Lifestyle

Japanese artist En Iwamura worked with Infinite Archives‘ founder Easy Otabor on two new sculptural vases. Born in 1988 is based on works Iwamura made for a recent exhibition at Anthony Gallery, while 1988 Graffiti Boy stems on the idea of smoke and graffiti culture back in 1988. The collaboration came natural for the two friends who aimed to impart the Japanese philosophy of “Ma” or “negative space” that is emblematic of Iwamura’s work. “When creating this, the focal point was how the piece would interact with the space it was displayed in. It’s many functions allow it to take on new perspectives from every viewer,” said Otabor via Instagram. 1988 Graffiti Boy is a dark grey ceramic vase that sizes at 7.25 x 7.5 x 7-inches, while Born in 1988 is a blush object that measures 9 x 6.5 x 7-in...

H.R. Giger and Hajime Sorayama grew up on opposite ends of the earth and equally possessed a starkly different view on the promises of technology. Giger, whose monstrous machines would characteristically be tied to the Alien franchise, presented a haunting vision of the distant future. Whereas, Sorayama continues to create erotically-charged robots that oscillate between human and machine, reality and fantasy. NANZUKA worked with COEXIST and UCCA Lab in Beijing to present an enthralling new exhibition juxtaposing the work of the two legendary artists. H.R. Giger X Sorayama: Approaching features 45 works by each figure from the 1960s to the present day. The show’s layout was inspired by an underground any colony, where visitors will be pitted amongst a series of rooms — each presenting a du...

Rounding up the year, THE SHOPHOUSE recently launched its latest exhibition, titled “KUROBIKARI 黒光り.” Literally translated to “black shine/luster” in Japanese, the word evokes emotions of revulsion and reverence. A historically and culturally rich concept, kurobikari is disruptive in its symbolism of a melding of unrelated widely divergent sentiments with the color black. Rejecting the concepts of death, fear, and filth, Japanese contemporary artists Osamu Kobayashi, Lintalow Hashiguchi, Kazuma Koike, and Hiroto Nakanishi seek elements of authentic and traditional artistry. Taking multiple forms and images, the resistance is rendered in uniquely “Japanese” artworks that utilize black to enhance complexities that cover their contemporary diversity, historical references, and a pertinent shi...

Each artist follows a different path. While some experience a linear trajectory, others bounce from one obstacle to the next, mastering the vision they aim to understand. It certainly was the case for Piet Mondrian, the legendary Dutch painter who is widely known for his geometric abstractions, but whose early work is seldom recognized. Mondrian. Evolution is a new exhibition at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf that chronicles the early decades of the artist’s life, when he would experiment across landscape and figurative paintings. “In these early works, it is also very clearly visible that, throughout his life, Piet Mondrian was interested in light, in sunlight,” said curator Kathrin Bessen. [embedded content] His formative landscape paintings would visibly be influenc...