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,...
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.
Tatsuo MiyajimaMoon in the ground no.2, 2015 Stainless mirror, waterproof light emitting diode, IC, electric wire, iron
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,...
Ocula Photolog FIAC Paris 2018 19 October 2018 'For the 2018 selection, held in Paris from 18 to 21 October, FIAC brought together 195 galleries from 27 countries in the nave and exhibition rooms of the Grand Palais. The fair presented the finest examples of artistic creation since the turn of the twentieth century; modern masters through to the latest trends, notably represented in the...
Ocula Photolog Art Basel in Hong Kong 2018 29 March 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 Conversation He Xiangyu Artist, China He Xiangyu's second solo exhibition, Evidence, at White Cube gallery's Bermondsey space in London (7 February–8 April 2018) is somewhat different from the artist's first exhibition with the gallery in 2014 (He Xiangyu: Inside the White Cube, 22 January–13 April 2014). Gone is the crystallised residue of 127 tonnes of Coca-Cola that the artist...
Related Press Jenny Holzer’s piercing beacons of truth light up Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Wallpaper* : 29 March 2019 Jenny Holzer was 26 when she arrived in New York. The freshman art student at the Whitney Museum had grown up in Gallipolis, Ohio, a sleepy town in America's Midwest, and had spent her early twenties jumping from place to place in search of her artistic identity. She started out as an abstract expressionist. Then she tried to capture the human form...
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 Artes Mundi 8: Filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul wins £40,000 prize BBC News : 24 January 2019 Indie Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul has won the £40,000 Artes Mundi contemporary art prize.The judges said his film Invisibility was 'a powerful weapon in these turbulent times'.The 48-year-old gave a UK premiere to his dream-like work, projected over two screens and showing two figures rising from their beds in separate rooms.He was...
Related Press Antique photogravure process goes modern at Crown Point Press Datebook : 13 November 2018 From across the gallery, the four framed prints of architectural ruins look like vintage black-and-white photographs. But a photograph is just the start for what you are seeing at Crown Point Press.
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.
