The British School resident artist and designer Adam Nathaniel Furman on today’s visual abundance – interview
Adam Nathaniel Furman (London, 1982) is an architect, a designer, an artist; he loves poetry, narration, writing, and sharing ideas. Color, joy, abundance, and a multimedia approach mix with a very critical and rational stance on design production, social interaction, and society evolution. The ancient glorious past as well as the newest high technologies melt in his practice that spans from 3D-printed objects to interiors and prose....
What you see is what you get: David Prytz on his solo show “Literal” at Galleria Mario Iannelli
Danish Norwegian Berlin-based artist David Prytz’s installation conceived for his solo exhibition “Literal” in the space of Roman Galleria Mario Iannelli is overwhelming. A series of fragile mechanisms hanging from the ceiling and the walls give the viewer the impression of crossing a jungle-like eco-system. However material used for repair such as copper wire, acrylic glass, mirror foil and tape are here adopted to...
Amy Yao on her collaboration project “Two Weeks” with Carissa Rodriguez at Indipendenza – interview
For the first time in Rome, Carissa Rodriguez and Amy Yao’s two-people show Two Weeks at Indipendenza has featured a new body of work which was conceived and produced during a residency in the city. Where’s Art talks to Amy Yao about the research she carried out in Rome, reflecting on the city’s layerings and dynamics, as well as, on a wider extent, the history of Italian contemporary art. Tell me you stones, O speak, you...
Diaspora and migration in the work of British artist Jebila Okongwu – studio visit
African culture is an immediately recognizable feature in the work of Rome-based English artist Jebila Okongwu (London, 1975). His studio hosts mainly sculptures and large scale collages – though the artist has also approached video production and performance -, all of them inspired by bright colorful Nigerian textiles, and motifs and patterns of traditional votive statues. Okongwu’s research is more than just a revamped contemporary...
Italian artist Alessandro Dandini de Sylva on his show about landscape at Operativa Arte Contemporanea – interview
Italian photographer Alessandro Dandini de Sylva’s first solo show at Rome-based gallery Operativa Arte Contemporanea features an ongoing series of manipulated Polaroids, alongside other experimental projects pivoting around the representation of landscape. “Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer – and often the supreme disappointment.” – Ansel Adams The exhibition “Paesaggi 2008 –...
Iraq/ Hayv Kahraman – through pictures
Los Angeles-based Iraqi artist Hayv Kahraman investigates the notion of female body alongside the themes of violence and woman’s condition in today’s society through painting. In her works, mostly based on wooden panel, while women postures recall Western Renaissance, the somatic traits, motifs, fabric textures and colors neatly reference an Islamic art from the Middle Eastern part of...
Polish curator Ewa Kozik presents seminal exhibition “As You Can See: Polish Art Today” – curator’s pick
Where’s Art invites Warsaw’s curator Ewa Kozik to introduce contemporary Polish art through a review of crucial group show “As You Can See: Polish Art Today”. The exhibition “As You Can See: Polish Art Today” was one of the most prominent shows of contemporary Polish art. Focusing on the works that were created in the last three years, it aimed at tracing the current interests of the artists in the...
Morocco/ Badr El Hammami – through pictures
The work of France-based Moroccan artist Badr El Hammami is a poetical experiment on the notion of border translated in a number of installations, texts, photographs, videos and performances that question the arbitrary concept of ‘being stranger’. Its social status as foreigner in France allows him a paradoxical reading of maps and territories. When looking at a map, Badr El Hammami does not see “juxtaposed...
On stratification and painting – interview with Maria Morganti
Dialoguing with the short essay “I diari di via dell’Oca e via della Penna” , Venetian artist Maria Morganti presents her investigation on color and painting inspired by the words of Italian writer Matteo Nucci. Where’s Art talks to Maria Morganti about her recent participation in the project A Work in Five Parts Inside and Outside of Four Windows, promoted by OTTO ZOO, Milan in collaboration with the Hotel Locarno,...
Short talk with Chicago-based artist B. Ingrid Olson about her solo show at cura. basement
Where’s Art talks to Chicago-based artist B. Ingrid Olson about abstracting figures in her solo show “The vases my monitors their frames” at Roman space cura. basement. “There are images that are stuck one onto the other, their materiality does not seem to be denied – they always retain, or so it seemd for an effect or such a mediated relation with a work, a materiality, a grain, and weight. Sometimes...
New Delhi curator Kanika Anand presents Indian artist Astha Butail – curator’s pick
Where’s Art invites New Delhi-based curator Kanika Anand to introduce Astha Butail’s research on book projects and Indian old literature. Astha Butail (b. 1977, India) is an emerging artist whose practice is inspired in part by her work as a fashion designer and in part by her deep study of Indian mythology and ancient scriptures. Her artistic direction and sensibilities are well defined in the poignant open book project...
There is no place like home – interview the artists
The location chosen for the project There Is No Place Like Home is a construction site in a remote part of Rome. All the possible references to the idea of ‘home’ are emphasized by Judy Garland in a state of trance repeating as an automaton the sentence “There is no place like home” in English and Spanish, thus leaving a few doubts on the message of the exhibition: The house is a metaphor for art in general, not just for...
Greek art historian Dimitra Tsiaouskoglou presents artist Rania Bellou – curator’s pick
Where’s Art invites Greek art historian and curator Dimitra Tsiaouskoglou to introduce the research on drawing and photography by artist Rania Bellou. Rania Bellou (b. 1982, Thessaloniki, Greece) lives and works in London. Working with diverse media, such as drawing, multimedia, installation and photography, her artistic practice revolves around the notions of memory, authenticity and identity. With a keen interest in...
Greece/ Yorgos Stamkopoulos – through pictures
Berlin-based Greek artist Yorgos Stamkopoulos creates paintings which are portraits of the moment, landscapes of an inner vision, meditative depictions referring to existence, psycho-grams as he calls them characterized by temporality, melancholy, anticipation and energy. The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings is portrayed by focusing on the sense of loss and disorder. The premediatative chaos, the harmony of...
Belgium/ Sébastien Bonin – through pictures
Numerous are the pictorial references in the work of Belgian artist Sébastien Bonin. From Suprematist Kazimir Malevic, to Yves Klein’s use of blue and Mark Rothko’s Color Field Painting, Bonin experiments with color filters and light to create non-figurative canvases and photographic projects, yet recalling an illusory artificial...
Italy/ Gabriella Ciancimino – through pictures
Italian artist Gabriella Ciancimino’s research focuses on the concept of relationship, transforming artworks in moments of meeting and confrontation among individuals. As a catalyst for social change, the ideal testing ground becomes the public space. In her recent works, she analyzes the relationship between man and nature through the creation of a landscape that becomes a ‘place’ of reflection and at the same time safeguards the...
Greece/ Manolis Daskalakis-Lemos – through pictures
Manolis Daskalakis-Lemos (b. Athens, 1989) is a Greek visual artist and member of the Athens-based Arbit City Group, alongside of the experimental rock band Pockets Full of Sand. Most of Daskalakis-Lemos’ work relies upon the massive use of symbols. The selection presented in The Cabinet comes from his very first exhibition “Feral Remnants/Oinousses” held at CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery in 2013. As the press...
Danish art critic Troels Laursen presents artist Ole Tersløse – curator’s pick
Where’s Art invites Danish writer and art critic Troels Laursen to introduce the work of digital artist Ole Tersløse. Sweet Child of Mine Ole Tersløse is originally trained as a painter, but in recent years he primarily has worked with computer-manipulated photography and visualisation in 3D computer programs. Although his works may resemble photographs at first glance, Tersløse never uses photography as the basis for his...