IKEDA RYUTARO: ENGLISH GREEN/JAPANESE GREEN
14th May-16th June, Celia Lendis Contemporary, UK
Taisuke Edamura
A number of small, vibrant green grains blanket Ikeda’s landscapes, representing the liveliness and transience of the natural scenes he attempts to capture. Exposing himself to the flow of changes in a real landscape, Ikeda meticulously matches the feel of the changes with the touches of his brush, accumulating their sensuous correspondences on the canvas as far as possible.
14th May-16th June, Celia Lendis Contemporary, UK
Taisuke Edamura
A number of small, vibrant green grains blanket Ikeda’s landscapes, representing the liveliness and transience of the natural scenes he attempts to capture. Exposing himself to the flow of changes in a real landscape, Ikeda meticulously matches the feel of the changes with the touches of his brush, accumulating their sensuous correspondences on the canvas as far as possible.
THE LAHD GALLERY, LONDON
Majella Munro
The Lahd Gallery, founded in Riyadh in 2005, opened a new branch in London in October of last year. As its first international branch, the London space furthers the gallery’s remit to introduce Arabian artists to audiences beyond the Middle East. The original Saudi Arabian gallery was founded with the particular intention of presenting works by female artists, and together these aims give the Lahd gallery a uniquely progressive, pan-regional and critical stance, expressed through a lively exhibition program.
Majella Munro
The Lahd Gallery, founded in Riyadh in 2005, opened a new branch in London in October of last year. As its first international branch, the London space furthers the gallery’s remit to introduce Arabian artists to audiences beyond the Middle East. The original Saudi Arabian gallery was founded with the particular intention of presenting works by female artists, and together these aims give the Lahd gallery a uniquely progressive, pan-regional and critical stance, expressed through a lively exhibition program.
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FOOD, POPULAR CULTURE AND REPRESENTATION: THE FANTASY WORLD SEEN THROUGH DENG WEN-JEN’S EYES
25th June-31st July, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei
Ming Turner
Deng is impervious to the vagaries of trends, instead creating a series of works embracing the themes of popular culture, food and erotic desire. Primarily a combination of painting and textile art, Deng Wen-Jen’s works are highly decorative and characteristically full of iconographic metaphors, demanding the viewer’s full attention.
25th June-31st July, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei
Ming Turner
Deng is impervious to the vagaries of trends, instead creating a series of works embracing the themes of popular culture, food and erotic desire. Primarily a combination of painting and textile art, Deng Wen-Jen’s works are highly decorative and characteristically full of iconographic metaphors, demanding the viewer’s full attention.
FRANK VIGNERON, I LIKE HONG KONG...ART AND DETERRITORIALIZATION
Anthony Elliot
Although Hong Kong is often referred to as a “Gateway to Asia,” in I Like Hong Kong Frank Vigneron asks us to abandon its use as a cargo bay, travel hub, or thoroughfare, and step into the streets below the iconic skyline of towers and hills in order to better understand how the city’s artists see themselves. Vigneron openly states that this is more about ‘light hearted conceptual games’ than rigorous theoretical method, but he nonetheless employs the concepts of many western philosophers in order to better understand the nature of art production in the Pearl River Delta.
Anthony Elliot
Although Hong Kong is often referred to as a “Gateway to Asia,” in I Like Hong Kong Frank Vigneron asks us to abandon its use as a cargo bay, travel hub, or thoroughfare, and step into the streets below the iconic skyline of towers and hills in order to better understand how the city’s artists see themselves. Vigneron openly states that this is more about ‘light hearted conceptual games’ than rigorous theoretical method, but he nonetheless employs the concepts of many western philosophers in order to better understand the nature of art production in the Pearl River Delta.
The theme of this summer's annual reviews issue is 'place': specifically, how a sense of 'place' might be articulated by a work of art, and how artists can negotiate a responsiveness to place whilst making their works accessible to a potential international audience. Taisuke Edamura reviews the work of a Ikeda Ryutaro, a Japanese landscape painter resident in the UK, focussing on how the specifities of place effect his paintings, executed in the verdant pastoral settings of rural Japan and the Cotswolds. Ming Turner discusses the work of Taiwanese artist Deng Wen-Jen, whose richly detailed and brightly coloured multi-media 'paintings' offer a feminist critique of Taiwanese culture. Peter Davidson reviews the recent Art Fair Tokyo - delayed on account of the Tohoku earthquake - and asks how local context can or should inform the international art fair. Majella Munro visits the Lahd Gallery in London, which is dedicated to promoting the work of artists from across the Middle East and the Gulf region internationally, examining the diversity of practice presented in their recent exhibitions. Anthony Elliot analyses Frank Vigneron's I Like Hong Kong, considering the historiographic and methodological issues that focus on a single place may entail. The issue concludes with an Artist's Portfolio presenting the work of Hangzhou-based painter Zhou Yilun, whose witty, allegorical works juxtapose indigenous animal life to the urban environment.
ART FAIR TOKYO
29th-31st July, Tokyo International Forum
Peter Davidson
Art Fair Tokyo was a vast and diverse subterranean treasure trove, full of weird and wonderful aesthetic objects designed to enlighten, shock and dazzle the senses - everything on show generated anticipatory excitement, stimulated by the idiosyncratic nature of each booth.
29th-31st July, Tokyo International Forum
Peter Davidson
Art Fair Tokyo was a vast and diverse subterranean treasure trove, full of weird and wonderful aesthetic objects designed to enlighten, shock and dazzle the senses - everything on show generated anticipatory excitement, stimulated by the idiosyncratic nature of each booth.
