STEVE FARRER – SWINGEING LONDON, 1974

Posted on 2020-04-06

First film made at art school, primarily painting and sculpture, a strategy to concentrate on film-making as the focus of my practice after being introduced to the London Film Makers Co-Op cinema and workshop in my first year.
The film had to be made without a camera, handprinted as per course activity, a photosilkscreen project as a movie, and appropriated from Pathé news footage of Mick Jagger and Robert Fraser being taken before the court over drug charges, the material lifted from an Arts Council Documentary about Richard Hamilton, the 16mm movie documentary footage being transferred onto a photo silkscreen, both negative and positive imprints were made and then printed onto bleached 16mm film salvaged from the Wardour Street bins.

Opposite – Swingeing London, 1974 (video still)

Exhibition runs through to April 13th, 2020

Amanda Wilkinson
1st Floor, 18 Brewer Street
W1F 0SH
London

amandawilkinsongallery.com

  

CHRIS HUEN SIN KAN – PUZZLED DAYDREAMS

Posted on 2020-04-06

Huen’s largescale oil paintings are derived from observation of his own life, portraying quotidian experiences through a fresh set of aesthetic strategies that bring the domestic and surreal into compelling partnership. His technique, imbued with both deft abstraction and the hallmarks of traditional Chinese ink painting, involves layering one dab of paint over another until the pattern on the canvas echoes the spirit of the scene. The blank spaces and fragmented forms give voice to a specific moment and the way it exists, or perhaps escapes the artist’s consciousness.

From his studio in leafy Yuen Long, north of the dense urban centre of Kowloon, Huen depicts a cast of recurring characters including his wife Haze, two children, and dogs Balltsz, Muimui and Doodood. His dream-like pictures evolve organically and haphazardly; the artist forgoes underdrawings and sketches, and rather than paint from a photograph or from the scene itself, favours intuition by opting to eternalise transient moments from feeling and memory. Depicting what has been seen but perhaps forgotten, Huen’s intuitive exploration of perception flows with a deep sensitivity and alchemy of recognition, attaining a specific resonance steeped in individual sensation and shared experience.

Opposite – Doodood, Balltsz and MuiMui, 2020

Online exhibition runs through to May 2nd, 2020

Simon Lee Gallery
12 Berkeley Street
W1J 8DT
London

www.simonleegallery.com

  

MICHEL FRANÇOIS

Posted on 2020-03-30

In the first room, the artist presents work from a new series of wall-mounted sculptures. From afar, it appears as though a sea of loops and curves has beensketched directly on the wall; as spontaneous as a doodle. Closer inspection reveals it to be a three-dimensional work in metal. The curvilinear ‘drawing’ is created from a single 95-metre-long ribbon of rolled steel. Yet, for all its linear grace, the metal possesses a powerful tensile strength and will instantly recoil unless firmly secured. François loops the ribbon across the frame, securing it at strategic points with strong magnets. As is typical of his work, the sculpture is the unpredictable result of a predetermined process. With great economy of means, he literally takes a ‘line for a walk’, without knowing in advance how the finished object will ultimately look. In this sense, the artist surrenders to the process and his material to create a piece that is as much about control (physically mastering the volatile, unpredictable steel), as it is about letting go (the material has a life of its own).

Opposite – Untitled, 2020

Exhibition runs through to April 25th, 2020

GAVLAK
340 Royal Poinciana Way, Suite M334
FL 33480
Palm Beach

www.xavierhufkens.com

  

SELECTED FILM AND VIDEO WORKS

Posted on 2020-03-30

A group show featuring Luke Fowler, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Anna Gaskell, Marcel Odenbach, Samson Youngmaterials.

Opposite – Luke Fowler, For Christian, 2016

Exhibition runs through to April 20th, 2020

Galerie Gisela Capitain
St. Apern Straße 26
50667 Cologne
Germany

www.galeriecapitain.de

  

RON GORCHOV

Posted on 2020-03-30

On the occasion of Ron Gorchov’s ninetieth birthday, Cheim & Read are presenting a selection of the artist’s most recent work. Cheim & Read has represented the artist since his first exhibition with the gallery in 2012, and is planning an exhibition of new works in 2021.

Opposite – IDOMENE, 2018

Exhibition runs through to May 1st, 2020

Cheim & Read
23 East 67th Street
10065 New York

www.cheimread.com

  

JEREMY DEMESTER – OUIDAH

Posted on 2020-03-23

The present exhibition was developed through consultation with several Voodoo masters (Vodounnon). An oracle gave the artist twenty-one words. These words, such as sun, moon, arrow or cross, are all symbols that populate the works to activate the world of spirits. Stirred by invisible forces, Demester’s paintings embrace the infinite metamorphoses of this cult, through their intense colourism and their exploration of primordial energies.

Demester’s works are presented along with art objects from his own collection, created in Ouidah, which bear witness to several aspects of the Voodoo journey. The Voodoo art objects take various forms and continually evolve in response to the fluctuations of the Western market, which can be felt in the availability of certain fabrics or in clothing fashions. Voodoo, an ancestral force, embodies in all materials – it dominates life.

Opposite – Le pouvoir de Lissa, 2020

Exhibition runs through to May 9th, 2020

Galerie Max Hetzler
Bleibtreustraße 45
10623 Berlin
Germany

www.maxhetzler.com