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    Artist Interview: Arthur Bray of Yeti Out

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    In this interview, we explore the captivating world of visual contemporary artist Arthur Bray, co-founder of the renowned pan-Asia music collective Yeti Out, Arthur has left an indelible mark on the underground music scene across the globe. From his humble beginnings promoting parties in East London to headlining festivals like Coachella and Wonderfruit, Arthur’s journey has been a testament to his passion for music and culture.Through Silk Road Sounds, the record label he spearheads under Yeti Out, Arthur bridges the gap between electronica, post-punk, and experimental dance music, shaping the creative landscape of cities that never sleep. Join us as we delve into Arthur Yeti’s artistic process, influences, and the vibrant tapestry of sounds that define his unique style.Rom Levy: Arthur, thanks for joining us today. Could you start by describing your early music influences and how they have evolved since moving from Hong Kong to the UK for university?Arthur Bray (Yeti Out): Yeah, absolutely, Rom. Growing up as a multicultural kid, half English, half Chinese, a big part of who I am and my approach is rooted in the fringes of culture, at the borders, you know? My music influences range from Tibetan rap music to UK grime and garage, or UK rap. It’s all dynamic and follows a curious approach!You’ve played across various venues in the UK. How do you feel the diverse club scene there has shaped your approach to music and the scene?Every city has a different scene, but it’s always about discovery. London sets the bar high in terms of musical experience and club culture. We’ve talked about this before, but the dive bars and small intimate places like Cakeshop in Seoul or Music Bar Lion in Tokyo are just as impactful as the big rooms and festivals. Playing at Coachella in 2019 was a whole different experience compared to the after party for Louis Vuitton pre-fall 2014 when Pharrell was there. Every party and music event is unique so it’s about reading the room and making sure your USB is ready.Alongside your twin brother Tom, you developed your career. How does working closely with a sibling influence your creative process and performance style?Working with a sibling means everything is straightforward —no sugarcoating, so decisions are quick. We’re quite transient with most of our projects, so a lot of times decisions are made across time zones and when we’re in different places. Right now, Tom’s in Vietnam doing a gig, and I’m in Art Basel Hong Kong. We’re like passing ships but constantly in sync, driving things forward. There’s no rulebook, but it works because it just does.Your digital name “Yeti” comes from a unique story involving a college roommate. Can you share more about this?You’ve really done your homework, Rom! Yeah, my college roommate was a bit of a character, he was mythical, a little crazy but a lot of fun. We started throwing parties at university and then started a blog called Yeti in the Basement. After that, we started doing parties with Yeti Out. We were inspired by the idea of freedom and no rules. Everyone has a Yeti inside them; you just gotta let it out.In one of your quotes, you mention the balance of playing known and unknown tracks. How do you curate your music selection to maintain this balance, and what impact do you think it has on your audience?It’s all about keeping the dance floor entertained and allowing for discovery. A DJ friend from Bali once said, ” The bigger the club, the more you have to keep in mind a wide range of listeners, so you play two tracks that the dancefloor might like, and one for yourself. If it’s a more intimate club, then you play two for yourself, one for them.” But I guess there’s no rules, overtime it’s like collecting research from social studies. The more gigs I play, the more I learn about different audiences. It’s an ongoing learning journey.Recently launched Yeti x Lousy collaborationReflecting on the evolution of your role in music, how do you see your music and career developing in the future?The music landscape is so wide. DJing is like curating; you put one song in front of another. But if you take the same mentality with putting on events, working with artists to release music on record labels, organizing after parties, or programming a community radio station. It’s all about curating and bringing people together through music in a way that fits organically. Considering your background and experience in the music industry, how do you view the relationship between music and community building?Music is a powerful tool to bring people together. Whether we’re in Sweden listening to electronic music or in Dubai, it doesn’t matter if we don’t speak the same language. We’re sharing a moment, enjoying the same rhythm. Music is a key ingredient in community building, and if I can be a conduit for that, then that’s a beautiful thing.Your experience spans different cultures and music genres. How does this cross-cultural exposure influence your identity as an artist and your approach to creating music?I’ve been thinking about this recently. Perhaps, it’s all about life design, and these job titles don’t really matter, since we all have a perspective anyway. Whether you’re a DJ, art curator, a shopkeeper or accountant, we all leave the house wearing clothes in the morning, so there’s a decision there. Does that make us stylists? Not really, but it could be, we just haven’t claimed that role because we’d rather spend time on other things of interest, but that doesn’t disregard that there’s a viewpoint being made in that instance. We are whatever we want to be, and the next step is just about sharing that with the world and being confident with the process. Through sharing, some may connect with your ideas and that will cause ripples and hopefully inspire others to do the same; connect, collaborate and continue this creative ecosystem of what they believe in. Always work hard, but never forget to have fun.Yeti & Friends M+ Museum Takeover PartyGiven your involvement in various projects and collaborations, what has been one of the most exciting projects for you?The most exciting projects are always on the fringes of culture. For example, having a radio station studio in a luxury mall where we play underground music, or throwing parties in a chicken shop in Chungking Mansion or organizing Hong Kong’s first ever Boiler Room in a former prison. These unexpected combinations, like playing at Coachella or curating a Yeti & Friends takeover at M+ Museum with Hong Kong punk bands and Cantonese rappers, are what excite me the most. It’s about bringing different worlds together and finding gratification in that. Most recently, we worked with talented Hong Kong street artist Lousy on a collaboration titled “Primal Funk” on a capsule collection which continued his work “Lousy Playground” that debuted at M+ Museum for our Yeti & Friends showcase. Its awesome working with friends and making ideas come to life through products and experiences. Lastly, how can people stay in touch with you and listen to your music? Which platform do you recommend?We have a monthly show on NTS Radio alongside FM BELOWGROUND – the community radio station we co-founded. Stay tuned to our movements across Instagram, SoundCloud and Bandcamp where our record label Silk Road Sounds continue to release music driven by nocturnal energy from afterhours across Asia; post-punk, techno, rap & so on!Hong Kong-based selector, A&R and culture writer Arthur Yeti is the co-founder of pan-Asia music collective Yeti Out which cut its teeth promoting parties in East London before relocating to Asia to build upon the region’s underground music scene. The euphoria of late nights and early mornings are transformed into graphic-heavy artwork and audio tapes akin to the crew’s resident sets on NTS radio & RINSE FM, alongside the Hong Kong community radio station which Arthur co-founded FM BELOWGROUND, while the artists signed to Yeti Out’s record label Silk Road Sounds is a reflection of youth movements that shape creative culture in cities that never sleep, connecting the fringes of electronica with post-punk and experimental dance music; styles that steep into Arthur Yeti’s sets for headline festivals like Coachella, Wonderfuit, Clockenflap, Off-Sonar parties & Asian underground dance haunts like Mihn, All, OIL, Savage, Cakeshop & WOMB. More

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      “Street Chronicles” Group Exhibition at UrbanBreak, Seoul, South Korea

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      Urban & Street Art Fair, URBAN BREAK 2022, marks its third anniversary this year. URBAN BREAK drew attention with 15,000 people attending in 2020, the first year alone. Last year, despite COVID-19 at its peak, 40,000 people visited the fair, thereby solidifying its status as one of the most prominent fairs.Rom Levy, director of StreetArtNews, co-planned the Special Exhibition of International Street Artists. Entitled Street Chronicles, the exhibition is showcasing the works of artists who were the pillars of street art techniques, concepts and different styles.STREET CHRONICLES retraces a side of Urban Art history bringing the streets of NYC and London to Seoul.Street art was considered vandalism when protesters during wars and political corruptions used the walls of their cities to comment on political and social issues with slogans and graffitis. What was initially regarded as vandalism has since become a significant art form. Murals and other forms of street art are renowned for their beautification of cities, raising awareness, and standing as witnesses to history.This proposal includes Banksy, whose identity remains anonymous to the day. His politically charged works provoke alternative viewpoints, encouraging revolution in the art world, making him one of the most controversial street artists. Banksy’s work has been breaking down the boundaries and expectations of street art critics, using many different street art mediums and styles. Banksy began his graffiti practice inspired by Blek Le Rat, one of the most prominent artists in Street Art. Inspired by what he saw in New York during his visit in 1971, Blek Le Rat started creating artworks across the streets of Paris in 1981. He primarily used stencils in his practice. His first stencils were black rats running along the walls throughout Paris. In 1983 he began to paint life-sized stencils, which became his trademark alongside his rats and have influenced generations of street artists worldwide.Also included are other notable Urban artists such as D*Face, Shepard Fairey and Invader, who all contributed to the development of the art styles and mediums. Alongside artists from the newer generation who weave the connection between street art and the wave of the new contemporary, such as Roby Dwi Antono, Andrew Hem, Lonac and Andrew Schoultz. Their work bridges contemporary art aesthetics with illustrative figuration. For example, Andrew Hem incorporates atmospheric and richly textured narratives in a vivid palette of twilight blues invigorated by fields of deep red and specks of golden light. Spirits are evoked through the visionary presentation of remembrances and dreams of his haunting impressions of civilisation and landscapes. While Andrew Schoultz’s work has a visual approach to social and political commentary. His enormous murals, paintings, installations and sculptures are heavily patterned, creating an intense and mesmerising vision of current events.Street art is dedicated to bringing art to the people, raising awareness about political and social issues, and portraying the truth of reality.‘I want the characters of the paintings to walk out of the museums to give them back to the people of the city.’ -Blek Le Rat.Tickets for URBAN BREAK 2022 are sold at KRW 20,000 for general admission and at KRW 100,000 for VIP admission. Those who have purchased VIP tickets can enter early from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm prior to the exhibition to be open on July 21st, 2022, at 3:00 pm. Venue will be at COEX Hall B, Seoul, South Korea.You can book your tickets to this year’s Urban Break at their website. More

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      Artist Interview: Ji Woo Kim

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      New York-based artist Ji Woo Kim’s work explores themes of identity in the context of race and ethnicity while questioning the concept of home in relation to her own background as a first-generation immigrant. Through her works she examines resulting factors such as cultural identification and social dynamics, as well as their effects on one’s growth from childhood through adulthood.Recently, I had the chance to interview Ji Woo Kim to discuss her latest projects and the concepts & inspirations behind her artworks.Rom Levy: What about art captivated you first, and what led you to become an artist?Ji Woo Kim: I think art was just naturally part of my childhood, as I was exposed to the joys of making art at such a young age. I have very vivid memories of spending hours with my uncle, who is an architect, sitting on the floor of my room and drawing together. We would often create narratives for the figures or scenes that we were drawing, using the drawings as a tool for storytelling. I don’t know if I ever woke up one day and decided to make a conscious decision on becoming an artist. It seems like it was more of a natural outcome in the normal course of things.When did you start practicing art? Do you make any other form of art other than paintings? I started getting into artmaking seriously in high school, which is when I decided that I wanted to go to art school for my college education. This is when I started taking lessons in drawing and painting, which became the basis of my technical skills that I am now applying in my practice. During my undergraduate studies, I explored different mediums, such as sculpture, printmaking, and drawing, but I’ve always enjoyed painting the most. With the current type of work I’m making, painting is the medium that I best see fit, so I’m focusing on just paintings at the moment.What does painting as a medium deliver that other mediums fail to achieve?I can only speak to what painting does for me and the work that I’m currently working on, as different mediums serve different purposes, but I think painting is a highly expressive medium. The subtleties of the paint are so beautiful to me, such as the way a brushstroke can convey so much through the type of brush you use, the way the bristles of the brush touch upon the surface, the thickness or thinness of the paint, the amount of pressure used when applying the paint, the way pigments of color mix together – it all works together to create a very distinctly different way of painting for everyone. It would be incredibly hard to create a painting that looks exactly the same or was created in the exact same way that someone else did, because there are so many variables. In this way, it’s a very personal way of making art, which is why I think it works well with the type of personal narrative I’m unfolding in my work.What is the concept behind your work? My work speaks to my own experience of growing up and living as a minority in a culture and environment that I am not native to. Having spent my formative years in an awkward stage of assimilation and later realizing that I do not/cannot fully belong to either of my cultures, I’ve become interested in creating work that depicts personal fragments of my life belonging to the 2 different physical and cultural environments I grew up in – Canada and South Korea. Creating this type of work has allowed me to investigate my identity further and also examine what determines a place as “home” for people with multicultural identities.The images make the spectator reminisce about childhood memories. Do you reference images from your youth, or are they found pictures of other’s family photos? The source imagery I work with are photos from my own childhood that my family members took. Recently, I’ve shifted focus onto photos that depict scenes from my mother’s college years in South Korea, as I’m interested in comparing my life to hers and observing the differences in terms of her having lived the majority of her life in an environment that she was native to, while I grew up as a minority.What do you aim to deliver to the viewer? For people with similar experiences and identities, I hope to draw out a feeling of being seen, heard, and understood. For people who have been lucky enough to live most if not all of their lives as part of the majority, I hope my work will be a chance for them to at least think about seeing, hearing, and understanding. Ultimately, I want to facilitate dialogue on the topics of Asian American identity and immigrant life.How do you think people relate to your paintings? I’ve been incredibly touched by the way my work has been received by not only Asian-Americans, but with immigrants in general. I’ve had people reach out to me and tell me that seeing my work has been a sort of healing process for them, or that they are grateful that I’m making this type of work. It makes me happier than what words can describe when I’m met with this type of feedback, as I could have never imagined that so many people with different upbringings could relate and connect to the work on such a deep level. At the same time, it is very saddening to hear that the same amount of people have had experiences where they were marginalized. “Lunchtime Heaven and Hell” is a painting that has drawn out numerous conversations with people over a collective experience of being made fun of for being part of a different culture in a Western society. I think the most rewarding part of making the type of work that I make is that I get to hear all the personal stories people share about their own private experiences of growing up and living as an immigrant.How does the fact that you are a first-generation immigrate in the US affect your work? I’ve mentioned in a previous interview with my friends at The Here and There Collective that being a first-generation immigrant (technically 1.5 generation) is perhaps the largest part of my identity, and that it has absolutely everything to do with everything for me. I would not be making the type of work that I make if it wasn’t for my experience of immigrating to North America at such a young age, spending my formative years and adolescence in a constant state of self-doubt, and being regarded as too Asian by non-Asians, while being labeled as whitewashed by fellow Asians. Even if I wasn’t making work that was directly talking about this issue, I’m sure it would’ve made its way into my work in one way or another, as it’s impossible to separate myself from such an impactful experience.When do you know a painting is done? Is your aim to duplicate your reference photo or deliver something else that the photos fail to address? It’s hard to describe in words when and how I know that the painting is done. I think it’s best put that it’s when you’re at a point in the painting where after observing the work from a few feet away, you get an intuitive feeling that this is the right moment to put the brush down – that if you make one more mark on the canvas, it will cross the line from being complete to overworked. It’s difficult though, and I’ve definitely had instances where I wished that I hadn’t done the last step in the painting, and realized that it would have been just as good (maybe even better) if I had left it as is at an earlier stage.I am interested in the ephemerality of paintings, do you view your own work as precious? If you are unhappy with a work, do you tend to destroy it or would you rather put it in storage for a while and alter them at a later date?I think I view my work as being precious in the sense that I would obviously be upset if something were to happen to it, like being destroyed or getting lost in transit, but I don’t have any issues with it being altered in my hands through my own decisions. So far, I’ve never left a painting finished that I’m unhappy with, so I’ve never destroyed anything. And I’ve never put a painting away for months to come back to it at a later date either. I’m quite a single-minded person – sometimes to a fault, so if something isn’t working in the painting, I have to fix it right then and there. I’ve had instances in the studio where I struggle with a part of the painting and end up lying on the floor and crying, before getting back up, neatly tying my hair back again, and then repeat the process of wiping away and repainting the same area for 6-7 hours in one sitting. Another time, I wrapped up in the studio feeling ambiguous about a specific cloud in a painting, thinking that I would come back to it the next morning and fix it. As soon as I cleaned up and washed my brushes, took off my apron, turned the lights off, and was ready to leave the studio, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to sleep as long as the cloud was bothering me, so I set up my palette again and repainted it.Have you ever painted a mural? If not would you be curious to try this medium? I have not had the opportunity to paint a mural yet. With the nature of my work in terms of its context and what I’m trying to convey, it would be very interesting to try something like a mural, which is in the realm of public art. It would allow for a larger audience and a bigger conversation, but I’m not sure how the work would translate onto a much more expansive surface in terms of the brushstrokes I use in my work. The largest size I’ve worked on to date is a 72×48 inch canvas, so I can imagine that working on a mural would be a big jump in terms of size.What are you currently working on, and what are your future plans I’m currently working towards a solo show planned for next May with a Canadian gallery called Blouin-Division in Montreal. This will be my first show in Canada, which is where I grew up and spent most of my life, so it’ll be a very meaningful show for me. The body of work that I’m creating for that show will focus largely on portraying group scenes, which speak to the community that I never had when growing up as a minority. More

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      Artist Interview: Rafa Macarron

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      Spanish artist Rafa Macarron is a young self-taught artist. His work leaves a touch of dreamlike influences and childish reminiscences. Despite the drama and deformity in his characters, the scenes portray tenderness, kindness, and harmony.I recently caught up with the talented Rafa Macarron and talked about his artistic influences, inspirations, and plans for 2022.Rom Levy: To begin, can you tell me a little about yourself and your background?Rafa Macarron: From a very young age I have had a pencil in my hands. When I was 4 years old, I traveled with my parents to Paris coinciding with the inauguration of the Picasso Museum. When I entered one of the rooms I asked for a notebook and colored pencils. I spent the whole morning trying to understand what was in front of me. At the age of seven I used to make drawings full of color, animals or people taken out from some unknown world. By the time I was supposed to go to college, it was the Spanish painter Juan Barjola who encouraged me not to apply to the Academy of Fine Arts.My studies as a physiotherapist have helped me a lot to know the human anatomy. I know the structure of the body perfectly. Afterwards, I started trying deformations and saw that they worked very well. It’s a bit like creating your own body characters, each with their own soul.Cycling has also provided me, not only with the desire to go beyond, but also the solitude, freedom, and also many landscapes, which have influenced my painting so much. When I used to ride a bike, I entered the same state of flow that I reach when I paint. I could be painting for eight or ten hours nonstop and not realize the passage of time.Who and what inspires your work?A small sunrise, the time I spend with my children, a walk with the dogs… To look at the small, ordinary, and daily details. It is very important to me and for my practice, to feel, perceive and keep painting to learn how to create new work. those are the little things that inspire me.Who are the characters in your paintings?The characters come out of my everyday life and I take them out of context. They could be individuals living with us. When I create them, I always like to imagine where they come from, what they do, where they go, what life they have…It is clear to me that I want to speak about life on the street, the everyday life, and my own existence. And I want to speak about these things with humor, more white than dark humor, more compassionate than cruel.I also like that the characters relate to the viewer, and I play with the formats and scales. I go from a large portrait, where the contact with the figure is direct, to panoramas in which dozens of characters seem to be starring in multiple scenes simultaneously.Although your subject engages in daily human activities and has human resemblance, they have a more cartoonish quality. What do you aim to deliver through that, and do your subjects stand as separate entities from ordinary people?My characters don’t go towards the caricature. I flee away from all kinds of cartoonish ornamentation. They are born from a fantastic, surreal, and expressionist figuration. I consider them hybrid characters that are closely related to my admiration for Dubuffet, Bonifacio, and Alfonso Fraile. My characters live in a transcended daily life, clean days, sunsets, and fresh air.What can you tell us about the flat characteristics of your work?I have always liked to transgress reality and invent like-cosmic spaces that relate to the characters. With flat backgrounds I manage to enhance the figure, and thus give more prominence to the character. When it comes to making more worked backgrounds, as it happens with the beach-scene paintings, illusions of perspectives are generated, it happens the other way around as in with the flat background paintings. I create the background and then I place the figure. I use the extremities of the figures, textures, or background elements to break with the flatness and generate volumes, textures, and a sense of perspective. Colors also help me create atmospheres, like when I use magentas to generate warmth.The materials used in my painting give me total freedom of expression. The spray gives modernity, dynamism, and color. The pencils and the marker create the weft, the waxes, the acrylics and the gouaches, nuanced transparencies and the oil brings complexity.When I saw the oeuvre you exhibited in your first solo show at CAC, the first artist that came to my mind looking at the paintings was Picasso and when I saw the sculptures, the first artist I thought of was Salvador Dali. Do they influence your work? How do cubism and surrealism come together with expressionism in your art?Picasso of course. I admire Picasso’s work much more than Dalí’s, for me he is the painter par excellence, but it is true that the sculptures can be a little like Dalí’s work because of my interpretation of the shapes of dogs. But my painting has expressionist features for the immediacy, the stroke is direct, even though I do a lot of sketch work and previous study.Following up on my last question, how does your work relate to art movements?I have had a very direct relationship with the Spanish painting, I have practically grown up in the Prado Museum, the best art gallery in the world. I am very proud to be part of Spanish painting tradition. Goya’s black paintings have always moved me, and of course Las Meninas by Velázquez, which I consider the best work.My parents are both architects, and I feel that architecture has a very important relationship with my work. I have traveled a lot to see art and have visited fairs and museums around the world. I think everything I see influences me in some way. But if I have to mention specific movements, I would mention El Paso Group in Madrid, the New Figuration or the American Abstract Expressionism as movements that have been able to influence me. I look at your work, and for a moment, I am dwelling in the ordinary moments in life, in a peaceful sense. What do you aim to deliver to the viewer?I invite the viewer to look at thigs differently as I’ve mentioned it above. I’d like the viewer to relate to my interpretation of reality and what surrounds us. I hope they experience my painting and its characters the same way I do, asking themselves: who are they? What is their life like? Where do they come from and, where do they go?I am interested in the ephemerity of paintings, do you view your own work as precious? If you are unhappy with a work, do you tend to destroy it or would you rather put it in storage for a while and alter them at a later date?No, if something doesn’t convince me, I destroy it. I don’t like to look back, I’m not capable.How does being a self-taught artist affect your style? Do you think it is liberating, or was it ever constraining?It’s always liberating.Did you ever paint a mural or have any interest to do so in the future?I’ve never been interested, really.What’s next for you in 2022?The truth is that I am very excited because many interesting things are coming up in 2022. I’m going to have a show in Los Angeles with Nino Mier gallery, I will participate in Arco Madrid and many other projects that I still cannot talk about, but that I find very exciting. More

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      Coverage: “Ethereal” Group Exhibition at Volery Gallery, Dubai, UAE

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      Last October 14th, Volery Gallery opened Ethereal group exhibition 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 exhibiting artists include Roby Dwi Antono (Indonesia), Canyon Castator (CA, USA), Haeji Min (South Korea), Adriana Oliver (Spain), Sun Kyo Park (South Korea) , Aleksey and Anton Tvorogov (Russia), and TIDE (Japan).Ethereal 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 until November 11, 2021 at Volery Gallery, DIFC, Dubai, UAE. Gallery hours: 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM.Schedule your visit here.Scroll down below for more photo of the exhibition and its opening night! More

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

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      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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      Coverage: “Subliminal Matrix” Solo Exhibition by Zhang Ji at Volery Gallery, Dubai

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      Last September 22nd, Volery Gallery opened Subliminal Matrix, a solo exhibition by Beijing-based Chinese painter Zhang Ji. This exhibition showcases a precisely calibrated selection of 12 paintings, created from 2018 – 2020, which demonstrates Zhang’s wholehearted engagement with the very structures and systems of painting. Subliminal Matrix is a collaboration of Volery Gallery with art collector and advisor Fabien Fryns who has been active in the contemporary art scene since 1986.The series, simply titled The Skin of Truth, features the artist’s minimalistic yet richly intricate detailed artworks which appear to radiant into immediate material presence whereupon he shapes the aesthetical effect. From earthy tones to magnetic blue and crimson red etc, Zhang used a variety of rich, bright hues as well as pure white, black and grey etc.His process calls attention to the paintings’ silken surfaces, loaded with oil paint; strengthened with the sheer physicality and expressive power of his medium. Gazing at these ethereal, atmospheric embossed-like paintings provide the viewers the sensation of a commanding optical quality, floating freely, bulged and ebbed, as if unanchored by gravity.In this exhibition, each composition is an independent work but also integral to the whole. Each work, elucidated the others, commenting on proportion, texture and the handling of the medium. The glossy was juxtaposed with the matte, the flat with the protruded, and the monochromatic and polychromatic panelling. Viewed together, these paintings convey a sense of symbolic matrix that can readily shift in relation to the painterly space and viewer’s angles of perception, yet captured visceral at its most subliminal.True to the paintings’ original premises, in this series, Zhang has painted with a restless, innovative and complete technical mastery. Each artwork is a fresh visual adventure with a strong sense of continuity not only as themselves, but also in relation to one another. The artist proves that you don’t have to go colossal to convey epic themes. But if one is to engage them on his/her own terms, they slowly reveal themselves as the artist’s response to his life observation and they allow the sense of things being painted and how we imagine the world through the imageries whereupon Zhang shapes a kind of expanded interrelation, articulated through correspondences of colour, shape and material inspiring trajectories of thought and narrative across the painterly properties.All in all, Zhang’s paintings evoke familiarity and memory in their vastness of collective illumination.Check out below for more photos of Subliminal Matrix and its opening night.The exhibition will run until 12th of October, 2021. 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Volery Gallery, Dubai International Financial Center, UAE. RSVP required. Book a visit here. More

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      Artist Interview: TIDE

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      TIDE is an emerging name in the art scene both in Japan and internationally. Since 2009, his palette consisted mostly of monochrome colours. Recently, TIDE had his first solo exhibition ‘DEBUT’ (2020) in Harajuku, Japan.

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      While his cat-inspired work has been gaining increasing popularity in the international art scene, I had the chance to interview TIDE to discuss his oeuvres and talk about it conceptually and technically, as well as getting an overview of the artistic influences behind his work.

      Rom Levy: To begin, can you tell me a little about yourself and your background?
      TIDE: My real name is TATSUHIRO IDE, but I work as TIDE by combining the first letter of my first name and my family name. I began to paint while I stayed in Australia at the age of 22, and when I was 24, I started my career as a painter based in Tokyo.
      Could you please describe your work process in terms of composing an image as well as a technical approach to creating the work.
      For the cat and bedroom series I’m mainly drawing at the moment, after deciding the position and posing of the character, I roughly decide the bedding, furniture, and background after which I compose a draft. I value the harmony of the curves, straight lines, and silhouettes of each part.
      The painting process is the reverse of the draft, starting with the background and finally finishing with the character. I change matiere in each part, and each layer has a change. For example, I spray the outside of the window to express abstract elements, and the window frame is represented by rough brush strokes to express wood grain. In addition, I use an airbrush for the bedding to create a delicate atmosphere.

      Let’s talk about your current subjects. What inspired them, and what are your source materials?
      The influence of the work covers a wide range of topics, but the heaviest inspiration is the works of Japanese manga artist Shigeru Mizuki. I have been familiar with the Yokai he drew since I was a child, and in particular, my encounter with his work “Nonnonba” inspired me to draw a picture. As for recent materials, I often refer to animations from the 30s to 50s, scenes from old Hollywood movies, manga magazines, and still life around me.
      How long have you been developing this visual language?
      It was 10 years ago that I started drawing and aspiring to be a painter. At first, I used pointillism to draw trees and imaginary landscapes, but about two years later, I started pencil drawing, and mainly produced imaginary seascapes for 5-6 years. During that time, I also tried a little watercolor painting, and I started the acrylic painting which is my current drawing style about two years ago.
      In the beginning, I painted the stuffed animal my daughter had very precisely on a monochromatic background, but reversing that relationship I got to my current style of letting a flat character juxtapose together in the elaborate background.

      About your color palette, can you tell me more about the reason you chose to paint in greyscale and would you consider anything else?
      I don’t even know the real reason myself.
      Maybe it is because I started drawing inspired by cartoons drawn in monochrome, or because using a lot of colors probably exceeds the capacity of my technique. However, I feel it is most beautiful to draw my work in grayscale. When the color scheme, density, area, and balance and rhythm of black, white, and grey are in harmony, the painting looks like it’s shining.
      One thing I can say for sure is that it becomes unclear blurry when other colors get in there.
      Speaking of art history, do you have a particular artist or art movement that influences or inspires you?
      One is Roy Lichtenstein. His flat works are an important element of my current style. On the contrary, Christopher Wool is also a significant figure to me. His attitude towards art is my mental support of my creative activities. In addition, it is because of Takashi Murakami’s concept of Superflat that I can draw a character as a Japanese artist and announce it as a piece of art.

      As a Tokyoite, how is your relation to the local street culture?
      There may not be much relation. I tried skateboarding, but it didn’t take root in my current life. However, I long for street culture that appears as an expression of emotions.
      Have you ever been intrigued to transfer your studio work onto a mural / public art ?
      I’m interested in any field of expression that I have never tried. Facing mural paintings would require a different kind of mental toughness from canvas. It would be an opportunity to provide feedback to canvas works by exploring new ways of drawing and new processes.
      I am interested in the ephemerity of paintings, do you view your own work as precious? If you are unhappy with a work, do you tend to desstroy it or would you rather put it in storage for a while and alter them at a later date?
      There is always a correct piece which will complete my artwork. I will continue to paint until I find it. I talked about how paintings ‘shine’, and I keep working on it until I feel that way.

      Let’s talk about the work you are making for 2021. What type of works are you preparing? Does it connect to previous works, or did you try something new?
      Every time I draw new work, I always try new things even if they are small. I will continue to make the CAT series, but at the same time, I will use trial and error to show the next stage.
      There are also ideas for other themes, so you can see a series of works that go one step further in 2021.
      Will you be showing your work somewhere any time soon? Any other plans for the foreseeable future?
      The schedule has already been roughly decided until 2022, but in the near future, it seems that there will be an opportunity to show my artwork next spring.

      How else will you be keeping yourself busy this Christmas Season?
      Everyday life will continue without anything in particular. However, it is my favorite season of the year. The atmosphere of the city is calm and I feel very comfortable just looking out the window. Happy Holidays. More

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      in Exhibitions

      Coverage: Martin Whatson “FREE” Solo Show at RexRomae, Dubai

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      On 3 December 2020, Martin Whatson launched his first solo exhibition in the Middle East with RexRomae Gallery in Dubai the hub of business in the Middle East and Africa. The pop-up exhibition FREE curated by Rom Levy took place in Dubai International Financial Center, a top ten global financial center and a home to a variety of world-renowned retail, dining venues, hotels as well as a dynamic art and culture scene.

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      The exhibition included all new work by the Norwegian stencil artist, with a total of 43 paintings such as A Clean Slate (2020); Rock Climber (2020) and Make Love (2019) additionally, 4 sculptures were also on show, all of which were sold out during the exhibition. Alongside that a Paint Love (2020) screen print of 150 edition was launched for sale at the opening of the exhibition.

      Whatson, who became widely known through his idiosyncratic calligraphic scribbles, filled with cultural references and subversive themes, returned with a new series of eye-grabbing imagery. Works that are socially involved in nature, delivering his commentary in a style that deliberately evokes a continuous dialogue on the decontextualization of urban sphere.
      Scroll down below and take a look at more images of the exhibition and its opening night.

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