Art
Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s New Group Show Explores the ‘Poetics of Encryption’
Much of the world's shopping, banking, entertainment and social interactions occur online. Yet, the mechanisms that underpin these tools remain largely unknown to many, argues Copenhagen's Kunsthal Charlottenborg. The institution's latest group show, Poetics of Encryption, explores the dark underbelly of society's digital dependency and how these ominous forces are able to shape collective moods and cultural narratives. Curated by Nadim Samma, author of Poetics of Encryption. Art and the Technocene., the exhibition presents multi-media works from 38 international artists, including Trevor Paglen, Carsten Nicolai, Émilie Brout and Maxime Marion. Like Samma's introspective survey, the art on view probes into encryption as a technical process and a metaphor for the Technocene, in which inform...
Theaster Gates Highlights Historical Fight for Land Rights in ‘The Gift and The Renege’
Back in March, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) presented the first playable basketball court to ever be installed in an arts institution made in collaboration with adidas Basketball. CAMH continues its intuitive public programming with a monumental showcase featuring thought-provoking works by seminal artist Theaster Gates. Entitled ‘Theaster Gates: The Gift and The Renege,’ the presentation navigates complex, socio-political dynamics through large-scale paintings, multimedia installations, and sculptures. Gates continues to probe the Black experience and everyday lives of marginalized communities through large-scale works that touch on widely overlooked issues such as displacement, gentrification and racism in both the social and domestic contexts. One work entitled “WE WILL S...
Hypeart Visits: How Dabin Ahn Turned Imperfection Into His Artistic Voice
Dabin Ahn often wonders what his career would have looked like if his studies hadn’t been halted to enlist in the Korean Air Force. Prior to his mandatory service, the Seoul born artist primarily focused on portraiture, a creative inclination subconsciously driven by his overly obsessed self image, he recounts. As the son of Ahn-Sung Ki, one of Korea’s most prolific actors, young Dabin, who also pursued deejaying, lived a luxurious lifestyle and featured as a model in a number of prominent publications.Two years of bootcamp, however, “is enough time to transform into someone else,” Ahn tells Hypeart, who couldn’t look at himself the same way after the military. "I used to spend like two hours every day trying to make myself look good. I was no longer interested in even looking at myself in...
Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’ Prints to Headline Bonhams and Christie’s Auction This Fall
Nearly 200 years since its creation, Katsushika Hokusai's Kanagawa-oki nami-ura (Under the Wave off Kanagawa) is arguably the most recognizable Japanese artwork in the island nation's history. Commonly referred to as The Great Wave, Hokusai's woodblock print depicts the towering might of the seas as Mount Fuji stands as a tiny sliver in the distance. Experts believe that roughly 5,000 to 8,000 of the original woodblock prints exist today, but a much smaller batch that is in pristine condition. This fall, Bonhams and Christie's will soon auction two original prints from the latter group of Great Wave prints. “An example in good condition with no in-painting, with a good look, and is fresh to the market can typically sell for between $500,000 and $1.5m USD,” said Jeff Olson, Bonhams' directo...
Paul Anthony Smith Distorts the Details in ‘Antillean’
Jamaica-born, New York-based artist, Paul Anthony Smith, will uncover his solo exhibition, Antillean, at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. The show continues Smith’s exploration of unease and obscurity within issues of diasporic identity. In a departure from still images, these paintings disrupt the crystal clarity of photographic information to invoke new ways of seeing.The exhibition began as a series of photographs Smith captured during Carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago. The images, first printed on canvas or linen, underwent a series of picotage and spray paint treatments, as Smith complicates the simple translation of sharp photographs into literal meaning.Standout works, such as “Caricom 2”, conjure patterns of Caribbean breeze blocks and window grates to underscore the experie...
Collectors: Luca Benini’s Archive of the Global Underground
Luca Benini had no real connections to the fashion industry. Surprising, given the impact the 62-year-old has had since starting his cult clothing store and fashion label Slam Jam back in 1989. “I come from a small town in the outskirts of Ferrara, literally in the middle of nowhere,” Benini tells Hypeart. “I have always been naturally interested in clothes and how people dress.” Like an invisible magnet drawing him from afar, music “played – and still plays – a major role” in Benini’s taste and curiosity — from disco and house to electronic and hip hop. For nearly 35 years now, Benini has in-turn become the magnet that now draws in customers and tastemakers from around the globe, as he continues to shape clothing with an “Attitude for the Global Underground,” as his brand’s motto goes.Sla...
Signed Dalí Prints Take to Auction After Rediscovery in a London Garage
A garage holds what time forgot, but the art market might not. Resurfacing fifty years after their original purchase, a collection of 10 lithographs by Salvador Dalí will go to the block after their rediscovery in a London garage. Alongside five lithographs by Théo Tobiasse, the French painter and engraver, the pieces are expected to bring in several thousand dollars at the Hansons Richmond auction on September 30.Chris Kirkham came across these works following an invitation to the consignor’s property located in Berkeley Square, an area known for its historic charm. The consignor purchased the lithographs for £500 EUR (approximately £2,400 or $3,100 EUR today) from a London gallery before it went under in the late 1970s. Today, this collection is set to fetch ten times their original inve...
Mark A. Rodriguez Interrogates the Eternal in ‘Forever’
Mark A. Rodriguez’s new solo exhibition is now on view at Chris Sharp Gallery in Los Angeles. Presenting a new array of work, Forever takes cues from the US Forever Stamp. Coinciding with these everlasting postal stamps, this show imbues everyday Americana with a “deadpan” existentialism.In this collection of around 20 pieces, Rodriguez constructs unique stamp frames, cutting across borders of painting and sculpture. These works almost swallow the stamps in a cloud of sculptamold and acrylic paint. By eclipsing their small size, each frame brings the stamp’s detail into full focus.“The objects themselves are weirdly beautiful; their formal attributes evoking whole histories of Los Angeles sculpture from Mike Kelley to Ken Price,” the gallery says in a statement. The vibrant colors of Forev...
Nicolas Party Reflects on the Climate Emergency at the Leeum Museum
Swiss artist Nicolas Party has unveiled a new solo exhibition at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul. As his first show in Korea, the show will present a wide survey of work, spanning painting, sculpture and the site-specific installations that Party has come to be known for over the past decade.Dust is centered around themes of longevity and the existential threats facing nature and civilization. Party is revered for blending tropes from art history through a surreal vernacular that he achieves through pungent oil pastels, often recreating entire exhibition halls into fantastical worlds that radiate with a mysterious and often beguiling charm. His latest show will comprise of 48 existing works, including 20 new paintings and five large scale pastel murals alongside Leeum's permanent collecti...
ACU and Jahan Loh Present Immersive Art Exhibition ‘The Fookie Hall’
Singaporean contemporary artist Jahan Loh has opened The Fookie Hall, a new immersive art exhibition at Chengdu’s MEW Art & Culture Space. The exhibition is presented by Shanghai-based retailer, ACU, and will remain on time for a limited only.Touted by the artist as a “veritable feast for one and all,” The Fookie Hall combines contemporary art with traditional Chinese elements. The title of the exhibition is also a play on "福气” (pronounced fúqi), the Chinese character for blessings. Expanding the theme using the five auspicious Chinese characters: "福”, “禄”, “寿”, “禧”, ”财" (fortune, prosperity, longevity, happiness, wealth), Loh curated five different sections to the exhibition, each offering a distinct experience.Symbolizing fortune, the “福” Pavillion provides a place to pause, gather a...
The Noguchi Museum Opens 40th-Anniversary ‘Against Time’ Exhibition
Against Time: The Noguchi Museum 40th Anniversary Reinstallation is now open at The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum until September 14, 2025. Pieces from the original second floor installations will return to their galleries for the first time in fifteen years, ahead of the museum’s 40th anniversary in 2025.The reinstallation will include more than 60 works from the museum’s permanent collection, including Noguchi’s 1928 brass and wood sculptures. With many considered as personal breakthroughs, these pieces narrate the peaks and troughs of the artist’s six decade-long career.Against Time is looks to The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (New York: Harry M. Abrams, Inc.,. 1987) instead of traditional wall labels. While it cannot reconstruct Noguchi’s exact vision for the galleries, the...
James Turrell to Illuminate Almine Rech Paris With New Installation
In October, Almine Rech Paris will unveil a new light piece from James Turrell’s ongoing series, Tall Glass / Wide Glass. This announcement marks the gallery’s 12th exhibition with the installation artist in the last three decades.Behind Tall Glass / Wide Glass is a state of becoming. The forthcoming piece builds on the series’ twenty-year-long exploration of elliptical and rectangular forms in a “unique aperture”. Viewers will bear witness to a dream of light and color, made possible by diaphanous material , as it bends and flexes through the whole of an hour.Whereas previous works in the series took on a neon hue, Turrell began considering LED possibilities in 2015. With a wider spectrum of rich hues and light levels, this turn allowed for greater artistic liberty with regards to shape ...
