Ocula Report ‘An Opera for Animals’ at Rockbund Art Museum 19 Jul 2019 : Penny Liu for Ocula An Opera for Animals was first staged at Para Site in Hong Kong between 23 March and 2 June 2019, with works by over 48 artists and collectives that use opera as a metaphor for modes of contemporary, cross-disciplinary art-making. The exhibition's second iteration takes up a large portion of the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) in Shanghai (22 June–25...
Ocula Conversation Mandy El-Sayegh: Productive Ambiguity Moving across installation, painting, drawing, and writing, Malaysia-born and London-based artist Mandy El-Sayegh explores the political, social, and economic complexities of humanity, using a mosaic of information—from advertising slogans and pornographic imagery to newspaper articles—that she subjects to processes of layering,...
Ocula Report Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House 5 Jul 2019 : Jareh Das for Ocula 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 black...
Liu Weijian has defined his cold and recondite way of 'social narration' through his early works: he wears a cold neutral 'image' mask and takes it as the root of his 'conceptual painting'. With his cold touch and melancholy feelings, Liu Weijian's work deals with many of the current issues he and his contemporaries think about daily and creates a feeling of constant movement and of un-finished business.
After that, the ever-changeful themes and painting styles are the self-evolution with the increase of ages, expansion of horizons and the changes of social experiences of Liu Weijian. 'Every once a while I will go to some places, somewhere nothing special, no particular choice, just like the randomness of life…endless walking makes me get closer to the conception between ‘people’ and ‘me’.' In this highly symbolism tour, painting is the ideal way to express his self-cognition seeking journey, and his works are the rebuild of different memory fragments.
Liu Weijian (b.1981) lives and works in Shanghai. He graduated from Shanghai Normal University of Art (2005). Recent exhibitions include I Love You, Shanghart Beijing (2015); Under the Sun, ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai (2014); The Idea Before Sunrise, Galería Yusto, Giner, Malaga, Spain (2012); Farewell my Country—Liu Weijian Solo Exhibition, Gallery Louis Vuitton Maison, Hong Kong (2011); China Power Station, Part IV, Pinacoteca Agnelli, Torino, Italy (2011); Antenna—Solo Exhibition, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai (2010); The Call of Crowns, BizArt Art Center, Shanghai (2007).
Ocula Conversation William Zhao Independent Curator, Critic and Consultant, Hong Kong The last decade has seen an extraordinary interest in the art of China, yet Hong Kong artists have been significantly overlooked in this bubbling and frothing phenomena. It is timely therefore that Ai Weiwei, arguably the most well-known of the Chinese artists, has chosen to curate an exhibition in Hong Kong featuring only Hong Kong artists; and...
