Articles

Contemporary Chinese surrealist painter and sculptor Zhang Xiaogang was born in Southern China in 1958. Often seen as Avant-Garde, Xiaogang’s artistic life has witnessed several important moments in China’s history, many of which are explored within his work. Perhaps the most defining brush with the political regime occurred during the early stages of Xiaogang’s life when he was brutally separated from his parents during the Cultural Revolution. They were sent to one of Mao’s notorious ‘study camps’, leaving him and his siblings behind.

Artist Paul Buchanan was born in Glasgow and is currently living and working in the Netherlands. His work aims to explore the boundaries of the social, political and economic structures that contain us. He has a unique way of working with people and places, using responses and reactions to his work in order to shape their development. Paul Buchanan: "A lot of the time, people don’t know that they’re participating in my projects. It’s tricky making a piece of work and expecting people to participate. I suppose the way I work is to leave it open for people to participate in their own terms."

Ceric Samir, Art Coach: "I am an entrepreneur and disrupter in the art market aiming to change the fabrics of the art market that’s lacked transparency and serious and credible structure for centuries when it comes down to it being run as a business (perhaps with an exception of a few blue chip galleries and auction houses). I set up the world’s first art incubator and accelerator, Debut Contemporary, designed to assist ambitious and talented artists turn their practice into a viable business and a successful long term career."

Best known for her mysterious and delicate stories, Norwegian artist Anja Niemi expresses herself through the medium she finds most comprehensive – photography. Her latest project, titled “The Woman Who Never Existed”, was inspired by the words of the pioneering Italian actress Eleonora Duse. Eleonora worked in theatre, travelling the world’s stages alongside Sarah Bernhardt in the early 20th century. Unlike other actresses of the time who seemed to be constantly striving for publicity, she was private and introverted by nature.

In Matisse’s Music, created in 1910 to be hung in the staircase of a Moscow mansion, we see one of the artist’s last compositions of the human figure. It was created to be hung alongside a second, preceding painting titled Dance. The two works are colouristically linked, portraying red figures contrasted against a blue and green background.

These two extraordinary paintings have not been reunited since a 2004 exhibition in London and Naples devoted to Caravaggio's late work.

Martine-Nicole Rojina: "I believe in the tradition of mastery. I thrive for a holistic upgrade of perception, awareness and knowledge and dig deep into all elements involved to master the alchemical system. In the inside, as on the outside. As above, so below."

Gregoire Gensollen has a host of major Hollywood titles under his belt, but his latest film production, ‘Where is Rocky II?’ (2016) takes him in a new direction. A documentary, a comedy and a mystery, all rolled in to one, the film documents the 10-year hunt for a mysterious ‘fake rock’ - a piece of art created by American artist Ed Ruscha in 1979 and deposited in an unknown location somewhere in the vast Californian desert.

American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe is known for his provocative images and controversial subject matter. Having been born in suburban USA, a place he said was “a good place to come from and a good place to leave”, he lived in New York at the infamous Chelsea Hotel with singer Patti Smith. His work became popular in the mid 70s and he produced hundreds of photographs documenting what he called “the unexpected”.

What is your favourite medium? Tim Etchells: "Language - spoken/written, as drawing and as sculpture. Or performance. Or the combination of the two."

The most vibrant week in Hong Kong’s Art Month began with the unveiling of Sir Michael Craig-Martin’s installation Bright Idea.

The work of José Yaque is life affirming. Standing in front of his huge canvas paintings we glimpse a vision of that infinite freedom, so rare and so precious, that allows an artist to create their work with an open heart and soul. Whatever José Yaque creates, the influence of nature always permeates his work. It manifests in a variety of forms, but there is a recurring theme around the interpretation of natural resources and phenomena. With artful mastery he manages to depict rocks, soil, water, seamlessly combining abstraction and figurative forms.

During a January visit to Paris I had the unexpected pleasure of visiting the Kamel Mennour Gallery to view an exhibition of the works of Liam Everett. The gallery's warm hospitality combined with Liam's fantastic work made the entire experience unforgettable.

Gordon Cheung is of Hong Kong origin and born in London 1975 where he lives and works. Cheung’s multi-media art capture the hallucinations between the virtual and actual realities of a globalised world oscillating between Utopia and Dystopia. Spray paint, oil, acrylic, pastels, stock listings and ink collide in his works to form epic techno-sublime vistas.

Marcelo Garcia Casil: "We are a start-up company looking to disrupt the art finance industry. Our online platform removes intermediaries like auction houses and art dealers by creating an open and fair marketplace where investors can reach out to art owners directly in a secure and reliable way."

"I’m a philosopher thinking about new technologies, what they mean for our lives and how they may change society. In my work I connect with artists and curators, since I think artistic research can help to bring in different forms of knowledge and experience to discuss these questions. I'm a professor at the University of Vienna, but I also connect to many people outside academia, in the worlds of technology and art." - Mark Coeckelbergh

It’s hard to find artists who talk as passionately about montage and film editing as Eli Cortiñas (Las Palmas, Canary Islands, 1979). You can see her dreamy expression running through all the potential stories she has in her hands, but with a theoretical and rational goal that emanates from years of seeing and working with films. She uses a similar modus operandi when creating her sculptures and collages, often independent from her video pieces, but at times establishing parallelisms with them.

As soon as we enter the current exhibtion of the me Collectors Room, we immediately find ourselves inside of a picturesque comfort zone. Sofas and seats made of pallets and cushions as well as floor lamps adorn the exhibition space. Between the furniture, piles of catalogues have been draped on Persian rugs. Even catering seems to be provided since retro telephones to order drinks can be found on every sofa table. Art collector Thomas Olbricht creates a domestic atmosphere of a living room, which invites visitors to linger, to inform themselves about art history and to take a break surrounded by art works.

Contemporary street artists are not concerned with impressing members of the Academy or approved authorities. Rather, they are interested in revoking many social conventions about art. Contemporary street artists produce their works with the belief that art does not only belong in museums but also on the streets with the people. That is why many of them, such as Banksy, operate under pseudonyms, because vandalizing public property is a crime.

Two giants of Post-War American painting will be united in Christie’s Auction on 7 March 2017.