Highlight #1: Remarkable Contemporary Artists who are represented in art shows

Exhibitions in New York, Sao Paulo, Hongkong, Paris, London and Sharjah

U.S., NEW YORK <CHRIS OFILI: NIGHT AND DAY>

29 OCTOBER 2014~1 FEBRUARY 2015_NEW MUSEUM

Born in Manchester, England in 1968, a well-known British artist Chris Ofili ‘s first major solo museum exhibition in the United States is on view. His works occupied three main galleries of New Museum in New York. <Chris Ofili: Night and Day> featured over thirty of Ofili’s paintings, drawings, and a selection of sculptures from over the course of two decades of his artistic career. He is inspired and borrowed imageries from disparate, history-spanning sources that are the Bible, hip hop music, Zimbabwean cave paintings, Blaxploitation films, and William Blake’s poems.

In early years of his career in the '90s, he created his representative style of works that is a combination of diverse materials such as paint, resin, glitter, and even elephant dung. This exhibition presents more than 12 of his paintings from this period. After moving to Trinidad from London in 2005, Ofili changed to a new direction and began 'The Blue Rider' series. It took its title from the early 20th century artist group that was known as spirituality by connecting visual art with music. Since then, Ofili has worked on a vast quantity of large blue paintings. In this exhibition, nine of these works are brought together for the first time in an architectural environment designed by the artist himself. The curators of the shows are Massimiliano Gioni (Artistic Director), Gary Carrion-Murayari (Kraus Family Curator), and Margot Norton (Assistant Curator). Chris Ofili currently lives and works in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Chris Ofili <Untitled (Afromuse)>

1995-2005 Watercolor and pencil on paper 24.3×15.7cm Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London ⓒChris Ofili
Chris Ofili <Afronirvana>

2002 Oil, acrylic, polyester resin, aluminum foil, glitter, map pins, and elephant dung on canvas 274.3×365.7cm Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner, New York/London, and Victoria Miro, London ©Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili <Confession (Lady Chancellor)>

2007 Oil on linen 281×195.3cm Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London ©Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili <The Adoration of Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars (Third Version)>

1998 Oil, acrylic, polyester resin, paper collage, glitter, map pins, and elephant dung on linen (243.8×182.8cm Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner, New York/London, and Victoria Miro, London ©Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili <Untitled (Afromuse)>

1995–2005 Watercolor and pencil on paper 24.3×15.7cm Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London ©Chris Ofili

BRAZIL, SAO PAULO <DAMIEN HIRST: BLACK SCALPEL CITYSCAPES>

11 NOVEMBER 2014~24 JANUARY 2015_WHITE CUBE SAO PAULO

Damien Hirst's new painting will go on view at White Cube Sao Paolo. Hirst is known as the most prominent member of the group called the Young British Artists (known as YBAs). In the exhibition the work ‘Black Scalpel Cityscapes' is showcased. In his new series of paintings, manmade features and natural elements are combined. He had used butterflies and flies before, the main mediums used this time are razor blades and scalpels. The buildings, rivers and roads are also depicted in zips, fish hooks, hooks, iron filings and safety-pins. These figures are all set against black backgrounds in the canvas and gloss painted on the surface.

The well-curated, patterned and repeated elements in the works remind of his signature type of techniques used in earlier series. Hirst selected seventeen of cities for the show. Particular history that each city has is described and written into its geographical extension. The works show how it has incrementally grown and developed during past years.

Damien Hirst <Leeds>

2014 Scalpel blades, skin graft blades, zips, fish hooks and gloss paint on canvas 182.9×274.3cm ©Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2014 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy White Cube
Damien Hirst <London>

2014 Scalpel blades, skin graft blades, razor blades, zips, stitching needles, tattoo needles, pins, fish hooks, safety pins and gloss paint on canvas 182.9×274.3cm ©Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2014 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy White Cube
Damien Hirst <London (Detail)>

2014 Scalpel blades, skin graft blades, razor blades, zips, stitching needles, tattoo needles, pins, fish hooks, safety pins and gloss paint on canvas 182.9×274.3cm ©Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2014 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy White Cube
Damien Hirst <Rio>

2014 Scalpel blades, skin graft blades, zips, stitching needles, aluminium filings, pins, stainless steel studs, fish hooks, steel wire cutting spool and gloss paint on canvas 198.3×288cm ©Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2014 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy White Cube
Damien Hirst <Rio (Detail)>

2014 Scalpel blades, skin graft blades, zips, stitching needles, aluminium filings, pins, stainless steel studs, fish hooks, steel wire cutting spool and gloss paint on canvas 198.3×288cm © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2014 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy White Cube

HONGKONG <JEFF KOONS: HULK ELVIS>

6 NOVEMBER 2014~20 DECEMBER 2014_GAGOSIAN GALLERY HONG KONG

Internationally renowned artist, Jeff Koons opens a solo show in Gagosian gallery in Hong Kong. It is his first major solo exhibition in Asia. Koons gained recognition in the 1980s. He was one of a generation who explored the meaning of art in a media-saturated era. In early stage of his artistic career, he rose to prominence for his reproductions of banal objects such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He has representatively been showing the evolved works from its original form. He brought his ongoing series of works titled <Hulk Elvis> in the show.

The works range from precision-machined bronze sculptures. This is inspired by an inflatable of the popular comic book hero Hulk. The main sources often shown in his works are children's art, comic book characters and figures from classical antiquity. Koons illustrates a common thread through cultural history and attempts to touch the core of the human psyche.

Jeff Koons <Hulk (Friends)>

2004-2012 Polychromed bronze 181×123.2×66 cm Edition of 3 plus 1 AP ©Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons <Hulk (Organ)>

)> 2004-2014 Polychromed bronze and mixed media 252.7×127.6×80.3cm Edition of 3 plus 1 AP ©Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons <Hulks (Bell)>

2004-2012 Polychromed bronze, bronze and wood 172.9×119.4×208.3cm Edition of 3 plus 1 AP ⓒJeff Koons
Jeff Koons <Hulk (Wheelbarrow)>

)> 2004-2013 Polychromed bronze, wood, copper, and live flowering plants 172.9×122.9×207.3cm Edition of 3 plus 1 AP ©Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons <Couple (Dots) Landscape>

2009 Oil on canvas 274.3×371.2cm ©Jeff Koons

FRANCE, PARIS <INSIDE>

20 OCTOBER 2014~11 JANUARY 2015_PALAIS DE TOKYO

<Inside> completely escapes the narrative of those who have not personally experienced it. The show offers visitors such special experience with a passage to the interior of the self and the exhibition space at Palais De Tokyo plays a role as the metaphor. It leads the visitors to a kind of risky journey. This physical and psychological voyage invites audiences to walk through two floors of the building that have been transformed by artists in such a way that, from one installation to the next, the audience can remain immersed in the works.

This long tour of the exhibition is an opportunity to experience the Palais De Tokyo in the manner of a journey, from physical to mental, from psychological to spiritual, according to the archetype of the initiatory journey. Such renowned artists including Christian Boltanski(1944-) and Bruce Nauman(1941-) are showcased in the exhibition as well. The exhibition seems to succeed in giving a troubling happening and unanticipated experience to the visitors.

Andro Wekua <Untitled>

2011 Mixed media Dimensions variable Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels ⓒAndro Wekua
NUMEN/for use <Tape Tokyo>

2013 Installation view at Courtesy Spiral/Wacoal Art
Center, Tokyo Photo: Junpei Kato
Marc Couturier <Troisieme jour (wall drawing)>

2012 Installation view <Marc Couturier: Le troisieme jour> at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Paris) © Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Paris) Courtesy of the artist Photo: Sylvie Durand
Mike Nelson <Temporary Monument>

1998/2010 Installation view at Camden Arts Centre, London Courtesy of the artist, 303 Gallery, New York, Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Matt’'s Gallery, London and et neugerriemschneider, Berlin Photo: Mike Nelson
Abraham Poincheval <Ours>

2014 Installation view <(Dans la peau de) l’'ours> 01.04 at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris Courtesy Semiose galerie, Paris Photo: S. Lloyd

U.K., LONDON <MIRRORCITY: LONDON ARTISTS ON FICTION AND REALITY>

14 OCTOBER 2014~4 JANUARY 2015_HAYWARD GALLERY

The exhibition <Mirrorcity> presents both emerging and established artists working in London, U.K. Presentation of artworks addresses the effect on our lives when the world goes to digital. Featuring artists describe the challenges, conditions and consequences of living in the so-called digital age. The works are formed in a variety of media such as painting, video, sound and performance. The exhibition reveals two territories: the virtual and the physical. Because of increasing dependence on the Internet in particular on various types of social media, much of our lives are located between these two realms.

Over the last century, writers and artists have explored alternative realities. In the show, 'Mirror' plays a role of a portal to a shadowy world subtly different from its original form. The artists in the <Mirrorcity> explores the in-between spaces where the digital, physical and fictional overlap and intersect. Why don't we travel to the city of mirrors created by these artists?

Installation view <MIRRORCITY>

at Hayward Gallery 2014 Photo: Linda Nylind
Installation view <MIRRORCITY>

at Hayward Gallery 2014 Photo: Linda Nylind
Installation view <MIRRORCITY>

at Hayward Gallery 2014 Photo: Linda Nylind
Installation view <MIRRORCITY>

at Hayward Gallery 2014 Photo: Linda Nylind
Installation view <MIRRORCITY>

at Hayward Gallery 2014 Photo: Linda Nylind

U.A.E., SHARJAH </SECONDS>
11 OCTOBER 2014~10 DECEMBER 2014_SAF ART SPACES

Mohammed Kazem <My Neighbours (Detail)> / 2006 Digital Print 70×50cm

Sharjah Art Foundation presents a selection of artists’ works from the online journal called '/seconds'(2004-2014). This magazine covers a broad range of issues and art practices from different cultural perspectives. Initially introduced in 2004, it invited over 1,500 artists and writers to contribute over the past years. The exhibition </seconds> features key contributors from the ten year period, in tandem with Peter Lewis' curatorial projects. Works on view include a variety of medias such as installations, interactive performance, video, photography and enormous number of several commissioned posters. The exhibition space is covered with poster-sized imageries from ceiling to floor.

Some contents are newly produced especially for the exhibition and some are taken from the curator's online archive. There are no captions of each exhibited item. It is only mentioned on a printed introduction at the entrance. As the curator Lewis mentioned "This exhibition is not singular in any sense, which is why it is called /seconds-even its starting point is plural. It is a collage, so the differences and antagonisms of each piece are supporting the whole concept rather than destroying it.", all objects do not work individually but together. There is a special section composed of selected artists' video and audio from issues 1-14. French artist and singer Fabienne Audeoud performed at the opening of the show. The exhibition additionally will present the premiere screening of <Ah Istanbul> by Graziella Rizkallah Toufic and Jalal Toufic. ■ with ARTINPOST