art that speaks to the heart, mind and soul of the viewer, and passes on to them a message. I use my paintbrush, camera and computer graphics to express and pass on to others my joy and peace in life, as well as my outrage at the policies of current political regimes, and sadness over the suffering and apparent state of decline of mankind. I use realism to create a surrealistic view of events, places and people that is often both attractive and shocking.

about the artist

Since earning an Art degree from the University of Cincinnati, Jerry Sieve has spent 31 years as a professional scenic/nature photographer/ artist . He has over 2,500 images published worldwide. (1977 to present) 6 years of painting oils on canvas. He has given talks on “Searching for the Grand Landscape,”  and over the past 16 years, he has taught more multi-day workshops for the FRIENDS OF ARIZONA HiGHWAYS Magazine than any other of their teachers. 

His work is in numerous individual and corporate collections. He has taught over 50 photography workshops in various areas across the nation. He was the Artist in residence: Fountain Hills High School 2006, Cactus Shadows High School, 2006. Jerry lives in Arizona and has been married 34 years. Additionally: 60 Years of Arizona Highways award National Wildlife Federation Calendar award Publications: One man Photographer for coffee table books entitled America's Southwest; 1985 Ohio: Images of Nature 1990 Along the Arizona Trail 1998. One man Calendars Black and White (Jerry Sieve). 1988 OHIO: Images of Nature 1990-1996 Collections.

artist statement

There are usually just a few moments when all the visual elements come together. Anticipating these critical events are essential to make the image MORE than just another landscape. Specializing in fine art nature images with dramatic natural light, my images are made on large format, 4x5 inch film. From these, each carefully selected color image is printed on Fuji Crystal Archive print material for permanence and color brilliance. Black and White prints are Gelatin/Silver, fiber based in nature using an archival process. Finally, B&W prints are then treated in a selenium and gold bath to increase tonal depth and further increase permanence. Other “prints” are made on Glass and backed in gold metallic. These “GOLDTONES” represent work that has not been regularly done for almost 100 years. 

For seven years now I have also searched for the Grand Landscape via painting. This gives me a unique perspective in that I can “see” images in many different ways. I have even had articles published on this idea in a national publication. I have had the honor of searching the North American landscape for moments in time which express the essence of the natural world. 

Certainly I have experienced many more “moments” than I could ever record. However, the ability to respond to most of these natural events is a skill learned over time. What is required? A precise, experienced, understanding of light and its various effects on the landscape. Many, in today’s fast paced society “look” at many things but in reality we “see” very little. The fine art nature photographer must slow to learn the rhythm's of Nature and learn her language. The process of using the large format view camera is, by its very nature, slow and so aids in the critical”seeing” of the natural world......................JERRY SIEVE

A new era of value equality is unfolding among the worlds' artists. In the case of the price differential between the work of the contemporary 'art stars' and emerging artists, consider for a moment an important influencing factor also found in the stock market: uncertainty. For instance, a company operating in an industry where a key competitor suddenly becomes the subject of an investigation will undoubtedly see its stock price at least temporarily negatively impacted regardless of culpability simply because of investor uncertainty. Lack of knowledge in any industry acts as a damper on value, and let's face it, the famous are such because to date they've received the entirety of the spotlight from the art market apparatchik, hence relatively little is known about those without such support.

However, the internet is THE equalizing factor. In an era where the internet functions as the facilitator of the distribution and promotion of the work of emerging artists from all over the world, the era of the 'art star' deemed such by the critics, curators and self-appointed art experts has come to a necessary end. 

In order to assess value and predict the direction of prices with respect to any asset, including stocks, it's instructive to look at comparables. The work of the Old Masters and other dead artists has stood the test of time thus guaranteeing its worth in the form of the stratospheric prices garnered today. What is less clear is the rationale for the difference between the prices paid for the work of many contemporary artists and the much larger group of emerging artists. In any other industry, over time such a relative value disparity would disappear. 

Given the increasing recognition of the value of art today, equalization of the prices between discovered and undiscovered artists is inevitable if only because the relative value of the latter is highlighted. In the case of two stocks with equal earnings generating power where the sole exogenous, differentiating factor is the amount of 'coverage' by Wall Street that each receives, the difference in price to the long-term investor highlights the less expensive as a powerful value, and the common sense choice. Yes, the value stock may lack the imprematur of the big Wall Street analysts, but how many times have they overlooked a diamond covered in coal dust? Emerging artists are the greatest investment opportunity that no one has ever heard of.