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...
Michael Dean (b. 1977, Newcastle Upon Tyne) lives and works in London.
In 2016, Dean was a Turner Prize nominee and in 2018 was nominated for the Hepworth Prize for Sculpture. In 2019, Dean will have a solo shows at Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City and at S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium, and participate in a group show at Palais des Beaux- Arts, Paris.
Recent solo shows include: Michael Dean: Laughing for Crying, St Carthage Hall, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore (2019); Contemporary Sculpture: Sam Anderson & Michael Dean, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida, US (two-person with Sam Anderson, 2019); Having you on, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2018); ShanghArt Gallery, Shanghai (2018); Four Fucksakes, Herald St | Museum St, London (2017); Teaxths and Angeruage, Portikus, Frankfurt (2017); Lost True Leaves, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2016); Sic Glyphs, South London Gallery, London (2016); Stamen Papers, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome (2016); Qualities of Violence, De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam (2015); Jumping Bones, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp (2015); HA HA HA HA HA HA, Kunst Forum Ludwig, Aachen (2014); The Introduction of the Muscle, Arnolfini, Bristol (2013); Cubitt, London (2012); Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (2012); Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg (2011); Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London (2011) and Nomas Foundation, Rome (2010).
Group shows include: Summer Exhibition 2019, Royal Academy of Art, London (2019), Scripts, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefeld (2018); Give Up The Ghost, Baltic Triennial 13, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn (2018); Hepworth Prize for Sculpture 2018, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield (2018); Raymond, Manifesta 12, Grand Hotel et Des Palmes, Palermo (2018); Alexandra Bircken, Josh Brand, Matthew Darbyshire, Michael Dean, Cary Kwok, Amalia Pica, Nicole Wermers, Herald St | Museum St, London (2018); Against The Wall?, S.M.A.K., Ghent (2018); Skulptur Projekte, Münster (2017); More Than Just Words [On the Poetic], Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2017); Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp (2017); Turner Prize 2016, Tate Britain, London (2016); Pierre Guyotat: La matière de nos œuvres, Galerie Azzedine Alaïa, Paris (2016); Pure Fiction, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris (2016); Concrete Islands, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles (2016); House of Commons, Portikus, Frankfurt (2016); The Language of Things, Public Art Fund - City Hall Park, New York (2016); Par tibi, Roma, nihil, Nomas Foundation, Rome (2016); Albert the Kid Is Ghosting, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (2015); Sculptures Also Die, curated by Lorenzo Benedetti, CCC Strozzina, Florence (2015); The Noing Uv It, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2014); MIRRORCITY, curated by Stephanie Rosenthal, Hayward Gallery, London (2014); Manners of Matter, curated by Chris Sharp, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2014); Thousand Doors, curated by Iwona Blazwick, Whitechapel at The Gennadius Library, Athens (2014); A History of Inspiration, curated by Adnan Lyildiz, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); A Dying Artist, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2011); Beyond the Fragile Geometry of Sculpture, curated by Lorenzo Benedetti, De Vleeshal, Middelburg (2011); We Will Live, We Will See, curated by Pavel S. Pys, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2011) and Sculpture Also Dies, curated by Lorenzo Benedetti, Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse (2010).
Related Press How Important is Art as a Form of Protest? Frieze : 3 April 2017 Given the current political climate, we here at frieze have been reflecting on the role of art in responding to conflict. With this in mind, we invited a cross-section of artists, curators and writers to answer two deceptively simple questions: ‘How important is art as a form of protest?’ and ‘How effective is it as a conduit of change?’ Responses...
Related Press Why this year's Turner Prize is one of the best in ages The Telegraph : 25 October 2016 It’s sculpture, but not as you know it. For years the shortlists for the annual £25,000 Turner Prize given to an artist under 50, with the runners-up each receiving £5,000, have focused on sound art, archive art, theory art, video art and other more or less immaterial forms. Last year’s competition, when much of the...
Related Press This years Turner Prize exhibition makes good on its potential to shock Hyperallergic : 5 October 2016 LONDON — It’s the same thing every year. The press has a field day with some sensational piece that challenges the very definition of art and the Turner Prize is front page news for the day — a rare event for any contemporary art show — bringing it to the attention of hundred of thousands, if not millions, of potential...
