Ocula Conversation Cinga Samson: ‘a different conversation on representation’ By Jareh Das, New York Cinga Samson 's paintings lay bare the complex relationship between contemporary life, African traditions, globalisation, and representation. His strikingly sombre portraits contain similarities to those of contemporary painters such as Toyin Ojih Odutola, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye , Kehinde Wiley , Florine Démosthène, and Tunji...
Ocula Report Dhaka Art Summit 2020: Seismic Movements By Radha Mahendru, Dhaka Seismic Movements , the fifth Dhaka Art Summit, plotted movements, solidarities, and exchanges across the Global South with over 500 artists, scholars, curators, and thinkers.
Ocula Insight Guo Hongwei on Seeing Patterns That Don’t Exist By Sherry Paik, New York Guo Hongwei's recent watercolour paintings, showing at Chambers Fine Art in New York from 3 March, trigger pareidolia—the phenomenon of seeing random objects or patterns where they do not exist.
Ocula Report Frieze Los Angeles: Shows to See By Tessa Moldan, Los Angeles Los Angeles' art scene has a lot to offer during Frieze Los Angeles, with galleries, non-profits, and museums gearing up for the fair's second edition between 14 and 17 February 2020. In this Ocula Lowdown, Tessa Moldan lists a selection of the city's must-see shows.
Ocula Photolog Art Basel Miami Beach 2019 'In Art Basel's American show, leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia show significant work from the masters of Modern and contemporary art, as well as the new generation of emerging stars. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, films, and editioned works of the highest quality are on display in the main...
Ocula Photolog ART021 Shanghai 2019 'As one of the most important contemporary art fairs in Asia, ART021 reinforces its ongoing commitment to leveraging local recourses with a global perspective, supporting contemporary Chinese art andcultivating new generations of domestic collectors. 111 world's leading galleries from 18 countries and 57 cities are selected to present contemporary...
Ocula Photolog FIAC, Paris 2019 'FIAC brings together 197 galleries from 29 countries. Coming together from all over the world, the diversity of FIAC's exhibitors and their loyalty year after year reflects the magnetic attraction of Paris in theinternational creative community.' – FIAC Paris, Press Release.
Ocula Photolog Frieze London 2019 'Frieze London brings together more than 160 galleries from 36 countries, representing the fair's most international edition since its launch. Introducing new curators and sections showcasing performance, emerging artists and the contemporary significance of complex art genealogies and colonial legacies, Frieze London creates an exceptional moment...
Ocula Report 16th Istanbul Biennial Collapses Culture-Nature Divide By Stephanie Bailey, Istanbul At the opening of the 16th Istanbul Biennial, The Seventh Continent (14 September–10 November 2019), curator Nicolas Bourriaud began his introduction with a clip from Werner Herzog's 1982 movie Fitzcarraldo , the story of a man who moves a steamship up a hill in the process of fulfilling a fantasy to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle....
Ocula Conversation Tala Madani: 'I don't make a conscious decision to subvert the gaze' By Jareh Das, Los Angeles Tehran-born, Los Angeles -based artist Tala Madani 's paintings and animations fluctuate between comic strip, political satire, and abstraction in their depictions of human figures in their most primal states. Her paintings are characterised by thick and unfinished brushstrokes, which enable an immediacy as they lay bare absurd power systems in...
Ocula Report Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House By Jareh Das, London Get Up Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House in London (12 June–15 September 2019) surveys more than half a century of black creativity in Britain and beyond across the fields of art, film, photography, music, design, fashion, and literature. Curated by Zak Ové, works by approximately 100 intergenerational...
Ocula Photolog Frieze New York 2019 'Building on Frieze's history as a platform for discovery and challenging the traditional art fair format, the eighth edition introduces new curators and collaborations with leading museum directors; including two exhibitions exploring virtual reality and the significance of self-taught artists, and two new sections celebrating Latin American art...
Ocula Photolog Art Basel in Hong Kong 2019 'Art Basel reinforces its ongoing commitment to showcasing exceptional art from Asia and the Asia Pacific, with over half of the participating galleries having exhibition spaces in the region. The main sector of the show features 196 of the world's leading galleries presenting the highest quality of painting, sculpture, drawings, installation,...
Ocula Report Dismantling the show: the 2017 Whitney Biennial By Daniella Rose King, New York Inaugurated in 1932, the Whitney Biennial is the United States' longest running survey of contemporary American art. As with many of its predecessors, the 2017 Whitney Biennial (17 March–11 June 2017) was controversial. The textures of this particular furor are strikingly similar to those incurred in the last Whitney Biennial, held in 2014. In...
