On the occasion of the 59th La Biennale di Venezia, the celebrated Swiss contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone will present a solo exhibition titled burn shine fly at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (hereafter the Scuola), opening on April 20, 2022. The exhibition title is derived from a book of poems, you got to burn to shine (1994) by the American poet and late partner of the artist, John Giorno. Curated by Javier Molins, burn shine fly will feature iconic works by Rondinone and showcase for the first time a new body of work inspired by the historic walls of the Scuola.
Having represented Switzerland at the 52nd La Biennale di Venezia in 2007, Rondinone has maintained a close relationship with the city. In 2017, he participated in GLASSTRESS, held at the Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, where he presented an installation of 12 glass figures titled an ocean away (2017).

Founded in 1261, the Scuola is known for its imposing stone gateway, designed by the 15th-century Venetian architect Pietro Lombardo. Situated within the Scuola’s magnificent frescoed rooms, Rondinone’s works will exquisitely transform the historic site into a space that invites visitors to reflect on “the marvels and mysteries of life.” The artist has further remarked: “The sculptures in burn shine fly are natural growths out of a loam of perception and feeling I had of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. The work aims to coax the sublime from the subliminal.” burn shine fly, slated to run through September 17, 2022, will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Skira.

Louise Bourgeois, one of the most prominent artists of the 20th century, is the subject of the solo exhibition Louise Bourgeois x Jenny Holzer: The Violence of Handwriting Across a Page, on view from February 19 through May 15, 2022, at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. Curated by the American contemporary artist Jenny Holzer, the exhibition presents Bourgeois’ extensive oeuvre as seen through Holzer’s eyes. Holzer, who utilizes language as a primary medium in her work, examines the ways in which writing helped alleviate Bourgeois’ childhood trauma. Presented across the nine galleries of the Kunstmuseum Basel’s ‘Neubau’ (new building), the hallway connecting the ‘Hauptbau’ (main building) and the Neubau, and the façade of the museum, this comprehensive exhibition brings together Bourgeois’ drawings and sculptures, along with excerpts from her writings as carefully selected by Holzer.

This unprecedented encounter between two of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries begins in the Neubau. Bourgeois’ lifelong obsession over writing allowed text to remain a crucial form of her expression. Throughout the course of her psychoanalysis, which began in 1951 soon after her father’s death, Bourgeois wrote extensively, exploring the depths of her inner mind. Her writings, which describe underlying emotions and impulses, are interweaved through Bourgeois’ multifaceted practice; text is seen embroidered on fabric including underpants and handkerchiefs, stamped on lead plaques, and incorporated into selected works from her installation series, Cell.

Installed in the hallway between the Neubau and Hauptbau is Bourgeois’ monumental installation, Twosome (1991). Taking the form of a railroad tank car moving back and forth on a track, Twosome embodies the tensions and dynamics between opposing concepts—including mother and child, male and female, inside and outside. The presentation extends outdoors; from February 16 to 22, 2022, excerpts from Bourgeois’ writing were projected onto the façades of Basel’s City Hall (Rathaus), the Old University (Alte Universität) on the Rhine, and the Kunstmuseum’s Hauptbau. These texts will further be displayed on the façade of the Kunstmuseum’s Neubau for the remaining duration of the show. Also accompanying Louise Bourgeois x Jenny Holzer: The Violence of Handwriting Across a Page is an eponymous catalog published by JRP | Editions, as well as an Augmented Reality App developed by the London-based creative innovation studio Holition, providing an immersive and multisensory experience of the works on view (available on-site only).

Installation view of Julian Opie: Collected Works/Works Collected at Newlands House Gallery, Petworth. UK. Photo: Elizabeth Zeschin

Artist: 줄리안 오피(Julian Opie)
Exhibition Dates: November 6, 2021 – March 6, 2022
Exhibition Venue: Newlands House Gallery, Petworth, UK
Website: https://newlandshouse.gallery/exhibitions/julian-opie-collected-works-works-collected/

The British contemporary artist Julian Opie is the subject of a solo exhibition titled Julian Opie: Collected Works/Works Collected, on view through March 6, 2022 at Newlands House Gallery, Petworth, UK. Situated in a historic 18th-century townhouse, Newlands House Gallery opened its doors to the public in March of 2020 and has since staged exhibitions featuring prominent 20th-century artists. As its fifth exhibition—following those of celebrated artists such as Helmut Newton, Ron Arad, and Joan Miro—Julian Opie: Collected Works/Works Collected showcases over 100 pieces from the artist’s personal collection, ranging from antiquities to contemporary art, alongside a selection of his own sculptures, paintings, and films. Opie has often referred to drawing inspiration from antiquities and works by other contemporary artists, mentioning that “the work of others pushes me beyond what I know and assume," and that it "suggests new logics and approaches.” In this context, Julian Opie: Collected Works/Works Collected provides yet another opportunity to reflect on the British artist’s interest in art spanning centuries of history. Displayed in the exhibition are Opie’s paintings characterized by his signature style of simple lines and flat colors, LED installations, mosaic portraits, sculptures, and videos alongside his personal collection of art that has inspired his unique work. His collection of art spans a range of eras and genres, from Greco-Roman statuary and Egyptian sarcophagi to works by contemporary artists such as Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, and Sol LeWitt. Each piece from the artist’s personal collection comes into intimate dialogue with his work. For instance, everyday scenes of Japanese women portrayed by the renowned Ukiyo-e printmaker Kitagawa Utamaro hang next to Ruth Smoking 2. (2006)—Opie’s animated LCD portrait of a woman smoking a cigarette, while silhouette portraits by the 19th-century French painter Auguste Edouard are presented in juxtaposition with Opie’s own series of silhouettes depicting his family and friends. Installed in the center of the garden is Yoko XIX (2006), the British contemporary artist Don Brown’s sculptural portrait of his wife, alongside two of Opie’s animal sculptures. Meticulously curated in in consideration of the unique architecture of Newlands House Gallery, the show invites viewers to reflect on the stylistic and narrative similarities between works from a range of cultural milieus. In doing so, it places Opie’s oeuvre within a broader art historical context, providing a closer look into his artistic endeavor across various mediums and techniques. 

The internationally renowned contemporary artist Anish Kapoor is the subject of a major solo exhibition titled Anish Kapoor: Painting at Modern Art Oxford, UK, on view through February 13, 2022. A rare opportunity that brings together a large number of paintings by the celebrated sculptor in one setting, Anish Kapoor: Painting presents approximately 18 oil paintings alongside eight sculptures. The oil paintings featured in the exhibition have all been created during the pandemic, which led the artist to pose fundamental questions about life and death. Taking an intuitive approach, Kapoor responded to our times by creating works that focus on the essence of painting. The large-scale painting The world trembles when I retrieve from my ancient past what I need to live in the depths of myself (2020) depicts a scene from a volcanic eruption rendered in crimson red—reminiscent of blood. The bold, sweeping brushstrokes painted in intense red allude to both the life force and mortality of human bodies, evoking various physical risk factors that we are susceptible to and thus connoting our vulnerability. Similarly, massive, energetic sculptures installed at the center of each gallery space captivate the audience by provoking a dramatic and intense response. Covered with thick layers of red and black paint, these sculptures are created with a mixture of waxes, acrylics, and fabrics, appearing quite different from the artist’s signature sculptures characterized by polished and reflective surfaces. The five sculptures installed in the Upper Gallery, for instance, evoke blood-stained organs, intestines, and body tissues, highlighting the vulnerability of the human body. Furthermore, Kapoor refers to numerous art historical paintings that depict violence, such as the flagellation of martyrs, the beheading of saints, and the atrocities of war. By continuing the traditions of painting and sculpture that harken back to the Renaissance, Kapoor places his work within a broader art historical context. In April, select works from Anish Kapoor: Painting will travel to the artist’s upcoming solo exhibition in Venice, scheduled to take place at Gallerie dell’Accademia and the Palazzo Manfrin, in conjunction with the 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

The internationally renowned contemporary video artist Bill Viola is the subject of the solo exhibition Bill Viola: Five Angels for the Millennium at the West Bund Museum in Shanghai, on view from December 10, 2021. Part of the museum’s Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project, running from 2019 to 2024, which presents curatorial and educational programs alongside highlights from the Centre Pompidou’s permanent collection, the exhibition showcases Five Angels for the Millennium (2001), Viola’s monumental installation composed of five videos. Widely known for his unique artistic practice that explores fundamental and existential themes by portraying universal human experiences of life and death through video, Viola presents his immersive installation at the “Box”—the museum’s space dedicated to ambitious multimedia works. Created at the turn of the new millennium, Five Angels for the Millennium features the following five angels: the Departing Angel, Birth Angel, Fire Angel, Ascending Angel, and the Creation Angel. Filmed by the artist in 1999 using an underwater camera in a pool located in Long Beach, California, the installation was previously introduced to the Korean audiences at his solo exhibition Transfiguration (2008), at Kukje Gallery, and subsequently at Bill Viola: ENCOUNTER (2020) at Busan Museum of Art. Throughout the videos, which show each angel plunging into and rising above water, Viola utilizes his signature slow-motion technique, reversing select parts to emphasize an amplified sense of time. The scene of the angels plunging into the mysterious abyss collapse the boundaries between the immortality of the universe and the mortality of the human body, exploring opposing themes of light and dark, time and eternity, life and death. The five videos, each on loop, invite the audience to become immersed in a cosmic environment devoid of gravity. Bill Viola: Five Angels for the Millennium, which restructures and expands viewers’ fixed perceptions of time and space, will remain on view through April 10, 2022. 

The Danish artist collective SUPERFLEX recently unveiled their public installation project Play Contract (2021) at the Skulpturpark Billund in Denmark. The installation has been created in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Capital of Children (CoC) project, set in Billund, the hometown of Lego. CoC, which involves several institutions, foundations, and companies based in Billund, works towards building the city into a place where children are encouraged to experience the world through play, fostering their development into innovative adults with a global mindset. In collaboration with KWY.studio—a Lisbon-based project group consisting of architects, curators, and educators—SUPERFLEX presents Play Contract, a set of five sculptures constructed with the help of 121 children in Billund.  



Taking into consideration that “most public art is made by adults,” SUPERFLEX and KWY.studio invited 121 children to design playground models with Lego blocks, then realized these prototypes in the form of pink marble installations via Play Contract. While the sculptures are created from approximately 300 uniquely shaped stones, these stones remain raw and unpolished, exposing the rough surfaces that have been made from the tools that were used to cut them. Written on the walls of the sculptures are “play contracts” as dictated by children, which are to be followed by adults who visit the work. Adults are expected to respect the children’s rather absurd and insensible set of rules and embrace their senses and points-of-view. Play Contract allows adults to discover the surprises and fun that lie in giving up the control on everyday life. Following the permanent installation of the work at the park, Play Contract, a book including relevant stories and images, will be published in the near future.  

The Australian contemporary artist Daniel Boyd is currently part of the group exhibition UN/LEARNING AUSTRALIA, held at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), Korea. Co-curated by SeMA and Artspace, Sydney, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Australia, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of Australian contemporary art through the works of 35 Australian artists, collectives, and indigenous art centers. The Korean title of the exhibition, ‘경로를 재탐색합니다 (rediscover the route),’ derives from a phrase often heard while using navigation devices, and is juxtaposed with the English title, UN/LEARNING AUSTRALIA. These dual titles aim to highlight the importance of “learning” itself, rather than the purpose of it, referring to the process of unlearning and relearning existing perceptions of Australia. Daniel Boyd, whose practice continuously questions the Western hegemonic gaze in interpreting and restoring the founding history of Australia with a unique artistic vocabulary, presents three of his paintings and one installation in UN/LEARNING AUSTRALIA. 

Boyd, who comes from an aboriginal background, introduces Untitled (TDHFTC) (2021) and Untitled (UT) (2021)—two paintings that reinterpret Australian history in a new lens. First showcased at the artist’s solo exhibition with Kukje Gallery last June, the paintings each depict Boyd’s sister and his grandma’s siblings. By sharing these personal images, Boyd connects his personal experiences and heritage to his ongoing interest in recalibrating the historical lens through which we view dominant historical narratives. Through Untitled (YWSITPIACLDTL) (2019), which was first shown at Boyd’s solo exhibition with Kukje Gallery Busan in 2019, the artist questions the conventional perceptions of beauty. Untitled (37°33’51.2”N 126°58’24.4”E) (2021), an installation commissioned by SeMA, entirely covers the museum’s glass façade—consisting of countless dots, the work directly references Boyd’s signature recurrent motif. These dots act as “lenses” through which one views the world and resemble the plurality and multiplicity of perspectives. The current exhibition discusses the vulnerabilities of this world affected by the unprecedented pandemic and inspires a more in-depth understanding of the values of “learning.” The show, which runs through March 6, 2022, can also be viewed through a variety of public programs and channels including the Instagram account @52artists52actions.