Take a comprehensive look at current art exhibitions worldwide, featuring diverse showcases in London, New York, Zurich, Paris, and Hong Kong. This collection not only highlights emerging talents but also features seasoned and mature artists, each contributing their unique perspective to the evolving language of contemporary art.
Bloomberg New Contemporaries
📍Camden Art Centre, London (Arkwright Road, NW3 6DG)
Fri 19 Jan 2024 to Sun 14 Apr 2024
Camden Art Centre joyously welcomes back New Contemporaries to its galleries after more than two decades, marking a significant return for this dynamic exhibition. Bloomberg New Contemporaries, a showcase featuring 55 emerging artists from UK art schools and alternative peer-to-peer learning programs, is curated by renowned artists Helen Cammock, Sunil Gupta, and Heather Phillipson.
This exhibition offers a unique snapshot of current artistic trends and diverse approaches across various disciplines, effectively capturing the pulsating essence of contemporary art in the UK. It serves as a vital platform for emerging artists, many of whom reside outside London, providing them with the opportunity to present their work to a broader audience. Additionally, the program incorporates valuable opportunities for artist development, actively supporting the growth of their artistic practices.
Themes explored within the exhibition encompass care, kinship, collectivity, climate justice, world-building, geographical borders, and identity politics. Artists like Savanna Achampong, Bunmi Agusto, and Jame St Findlay employ a range of mediums, including costume, textiles, performance, moving image, and painting, to navigate embodied identities and reflect on lived experiences through fantasy and dream. The exhibition also thoughtfully incorporates elements of melodrama, cliché, surrealism, and cinematic devices, as expressed by various artists.
The blurred lines between fact, fiction, and memory are intriguingly reinvented and explored in the pieces by Jennifer Jones, Matthew Burdis, and Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia. Identity, whether explored through familial, romantic, or non-human relationships, and the examination of systemic ableism are themes delved into by artists such as Korallia Stergides, Charan Singh, and Ranny Macdonald.
Pagan rituals and the use of sacred symbols take center stage in the artworks of Iga Koncka, Osman Yousefzada, and Sarah Cleary, acting as forms of care or protection. The complex intersection of geographies, borders, environmentalism, racialized oppression, and socio-political structures comes alive in the works of Hester Yang, Harmeet Rahal, and Samuel Zhang. These artists draw from archival materials and first-hand research, resulting in a thought-provoking tapestry of artistic expressions.
Having supported emerging artists since 1949, New Contemporaries plays a pivotal role in aiding their transition from education to established pathways. The selected artists for Bloomberg New Contemporaries represent a diverse range of talents, showcasing the vitality and innovation of the next generation within the UK art scene.
Jennifer Guidi: Rituals
📍Gagosian (541 West 24th St, New York)
17 Jan 2024 to 2 Mar 2024
Gagosian is delighted to present Rituals, an exhibition of new paintings by Jennifer Guidi, which explores the sublime beauty of mountainscapes and the color spectrum. Guidi’s carefully crafted compositions, inspired by her deep connection to nature, depict elevated terrains and reflect her personal and artistic rituals. Employing an intricate technique that combines oil, acrylic paint, and sand, Guidi shapes imaginary landscapes. The paintings, developed through repetitive actions and meditative processes, invite viewers on a visual exploration of the artist’s emotional and spiritual landscape.
Guidi’s works, symbolizing strength and resilience, evoke the rugged peaks around Los Angeles and the landscape of Provence. The paintings are inspired by the unique light and surroundings of the region, as well as the legacy of artists like Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse. Concurrently, Jennifer Guidi’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States, titled And so it is., is on view at the Orange County Museum of Art, featuring a decade of her work, including paintings, drawings, and sculptures.
Threads
📍Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich (Rämistrasse 37, CH-8001)
19 Jan 2024 to 9 Mar 2024
Threads is an intriguing exhibition that brings together artists Maia Ruth Lee, Sara Sadik, Jack Warne, and Leon Xu, exploring the multifaceted meanings embedded in the word “threads.” The exhibition delves into the dual nature of connection and disquiet inherent in the term, reflecting on the interplay between familial, cultural, and historical threads and the potential threats posed by global technologies and mass media. The artists, working across diverse mediums such as physical and digital painting, video, and augmented reality, navigate the complexities of connection and disruption in a culturally fluid, digital society.
In a world where trends and pop cultures become global phenomena, the exhibition addresses the impact of social media algorithms and monopolistic platforms on cultural uniformity. It raises concerns about losing local nuances while emphasizing the search for individual identity within a globalized mass. Maia Ruth Lee explores language as a tool for shaping experiences, while Sara Sadik investigates “Beurcore,” a youth culture emerging from the North African diaspora. Jack Warne, with a unique perspective shaped by partial blindness, combines digital paintings, soundtracks, and augmented reality. Leon Xu’s work delves into themes of wishful thinking, reflecting on the complexities of cultural transition and interconnectedness.
Tia-Thuy Nguyen: Sparkle in the Vastness
📍Almine Rech, Matignon, Paris (18 avenue Matignon, 750)
11 Jan 2024 to 24 Feb 2024
Almine Rech, Matignon, Paris, presents Tia-Thuy Nguyen: Sparkle in the Vastness from Thu 11 Jan 2024 to Sat 24 Feb 2024 at 18 avenue Matignon, 75008. The exhibition explores the artist’s profound connection to clouds shaped by her father’s experiences as a Vietnamese Airforce pilot during the war with the United States. Tia’s paintings depict the dichotomy of joy and anxiety inspired by her father’s tales. Enhanced with beads and embroidery, the works reflect the complexity of her subject matter, offering homage to her late father and evoking historical associations of light and spirituality.
The series I, my, me, cloud delves into the subjective and ephemeral nature of celestial formations, incorporating a mixed-media technique rooted in the Quantum Theory of Light. Tia’s paintings conjure photons through glass beads, creating oscillating surfaces that capture the effects of light on landscapes. Inspired by French Impressionists, Tia’s approach transcends mimesis, using thousands of beads and various yarns to produce live interplays of light and shadow.
The exhibition features works bedazzled with beads sourced globally, offering ever-changing compositions influenced by ambient conditions and viewer perspectives. In pieces like The Lap of Sunrise, Tia adds embroidery, introducing warmth and softness. Her vibrant color palette, inspired by traditional Vietnamese folk arts like Hàng Trong, sets her apart, infusing bold, unexpected colors reminiscent of couture and emphasizing subjectivity in her cloud paintings. Tia’s art is a captivating exploration of the dynamic and ever-changing nature of clouds and subjectivity.
Hélène Delprat. MONSTER SOUP
Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong (8 Queen’s Road, Central)
20 Jan 2024 to 9 Mar 2024
Hélène Delprat’s first exhibition with Hauser & Wirth in Paris, opening on January 20, 2024, showcases new paintings, sculpture, video, and installation works curated by Olivier Renaud-Clément. Delprat’s multifaceted practice spanning four decades delves into the human condition, exploring life and death across various mediums. After her distinctive primitive-style figurative painting gained recognition, she expanded her focus to video, theater, interviews, installations, and radio projects while maintaining her painting practice. The upcoming exhibition, titled MONSTER SOUP, reflects Delprat’s multidimensional approach, drawing from diverse sources in popular culture. The show is complemented by a monographic exhibition at Fondation Maeght in Spring 2025. Delprat’s work forms a constellation of references, blending literature, film, philosophy, and art history, reminding us that the past is constructed, and the present is fleeting. Delprat’s intellectual approach involves distilling inspiration from her surroundings, curiosities, readings, and everyday experiences.
Jake Longstreth: American Heat
📍Galerie Max Hetzler (Goethestraße 2/3, Berlin)
19 Jan 2024 to 2 Mar 2024
Galerie Max Hetzler presents two concurrent exhibitions, American Heat and Springtime at the Scottsdale, Arizona Walmart, showcasing new work by Jake Longstreth. Known for his depictions of American suburban and rural scenes, Longstreth’s paintings offer a unique perspective on commercial landscapes, infusing them with a surprising warmth and painterly affection. The larger space at Goethestraße features oil-on-canvas paintings capturing corporate retail chains in various landscapes, while the smaller space at Bleibtreustraße showcases oil-on-paper paintings capturing intimate views near a Walmart in Scottsdale, Arizona. Longstreth’s astute observation of landscapes in transformation is evident, revealing the intricate details of nature against the backdrop of familiar yet overlooked American scenes.
Yannis Davy Guibinga: Children of Distant Suns
📍Doyle Wham, London (91a Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY)
18 Jan 2024 to 23 Mar 2024
Doyle Wham presents Yannis Davy Guibinga’s inaugural UK solo exhibition, Children of Distant Suns. The Montreal-based photographer reshapes narratives about Africa by reimagining mythologies, particularly from Western and Central Africa. Guibinga introduces an imaginary realm, Shira Island, blending folklore and biblical tales, showcasing the universal resonance of myths.
In series like OLOKUN and Daughter of the Lake, Guibinga modernizes water spirits, honoring their cultural richness and prompting a reevaluation of traditional narratives. The new series, Melting Daylight and Tangled Sins, delve into Christian themes, contemplating the significance of sunsets and exploring the symbolism of the serpent. Guibinga’s work serves as a catalyst for reflection on our relationship with myth and divinity, urging a reconsideration of foundational stories in a contemporary context.
Children of Distant Suns marks the artist’s commitment to inclusive world-building, inviting viewers to embark on a journey through the intersection of mythology, culture, and the universal human experience. Guibinga’s nuanced approach to storytelling, grounded in a deep understanding of cultural contexts, positions him as a leading voice in the contemporary discourse on mythologies and their enduring relevance.
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