Ocula Report Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber 15 Mar 2019 : Stephanie Bailey for Ocula In Meiro Koizumi's three-channel video installation, The Angels of Testimony (2019), the central frame features an interview with Hajime Kondo about his time as a solider of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The conversation centres on war crimes perpetrated in China, including the beheading of Chinese prisoners for...
Ocula Conversation Diana Campbell Betancourt Diana Campbell Betancourt is a curator working predominantly across South and Southeast Asia. Since 2013 she has been the founding artistic director of the Samdani Art Foundation and chief curator of the Dhaka Art Summit in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a transnational art event that has grown in size and scale ever since its first edition in 2012. Backed by...
Ocula Report Chinternet Ugly at Manchester’s Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art 7 Mar 2019 : Mike Pinnington for Ocula China, home to 802 million internet users, is subject to sophisticated online censorship. This shrouded state of affairs, unsurprisingly perhaps, serves to reinforce stereotypes around conformity elsewhere. Any realm, digital or otherwise, subject to such strict scrutiny must necessarily be bland and uncritical, right? I was mulling over such...
Axel Vervoordt Gallery was founded by Boris Vervoordt in the centre of Antwerp in January 2011 as part of the Axel Vervoordt Company, which is active globally in art, antiques and interior design since 1968. In March of 2017 the Gallery moved into its new location at Kanaal, Wijnegem.
As a strong supporter of Zero and Gutai art movements from its inception, the gallery’s vision has gradually evolved into contemporary art with a special interest in the concept of the void, space and time. We focus on art that puts the creative process first and provide a neutral platform for artists with whom we’ve created a valuable, intense relationship.
In May 2014, Axel Vervoordt Gallery expanded to Hong Kong and opened its first overseas exhibition venue in the city's central district. By having a physical presence in Hong Kong, Axel Vervoordt Gallery will continue to bridge artistic expressions between the East and the West.
Both locations will work closely with living contemporary artists while actively engaging with local and global audiences. We will continue publishing monographs on the represented artists and participating in major contemporary art fairs internationally.
Ocula Photolog The Armory Show 2019 11 March 2019 'The Armory Show features presentations by leading international galleries, innovative artist commissions and dynamic public programs. Since its founding in 1994, The Armory Show has served as a nexus for the art world, inspiring dialogue, discovery and patronage in the visual arts.' –The Armory Show Press Release (March 2019).
Ocula Conversation Axel Vervoordt Gallerist The booth of Axel Vervoordt Company at Frieze Masters in 2018 was hard to miss. Ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Near Eastern sculptures were placed in subtle yet mind-tickling dialogue with works by Niki De Saint Phalle, Takis, and Kazuo Shiraga, among others. Such groupings are not unusual for the Company, which comprises an art and antiques business...
Ocula Photolog West Bund Art & Design 2018 9 November 2018 'With a strong selection of returning exhibitors, the 2018 edition welcomes 87 galleries in the Galleries section, among which 39 are participating for the first time.'– West Bund Art & Design (8–11 November 2018).
Ocula Photolog Frieze Masters 2018 8 October 2018 'Frieze Masters brings together thousands of years of art in a unique, contemporary context, with over 130 of the world's leading galleries specialising in antiquities, Asian art, ethnographic art, illuminated manuscripts, medieval, modern and post-war art, Old Masters and 19th century, as well as photography, sculpture and wunderkammer.' –Frieze...
Related Press YUN HYONG-KEUN, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART ArtAsiaPacific : 1 December 2018 When Donald Judd asked Yun Hyong-Keun what art is, the latter responded that art is 'artless and bland.' To some viewers of Yun's paintings—which have been associated with Korean Dansaekhwa—these words may serve as curious descriptors of the late artist's striking, monochromatic canvases.
Related Press Nevin Aladağ, Kimsooja, and Nari Ward Create Visual Metaphors for Migration, Exile, and Belonging Hyperallergic : 6 August 2018 KANSAS CITY, Missouri—It is safe to say that the United States is in the midst of a deep crisis of identity, fueled by nationalism, fear-mongering across the political spectrum, and denial about the legacy of migration. Worlds Otherwise Hidden at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City features work by three artists who materially and...
Related Press Frieze Sculpture 2018: the highlights Wallpaper* : 4 July 2018 Between Wimbledon and the FIFA World Cup, there's been plenty of distractions from London's unusually Mediterranean weather of late.
Related Press Japanese Gutai in the 1950s: Fast and Fearless The New York Times : 14 June 2018 In the 1950s, the artists of the newly formed Gutai group of Japan worked fast and fearlessly, changing styles and mediums at will, staying abreast of the latest postwar developments abroad. The mood of this band of innovators was eclectic — and electric — as demonstrated by "Gutai: 1953-1959," an ambitious show at Fergus...
Related Video & Audio Angel Vergara | Straatman Axel Vervoordt : 23 August 2017 Straatman first appeared in front of the Belgian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1988. Ever since, he has been popping up in various places from Antwerp to Tokyo, both announced and by surprise. Leading up to the exhibition at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in September 2017, Straatman turned up in several locations around Antwerp throughout the month...
Related Video & Audio Michel Mouffe - Axel Vervoordt Gallery Axel Vervoordt Gallery : 8 June 2017 © Hugo Frey. Courtesy the artist and Axel Vervoordt Gallery.
Related Video & Audio Kimsooja on 'Brilliant Ideas' Bloomberg : 26 January 2017 Born in 1957 in Daegu, South Korea, Kimsooja started attracting the attention of the international art community when she began constructing Korean bottaris in her art – a gesture and motif that continues to appear in her work till today. Her art centers on the work and labor of women –beginning with her early sewn works, to her films and video...
Related Video & Audio Sadaharu Horio "Atarinae-no-Koto" Axel Vervoordt Gallery : 10 November 2016 Straatman first appeared in front of the Belgian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1988. Ever since, he has been popping up in various places from Antwerp to Tokyo, both announced and by surprise. Leading up to the exhibition at Axel Vervoordt Gallery in September 2017, Straatman turned up in several locations around Antwerp throughout the month...
