Ocula Conversation Jess Johnson: Worlds Within Worlds Geometric patterns, anthropomorphic characters, architectural spatial environments, and relics of the ancient world appear throughout Jess Johnson's artworks.Johnson's solo art-ventures began in drawing, but her long-term collaborative relationship with animator Simon Ward brings her drawings to life in videos and virtual reality. The animator has...
Ocula Conversation Melati Suryodarmo: Performance Art as Trigger In 2012, Melati Suryodarmo opened Studio Plesungan in her native Surakarta, also known as Solo, the historic royal capital of the Mataram Empire of Java in Indonesia. Suryodarmo had returned to Indonesia from Germany, where she studied Butoh and choreography with Butoh dancer and choreographer Anzu Furukawa, time-based media with avantgarde...
Ocula Report Lagos Biennial 2019: Stories from Africa’s most Populous City 15 Nov 2019 : Jareh Das for Ocula Under the direction of Folakunle Oshun, the second edition of the Lagos Biennial (26 October–23 November 2019) includes works by over 40 Lagos-based and international artists, architects, and collectives. Curated by architect Tosin Oshinowo, curator and producer Oyindamola Fakeye, and assistant curator of photography at the Art Institute of...
Ocula Insight | Video Hans Hartung and Art Informel at Mazzoleni London (1 October 2019-18 January 2020) presents key works by the French-German painter while highlighting his connection with artists active in Paris during the 50s and 60s. In this video, writer and historian Alan Montgomery discusses Hartung's practice and its legacy.Born in Leipzig in 1904, Hans...
SCAI THE BATHHOUSE is a contemporary art gallery known for introducing Japan's avant-garde artists to the world as well as for helping exceptional artists from abroad to establish a presence in Japan. SCAI has a strong track-record of large-scale exhibitions presenting artists such as Lee Ufan and Tadanori Yokoo who led the genesis of Japanese contemporary art, and Toshikatsu Endo, Tatsuo Miyajima, and Mariko Mori who brought Japanese contemporary art to the world's attention in the latter half of the '80s and the '90s by showing their works in international exhibitions. Through their association with SCAI, international artists such as Anish Kapoor and Julian Opie have produced new series of works inspired by Japanese traditional culture and crafts.
SCAI also works to discover and promote young artists. Recent successes include stars of international biennales and of well-acclaimed exhibitions at major art museums, such as Kohei Nawa, Nobuko Tsuchiya, Toru Kamiya, Katsuhiro Saiki, Jeppe Hein, Dzine, and Brian Alfred.
In addition to gallery exhibitions, SCAI has also been responsible for numerous site-specific projects, including public art by Tatsuo Miyajima and Louise Bourgeois at Roppongi Hills, and Julian Opie's commissioned work at Omotesando Hills.
SCAI THE BATHHOUSE opened in 1993 with the completion of the renovation of Kashiwayu, a venerable public bath with a 200-year history. The outside of the bathhouse possesses an elegant atmosphere, with its tiled roof and towering chimney. Take one step inside and you find yourself in a very unique exhibition area, a neutral space with white walls, a concrete floor and natural light descending from the high ceiling. Located in the traditional shitamachi (downtown) Yanaka district, SCAI THE BATHHOUSE lies in middle of an art zone, conveniently close to Ueno where many museums and art universities can be found. The gallery is a six-minute walk from the South Exit of JR Yamanote Nippori Station, and a seven-minute walk from Nezu Station on the Chiyoda Line.
Ocula Report At Art Taipei, Galleries Adapt to Regional Politics 25 Oct 2019 : Sam Gaskin for Ocula In Taipei, the artwork that said most about the contemporary art market's fraught situation in East Asia was not at the 26th Art Taipei (18–21 October 2019), but across town at the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, a publicly funded art park established in Taiwan's former Air Force Command Headquarters in 2018.Chin Cheng-Te's Tender Soul – Cold-War...
Ocula Photolog FIAC, Paris 2019 17 October 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 Report Art Jakarta Lowdown: Art Shows to See 27 Aug 2019 : Aisha Johan for Ocula Between 30 August and 1 September 2019, the 11th edition of Art Jakarta will take place at its new home at the Jakarta Convention Center following its rebranding, with collector Tom Tandio as director, and Enin Supriyanto as artistic director.At the fair, viewers can encounter large-scale exhibitions as part of the 'Spot' sector, including...
Ocula Photolog Art Basel in Hong Kong 2019 31 March 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,...
Related Press Paper work – the British Museum shows off its collection of contemporary drawings Apollo Magazine : 4 November 2019 Anish Kapoor, Louise Bourgeois, Rachel Whiteread, Gerhard Richter. These may not be names that spring to mind when you think of the British Museum, but they all have work filed away in its extensive archive of prints and drawings. 'Pushing Paper: Contemporary Drawing from 1970 to Now' lifts a lid on a lesser-known collection at a museum renowned...
Related Press OzAsia review: Vessel In Daily : 28 October 2019 Known for his collaborative work with the likes of Thom Yorke, Anthony Gormley and Marina Abramovic, Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet has made a career of melding dance with other artforms. His latest project is his most conceptually ambitious yet.
Related Press Jenny Holzer Hits Her Mark in a Major, Largely Unnoticed Retrospective Hyperallergic : 29 August 2019 BILBAO, Spain — One of the strangest things about this exhibition is how invisible it is beyond Bilbao. How does it happen that a major artist like Jenny Holzer gets a major retrospective — the largest survey of her work to date — at a major museum like the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao but no catalogue is produced, and there is almost...
Related Press How technology distorts nature: Kohei Nawa’s art for the information age – so tactile you want to feel it South China Morning Post : 24 July 2019 It takes some restraint not to reach out and touch the art when walking through a Kohei Nawa exhibition. From the stuffed animals covered in glass bubbles in his 'PixCell' series to the polished, futuristic blades of Throne, and the voluptuous objects coated in bedazzled grains from his "Particle" series, these sculptures have tactile...
Related Video & Audio ASIA NOW 2018 || Yuko Hasegawa (Curator) and Kohei Nawa (Artist) ASIA NOW : 22 November 2018 Yuko Hasegawa, Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Kohei Nawa discuss the artist's recent sculptures and installations, including Throne, on view under the Louvre Pyramid until January 14, 2019.
Related Video & Audio mariko mori: infinite renew at espace louis vuitton tokyo Designboom : 5 January 2015 redefining the architecture of the espace louis vuitton are eight monumental pieces by internationally-renowned japanese artist mariko mori. the exhibition 'infinite review' amasses sculptures and experiential installations in a series of works that metaphorically reflect the never ending circulation of life and death as well as fragments from the...
