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...
Jiang Zhi was born in Yuanqiang, Hunan province, in 1971 and graduated from the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. He was awarded the academic achievement of Reshaping History (Chinart from 2000-2009) in 2010, the Chinese Contemporary Art Golden Palm in 2009, the Asian New Force IFVA Critics Award in 2001, and also received the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2000. Generally considered one of China’s most diverse and avant-garde artists of his age, Jiang Zhi’s artistic practice ranges widely from oil painting, video, installation, sculpture and photography. A mid-career retrospective exhibition titled “If This Were A Man” curated by Bao Dong is currently on view at the Times Museum in Guangzhou. Jiang Zhi currently lives and works in Beijing and Shenzhen.
Related Press “Canton Express”: art from the Pearl River Delta at M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong Art Radar : 29 August 2017 Canton Express is held at the M+ Pavilion, located at the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, which showcases the collection donated by Chinese collector Guan Yi to M+ in 2013. The show is on view from 23 June to 10 September 2017. In addition to the exhibition, M+ also organised a weekend-long film and video screening, City Limits, held...
Related Press M+ Screenings: City Limits at Broadway Cinematheque, Hong Kong Art Radar : 2 August 2017 Featuring 15 videos and films, M+ Screenings: City Limits will be held at Broadway Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong, from 4 to 6 August 2017. The programme is organised in conjunction with the exhibition Canton Express at M+ Pavilion in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong. Located on Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, M+ is Hong Kong's...
Related Press 'That Has Been, and May Be Again' at Para Site, Hong Kong ArtAsiaPacific : 29 July 2016 Opened alongside Para Site’s 4th annual International Conference (6/21–23), That Has Been, and May Be Again is an exhibition honoring the multitude of voices that have arisen throughout 1980s and ’90s China, that speak to the search for a cultural and political identity during the country’s modernization. The diverse...
Related Press Hong Kong show of underground 1990s Chinese art offers different perspective on era South China Morning Post : 27 June 2016 A new show at Hong Kong’s Para Site exhibition space is a reminder that mainstream narratives have a tendency to obscure what artists do during periods of great political change.Those narratives affect how we see art history. After the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, it was assumed that the restrictive environment forced artists to...
