Jeffrey Gibson’s 15-Year Survey Is an Unapologetic Expression of Love https://ift.tt/WQcoplk

At the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Washington State University, Jeffrey Gibson’s current solo exhibition, “They Teach Love,” stands as a vibrant departure from the conventional narratives entrenched in the Western art canon. Marking Gibson’s most expansive and versatile showcase to date, the exhibition transcends mere artistic display; it emerges as both a platform amplifying Indigenous voices and a kaleidoscopic exploration of the artist’s conceptual prowess.

Curated by Ryan Hardesty, the museum’s executive director and curator of exhibitions, “They Teach Love”radiates warmth and eloquently conveys the artist’s deep appreciation for communal practices, song, human connection, and kinship. Situated on the ceded lands of the Nimiipu Tribe and the traditional homelands of the Palouse Band of Indians, the exhibition showcases graphic visuals that engage with Native American cultures as well as sexuality, resulting in a globalized vision of love free from borders.

Through the recontextualization of Indigenous sentiments and traditions, Gibson, who has ties to both the Mississippi Choctaw and Cherokee Tribes, infuses his art with pride, power, and vulnerability. The exhibition, which is on view through March 9, 2024, addresses questions of identity tied to one’s birth place. This takes on added significance ahead of the 2024 Venice Biennale, where Gibson is set to make history as the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States with a solo presentation at its national pavilion. The milestone is not only monumental for Native Americans, but also a long-overdue moment in global history. This notion of overdue recognition resonates throughout “They Teach Love,” with captivating works like the psychedelic monoprints of Look How Far We’ve Come (2016) and the large, digitally printed garments of Stand Your Ground (2019).

As visitors stand at the entrance of “They Teach Love,” they are guided into the main gallery, where 50 oversized garments, born from a powerful performance, hang suspended from the ceiling. Titled To Name Another (2019), the installation features garments previously worn and brought to life through the bold, digital text phrases—like “they fight for the land” and “they choose their family”—printed on them, which have previously been spoken aloud by performers who identify as LGBTQ, Indigenous, Native American, and people of color. Elk hide drums, screenprinted with corresponding graphic statements were also featured in the performances, creating a dynamic, sensory-rich experience.

Now, the garments hang as a testament to that living dialogue, continuing to amplify voices often unheard. Through this fusion of visual and performance art, Gibson invites viewers to engage with his belief that collaborative actions can decolonize minds, institutions, and, in turn, shape a future we collectively aspire to inhabit.

The vibrant energy of To Name Another extends beyond the gallery walls and into the programming of “They Teach Love.” A panel discussion on ideas of adornment, individuality, and community, moderated by Michael Holliman, a member of the Confederated Colville Tribe and coordinator of Native arts outreach and education at WSU, invited fellow Native scholars to join Gibson and share their perspectives on Indigenous and generational relationships to clothing and fashion. Historian Nikia Williamson Cloud and Native American Women’s Association president Fabian Mandahar explored specific textiles in Gibson’s show, such as the printed chiffon and repurposed Japanese fabric in A Wag A Wit A Witness (2018) and the holographic vinyl and druzy beading in Double Fortune (2022).

Throughout the discussion, Gibson offered personal insights, including reflections on the clothing he now creates and childhood memories of the garments he saw upon travelling to Oklahoma during powwow season.

“I just remember being fascinated by everybody’s regalia,” Gibson recalled. “This notion of how tribal people, Native people, Indigenous people...move forward with contemporary times has always been of interest to me. Clothing and garments would be one of those things, yet I’m not making things for the powwow. One of the first questions is how, if I make a garment, is it more related to sculpture or to performance than it is to powwow? I started thinking about those things. If I look at traditional regalia, and how people signify who they are in their color choices and their beadwork, I have to turn that question back on myself.”

Exclusively curated from the distinguished collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his family’s foundation, “They Teach Love” stands as an emblem of artistic collaboration and philanthropy. Schnitzer has a strong relationship with Gibson, characterized by mutual respect and a shared commitment to breaking new ground. This was evident during my visit as I witnessed their impassioned discussions about the creative ceilings that Gibson has had to shatter throughout his career.

With over 40 of Gibson’s works spanning 2008 to 2023, Schnitzer possesses the largest private collection of Gibson’s oeuvre. (The works are a notable component of Schnitzer’s expansive Native American collection, which is only growing.)

“For me, Jeffrey’s work transcends time and place, and yet deals in a contemporary way with issues facing our country,” Schnitzer said. “A huge issue is that we are divided. The impact of opinions, stereotyping, information, misinformation…Art is the bridge that allows us to deal with difficult subjects in a collegial and constructive way instead.

“Our collection of Jeffrey’s is protected forever,” Schnitzer continued, “and therefore his artwork will always be there for audiences to understand his time and place, the themes that he felt were important for his history, his culture’s history, his thoughts, and the time in which we all live now.”

Gibson’s “They Teach Love” is more than a 15-year survey; it serves as an unapologetic expression of love and an homage to those who preceded the artist, and those who will follow in his footsteps. The multichromatic brilliance of the exhibition resonates with a spirit of playful creativity, though it delivers a poignant message: that a wide-ranging heartbreak can be mended through adoration, power, and the rich tapestry of community. “They Teach Love” is not just a display of art; it’s a dynamic testament to art’s healing power.

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8 Asian Women Artists Turning Folklore into Sci-Fi Visions https://ift.tt/Cx49ZfE

Many iconic moments in Western science fiction are visions of hyper-masculine conquest, imbued with orientalist overtones that often depict “the East” as an arcane, unknowable world. Today, moving beyond these entrenched biases, Asian women artists and collectives are working to reshape a genre too often defined by white male interests.

These eight artists—each tapping into their respective folklores and cultural histories—illuminate much deeper and more personal territory than the usual sci-fi fare. Their work was also recently featured at “New Eden: New Science Fiction Mythologies Transformed” at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.

Patty Chang

B. 1972, San Francisco. Lives and works in Los Angeles.

When it comes to subverting the mystique of Asia through Western eyes, Patty Chang’s installation Shangri-La (2005) is a perfect primer. Its main component is a 40-minute film in which Chang visits the Chinese city of Zhongdian, which was officially renamed Shangri-La City in 2001. In the film, the artist reveals the gulf between mundane tourism and the myth of a near-immortal paradise. The film loops next to its companion piece, a mirrored mountain sculpture that can be turned around like an abstract version of a Tibetan prayer wheel. Chang’s work was inspired by James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon (1933) where the European fantasy of the Himalayas concealing a cloud-wreathed mountain utopia originated.

Chang’s work has been exhibited at the New Museum, Hammer Museum, the Moderna Museet, and more. She has received numerous honors including the Rockefeller Foundation Grant and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. She teaches at the University of Southern California.

Morehshin Allahyari

B. 1985, Tehran. Lives and works in New York.

Iranian Kurdish new media artist Morehshin Allahyari pointedly challenges digital colonialism in her research series “She Who Sees The Unknown” (2017–20). She uses Middle Eastern and North African mythologies to reshape heteropatriarchal traditions that define goddesses and oft-vilified female jinn (which comes from an Arabic word for demon or spirit). The series is made up of five multimedia installations that focus on different figures and aspects of mythology.

In the installation that introduces the nightmare-inducing jinn known as Kabous, Allahyari uses VR to create an intimate portrayal of war-driven dystopia, generational trauma, and salvation in the birth of a monstrous healer-daughter. In Huma, a fever-causing jinn is reimagined as a decolonizing entity that can control global warming. Allahyari’s work is connected to ongoing critical conversations around patriarchy, imperialism, and the environment.

Allahyari has received numerous awards and fellowships, most recently the United States Artist Fellowship in 2021. Her work has been shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, and more.

The House of Natural Fiber

F. 1999. Based in Indonesia.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia–based collective The House of Natural Fiber was commissioned by the ArtScience Museum to produce Galactica v.2 Dharma Garden (2023), a new mixed-media installation that reimagines the Hindu goddess Lakshmi as an interstellar traveler arriving on new planets to terraform them into lush, thriving worlds.

A mural of fantastical godlike beings forms the backdrop for circular wall-mounted sculpture made with computer hardware: This is Lakshmi’s dharmic wheel-shaped ship—a green-lit glass cylinder of soil surrounded by eight ambiently swirling screens and softly beeping, terrarium-like environmental sensors. The wheel is a significant symbol in multiple Indian religions, but seen through the lens of Lakshmi—a goddess of agriculture, fertility, and prosperity—it evokes stewardship of life. It’s a thoughtful, technologically driven work that synthesizes the maternal aspect of the goddess with social and universal responsibilities, and the visual language of space travel.

The House of Natural Fiber is an interdisciplinary new media collective that explores social and environmental issues with an eye to practicality. In 2011, their installation Intelligent Bacteria – Saccharomyces cerevisiae won the transmediale award at Transmediale festival in Berlin. They have exhibited at new media space ESC in Austria, the Mal Au Pixel festival in Paris, and the Next Wave Festival in Melbourne.

Kara Chin

B. 1994, Singapore. Lives and works in Newcastle, England.

Kara Chin’s gorgeous animation Awakening Ceremony (2021) intimately traces the evolution of domestic caregiving into rituals of worship. Against a vermillion-tiled kitchen tableau filled with kettles and robotic arms, small machines create their own life-giving ceremony to honor a large coffee dispenser. The palette is a technicolor version of a traditional Imari glaze, often used in Japanese porcelain exported to the West, but centered on the “Chinese red”—a talismanic shade in several Asian cultures that recurs throughout Chin’s practice, which also encompasses ceramic sculptures and installation. The result is a touching depiction of instinct and purpose, poking at the recurring ways in which we attempt to find meaning through technology, and the ease with which we identify with anthropomorphized objects.

Chin was selected for the U.K.’s annual New Contemporaries list in 2018, the same year she received the Woon Foundation Painting and Sculpture Prize. Her work was featured in the 8th International Triennial of Art and Ecology, and has been exhibited at galleries across the U.K. including Fieldworks, Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Arts, and The Milton Gallery. She is represented by VITRINE, which presented a solo booth by the artist at Frieze London 2023.

Sputniko!

B. 1985, Tokyo. Lives and works in Tokyo.

Sputniko!’s installation Red Silk of Fate (2021) is created using threads spun by silkworms genetically engineered to create oxytocin-infused silk. Long banners of red silk form a shrine-shaped roof that fills the gallery, with a circular halo of the titular red threads in the middle. The work refers to the East Asian belief that true lovers are bound by a red thread. This traditional line of thought is embodied by the shrine structure, but is challenged by the modern sensibilities of the short film Red Silk of Fate - Tamaki’s Crush, which plays alongside it. It’s a raucous, technologically fueled take on the shoujo genre of romance comics aimed at young women. In the video, a lovesick scientist engineers a “red silk of fate” to win over her male colleague, but doesn’t quite anticipate the potency of her creation.

Sputniko!’s work has been exhibited around the world including at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, MoMA, and Mori Art Museum, and at festivals like the Triennale di Milano and Setouchi Art Triennale. She has received many honors, including the 2020 ASIAGRAPH’s Tsumugi Award, and held design-focused teaching positions at MIT and the University of Tokyo.

Club Ate

F. 2014. Based in Sydney.

In films, installations, and performance art, Club Ate reinvents myths and legends from the Philippines into new, spiritually driven “future folklore.” Last year, their installation ANG IDOL KO / YOU ARE MY IDOL (2022) drew connections between historical indigenous shamans called Babaylan in the region (who were often queer and trans) and queer and trans idols today.

Across their films, they explore the idea of a “skyworld,” which evokes the malleable and impermanent nature of the imagination, inspired by ancient Tagalog stories. The series of films “Ex Nilalang” (2015–16) deconstructs colonial narratives that have vilified queerness and otherness in Filipinx mythology. Each “episode” recasts a different spirit or monster into a powerful, yet vulnerable creature, creating a richer understanding of their culture.

The Club Ate collective is led by Justin Talplacido Shoulder and Bhenji Ra. Shoulder also makes performance work under the pseudonym Phasmahammer and is the co-founder of queer artist collective The Glitter Militia. Ra is the mother of the House of Slé ballroom house/artist collective. Club Ate have performed and exhibited at the Sydney Biennale 2020, M+ Museum, the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, the National Gallery of Australia, and more.

Fei Yi Ning

B. 1990, Harbin, China. Lives and works in Shanghai.

Fei Yi Ning’s film and animation work explores the relationship between humans, technology, and the environment. The Moonshore (2021) is a dreamy but unsettling excursion into a posthuman future where people rely on AI-powered devices to combat short-term memory loss induced by ocean algae. At times, the film replicates the familiar visual language of classical Chinese mythology and literature while using organic shapes and microscopic slides to create a hallucinatory narrative about an uncertain future. Here, the AI caregiver is portrayed as an “aging priestess” in charge of memory.

Fei’s work has been shown at the 2022 Beijing Biennale, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, Friedman Benda in New York, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, and more.

Saya Woolfalk

B. 1979, Gifu, Japan. Lives and works in New York.

Saya Woolfalk’s “Empathics” are a fictional, interspecies race of women who have evolved with plants and animals into an entirely new sort of being. Drawing from her own identity and experience, the artist explores these speculative, hybrid concepts through a distinctly Afrofuturistic lens. For example, in the video installation Cloudscape (2021), patchwork-style collages of plant-like structures surround a brightly animated humanoid form with Woolfalk’s face, adorned with ceremonial headgear and face paint. Depicted in a bright, almost folk art aesthetic, the Empathics are also portrayed through prints and multimedia installations, gesturing to a new social and cultural ideal—an ever-changing, ever-transforming, ever-growing entity that uses hybridity as a path to utopia.

Woolfalk has received numerous awards and honors including a Fulbright Program grant, the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and the Franklin Furnace Fund Grant. Her work has been shown at the Frist Center for Visual Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, and more. She currently teaches at Parsons New School for Design and is represented by Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.

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What Does It Mean for Galleries to Represent Artists Today? https://ift.tt/1Pyjvmw

Jasper Johns and Leo Castelli , ca. 1985
Hans Namuth
Alpha 137 Gallery

When a gallery takes on an artist’s representation, it can benefit both parties. For the artist, it can mean financial security, public exposure, and career development. For galleries, having the right group of artists on their roster can be an essential part of shaping their public identity and defining their status.

By deciding to represent an artist, the gallery takes responsibility for exhibiting, promoting, and selling the artist’s work while nurturing their career. In the 1960s and ’70s, legendary art dealers such as Leo Castelli and Allan Frumkin gave their artists monthly stipends to help cover art supplies and studio costs. Since the 1980s, galleries have covered everything from production costs to publications, press representation, art fairs, and online marketplaces.

This model still shapes the broad meaning of gallery representation today. But in an increasingly global art market, galleries are taking different approaches and strategies to bringing on artists and working with them. To gain a better understanding, Artsy spoke to gallerists from various parts of the world and at different pockets of the art market.

When selecting an artist to represent, noticing an artist’s artwork unsurprisingly plays a key role for galleries. Establishing a connection with the artist comes soon after, and how these relationships are built between galleries and artists can vary. Sunny Rahbar, a co-founder of The Third Line in Dubai, told Artsy that after multiple studio visits and meetings, the gallery usually starts working with an artist in a small show, and then the relationship evolves from there. Focused on artists from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, the gallery prefers to take on emerging artists and work towards a long-term relationship with them.

Valerie Carberry, a partner at Gray in Chicago, says that the gallery often begins a conversation with a new artist due to a recommendation or introduction by another artist or trusted curator, and that the relationship then evolves organically. Conversely, Thorsten Albertz, co-founder of Albertz Benda in New York, sees the path to representing a new artist akin to dating, with the gallery first exhibiting the artist’s work in a group show or presenting a piece by the artist at a fair before deciding to “put a ring on it and represent.”

Once the gallery takes on a new artist, it assumes an enormous responsibility. “Our goal when representing an artist is to provide them with a platform, to nurture their career, [and] to present their works to a larger public, collectors, and other art practitioners,” Rahbar said. “We also aim to place their works in the right collections and institutions. In short, we hope to support our artists to ensure they have a sustainable and successful practice.”

For Brussels-based gallery Xavier Hufkens, mutual understanding, shared expectations, and timing are key considerations when adding an artist to the gallery’s stable. “Committing to representing an artist means we are fully invested in supporting their career,” said the gallery’s founder Xavier Hufkens. “For this, we provide support for our artists in every possible way with the goal of assisting artists to fully concentrate on their work.”

For the gallerist, involvement with artists ranges from offering strategic advice to logistical and financial assistance. “Vice versa, the same holds true,” Hufkens added. “The representation of a particular artist or the staging of a landmark exhibition can be a real cornerstone of the gallery’s program, which helps define the gallery’s identity.”

For Lorenzo Fiaschi, one of the three co-founders of Galleria Continua, “the goal is to promote the work of an artist, and for us, this means supporting them in the production of new projects, even very demanding ones—sometimes even crazy ones—from both a logistical and economic point of view.”

The gallery, which represents 67 artists from five continents, does this by presenting work by its artists across its eight locations worldwide “to create new cultural bridges, which are always a source of enrichment for the artist and for the people in the host country,” said Fiaschi.

For Various Small Fires, which represents more than 20 artists and estates, representation means taking on “a personal responsibility for their financial well-being,” explained Esther Varet Kim, founder of the gallery, which has branches in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Dallas.

“I’m going to be totally honest: My job is to sell artwork for the artists. It’s as simple as that, right?” Varet Kim added. “That’s what they want from me. They want me to sell their art and they want me to do a good job selling it—whatever that means.”

While most of the gallerists Artsy spoke to mentioned professionalism, collaboration, and trust as the most important things expected of the artists they represent, there is a familial aspect to things, too. “Being part of the gallery means that the artists are a part of our gallery family. We work together to help each other,” noted The Third Line’s Rabar.

That said, Gallery Continua’s Fiaschi noted that the gallery also wants its artists to have “energy, respect, visibility at an international level, unconditional availability, and that ever-present touch of recklessness that makes us stand out from the crowd.”

For galleries that represent many names, how do they take care of the individual needs of each artist?

“Even as the gallery and the artist roster continues to grow, we ensure that each one of them is carefully and responsibly taken care of,” said Carla Camacho, a partner at Lehmann Maupin, which represents some 40 artists and has galleries in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Seoul. “We have a very strong group of partners and directors that provide support in a 360 overview, which includes curatorial, press coverage, and commercial success.”

For Hufkens, there is a crucial element of subjective engagement that holds precedence. “While we have a dedicated team that actively maintains day-to-day relationships with our artists, I find it truly important to personally engage with each artist,” he said. “That is why I insist on being present during every exhibition installation and try to visit every artist’s studio on a regular basis. This aspect of my role is the very reason I fell in love with what I do, and there is nothing more special and inspiring than being in an artist’s studio. I would say it has become the main focus of my job.”

Ss07, 2022
Mika Rottenberg
Hauser & Wirth

Several galleries have also taken the step of sharing representation of an artist, which can be a more equitable and sustainable arrangement for all parties involved. In 2012, for instance, Andrea Rosen Gallery announced the co-representation of Mika Rottenberg along with Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery.

Today, Rottenberg is represented by Hauser & Wirth, which recently created a new model for joint representation it calls “Collective Impact.” The gallery described the initiative as a “new kind of alliance between galleries of different scales in which full transparency and the sharing of resources can support both artists’ careers and the ongoing health of the wider gallery field itself.” Under this model, the mega-gallery recently partnered with Nicola Vassell Gallery to share the representation of the painter Uman, and is working with Company to jointly represent the figurative painter Ambera Wellman.

Not every gallery wants to represent artists, however. LATITUDE, a small gallery in the heart of New York’s Chinatown, has eschewed artist representation altogether. “We have opted not to represent artists for several reasons,” said Shihui Zhou, who founded the gallery in 2020. “LATITUDE operates on a distinct model, such as consignment, particularly in the early stages, which is geared towards exhibiting a broad spectrum of artists and community-building while fostering long-term relationships with a select few. This choice can also be reflective of the gallery’s capacity, mission, or the level of commitment we are able to provide to the artists at the moment.”

This approach, Zhou said, enables the gallery to operate at a different level of flexibility and inclusivity that aligns with “our aspiration to introduce diverse artistic expressions to our audience, while also nurturing meaningful connections with certain artists over time.”

Sara Hantman, who founded SEA VIEW in Los Angeles last year, is also among those who has chosen not to represent artists at this nascent point in its existence. “It’s more important to me in the early stages of the gallery to focus on building a meaningful program and identity in close collaboration with the artists,” Hantman told Artsy. “Gallerists often associate success with a growing roster, but rosters are constantly adapting.”

Not having a roster allows the gallery to experiment with a wide range of artists and to “think carefully about what type of gallery I want to develop for the long term.” For Hantman, both the gallery and its artists can evolve in tandem. “When we have each other’s trust, gallerists and artists can help build long-lasting careers that are mutually beneficial,” she said.

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How Studio Ghibli Has Inspired a New Generation of Artists https://ift.tt/AfeVLJD

Spirited Away is more than just a film; it’s a memory etched into the minds of a generation. Released in Japan in 2001 and in the U.S. in 2002, this Studio Ghibli masterpiece enchanted audiences with its breathtaking visuals and an idiosyncratic approach to animation. Spirited Away’s triumph at the Oscars in 2003, where it won Best Animated Feature, is what propelled Studio Ghibli to global recognition. Today, Hayao Miyazaki, the studio’s founder, is a household name—beloved by movie lovers, animators, and artists alike.

The release of The Boy and The Heron—thought to be Miyazaki’s final project—in the U.S. on December 8th has not only captivated new audiences but also reemphasized Ghibli’s nearly four-decade legacy, beginning with its first film, Castle in the Sky (1986). With his magical and relatable style, rich color palette, and attention to detail in both backgrounds and characters, Miyazaki’s influence has only become more evident over the years.

In an interview, Helen McCarthy, author of Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation, noted Miyazaki’s influence on a diverse range of contemporary artists. “Western artists [have been] inspired by Ghibli work in ceramics, video, theater, and music as well as painting and graphics,” she explained. For example, Alex Anderson’s ceramics infuse inanimate objects with human characteristics, echoing Studio Ghibli’s tendency to animate the everyday. And freewheeling performance artist Monster Chetwynd included a “cat bus,” a concept taken directly from Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro, in her 2010 performance piece Spartacus Chetwynd, A Tax Haven Run By Women.

Another artist singled out by McCarthy was Julien Ceccaldi, whose comic Solito (2018) includes references from Ghibli films such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Porco Rosso. “I’m very inspired by the melancholy of Porco Rosso, best exemplified by [Madame] Gina’s old French song about fleeting youthful love and the bittersweet scars it leaves,” Ceccaldi told Artsy, referring to an iconic moment in the film. “A moment in this comic is also inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle, where war is ubiquitous even though it mostly happens off-camera. I hoped to replicate this feeling of commonplace dread when it’s revealed a handsome prince has to take a break from brunch to lead a deathly war against an adjacent country.”

My Neighbor Kerotan, 2001
Takashi Murakami
Pinto Gallery

Shangri-La-Shangri_la, 2013
Takashi Murakami
Arushi Arts

Japanese Pop artist Takashi Murakami has noted the influence of Ghibli on his art and production methods. His workshop, Hiropon Factory, later incorporated as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., is modeled off of the atelier system, also used by Ghibli animators. The artist’s style prioritizes the cheerful and fantastical themes prominent in Ghibli films. Inspired by Miyazaki and Ghibli’s commitment to their films and Japanese animation, Murakami also came to the conclusion that he wanted to articulate “what Japan is” in his own work, leading him to the concept of Superflat. The artist told Artsy: “Even when they were no blockbusters, the level of perfection and originality of [Miyazaki’s] work were absolutely tremendous.”

“When I was a senior in high school, Hayao Miyazaki appeared before my eyes with a bang,” Murakami told Artsy, speaking about the penultimate episode, “The End of Industria,” of the animated television series Future Boy Conan. “I was so surprised that the depth of reality explored in this work was completely different from those in Japanese, foreign, and Disney animations I had seen until then…I was deeply inspired by the ambition of Miyazaki and his colleagues to seek the authenticity in animation.”

Lovely Shade Flower, 2021
Alex Anderson
The Hole

Miyazaki’s widespread influence on contemporary art was the subject of a 2018 pop-up exhibition titled “Miyazaki in Los Angeles,” hosted by Spoke Art in Santa Monica, California. This three-day event, intended as a tribute to the filmmaker, featured over 130 artists, each bringing their own interpretation of Miyazaki’s work.

Among the contributors to the exhibition were artists working with media that had little to do with animation, such as contemporary artist Pippa Dyrlaga, who works with intricate paper-cutting techniques. In fact, her paper-cut work The Sky Gardener (2018) is a direct reference to Miyazaki’s movie Castle in the Sky. However, in an interview, she explained that the “special magic” of Ghibli films has influenced her entire practice. For her, all of Miyazaki’s films emphasized “the wonder of nature and the importance of living in harmony with it, rather than exploiting and destroying.…As an artist that is so inspired by the natural world, that’s something that I constantly strive to capture in my own work.”

Other artists who directly cite Miyazaki as an influence on their work include Hiroka Yamashita, whose paintings interweave dreamlike scenes with the tangible world. She noted that Miyazaki brought to life settings from her upbringing in Japan. “Looking back, the things that have influenced me since I was little are the works of Hayao Miyazaki and the stories my grandmother told me about events that occurred in the village where I was born and raised,” Yamashita told Artsy in an interview earlier this year. “Each of them exists in a world where the boundary between life and death is exceedingly ambiguous, a world that can invalidate the restrictions of time, space, language, and human senses.”

“Miyazaki’s films give equal importance to the setting, making it a character in itself,” said American landscape painter Jeffrey Beauchamp in an interview with Artsy. He noted Miyazaki’s ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia—though the director prefers not to use that word in relation to his work—not just in adults but in children as well. Beauchamp’s landscapes, such as If Zero is an Even Number I Guess You Got Even When You Left Me With Nothing (2012), are inspired by the rich and “operatic” backdrops of Ghibli films, he said.

While their artistic styles may differ, Beauchamp acknowledges the impact of Miyazaki’s work on his own, particularly noting “his celebration of the humble and the quiet as part of a heroic journey and his vision of magic among the everyday.”

If Zero is an Even Number I Guess You Got Even When You Left Me With Nothing, 2012
Jeffrey Beauchamp
Seager Gray Gallery

Part of the reason for the widening influence of Studio Ghibli’s films is their distribution to new, international audiences. “I’m seeing an awful lot of people doing things in a Miyazaki style now, in a way that has really grown from the grassroots up,” Rayna Denison, a professor in film and digital art at the University of Bristol, said. “I assume [the style] will start making its way through the industry pretty quickly now because there’s a whole generation now that has grown up with Ghibli on its streaming platforms and on DVD. So as that group comes of age, we’ll see more Ghibli-esque [art].”

As more artists interact with these stories, the enduring legacy of Ghibli is likely to shape the artistic landscape for years to come.

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MASSIMODECARLO announces representation of Scottish painter France-Lise McGurn. https://ift.tt/7CMuJDS

MASSIMODECARLO has announced the representation of Scottish painter France-Lise McGurn. The Glasgow-born artist will present her first solo exhibition with the gallery in fall 2024.

Mcgurn’s figurative paintings, often inspired by ’70s film stills, Janus fetish magazine, Botticelli prints, and celebrity autographs, are characterized by rapid, calligraphic brushstrokes. Throughout her work, she emphasizes the human form, often depicting women amid fluid washes of colors. The influence of Glasgow’s post-industrial aesthetic is evident in her art, which often features repeated lines and movements reminiscent of antiquity.

A defining quality of McGurn’s practice is her innovative use of exhibition spaces. In her shows, paintings frequently extend from the canvases onto the walls, floors, and furniture. This approach transforms the gallery or even an art fair booth into an immersive experience, inviting viewers to step into the artwork.

Born in 1983, Mcgurn was educated in painting at London’s Royal College of Art and in an exchange program at Hunter College of Art. Her work has also been displayed in prominent institutions such as Tate Britain in London. Her paintings are held in several public collections, including the Tate, the Hill Art Foundation, and the Stiftung Kunsthaus-Sammlung Pasquart in Biel, Switzerland.

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How Assembly Propels Mid-Career Artists to New Heights https://ift.tt/oKryhIn

Longtime friends Ashlyn Davis Burns and Shane Lavalette shared a passion for photography and other lens-based arts well before founding their Houston-based gallery Assembly. In their previous professional roles—Burns at the helm of the Houston Center for Photography, and Lavalette leading Light Work in Syracuse, New York—the duo found themselves on remarkably similar paths, often exchanging ideas and aligning on how they believed the art world needed to change. These conversations, spanning nearly a decade, sowed the seeds for Assembly, a collaborative venture born from their mutual desire to help artists reach new heights.

As the pandemic unfolded in 2020, both Burns’s and Lavalette’s careers paused after the temporary lockdown-induced closures of their respective institutions. However, the unexpected turn of events provided an opportunity to channel their years of ideas into a new business. In March 2021, Assembly opened its doors in Houston’s 4411 Montrose building, a space hosting five other galleries. In its first year, the gallery held solo shows of artists Fumi Ishino and Alinka Echeverría.

Burns and Lavalette approached Assembly with ambitions to create a more equitable art world. “We’re very interested in new models for galleries and working with artists in expansive ways, so we developed this concept of working holistically with artists,” Lavalette said. Instead of simply providing an exhibition space, Assembly helps its artists with grant applications, book pitches, networking opportunities, financial advice, and more.

In part, the artist-first gallery model was conceived by the founders’ experiences as nonprofit directors. “We’ve really been able to leverage our contacts and relationships that we had in the nonprofit setting and translate them here through matchmaking artists to the right funders for their projects,” Burns said. “I think some galleries do this behind the scenes, but it’s not a real focus because it’s not the bread-and-butter income. But we think that if the artist succeeds, then we’ll succeed.”

Still life with jerk chicken, 2022
David Alekhuogie
Assembly

Fuerte, obrera y libre, 2018-2019
Cristina Velásquez
Assembly

At first, Assembly debuted as an exclusively lens-based gallery (encompassing photography, mixed-media, and video art), featuring artists such as Cristina Velásquez and David Alekhuogie. However, as Burns’s and Lavalette’s vision for the gallery evolved, they began to embrace a broader spectrum of artistic mediums. This expansion reflects the gallery’s commitment to nurturing a rich dialogue among its artists and the broader art world.

Assembly opened its first painting exhibition this past November, Jason Stopa’s “DIY Paradise,” which is on view through February 24, 2024. The solo show features a collection of Stopa’s vibrant large-scale paintings, sculptural works, and works on paper that ignite conversations about spatial constraints and the concept of utopia. But above all, the exhibition ushers in a new era for Assembly, where painting and sculpture are a core component of the gallery’s mission.

Weapons #47, 2022
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Assembly

“The artists we work with who are lens-based are already creating work that has a dialogue with the broader contemporary art world,” Lavalette said, adding that their artists are often multidisciplinary and working across various mediums. “For us, it was a natural transition because we’re most excited about the fringes of photography and get excited about artists who explore other media.”

The gallery is also thoughtful about the career trajectory of the artists it seeks out. “A lot of the artists we work with are at that mid-career point where maybe they’ve had institutional success in one part of the world but not another,” Lavette said. “They’re really ripe for museums to pay attention to their work. They’re really sound investments for collectors who are interested in supporting a great artist making important contributions but with an understanding that they’re on an exciting trajectory.”

At the same time, Assembly also aims to connect its artists with Houston’s art scene. Although Houston is home to numerous high-profile galleries and institutions, Burns and Lavalette identified a gap between local artists and collectors. Specifically, they observed that Houston’s collectors often favored artists on the East or West Coasts over those within their city. By presenting artists at pivotal moments in their careers, Assembly seeks to cultivate not only the artists but also Houston’s art market and collectors.

On the horizon, Assembly is preparing to present work from Misha de Ridder, a Dutch photographer whose work resembles painting, at FotoFest 2024, Houston’s international biennial focused on photography and mixed-media art. This upcoming exhibition is yet another milestone in Assembly’s mission as a catalyst for artistic development—within Houston and beyond.

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Why We’re Drawn to “Hysterical” Art https://ift.tt/PaElGtI

Peter Saul’s Life Is Tuff (2023) is unnerving. The painting, depicting a man’s head being crushed by an imposing black boot as he reaches for gold coins, was Saul’s response to the financial squeeze that most New Yorkers have experienced. Crushed by a symbol of the capitalist system, Saul’s figure is bludgeoned by the faceless powers that be, his nose broken and eyes gouged. The work is hard to look at, but then again, unsettling times often create unsettling art, forcing us to confront the harsh realities of the world rather than hiding behind the aesthetic comfort zone of beauty.

On view at Venus Over Manhattan’s two SoHo gallery spaces, “Retinal Hysteria” is a monumental group show featuring over 80 troubling works from more than 40 artists, including Life Is Tuff. Curated by Yale art professor (and its former dean) Robert Storr, the exhibition, on view through January 13, 2024, provides a window into how artists cultivate this sense of “hysteria”—a term framed not as a gendered misconception or psychological misinterpretation, but as an embodiment of emotional excess. Here, each work explores pain and anxiety through visual strain—employing intense colors, frenetic sketches, or grisly images.

The exhibition takes as its starting point “Eye Infection,” an exhibition held at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in 2001, for which Storr penned the critical text. That exhibition, notable for its abrasive approach to contemporary art, presented work from five artists—Saul, Mike Kelley, Robert Crumb, Jim Nutt, and H.C. Westermann—each with a raw and unfiltered perspective on the world. Westermann once described the current era, beginning in the 1960s, as “a world gone nuts.”

“‘Hysterical’ art is the effect that the art has on the viewer and the way it hits your nerves, or at least identifies where they are,” Storr said. The exhibition emerges from Storr’s contemplation of the near-universal experience of “cabin fever” during the pandemic, a sensation that was amplified by the international political and social turmoil that followed. The collective sense of being “besieged” and “hysterical,” as Storr describes it, informed the selection process for the exhibition. The show, therefore, focuses on works that provoke, disturb, and challenge us, leaving a lasting impression on its viewers.

“This show that [Storr] has put together really challenges our notions of beauty and aesthetics and what’s right and what’s wrong, and there’s an interesting sort of counterpoint to where the art market has been, and also coming at a very challenging time in the world,” Adam Lindemann, Venus Over Manhattan founder, said at a press event.

Here, pieces such as Keiichi Tanaami’s epic painting of a sci-fi scene, Fragment of Time (2022), or Steve DiBenedetto’s grotesque abstract portrait, Mental Reupholstery (2022–23), portray these excesses through unchartable motion or deluges of color. Both works evoke an unabating sense of anxiety through their visual overstimulation. Interested in overdosing on the visual experience, Storr hopes viewers engage with uncontrollable sensations provoked by the artwork, he said.

These artworks also frequently draw on decades of scathing political criticism, directly referencing the anxiety that inspired them. The exhibition includes notable pieces like David Wojnarowicz’s painting Good Morning America, Export News (1984), portraying a tableau of burning money, a dead body, and a badly beaten face, all framed by a bulls-eye, a sharp comment on the violent instability within the U.S. Elsewhere, Wojnarowicz’s 1984 painting Untitled (alien mind), features a bright red head with a miniature factory in his skull. This politically charged work criticized the industrial complex and its influence on the human psyche, representing the dehumanizing force of industrialization.

Other works in the show challenge conventional visual aesthetics, such as Ana Benaroya’s Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad (2023), a massive painting that depicts a muscular female angel whose body is comprised of shocking red flames. Though arguably one of the more appealing paintings in the show, Storr finds a throughline across artists and chronology, drawing together different modes of provocation and anxiety as universal experiences to those who can see. “Stylistic affiliation has been of no concern to me whatsoever,” Storr wrote in his curator statement. “Funk, Imagism, Underground Comix, you name it, are all just temporary labels for the expressive imperatives characteristic of ‘Retinal Hysteria.’”

The massive group exhibition is composed of hyper-contrasting paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. The exhibition veers away from creating harmony between the pieces and instead draws out dissonance between them. Works such as Robert Colescott’s colorful abstract painting 6 Witnesses (1968) form a blazing blend of bright colors, whereas Julia Jacquette’s Brains and Bile (2018), an oil painting depicting vomit among disembodied faces, repels the viewer.

As a curator, Storr explores how our perception affects our judgment of certain artworks. Many of the works are lurid, garish, and otherwise difficult to look at for long, such as Gladys Nilsson’s Errent Field (2022), a bright landscape portrait where a giant figure hovers over running figures. Even black-and-white works, such as Jim Shaw’s painting of several distorted Donald Trump faces, Large Trump Chaos II (2017), use tactics that opt for provocation rather than beauty. And yet these works, Storr argues, still communicate something important: how each artist experiences the distressing sides of life.

“There’s work in this that does not appeal to me personally; that I wouldn’t plan on hanging in my living room, but I would recommend everybody looking at it because there is something tenacious and irritating or whatever, and it’s substantial,” Storr said. “‘Liking’ is a relatively weak emotion in relation to art. ‘Noticing’ is much more important, and ‘being puzzled by’ something is the most important.”

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