The Crossing 158, 2023
Bao Vuong
Verduyn
In this monthly roundup, we spotlight five stellar exhibitions at small and rising galleries.
Bao Vuong, “Retenir”
Verduyn, Moregem, Belgium
Through Sep. 20
Laguna Nera I, 2023
Bao Vuong
Verduyn
Bao Vuong fled Vietnam by sea when he was only one year old, crammed into a boat with his parents and 200 others seeking refuge from the Vietnam War. None of the individuals he traveled with, nor the boats that carried them, appear in his oil paintings on wood and canvas. Instead, the sea and sky—the perilous, indifferent backdrop of his family’s journey—are rendered in thick, meditative layers of black paint. A selection of these paintings, from his “Crossing” series, is the subject of a solo exhibition at Verduyn, titled “Retenir.”
In these works, Vuong uses the titanic nature of the ocean and its sweeping vistas to communicate the feeling of exile at such a young age. Laguna Nera I (2023), a grayscale painting of rippling open water, portrays the expanse in nightmarish detail, with a darkening sky. Still, some of these paintings evoke tranquility, such as The Crossing 158 (2023), where the artist uses gold leaf to portray the sunrise over the horizon.
In January, the Brussels-based artist mounted another solo exhibition at BAILLY GALLERY in Geneva, titled “Wave.”
Heath Wae, “School of the Flower”
ARDEN + WHITE GALLERY, New Canaan, Connecticut
Through July 13
Bloom 4, 2025
Heath Wae
ARDEN + WHITE GALLERY
In Crimsons Court, 2025
Heath Wae
ARDEN + WHITE GALLERY
During a visit to Indonesia, Australian artist Heath Wae witnessed firsthand how flowers were used as living offerings. There, he observed how flora played a participatory role in ceremony and functioned, in some cases, as a bridge between humans and nature. That understanding of the flower—as sacred and spiritual—forms the basis of Wae’s debut U.S. solo show. In “School of the Flower,” on view at ARDEN + WHITE GALLERY, his layered compositions depict hazy, color-soaked petals.
In Bloom 4 (2025), Wae depicts what appears to be a blooming orchid, with blurred purple petals against an orange background. In many of the works, a ghostly floral form is adorned with a halo of light in the center of the canvas. Golden Deity (2025), in particular, features a prominent orange ring circling the pistil of the flower, underscoring Wae’s spiritual engagement with nature.
Based in Mullumbimby, Australia, Wae graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art from the Sydney College of the Arts. His previous solo exhibition, “Devotions,” was staged by The Dot Project in London last year.
“Four Chapters”
TAMARA KREISLER Gallery, Madrid
Through July 19
Moon & Sun T FR F rouge,, 2024
Saidou Dicko
TAMARA KREISLER Gallery
British photographer Nick Brandt shot his series “The Day May Break” in Zimbabwe and Kenya in late 2020 to explore how climate change impacts the environment and humans alike. He builds on those themes in a group exhibition he curated at TAMARA KREISLER Gallery, which showcases four other photographers. “Four Chapters” features the work of Lebanese artist Rania Matar, Australian photographer Morganna Magee, and Lima-based artist Alessandro Cinque. A particular highlight is the work of Saidou Dicko, a self-taught artist from Burkina Faso who has exhibited across art fairs in the U.S. as well as at the Dakar Biennale in Senegal. Each of these artists brings their distinctive photographic eye to communities and places impacted by our changing planet.
Cinque’s black-and-white photographs intimately document the lives of Indigenous communities across Latin America. Meanwhile, Magee’s monochrome images take a closer look at life and death in nature, through images of albino peacocks or dying trees under the night sky. Matar’s portraits focus on women in urban and natural spaces, often evoking a sense of strength within lonesome settings. And Dicko’s painted photographs feature silhouetted figures set against vivid, patterned backdrops. These faceless human forms are inspired by his experience tracing the shadows of animals while working as a shepherd. “A shadow makes its objective-self disappear,” he said in an interview. “A person’s shadow suggests a human being and nothing else. This is what drew me to shadows.”
Luis Renteria, “Un puñal en un pañuelo”
Sorondo, Barcelona
Through July 24
Casa, 2025
Luis Renteria
Sorondo
Armadura III, 2025
Luis Renteria
Sorondo
As a child, Mexican artist Luis Renteria watched his grandmother write a wish on a piece of paper, wrap it around a candle, and tie it with a string. To him, this simple act transformed these household items into “objects that cease to occupy the space for which they were made and begin to inhabit a symbolic space,” he said. This idea—of everyday materials turned into spiritual vessels—inspired “Un puñal en un pañuelo” his solo show at Sorondo. The exhibition features a series of textiles stitched from cotton, horsehair, feathers, and metal, all grounded in familial ritual and spiritual intent.
One standout work is Casa (2025), a hanging sculpture made from cochineal-dyed cotton, rabbit hair, feathers, pearls, and wood. Handwoven panels hang like the walls of a house, held together by a curved textile band that loops through the form. The delicate structure evokes a home without a base, capturing the show’s central paradox: how beauty and softness can still carry the trace of danger. The exhibition’s title, which translates to a “dagger in a handkerchief,” takes on further resonance in a series of three works all titled “Armadura.” Here, bands of color and thread are shaped into rectangular forms and framed in wooden boxes, forming quiet, protective enclosures that nod to the work’s title, which translates to “armor.”
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1991, Renteria earned his MA in production and artistic research at the University of Barcelona.
Katrina Cowling & Dwayne Coleman, “Ouverture”
Night Café, London
Through July 25
don’t go chasing waterfalls, 2025
Katrina Cowling
Night Café
“Ouverture” is a duet of opposing forces: Katrina Cowling’s kinetic sculptures hum and twitch, while Dwayne Coleman’s paintings rust and deteriorate. Their materials range from wheat stalks and concrete slabs to rusted steel and discarded clothing. While the artists’ practices are wildly different in approach, they share a theme: Each artwork is meant to symbolize something on the verge of changing.
In don’t go chasing waterfalls (2025), Cowling animates a trembling row of wheat stalks mounted on concrete slabs and powered by a small motor. The kinetic sculpture creates dissonance between its materials: industrial and agrarian, fragile and mechanical. The sculpture’s movements make it appear to be alive, and this connection is emphasized by its resemblance to typical diagrams of DNA. Meanwhile, Coleman’s Surface of a star (2025) embeds a painted textile behind a gridded steel frame, allowing only partial glimpses of color through the rusted barrier. In contrast to Cowling’s lively sculptures, Coleman’s works appear tarnished, if not actively aging.
This is the first time that the two London-based artists are presenting work with Night Café. Cowling is currently working on her three-year postgraduate diploma at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Coleman graduated with a bachelor’s in mixed-media fine art from the University of Westminster in 2011.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/NZehnaO
No comments:
Post a Comment