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    “Radium” by SHOK-1 in Le Locle, Switzerland

    Street artist SHOK-1 unveils his new work “Radium” in Le Locle, the birthplace of Swiss watchmaking.This piece is about the tragic story of the Radium Girls, who suffered horribly with radiation poisoning from painting watch faces back in the 20s. SHOK-1 thinks we can still learn from it today as a narrative about the misuse of science by commerce, and of profit over people.The mural is rendered in the colour of radium watch lume, as if it were the dial glowing in the dark.SHOK-1 is the pioneer of aerosol X-ray art and his unique X-ray art works can be seen on murals around the world. Blending street and science, SHOK-1 spray paints x-ray like visuals of mostly human, animal or plant-like origins. Darkly beautiful and packed with subtle layers of delicate detail, he has perfected his no tape and no stencil x-ray artworks, which are one among the most difficult subject matters a painter could attempt. As a self-taught artist who holds a degree in Applied Chemistry he aims to champions rationalism in an era where anti-intellectualism is on the rise and scientists as well as experts are denounced in favour of sub literate opinions.Check out below for more photos of “Radium”. More

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    “Ethereal” Group Exhibition at Volery Gallery in Dubai, UAE

    Ethereal is a group exhibition organised by Volery Gallery and curated by Rom Levy the gallery’s Founder and Senior Curator. The show brings together a group of prominent contemporary artists whose work portrays familiar figurations to earthly experiences; nevertheless, these sceneries are preoccupied with a different world than that of the tangible here and now.The exhibition explores the tension between the figures and the space surrounding them, creating a magnetic and out of this universe space, exploring themes of identity, humanity and subjectivity, creating a portal to a new dimension where the colours and the subjects come together to create an exquisite and enchanting world.Regardless of art’s origin or destination, it is an international language spoken by all different nations and cultures, Volery offers the viewer the space to examine a body of work that sheds light on various styles and techniques that are present in the progressing art movements and events.The exhibition will run from October 14, 2021 to November 9, 2021. Schedule your visit here.Scroll down below to have a sneak peak on Ethereal exhibition.Roby Dwi Antono, Kalya, 2021. Spraypaint on canvas; 130 x 150 cmAdriana Oliver, Stay This Time, 2021. Acrylic on linen; 100 x 100 cmAleksey and Anton Tvorogov, Bear is Gifted a Flower, 2021. Oil on canvas; 100 x 130 cm More

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    ‘Greater New York,’ MoMA PS1’s Closely Watched Survey, Returns to Excavate New York’s Past and Reckon With Its Surreal Present

    In the later category, she pointed to the work of photographer Marilyn Nance, famous for her work documenting African-American life and the African diaspora in New York (and beyond, though the works in this show are focused on New York City), as well as Hiram Maristany who grew up in East Harlem and regularly documented the lives of the close-knit Puerto Rican community.
    Works by Hiram Maristany in “Greater New York.” Photo by Ben Davis.
    Maristany was the official photographer of the activist group known as the Young Lords, Katrib noted. In addition to protests where they asserted their rights, the Lords were also involved in activities to support the East Harlem community, including organizing clothing drives and picking up trash.
    Katrib pointed to a more contemporary documentary impulse in the work of Black Mass Publishing, a collective established in 2018. The group publishes zines and books of both new and archival content by Black artists aimed at fostering new conversations about Black cultural production.
    Installation view of gallery devoted to Blackmass Publishing in “Greater New York.” Photo by Ben Davis.
    In “Greater New York,’ one gallery, dubbed “Black Mass Publishing Study Hall,” features a library of zines and pamphlets to peruse.
    Another work that seems to encapsulate New York City’s former gritty downtown days is the video of poet Diane Burns. Standing in front of trash and rubble-strewn empty lots, against a backdrop of ghostly tenement buildings, Burns is captured reciting her poem, Alphabet City Serenade, her voice looping in the galleries.
    Video of Diane Burns, Poetry Spots: Diane Burns reads ‘Alphabet City Serenade’ (1989) in “Greater New York.” Photo by Ben Davis.
    Burns, who was born in Kansas to a Chemehuevi father and an Anishinabe mother, ruminates on “Loisada” versus her life back home. “Hey man, can you spare a cigarette? Do you know of a place to sublet?,” she riffs.
    Katrib pointed to Japanese-American artist Yuji Agematsu as using a mixture of both documentary and surrealism to convey his experience. zip:01.01.20 . . .12:31.20 (2020) is a massive but delicate wall-length work composed of a series of vitrines.
    One of the cases from Yuji Agematsu, zip:01.01.20 . . .12:31.20 (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
    Inside each is a “calendar” with individual days portrayed as intact cellophane cigarette wrappers that serve as containers for the debris the artist gathered and placed in them on a particular day—chewed gum, bottle caps, scraps of paper—after having gathered them from the streets of New York.
    “It’s like this calendar archive document, but it’s also very surreal and abstract,” says Katrib.
    Works by G. Peter Jemison in “Greater New York.” Photo by Ben Davis.
    The show has a focus on issues related to indigeneity. You see this, for instance, in the work of G. Peter Jemison, an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians. But it is also international in scope, incorporating the work of artists from Brazil, Iran, Lebanon, and Egypt, often touching on issues of attempted integration and feelings of estrangement.
    The curatorial team also includes writer and curator Serubiri Moses, MoMA PS1 director Kate Fowle, and MoMA Latin American art curator Inés Katzenstein. After more than a year of lockdown and organizing—including Zoom studio visits with artists who were just minutes away—the show they have produced feels both timely and on point.
    “The situation we’re in now is really just underscoring and underlining the things that artists were already dealing with,” says Katrib. “I think one of the biggest challenges was just the isolation, especially for the older generation of artists who were more at risk. We really wanted to respect and honor that New York is a city where different generations of artists can be together and support one another.”
    “Greater New York” is on view at MoMA PS1 in New York through April 18, 2022. More

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    Exhibitors at a Fair in Dubai Have Covered Up the Private Parts of Michelangelo’s ‘David,’ Fearing It Might Offend Visitors

    A 3D-printed copy of Michelangelo’s David is at the nexus of controversy in Dubai, where exhibitors have obscured the figure’s genitals for fear that it might offend Islamic traditionalists. 
    The 17-foot-tall sculpture, thought to be the most accurate facsimile of the Renaissance masterpiece ever made, spans two stories of a rotunda in the Italian pavilion at Expo 2020, which opened October 1 in the Dubai South district. Visitors can glimpse David’s top quarter, shoulders to head, from the upper floor, but his lower half, encased in glass, can only be viewed from the first floor—an area closed to the public. A concrete slab, meanwhile, effectively obscures the figure’s pelvic region. 
    Davide Rampello, the pavilion’s artistic director, refused to call the gesture censorship, saying instead that the goal was to position the statue as a witness to the “theater of memory,” according to Corriere della Sera. It has to do with the pavilion’s curatorial conceit, a reflection on how our collective memories are being displaced by our increasing reliance on technology. 
    A view from the Italian pavilion of Expo 2020, with the bottom half of the David replica. © Massimo Sestini.
    “Michelangelo knew that without memory there can be neither science nor art,” Rampello told the paper. “Without memory, man loses the ability to tell the world. Here, this is a copy of the David to testify to that memory.”
    “There have been no government censorships,” he added. “This staging is reproduced here as it might have been in Japan or Germany or anywhere else in the world.”
    But others who worked on the project have been more candid about the practical concerns of exhibiting a naked statue in a heavily Islamic region such as the United Arab Emirates.  
    “We even thought of putting underwear on the statue, or changing it altogether,” an exhibition staff member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “We understood too late that it was an error to bring a statue of a nude man to the Emirates.”

    When reached for comment, representatives for the Italian pavilion explained that the display of the David duplicate is “functional, to allow visitors looking at the statue from the first floor of the Pavilion to see [it] at eye level.” That, Rampello explained, “is a totally different and more introspective perspective than the one tourists in Florence are used to enjoying when visiting the original.”
    Regardless of the intention, the move has sparked hot takes aplenty online. Italian art historian Vittorio Sgarbi, for one, called the pavilion organizers’ “deference to the Islamic tradition” an “unprecedented, unacceptable, intolerable humiliation.”
    The pavilion is part of Expo 2020, an international fair featuring dedicated presentations from more than 100 countries and organizations. Delayed by a year due to the pandemic, it is the first World Expo edition to be held in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region and remains on view through March 31, 2022. The replica of David was constructed from acrylic resin based on 3D scans of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, carved between 1501 and 1504 and now permanently on view in Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia.
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    Special Limited Edition Print by Marina Capdevila

    Marina Capdevila, a muralist & painter based in Barcelona, is launching a special limited edition of 25 hand embellished prints. This print was released in celebration of the International Day of the Elderly.Every print is UNIQUE with hand painted details with oil pastel, making each piece one of a kind. 10% of the proceeds from the art sales will go to the non-governmental organization “Amics de la gent gran” to help our elderly.Giclée print and oil pastelEnhanced Matte 200g papersize: 61 x 91 cm // 24 x 35,8 ”numbered & signed by the artistWorldwide shipping: allow 10-15 days for shipping to be processed. Shop here.What inspires Marina is the beauty that doesn’t follow the usual aesthetic canons as old people, timeless characters lost in a society that they are already beginning to struggle to understand. Her muse is her grandmother. What she wants to communicate with her artworks is the desire to reach old age with full vitality. The resources of exaggeration and irony are key points in her creations, as well as a powerful color chart combined with a soft shading.Her work can be found around the world as Florida, New York, California, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and more.Check out below for more info on the limited edition print. More

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    Forbidden Fruit – James Reka

    Reka’s latest body of work peels back the layers of what it is to be human, questioning the viewer’s moral fibre and substance, teasing at notions of desire and sexuality. The Malta-based, Australian artist penned the following statement as a written exploration to accompany his finest work to-date, digging deep to ask himself, and more broadly, humanity, if they too would honestly not have been tempted by the Forbidden Fruit in the garden of Eden…‘The fruit that was forbidden in the Garden of Eden. The apple on the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. Used as a metaphor, for indulgence or pleasure, that is considered illegal or immoral. The human condition is one bound by an almost limitless scale of opportunity and stimuli. We live in a world of relentless temptation, where the primary drivers of life; hunger, safety and passion, are intertwined in a morally defined structure of our everyday existence – we are constantly responding to these urges and drives, as our actions create an eternal juxtaposition, between satisfying the primal needs of life, enjoying the fruits of our existence and the balance of morality.’‘This exhibition, represents a broadening of my aesthetic, reaffirming the dichotomy between morality and sin. In this language, my work provides an account of the reaction that has long governed discussion on tasting the Forbidden Fruit.  Consideration of our mortality plunges us into the rediscovery of self and paradoxically, into facing challenges of self, sometimes threatening, in the presence of sincere and pure truths. Uncontrollable urges abound where all is only sin and temptation. These primal forces bring forth all the complexity of human relations, where sex and seduction, attraction and desire, degradation, and self-destruction, all symbolise tasting the “Forbidden fruit”.’‘This exhibition explores the theme of desire and the underlining flawed nature of mankind, the realisation that we are not perfect nor exempt from falling for temptation. One of the humanistic, defining elements of Homo Sapiens, at least in our societal lives, is the balance between desire and morality. Many of us, understand that we always want, what we can’t have. I have sought here to relate the Primal urges that lead us to instinctively explore oneself and one’s surroundings, the eternal catalyst of discovery and pleasure that leads us into temptation.’‘Thus, I have drawn from the metaphorical ‘Forbidden Fruit’ references that abound in scriptures and texts, from the book of Genesis. It is the fruit that was forbidden to Adam and Eve, the battle between good and evil that overcame the Garden of Eden, the same battle that subsumes our modern lives.’‘My exhibition and the evolution of the forms within, invites the viewer to challenge themselves and ask – “Would I really not have tasted the forbidden fruit?”.’‘Too easily, one can assure oneself that you would resist temptation if challenged ! However, how many times a day do you jeopardise your own “salvation”?  After all, the breadth of “sins” we commit daily threatens the pathway to our potential paradise and we risk the fate of banishment that was wrought upon Adam & Eve.’‘The representation of the Apple is a critical symbol, a metaphorical device that alludes to sinful or forbidden pleasure.Core to this body of work, is my new life in Malta, where I have been inspired by the ancient Neolithic Maltese history and culture, tracing back to pre 5000BC. My exploration of the ancient temples scattered across the islands has been a noticeable influence of my work for this exhibition. Symbology, the sacred geometry of the megalithic structures and the natural colours and soft light of the Mediterranean, have been referenced in the series of canvases.’‘My representations of the figures in the larger canvases have also been inspired by the large-bodied female “mother-figure” statues, that once were residents of the ancient temples of this historical landscape. Simultaneously I have chosen to explore new textures, mimicking the limestone grain within which these megalithic structures are created.Departing from the norms of figurative painting, this exhibition depicts a series of Still Life canvas-works, focusing on the contrast of sliced fruit and sexual organs, overlaid with abstract elements of the human form. This is an abstracted composition of organic life, inviting the viewer to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between Mankind & Nature.’‘In addition, to accompany this series I have been working on large-scale landscape sceneries, depicting an abstract view of a “Garden of Eden” – with reclining nudes portrayed in frivolous acts. These also incorporate symbols of nature and in this Eden setting I have used a richer colour palate, referencing the fruits and colours of the Mediterranean.I am also excited to include in this exhibition, a small series of sculptures, that generate a balance between the scale of the humanistic large canvas works and the more accessible. This is an exhibition for all the senses!’‘Experience the temptation of ‘Forbidden Fruit’ at Backwoods Gallery from Friday September 17th to 3rd October 2021, in my hometown Melbourne.’ – James Reka, 2021FORBIDDEN FRUIT by JAMES REKA is online now at Backwoods Gallery More

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    Documenta 15 Unveils Its Artist List for 2022, Including Jimmie Durham, Dan Perjovschi, and Lots of Collectives

    If you were lucky and happened to be at the right newspaper vendor in Germany on Friday, October 1, you might have picked up a copy of Asphalt—a publication that is sold to benefit poor and people struggling with homelessness. Within its pages, the art collective ruangrupa announced their artist list for the 2022 edition of Documenta.
    The Indonesian group has named 51 artists or collectives who will participate in the show that is set to take open on June 18, 2022. More names may be added later. The street paper will be the official media partner for the major quinquennial exhibition. It is available by mail or email subscription.
    Participants have been broken off into smaller groups, called “mini-majelis,” (majelis is the Indonesian word for council) and Asphalt reports that they have already begun working together. Ruangrupa will not comment about the details on the participants and organization structure until next week.
    Left to right: Iswanto Hartono, Daniella Fitriap and Reza Afisina from the artist collective ruangrupa in front of the ruruHaus in the October issue of Asphalt with the complete artist list of the exhibiting artists of documenta. (Photo by Uwe Zucchi/picture alliance via Getty Images)
    In the announcement, the nationalities of the participants are not mentioned—only their local time zone. Johannesburg’s Keleketla! Library, Nairobi-based Nest Collective, and Jimmie Durham are among those listed.
    Tickets are now on sale for the exhibition. For the first time, one can also buy a “solidarity ticket” that can be retrieved by another person as a free ticket.
    In 2019, Ruangrupa announced their concept for the exhibition would be lumbung, which is the Indonesian word for rice barn, a storage site for communally-produced rice. The collective has also announced several venues which are being used for the first time during the 2022 show, including the former site of a transport engineering company and Hallenbad Ost, a former Bauhaus-designed indoor pool.
    The October issue of the street newspaper Asphalt, opened to the page with the complete artist list of the exhibiting artists of documenta 15. (Photo by Uwe Zucchi/picture alliance via Getty Images)
    Here is the current artist list, apparently organized by “mini-majeli,” listed with the individual time zones they work in:
    ikkibawiKrrr (KST)ook_reinaart vanhoe (CET)Richard Bell (AEST)Taring Padi (WIB) Wakaliwood (EAT)
    Arts Collaboratory (diverse Zeitzonen)Black Quantum Futurism (EST)Chimurenga (SAST)Jumana Emil Abboud (EET)Nino Bulling (CET)Agus Nur Amal PMTOH (WIB)Subversive Film (CET, EET)
    Cinema Caravan und Takashi Kuribayashi (JS)Kiri Dalena (PHT)Nguyen Trinh Thi (ICT)Safdar Ahmed (AEST)Sakuliu (TST)
    Atis Rezistans / Ghetto Biennale (EST,WET)Marwa Arsanios (CET)Sourabh Phadke (WET,IST)Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh (BT,WT)*foundationClass* collective (CET)
    Another Roadmap Africa Cluster (ARAC) (WAT,CAT,EAT)Archives des luttes des femmes en Algérie (WAT)Asia Art Archive (HKT)Centre d’art Waza (CAT)El Warcha (WAT)Graziela Kunsch (BRT)Keleketla! Library (SAST)Komîna Fîlm a Rojava (EET)Sada (regroup) (AST)Siwa plateforme – L’Economat at Redeyef (WAT)The Black Archives (CET)
    Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture (ICT)Dan Perjovschi (EET)Fehras Publishing Practices (CET)Nhà Sàn Collective (ICT)The Nest Collective (EAT)
    Hamja Ahsan (WET)Jimmie Durham (CET)La Intermundial Holobiente (WET,ART,EST)Pinar Öğrenci’ (CET)Saodat Ismailova (UZT)
    Amol K Patil (IST)BOLOHO (CST)Cao Minghao & Chen Jianjun (CST)CHANG En-man (TSTSa Sa Art Projects (ICT)
    Alice Yard (AST)Erick Beltrán (CET)LE 18 (WAT)MADEYOULOOK (SAST)Party Office b2b Fadescha (IST,EST)Serigrafistas queer (ART)
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    Tokyo International Art Fair 2021

    In a little over a week, the doors will open to Tokyo’s most exciting art fair.  The Tokyo International Art Fair, now in its sixth successful year, will be making a welcome come-back to the city on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October, bringing hundreds of inspiring artists and thousands of visitors to Tokyo’s vibrant art scene.Set in the stylish Belle Salle exhibition hall in Roppongi, just a stone’s throw from the Mori Art Museum in the affluent Roppongi Hills, the free to attend two day art fair sees leading artists not just from Japan but from 25 other countries across the globe, converging on the capital for a celebration of contemporary art.What is unique about the art fair is that it offers the chance for artists and galleries to show and sell their work directly to art lovers and collectors, with no fees for buying or selling. Art lovers, whether seasoned collectors or those just starting on their journey into art, can pick out a piece to add to or start their collection from thousands of incredible pieces on display.There will also be a newly integrated Digital and Virtual art section at the sixth edition of the fair, selling artworks from international artists through the new Tokyo Online Art Gallery.  This has its own booth complete with innovative technology allowing the visitor to buy art online as well as read more about the international artists. Among the artworks on show will be original paintings, sculptures, photography, illustrations, jewellery and much more, as well as the chance to commission art directly from the artists.For Curator Gena Sasaki Johns of the award-winning Global Art Agency, this year’s Toyko International Art Fair holds particular significance. “We are hugely excited to be back in Tokyo and to open the doors to one of the city’s biggest and best art fairs,” says Gena. “The quality of artworks is exceptional, with carefully selected artists and galleries from across Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan filling the event with vibrancy and colour.“We can’t wait to experience the buzz of artists and visitors talking, appreciating and of course, buying and selling art. Don’t miss it,” she says.Among the incredible work on display will be pieces from the following featured artists: Menucha Page (Jerusalem), Naun Park (Korea), Vincenzo Coronati & Gentaro Yokoyama (Italy, Japan), Agnes Lui (Hong Kong), Alissa Chapman (New York, Marco Riha (Austria), Pia Kintrup (Germany), Mimi Revencu (Romania), Xana Abreu (Portugal), Johnny Duncan (USA), Nicole Rafiki (DRC).Tokyo International Art Fair opens in style on Friday 8th October with a VIP reception and sneak preview of the artworks on display, plus the first chance to purchase directly from the artist.  Reception from 18.00pm – 21.00pm. Tickets cost ¥ 2500 JPY ($ 20 USD) and can be booked at https://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets.  The fair continues on Saturday 9th October from 11.00am – 18.00pm and entry is FREE. The Outstanding Artist Awards will take place on Saturday at 17.30pm.Tokyo International Art Fair takes place at Belle Salle Roppongi, Japan, 〒106-0032 Tokyo, Minato, Roppongi, 7 Chome−18−18, 住友不動産六本木通ビル More information is at https://www.tokyoartfair.com/ More