Ocula Report Havana Biennial 2019: Constructing the Possible 17 Apr 2019 : Federica Bueti for Ocula I first visited Havana in November 2016, a few days after Fidel Castro died, and just under a year before Hurricane Irma hit Cuba in September 2017. Since then, much has changed, including the hand-painted signs that punctuate the journey from the airport to the city centre, which today do not celebrate the revolution so much as the 'Unidad y...
Ocula Conversation Andrew Stahl and Guo Xiaohui The exhibition Beyond Boundaries at Somerset House in London (12 March–2 April 2019) marked the historic contributions of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (CAFA) and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, on the occasion of their 100th and 150th anniversaries, respectively. Spread across several rooms of Somerset House's...
Ocula Report The National 2019: New Australian Art 13 Apr 2019 : Elyse Goldfinch for Ocula The National 2019: New Australian Art features work by 70 contemporary Australia-based artists split across three venues: the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Carriageworks, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) (29 March–21 July 2019), as curated by Isobel Parker Philip, curator of photographs at AGNSW; Daniel Mudie Cunningham,...
The Axel Vervoordt Company and Axel Vervoordt Gallery are located at a site known as Kanaal–a converted industrial distillery that has become a cultural and residential community.
Boris Vervoordt created the Axel Vervoordt Gallery in 2011. The gallery opened in a historic space in the centre of Antwerp with an exhibition by Günther Uecker. Boris chose to open the gallery in the same exact place where his father had mounted exhibitions for Uecker and Jef Verheyen in the 1970s. The first exhibition—and those that followed—linked this new start to the company’s long history with art and its original home in the Vlaeykensgang. This continued a path of more than 40 years of working closely with artists.
'Our company has always followed a path of discovery and knowledge through art.'
– Boris Vervoordt
Boris's goal was to create the best possible platform for solo artists to present their work. Central to the gallery's on-going mission is a commitment to partnering with artist’s estates, as well as rediscovering artists whose work was under-appreciated during their lifetimes to preserve and promote their valuable contributions to art history.
The gallery expanded to Asia in 2014 with a space in central Hong Kong in the Entertainment Building.
In 2017, the Antwerp gallery moved to a new space at Kanaal, opening with a monumental retrospective of Kazuo Shiraga.
The gallery’s early program included a specialty in post-war and contemporary art with a specific focus on art from Europe, Japan, and Korea, particularly art from the ZERO and Gutai movements. An emphasis on Dansaekhwa followed, as the gallery’s program and participation in global art fairs grew in prominence and its roster of artists expanded.
'Art offers joy and endless inspiration. Artists force us to look at the world in new ways. Seeing works by gallery artists in in major institutions—like the Tate and Guggenheim—is validating, but even more, it ensures that they will be shared with a wide audience in the context of passionate scholarship.'
– Boris Vervoordt
Ocula Report Art Basel in Hong Kong 2019: A Post-mortem 6 Apr 2019 : Diana d’Arenberg for Ocula Although Art Basel in Hong Kong is the youngest of the Art Basel fairs, and a relative newcomer to the international art fair circuit, it has now become a major attraction for collectors and galleries from around the world. The seventh edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong saw thousands of art courtesans and benefactors kick off the week with a string...
Ocula Report Art Basel in Hong Kong: Exhibitions to See 23 Mar 2019 : Tessa Moldan for Ocula For those visiting during Art Basel in Hong Kong (29–31 March 2019), the smell of fresh paint may still be in the air at the latest heritage conservation project, The Mills, which opened on 16 March to encompass the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textiles (CHAT), joining the ranks with ex-prison complex Tai Kwun, along with Eaton HK—a retro...
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...
Related Press Bosco Sodi: Heavens and the Earth at Blain | Southern, Hanover Sq (London) Arte Fuse : 26 March 2019 Sodi (b.1970 Mexico City, MX) is predominantly known for his roughly-textured relief paintings. In this new series he brings together two contrasting colours in the same composition for the first time, in reference to universal notions of opposing forces.
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 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...
