Pieter Hugo: National Portrait Gallery Adds New Photos to PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT PRIZE Exhibit
Chiho Aoshima: Chiho Aoshima at Seattle’s Asian Art Museum
Article: "Chiho Aoshima at Seattle’s Asian Art Museum"
" SEATTLE — Japanese artist Chiho Aoshima opened “Rebirth of the World,” a large-scale solo exhibition at the Asian Art Museum on May 2.
According to the artist, the works on display are partially inspired by a hopeful vision of a future urban setting, where mankind and nature might coexist in an uneasy balance. “The evolution of human civilization is great; humankind thinks nature precious, but it is difficult for humankind and nature to coexist. I represented these two souls that cannot understand each other through the images of buildings and mountains.”
Aoshima, who is part of Takashi Murakami’s collective Kaikai Kiki, whose members also include Mr. (the subject of another exhibition at the Asian Art Museum last winter), has previously had solo shows at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles (2002), Galerie Perrotin in Paris (2004, 2007), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2007). She first came to prominence after being included in “Tokyo Girls Bravo” (2004), a group exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery inspired by the legendary manga artist Kyoko Okazaki that was curated by Murakami himself.
Although her early career centered on digitally manipulated vector drawings rendered in Adobe Illustrator, which allowed her to maintain careful control over the sinuous curves and organic lines that characterize her lush, detailed landscapes, Aoshima later turned to hand-drawn components incorporated into her large-scale prints that gave her work an additional dimension.
This is the first time that Aoshima’s drawings are being displayed in a museum setting, with a selection of some 35 pieces that depict girls, animals, flower landscapes, insects, oceans, and reptiles. Equally, audiences will be able to catch a glimpse of her foray into video work, undertaken in collaboration with New Zealand-born animator Bruce Ferguson, with whom she previously worked for a piece called City Glow (2005)."
Adrian Ghenie: Hits and Misses at the Venice Biennale’s National Pavilions
Article: "Hits and Misses at the Venice Biennale’s National Pavilions"
" At the Romanian Pavilion, Adrian Ghenie has a tour de force presentation of some 20 paintings and drawings that take Charles Darwin as a prism through which to explore the loaded history of the 20th century. His expansive, psychologically nuanced compositions place the human figure at the center of history (albeit a highly male-centric one—the protagonists and anti-heroes of this history being Hitler, Lenin, Darwin, and van Gogh, each of whom make appearances in his work)."
Chiho Aoshima: Exhibit review: ‘Rebirth of the World,’ Chiho Aoshima
Article: Exhibit review: ‘Rebirth of the World,’ Chiho Aoshima
"Walking through Chiho Aoshima’s new exhibit, “Rebirth of the World,” is like stepping into and taking a guided tour of the artist’s mind. And what a beautiful and disturbing mind it is."
Pedro Reyes: Exhibit ‘The People’s United Nations’ to tackle world issues
Article: Exhibit ‘The People’s United Nations’ to tackle world issues
"Pedro Reyes’ paintbrush doesn’t lay down strokes of color. Instead, the Mexican artist’s paintbrush adds an element of theater to his artworks.
His project, the second General Assembly of “The People’s United Nations,” or “pUN,” is an experimental symposium that incorporates theatrical aspects.
The project applies techniques and resources from social psychology, theater, art and conflict resolution to geopolitics. Taking place Saturday and Sunday, the gathering will join together 160 people of different ethnic backgrounds and professions based in the Los Angeles area in an effort to use theater technique to resolve world issues, such as global warming.
“Unlike the real United Nations, where delegates are appointed by states and are career diplomats, the ‘pUN’ offers a diverse and interdisciplinary approach unrestricted by the protocols of diplomacy,” Reyes said."
Ramiro Gomez: NBFF 2015: Los Olvidados Showcases Extraordinary Cardboard Mexicans
Article: NBFF 2015: Los Olvidados Showcases Extraordinary Cardboard Mexicans
"Back in 2013, I reviewed Ramiro Gomez, Jr.'s extraordinary artwork that finds him either painting working-class Latinos into photos of ritzy homes, or has him put up cardboard cutouts of said trabajadores in ritzy communities. The star of the piece, though, was Los Olvidados, which depicted a group of migrants mourning the loss of one of their own who didn't survive the brutal journey across the U.S.-Mexico border. That installation took up an entire room of Cal State Fullerton's Grand Central Arts Center, and included was a panorama-sized photo of Los Olvidados in the Arizona desert." more at OC Weekly
Mortimer: Justin Mortimer, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham Lakeside Arts
Article: Justin Mortimer, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham Lakeside Arts
"It may take a while to figure out that there is just the one British painter called Justin Mortimer – one painter, but with two careers.
He’s the one who won the National Gallery’s BP Portrait Award in 1991 and subsequently took on portrait commissions of the great and the good such as rower Steve Redgrave and playwright Harold Pinter.
There was also a painting of HM The Queen which is unlikely to have gone down well in Buck Palace as it showed the monarch with a separated head.
But he’s also the one whose dark and slightly disturbing paintings are now on show at Djanogly Art Gallery in an exhibition paired with prints by the late Pop artist Richard Hamilton." more at Nottingham Post
Mortimer: Justin Mortimer's New Exhibition Kult To Open At Parafin London
Article: "Justin Mortimer's New Exhibition Kult To Open At Parafin London"
"Parafin presents an exhibition by the acclaimed British painter Justin Mortimer. This exhibition of new work coincides with his first solo exhibition in a public space at the Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham until 31 May. Justin Mortimer’s latest paintings reflect upon a world in a state of disorder. The artist is an avid observer of the social and political upheaval that defines the international news agenda and these works echo recent events in the US, Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing Ebola crisis in Africa. Yet Mortimer wrings from this narrative of violence and oppression images of both hope and despair as well as a strange and troubling beauty." more at Artlyst
Samorì: Nicola Samorì to represent Italy at the 56th Venice Biennale
Article: "Nicola Samorì to represent Italy at the 56th Venice Biennale"
"SZCZECIN.- TRAFO announced that Nicola Samorì, the artist of the current exhibition RELIGO, has been selected to represent Italy at the 56th Venice Biennale.
The official presentation of the exhibition catalogue will take place on the occasion of the public opening of the Biennale on May 9th at 16h at the Palazzo Loredan, the home of the Institute of Science, Letters and Arts in Venice.
RELIGO, Samori’s first ever institutional show in Poland, was designed with the aim of taking advantage of TRAFO’s unique architectural layout by means of a site-specific installation in the main hall. The title, which derives from the Latin word “re-ligare”, means to re-bind or re-connect, and emphasises the religious and art historical roots of Samorì’s artworks.
As part of a collaboration with the neighbouring St. John the Evangelist Church, TRAFO has commissioned an oil painting from Samori to be exhibited within the church hall as a way of encouraging dialogue about the division of religion and high culture in contemporary society.
In close collaboration with the curator and artist, the RELIGO catalogue aims to reproduce the atmosphere unique to TRAFO and the exhibition. Detailed installation shots as well as previously unpublished works are presented in a rich visual layout with text contributions from Friedhelm Mennekes, Mark Gisbourne, Chiara Ianeselli and Marie-Eve Lafontaine.
The catalogue is made possible by the generous support of the Italian Institute of Culture in Warsaw and Baltic Contemporary." more at Art Daily
