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...
Hujar's works recall the photographic language of Diane Arbus; his pictures have the same existential tone but extend a cynical, perverse look on mankind. His works are sublime, dark and hazy but loving and touching in a way that is characteristic of certain strands in vintage photography like Strand and Stieglitz. His legendary book Portraits in Life and Death is a unique achievement, bringing together scenes of melancholy and beauty, sadness and hope in a single bound collection. Another wonderful publication, Animals and Nudes, juxtaposes forms in a disarming, down-to-earth way that belies his impressive technical and compositional skills. The animals are human in the plight of their everyday existence, and the humans animal-like, reduced as they are to a pre-societal state. Photographs are seen here for what they basically are: mechanically produced works on paper, which accounts perhaps for the derisive attitudes to photography as stand-alone art medium in the past.
Ocula Report The Lowdown: shows to see during Armory Week 1 Mar 2018 : Robert Ayers for Ocula Seasoned visitors to New York City's Armory Show (8–11 March 2018) know that the fair is really just the weekend-long cherry on top of the splendid sundae that is the New York art scene and all it has to offer. With so much else to see, here's the lowdown on some of the city's current standout shows.Songs for SabotageNew Museum 13 February–27...
Related Press Your Concise New York Art Guide for Fall 2019 Hyperallergic : 10 September 2019 As always, there are many wonderful exhibitions, film festivals, and art events taking place throughout the fall in New York. We've put together our recommendations, and hope that they encourage you to explore the artistic happenings of this great city. Focusing on museums, art nonprofits, and galleries that continue to make New York a global hub...
Related Press 'You always find something different': Sir Elton John on his love of photography Christie's : 14 March 2017 ‘A photograph brings me so much joy, they’re beautiful objects,’ says Sir Elton John, discussing a remarkable collection of 25 works by some of the world’s greatest photographers, to be offered at Christie’s in New York on 6 April 2017. Proceeds from the sale of these works will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), an international...
Related Press The beasts within: Artists tap into their wild sides for a roaring show Wallpaper* : 26 November 2016 Rarely before have we seen such a long and varied list of contributors, as we do in Marian Goodman Gallery's group show Animality. The 'cast of creatures' ranges from dogs, camels, fish to octopi, and charts a history from George Orwell to Gabriel Orozco by way of Marcel Broodthaers. Curator Jens Hoffmann, never one to turn down a...
Related Press The past is a foreign country: on photos by Peter Hujar and Chris Killip Art Critical : 24 February 2016 Chris Killip and Peter Hujar — in 1976, an ocean apart — photographed a boy and a man, respectively, wearing combat boots. In both photographs, the combat boots are broken in. Leather is scuffed at the toes and sides. Around the ankles, the boots have wrinkled where the laces have been pulled tight, time and again. The rigid soles have...
