Traditional Chinese techniques are fused with the history of European art in ZHOU LI's 6-metre- long painting at the centrepiece of Kerlin Gallery's booth at Art Basel. The Shenzhen-based artist, who opens two European solo exhibitions this summer (Château La Coste, Aix-en-Provence, 12 June–August, and Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, 2 July–20 August), creates lyrical abstract paintings that capture her acute sensory observations of the world: lightness and shadow, solidity and dissolution, the sense of being. Using the central tenets of Chinese painting–Qiyun, or atmosphere; brush stroke; colour and structural arrangement–Zhou Li looks towards nature as a starting point, particularly the mountainous terrains of Southern China, harnessing traditions of both East and West to develop a distinct painterly language.
Damascus rose is a variety of marble originating in Syria, distinctive for its flesh-like tone. DOROTHY CROSS uses it as the material for a new sculpture, Damascus Pillow–a seemingly-pliable pillow bearing a depression at the centre, as if left by a resting head. In this imprint, the point of contact with the human body, an ear emerges from the stone. Cross sees nature and the body as sites of constant change and flux. Her works harness this fluidity and generative power, staging unexpected encounters between plants, animals, body parts and everyday objects, resulting in strange, hybrid forms that range from the lyrical, sublime and meditative, to the erotic, humorous and playful.
The southern US border, and the humanitarian crisis taking place in its vicinity, is the focus of BRIAN MAGUIRE's Arizona 2. For the last five years, Maguire has been researching the annual fatalities of Central American migrants in the deserts around Tucson, Arizona. Working in cooperation with the Chief Medical Officer of Pima County, Maguire draws upon archives of images originally made by law enforcement to create his paintings. Approaching painting as an act of solidarity, Maguire operates a truly engaged practice, compelled by the raw realities of humanity's violence against itself, and the potential for justice. Past bodies of work have seen him investigate feminicido in Juárez, the favelas of Brazil, and most recently, the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Montana, where Maguire is currently the subject of a solo exhibition at Missoula Art Museum (18 March–13 August).