Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander impresses judges of SCMP|ART FUTURES at ART HK 10

PAKISTANI AMERICAN ARTISTS ART PRIZES AND AWARDS ART HK 10

Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander, represented by London gallery Pilar Corrias, has been brought into spotlight on the stage of contemporary art after impressing the judges of SCMP|ART FUTURES at ART HK 10 and becoming the winner of the year.

Shahzia Sikander working on a mural in the USA.

Standing out among artists from sixteen galleries that have been set up for less than five years, Sikander won a cash prize and an opportunity to design the front cover of Post Magazine, published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). According to SCMP, she has been praised by one of the judges, Serpentine Gallery co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist, for being a “very special artist” and a worthy winner.

Sikander’s I am also not my own enemy (2009) was exhibited at ART HK 10. It is a decorative work on paper made with gouache, hand painting, gold leaf and silkscreen pigment on paper.

Shahzia Sikander's 'I am also not my own enemy'.

Since graduating from the National College of Arts in Lahore for undergraduate study and the Rhode Island School of Design for master study, Shahzia Sikander has been “instrumental in [the] rediscovery, re-infusion, and re-contextualization of Indo-Persian miniature painting.” She has worked within a wide range of art genres including painting, drawing, animation, installation, video and film. She was named as an honorary artist by Pakistan’s Ministry of Culture and the Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

CBKM/KN

Related Topics: events – fairs, artist nationality – Pakistani, prizes

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3 young Chinese artists awarded prizes at inaugural Caochangdi PhotoSpring

PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL BEIJING AWARDS

As part of the launch of the first annual Caochangdi PhotoSpring festival, held in Beijing, China, from 17 April to 30 June this year, three young Chinese artists were awarded a prize for their outstanding work in photography. The three award winners were selected out of 20 semi-finalists who in turn had been chosen from over 200 submissions from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of the world.

International panel of experts awards photography prize

A panel of international photography experts including Eva Respini (Associate Curator, Photography Department, Museum of Modern Art, USA), François Hébel (Director of Les Recontres d’Arles, France), Karen Smith (Photography Critic and Curator, UK), Kotaro Iizawa (Photography Critic, Japan), and RongRong (co-founder of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, China) made up the members of the jury and selected the recipient of the Three Shadows Photography Award 2010.

The festival was directed by well-known artist couple RongRong & inri, founders of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, together with Berenice Angremy. The director of Les Rencontres d’Arles, François Hébel, acted as guest curator. According to the event’s website, the award aims to support and encourage new talent and give them greater exposure both locally and internationally.

This year’s 3 winners

The winner of the third annual Three Shadows Photography Award and the 80,000 RMB cash prize was 28 year old Shandong province native, Zhang Xiao. In his They Series of 2009 he deals with ordinary people who, because of their jobs, are often relegated to the fringes of society. The artist describes his work: “In real life, they are a group of very ordinary people, with their own lives and careers, but in these photographs, they seem strange and absurd, and very unreal. Behind this ostentatious city there is always grief and tears, indifference and cruelty. I met them by chance and I longed to understand each of their lives and experiences. Perhaps our daily lives are all absurd. I long to understand the meaning of our existence.”

Zhang Xiao, They Series No.01, 2009. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre

Winner of this year’s Shiseido Prize and a 20,000 RMB cash prize was Wang Huan. Born in Shandong Province in 1989, her Alley Scrawl Series (2009) of black and white images was taken of the people, animals and places of the small town of Zhuantang, near Hangzhou. The artist was drawn to recording the lives of its “simple, decent” inhabitants. “It was this simplicity that… made me want to record their lives and engage in this narration about life’s vicissitudes” says the artist.

Wang Huan, Alley Scrawl series No. 2, 2009. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre

The haunting black and white works of the winner of The Tierney Fellowship a and 5,000 USD cash prize, Huang Xiaoliang, deal with memory and a yearning for a better future. The Hunan Province-born artist (1985) presented his An Expectation or a New Miracle Series (2008-2009), with its shadows and dream-like images drawn from the artist’s memory. The artist states, “Many things from my memory appear in these works; these things are from scenes that I remember.”

Huang Xiaoliang. An Expectation or a New Miracle Series No. 15 2008-2009. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre

Caochangdi PhotoSpring and Arles in Beijing

The photo festival was held at one of Beijing’s top art districts, Caochangdi. Caochangdi PhotoSpring partnered with 40 year old French photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles. This is the first time that the Arles’ exhibitions have been shown outside of France.

Caochangdi PhotoSpring offered a myriad of exhibitions from 27 participant galleries featuring both Chinese and international artists. The festival also featured slide shows and discussions, documentary film screenings, book launches and even musical concerts. Some exhibitions and activities run into the month of July.

The main hub of activity, including the venue for the opening ceremony and the announcement of the festival winners, was at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre. This centre, which was opened in 2007, focuses solely on photography and video art. The Centre was designed by Chinese artist/architect Ai Weiwei.

The courtyard of the Ai Weiwei designed Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre

The semi-finalists: 20 young and upcoming Chinese artists

The semi-finalists, whose work was showcased at the Three Shadows Photography Centre Galleries, are: Chen Ji’nan, Feng Li, He Yue, Huang Xiaoliang, Li Chunjun, Li Liangxin, Li Yong, Liao Wei, Liu Jia, Liu Ke, Mu Ge, Qi Hong, Song Xiaodi, Tian Lin, Wang Huan, Xiao Ribao, Xue Wei, Zeng Han, Zhang Jie, and Zhang Xiao.

Tibetan-born artist Qi Hong submitted hand-painted black and white images of the three gorges damn 15 years after they were taken with the intent “to gradually develop the landscape and life of the Three Gorges that I remember.” His images depict the inhabitants going about their activities of daily life such as boatmen pulling a boat against the current, or mountain inhabitants moving a house.

Qi Hong, Backpacker in the Ra, Three Gorges series. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

With regards to his Stone City Series 2009, He Yue states, “Cities are created by piling things up and such is the case with life and thoughts.” For example, in Moth (2009) we admire the beautiful pattern on the wings of a moth only to realize that it is resting on a toilet seat. Or in Electric cables (2009) we can still find beauty in the pink hued cloud that is hovering in the blue sky, even if this view is intersected by electric cables.

He Yue, Dove, 2009, City series. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

Li Yong presented his Daily Series 2006-2009 in which he documents the effects of rapid economic development in China and its often harmful impact on the environment. One of his photographs depicts a man fishing in a pond that has a partly submerged building in it without any concern as to how this might affect the toxicity of the fish he will later consume. Another depicts a man calmly sitting in the water surrounded by submerged buildings and trees heedless of its possible effect on his health. The artist states, “The people in these photographs are like me in the sense that we cannot change this environment; we can only indifferently accept it and calmly live in it.”

Li Yong, Fishing, 2008, Daily series. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

Song Xiaodi has no formal training but managed to capture the attention of the judges and the public with her images of fish and flowers in ultra-bright colours.

Song Xiaodi, Light Series, 2009. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

Haunting images of China’s Xinjiang region were taken between 2005-2009 by Tian Lin, her series, Children of Yamalike Mountain, depicts the inhabitants of the main shanty town in this region, known as the “slum of Urumqi.” These children, from migrant families, play and live in this dusty rubble with a sprawling modern city as their distant backdrop. According to the artist, tens of thousands of migrant workers from different ethnic backgrounds, such as Uighur, Hui, Han and Kyrghiz live here but with no legal papers or standing.

Tian Lin, from the series Children of Yamalike Mountain, (2005-2009). Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

Taiwanese artist Xue Wei used a scanner to construct full-size images of her body. She had to scan her body section by section between 18 and 24 times to reach her desired effect.

Xue Wei. Self-Portrait - Side, 2005. Image courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre.

For more information about the festival visit the website.

Watch for part two of Art Radar Asia’s coverage of Caochangdi PhotoSpring which will highlight a number of exhibitions including some from the Arles program.

Read part two here: Beijing first to host Arles program outside France

NA/KN

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• The ones to watch: four young Taiwanese artists in Taipei Arts Awards – January 2010
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• Emerging artists Min Xiaofang, Kang Yongfeng and Song Yongjun win Chinese Art Prize awards 2008 – January 2009
• Ullens Center shows three Chinese Contemporary Art Award winners – December 2008

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Debbie Han first Korean artist to be awarded Sovereign Asian Art Prize

KOREAN ART ASIAN ART PRIZE

Art Radar Asia is pleased to bring you an article by guest contributor, Kate Bryan. Her article, Hybrid Graces, presents an in depth insight into the work of Debbie Han, the first Korean artist to be awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Han’s work is a useful starting point for exploring the status of contemporary art and culture in Korea today.

A Sovereign Winner

Earlier this year Debbie Han became the first Korean artist to be awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, the biggest accolade of its kind in the region. The presentation of the award to Han can be seen in the context of a shift away from Korean art as an enigmatic, closed world to a thriving, open and accessible contemporary art market. That said, Korean artists are yet to penetrate mainstream consciousness, but if the quality of the work being produced by Han is anything to go by, it will not be long until they do.

Seated Three Graces

Han was awarded the Sovereign Asian Art Prize for Seated Three Graces, which subsequently entered the hallowed Sovereign Art Collection. The work is part of the Graces series which combine the typical body of a Korean woman with the face of an idealised Greek sculpture.

 

 

Debbie Han, Seated Three Graces

 

The composite form is painstakingly digitally rendered to look like marble, pixel by pixel for optimum realism. Subverting the practice of figurative sculpture and portrait photography, Han navigates the boundaries between illusion and reality and between western standards of ideal beauty and the reality of contemporary Asian women. Beyond the scrupulous technique and unexpected crossbreed form, the viewer is quickly drawn into the debate which Han instigates. “Beauty is a cultural conception and has long pervaded art history, what can be a better of way of understanding a given culture than through navigating this phenomenon?” Central to Han’s work is an enduring interest in how human experience is shaped and conditioned by contemporary culture, and as such the Graces series provides a sharp insight into the specifics of the world in which they were created.

A Korean artist?

Han’s interest in culturalisation makes her practice a useful starting point for a look at the developing status of both the contemporary Korean art market and Korean culture in the twenty first century more widely. That said, Han is actually an atypical Korean artist; in fact she resists the generalised label strongly. Han emigrated to the U.S. with her family as a child and went on to complete her art major at the University of California and her MA at the Pratt Institute in New York. Having begun her career in the U.S., she returned to Korea only in 2003 for an artist residency programme. Han was a stranger to Seoul and her unique perspective as a culturally disembodied artist propelled her to document what was happening in Korea and in Asia more widely. “I had a strong desire to interrogate what my Asian identity was and became overwhelmed by the inherent westernisation at all levels in both society and art.” Despite the ‘identity crisis’ that sparked her profound creative journey of the last decade, Han could not be described as an unsure woman. She is a strong intellect with a mind that constantly questions the world around her.

The Beauty Myth

Han was effectively an ‘outsider’ to the art world when she returned to Seoul and it is this objectivity that lends her work such strength. As an American-Korean woman navigating the city, Han was immediately struck by the forcefulness of the western beauty mantra. Korean women were spending billions on cosmetics and plastic surgery to conform to an ‘ideal’ type of beauty, specifically a eurocentric beauty. “The perversity of the situation became clear to me when I learnt that women would have cosmetic surgery to make their eyes more western before their first job interview, it was a new rite of passage.” More than 60% of women in Korea have undergone cosmetic surgery and the numbers are on the increase. The act is no longer a choice made by a liberated individual, but a survival tactic. A telling indication of the seriousness of the situation is found in language – the term for having your face done in Korea is literally ‘face correction.’

Sensation with Content

Navigating what the polemic feminist author Naomi Wolf described as ‘beauty myths’, is characteristic of an artist whose raison d’être is to understand the world around her and present complex issues to the viewer in order to raise debate. Han’s work has always been characterised by the dual forces of painstaking, diverse craftsmanship and pieces which demand attention, cause shock or surprise the viewer. These tactics are combined to address questions of personal identity and larger social patterns. An early example is the Hard Condom Series (2001-2003) where small bronzes take the form of soiled condoms, an object which arouses great discomfort. Han therefore interrogates the complexities of society’s reaction to something as innate as sex.

 

 

 

Debbie Han, Hard Condom Series (2001-2003)

 

Han’s work is certainly conceptual, but is in many ways a direct rebuttal of the earlier conceptual artists she encountered as a student. “For me, ideas will always be important and central to my work. You cannot create things just to cause a sensation, they have to have content. But on the other hand when I first saw conceptual pieces at college I was disappointed that they were not visually compelling or creatively unique.” Han bridges this gap between ideas and form, producing works that make us stop in our tracks for one reason or another, marvel at the craftsmanship and then engage with the issue at hand.

Beauty as Sport

In 2008 the artist created a departure in her practice by beginning to employ Korean lacquer on wood inlaid with mother of pearl, a technique which demands over 20 processes to produce one work. Employing a medium which dates back thousands of years, Han’s challenge was to incorporate Korean inlaid lacquer into the contemporary arena, not only lending it a new relevance but having it underscore her subject matter. Sports Venus I is testament to the great success of the project. The life size lacquer bust is a rich dark brown, completely at odds with the classical white Venus.

 

 

Debbie Han, Sports Venus I, lacquer on wood inlaid with mother of pearl

 

As she puts it, “the reference to ancient Asian culture almost takes over, preventing a traditional appreciation of the classical Venus.” More startling still is the mother of pearl inlay which forms the pattern of a modern football, like an aggressive tattoo, across the face. Venus has entered the arena of sports, making explicit reference to the notion of ideal beauty as a new form of sports entertainment.  Han draws attention to the futility of the ideal beauty dogma, “it is just a game – in reality no one can conform to something which is a fabrication, an illusion.”

Food and Sensuality

The illusory nature of ideal beauty is deconstructed in a global series which Han has been working on since 2005. In Food and Sensuality Han collaborates with a regular woman from a given country, refashioning her into a model garnished with food from the culture in which she lives.

 

 

Debbie Han, Food and Sensuality (since 2005)

 

In choosing non-professional models, Han unravels the myths about unattainable beauty by arguing that “any woman can look like a beautiful seductress given the right tools. As an artist I work to bring out to the outmost degree the unique beauty and style in each woman.” Her point is not about the benefits of a good makeover, but more about the breaking down persuasive myths and presenting a new reality. The combination of food – which is often draped over the woman to resemble clothing or jewellery – and female beauty makes explicit reference to the long held advertising mandate that sex sells. Further, in the face of a globalised world, Han rejects the homogeny of culture by identifying its distinctiveness, “food is like language, every culture has their own version and proudly supports it. This is at odds with our notions of beauty. The photographs aim to readdress the balance.”

A New Era

In all of her work Han champions the re-unification of concept and technique. Her philosophy and quest to understand the constructs of the human condition are deeply entrenched in her practice, but she does not allow herself to fall victim to her intellect. Moving between mediums – and never choosing a simple process – Han’s work demands attention not just for its subject matter but for its craftsmanship and distinct visual appeal. Han believes we are entering a new era, a movement without a name, “art must not any longer end with a concept. When I returned to Seoul I saw very thought provoking work in the context of a rapidly changing city, but I wanted to know where the form had gone.” The gravity of the themes in her work coupled with her exquisite dedication to mastering mediums makes Han a worthy prize winner, and for an audience new to Korean contemporary art, a fascinating starting point.

Kate Bryan is a contributing Editor for Asian art News, World Sculptures News and her work has been published in Kee Magazine, The Sentinel, Essence and West East. She received her BA in Fine Art from Warwick University and subsequently worked at the British Museum in London for four years. She recently completed her master’s degree at the University of Hong Kong and is the Deputy Director of The Cat Street Gallery.

Editorial disclaimer – The opinions and views expressed by guest writers  do not necessarily reflect those of Art Radar Asia, staff, sponsors and partners.

Related Posts:

 

• Two Japanese artists shortlisted for Nam June Paik Award 2010 – May 2010
• Art about curators: Korean artist Yang Ah Ham’s No Nonsense solo show – April 2010
• Four Asian artists nominated for NYC PULSE Awards – March 2010
• The ones to watch: four young Taiwanese artists in Taipei Arts Awards – January 2010
• Korean artist Kim Joon discusses tattoos and taboos – December 2009 – more photography of the female form
• Trends and opportunities in the contemporary photography market – October 2009

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Two Japanese artists shortlisted for Nam June Paik Award 2010

ASIAN ART PRIZE JAPANESE ARTISTS

International selectors for the Nam June Paik Award 2010 met on the last weekend of February in the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf and there decided which artists would be shortlisted for this year’s award.

This year, the jury included Solange Farkas (Sao Paulo), who is the director and curator of VideoBrasil International Festival, Udo Kittelmann (Berlin), Antoni Muntadas (Barcelona/New York), Miklós Peternák (Budapest) and Yukiko Shikata (Tokyo).

Daito Manabe, Time Lapse-Plant, photo courtesy http://www.daito.ds

The shortlisted artists

Daito Manabe, who describes himself as an artist programmer, designer, DJ, VJ and composer, is based in Tokyo, Japan. He creates innovative work with light and sound.

Ei Wada a.k.a. Crab Feet is also from Tokyo. He describes himself as “giving birth to” sound, music and media art works.

Hajnal Németh lives and works in Berlin. This Hungarian born artist works in a variety of media such as film, photography, installation and sound.

Eike is a German born artist who lives and works in Hungary. Eike has exhibited videos, sound and video installations, neon objects and light boxes.

Eike Utopia Past of the Future, looped video on 20 monitors, photo: Zoltán Kerekes

Brazilian sound art collective Chelpa Ferro, was founded in 1995 by visual artists Barrão and Luiz Zerbini, and film-editor Sergio Mekler. The collective xplores sound in the context of sculpture and installations. Their work has been shown at international festivals such as the Venice Biennale.

Chelpa Ferro, Toto Treme Terra, CCBB (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil) Rio de Janeiro 2006, Photo Julio Callado

Ali Kazma is a Turkish born video artist who received his training in the US. He has returned to his homeland and participated in the Istanbul Biennial in 2007 and 2009.

Rosa Barba works and lives in Cologne and Amsterdam. She is Italian born and educated in Germany and the Netherlands. Her body of work consists of films, installations and publications. She is best known for her 16mm films. Her work could be seen at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

Rosa Barba, Making Worlds, 53rd Venice Biennale, Palazzo delle Esposizione, Giardini, 2009 5x16mm films, modified projectors, 20min, 2009

Ignas Krunglevicius is a Lithuania born artist who has studied composition. He works in Oslo where he explores the combination of sound and image in his performances and installations.

The winners of the Newcomer Prize of the Nam June Paik Award 2008, Adriane Wachholz, Münster, and Thorsten Hallscheidt, Cologne and Karlsruhe, will also present new works in the exhibition.

History of the Nam June Paik Award

The Nam June Paik Award, International Media Art Award of the Art Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia, was launched in 2002. It is awarded to artists working with new media, including video, sound and light, and aims to encourage them to push the envelope in their chosen field. It was named after influential Korean-born American artist Nam June Paik.

An international jury nominates six to eight artists for an exhibition. This year’s exhibition begins in September and will be held at the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf.

Visit the Kunststiftung NRW website for more information on the award and the foundation.

NA/KN

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• Emerging artists Min Xiaofang, Kang Yongfeng and Song Yongjun win Chinese Art Prize awards 2008 – January 2009
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Taiwan’s “father of printmaking” Liao Shiou-ping wins national award – profile

LIAO SHIOU-PING TAIWAN AWARD PRINTMAKING

Graphic master recognised for ability to blend Eastern imagery and Western technique

Earlier this year, Taiwan’s Council for Cultural Affairs awarded graphic artist Liao Shiou-ping one of three National Cultural Awards. The 74-year-old artist, renowned for blending Western printmaking techniques with traditional Taiwanese and Chinese influences, was recognised for his outstanding contribution to Taiwan culture.

Life #2, 1974

Liao was born in Taiwan in 1936. His father was a civil engineer and as a young child, Liao would often study the building blueprints spread across his father’s desk. His family lived near Taipei’s famed Longshan Temple and he drew on memories of the candles, incense and ghost money for much of his later work.

Shortly after graduating as a painter from the National Taiwan Normal University in 1959, Liao moved to Tokyo, Japan, and then to Paris, France, to further his studies. While in Japan he took graphic design classes, an additional course to his major studies, and here learnt valuable lessons in colour and composition. It was here, also, that he discovered printmaking.

Seasonal Chat VII, 1995

Liao began to study oil painting at the Fine Arts Institute of Paris in 1965 and was pushed by his instructor to discover a unique style for himself. He would spend much of his time wandering the collections of Chinese artefacts in the Guimet Museum which reminded him of the things he saw as a child in Longshan Temple. He developed the Gate series, his first, during this time, creating a uniquely Eastern print genre.

In 1969, Liao received an invitation to exhibit at the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art. He made the decision to relocate to New York with his family. Here he developed his Symbols series; inspiration stemmed from the images and traditions surrounding the Taiwanese Ghost Month. Liao believed that “an artist’s style reflects the rhythms of the society that he lives in.” His works from this period are strongly geometric expressing the symmetry of the city.

Knot X, 1999

The artist returned to Taiwan in 1973 to teach at the National Taiwan Normal University and a year later published The Art of Printmaking, still “the gold standard of introductory texts on the subject in the Chinese language.” He followed this teaching position with a few years teaching in Tokyo and the USA. He didn’t take his family with him this time and therefore undertook all the domestic chores himself. Vegetables, fruit, kitchenware and potted plants feature heavily in his Seasons series, a series which then evolved into both the Gathering and Chat series.

His most recent works are those under the Knots, Life Symbols and Dreams series. Knots developed out of his anger with people who struggle to value their own prosperity. Life Symbols (2000) contains mixed-media collage pieces using oil and acrylic paint, pencil drawing, wooden slabs and 2D painting and printmaking. Liao says these works express “the hidden natural order that permeates even the complexity of modern life, and also a kind of celebratory joy.” The tragic death of his wife in 2002, who died falling off a cliff while birdwatching, inspired his Dreams series in 2003. Here he conveys the duality of yin and yang, life and death, through images of outstretched hands and ghost money.  Although his production has slowed since Dreams he completed a large work entitled Timeless in 2005 and an installation piece called Speechless in 2008.

Life A, 2005

During his career, Liao Shiou-ping has held more than 70 solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, Tokyo and many other cities around the world. His artworks are collected by international museums including, but not exceeding, the British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo), Taipei Fine Arts Museum and the Shanghai Museum.

Liao founded the Prix de Paris fund with two other educators in 1993. The fund provides support for young artists to study abroad. He plans to donate his US$31,200 in prize money to this fund.

KN/KCE

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Four Asian artists nominated for NYC PULSE Awards

EMERGING ASIAN ARTISTS –  ART PRIZES

 

Four Asian artists were nominated for Pulse Awards at the PULSE art fair  which took place in New York City and Miami between 4-7 March 2010: Shun Duk Kang from Korea, Hiroshige Furuhaka from Japan, Farsad Labbauf from Iran and Sopheap Pich from Cambodia.

Though none of these four artists won either the PULSE award or the People’s Choice award, the fair gave them extensive exposure (they each won their own booths) and point to their status as emerging names in the global scene.

Shin Duk Kang, Heaven and Earth, 2008

Shin Duk Kang, a South Korean artist, is represented by Seoul’s Galerie Pici. She creates installation art that reflect the limits of her material while evoking nature in her work. She also makes prints, which utilize geometric forms to continue exploring the subject of nature.

Hiroshige Fukuhara, The Night Became Starless, 2008

Ai Kowada Gallery 9 represents Hiroshige Fukuhara, who specialises in drawings with graphite and black gesso on wood. Viewers are drawn to the simplicity of his works, as well as the subtle addition of graphite, which makes his black-on-black drawings shimmer from certain angles. Before PULSE, he was featured in PS1’s 2001 show “BUZZ CLUB: News from Japan.”

Farsad Labbauf, Joseph, 2007

Iranian artist Farsad Labbauf combines figurative painting with Iranian calligraphy to create a unified image, regardless of the content of the words or pictures within that image. He refers to his Persian heritage as his inspiration, especially its carpet-making tradition: that unrelated elements were able to come together in linear patterns to create a whole. He concludes that his work is “often an attempt for the union of the internal.”

Sopheap Pich, Cycle, 2005

Sopheap Pich is a Cambodian artist represented by Tyler Rollins Fine Art of New York. His work mostly consists of sculptures of bamboo and rattan that evoke both biomorphic figures and his childhood during the Khmer Rogue period. He has become a major figure in the Cambodian contemporary art scene.

AL/KCE

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Subscribe to Art Radar Asia for more news about contemporary Asian artists.

The ones to watch: four young Taiwanese artists in Taipei Arts Awards

Taipei Arts Awards celebrates works of talented up-and-comers

Four winners have been selected from 380 submitted works in the Taipei Arts Awards 2009. Ni Xiang, Chang Li-ren, Chang Huei-ming and Tao Mei-yu won with large-scale mixed-media installation pieces.

The judging panel was comprised of renowned Taiwanese art professionals Wang Jun-Jieh, Wu Ma-li, Manray Hsu, Kao Chung-li, Rita Chang, Lu Hsien-ming and Wu Chao-ying.

The four winners

Ni Xiang’s Compensation Soon uses handmade cardboard to form the shape of the body of a car and this has been placed over an old style red motorcycle. Both the paper car and the graffiti on the walls show the effort to restore missing parts by drawing in a way often seen on TV screens.

Compensation Soon, Ni Xiang

image courtesy of TFAM

Chang Li-ren’s Model Community is a hand made white-walled apartment community. When the crosshairs of the sniper’s scope fall on residents and the sound of a gun being fired is heard, bullet holes appear in the white walls and the people inside the apartment are destroyed, a scene that is projected onto five screens and can be viewed live from different angles.

Model Community, Chang Li-ren

image courtesy of TFAM

Chang Huei-ming’s Watching Dust In the Sunlight 14:05 portrays afternoon sunlight shining onto a corner of life in which an everyday spilled cup vibrates quickly, the ripples making the inverted reflection of the multicolored curtains in the center of the spilled water hazy.

Watching Dust In the Sunlight, Chang Huei-ming

image courtesy of TFAM

In Tao Mei-yu’s Language, ten LCD screens have been hung in a cylindrical space and people from different countries mimic the call of the same animal, using a picture of a single animal to contrast the linguistic modes of different countries. The artist has attempted to use anthropological observational and measuring methods to investigate the differences in the process of communication in different language systems.

Language, Tao Mei-yu

image courtesy of TFAM

The Taipei Art Awards

Established in 2001 and organised by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the Taipei Arts Awards aim to reward works that have unique artistic style and reflect contemporary culture, providing a stage on which new artists can show their talent. Uniquely, the competition does not divide works by medium nor does it limit size.

“The winning works in previous years have been displayed to widespread acclaim, showing that the holding of this competition injects a burst of vitality into contemporary art in Taiwan,” said Hsiao-yun Hsieh, Director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

KN/KCE

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• Art Fair Shanghai breaks new ground with Best of Discovery emerging artists – Financial Times, Artkrush – September 2008

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A different kind of real – Gesai winner Yamaguchi Soichi’s international solo debut in Hong Kong – interview

JAPANESE CONTEMPORARY ART

'Pose' by Yamaguchi Soichi, 2009. Acrylic on Canvas. 145x145 cm. $20,250. USD. Inquire with the Madhouse Gallery, Hong Kong.

Yamaguchi Soichi is a bright creative star who has surpassed his own expectations and found recognition and success early in his career as a contemporary Japanese artist. Indeed, he only graduated from the Tokyo National University of Art and Music in 2007, but he has already caught the attention of the guru of Japanese contemporary art himself, Mr. Takashi Murakami, and was chosen from hundreds of hopeful young artists to receive the coveted Gesai #9 Gold Award in 2006.  His cheerful yet introspective works beg the viewer to escape from a mass universal perspective, and offer a glimpse at a world that he hopes will ‘cause a question, and make you think about what is unknown.’

A journey began with the Batman logo

Yamaguchi is a quiet and soft spoken 26 year old, and is not a natural urbanite, preferring the Japanese countryside and activities like fishing to hustle and noise. He admits that he believes he sees the world differently than others, and discovered this in unlikely circumstances about 10 years ago. Believe it or not, Soichi says his artistic journey started while pondering the ‘Batman’ logo, those outstretched black webbed wings, which he mistook for a gaping open mouth. His ‘mistake’ of seeing something else prompted him to further expore why he sees differently, and the fruits of his discoveries are currently on display at the Madhouse Gallery in Hong Kong, in a solo exhibition titled ‘The Way You Look.’

First international solo exhibition

Soichi’s Madhouse show is his first international solo exhibition, and also marks his first visit to Hong Kong. However, the emerging artist is well traveled, having visited Beijing, New York, and Brazil in the past 2 years. When asked about the cultural and spiritual background of Soichi’s art, he explained that his work is overtly Japanese, not consciously borrowing from other traditions, and has little deliberate religious or spiritual intention. Although many viewers believe his works are spiritually motivated, he is actually philosophically motivated. He explains:

‘People see things differently, according to their heart. People can see many things on a street, and each person will see things differently. What one sees, or pays attention to depends on the outlook of the individual. Although many people think the art is religiously motivated, this is not my intention.”

The use of the eyeball motif in Soichi’s work reinforces this idea of perspective.  He comments:

We see things differently, all from our eyes. The idea is that we see things differently and the eyes are a reminder that everything is from a different perspective.

Eyes, by Yamaguchi Soichi, 2009. Acrylic on canvas. 100x150 cm. $17,700. USD. Inquiries to the Madhouse Gallery.

Existence and an interconnected universe

However, the artistic concept from this promising young artist goes even deeper. He explains that another inspiration for his art is the idea of existence, interconnectedness, and universal expansion. He is inspired by the ‘other’ and is searching for an alternate form of reality to convey to viewers, because, he says:

Nowadays we have information from many networks, news and the TV, and everyone is getting the same information. This is a very dangerous thing. Art provides another vision of how to see things. It is very dangerous when everyone is looking at the same thing or the same road, because when a way is no longer good, it will collapse. This art is like an exit, and offers an escape from the mass perspective. It offers a different kind of real.

The ‘next step’ in Japanese art

The psychadelic, celebratory, and invigorating works of Soichi do indeed channel an otherworldly feel. For those collectors looking for an appealing investment, this young Japanese artist offers a visual look that is completely unique to Japan, which appears to be the ‘next step’ in the evolution of Japan’s surreal cartoon-like motifs. With Soichi being a newcomer on the international contemporary art scene, his works are still priced reasonably. There are some who are saying that for the investment-minded, Soichi’s work might be a promising buy.

Everyone, by Yamaguchi Soichi, 2009. Acrylic on canvas. 27x27 cm. $2,300. USD. Inquire with the Madhouse Gallery, Hong Kong.

Q & A with Yamaguchi Soichi

Which artists do you admire?

Japanese artists Tahami Kenishi and Nakamura Hiroshi.

How did you first begin marketing your work?  Who did you work with?

I began working with the Hiromi Yoshi Gallery in Tokyo. I networked at art conventions, and at Gesai I met my gallery.

How long does it take to produce an artwork?

Depends on the size. The painting may only take a certain amount of time, but before painting, I have to create the concept and make preliminary drawings, which can take a very long time. The actual process of physically painting a work may only take a month, but then ideas may pop into my head after awhile and I add onto it. It is all a work in progress for awhile.

Tell me about how you work? A typical piece?

I use a piece of paper to create the basic composition, making the shapes without color. Then I consider which parts should be dark and light, and finally decide the colors.

What kind of space do you work in?

I work in a mostly empty personal studio with white walls. The walls are covered with bits of paper with ideas written on them. Every time I get an idea I scribble it down and stick it to the wall.

When did you sell your first piece? Is it hard parting with your work?

I was 23 when I sold my first piece. I was so excited when someone offered to buy my work! I don’t mind parting with it, actually. I feel like the buyers of art will honor it and take good care of it. I think it goes to a good home.

What has surprised you the most about working in the arts?

I didn’t expect such a fast reception of my work—I am suddenly having international solo shows and conducting interviews only a year out of school. When I started my career I just wanted to create interesting art, and didn’t have any expectations of becoming famous. I was lucky to meet people who understood my concepts, but I don’t already consider myself successful. I want to do more.

What has been your biggest challenge in art?

The main challenge is how it will be perceived, and the initial impact of a work, in the first moment a viewer looks at it. Also, I send so many messages in one piece, a major challenge is how it should all come together.

What problems do you see for young artists today?

The current standard of the art market sometimes dictates what artists create, and artists should not change themselves to fit neatly into the market standard. Individuality is a strength.

In what ways are young artists today fortunate?

There are more ways to enter the industry now. Most of my friends have moved on to international destinations, like New York and San Fransisco, to start their careers. It may actually be too easy to enter the art world, since there appears to be too many artists who find success before they have found their voice. It is not ultimately good for artists to be shown in galleries when they have not yet discovered their main concept.

EW/KE

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Chinese art to move to conventional venue says Chairman Venice Biennale

CHINESE ART AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

This post gives an overview Chinese art on exhibit at the 53rd Venice Biennale until November 2009 with a blogs-eye round-up of images and reviews. We also take a look at how Chinese art has grown in prominence over the years and how proposals for the future, by the Chairman of the Biennale, promise further validation.

Chinese exhibiting artists

The seven contemporary Chinese artists on display in the Chinese Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale are:

• He Jianwei
• Liu Ding (read about his artwork at the Biennale Liu Ding’s Store)
• He Sen
• Fang Lijun
• Zeng Fhanzi
• Qiu Zhijie
• Zeng Hao

This year, along with the seven artists who are participating at the Chinese pavilion, Chen Zhen, Chu Yun, Huang Yong Ping, Tian Tian Wang (interview with Tian Tian Wang) and Xu Tan are showing their works in the main exhibition ‘Making Words’.

He Sen, The World of Taiji

According to AccessibleArtNY, at first glance the images in He Sen’s The World of Taiji appear to be simple with no perceivable details, but upon closer inspection, the brushstrokes are visible and Chinese characters are decipherable. The concept was to juxtapose what Sen considered a “weak” culture (China) with the strong Western cultural frames. He hoped that the viewer would take the time to look closely at the work.

He Sen The World of Taiji (detail)

Images of Chinese art at 53rd Venice Biennale

• Design Boom
• Art Ba-Ba
• We Make Money Not Art

Review of the Chinese Pavilion

It has been ten years since the late Harald Szeemann’s 1999 Venice exhibition ‘APERTO Over All’ paved the way for the West’s understanding of contemporary art, aptly nicknamed the “China Biennale” due to its inclusion of nearly twenty Chinese artists, says Redbox Review

Yet the curatorial strategy behind this year’s Chinese Pavilion titled ‘What is to Come’, conceived by artist Lu Hao and curator Zhao Li, was unable to generate much buzz for China during the festival’s opening days.

The  Chinese artists provided highly individualized works. …And although each work may be considered a strong example of each artist’s conceptual prowess, the lack of immediate cohesion disengages a viewing audience that transcends the display’s symbolic ambitions. Note 1

History of Chinese art at the Venice Biennale

If this year is less successful than the past, who and what was on display in previous years? The Korean magazine Art in Asia has published a useful overview of the history of Japanese, Korean and Chinese art at the Venice Biennale. Below is an excerpt (including typos) covering Chinese art:

Harold Szeemann’s 1999 48th Venice Biennale exhibition, “dAPERTutto Over All,” included Chinese artists such as Ai Weiwei, Zhou Tiehai, Zhuang Hui, Wang Xingwei, Yang Shaobin, Fang Lijun, Qiu Shihua, Xie Nanxing, Zhang Peili, Yue Minjun, Zhao Bandi, Wang Jin, Zhang Huan, Liang Shaoji, Ma Liuming, Lu Hao, Chen Zhen, Cai Guoqiang and Wang Du.

Since the national Chinese pavilion was not yet built at the time, works by these nineteen Chinese artists chosen for the “d APERTutto” section were displayed both in the Giardini, specifically in the Italian pavilion, and in the Arsenale.

The Italian pavilion hosted no less than ten Chinese artists, and in the newly restored spaces of the Arsenale, dazzling installations by Cai Guo-Qiang were housed and shown. Szeemann, whose inclusion of Chinese artists at the Venice Biennale in 1999 and 2001, made a major contribution towards popularizing the Chinese avant-garde in the West.

In 2005, for the 51th Biennale, the first official Chinese pavilion was built by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, but it was temporary. Commissioners for the 2005 Chinese pavilion included Xu Jiang, the President of the China Academy of Art, Fan Di’an, the Vice President of the Central Academy of Art, Artist Cai Guo-Qiang, Wang Mingxian, the Vice Director of the Architecture Institute of China, and Pi Li, who was from the Central Academy of Art. Artists Yung Ho Chang, Liu Wei, Peng Yu & Sun Yuan, Wang Qiheng and Xu Zhen participated under the theme “Virgin Garden: Emersion.” This premier national pavilion of China marked a turning point in the cultural growth within Chinese contemporary art.

In 2007, having already curated the 2003 exhibition “Z.U.O.” in the context of the 50th Venice Biennale headed by Francesco Bonami, internationally renowned curator Hou Hanru highlighted the contributions of four women artists to Chinese contemporary art at the pavilion. These four female artists, Cao Fei, Kan Xuan, Shen Yuan and Yin Xiuzhen, created site-specific works in the building and at the Vergini Gardens, under the theme “Everyday Miracles.” Note 2

And the future for Chinese art?

According to a report in the Independent “at least one change to tradition has been signalled. The chairman of the Biennale is proposing that in future years the Chinese Pavilion moves in among the “conventional venues”. Recognition at last that the world order, even the cultural world order, has changed since 1895.” Note 3

About the Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale – the world’s oldest and most high-profile contemporary art exhibition –  opens its doors to the public from 6th June to 22nd November 2009.

It was founded in 1895 to celebrate new developments in international art.

National pavilions were built in the Giardini – or public gardens – to house exhibitions from each participating country’s chosen artists. But as more and more countries wish to take part, the Biennale has spread across the Italian city.

It has been described as the Olympic games of the art world – 77 countries from Armenia to Venezuela are showcasing the work of their leading artists. All are hoping to win the top prize – the Golden Lion. Note 4

• Note 1 Redbox Review http://review.redboxstudio.cn/2009/06/china-pavilion-at-the-53rd-venice-biennale/
• Note 2 Art in Asia http://www.artinasia.kr/content/view/73/31/
• Note 3 The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/art-attack-inside-the-weird-and-wonderful-world-of-the-venice-biennale-1696893.html
• Note 4 BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8087551.stm

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• Young Chinese Artists: The Next Generation – book review – Jun 09
• Taiwanese photographers, video artists and an architect at 53rd Venice Biennale – May 09
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• UAE is first Arab Gulf Country to have pavilion at Venice Biennale 2009 – Dec 08
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Abraaj Capital Art Prize fills a void in the art prize world

ABRAAJ CAPITAL ART

Unlike other art prizes, the Abraaj Capital Art Prize is awarded for art project proposals rather than work already produced.

By recognising the latent potential of ideas and providing funding for the winners, the Abraaj Art Prize which is open to artists from MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) helps to bring into being works that may otherwise never have been made.

Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Walk on the Sky, installation, 2009

In its inaugural year the winning projects were on show for the first time at the Art Dubai art fair in March 2009.

Zoulika Bouabdellah

The winning piece by Algerian video and installation artist Zoulika Bouabdellah (b.1977) and curator Carol Solomon was a stunning three dimensional space called Walk on Sky, Pisces 2009.

The piece recreates the night sky with a system of light-emitting diodes mounted on an aluminium ceiling to form a constellation of of stars. The viewer is invited to walk on the  stainless steel floor which mirrors the pulsing pattern of coloured stars 3 meters above thus creating an experience of walking on the sky.

Multiple sources inform the work including the polygon star (a key geometric configuration in Islamic art), the influential tenth-century treatise, Book of Fixed Stars by the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and the story of the legendary glass floor erected in front of King Solomon’s throne which the Queen of Sheba was led to believe was water. (note 1)

Bouabdellah’s work demands the involvement of the spectator, who must physically enter the installation in order to be able to experience it .

“It is not interesting from afar; you have to walk on it. When you walk on it, it becomes art.” explains Bouabdellah to the Gulf News.

When Art Radar viewed the piece out of doors at Art Dubai, the floor was covered in desert sand footprints and fascinated children played games of flying and sliding across the sky floor. As dusk fell the viewers became shadows and the coloured star patterns above and their reflections below grew more dominant, becoming intricate patterns of colour piercing the gloom. 

The work of the 10th century Persian astronomer Abd Al Rahman Al Sufi has provided a key source of inspiration for the piece. “My work is a homage to science, to global intelligence.”

Speaking of the influence of Islamic culture in her work, Bouabdellah points to a period between the 9th and 15th centuries, an era to which she would like to return in terms of the expansiveness and inclusivity of Islamic culture.

 “Islamic culture during that period was like bridges between spaces. We cannot talk about Islamic culture without talking about Africa, India, Southern Spain, China.” The era represents for her a time when the yearning for knowledge transcended boundaries and cultural categories, when the Caliph would invite scholars, regardless of religion or ethnicity, to the Maison du Savoir in Baghdad. (note 2)

It seemed to us in the failing light as the echos of playing children reverberated inside the space, that the piece was more than a bridge linking spaces. Children showed us it was also a bridge across generations and a magic carpet of possibility. Just one warning….best to wear trousers if you want to take a walk across the mirrored floor of magic.

The other winners were:

Nazgal Ansarinia

Nazgol Ansarinia, Rhyme and Reason, carpet 2009

Iranian artist Nazgal Ansarinia (b 1979) with curator Leyla Fakhr for her carpet piece Rhyme and Reason 2009 in which she transforms the traditional floral motifs of the Persian carpet into scenes of contemporary life from Iran. The work prompts us to take a closer look at what is being taken for granted.

Nazgol Ansarinia, Rhyme and Reason detail

Kutlug Ataman

Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman (b 1961) with Italian curator Cristiana Perrella for his video Strange Space in which the artist is filmed crossing a sulphorous desert land with bare feet and blinded eyes.  The piece is inspired by a classical folk story in which the hero blinded by the love of the heroine is condemned to wander in the desert trying to find her just to burn in flames when they finally meet. Ataman’s work is a metaphor for the relationship of attraction and trauma created when tradition and modernity meet.

Kutlug Ataman, Strange Space, video, 2009

Notes:

1.  Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2009 pamphlet distributed at Fort Island, Madinat Jumeirah at Art Dubai 18-21 March 2009

2.  Gulf News

Related posts:

• Art Dubai – who sold what to whom? 15 galleries talk to Art Radar – March 2009
• Turkish art another fad? The lowdown on this new market – March 2009
• Japanese Indian artist creates mobile home installation in first solo show in Europe – Feb 2009 – another artist who works with light in installations
• Kandinsky prize won by Alexey Beliayeb-Guintovt, video of menacing ceremony – Dec 2008
• Pakistani artist Huma Bhaba receives Aldrich Museum emerging artist prize 2008 – Aug 2008

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