Ocula Conversation Cinga Samson: ‘a different conversation on representation’ Jareh Das 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 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 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 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 Report Aichi to Okayama: Art in Japan Looks to the Future Stephanie Bailey, Okayama There has been a flurry of triennial and biennial art activity in Japan this year. The Aichi Triennale opened in Nagoya this August, sparking a national debate about the shutting down of a display of formerly censored works—the result of public backlash against a burnt image of Emperor Hirohito and a statue commemorating the women forced...
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 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 Photolog Art Basel in Hong Kong 2018 'The sixth edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong brought together a uniquely global mix of galleries spanning six continents, outstanding artworks by established and new artists from across theworld and a singular gathering of international collectors and institutions.' –Art Basel in Hong Kong (29–31 March 2018).
Ocula Insight Djordje Ozbolt at Gallery Baton, Seoul Elliat Albrecht Serbian-born artist Djordje Ozbolt is known for his use of humour to address social and political issues through eclectic painting, sculpture and drawings. His works are always vibrant, often motley and sometimes sarcastic. No one can accuse him of not knowing his craft: Ozbolt studied architecture in Belgrade before moving to London, where he...
Ocula Report Berlin, Boners and Brecht Diana d'Arenberg, Berlin Apparently my timing sucks. One week too late for Berlin Gallery Weekend, and one month too early for the Berlin Biennale. ‘You should have been here last weekend for Berlin Gallery Weekend!’ a Berliner friend exclaimed. ‘Everyone was having orgies at Soho House! It was the best art world networking!’ I shifted...
Ocula Insight Max Frisinger at Gallery Baton, Seoul Laura Thomson Max Frisinger (B. 1980) is internationally recognised for sculptures and installations that stem from a considered observation of ordinary objects which he re-uses and thus re-invents. Ambiguity is what stimulates Max Frisinger, by working the material and form of the sculptures, he underlines their inherent opposites: brilliancy and decay, the...
Ocula Insight Kim Sang Gyun at Gallery Baton, Seoul Kim Sang Gyun, who is showing a new series of sculptures and installations at Gallery Baton in Seoul until 20 January 2016, answers five questions on his work. Your works are quite unique in their appearance. Please could you talk through the process and meaning behind your work Pattern ? The presented works have a process...
Ocula Conversation Rosa Loy Laura Thomson, Leipzig Rosa Loy was born in Zwickau, Germany (1958) and lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. She completed her BFA and MFA at the Academy of Visual Art in Leipzig. Along with her husband, Neo Rauch, Loy is associated with the New Leipzig School of contemporary German painting. Loy has exhibited widely including solo exhibitions at the Städtische...
Ocula Report Synergetic Seoul: Movers In The Korean Art Scene Ines Min, Seoul It’s easy to list off the most influential gallerists in Seoul. Kukje, Arario, Hyundai, PKM, Pyo and Gana Art. But in recent years, a pivotal band of creative spaces have been taking the South Korean art scene in a different direction, headed by a new generation of artists and gallerists able to adapt to the post-recession economic...
Ocula Conversation Koen Van Den Broek Anna Dickie, Hong Kong The work of Koen van den Broek refuses to be neatly defined. It bears strong affinities to the tradition of European painting, while at the same time inhabiting the landscape of the street and the vocabulary of American abstraction. Having studied architecture, the artist explores the geometric spaces of roads and transportation structures. Indeed...
Ocula Report Seoul - Get, Set, Go! The Seoul Art Race Mark Waugh, Seoul So everyone who went to the opening of the 55th Biennale of Venice knows that the art world moves at curious speeds. You see movers and shakers lost in chat and apparently blind to the works on the wall or asleep on their feet in queues for the ‘Must See Pavilion’. Well one of the slowest moving of these was for Kimsooja's...
