Ocula Report 4th Kochi-Muziris Biennale: Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life 15 Feb 2019 : Natalie King for Ocula 'Poems are like sentences that have taken their clothes off.' Marlene Dumas' poetic and sensual refrain accompanies her figurative watercolours on view in Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, the fourth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in the southern state of Kerala, India (12 December 2018–29 March 2019).Dumas' new series...
Ocula Conversation Ellen Altfest The paintings of Ellen Altfest are ethereal in their detail. Fields of minutiae come together as pulsating images; small brushstrokes of oil paint accumulate over a series of months to single out seemingly innocuous subjects, such as a hand resting atop patterned fabric (The Hand, 2011) or a deep green cactus reaching upwards from beneath a bed of...
Ocula Report Colomboscope 2019: Cross Currents and Dissonance 8 Feb 2019 : Nada Raza for Ocula On the rooftop of the former Rio Hotel complex in Colombo, it was hard to ignore the high-rise buildings, still under construction, blocking all but a sliver of what used to be an open view over Slave Island, once an island on Beira Lake that housed slaves in the 19th century, and now a downtown suburb. The hotel was set alight during the...
View of 'Ugo Rondinone: I ♥ John Giorno,' Sky Art, 2017. Photo: Daniel Pérez.
I learned early on from the eats, such as Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs—and the Pop artists too—that archives were very important. This was around the late 1950s, or the beginning of the '60s. So, I just saved all of my work. My parents had a house in Roslyn Heights, Long Island, and for fifty years I brought everything I made there for safekeeping. After my parents died, Ugo surveyed what I'd stored—he wanted to turn it into a project. This was around 2000. And then in 2003 we saw the Jean Cocteau retrospective at the Centre Pompidou—which was so brilliant and totally great. Ugo questioned what an archive for public consumption could look like, and his idea for the show developed over the course of fifteen years. It's shocking the way that everything sort of miraculously happened. Every element managed to come together and flourish.
Gallery Esther Schipper 
Gallery Kukje Gallery Kukje Gallery has been a pivotal cultural hub in Seoul, Korea since its inception in 1982. Kukje Gallery is located in the heart of Samcheong-dong, a historically and culturally significant district. The gallery boasts three unique buildings, each titled according to its age: K1, K2, and K3. K2 opened in 2007 to celebrate the gallery’s 25th anniversary, and K3 opened in 2012 to commemorate its 30th anniversary.
Committed to showcasing both international and Korean artists, Kukje is widely celebrated for its diverse and ambitious programming. Specializing in modern and contemporary art, Kukje is often the first venue in Korea to present prominent artists, and major exhibitions have been staged to introduce leading international artists such as Anthony Caro, Anselm Kiefer, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Donald Judd, Anish Kapoor, Bill Viola, Roni Horn, Candida Höfer, Julian Opie, Paul McCarthy, Jenny Holzer, Eva Hesse and Jean-Michel Othoniel.
In conjunction with its focus on international artists, Kukje is committed to promoting Korean artists abroad, introducing artists such as Haegue Yang, Kimsooja, Gimhongsok, Kyungah Ham, Yeondoo Jung, Sora Kim and Jae-Eun Choi at major art fairs around the world. Just as importantly, Kukje has made a strong commitment to post-war Korean artists including Ha Chong-Hyun, Lee Ufan, Chung Chang-Sup, Kwon Young-Woo, Park Seo-Bo, and Chung Sang-Hwa. In particular, Kukje has played a critical role in introducing Korean artists to important collectors, museums and cultural venues around the world, and many Korean artists supported by Kukje Gallery have exhibited in international biennials and major museum exhibitions.
These projects along with the gallery’s ambitious and scholarly exhibition catalogues and ongoing lecture series are what make Kukje a significant contributor in shaping Korea’s cultural landscape. Building on its unmatched reputation, Kukje continues to play a key role in developing the domestic art market as well as providing an important venue for introducing international trends.
Gallery Sadie Coles HQ Sadie Coles HQ is a contemporary art gallery in London which presents work by established and emerging artists. The gallery opened in the West End in 1997. The inaugural exhibition – new paintings by American artist John Currin – was presented in parallel to an exhibition by British artist Sarah Lucas, The Law, in a temporary location on St John Street. This pairing established the international dimension of the gallery's programme, which continues to this day. Sadie Coles HQ currently represents forty-eight artists from around the world.
Sadie Coles HQ has operated from a variety of spaces since its foundation, while staging off-site projects in various locations in London and abroad. In 2015, the gallery opened a new permanent space at 1 Davies Street, designed by 6a Architects, with an exhibition by Rudolf Stingel. This accompanies a larger space at 62 Kingly Street which opened in in September 2013. Exhibitions are presented at both sites throughout the year.
Sadie Coles HQ currently participates in up to seven international art fairs each year; and in recent years, the gallery has enjoyed a growing profile in Asia, participating in fairs including Art Basel Hong Kong, Westbund Shanghai and ART021 Shanghai. In 2017, Sadie Coles HQ presented an exhibition of contemporary art from China, Zhongguo 2185, featuring several artists not previously seen in the UK. In the past five years, Sadie Coles HQ has begun representing a significant number of new artists including Michele Abeles, Uri Aran, Darren Bader, Shannon Ebner, Kati Heck, Helen Marten, Borna Sammak, Ryan Sullivan, Martine Syms, and Jordan Wolfson. This is in addition the continued representation of artists including Sarah Lucas, John Currin, Elizabeth Peyton, Urs Fischer, Carl Andre, Rudolf Stingel, and the Estate of Angus Fairhurst.
Ocula Conversation Ugo Rondinone Artist, New York Swiss-born artist Ugo Rondinone entered Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) like a human prism, shattering the usual museum wall white into the full spectrum of visible color. His solo exhibition, Breathe, Walk, Die, includes concentric circles of blurred colors, plastic filters placed over the museum’s windows to colorize the light...
