Tabish Khan for the Londonist

March 27, 2020

 
 Tabish Khan’s article “How To See London's Top Exhibitions From Your Sofa” for The Londonist as London’s galleries shut down due to coronavirus, says of GalleriesNow:
 

“Every armchair art enthusiast should be checking out the GalleriesNow website, as it has a vast repository of virtual reality (VR) viewings of exhibitions. My pick of the London ones is this rather lovely fishy show at Mayfair gallery and photography specialists Hamiltons. Standing in among these dazzling Siamese fighting fish really does create the feeling of being in a fishbowl. Don't worry if you don't have a VR headset, it's very easy to view the show on your phone, tablet or desktop as well.”

 
view the exhibition here

and browse all the VR tours here

Gianfranco Zappettini – Luigi Mazzoleni – Jose Graci

March 4, 2020

courtesy Mazzoleni, London-Torino

Zappettini in his studio, photo: Massimo V. Ronchi

Luigi Mazzoleni: When I saw the installation project for your exhibition, I thought: “Who knows what impact these new works will have on the London public?” When I saw the works installed, I realized that they would be a very strong attraction for Mayfair visitors. Can you tell us about your process for this exhibition?

Gianfranco Zappettini: I thought about this installation carefully by observing the beautiful space of your gallery. The dark grey colour seemed perfect as a background (almost the same colour as your logo!) for the works of the “Con-Centro” series, while for other works it was more appropriate to keep the walls white. I thought of the exhibition as a unique work, composed of many works, to be judged as a whole.

Jose Graci: This exhibition must surely be seen in person. Also, because the overview makes the symbolic meaning of the title more explicit: “The Golden Age”.

GZ: The Golden Age of the title is not the hope for an era of material well-being. It is the reference to a future age in which the human being will again be in harmony with himself and with the world around him. I don't say it, the great Eastern sacred texts say it. Gold is a symbol of this harmony, of this perfection.

JG: An era in which man will find his inner centre?

GZ: That's right, that “golden mean” is necessary for one's own evolution. In medio stat virtus, the Romans said. The works of the “Con-Centro” series allude to this.

LM: There is a room in the exhibition which I never fail to step in at least once a day. It is the one dedicated to the “la Luce Prima” series. There are no lights aimed at the works, nor even lights that come from the works, but these Wood lamps inserted in the paintings. They do not illuminate directly, but by reflection: they cause objects in the room to be illuminated with reflected light. But the source of that light remains elusive, doesn’t it?

Con-Centro no 28, 2019
courtesy Mazzoleni, London-Torino

Con-Centro no 103, 2018
courtesy Mazzoleni, London-Torino

Il codice degli dei no 35,
courtesy Mazzoleni, London-Torino

JG: The other series on display all have very profound symbolic meanings, yet the public is attracted by the works, almost as if this density of meaning acted like a magnet. And then, the aesthetic value of the works is also part of its force of attraction.

GZ: Yes, gold among its properties also has the attractive power of its beauty and shine. But aesthetics is not the ultimate goal I aim for when I work. I aim for the rightness of a work, its intrinsic balance. If a work is right, then it is also beautiful, and its aesthetic potential comes accordingly.

LM: Returning to the main theme of the exhibition, the Golden Age, I was intrigued by the series of the “Code of the Gods”. In front of me I found these square plates, more or less large, on which lines of a text are written which is incomprehensible to the common spectator. I wondered if the row fragments painted in gold have a meaning to decipher?

GZ: I can't answer you and I'll tell you why. The “Code of the Gods” alludes to a superhuman language, lost by men, bearer of very high knowledge. Let us not forget that in all traditions mankind is able to speak with its Creator: it is able through the prophets - who have a direct dialogue with the superhuman - and it is in the primordial age that follows the Creation, that of the so-called “earthly paradise”, which is precisely that Golden Age you are talking about. The artist has always played the role of the “vate”, poet or prophet, one who opens doors, who sees where mankind still cannot see. He therefore knows higher languages, incomprehensible to the viewer. So, I can't tell you if these works reproduce an underlying text or symbolize a mysterious and ancestral language: it would be like candidly admitting to have superior knowledge, I prefer to leave the viewer with the question pending.

courtesy Mazzoleni, London-Torino

LM: Then with Klaus Honnef a particular story joins it. Could you explain why?

GZ: It is the history of Analytical Painting. In the seventies Klaus set the theoretical cornerstones of that movement, which linked the research of artists scattered across the continent. The goal was to re-found the language of painting, because after the advent of Arte Povera and Conceptual Art in the 1960s, many still wondered the reason for the existence of painting, a discipline that seemed anachronistic. To Honnef, myself and to a handful of colleagues in Europe, it seemed evident that in reality painting only needed a deep analysis of its basic grammatical elements: what is colour really, what is the support, what is the process ... There were important group exhibitions on this theme, between Italy, Germany, Holland and France, to which Claude Viallat, Gotthard Graubner, Gerhard Richter with his grey monochromes were also invited. It was a underestimated but useful work, because the conditions were created for the great return of figuration to Europe in the late seventies to be accepted without scepticism. Painting cannot die, precisely because it is intrinsic to humankind as is the word. That's why in the last sixty years of my life I have done nothing but paint. Paint and look for myself, and I found that the two coincide. Then we remained friends with Klaus even if at a distance: we didn't see each other in Kassel's “documenta 6” in 1977: he was the curator of the painting section, I was one of the invited artists. This exhibition in London was an opportunity for us to meet again 43 years on – that’s news, isn't it?

Zappettini at work in his studio in 1975
courtesy Mazzoleni, London-Torino

David Zink Yi talks to GalleriesNow
about art and inspiration

February 19, 2020

photo © David Zink Yi. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

photo: Wolfgang Stahr

GalleriesNow: You’re known for more figurative work, can you tell us how you came to concentrate on abstract pieces for this exhibition?

David Zink Yi: For me, there is not much opposition between figuration and abstraction. In a good work of art, the two always stay ambivalent. In my experience, some works find their form through something abstract, like a rhythm, pattern, or a single note played by a trumpet player. Some other pieces have their origin in more figurative ideas or they emerge from a concrete story. This would be the case in my work untitled (Architeuthis), a giant ceramic squid. The fact that the reproduction of this strange and incredible form is made out of fired earth, oxides and minerals, I believe it is more than just a figurative approach. The form and material combined embrace both abstract and concrete elements.

In Rare Earths, my show at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, I decided to only work with ceramics. After building my own studio with an industrial size kiln and exploring many different ideas, I found myself working on pieces for this specific space. I wanted to show works without thinking too much about whether they are abstract or figurative – it was a natural development.

GN: I’m interested in the play between your stoneware “scribbles” and the rectilinear gallery windows on which they hang, this clearly was done on purpose, what interests you about that interplay?

DZY: I have been working with Hauser & Wirth since 2004 and every time I looked at the gallery’s space in Zurich, I had often wondered what would make a good piece for this huge and beautiful window facade. I wanted to work against the predictable and transform the window aside from its purpose purely as a light source. The windows are frosted white with a strong black raster pattern, which make them look like graphs for technical sketches. That’s how I came to the idea to make a group of drawings that would interact with the window fronts, contra-posing playful lines out of stoneware with the rigid order of the window frames. Throughout the day, the window front also presents an entire palette of greys and yellows as the daylight shifts and the clouds pass by, I really enjoy this aspect.

© David Zink Yi. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

© David Zink Yi. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

GalleriesNow event at Richard Saltoun, London

November 4, 2019

Silvia Giambrone, 'TRAUM' (2019) (photo: Tom Dale)

 
As part of the exhibition “Feminism in Italian Contemporary Art”, curated by Paola Ugolini at Richard Saltoun Gallery, GalleriesNow organised - in association with Outset Contemporary Art Fund - a special evening performance and talk at the gallery in London for selected guests.

Silvia Giambrone and Hettie Judah
photo: Tom Dale

Gallery artist Silvia Giambrone gave a performance of her work “TRAUM”, a visceral investigation of the role of violence in relationships, which was followed by an in conversation about her work with journalist Hettie Judah.

“Feminism in Italian Contemporary Art” forms part of Richard Saltoun Gallery’s 12-month programme dedicated to supporting the work of female artists. Titled 100% Women, the programme aims to remedy the gender inequality that persists in the art world and encourage wider industry action through debate, dialogue and collaboration. 100% Women will pursue its mission through a combination of gallery exhibitions, art fair presentations, artist talks, a film and lecture series, external collaborations and digital exhibitions hosted on the gallery’s new online platform.

With thanks to Silvia Giambrone, Hettie Judah, and all at Richard Saltoun Gallery.

Amy Sherald talks to
Hauser & Wirth’s Marc Payot

August 27, 2019

Amy Sherald in her studio, 2019  (photo: Melanie Dunea)

 
Marc Payot has been at Hauser & Wirth for almost 20 years, where he is a Partner alongside co-founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth. Over the course of the last decade, Payot has spearheaded the gallery’s major expansion in the US, which has included taking on a number of significant contemporary American artists. One new addition to the program is Amy Sherald, who speaks with Payot here ahead of her first show with the gallery opening at its 22nd Space in New York on September 10.

 

“Artists of color are using portraiture to author a narrative of people that art history was written without. It speaks to the human condition and holds up a mirror to life. It now employs colorful reflections and representations of everyday people on the walls of museums where there were once misrepresentations. Showing life as it is.”

Sometimes the king is a woman, 2019
photo: Timothy Doyon

Marc Payot: One thing I love about your work is how you have taken the traditional and time-old genre of the portrait and made it feel radical and entirely new. How do you approach portraiture?

Amy Sherald: Portraiture as a genre has come to have a new face. The tradition of portraiture has become a way to reclaim time and space within an art historical narrative that is mostly starkly European. It no longer belongs to the social elite. Artists of color are using portraiture to author a narrative of people that art history was written without. It speaks to the human condition and holds up a mirror to life. It now employs colorful reflections and representations of everyday people on the walls of museums where there were once misrepresentations. Showing life as it is. I like to say it’s the soul food of all the different genres.

Marc: Your work starts with a snapshot of someone you find on the street, and the eventual paintings remain photographic in essence. It’s clear you have an interest in photography as a compositional and documentary tool. What does photography mean to you? And how does an interest in photography extend to your work? Do you have an intent?

Amy: My first interaction with photography was through my own family photographs. As a very young girl on rainy days, I would sift through boxes and boxes of pictures that my mother kept in our family room cabinet. I was always drawn to a black and white photograph of my Grandmother Jewel whom I never got to meet. She died during childbirth in Alabama after being turned away from a whites-only hospital, not receiving the medical attention she needed. That beautiful black and white photographed portrait of my grandmother was the only means I had of getting to know her. She was wearing a black beret and a houndstooth coat. She looked proud and self-assured. Looking back, it was far different from the representation I had encountered of myself within the art canon.

Marc: So would you say photography for you is about capturing the “essence” of your sitter, about creating a fixed moment to use as a staring point? Can you talk about how you choose your subjects?

Handsome, 2019
photo: Joseph Hyde

Amy: Sure. Living in Baltimore, Maryland it was very easy to find the extraordinary living among the ordinary. The people I find seem to possess a kind of presence that feels nostalgic. They are how we saw ourselves in our future, long ago when life was unsure, and freedom came at a cost.

There have been a couple of instances where I painted the sitter just as I encountered them, but for the most part they are dressed in clothes that I find in second-hand shops. It’s not always easy to approach people you don’t know and ask them to give something of themselves, something that you can’t explain with words. The joy of finding the right people at the right time is exhilarating.

If possible, I always try to shoot the sitter outside in natural light. Normally late morning is the perfect time for me. It usually takes a little bit of time for them to forget about the camera. I have to stand fairly close and this can sometimes be intimidating. I usually get the right shot when we are mid-chat about something other than what we are doing. People often ask if I get to know my models. I say that it’s honestly difficult for me to see them as themselves once the painting commences. They become a symbolic tool shifting our own perceptions of who we are, resurfacing the walls of museums and art history. American art history to be more specific. All that being said the contribution of their presence is inimitable.

Once complete I decide my background color based on the outfit, or vice versa. The drawing is done directly on the canvas primarily in charcoal, which offers me the flexibility of erasure while in the process of solidifying the drawing. Once the drawing is complete, that painting begins. The details of the image can sometimes deviate from the original photograph sketch, but for the most part it stays true to the image that I start with.

Marc: So the sitters you find are your ultimate inspiration, and your use of photography clearly has personal roots in your own experience of photography as a “memorializing” tool. How does an interest in photography extend to your work?

Amy: Yes, most of my inspiration comes from photography. I have been captivated by its capacity to narrate a truer history that counters a salient dominant historical narrative. It was the first medium I saw that made what was absent, visible. It gave people who once had no control over the proliferation of their own image the ability to become authors of their own narratives.

In regard to historical painters, Alice Neel is one of my true inspirations. She was a pioneer among women artists. Although minimally rendered, her paintings feel to me more alive than the most detailed paintings. I also find inspiration among my contemporaries. Women like Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye are redefining and changing the face of painting and addressing the history of representation.

Marc: Your work feels inherently “American.” Where do you see your work in relation to the larger American painting tradition?

Amy: I really see myself working within the tradition of American Realism. I look at America’s heart—people, landscapes, and cityscapes—and I see it as an opportunity to add to an American art narrative that was written by painters who were mostly white and male. The stories of American Realism recognize how America found its identity in its art. I paint because I am looking for myself in art history and in the world.

 
 
Amy Sherald: the heart of the matter… opens at Hauser & Wirth West 22nd Street, NYC on September 10

London Degree Shows 2019

May 24, 2019

The GalleriesNow rundown of this year’s degree shows

Central Saint Martins
Show One: Art
22-26 May

Kingston School of Art
Degree Show 2019
1-9 June

Slade School of Fine Art
MA/MFA/PHD
6-16 June

The Courtauld Institute of Art
MA Curating the Art Museum: GENERATIONS: Connecting Across Time and Place
8 June-4 July

Wimbledon College of Arts
Undergraduate & MFA Fine Art Summer Show 2019
13-22 June

Middlesex University
Arts & Creative Industries Degree Show 2019
14-17 June

Chelsea College of Arts
Undergraduate Summer Show 2019
14-22 June

Camberwell College of Arts
Undergraduate & MA Conservation Summer Show 2019
15-22 June

Central Saint Martins
Show Two: Design
19-23 June

Goldsmiths
BA Fine Art & History of Art
21-24 June

City & Guilds of London Art School
Degree Show 2019
26-30 June

Royal College of Art
Show 2019
29 June-7 July

Chelsea College of Arts
MA Curating and Collections Show 2019
3-26 July
MA Fine Art Summer Show 2019
5-11 July

Camberwell College of Arts
MA Visual Arts Summer Show 2019
11-17 July

Goldsmiths
MFA Fine Art
18-23 July