Ocula Conversation Sunjung Kim’s Real DMZ Project Interrogates the North and South Korea Divide Ongoing since 2012, the Real DMZ Project interrogates the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea through annual, research-based exhibitions that bring together the works of Korean and international artists. Sunjung Kim, the independent curator behind the project, conceived the idea of exploring the DMZ while curating Japanese artist...
Ocula Report Sydney Lowdown: Exhibitions to See 6 Sep 2019 : Elyse Goldfinch for Ocula The fifth edition of Sydney Contemporary will take place once again at Carriageworks between 12 and 15 September 2019, with Spring 1883 bringing together a cohort of 27 galleries from across Australia and the region to inhabit rooms at the Establishment Hotel from 11 to 14 September 2019, uniquely presenting contemporary works propped up on...
Ocula Insight | Video Mark Bradford’s Call for Unity at Shanghai’s Long Museum 16 August 2019 Mark Bradford walks through Mark Bradford: Los Angeles Mark Bradford: Los Angeles at the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai (27 July–13 October 2019) is the artist's largest solo exhibition to date in China. In this video for Ocula, Bradford and Diana Nawi, curator of the show, walk through selected works that convey the artist's concerns with...
Widely admired for his work which takes aspects of modernism and grafting them on to socio-political issues, Coventry appropriates global symbols of junk culture-the golden McDonald's arch, in particular-and re-contextualises them, inviting the viewer to consider these logos afresh in a gallery context. Working in white monochrome, or colour, he hones in on the curves of the infamous 'M', cropping, recasting and framing, to striking minimalist compositions.
In his extensive 'Estate Painting' series Coventry focuses on the architectural layouts of London's notorious tower blocks and council estates and distils them into abstract colour block patterns which have been likened to works by Russian Constructivist painter Kazimir Malevich. In employing these tropes of modernism, Coventry has said he is returning to the original ideas of utopianism behind these urban projects-now widely regarded as failures. As Coventry puts it, this kind of social housing: 'it was a promise given at the beginning of the 20th century that was unfulfilled.'
Coventry studied at London's progressive Chelsea school of Art. He exhibited in the legendary 1997 Sensation show at the Royal Academy, and was part of the elite Young British Artists who dominated the UK's visual art scene. Charles Saatchi was one of his first collectors.
Coventry's work has been exhibited widely in the UK and Europe and is included in collections worldwide, including the British Council; Tate Modern; Arts Council of England; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 2010 Coventry was awarded the John Moore's Painting Prize.
In 2018 Reflex presented the first Benelux exhibition of Keith Coventry's work. In conjunction with the show, Reflex published a book including all Coventry's 'Pure Junk' works and with an essay by Sir Norman Rosenthal.
Related Press Singapore Art Week art agenda : 23 February 2018 Developed by the Singapore government in 2013 in an attempt to create hype around the fair Art Stage Singapore, Singapore Art Week (SAW) is a loose collection of events organized by museums, art spaces, and cultural producers. This year’s edition featured a series of festivals that turned the Civic District’s museums into glowing canvases for art...
Related Press Transient Space review – tales of the city The Guardian : 13 August 2017 You are in a multistorey car park. You don’t know where your car is. It must be in one of the four corners, on one of the seven levels, by one of those numberless pillars. But they all look the same. You can’t leave without the car and you cannot find it in the concrete labyrinth. This is the modern city.The familiar scenario is brilliantly...
