First New York solo show for Sopheap Pich, Cambodia’s most prominent contemporary artist

SOUTHEAST ASIAN CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE

On November 12th, Tyler Rollins Fine Art (TRFA) introduced another Southeast Asian artist to the New York art scene. Bamboo sculptor Sopheap Pich’s first solo exhibition in New York will run until January 9th 2009, ending the Fall exhibition season.

RAFT, 2009 BAMBOO, RATTAN, WOOD, WIRE, METAL BOLTS 89 X 177 X 52 IN.

According to TRFA, Pich has been very active on the international stage in recent years and is now considered to be Cambodia’s most prominent contemporary artist. In addition, Pich’s artwork is currently part of the 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale ending on November 23rd.

"THE PULSE WITHIN" INSTALLATION VIEW

“Issues of time, memory, and the body are integral to Pich’s work. For this exhibition, he has created a dynamic group of sculptural forms derived from the internal organs of the human body, such as the heart, lungs, and intestines. These function as visceral reminders of the past and of the intimate, physical connections between human beings” – quoting TRFA’s website

Related Links and Posts:

• Visit Sopheap Pich’s website at http://sopheappich.com
• 5 80s born contemporary Cambodian artists featured in historic show Forever Until Now – March 2009
• 5 60s and 70s born contemporary Cambodian artists in documentary show Forever Until Now- March 2009
• Historic show documents development of Cambodian art- Forever Until Now – March 2009
• World first show of Japanese sculpture in bamboo New York – Sep 2008

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SF/KCE

Young Chinese Artists The Next Generation – book review

EMERGING ARTISTS CHINA BOOK REVIEW

A new book called Young Chinese Artists: The Next Generation was recently sent to us for review by the editors. We were a little concerned that this might be another ostensibly objective production, the real purpose of which is – yes, you guessed – the promotion of gallery artists.

Li Yu Liu Bo, She follows you and sleeps in your bed naked? Who is this lady?, 2006, C Print and Lightbox

We were, however, surprised and delighted to find that it is a book to roll around in, play with and draw inspiration from. At 300 pages long it provides an introduction to thirty artists (six of whom work as duos) born in mainland China between 1975 and 1981, roughly half a decade.

Click to buy

This era and time frame – unusually short for a survey – are two of the factors which make this book particularly engaging.

The p0st-’70s era was selected because it marks the end of the Cultural Revolution and artists born in this period are witness to China’s continuing frenetic social and political development: a rich source for artistic inspiration and expression.

But, perhaps just as significantly for the success of the book, these artists, born no later than the seventies, have had enough time to build a body of work large enough for in-depth assessment. At the same time many are sufficiently unknown to allow us a tantalising sense of discovery.

The short time period of 1975-1981 astutely recognises the velocity of change in China in the last thirty years: a shorter time-frame allows for a more rigorous and meaningful analysis of the themes preoccupying artists which are teased out in a series of essays by experts and writers.

The team of twenty writers and editors include influential figures such as Huang Du who was curator for the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and Philip Tinari who curated the selection of Hong Kong artists at the big-name Louis Vuitton show in Hong Kong 2009.

Xu Zhen, Fitness, 2007

Each artist is awarded one chapter which contains an interview, eight or so images, a listing of principal exhibitions and a one-page overview of the development of the artist’s work by one of the team of writers, usually written in a somewhat academic style. This is an extract from Philip Tinari’s essay ‘The Merry Prankster’ about Xu Zhen:

“Xu Zhen’s recent work has grown more light-hearted, if predicated on the notion of elaborate fictional scenarios. In one 2007 work Fitness he rigged exercise machines with remote control technology so that the viewer can get a virtual ‘workout’ by pressing buttons.”

Perhaps the least successful sections are the promising-sounding artist interviews where responses turn out to be  perfunctory. “Do you believe in true love?” “Yes”. Perhaps the fault lies in the skills of the interviewers who use closed-ended questions without follow up. But then again the snappy style was ubiquitous across the responses and could in fact be a telling reflection of the essential culture of this generation of artists: a time-starved, light-chat-as-snack culture propagated by the internet social media.

What we liked most was the sense that the editors had tried to reflect the real art scene as they experience it on the ground, even though their take may be viewed as controversial.

“In the past several years outside of China a number of contemporary art exhibitions featuring young Chinese artists showcased artistic forms such as video, multimedia and installation which gave the impression that painting was passe… while we have observed that the employment of these ‘new media’ is widespread (quite a few artists work in more than one discipline), painting is very much a driving force in the contemporary art scene.”

Find below more facts about the how the artists have been selected and their names.

Further criteria used for selection:

• representative of the generation – themes which reflect the mindset of the generation
• origins in mainland China – born and raised there
• the variety of media actually used by artists – while ” new media is widespread, painting is still a driving force in contemporary art scene”
• local/international exposure
• body of work showing discernable artistic development
• independence of thought and
• authenticity

No account was given of the market value of the works.

Artists are:

Birdhead, Cao Fei, Chen Ke, Chen Quilin, Chi Peng, Gong Jian, Han Yajuan, Li Hui, Li Jikai, Li Qing, Li Yu and Liu Bo, Liang Yue, Liu Ding, Liu Ren, Liu Weijian, Ma Yanhong, Qiu Xiaofei, Ta Men (THEY), Tang Maohong, Wang Guangle, Wei Jia, Wen Ling, Wu Junyong, Xu Zhen, Yang Yong, Zhang Ding, Zhou Jinhua.

To buy Young Chinese Artists: The Next Generation click here

Related posts:

• Who are the emerging Generation Y artists from Asia? The New Museum selects – March 2009
• What are the latest trends in Chinese art? Who are the top two emerging artists? Melissa Chiu video – Feb 2009
• New roles for art collectors on Second Life – interview Cao Fei – Jan 2009
• Emerging Chinese conceptual artists defies recession at Christies Hong Kong December 2008 - Dec 2008
• Top 5 books on Chinese art by specialist Pippa Dennis – Oct 2008

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Emerging Chinese conceptual artist Li Hui defies recession at Christies Hong Kong Asian art sale December 2008

Amber

EMERGING CHINESE ARTIST HONG KONG AUCTION

Christie’s Asian Contemporary Art sale on 1 December was surprisingly encouraging for the art market, at least the Asian contemporary art market, although perhaps not too much should be read into that just yet. Nevertheless it was successful.

Some commentators have moaned that only half the lots did anything and in any event that estimates were restrained. This is just silly. In the present financial environment it should have been a disastrous sale. Going by previous economic downturns, it would have been.

But for some reason it did ok, in fact more than just ok, and right now that “ok” is very impressive, even ‘encouraging’. Interpreting this is difficult but it probably has a lot to do with the massive expansion of the art market since the last major downturn in the late 80s (by comparison the Tech Crash was just a wobble) and the fact that the market has also matured enormously since then, becoming vastly more professional, transparent (yes, compared to where it used to be, it is now positively crystal) and its consumers more numerous and as a whole better educated. To see whether Christie’s sale was a one off or whether there is real significance to be gleaned from it, we’ll just have to wait for further similar sales around the world in the next 6 to 12 months.

One of the artists who made the sale successful was Li Hui, a conceptual artist who works in diverse mediums including transparent neon-lit perspex sculptures and laser beams. Born in 1977, he graduated from Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2003. Since then he’s been very busy and has gained a lot of attention, particularly from Taiwan and Korea, but not so much in the West. Until now.

On sale at Christies was Lot 912 Amber (2006), a transparent LED lamp, acrylic and stainless steel sculpture in the shape of a generic sports car and encasing the (also transparent) skeleton of a huge reptile. This work was previously shown at the 2006 Shanghai Biennial. It looks just stunning. As for its intellectual games, well for now I leave them to you. Christie’s estimate was HK$500,000 – $800,000 (USD $64,808 – $103,692). It’s sale price was HK$1,580,000 (USD$204,879), a sliver shy of double the highest estimate. And just to prove it wasn’t a mistake, a similar work Lot 913 went for HK$1,160,000 (USD $150,418 ) or almost 50% higher than the high estimate.

And this is not the first time he has done this. Li Hui’s work has been outdoing estimates for a while. See for instance Christie’s May November 2007 and May 2008 sales. The figures are impressive enough but that is only half the story. Remember that Li Hui is still quite young, only 31. Also remember that these works are not paintings, there is no Pop Realism or Political Pop to be seen. This is very refined conceptual art. It might look cool but it still demands that you think hard about it. In this context, the sale prices are event more impressive. By no means is Li Hui’s work easily affordable art but I have no doubt that its market price is headed in one direction only.

    Contributed by Chris Moore, a writer and a partner in the contemporary art investment firm mooreandmooreart.co.uk. He lives in Shanghai and specialises in contemporary Chinese art.

See Li Hui past lots at Christies, recent stories about recession, emerging artists, Chinese artists

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Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2008 emerging artists on show in Hong Kong

ASIAN ART PRIZE

The Sovereign Asian Art Prize carries a first prize of US$25,000 and is in its 5th edition. This time the acceptance criteria have been broadened from all forms of painting to all forms of 2D media. Thirty finalists have been selected by a panel of experts from 1000 entries. A public prize is also awarded to the painting which receives the most votes from the public who attended the exhibition or cast their votes on the website.

The culmination of the prize is a public auction where it is hoped that funds will be raised to support charities and a ‘first of its kind in Hong Kong’ three year residency programme for international artists.

Judges are Uli Sigg (collector) Peter Aspden (Financial Times critic) Pamela Kember (art historian and critic) Victoria Lu(musem consultant) Pooja Sood(Director of Khoj Foundation) and Xu Bing (artist).

Finalists

Australia: Bundit Puangthong, Chris Wake, China: Collette Fu, Hou Yan Yan Hong Kong: Caroline Chiu, Chow Chun Fai, Man Fung-Yi, Gretchen So, Peter Steinhauer, Angela Su, Anothermountainman India:Seema Kohli, Indonesia:Terra Bajraghosa, Suroso Isur, Saputro Uji Handoko Eko, Japan: Yu Hara, Maiko Sugano, Noriko Yamaguchi Korea: Dongi Lee, Lim Taek Malaysia: Chan Kok Hooi, Hoo Kiew Hang, Myanmar: Mor Mor Philippines: Robert Langenegger Singapore: Mee Ai Om Taiwan: Chiu Chien-Jen Thailand: Jaratsri Prasongdee, Laura Spector, Sirat Ubolyeam Vietnam: Le Thiet Cuong

Radar’s picks

Lim Taek

Korean artist Lim Taek’s work is inspired by 18th century traditional Korean black and white ink drawings. Tael transforms these into 3D sculptures made of plastic and Korean traditional paper which he installs in a gallery.  He then photographs animals trees rocks and people and places these images into the installation. His intention is to create a dreamlike sensation for viewers as they gaze at his imaginary world.

Maiko Sugano

Japanese artist Maiko Suganowas nominated by Asia Art Archive. She is interested in bridging barriers and misunderstandings by seeking common ground across cultures. In 2002 Sugano was presented with the Jack and Gertrude Murphy Fine Arts Fellowship sponsored by San Francisco foundation. She also runs an artist residency house called ‘YomoYama House’.

Angela Su

This work ‘Amorpha Juglandis’ is part of a series and drawings and embroideries in a project entitled ‘Paracelsus Garden’ – an imaginary location inhabited by insects and plants which on closer inspection reveal themselves to be a bizarre juxtaposition of bones muscles and organs. This work takes the form of a moth which uses the cochlear (part of the human inner ear) and scapulas(shoulder blades) as wings. The entire work is embroidered with fine polyester filament on silk.

Noriko Yamaguchi

Noriko Yamaguchi was born in 1983 and her work crosses over the mediums of photography and performance art. In the ‘Ketai Girl’ series Yamaguchi wears a bodysuit made of cellphone keypads a comment on today’s society where people are in constant telephonic touch but ache for physical connection. In 2004 she received the Panel of Judges Award at the 21st Century Asia Design Competition held by Kyoto University of Art and Design.

See

• larger images and more information about all the artists see Sovereign website.
• more posts on prizes and awards for Asian art

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Filipino artist Ronald Ventura in Singapore museum show to November 2008

Ronald Ventura

 

 

 

FILIPINO ART EXHIBITION to 16 November 2008

Ronald Ventura in Mapping the Corporeal at NUS Museum of Singapore studies the human body, paranoia and religious consciousness in modern societies. Ventura expresses these ‘tensions’ in the form of sculptures, assemblages and hyperrealist paintings which are created mainly in graphite on canvas.

Ronald Ventura was born in 1973 and studied painting at the Philippines College of Architecture and Fine Arts, University of Santo Tomas, Manila.

See

• Ronald Ventura’s website
• more posts including auction success for Ronald Ventura, news and profiles of other Filipino artists in category Filipino art

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Emerging artists sell well at Zoo Art Fair London 2008 – Telegraph

 

Gosha Ostretsov

ART FAIR LONDON

 

Like Frieze, the Zoo Art Fair, which was held at the Royal Academy’s Burlington Street galleries, concentrates on new work. “Several of us did very well,” says Nick Hackworth, director of London’s Paradise Row gallery, which sold four works by Russian artist Gosha Ostretsov for £13,000 each within the first half an hour.

“We’ve had a lot of major collectors who would normally have been looking at very established artists, coming to look for new, exciting younger artists here. Maybe the trend this month is that while overvalued works at the top and middle of the market have suffered, emerging art is fine.”

See

• images on Gosha Ostretsov website
• more posts about emerging artists, Russian artists, art fairs
• latest news from London
• Telegraph site

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Tate Museum acquires video of Lebanese artist Akram Zaatari at Frieze Art Fair 2008

MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS

Acquired as a gift by The Outset /Frieze Art Fair Fund to benefit the Tate Collection:
Akram Zaatari born 1966
Nature Morte, 2008
Video projection
11 minutes
Dimensions variable
Ed 2/5 + 1 AP
Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Hamburg
Akram Zaatari is a video artist and curator who lives and works in Beirut. Author of more than 30 videos, and video installations, Zaatari has been exploring issues pertinent to Lebanese postwar condition, particularly the mediation of territorial conflicts and wars through television.
Each year, two prominent international curators are invited to work alongside Tate curators to select works. This year, the international curators were Thelma Golden (Director and Chief Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem) and Sabine Breitwieser (independent curator and General Secretary of CIMAM).

The Fund is organised by Outset which was founded in 2003 as a philanthropic organisation dedicated to supporting new art. The charity focuses on raising private funding from its supporters and trustees for public museums, galleries and art projects.

With Tate’s annual government funding for its acquisitions effectively frozen since 1982, and now worth a small proportion of its original value, the Fund helps provide a much needed contribution towards Tate’s ongoing campaign to develop its Collection. A significant number of works acquired through the Fund are currently on display at Tate Modern.

See:

• video works of Akram Zaatari on Video Data Bank
• more information about exhibitions and who collects Zaatari on artfacts.net
• Tate website
• more in category Iranian art including posts on Iranian artists at Saatchi exhibition 2009, survey of Islamic art at Pergamon museum 2008 , Iranian Farhad Ahrarnia picked as ‘one to watch’ by Canvas magazine 2008, market news for Iranian art

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Surprises in store at Singapore Art Fair October 2008 – Asian Art News

ART FAIR SINGAPORE

ARTSingapore 2008 has some important surprises in store says Asian Art News. There will be a new focus on art from Korea, India and Japan, first time gallery participants, a collector’s show of art never before displayed in public and specially featured emerging artists to watch.

 ”This year’s event will highlight a sizeable representation from India Korea and Japan” says fair director, Chen Shen Po. Alongside 22 new Korean fair participants ARTSingapore will also welcome 13 Japanese art galleries including Megumi Ogita Gallery, Shonandai MY Gallery, Arte Gallery and Shinsedo Hatanaka. This marks a new milestone in the development of the fair which has historically been a showcase for South East Asian art.

First time gallery participants include Sundaram Tagore Gallery (USA), Cais Gallery (Korea), Hwas Gallery (China), Silverlens (Philippines) and Bruno Art Group (Israel). Click here for full gallery list.

Jirapat Tatsanasomboon

Rising artists to be featured at the fair include:

• Wu Jianjun (China)
• Kengo Nakamura (Japan)
• Jirapat Tatsanasomboon (Thailand)
• Dang Xuan Hoa (Vietnam)
• Wayan Sujanda (Indonesia)
• Thota Vaikuntam (India)

This year the popular Special Collector’s Showcase section is curated by Masanori Fukuoka owner and founder of Japan’s Glenbarra Art Museum and who according to Asian Art News is ‘recognised as the world’s top collector and connoisseur of Indian contemporary art’. Fukuoka has arranged a solo show of Jogen Chowdhury (b 1939), one of the foremost artists of post-Independent India which will contain 18 ink pastel and watercolour works never before displayed in public.

As well as the Collector’s Showcase there will be another important exhibition. Kim Soo Keong a leading collector in Korea and a director of Kwangju Biennale Foundation has agreed to loan the Fair a group works from her collection of more than 100 pieces of Nam June Paik’s works, some of which including TV Repair Man and Blue Buddha have never been shown in public. Kim Soo Keong’s Nam June Paik collection is widely regarded as being amongst the most important in the world.

In total the fair will feature 110 galleries and institutions from 16 countries who will showcase more than US$30 million of artworks before an expected 15,000 visitors. Despite the fair’s growth from just 19 galleries in 2000, the Singapore fair remains ‘one of the most friendly and accessible’ fairs in the region says Asian Art News.

• More art fair updates
• News about Indian art, Korean art, Japanese art
• Latest posts on collectors
• Emerging artists

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Iranian artists dominate Saatchi’s upcoming Middle Eastern exhibition

 

Sara Rahbar Flag 19 Mixed media

ACQUISITIONS MIDDLE EASTERN ART

As financial markets roil , art collectors seeking a safe haven eye up opportunities in the Middle East. If anything, some players expect an even stronger market in the Middle East than in China, because so many of the art initiatives-to showcase the region’s artists as well as import Western art-have the direct backing of the government or royal families. Abu Dhabi is planning to spend $50 million to fill its Louvre.  

While galleries are increasingly showing Middle Eastern contemporary art, especially in London, it is still uncommon in Western collections says Conde Nast’s Portfolio. Most of the artists are unknown outside of the Middle East.

That could be about to change as British art collector and marketing guru Charles Saatchi makes his interest in Middle Eastern art known. A recent addition to his planned exhibiton list is Out of Arabia: New Art and New Perspectives in which he showcases artists from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and predominantly Iran.

At time of writing artists include:

• Iran: Sara Rahbar, Tala Madani, Laleh Khorramian, Rokni Haerizadeh, Ramin Haerizadeh, Ali Banisadr
• Lebanon: Jeffar Khaldi
• Iraqi: Halim Al-Karim, Ahmed Alsoudani
• Syria: Diana Al-Hadid

For most recent list of artists, bios and images visit Saatchi online , latest news on Middle Eastern art, Islamic art, thread art, feminist art, identity art.

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Iranian artist Farhad Ahrarnia picked as one to watch – Canvas

Farhad Ahrarnia

EMERGING ARTIST IRAN

Following his recent exhibition ‘Stitched’ in London, Iranian artist Farhad Ahrarnia is featured by Middle East specialist art magazine Canvas as ‘one to watch’. Born in 1971 in Shiraz, Iran and educated at the Northern Media School Sheffield UK, Ahrarnia divides his time between the two cities and “it is perhaps by being both “here and there” that he is able to reflect on his own identity and look at life as an observer” says Canvas. “For Ahrarnia nothing is quite what it seems and everything merits a closer look”.

Working in a range of media from photography and video to embroidery, Ahrarnia’s choice of technique (craft versus technology) and his subject matter (domestic versus international) are in his own words: “A reflection and testimony to the complexities of contemporary experience rooted in the hybrid, fragmented and diverse Middle Eastern ‘reality’ where tradition and modernity fuse”.

With exhibitions throughout the north of England under his belt, this summer Ahrarnia exhibited his recent work ‘Stitched’ at the Leighton House Museum in London. Featuring images of celebrities and Iranian ex-royalty taken from print and online media, Ahrarnia digitally prints the image onto canvas and then painstakingly embroiders part of the surface with colourful silk threads.

“In doing so” says Canvas “it is the relationship between what lies on the surface and what may lie underneath that piques his interest. Influenced by the ordered and geometric structures of late Mondrian paintings, Iris Murdoch’s novel ‘Under the Net’ and even the philospohical work of Wittgenstein it is the act of pulling thread through fabric that for Ahrarnia pulls hidden meanings from within the images”.

The subjects of his work include US soldiers who have died in Iraq, former empress of Iran Farah Diba Pahlavi and one of Iran’s most legendary women the stage and screen icon Googoosh.

In his brilliant video work ‘Mr Singer’ he responds to the fictional character Seargent Zinger based on a real story of a salesman and spy who sold Singer sewing machines to affluent Iranian families in the 1930s and 1940s meanwhile collecting information on the people and areas he visited.

Related:

• Canvas magazine site
• More emerging artist ideas
• Latest news on Iranian artists, Middle Eastern artists
• Recent posts on video art, thread art

If you enjoy reading about emerging artists you can follow Art Radar Asia’s Beam series which takes an in depth look at the art practice, career highlights and auction history of up and coming artists.