Our Guide to Berlin Gallery Weekend / April 25, 2024 by daria borisova

Pace Pop-up Featuring Maysha Mohamedi

Maysha Mohamedi, Back to the Tuna Scheme, 2024. Photo courtesy of Pace

Pace Gallery is set to host a pop-up exhibition during Berlin Gallery Weekend, showcasing the work of Los Angeles artist Maysha Mohamedi. Known for her expressive abstracts created using intricate lines and hand-applied paint, Mohamedi's exhibition titled "Mute Counsel" will be held at Mercator Höfe on Potsdamer Straße from April 26th to June 26th. This event signifies Pace's efforts to bolster its presence in Berlin following the establishment of a private office in 2023, signaling a commitment to both local artists and the vibrant cultural landscape of the city. Laura Attanasio, senior director of Pace in Berlin, expressed enthusiasm for Berlin's embrace of innovation and diversity, highlighting the gallery's dedication to connecting artists with the city's institutions and collectors. Featuring nine new abstract paintings, "Mute Counsel" marks Mohamedi's debut exhibition in Germany and her second with Pace Gallery since joining their roster in 2022. The artist, whose distinct style captivates with its blend of spontaneity and precision, previously showcased her work in a solo exhibition titled "Gamebreaker" in New York last summer. Pace's decision to anchor its presence in Berlin underscores its commitment to fostering artistic dialogue and engagement within the global art community, reflecting the city's status as a hub for creative exploration and collaboration.

Mark Grotjahn at Galerie Max Hetzler

Installation view, Mark Grotjahn, 2024. Photo courtesy of Galerie Max Hetzler.

Galerie Max Hetzler presents "Kitchens," Mark Grotjahn's inaugural solo exhibition, featuring his large-scale butterfly drawings at Potsdamer Straße 77-87 in Berlin. Grotjahn's three-decade-long artistic journey challenges conventional visual language boundaries, spanning painting, drawing, and sculpture. Working meticulously within distinct series, he navigates the interplay between abstraction and figuration, developing a unique pictorial vocabulary that continually evolves. Among his notable series is the ongoing "Butterfly" drawings, including "50 Kitchens" exhibited at LACMA in 2018, characterized by angular motifs, vibrant colors, and a playful sense of symmetry, aiming to disrupt traditional artistic structures. Inspired by a single composition initially hung in the artist's kitchen, the "Kitchen Drawings" stem from Grotjahn's "Butterfly" series, originating in 2001. Executed in chromatic pairs with black and cream pencil, these drawings explore tonal variations and complementary colors, meticulously hung to create a prismatic display. Reminiscent of Op art yet invoking movement akin to Kinetic artists, the works invite viewer engagement, continuously shifting and pulsating beneath their gaze. The dynamic interplay between light, changing hues, and the spatial arrangement of the drawings result in a multi-dimensional viewing experience, blurring the lines between the artwork's materiality and the viewer's subjective perception.

**Eliza Douglas: Gift, at Contemporary Fine Arts**

CFA: Visual for the exhibition "Gift" by Eliza Douglas. Photo: Courtesy CFA, Berlin.

Eliza Douglas's debut solo exhibition at CFA, titled "GIFT," will showcase a fresh collection of paintings delving into their significance within modern society and personal journey. Preferring painting as their primary medium, Douglas navigates the intersection of image and cultural artifact with appreciation rather than sentimentality or skepticism. Through their work, Douglas celebrates painting's dynamic ability to capture the intricacies of human perception and experience, avoiding nostalgic or cynical tones.

Eliza Douglas, an American painter currently based in both Frankfurt and New York, has carved a distinctive path in the realm of contemporary art. Initially drawn to the world of photography, Douglas pursued studies in this medium before embarking on a transformative journey to Germany to delve deeper into the realm of painting. It is within this dynamic artistic landscape that Douglas's creative spirit truly flourished. Douglas's artistic vision is characterized by a profound exploration of figural representation. Through a captivating blend of elegant simplicity and unyielding honesty, their paintings transcend conventional boundaries, offering viewers a glimpse into realms both familiar and enigmatic. What distinguishes Douglas's work is its steadfast refusal to conform to stylistic or subjective categorizations. Instead, each piece emanates a sense of individuality and autonomy, inviting audiences to engage with the artist's unique perspective.

Ann Veronica Janssens at Esther Schipper

Installation view, Ann Veronica Janssens, entre le crépuscule et le ciel, Collection Lambert, Avignon, 2022. Photo courtesy of Esther Schipper.

The upcoming spring exhibition of Janssens' works follows closely on the heels of a highly acclaimed solo display at Milan's Pirelli HangarBicocca. Over the span of her career since the late 1970s, Janssens has cultivated an artistic practice centered on light, color, and natural optical phenomena. Her pieces, ranging from new to historical works, delve into the depths of human perception, utilizing carefully chosen materials like glass, mirrors, and aluminum to craft experiences that challenge our understanding of reality. The exhibition orchestrates a delicate interplay between the artworks, encouraging viewer interaction to fully grasp their essence. Through "performative sculptures" that necessitate movement, Janssens invites observers to engage with the transformative qualities of light and space, fostering a heightened awareness of the ever-changing nature of human cognition. The exhibition not only showcases Janssens' ceaseless experimentation, exemplified by her collaboration with Dr. María Boto Ordóñez in the Structural Color series, but also underscores broader themes of vulnerability, ephemerality, and resilience. Pieces like Swings and Atlantic evoke childhood nostalgia and the tranquility of natural landscapes, while works such as Magic Mirror Chill Saphire and Untitled delve into the tension between fragility and strength, beauty and danger. Through a synthesis of artistic innovation and philosophical inquiry, Janssens' exhibition prompts viewers to contemplate the intricate interplay between perception, existence, and the interconnectedness of all things in the present moment.

Wolfgang Tilmans at Galerie Buchholz

Wolfgang Tillmans “Intermodal Container In Mongolian Landscape, a”, 2023. Photo courtesy of Galerie Buchholz.

Wolfgang Tillmans' latest exhibition at Galerie Buchholz continues his exploration of capturing the essence of materiality and sculptural forms through photography. Rooted in the tangible world, Tillmans' works undergo a transformative process through the lens of his camera, where everyday objects lose their conventional functionality and take on a meditative, almost abstract quality. From a steel urinal to a stranded freight container, each subject becomes an invitation to contemplate its presence, size, and shape, transcending its utilitarian purpose to evoke deeper reflections on form and texture. Tillmans' photographic practice is deeply attuned to moments of heightened awareness and shifts in perception, where he encounters subjects that both draw him in and are drawn to him. This symbiotic relationship between the artist and his surroundings imbues his images with a sense of relatability and intimacy. One striking example is Tillmans' capture of raindrops falling outside his Berlin studio, utilizing new camera technology to freeze each droplet and transform them into glass-like spheres, reflecting the world upside down and inviting viewers into a mesmerizing exploration of perception and reality.

Andy Warhol at Galerie Bastian

Andy Warhol, 'Gem', 1987. Photo courtesy of Galerie Bastian.

Andy Warhol, a seminal figure of 20th-century art, is renowned for his keen observation and deconstruction of the illusion of individuality, revealing the uniformity of societal imagery. His later works delve into the realm of everyday myths, reflecting the consciousness industry and consumer culture of America in the digital age. Warhol's art transforms reproduced images from media sources into template-like representations, exploring the interchange between art and life in an era dominated by digital and social media. Through his cool, agnostic approach to appearances, Warhol navigates the deluge of visual stimuli, creating a surface of apparent utopia where sender and receiver exchange analog messages. The exhibition "Andy Warhol: Late Works" at Bastian gallery marks a focused exploration of Warhol's artistic output during the last decade of his career. Through an exemplary selection of works, viewers are invited to witness Warhol's evolution beyond screen printing, as he employs techniques such as drawing and painting to enlarge, hatch, and fragment pictorial objects sourced from newspapers and advertisements. This exhibition, coinciding with Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024, provides a unique insight into Warhol's innovative late period, shedding light on his enduring influence on contemporary art.

Open House at Boros Collection

Exterior of Boros Collection. Photo courtesy of Conde Nast Traveller.

The Boros Collection in Berlin stands as a testament to artistic vision and historical resonance. Curated by the discerning eyes of Christian and Karen Boros, this private collection inhabits the depths of a former Nazi bunker turned Soviet prison, now transformed into an iconic gallery space. Spanning 80 rooms within its imposing concrete walls, the collection offers a diverse array of contemporary artworks that provoke thought, challenge conventions, and spark dialogue. With exhibitions rotating every four years, visitors are treated to a dynamic journey through the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary art. From immersive installations to thought-provoking sculptures, the Boros Collection captivates audiences with its depth, diversity, and unwavering commitment to artistic expression.

Installation view, Boros Collection. Photo courtesy of Sammlung Boros.

Works by the following artists are on display in the current collection presentation:

Jean-Marie Appriou, Julian Charrière, Eliza Douglas, Thomas Eggerer, Louis Fratino, Cyprien Gaillard, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Yngve Holen, Klára Hosnedlová, Anne Imhof, Alicja Kwade, Victor Man, Kris Martin, Nick Mauss, Jonathan Monk, Adrian Morris, Paulo Nazareth, Berenice Olmedo, Amalia Pica, Bunny Rogers, Michael Sailstorfer, Wilhelm Sasnal, Pieter Schoolwerth, Anna Uddenberg, Julius von Bismarck, Eric Wesley, He Xiangyu

Xie Nanxing at Capitain Petzel

Xie Nanxing, ‘F O R A D E C A S A’, 2024. Photo courtesy of Capitain Petzel.

Capitain Petzel presents “f o r a d e c a s a”, a solo exhibition of paintings by Xie Nanxing, an artist who lives and works in Beijing and Chengdu, China. The exhibition is comprised of eight paintings considered as one complete body of work. The title of the exhibition is an abstraction of the Portuguese phrase, “fora de casa” or “jogo fora de casa,” meaning “the away game”. Xie was greatly influenced by a trip to Lisbon where he came across a notebook filled with green pages marked with the lines of a football pitch. Xie considers how painting, very much like the sport of football, is a paradox; both can be trivial and exist in a serious nature simultaneously. While Xie reveres painting and has spent three decades in a deliberate and meticulous practice, he has also expressed mistrust towards the process, recognizing that while painting is not just a game, it also is not the truth. Rather, painting is “more like a game that is close to the truth, or rather a truth-mimicking game”. Showcasing Xie’s use of canvas printing technique, one that he has often returned to over the past 15 years, each painting balances gestural but controlled movements on the canvas, suggesting an almost anti-painting sentiment to the works.

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Our Curated Guide to Venice / April 13, 2024 by daria borisova

The groundbreaking 60th Venice Biennale, led by Latin American curator Adriano Pedrosa, unfolds from April to November 2024. Departing from tradition, this Biennale transcends borders with its theme, "Foreigners Everywhere," curated to explore migration and decolonization. Featuring 331 artists and collectives, this exhibition amplifies previously unheard voices and prioritizes emerging talents, promising fresh perspectives and fostering dialogue on the margins of artistic discourse. Here is our guide to some of the exhibitions and pavilions we love.

JANUS, group show, Berggruen Arts, Palazzo Diedo

Palazzo Diedo. Photo courtesy of Lisson Gallery.

Berggruen Arts & Culture announces the grand opening of a permanent contemporary art space in Venice's Palazzo Diedo, featuring site-specific commissions by 11 renowned artists including Urs Fischer, Piero Golia, and Mariko Mori. The inaugural exhibition, 'Janus,' debuts on April 20, coinciding with the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024. Following extensive restoration work on the 18th-century palazzo, the exhibition aims to bridge the gap between past and present, East and West, with interventions inspired by the building's history and traditional Venetian crafts.

Under the curation of Mario Codognato and Adriana Rispoli, 'Janus' showcases artworks that interact with the architecture and original features of Palazzo Diedo, once a prestigious family residence and later repurposed as a school and court. Drawing inspiration from Venice's rich artistic heritage, the exhibition merges contemporary artistic expression with elements such as frescos, Murano glass, and Venetian floor design. This ambitious project, spearheaded by Berggruen Arts & Culture, promises to be a cultural landmark in Venice, fostering dialogue between past and present while providing a platform for innovative artistic practices.

**Martha Jungwirth “Herz der Finsternis” at Galleria Giorgio Cini**

Martha Jungwirth, 2023. Photo courtesy of Palazzo Giorgio Cini.

The Palazzo Cini Gallery, renowned for housing Vittorio Cini's esteemed collection, welcomes visitors once again with a special exhibition dedicated to Austrian artist Martha Jungwirth. As the sole female member of the "Wirklichkeiten" group, her artistry emerged prominently in the 1968 Vienna Secession exhibition and has since evolved into a distinctive exploration of color and bold lines. Jungwirth's innovative visual language, drawing from diverse sources such as art history, mythology, and societal contexts, captures ephemeral impulses within her compositions, blurring the lines between abstraction and figuration. Curated by Luca Massimo Barbero and supported by the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, the exhibition, running from April 17 to September 29, features Jungwirth's works alongside pieces inspired by Palazzo Cini's collection, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between her art and art history.

Ohne Titel, aus der Serie “Porte Dorée”, 2023, Oil on paper on canvas. Photo courtesy of Palazzo Giorgio Cini.

This exhibition offers a rare insight into Jungwirth's artistic journey, highlighting her inspiration from ancient art and the continuous dialogue between her paintings and the broader art historical context. Visitors can explore previously unseen works by the Viennese artist, curated by Barbero to underscore the connection between Jungwirth's creations and the rich heritage of Palazzo Cini. Open daily (except Tuesdays) until September 29, with Palazzo Cini and its permanent collections accessible until October 13, 2024, this showcase promises to be a captivating exploration of Jungwirth's profound artistic vision within the historic confines of the gallery.

Rick Lowe 'The Arch within the Arc' at Museo di Palazzo Grimani

Rick Lowe, Untitled, 2023. Photo courtesy of Gagosian.

"The Arch within the Arc" showcases Rick Lowe's new paintings, inspired by the Museo di Palazzo Grimani's architecture and Venice's urban dynamics. Using acrylic paint and paper collage on canvas, Lowe creates vibrant artworks that balance geometric patterns with improvisational techniques. His pieces reflect infrastructure, mapping, and the experience of navigating the city, evoking spatial, temporal, and social relationships. Presented in collaboration with Gagosian, the exhibition opens just before the 60th Biennale di Venezia, emphasizing Lowe's exploration of civic practice and visual expression.

Tesfaye Urgessa at Palazzo Bolani

Tesfaye Urgessa. Photo courtesy of Saatchi Yates.

Tesfaye Urgessa will represent Ethiopia at the 60th Venice Biennale, marking the country's inaugural national pavilion at the prestigious event. His exhibition, "Prejudice and Belonging," curated by Lemn Sissay and commissioned by Ethiopia's Ministry of Tourism, will be held at Palazzo Bolani from April 20 to November 24, 2024. Urgessa's distinctive style, characterized by classicized human figures often depicted in domestic settings, invites viewers to contemplate the ambiguous psychological states of his subjects. Having studied under Tadesse Mesfin in Addis Ababa and later in Stuttgart, Germany, Urgessa's work is influenced by Ethiopian iconography as well as by German Neo-Expressionists and London School painters like Freud, Auerbach, and Bacon. His pieces are housed in renowned collections worldwide, and he is represented by the Saatchi Yates gallery in London, which will host a concurrent exhibition in April.

Tesfaye Urgessa, *Bathers: Honey and Milk 1*, 2023. Photo courtesy of Saatchi Yates.

Urgessa sees his participation in the Venice Biennale as a significant milestone for Ethiopian art and culture, expressing hope that it will inspire other Ethiopian artists to share their stories with the world. His exhibition aims to usher in a new era for Ethiopian art, showcasing its richness and diversity on a global stage. Alongside Ethiopia, other countries presenting their first pavilions at the Biennale this year include Benin and Morocco. The theme for the main exhibition, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, is "Foreigners Everywhere – Stranieri Ovunque," reflecting on issues of migration, identity, and belonging.

Beatriz Milhazes at the International Art Exhibition

Beatriz Milhazes. Photo courtesy of White Cube.

Beatriz Milhazes has spearheaded a special project to be housed in the Applied Arts Pavilion within the Arsenale. Curated by Adriano Pedrosa and presented in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, this project marks the eighth edition of the Pavilion. Titled ‘Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,’ the exhibition will feature artworks from 333 artists worldwide, showcased across two sections: Nucleo Contemporaneo and Nucleo Storico, held in the Giardini and the Arsenale, respectively.

Installation view, Beatriz Milhazes, 2023. Photo courtesy of Turner Contemporary.

Helmut Newton at Le Stanze della Fotografia

Helmut Newton, Elle. Paris, 1967.Photo courtesy of Helmut Newton Foundation.

The exhibition "Helmut Newton. Legacy," curated by Matthias Harder and Denis Curti, offers a comprehensive look at the artistic heritage of Helmut Neustädter, known as Helmut Newton, the iconic Berlin-born photographer. Born into a prosperous Jewish family on October 31, 1920, Newton fled Germany in 1938 due to the oppressive racial laws, eventually settling in Australia where he established a small photography studio. It was in Melbourne where he crossed paths with June Brown, also known as Alice Springs, an actress, photographer, and muse, with whom he formed both an emotional and professional bond.

On display at Isola di San Giorgio, Newton's striking and sophisticated photographs chronicle his illustrious career spanning several decades and continents. The exhibition showcases his evolution from his early work in Australia during the 1940s and 1950s to his influential years in France during the 1960s. It further delves into his impact on American fashion photography in the 1970s, his time split between Monte Carlo and Los Angeles in the 1980s, and his prolific global shoots throughout the 1990s.

Maurizio Cattelan at the Vatican Pavilion

*La Nona Ora*, a realistic model of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite, created by artist Maurizio Cattelan, at Blenheim Palace September 12, 2019, in Woodstock, England. Photo courtesy of the Art News.

For the Vatican's presentation at the Venice Biennale, Maurizio Cattelan will create a significant outdoor installation at the Giudecca Women’s Prison, along with works by eight other artists. Cattelan, known for his satirical sculptures, will unveil his latest work on the exterior of the prison. Inside, several pieces will involve active participation from the inmates, including a video installation directed by Zoe Saldana and her husband, Marco Perego, focusing on the theme of freedom. Additionally, inmates will contribute to artworks by artists like Claire Tabouret and Simone Fattal, while works by Corita Kent, Claire Fontaine, and Sonia Gomes will also be on display. Titled “With My Eyes,” the exhibition, curated by Chiara Parisi and Dr. Bruno Racine, aims to highlight the importance of perception and engagement with reality, with Pope Francis set to visit the exhibition on April 28, marking the first time a sitting pope will attend the Biennale. Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça emphasized the exhibition's alignment with Gospel principles and Pope Francis' call to aid the marginalized, underscoring the significance of seeing as an active engagement with reality rather than passive observation.

Corita Kent, e eye love, from the “circus alphabet” series, 1968. Photo courtesy of the Art News.

Sarah Sze at Victoria Miro

Sarah Sze, *Afterimage, Blue with Fingerprint (Painting in its Archive),* 2018. Photo courtesy of Victoria Miro.

Victoria Miro will present Sarah Sze's inaugural exhibition at Victoria Miro Venice, marking her sixth collaboration with the gallery. The showcase harkens back to Sze's previous engagements with Venice, including her participation in the Biennales of 1999, 2013, and 2015. Sze's latest exhibition delves into the construction of images and the formation of memories through two immersive environments. One features a new moving-image installation that transforms the gallery space with dynamic projections, inviting viewers to navigate a personal narrative within the ever-changing imagery. By disrupting the singularity of images and challenging hierarchical visual structures, Sze prompts reflection on the nature of perception and the role of images in shaping memory.

Sarah Sze, Stone Series, 2013-2015. Photo courtesy of Victoria Miro.

In another facet of the exhibition, Sze transports viewers to the salon rooms of a nearby Venetian apartment, presenting a series of paintings within a simulated environment evocative of her New York studio. Here, she explores questions of orientation within paintings, blending art historical techniques with digital approaches to create compositions that engage the viewer's eye in a continuous process of deconstruction and reconstruction. Emphasizing the pleasure of exploration and the allure of getting lost, Sze's works resonate with the wandering spirit of Venice, incorporating imagery captured or created in the city to further enrich the viewer's experience.

Julie Mehretu at Palazzo Grassi

Julie Mehretu - ENSEMBLE | Palazzo Grassi – Pinault Collection, 2024. Photo courtesy of Marian Goodman.

Running from March 17, 2024, to January 6, 2025, at Palazzo Grassi, "Ensemble" stands as Julie Mehretu's most extensive European exhibition to date. Curated by Caroline Bourgeois in collaboration with Mehretu, the showcase encompasses over fifty pieces, including paintings and prints spanning a quarter-century of Mehretu's artistic journey, with a focus on her recent works from 2021-2024. Spread across two floors, the exhibition features seventeen pieces from the Pinault Collection alongside loans from global museums and private collectors.

Julie Mehretu, TRANSpaintings, 2023-2024, Photo courtesy of the artist and White Cube. Installation view, “Julie Mehretu. Ensemble”, 2024

Structured around the theme of visual resonances and devoid of a strict chronological order, "Ensemble" offers an immersive exploration of Mehretu's oeuvre, emphasizing her collaborative relationships with fellow artists. Through a curated dialogue with works by her close friends such as Nairy Baghramian, Huma Bhabha, and David Hammons, the exhibition illuminates shared inspirations and concerns, underscoring Mehretu's interconnectedness with others. Beyond formal disparities, the showcased artworks reveal a collective ethos and mutual influence, highlighting the profound impact of displacement on each artist's identity and creative expression, whether stemming from personal choice or external circumstances like leaving or fleeing Ethiopia, Iran, or Pakistan.

Ewa Juszkiewicz 'Locks with Leaves and Swelling Buds' at Palazzo Cavanis

Ewa Juszkiewicz, *Untitled (after Adélaïde Labille-Guiard),* 2020. Photo courtesy of Almine Rech.

For over a decade, Juszkiewicz has focused her artistic endeavors on reinterpreting portraits of women by European artists from the 18th and 19th centuries, exploring the boundaries of portraiture through deformation and distortion. Initially, she painted a series of masked characters in 2010, where feminine attire clashed with the implied violence of the masks. These masks, whether pro-faciality or anti-faciality, offered symbolic or fantastical alternate identities, with the latter actively resisting the viewer's attempts to decipher facial features. By 2013-2014, Juszkiewicz's work increasingly embraced the dominance of anti-faciality masks, using various objects and materials to obscure or replace facial features. Her meticulous technique, reminiscent of traditional painting methods, involves layering and glazing to recreate the original brushstrokes. However, her intervention challenges the essence of portraiture itself, transforming historical portraits into representations of women's experiences under patriarchy. Moreover, by incorporating elements traditionally associated with still life, such as fabrics and flowers, Juszkiewicz subverts the conventional hierarchy of genres, blurring the boundaries between culture and nature.

10 EXHIBITIONS ON OUR RADAR THIS WINTER / February 7, 2024 by daria borisova

Gerhard Richter: Engadin, Hauser & Wirth in St Moritz

Gerhard Richter, *Silsersee (Lake Sils),* 1995. Photo courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

Curated by Dieter Schwarz and spanning three venues in the Upper Engadin—Nietzsche-Haus, the Segantini Museum, and Hauser & Wirth St. Moritz—this groundbreaking exhibition delves into Gerhard Richter's profound connection with the alpine landscape. Born in 1932, Richter is widely recognized as one of the most significant and celebrated artists of our era, with his works prominently featured in international collections and exhibited across Europe and the United States. Richter's affinity for the Swiss Alpine village Sils in the Upper Engadin region began in 1989, evolving into a consistent presence during both summer and winter vacations over the next 25 years.

Gerhard Richter, *12.3.92,* 1995. Photo courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

The exhibition showcases over seventy pieces, including paintings, overpainted photographs, drawings, and objects sourced from museums and private collections, providing a testament to the artist's enduring fascination with the Upper Engadin. Displayed at the Segantini Museum and Hauser & Wirth are Richter's paintings, stemming from photographs captured during his hikes in the Upper Engadin. These pieces signify a pivotal shift in his landscape painting, a genre that has perpetually appealed to him for its perceived timelessness. Richter's Engadin landscapes, featured in the exhibition, exemplify the ambiguity inherent in his art, oscillating between an alluring transfiguration of nature and a contemplative reflection on its inherent otherness.

Present Tense, Hauser & Wirth in Somerset

Installation view, *Present Tense*, Hauser & Wirth Somerset. Photo courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

Present Tense shines a spotlight on the upcoming generation of artists currently residing and actively creating in the United Kingdom, encompassing those in the early stages of their careers to mid-career professionals. This comprehensive group showcase features 23 contemporary artists not affiliated with the Hauser & Wirth roster, boldly pushing the boundaries of their respective mediums to explore and challenge concepts related to identity, consciousness, humanity, and representation. The diverse presentation celebrates a wide spectrum of creative talent and socially engaged practices, with each artist offering a unique perspective that responds to the present cultural climate in the UK. Their works collectively depict a range of lived experiences, intricately interwoven within the cultural fabric of the same location.

Complementing the exhibition is an extensive event and learning program running concurrently, designed to delve deeper into the themes explored within the galleries. This program facilitates meaningful dialogue around the points of intersection within the artists' practices, encouraging a broader engagement with the artistic perspectives on identity, consciousness, humanity, and representation as they relate to the current socio-cultural landscape in the UK.

**Theaster Gates: Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me, White Cube in New York**

Theaster Gates, *11th Floor with Triangle and Mask*, 2023. Photo courtesy of White Cube.

The solo exhibition, Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me, by Theaster Gates is a profound exploration of material pairings in painting, sculpture, and archival installation, echoing musical harmonic devices. Departing from a visually centric approach to art, Gates transforms the gallery space into a metronomic tableau that delves into the capacity of sound to encapsulate pain, joy, temporality, memory, and contingency. The exhibition, an immersive homage to community, draws inspiration from the 1970s duet Be Real Black For Me by Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, particularly the poignant repetition of the phrase 'hold me,' serving as a thematic through line in Gates's artistic practice. Beyond the aesthetic, Gates reflects on the intricate connections between music, composition, and the nuanced interplay of mental health and artistic expression, acknowledging Hathaway's own struggles with fame and creative transmission during his lifetime.

Installation view, Theaster Gates: *Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me,* White Cube New York. Photo courtesy of White Cube.

Gates's exploration extends to the history of built environments, craftsmanship, and music, offering a multisensory experience that resonates with personal and collective memory. By shifting the ideological focus from the visual to the metronomic, 'Hold Me, Hold Me, Hold Me' stands as a testament to the transformative power of art in addressing profound aspects of the human experience.

Stanley Whitney: Dear Paris, Gagosian rue de Castiglione in Paris

Stanley Whitney, *There Will Be Song*, 2023. Photo courtesy of Gagosian.

Incorporating the inspiration drawn from an extended residence in the French capital, "Dear Paris" stands as the latest expression of Whitney's lyrical abstractions. Demonstrating a delicate balance between systematic structure and expressive spontaneity, the artist meticulously crafted the painting in his distinctive approach—building it block by block, starting from the top left and progressing in rows across and down the canvas. Each shape within the artwork is brought to life through Whitney's energetic brushwork, with deliberate choices in vivid hues and careful shaping of boundaries in relation to their predecessors. Linear bands between rows serve both as dividers and unifiers, contributing to the painting's subtly shifting freehand geometry.

Installation view, Stanley Whitney: *Dear Paris*, Gagosian rue de Castiglione, Paris. Photo courtesy of Gagosian.

Engaging with abstraction since the 1970s, Whitney solidified his mature style during the 1990s while residing and working in Rome. The chosen compositional framework affords him the freedom to improvise, allowing for the emergence of unexpected chromatic harmonies and dynamic visual rhythms. Whitney's influences are broad ranging, encompassing the polyphonic call and response of jazz, the transformative interplay of light on historic structures, American quilt making traditions, and revered artists such as Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, and Giorgio Morandi. "Dear Paris" thus becomes a testament to the artist's diverse inspirations and the amalgamation of various artistic influences in his oeuvre.

Doron Langberg: Night, Victoria Miro in London

Doron Langberg, *Basement*, 2023. Photo courtesy of Victoria Miro.

Over the past year, the Israeli American artist has dedicated his efforts to a series of paintings that recount an unfolding narrative from a night out extending into the following morning. Through the lens of a queer perspective, Langberg captures the essence of friends and lovers converging to revel in a judgment-free space, dancing, drinking, and merging beneath the rhythmic glow of pulsating lights. Bodies seamlessly blend into one another, portraying the liberating atmosphere of the depicted scenes.

Doron Langberg, *The Walk Back (Underwear Party),* 2023. Photo courtesy of Victoria Miro.

The standout piece in this series, Basement (2023), is a large-scale painting that vividly encapsulates the kinetic energy of a packed dance floor where both body and mind find a sense of release. Langberg's adept use of a warm palette, saturated with fiery reds and hot pinks, infuses the artwork with a tangible vitality. In reflecting on this series, Langberg expressed his desire to explore the environments that individuals create for themselves, where genuine connections flourish. By depicting these scenes on a grand scale with dense paint application, the artist aims to convey the profound impact and significance of these moments in his personal experience.

Sam Gilliam: The Last Five Years, David Kordansky in Los Angeles

Installation view, *Sam Gilliam: The Last Five Years*, David Kordansky Gallery Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery.

The two-part exhibition titled Sam Gilliam: The Last Five Years showcases paintings created by Gilliam between 2018 and 2022. Presented by David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, the exhibition, on display from January 13 to March 3, 2024, features works from Gilliam's Drape series and a selection of watercolors. Concurrently, Pace's presentation, held in New York until October 28, 2023, focused on the artist's beveled-edge canvases and included Gilliam's tondo paintings, a format explored extensively in the final chapter of his career. The exhibition spans both venues and predominantly comprises artworks never previously exhibited, accompanied by a catalog jointly produced by Pace Publishing and David Kordansky Gallery. The catalog includes a new critical essay by curator and art historian Lowery Stokes Sims.

Details of Sam Gilliam *Untitled (tondo),* 2022. Photo courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery.

Sam Gilliam: The Last Five Years encapsulates the spirit of discovery that characterized every phase of Gilliam's extensive career, particularly heightened in the concluding years as he explored new possibilities within his enduring formal vocabularies. The exhibition serves as a documentation of Gilliam's comprehensive self-reflection on his artmaking, wherein each addition to his body of work not only expanded his artistic range but also prompted a reassessment and reconsideration of his entire artistic journey.

Marika Thunder: Machine Works, Micki Meng in San Francisco

Lead image, *Marika Thunder: Machine Works*. Photo courtesy of Friends Indeed Los Angeles.

Thunder's artistic approach intricately weaves together a sophisticated tapestry of painterly allusions, delving into the intricate dynamics of connection and detachment between mechanical entities and humanity. Drawing inspiration from constructivist aesthetics and contemporary cultural aspirations, Thunder adeptly reimagines the essence of exercise machinery, echoing the mechanical allure reminiscent of Francis Picabia's artistic exploration. Through a lens that visualizes technology's subtle interaction with animism, Thunder's work evokes the spirit of Lee Lozano's dynamic compositions, where tools seem to pulsate with an autonomous energy.

Employing a grayscale palette reminiscent of Gerhard Richter's nuanced exploration of tone, Thunder masterfully imbues her subjects with a sense of detachment, neutralizing their vibrant hues. By stripping away color from the metallic surfaces, Thunder intensifies the focus on the interplay of light, shadow, and the sleek forms of each component. This deliberate choice accentuates the textures inherent in the machinery, ultimately revealing a profound bodily essence embedded within the streamlined contours of the equipment.

Ben Tong: The Violet Hour, Night Gallery in Los Angeles

Ben Tong, *Many Suns*, 2023. Photo courtesy of Night Gallery.

Ben Tong's enigmatic artworks, deeply influenced by the essence of California, emanate a profound aura that resonates within the vastness of empty spaces and scattered points of light. The title "The Violet Hour" hints at a twilight state, where reality merges with the dreamlike realm, suffused with the deepest interplay of light and darkness. Tong's latest collection delves into the painted canvas like excavating memories, establishing a luminous atmosphere through expressive gestures and material interactions.

Installation view, *Ben Tong: The Violet Hour*, 2024. Photo courtesy of Night Gallery.

The dynamic process evident in Tong's artistic practice echoes the evocative resonance found in his final creations. His canvases, while open and unencumbered, pulsate with consciousness, charged with contemplative depth. Tong employs unconventional tools, ranging from rags to massage guns, to imprint oil paint onto the canvas continually. This unpredictability fosters an environment where the artist remains receptive to emergent forms, serving as a conduit for chaos and latent imagery. Shapes emerge from the interplay of painting and erasure, bathed in vibrant shades of purple, blue, orange, and pink, while spectral rainbows dance across the scenes, refracting light from an enigmatic source. In Tong's art, action precedes meaning, shaping a narrative that unfolds organically.

Tommy Harrison: Double Blind, GRIMM Gallery in Amsterdam

Tommy Harrison, *Scuttle*, 2023. Photo courtesy of GRIMM Gallery.

Double Bind marks a significant return for Harrison, whose background in landscape architecture from the English Midlands is evident in his meticulously organized spatial arrangements. After relocating to Amsterdam and immersing himself in the city's hauntingly illuminated streets and renowned museums, particularly drawn to Dutch Golden Age and Parisian Expressionist works, Harrison's artistic journey took shape. Inspired by Chaïm Soutine's visceral depictions, such as "Le Boeuf," Harrison's own paintings reflect a fascination with the flesh and mortality, echoing the raw intensity of Soutine's abattoir scenes.

Tommy Harrison, *Corridor*, 2023. Photo courtesy of GRIMM Gallery.

Harrison's artworks, characterized by their corporeal and at times unsettling nature, delve into the existential realm, contemplating the essence of life after death. Fearlessly confronting his subjects, whether drawn from reality or art history, Harrison transforms them, challenging viewers to reevaluate their conventional understanding. Through his compositions, Harrison navigates the tension between opposing forces – the real and the surreal, the mundane and the profound, life and death. Thus, the exhibition's title, Double Bind, encapsulates the inherent struggle captured within Harrison's gripping artworks, presenting viewers with a compelling exploration of dualities and existential inquiries.

Marina Perez Simão: Solanaceae, Pace in Los Angeles

Lead image, *Marina Perez Simão: Solanaceae. Photo courtesy of Pace.*

Solanaceae brings together approximately 15 artworks, varying in size from various canvases to monumental panoramas, all created by the artist over the past year. This exhibition marks Simão's inaugural solo presentation in Los Angeles and the broader West Coast region of the United States, coinciding with the 2024 Frieze LA edition.

Marina Perez Simão in front of one of her works. Photo courtesy of Pace.

Spanning across oil painting, watercolor, and printmaking, Simão is renowned for her vibrant and poetic compositions that traverse both internal and external landscapes. Through her artistic practice, she crafts visual odysseys into semi-abstract and often enigmatic realms comprised of organic, undulating forms. Infused with visions and recollections, Simão's dreamlike landscapes mirror her profound fascination with abstraction's ability to convey notions, ideas, and emotions beyond the confines of language.

Our Curated Guide to Miami Art Week 2023 / December 11, 2023 by daria borisova

Art Basel Miami is returning in 2023 for one of the largest and most comprehensive annual art fairs in the region. For a week, Art Basel Miami culminates exhibitions from artists all over the world and brings a wide-ranging list of galleries representing the height of art to be explored and enjoyed, creating a hotspot not to be missed.

El Espacio 23

Currently showing To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions

El Espacio 23 originated as a storage facility for the extensive personal collection of over 1,500 pieces belonging to collector and philanthropist Jorge M. Perez. Situated in a renovated 28,000-square-foot warehouse in Miami's Allapattah neighborhood, El Espacio 23 now functions as a venue for artists, curators, and the wider public, hosting frequent exhibitions and residencies. The space also showcases noteworthy projects stemming from the Perez Collection.

***El Espacio 23, Lead image, To Weave the Sky Textile Abstractions. Photo courtesy of El Spacio 23.***

To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection celebrates an array of textile-based masterpieces from the Pérez collection, many of which have yet to grace public exhibition spaces. This curated collection serves as a catalyst for imaginative dialogues, interweaving these acquisitions as pivotal focal points around which to construct artistic conversations spanning diverse mediums. Encompassing the contributions of over 100 artists from different generations and corners of the globe, To Weave the Sky draws inspiration from the historical connections of weaving to abstraction, geometry, landscape, organic forms, tactile experiences, intimacy, and indigenous cosmologies and rituals. Crafted under the discerning curation of Tobias Ostrander, in close collaboration with Pérez Collection curators Patricia M. Hanna and Anelys Alvarez, the exhibition endeavors to unveil the contemporary allure surrounding this medium, historically relegated to the craft genre within Western art contexts.

***Installation view, To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection. Photo courtesy of El Espacio 23.***

Rubell Museum

Opening on December 4th, 2023, Basil Kincaid: Spirit in the Gift and Alejandro Piñiero Bello

The Rubell Museum stands as a bastion of paramount importance housing one of the world's most extensive and influential collections of contemporary art. Among its treasures are masterpieces by luminaries such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cecily Brown, Keith Haring, Rashid Johnson, Jeff Koons, William Kentridge, Cindy Sherman, and Mickalene Thomas, to name but a few. Notably, the collection not only showcases pivotal works by established artists, but also places a deliberate emphasis on the contributions of emerging, yet under-recognized, artistic voices.

***Alejandro Piñiero Bello, Emigran en la noche de la tormenta, 2023. Photo courtesy of The Rubell Museum.***

In the early 1990s, the Rubell Museum took its roots when Mera and Don Rubell relocated their remarkable collection to a repurposed U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency building in Miami. Guided by the visionary expertise of Annabelle Selldorf, known for her artfully transformative spaces at Hauser & Wirth in New York—where she converted a former roller rink and nightclub into a gallery—and her remarkable conversion of a 16-acre rail depot into the Luma Arles art complex in France, the Rubell Museum came to life. The decision to open its doors to the public played a pivotal role in the metamorphosis of the industrial neighborhood, catalyzing the evolution of the once-sleepy enclave into the vibrant and eclectic Wynwood Arts District.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA)

Currently showing, Juan Francisco Elso: Por América and Jamea Richmond-Edwards: Ancient Future

***Exterior of MOCA. Courtesy of MOCA.***

The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA), emerged as a beacon of artistic curation during a period when no other cultural institution in Miami dedicated itself to the assembly of a comprehensive collection of contemporary art. MOCA's avant-garde vision not only attracted the philanthropic support of esteemed figures in the industry, such as Richard and Ruth Shack, and Ruth Sackner, but also saw the institution making strategic acquisitions. Through a fusion of generous donations and astute purchases, MOCA meticulously cultivated a collection comprising paintings, sculptures, and works on paper.

***Keith Haring, USA-19-82, 1982 from MOCA's permanent collection. Photo courtesy of MOCA.***

Within the hallowed halls of MOCA, a permanent residence is provided for over 400 works of art, showcasing the creative brilliance of contemporary artists from around the globe. The distinguished roster includes luminaries like Keith Haring, Alex Katz, Edward Ruscha, George Segal, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Turrell. MOCA's cultural significance extends beyond its physical walls, as evidenced by substantial loans to esteemed institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Contemporary Art Museum in Barcelona, affirming its standing as a vital hub for the global dialogue on contemporary artistic expression.

Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)

Currently showing, Joan Didion: What She Means and Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING

At the forefront of Downtown Miami's cultural landscape stands the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), a captivating nexus of diverse exhibitions, enlightening educational programs, thought-provoking lectures, and vibrant community events. Crafted by the acclaimed Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, the building itself is a critically acclaimed masterpiece, serving as a fitting vessel for the awe-inspiring collection of 21st-century art within. PAMM's distinctive allure lies in its deliberate emphasis on the cultural richness of Miami, celebrating the city's ethnically diverse community. The museum's curated collection extends its embrace to encompass the artistic expressions of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the African diaspora. In this architectural marvel, PAMM not only showcases the evolution of contemporary art but also serves as a dynamic hub where the global and local narratives converge, fostering a dialogue that resonates beyond the museum's walls.

***Brigitte Lacombe, Joan Didion, New York, 1996, 1996. Photo courtesy of the artist and Lacombe, Inc.***

Curated by the esteemed writer and New Yorker contributor Hilton Als, the exhibition, Joan Didion: What She Means, showcases the works of approximately fifty artists, including luminaries like Betye Saar, Vija Celmins, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Maren Hassinger, Silke Otto-Knapp, Ana Mendieta, and Pat Steir. Comprising over 200 objects and artworks, the collection encompasses a diverse array of mediums, from family heirlooms and paintings to ephemera, photographs, sculptures, videos, and excerpts from films for which Didion penned screenplays. The exhibition unfolds as a chronological exploration of Didion's life, delving into the intimately connected yet distant evolution of her voice as a writer and trailblazer in New Journalism. Organized around the locales she called home, the chapters—Sacramento, Berkeley (1934–1956); New York (1956–1963); California, Hawai‘i (1964–1988); and New York, Miami, San Salvador (1988–2021)—unveil the profound intersections of Didion's personal journey with her incisive critique of power and emphasis on subjectivity.

***Yayoi Kusama, LOVE IS CALLING, 2013. Photo courtesy of David Zwirner and Ota Fine Arts.***

LOVE IS CALLING stands out as the most extensive and immersive of the artist's Infinity Mirror Rooms. It marks the pinnacle of her creative journey, showcasing the diversity of her artistic language - from her iconic polka dots and gentle sculptures to vibrant hues, spoken expression, and the captivating interplay of reflections creating the illusion of infinite space. The dimly lit room is brought to life by inflatable tentacle-like forms, and with Kusama's recognizable polka dots, extending from floor to ceiling, undergoing a mesmerizing transformation of colors. As visitors navigate through this unique installation, they are accompanied by a continuous sound recording of Kusama reciting a love poem in Japanese, titled 'Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears,' a personal creation that delves into timeless themes of life and death.

Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami)

Opening soon on 5 December, Ahmed Morsi in New York: Elegy of the Sea, Sasha Gordon: Surrogate Self and Anne Collier work on the stairwell

***Ahmed Morsi, Four Eyes, 2011. Photo courtesy of ICA Miami.***

The artistic legacy of Ahmed Morsi, a significant figure in Egyptian modernism and the broader contemporary art scene, is now gaining recognition in the Western art world with the exhibition Ahmed Morsi in New York: Elegy of the Sea. This retrospective brings together a collection of paintings spanning from 1983 to 2012, a period during which Morsi resided in New York. Emerging in the 1940s as part of the influential Alexandria School, Morsi played a crucial role in establishing the city as a burgeoning Mediterranean cultural hub in the postwar era. Upon his arrival in New York in 1974, Morsi's artistic expression underwent a notable transformation, adopting a lyrical blue palette and solemn landscapes that reflected the maritime essence of his hometown, Alexandria. The exhibited body of work showcases Morsi's ability to craft surreal and fantastical landscapes populated by recurring figures—both real and imagined, such as fish out of water, androgynous subjects, mythological horses, and human-size clocks. Rooted in Morsi's sense of displacement, memories of Alexandria's city and sea, and the complex emotions of living in the diaspora, this distinctive Surrealist vocabulary captures the essence of his experience, oscillating between crowdedness and solitude.

***Sasha Gordon, Concert Mistress, 2021. Photo courtesy of ICA Miami.***

ICA Miami is showcasing the inaugural solo museum exhibition for Sasha Gordon, a New York–based artist. Gordon's mesmerizing paintings and drawings delve into the intricate dimensions of the human experience, rendered with exquisite and hyper-realistic detail. In her artwork, Gordon frequently portrays herself, demonstrating a profound awareness of the historical themes inherent in portraiture and self-portraiture, as well as the complexities of representation. Her approach to these themes is characterized by creativity, humor, and a unique talent for transforming fantasy into reality. Gordon's visual narratives encompass a broad spectrum of emotional experiences, delving into the diverse facets of her identity as a queer Asian American woman. Through depictions of intimacy, empowerment, vulnerability, and the feminine form, her work critically addresses issues such as self-image, racial bias, interpersonal relationships, and their associated psychological impacts. Simultaneously, her art is not afraid to evoke discomfort, adding another layer to the exploration of these profound subjects.

***Anne Collier, Eye #1, 2014. Photo courtesy of the artist.***

ICA Miami is unveiling a recently commissioned piece by Anne Collier in the central stairwell of the museum. This marks the artist's first venture into site-responsive wallpaper and represents her inaugural major presentation in Miami. Collier, known for her photographic compositions that blend staged and often borrowed images, delves into the examination of representation, circulation, and the nature of images. Her photographic work critically engages with the portrayal of women in mass media. Using analogue photography, Collier incorporates found imagery, such as posters, records, and comic strips from the 1950s and 1960s. Through a juxtaposition of a methodical, almost forensic approach to image creation and the charged gender dynamics inherent in the appropriated found images, Collier presents the camera apparatus as both an instrument of dominance and liberation. Her work invites contemplation on the complex interplay between the act of image-making and the broader socio-cultural contexts they reflect.

Artists on Our Radar This Fall / November 28, 2023 by daria borisova

As we enter the month of November, the art world continues to evolve and showcase the talents of artists from around the world. From multimedia installations to paintings and sculptures, artists represent a diverse range of styles, themes, and techniques, and are pushing the boundaries of traditional art forms. Whether you are an avid collector or simply an art enthusiast, these artists are definitely worth keeping an eye on as they continue to shape the future of contemporary art. Here are some of our favorite artists on our radar this fall.

Sarah Berman

Sara Berman, born in the UK in 1975 and currently residing and working in London, has had a fascinating artistic journey. She initially pursued a fashion degree at Central Saint Martins during the 1990s and had a career in the fashion industry before furthering her education by earning a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Slade UCL, which she completed in 2016. Berman's art revolves around the concept of the Harlequin as a Trickster Whore, delving deep into the intricate constructs that define the female experience in society. Her approach to portraiture challenges historical norms associated with female representation. Through her self-portraits, Berman actively rejects the male gaze and the objectification of women. Her figures often exude defiance, and her artistic style, characterized by gentle, muted aesthetics, is rich with contrasting layers that render the canvas almost bruised. Her work skillfully juxtaposes the visceral and corporeal with delicate and fluid lines, creating a visual tension that defies expectations. Berman's art employs its aesthetic appeal to subvert preconceived notions, infusing a sense of violent transgression within the realm of beauty.

***Sara Berman in her studio, Photo courtesy of Art Fix***

Sara Berman's artistic accomplishments include being featured in the 2015 BP Portrait Award, which celebrated fifty-five exceptional and innovative portraits from around the world. Her work can be found in prominent collections, such as The House of KOKO in London, The Poort Visser collection in the Netherlands, The Maison Estelle in London, the RO2 Art Collection, and the Montparnasse collection in Canada. She remains actively engaged in the Hospital Room projects in London and participated in an exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, London, in collaboration with Hospital Rooms.

Danielle Mckinney

Danielle Mckinney, born in 1981, is known for her captivating interior scenes that capture profound moments of introspection and intimacy with a poetic touch. What sets her work apart is her unique approach of creating these scenes on an all-black canvas, allowing the subjects to emerge from the darkness in a striking chiaroscuro fashion. Mckinney meticulously constructs her domestic settings, often using source material from magazines or social media, reminiscent of dioramas. Within these atmospheric compositions, you can find subtle bursts of color, like the faint glow of a lit cigarette or the vibrant hues of protagonists' lips and nails. Notably, her figures are exclusively Black and female, and they are depicted cherishing moments of solitude, whether through reading, smoking, or simply getting lost in contemplation.

***Danielle Mckinney, Oolong and a Spirit, 2023***

As a trained photographer, Mckinney arranges her subjects in a cinematographic manner, displaying a keen awareness of the power of the gaze and its political implications. Her figures command the spaces they inhabit, creating opportunities for a multitude of narrative threads and self-exploration. In essence, Danielle Mckinney's art is a visually rich exploration of human emotions and identity within carefully constructed, intimate settings, where her subjects radiate a sense of empowerment and self-expression.

Shota Nakamura

***Installation view, each passing day, Peres Projects, Berlin 2022, Photo courtesy of CLEARING***

Shota Nakamura, originally from Yamanashi, Japan, and currently based in Berlin, is an artist whose creative practice transcends the boundaries of traditional painting. He delves into other realms, blurring the lines between domestic and untamed spaces. Nakamura's compositions beckon viewers into mesmerizing worlds, where contemplative figures in various states of meditation and transition serve as a boundless source of inspiration. Working primarily with oil paints, he employs this medium as a means to counteract the frenzied pace of modern life. Through his art, Nakamura offers a serene stillness that provides solace from the relentless influx of images and media.

***Shota Nakamura, Summer Table, 2023, Photo courtesy of CLEARING***

In Nakamura's creations, different planes seamlessly merge, resulting in a captivating effect that immediately captures the viewer's attention. His artwork reveals the existence of countless ways to interpret and comprehend the reality we inhabit, often necessitating a pause and a willingness to explore them.

Lonnie Holley

Lonnie Holley has dedicated his life to the pursuit of improvisational creativity, channeling his art and music through a lens of resilience, adversity, and an insatiable curiosity, driven by both personal and biological imperatives. His artistic expressions span a diverse array of mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, music, and filmmaking. Holley's sculptures, steeped in the African American sculptural tradition, are crafted from found materials rich in cultural and artistic symbolism. He assembles these objects into narrative sculptures that serve as tributes to places, people, and significant events. His work now graces the collections of prominent museums worldwide, including The Museums of Fine Arts in San Francisco, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and others. Notably, his work is on permanent display in the United Nations and has even been showcased in the White House Rose Garden. Over the years, Holley has also ventured into the realms of film, photography, and video. In 2019, he made his directorial debut with the short narrative film "I Snuck Off the Slave Ship," premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

***Lonnie Holley, Photo courtesy of New York Times***

In 2023, a podcast titled "Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children" chronicles the history of this notorious reform school in Alabama, often referred to as a "slave camp for kids." The podcast also sheds light on Holley's early life and the profound struggles he and countless others endured at the hands of the state of Alabama. As of 2022, Holley's remarkable talent earned him recognition as a USA Artist Fellow, and his visual art finds representation through Blum & Poe Gallery in Los Angeles and Edel Assanti Gallery in London. He continues to create art and music from his home and studio in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reggie Borrows Hodges

***Reggie Burrows Hodges, For the Greater Good, 2019***

Reggie Burrows Hodges, originally from California but now based in Maine, is a renowned painter known for his exploration of storytelling and visual metaphor in his art. His large-scale paintings, created with acrylic and pastels on raw canvas, delve into universal themes like identity, community, truth, and memory, often drawing inspiration from his upbringing in Compton. Notably, he begins his creative process with a black canvas, from which he skillfully develops the scene surrounding his figures using a painterly and ethereal brushwork technique. This unique approach shifts the focus from the individuals themselves to their surroundings, challenging our perception and highlighting the subtle nuances of the relationship between people and their environment. The figures in Hodges' paintings emerge in a background that recedes into space, devoid of concrete physical features. Instead, their presence is defined by the context and atmosphere in which they are painted, demonstrating Hodges' embrace of nuanced ambiguities and his keen exploration of how we are shaped by our surroundings, emphasizing the concept that we are products of our environment.

***Reggie Burrows Hodges in his studio, Photo courtesy of Sotheby's***

Reggie Burrows Hodges' work has found its place in numerous prestigious public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, to name a few. His art has also reached international audiences, with pieces held at institutions like the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, among many others. His work captures the essence of human existence, offering a unique perspective on the profound impact of our surroundings on our lives.

Yan Pei Ming

Yan Pei-Ming has gained global acclaim primarily for his portraiture, capturing a diverse array of contemporary figures, including politicians, actors, and popes. His portfolio features celebrated portraits of notable personalities like Mao Zedong, Bruce Lee, and Barack Obama. In addition to these public figures, Yan Pei-Ming extends his artistic focus to encompass his own family members and himself. His body of work spans a wide spectrum of subjects, delving into historical events, such as the 2001 World Trade Center attack, and reimagining iconic works from the annals of art history.

The artist's creative output is undeniably rooted in the traditions of European painting and portraiture. Yan Pei-Ming's work places significant emphasis on portraying status and power, harking back to the conventions of representation that have existed for centuries. In the face of contemporary challenges like digital reproduction and exploitation, his subjects embody the tension between classical forms and their relevance in the modern era. This duality allows for interpretations that bridge both traditional and contemporary contexts. Although he identifies himself as a European painter in terms of style and subject matter, Yan Pei-Ming has increasingly integrated his Chinese cultural heritage into the Western portraiture tradition in recent years, creating a unique blend of influences that enriches his art.

Cornel Brudaşcu

***Cornel Brudascu, Portrait (Ion Munteanu), 1970***

Cornel Brudaşcu completed his studies at the Institute of Arts Ion Andreescu in Cluj, graduating in 1962. He holds a distinct position as one of the rare Romanian artists associated with the pop art movement and has played a pivotal role as a mentor for the younger generation of figurative painters internationally recognized as the Cluj School. During the 1970s, Brudaşcu's artistic journey took a fascinating turn as he became acquainted with contemporary American art, inspiring him to embark on a series of portraits. These portraits encompassed not only his fellow artists from Cluj but also prominent Western pop culture icons. His artistic inspiration stemmed from images he encountered in Western newspapers and magazines.

Notably, Brudaşcu's artistic evolution unfolded against the backdrop of Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania during the 1970s, which presented a relatively open period within the regime, allowing for limited international exchanges. Despite stringent travel restrictions, especially to Western countries, information about groundbreaking developments in the art world managed to circulate. Elements of counter-culture, music, and artistic influences found their way into Romania through various channels, including the availability of Western magazines in reading rooms and informal networks for sharing information. Magazines like the German publication Popcorn served as a springboard for some of Brudaşcu's artworks and his own experiments with solarized photography.

Héloïse Chassepot

***Installation view at Frieze London, 2023, Photo courtesy of HIGH ART***

Héloïse Chassepot, born in Paris, France, in 1995, is currently based in London, where she both lives and works. She completed her educational journey at Haute école d'art et de design in Geneva, Switzerland, and later earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2022.

Chassepot's impressive artistic career includes a series of solo exhibitions, notably "Pauline Perplexe" in Paris, France, in 2023, "Downs & Ross" in New York, USA, in 2022, "Lokal-int" in Biel, Switzerland, in 2022, "CAN Centre d'Art Neuchâtel" in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 2021, and "one gee in fog" in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2020. Her work has also been featured in various group exhibitions, such as those at Tara Downs in New York (2023), Pippy Houldsworth in London (2023), Public in London (2023), The Margulies Collection in Miami (2022), ateliers de la ville de Marseille and La traverse in Marseille, France (2022), French Place in London (2022), Dray Gallery in London (2021), Artgenève in Geneva (2019), villa Emerige in Paris (2018), and HIT in Geneva (2018).

Joanna Woś

Joanna Woś's artistic practice navigates the intriguing space between the subconscious and the intricately dissected visual layers of historical paintings. She frequently draws inspiration from these layers, utilizing past symbolism to bring forth complex themes of repression, shame, and emotional trauma. Her images occupy an unsettling border where parallel realities intersect, creating an atmosphere of desperation that prompts profound contemplation. Woś's work evokes inquiries into the intricate web of human emotions, including love and death, desire, longing, and solitude.

***Installation view, Joanna Woś, Precious and Tender, Croy Nielsen, Vienna, 2022***

Born in 1991, Joanna Woś currently resides and creates in Vienna. She pursued her studies at the Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw from 2016 to 2018 and is currently enrolled at the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, studying under the guidance of Daniel Richter since 2018. Her impressive body of work encompasses solo exhibitions like "Wschód" in Warsaw in 2020, "Notcancelled" in Warsaw in the same year, and "Nectar" at Serce Człowieka during the Warsaw Gallery Weekend in 2019. In addition, she has participated in group exhibitions, including "Rundgang" at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2020 and "PAT PAT PAT. A Romance with (Im)material" at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2019, among others.

Li Hei Di

Li Hei Di, born in Shenyang, China, in 1997, pursued her artistic education at the Maryland Institute College of Art and later at Chelsea College of Art. She continued her academic journey by completing a Master of Arts in Painting at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London. Notably, in 2022, her debut solo exhibition titled "Tits at Dawn" was showcased at LINSEED Projects in Shanghai. Li Hei Di has also been featured in various group exhibitions at renowned galleries, including Galerie Marguo (2023), Gagosian in Hong Kong (2023), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London (2023), Downs & Ross in New York (2022), Public Gallery in London (2022), and LINSEED Projects in Shanghai (2022). Excitingly, her first solo exhibition with Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is scheduled for early 2024.

***Li Hei Di in her London studio, Photo courtesy of Artsy***

Li Hei Di's vibrant and expressive paintings serve as abstract portraits that delve into themes of yearning, desire, and seduction. Through her work, she skillfully transforms repressed and primal emotions into fleeting and ephemeral scenes. Currently, she resides and creates her art in the vibrant artistic landscape of London, where her unique talent continues to flourish and captivate audiences.

Our Fall Guide to Frieze London 2023 / October 7, 2023 by daria borisova

Frieze London 2023: 20th Anniversary (Contemporary and Masters)

The fairs are scheduled to take place simultaneously from October 11th to October 15th, 2023, at Regent's Park in London. They will unite prominent galleries representing 46 different countries. In addition to the fairs, there will be a comprehensive lineup of events and activities both within the venue and throughout the city, all aimed at celebrating London's rich cultural scene. Frieze London and Frieze Masters are pivotal events on the global art calendar, serving as a worldwide hub where art, concepts, and individuals converge.

Some highlights include…

*Sarah Lucas HAPPY GAS Installation View at Tate Britain 2023. © Sarah Lucas. Photo © Tate*

Sadie Coles HQ will mark the fair's 20th anniversary with a group exhibition that echoes their participation in the inaugural edition in 2003. This exhibition will include works by gallery artists who were part of that first year, such as John Currin and Sarah Lucas.

Pilar Corrias will host a solo exhibition by Sophie Von Hellerman, an artist based in Margate. Her installation draws inspiration from the iconic Dreamland funfair, aiming to challenge and reclaim stereotypes associated with femininity.

Hauser & Wirth's presentation will shine a spotlight on the groundbreaking artist Barbara Chase-Riboud, with a solo exhibition featuring bronze sculptures from the Standing Black Woman of Venice series and recent works on paper created in her distinctive automatic writing style.

Timothy Taylor has invited Claire Gilman, Chief Curator at The Drawing Center in New York, to curate a solo booth featuring Eddie Martinez. This exhibition builds upon Martinez's 2017 exhibition at the Drawing Center, where he used a 'wallpaper' backdrop composed of thousands of drawings.

Renowned British artist Damien Hirst, famous for his controversial works involving preserved animals or a diamond-encrusted human skull, has opted for a more straightforward approach in his latest series. The yet-to-be-exhibited collection, titled "The Secret Gardens Paintings," will be prominently featured in Gagosian's booth at the upcoming Frieze London event.

Sprüth Magers will present a solo retrospective by Hyun-Sook Song, with a selection of works spanning the artist’s career.

White Cube will unite historical and recent work by Mona Hatoum, ranging from rarely exhibited reference material to sculptures that manifest elements, including the web and the body.

Frieze Sculpture

Frieze Sculpture, the renowned open-air art exhibition, is making its return to London's The Regent’s Park from September 20th to October 29th, 2023. This year's Frieze Sculpture will be curated for the first time by the independent curator and writer Fatoş Üstek. The exhibition will showcase the works of 21 prominent international artists, strategically placed throughout the historic English Gardens of The Regent’s Park. The list of participating artists includes Ghada Amer, Leilah Babirye, Sanford Biggers, Jyll Bradley, Catharine Czudej, Ayşe Erkmen, Yuichi Hirako, Suhasini Kejriwal, Tony Matelli, Louise Nevelson, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Zak Ové, Li Li Ren, Hans Rosenström, Tomas Saraceno and many more.

*Ugo Rondinone, yellow blue monk (2020). Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy Frieze and Linda Nylind.*

Frieze Sculpture 2023 includes artists presenting significant pieces in public spaces for their inaugural exhibitions, as well as emerging artists who are challenging artistic norms. The exhibition consists of projects that respond directly to the location and those that are created specifically for it. Frieze Sculpture explores how sculpture can simultaneously convey both a sense of grandeur and transience. This year's edition showcases a range of new and existing artworks, highlighting the diverse sculptural techniques employed by contemporary artists. The exhibited pieces span conceptual, experiential, playful, and imaginative approaches, all united by themes of change, political empowerment, modern rituals, and the exploration of societal ideas.

Must-See Exhibitions

*Georg Baselitz, Untitled, 2014. © Georg Baselitz 2023. Photo: Jochen Littkemann, Berlin.*

Georg Baselitz: Sculptures 2011 – 2015

5 October 2023 – 7 January 2024, Serpentine South

“Sculpture is a thing like a miracle. It is built up, decked out, made arbitrarily not as the sign of thoughts but as a thing within the limits of the shape.” – Georg Baselitz.

*Georg Baselitz, Zero Mobil (Zero Mobile), 2013-2014. © Georg Baselitz 2023. Photo: Jochen Littkemann, Berlin.*

Over the course of a remarkable career that spans more than six decades, Georg Baselitz, born in Saxony, Germany in 1938, initially gained prominence as a painter in the post-war era. However, it was from 1969 onwards that he embarked on a transformative artistic journey, becoming renowned for his distinctive practice of inverting or upending human forms and various motifs within his expressionistic paintings. Through this bold approach, Baselitz sought to transcend conventional content and narrative in his artistry. Instead, he directed his creative focus towards the interplay of form, color, and texture, thereby introducing fresh and innovative perspectives into the rich tradition of German Expressionism. In 1979, Baselitz embarked on a new dimension of his artistic exploration, venturing into the realm of sculpture. In this medium, he continued his exploration of the dynamic tension between the figurative and the abstract, manifesting it through raw and primal renditions of figures and body fragments meticulously carved from wood.

*Wrapped Trees – Project for Fondation Beyeler & Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland (1998) Photo courtesy Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation & Gagosian*

CHRISTO Early Works | Curated by Elena Geuna

October 6–22, 2023, Gagosian Open, 4 Princelet Street, London

Gagosian unveils a unique exhibition showcasing the early artistic endeavors of Christo. This extraordinary exhibition will find its home at 4 Princelet Street, nestled in the picturesque Spitalfields district of London. Meticulously curated under the discerning eye of Elena Geuna, this exhibition serves as the inaugural endeavor in the Gagosian Open series—a collection of off-site projects that beckon to push the boundaries of artistic expression.

Christo and his artistic collaborator and wife, Jeanne-Claude, have earned worldwide acclaim for their monumental and ephemeral works of art. They have, in essence, redefined the very essence of the relationship between art and the public space, stretching the boundaries of scale and utterly transforming the landscapes we thought we knew. Their creations, often requiring intricate planning and intricate negotiations, are self-funded, temporary masterpieces that grace our world for only fleeting moments. After their brief existence, these artworks gracefully yield their materials for repurposing and recycling, returning the sites they once occupied to their original, untouched state.

Sarah Lucas: Happy Gas

28 September 2023 – 14 January 2024, Tate Britain

Happy Gas presents a captivating and unexpected installation featuring a blend of older and newer works by the artist Lucas, spanning from 1991 to the present day. In contrast to a typical retrospective that follows a linear progression of an artist's career, Lucas curates this exhibition in a fresh and unconventional manner. She juxtaposes older pieces with more recent creations, allowing viewers to perceive them in a novel light. Lucas, often characterized as a "slacker" since her emergence in the late 1980s, has been remarkably prolific. She not only created the artworks but also meticulously designed the exhibition, from the arrangement of seating to the placement of the works on plinths.

Lucas's sculptures, which often depict headless figures, exude a sense of vitality and variety. Constructed from materials like stuffed tights, wire, bronze, raw concrete, and painted resin, these figures twist and contort in unexpected ways. They convey a dynamic presence, challenging traditional notions of form and representation. In one instance, an androgynous figure reclines on a robust chair, boldly asserting itself with a silvery-bronze erection reaching toward the ceiling. In another, a figure appears entangled in a folding chair, adorned with expressive paint strokes. Throughout the exhibition, black cats playfully roam the galleries, adding a whimsical touch to the overall experience. Lucas's ability to infuse humor into her art shines through, even in the most unconventional and thought-provoking pieces. "Happy Gas" thus offers a unique and engaging exploration of Lucas's oeuvre, demonstrating her mastery in combining creativity, wit, and artistic diversity.

Daniel Richter Stupor

10 October—1 December 2023, Thaddaeus Ropac

In his second solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac in London, Daniel Richter's latest artistic offerings showcase his ongoing ingenuity in capturing the human form. Richter's distinctive approach to depicting biomorphic shapes in a series of dynamic, contorted poses takes center stage. Since 2015, he has dismantled traditional compositional boundaries, blurring the distinctions between background, foreground, and subject. This body of work departs from his previous series, which drew inspiration from an array of sources, from explicit imagery to historical postcards featuring World War I casualties. Instead, Richter's new creations are a reflection of his surroundings, inspired by everyday scenes like an elderly woman passing by or kids playing basketball. These knotted figures, often solitary or in small groups, are defined by bold black lines, their limbs, facial features, and hunched torsos emerging and vanishing amid vibrant, smeared paint. Against striking red backdrops, these contorted forms pulse with energy, a result of the artist's audacious use of color and dynamic mark-making.

Richter's commitment to artistic evolution is evident in this exhibition, as he experiments with the flat backdrops that characterized his earlier works. Here, the figures are set against a gray backdrop almost entirely concealed beneath a layer of vivid red paint, casting the bodies adrift in a sea of intense color. In a reverse of the typical painting process, the background becomes one of the final stages of each artwork. Richter's philosophy of embracing change is succinctly expressed in his words, "I think it's good to change. I had milked the cow, now I am riding the pig." This approach to artmaking makes these pieces not only studies in color, line, and technique but also explorations of the human figure, carving out a distinctive niche within Richter's extensive body of work and the broader landscape of contemporary painting.

Sylvie Fleury: S.F.

22 September – 4 November 2023, Sprueth Magers

Sylvie Fleury's art practice creates captivating pieces that bring together art, consumerism, and life. Her sculptures, paintings, neon artworks, and videos address contemporary themes, refusing to be confined by conventional expectations and definitions. Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are excited to announce a comprehensive exhibition at Sprüth Magers in London. This exhibition not only celebrates the long-standing relationship between the gallery and the artist but also provides a deep dive into Fleury's diverse and impressive body of work, spanning three decades.

In this exhibition, Fleury transforms all of the gallery's spaces, employing strategies reminiscent of the fashion, beauty, and advertising industries. She uses these strategies to challenge established norms in Western art history, particularly the male-dominated modernist canon, and to scrutinize the art world's involvement with consumerism. Alongside showcasing several of Fleury's iconic artworks, the exhibition also features new pieces created specifically for this show.

RICHARD PRINCE Early Photography, 1977–87

5 October –22 December 2023, Gagosian Grosvenor Hill

Gagosian announces two upcoming exhibitions by Richard Prince in London. Opening on October 5, 2023, at the Grosvenor Hill gallery, "Early Photography, 1977–87," and at the Davies Street gallery, "The Entertainers," will feature a collection of Prince's renowned cowboy, girlfriend, and advertisement photographs, including some never-before-seen pieces in the city. At the Davies Street gallery, visitors can explore the complete series "The Entertainers" (1982–83), a rare set of manipulated photographs capturing the gritty allure of New York's Times Square bars, clubs, and restaurants. Meanwhile, the Grosvenor Hill gallery will showcase works from various other series.

Richard Prince's art revolves around collecting, documenting, and reinterpreting unsettling elements of mainstream humor and images from mass media. He delves into the crossroads of America's diverse cultures and subcultures, shaping its national identity. In 1977, he pioneered the technique of "rephotography," appropriating images from advertising and lifestyle publications, effectively redefining concepts of authorship and originality. This approach, later expanded to include social media, disrupts traditional image-making techniques, allowing Prince to shift the authority of a visual reference.

*Avery Singer, Deepfake Marcy, 2023. Photo courtesy of Hauser and Wirth.*

Avery Singer. Free Fall

11 October – 22 December 2023, Hauser & Wirth London

Singer has designed an exhibition that recreates her memories of the interior of the World Trade Center offices, where her mother used to work before 9/11. This installation blends the mundane aspects of office life with the distinctive architectural style of the World Trade Center towers designed by Minoru Yamasaki. It creates an installation that is both reminiscent of a stage set and resembles minimalist sculpture, subtly disorienting the viewer.

In this recreated environment, the artist showcases new paintings that bridge the gap between the impersonal digital world and her personal experiences. These paintings merge computer-generated landscapes produced with software like Autodesk Maya, the same 3D software used to construct the immersive architectural setting based on Singer's memories. Since 2010, Singer has utilized the binary language of computer programs and industrial materials to eliminate any obvious traces of her artistic hand, all the while engaging with the rich traditions of painting and the heritage of modernism. The new large-scale paintings featured in 'Free Fall' combine digital representations with a combination of manual and digital airbrush techniques, liquid and solid masking, and intricate layering processes.

LONDON GRADUATES: Our Favorite Young Artists to Watch / July 25, 2023 by daria borisova

Discover the emerging visual artists on our radar this summer

Min Woo Nam

Min Woo Nam is a Korean artist born in 1994, and lives and works in London. In 2016, he completed his studies at the London School of Economics. Subsequently, he fulfilled a two-year military service in the Korean army, during which he was deployed to South Sudan as a member of the United Nations peacekeeping contingent. Immersed in an unfamiliar environment, this experience sparked Min Woo’s personal quest to delve into the essence of existence and the concept of ‘Self’. His artistic creations have received global recognition, with notable exhibitions including the RA Degree Show in 2023.

Min Woo Nam’s paintings act as conduits to realms beyond the ordinary, inviting viewers to transcend mundane experiences and delve into profound depths of existence. With meticulous precision in his color choices and brushstrokes, he strives to evoke powerful moods and create immersive experiences that capture the ever-evolving consciousness. His work guides individuals towards abstract and conceptual understanding, encouraging them to embark on transformative journeys of self-reflection and profound discovery.

***Cruising the Winter Lake (left), Nocturnal Path (right) – RCA Degree Show Installation view. Photo courtesy of the RCA.***

Effie Wanyi Li

Effie Wanyi Li, a sculptor and painter residing in London, delves into the exploration of the relationship between the body and mind in her artistic creations. Her focus lies in using painting as a means to visually portray the subtle interactions and movements that occur within the physical realm of the body, brought about by intangible emotions and sensations. Through her work, she aims to shed light on the intricate interplay between actions and thoughts that is often overlooked or taken for granted. By immersing themselves in these paintings, viewers are prompted to reflect upon their own bodily experiences and embark on a personal journey of self-discovery. Li’s earlier college works involved geometric elements and utilized hard materials like Perspex, metal, wood, and stretched string. She approached these materials rationally, using them as indirect means to transform ideas into physical artworks. However, recently, Li has shifted to softer and organic materials such as paints and fabrics. This change allows her to experiment with a more perceptual approach to expression and document her personal journey of self-acceptance.

Emmanuel De Carvalho

***Installation view of Emanuel De Carvalho, New State at Guts Gallery, London. Photo courtesy of Guts Gallery.***

Emanuel’s artistic journey began with enrolling in a painting course at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London. It opened up new possibilities, allowing him to create narratives beyond traditional mediums. He is currently immersed in the transformative Turps Banana Art School Studio Painting Programme mentored by Anne Ryan. Recently joining Guts Gallery, Emanuel aims to address the underrepresentation of queer bodies and experiences in art history. His work explores political shifts and connects queer experiences with mental states, challenging preconceived notions of gender and identity. Through his dynamic figures and juxtaposition of objects, he sparks dialogue about perception and seeks to overcome negative associations. Emanuel’s art captivates with its iridescent tones and profound exploration of themes. By deconstructing the notion of perception associated with bodies, objects, and the creation of imagery, Emanuel prompts a dialogue about the viewer’s own perceptions and any potential negative associations that may arise.

***Emanuel de Carvalho, neurosystem 1, 2023. Photo courtesy of the artist.***

Callum Harvey

Callum Harvey (born in 1998) resides and works in London. He finished his undergraduate studies at Falmouth University in 2020 and was awarded a scholarship to pursue his Master’s degree at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 2023. In 2019, he participated in a residency at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives. Harvey’s artwork has been featured in various group exhibitions worldwide, including Kingsgate Project Space in London, Safehouse in London, Centre Space Gallery in Bristol, and Huxley-Parlour in New York, all in 2023. Through his work, Callum Harvey delves into architectural details and patterns, exploring how they influence spatial relationships. His paintings, characterized by a gentle color palette, highlight the often overlooked and mundane aspects of architecture. Harvey frequently focuses on a single repeated pattern or detail and skillfully alters perspectives, offering fresh and alternative ways of perceiving space.

Max Boyla

Max Boyla, born in 1991 in Musselburgh, Scotland, is an artist currently based in London and pursuing post graduate studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Boyla’s artistic practice embraces the concept of painting as a means of creating illusions. His artworks exist in a perpetual state of ambiguity, where the tangible and genuine world intertwines with the eternal and fictitious. Familiar characters reappear throughout his works, navigating unfamiliar realms devoid of temporal or spatial context. In recent pieces, Boyla has delved into the realm of advertising, exploring fictional worlds that reflect our longing for unattainable ideals and endless promises. By blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy, Boyla prompts us to question our sense of existence in a world where distinctions between the two become increasingly indistinct.

Mary Stephenson

Mary Stephenson is a London-based artist currently pursuing postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy Schools after graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in 2011. Her artwork intricately weaves narratives, drawing viewers into complex and surreal scenes. Employing humor and distraction, Stephenson creates a palpable tension that is ultimately disrupted by the presence of objects depicted as characters within her work—a bowl of melancholic olives, a surprised fork, or a wistful piece of Stilton. These objects play a central role, both influencing and being influenced by the situations they inhabit. Stephenson explores the theme of “conspicuous consumption,” subtly examining humanity’s yearning for acceptance and belonging. Her paintings serve as a sorting room for excessive thoughts, layering narratives and conflicting emotions to portray the frenzy of projected self-identities. Through her art, Stephenson offers a magnifying glass to scrutinize our own constructed identities, prompting introspection and a deeper understanding of the intricacies of self in a world driven by consumption and societal expectations.

Elinor Stanley

Elinor Stanley has a background in studying at both the Glasgow School of Art and Open School East in Margate. Through her paintings, Stanley aims to intensify and amplify the experience of the viewer. The focus on the human figure within her artwork undergoes a deliberate shift, akin to the way an unsettled eye might perceive its surroundings. The paintings evoke a sense of unsteadiness or vertigo, representing a subjective and biased viewpoint. Stanley’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in drawing, and she often works in series, creating multiple iterations of repeated imagery. The subjects and ideas explored within her work revolve and circle, much like thoughts in the mind, continuously turning over and evolving.

Ji Won Cha

Ji Won Cha’s practice revolves around the re-articulation of the sublime in the context of the 21st century, focusing on capturing and processing complex emotions of uncertainty that permeate both personal lives and societal constructs. Termed as “The Anxious Sublime,” the artist explores the intricate emotions that arise during prolonged moments of anticipation, where one yearns for the arrival of an expected future. In an era dominated by an overwhelming abundance of information at a rapid digital pace, coping mechanisms are eroded, and the ability to discern fact from fiction is compromised. Despite accumulating a vast cloud of data, definitive answers remain elusive. The artist aims to portray the heightened feelings that emerge when confronted with these existential questions. By accentuating the conditions of “not knowing” and the loss of control, the artist’s paintings capture the conflicting emotions of hope and despair, continuously interrogating the concept of “fate.” While the imagery draws inspiration from landscapes, the created scenes transcend the physical realm and exist in a realm of fantasy. The paintings engage in a rich dialogue, embracing the coexistence of divergent sentiments, finding allure in darkness, distress in beauty, serenity in chaos, and bravery in destruction. Through the use of imagery that amplifies sensory experiences, the artist’s practice delves into the anticipation for a future that perpetually eludes realization.

Alexis Soul-Gray

Alexis Soul-Gray employs a unique artistic process combining painting, drawing, and collage to explore the role of imagination in navigating sadness and loss. By appropriating mid-to-late 20th-century family photo graphs, she selects staged scenes of women and children, then reveals their underlying emotions through delicate drawing techniques and disruptive methods such as erasing and applying chemicals. Through painting over or collaging the figures, Soul-Gray seeks to restore their humanity, while the washed-away images become transparent, allowing the texture of the canvas to shine through. Her artworks capture the trans-formative power of imagination, inviting viewers to reflect on the emotional impact of childhood experiences and the ways they shape our perception of the world.

Bijanka Bacic

Bijanka Bacic’s art seeks to rethink and find meaning in the world through a visual language that embraces both order and chaos. Her paintings feature energetic lines and forms mingling in vibrant fields of color, creating a captivating interplay between abstraction, gesture, and geometry. With her current series, ‘We are defending their illusion,’ Bacic playfully explores the Grid as a disruptive device that allows differences and limitations to coexist on a single surface, blurring the boundaries of time and perception. Her artistic process involves a delicate balance between addition and obliteration, leading to transformative moments of light emerging from a series of “mistakes in blindness.” Through her work, Bacic invites viewers to con template the paradoxical nature of abstract art and the boundless possibilities it offers for reimagining our understanding of the world.

***Details of Bijanka Bacic, You can’t rely on memories, 2023. Photo courtesy of the artist.***

Happy New Year / December 28, 2022 by daria borisova

In 2022, we have seen an increasing integration of digital and technology-based art into the mainstream art world. There has been a tremendous growth in the resources and platforms available for digital art, including online exhibition spaces like Vortic and Art At A Time Like This. Artists and collectors who have been active in the art NFT space for the past several years are looking for new opportunities to dive deeper into art history while creating more meaning within different mediums and movements. We hope to continue encouraging dialogue between the crypto, digital space and the more traditional art spaces in 2023. Wishing you love, health and happiness in the new year.

CURATORIAL RECAP

**MARCH 2022**
We travelled to Dubai for *Block Party*, a NFT exhibition at Christie’s Dubai presenting the world’s leading NFT art experimentalists brought together for the first NFT exhibition by a global auction house in the region during Art Dubai, the Middle East’s leading international art fair.

**OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2022**
Digital artist Andrés Reisinger with director and visual artist Sam Mason presented *ANY DAY NOW*, a digital artwork exhibited in London at W1 Curates digital exhibition space, W1 Immersive, a unique gallery that uses state-of-the-art technology to showcase the most innovative digital creations.

**OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2022**
A collaboration with Vortic, a sustainable digital exhibition ecosystem for the art world, *Fever Dream* presented an evocative series of abstract and figurative works by 13 international artists brought together for the first time through a unique, and ultimately enabling digital experience.

HIGHLIGHTS

FAVORITE EMERGING ARTISTS

**HIBA SCHAHBAZ**
Hiba Schahbaz, a participating artist in our *Fever Dream* show, was born in Karachi, Pakistan and lives in Brooklyn, NY. Traditionally trained as a miniaturist, her arrival to New York proved transformative for her practice as she magnified her miniature practice to produce life-size portraits of women.

**FRANCESCA MOLLETT**
London-based artist Francesca Mollett makes abstract paintings that react to space and context. Her works are reflections of light and surface formed over a long, fluid and precise process composed through addition and subtraction. Often influenced by literature, Mollett reveals a deep relationship between the ethos of life and of time, elusive and unable to be articulated through representation alone.

FAVORITE ACQUISITION: ‘GREEN LACE’

This large scale painting by Angela Heisch titled 'Green Lace', a key work from her recent solo exhibition at the Grimm Gallery, was acquired by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam with the generous support of my dear friend, client and human rights activist, Amar Singh.

FAVORITE PARTNERSHIP: ART AT A TIME LIKE THIS

Art at a Time Like This supports artists and curators in the 21st century, presenting art in direct response to current events. Founded on March 17th, 2020 by independent curators Barbara Pollack and Anne Verhallen, this non-profit, digital first, arts organization presents art in public spaces --online and offline--as a direct response to social and political events. Their mission is to show that art can make a difference and that artists and curators can be thought-leaders, envisioning alternative futures for humanity. (Image: Latifa Zafar Attaii, From the exhibition *Before Silence: Afghan Artists In Exile)*

FAVORITE ARTIST INTRODUCTION: LA II AT D’STASSI ART

It was our pleasure to place Puerto Rican street artist Angel Ortiz, better known as LA II with a new gallery, D’Stassi Art in London. Discovered by Keith Haring at the age of 12, LA II had a new solo show titled *King of Hearts* on view at the gallery in October of 2022. “This show [was] Ortiz’s first in the UK in over 40 years, and as such, it tends to tell a story of leaving the past behind and standing still in the present.” (Widewalls) (Left Image: Corazon, 2022. Paintmarker and spray paint on canvas, 48 x 48 in. / Right Image: Dance Party, 2022. Paintmarker and spray paint on canvas, 48 x 48 in)

FAVORITE SHOWS

**AT A FOUNDATION: JENNA GRIBBON AT COLLEZIONE MARAMOTTI**
Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia presented *Mirages*, the first solo show in a European art institution by American painter Jenna Gribbon, who has conceived a new group of ten works specifically for their Pattern Room. Gribbon’s figurative paintings draw inspiration from personal memories, art history and everyday experience, fluidly combining different styles in each piece. Working from photos she has taken with her phone as a way of “capturing ideas”, the artist creates scenes and portraits that have a cinematic feel, hovering between reality, fiction and imagination.

**AT A MUSEUM: WILLIAM KENTRIDGE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS**
Last fall, the Royal Academy of Arts in London featured global creative powerhouse William Kentridge, South Africa’s most celebrated living artist, in the biggest exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK. With a practice spanning across multiple mediums like etching, drawing, collage, film and sculpture to tapestry, theatre, opera, dance and music, this Johannesburg-born artist developed his early work during the apartheid regime of the 1980s, and his electrifying large-scale productions and animations have since been shown across the world.

**AT A GALLERY: BODYLAND AT GALERIE MAX HETZLER**
Curated by Lauren Taschen, *BodyLand* at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin was a liberation of the female form and reemergence into the outside world. With a focus on the natural, both land and body, Taschen says "[t]his group of mostly young and mostly female artists are united in the consistency of the interest, and they afford aspects of their relationship with nature and landscape as well as their relationship to the female body in their artistic practice," she says. (Cultured Mag)

From Degas to Digital: NFT-easing your way into Collecting / November 12, 2021 by daria borisova

*Installation view of NFTism: No Fear in Trying, curated by Kenny Schachter*

Join me for this live event!

22nd November 2021

Time: Doors 6.00PM, Runtime 6.30PM - 7.30PM

Location: Leo's

Price: Complimentary

NFTs have disrupted the art world, with much speculation as to whether they are a passing trend or here to stay. With figures showing this new online marketplace has driven sales of contemporary art to a record £2.7bn and now account for 2% of all art sales, we continue the conversation from our NFT panel discussion earlier this year, by observing how the traditional art world is starting to embrace NFTs.

Among those joining the conversation will be journalist Alex Estorick, whose writing specialises in the relationship between art and technology, Joe Kennedy, co-founder of Institut - the first art world-led platform for NFTs, art advisor and curator Daria Borisova, and interdisciplinary artist Lans King.

Restoration: Now or Never / August 20, 2021 by daria borisova

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“We are thinking about these problems of climate change as something that the next generation will face,” said Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, a researcher at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland. “It’s something we are facing already. We are throwing stones at ourselves.” -New York Times, May 31, 2021

Now—not later—is the time to consider solutions to the climate emergency as monsoons, natural disasters, heat-related deaths and even the pandemic can be linked to its impact.

As London reopened its art scene with everyone celebrating the summer weather, a dramatic public art project filled the streets. ‘Restoration: Now or Never,’ organized by Daria Borisova and Anne Verhallen (Art At A Time Like This), in collaboration with SaveArtSpace and Hauser & Wirth, focused on the urgency of our climate crisis through a visual public display throughout London, UK. The exhibition, spanning across billboards and bus shelters, was in conjunction with World Environment Day in the UK, a day committed to encouraging awareness and action to protect our environment. Bringing emerging and established artists together, this was the first UK activation by the non-profit SaveArtSpace.

The public art exhibition presented renowned artists alongside artists carefully selected through an open call. Working with a next-generation curatorial team, including Michael Xufu Huang, Destinee Ross-Suton, Aindrea Emelife, Daria Borisova and Anne Verhallen, the show brought together a global and diverse group of artists. Curators selected artists who create work in response to climate change, calls for restorative action or suggests a path forward. Selected artists included Cara Romero, Coco Capitán, Formafantasma, Fred Tomaselli, Hayden Kays, Johan Deckmann, Khari Turner, Tianjiao Zhang, Edward Tsui, Lanmuzhi Yang, Lily Kwong, Misha Waks, Odinakachi Okoroafor, Olive Allen, Philomène Amougou, Piotr Krzymowski, Rewind Collective, Sophie Hughes, Stefan Brüggemann, Susan Unterberg, Tabita Rezaire, Wang Yuyang, Whitney Stolich, and Zhang Huan.

Cara Romero, Evolvers — Cara Romero, *Evolvers*

Coco Capitán, The Hope That Carries a Flower — Coco Capitán, *The Hope That Carries a Flower*

Fred Tomaselli, Saturday, January 17, 2015 #3 — Fred Tomaselli, *Saturday, January 17, 2015 #3*

Johan Deckmann, Future Plans — Johan Deckmann, *Future Plans*

Khari Turner, Untitled — Khari Turner, *Untitled*

Misha Waks, Untitled — Misha Waks, *Untitled*

Odinakachi Okoroafor, The Global Warming Menace — Odinakachi Okoroafor, *The Global Warming Menace*

Olive Allen, Melting Away — Olive Allen, *Melting Away*

Philomène Amougou, Bodyland Sarcophagus — Philomène Amougou, *Bodyland Sarcophagus*

Piotr Krzymowski, Handover — Piotr Krzymowski, *Handover*

Rewind Collective, Mother Nature XV (Tamara de Lempicka) — Rewind Collective, *Mother Nature XV (Tamara de Lempicka)*

Whitney Stolich, SpaceBetweenPlaces/#8 — Whitney Stolich, *SpaceBetweenPlaces/#8*

Sophie Hughes, THE TRUTH IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE TRUTH — Sophie Hughes, *THE TRUTH IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE TRUTH*

Stefan Brüggemann, Online Disconnected — Stefan Brüggemann, *Online Disconnected*

Tabita Rezaire, Sorry For Real_ Sorrow For_Soul — Tabita Rezaire, *Sorry For Real_Sorrow For_Soul*

Susan Unterberg, Displaced By Extinction — Susan Unterberg, *Displaced By Extinction*

Zhang Huan, Family Trees — Zhang Huan, *Family Trees*