July Art Exhibitions Roundup

Image: Via Atlas Gallery, © Bastiaan Woudt - Tino White Hat 2018

With cities as well as art galleries and museums slowly reopening around the world we have selected some exciting shows not to miss this July. In this digital day in age, there has been a greater shifted since the global pandemic hit hard in March for art shows to be experienced online. If you are not lucky enough to experience these art exhibits in person there are great resources for seeing them digitally.

Michael Craig-Martin has reveal a new public video work today presented by W1 Curates on the walls of Flannels Flagship on Oxford Street, London, now 24hrs a day until July 12, 2020. W1 Curates has created a permanent digital art platform to showcase international artists in a public setting bringing diversity and accessibility.

Flannels’ Flagship, 161-167 Oxford St, Soho, London Image: From ArtLyst

Entitled ‘Cornucopia Galactica’, Craig-Martin describes the work ⁠— "Normally I only draw images of ordinary mass-produced objects, everything from safety pins to shoes and chairs, from books to mobile phones and laptops. During the lock down the only direct shopping that was possible was for food, and I found myself looking at fruit and vegetables in a new way and began to draw them. This digital work is the result. It is a celebration, a dynamic cornucopia, a galaxy of these great wonders of nature, constantly moving, turning, spinning through an intensely coloured space like planets, satellites, and spaceships. I hope you never look at broccoli the same way again."

Continuing on the digital art train is Vector Festival (Toronto) with their 2020 edition being presented online from July 16 to 23, 2020. Vector Festival showcases digital and game artworks as well as creative media practices. It will focus on works across a dynamic range of exhibitions, screenings, performances, lectures, and workshops highlighting new digital platforms and current critical analysis.

Image: Instagram Vector Festival 2019 exhibition The Great Derangement at Electric Perfume. Artwork by Zeesy Powers. Photography by Yuula Benivolski.

A group show not to miss is Arsenal Contemporary Art New York’s This Sacred Vessel (pt. 2). After first exploring landscape painting and how it is informed by ecological anxiety in This Sacred Vessel (pt. 1), pt. 2 investigates figurative painting. A group show of nine artists who each depict the figure in playful and ambiguous interpretations of popular culture and explores voyeurism.

Installation view from Arsenal Contemporary Art New York. Photo credit: Greg Carideo

Kukje Gallery, in their newly opened satellite space in Busan, for their first show is exhibiting Short People, a solo exhibition by Korean contemporary artist Gimhongsok on view from June 26 to August 16, 2020. The show features three-dimensional works inspired by the everyday object the balloon, along with a new group of spray paintings on canvas.

Image: Kukje Gallery

This work is extended from previous works called MATERIAL (2012) and 8 Breaths (2013). Initially constructed with real balloons, it begins with the act of blowing them up and ends with capturing the individual's breath by tying them and casting them in bronze. These balloon pieces titled MATERIAL were made with the participation of my family. I distributed balloons and proposed to my family that they blow up the balloons as much as possible with a single breath. During this act of blowing up, I asked them to think about one wish and put that into the balloon. These wishes were translated into English as "mother, achievement, travel, everyday wonders, rightness, interest, attraction, and love." I then made the title of the work from the first letter of each word, i.e., MATERIAL. These balloons became a portrait of my family members, and at the same time a memory of their breath. In this way I suggest that a person's breath has two different meanings: a life and a wish.   The series 15 Breaths consists of 15 balloons stacked vertically. In this case I asked 15 factory workers to blow up 15 balloons. The workers who contributed to this project were from the bronze factory where the piece was produced. The subtitle Short People from Untitled (Short People) refers to my acquaintances. These people are grouped with 4 to 6 people: friends from elementary school, high school and college, childhood friends, relatives, colleagues and students at the university where I teach. The work was made possible with the participation of about 100 people who contributed their breath. – Gimhongsok  

Image: Via Atlas Gallery, © Bastiaan Woudt - Disk 2020

Atlas Gallery in London first UK solo exhibition of Dutch artist Bastiaan Woudt. With no experience or formal training, Woudt has developed a photographic style that focuses on line and shape through figurative subjects. His work is both abstract and hyper detailed with influence in the Surreal. By appointment until September 5, 2020.

Sources: Instagram Cristea Roberts Gallery, ArtLyst , Vector Festival , Arsenal Contemporary Art New York, Kukje Gallery, Atlas Gallery and Bastiaan Woudt.