CONTEMPORARY VISIONS IX
The annual Contemporary Visions open exhibition has become something of an institution in the East London art calendar opening each year with a presentation of artists, selected by a changing jury of industry professionals, which intends to identify new trends, names, and talents in art. This year, the ethos changed ever slightly, and put a focus on work that truly challenged and questioned the definition of ‘contemporary art’ in the current artistic and social climate. This year, the jury has prioritised artists from different cultural, and geographical perspectives, and allowed (the ever prevalent discipline of) ‘painting’ to comfortably assume something of a lesser role, and included textile, sculpture, video, mixed-media, and other art forms and practices that challenge our expectation of what art and this exhibition in particular is willing to present.
Participating Artists: Andreea Anghel, Anthony Keith Gianni, Julius Hofmann, Vojtech Kovarik, Nico Krijino, Vincente Matte, Kim Nuijen, Padma Rajendran, and Ruohong Wu
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This year, the jury consisted of:
Kurt Beers, Gallery Director and author of 100 Painters of Tomorrow (UK);
Claus Busch Risvig, Collector, Sikeborg (Denmark);
Katy Hessel, Curator & Founder of @thegreatwomenartists London (UK);
Kate Mothes, Curator and Art Blogger of Young Space, Wisconsin (USA);
Nicolas Sassoon, 2018 Contemporary Visions exhibitor, Vancouver (Canada);
John Wolf, Art Advisor and Curator, Los Angeles (USA).
ANDREEA ANGHEL
Andreea Anghel creates both installation and two-dimensional works. The latter contain collaged elements–plasticine, clay, rope, wire–built upon large, digitally printed surfaces, resulting in a body of work that treads the line between the digital and the tangible.
Andreea Anghel (b. 1990, Romania) lives and works in Wroclaw, Poland. She graduated with a Bachelor of Graphic Arts from UAD ClujNapoca, Romania, in 2012; and a Master of Experimental Graphics and Printmaking from ASP Wroclaw, Poland, in 2015. Selected exhibitions include: Sanguinaccio Dolce Kitchen For A Despicable Ruse, Atelier 35, Bucharest, Romania (2019); Media Art Festival Arad 5th Edition: De Rerum Natura, Arad Museum Complex, Arad, Romania (2018); Every Artist is a Cannibal, New Now Artspace, Frankfurt, Germany (2018); and Plymouth Contemporary Open, Peninsula Art Gallery, Plymouth, UK (2017).
ANTHONY KEITH GIANNINI
Anthony Giannini’s densely layered screenprints evoke, perhaps, the largescale prints of Sigmar Polke. Shapes, often containing stark imagery, slot into one another like pieces of a puzzle: each element building up to create orchestrated compositions on the themes of religion, politics, and identity.
Anthony Giannini (b. 1984, Boulder, Colorado) lives and works in Detroit, MI & Bronx, NY. He graduated with a BFA in painting from Michigan State University, USA, in 2007; and an MFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, USA, in 2012. Solo exhibitions include: TBA, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, NY (2019); Mess Head, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2018); and Field Manual: Confinement and Image Violence, Harmony Murphy Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2015). Group exhibitions include: Selections, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY (2019); Lucky Draw, The Sculpture Centre, Long Island City, NY (2019); and Et Tu, Art Brute?, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY (2018).
JULIUS HOFMANN
Serene yet menacing, Julius Hofmann’s paintings merge almost lifelike qualities with something more akin to the digital; as if a photographic file has become corrupted, or a scene has somehow become stuck midtransition between the real world and that of a computer game.
Julius Hofmann (b. 1983, Goettingen, Germany) lives and works in Goettingen, German. He graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig, in 2011, having studied under Neo Rauch and Heribert C. Ottersbach. Solo exhibitions include: Under Der Linden, Galerie Kleindienst, Leipzig, Germany (2018); New Positions, Foerderkoje, Art Cologne, Koeln (2018); and Cinematic Cybernetics, Museum der bildenden Kunste, Leipzig, Germany (2018). Group exhibitions include: Colours of Descents (with Robert Seidel and Tobias Hild), G2 Kunsthalle, Leipzig, Germany (2017); Sein.Antlitz.Koerper, Zionskirche, Berlin, Germany (2016); and Your Light is my Darkness (Part III), Gerhard Hofland, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2016).
VOJTECH KOVARÍK
Vojtěch Kovařík creates paintings on a medley of topics: mythology, pets, boxing, and wild animals (each captured midmovement) have all surfaced on his largescale canvasses. His use of striking acrylic colours works harmoniously with the dramatic compositions–each painting’s subject fills the majority of the canvas, almost reducing the work to an arrangement of simple shapes.
Vojtěch Kovařík (b. 1993, Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic) lives and works in Czech Republic. He graduated with a Bachelor degree at the Faculty of Arts of Ostrava University, Czech Republic, in 2018; and is currently studying for a Masters degree at the same university, having also studied abroad at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland, in 2017. Solo exhibitions include: Temple of Doom, Berlínskej Model, Praha, Czech Republic (2019); Armagedon, Galerie Off/Format, Brno, Czech Republic (2018); and Persons, 123 Gallery, Praha, Czech Republic (2017). Group exhibitions include: 12th Prize of Art Critique for Young Painting, Galerie Kritiků, Praha, Czech Republic (2019); Three Brothers, 3.Etáž, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, Czech Republic (2018); and 4 + 4 Days in Motion, Desfourský palác, Praha, Czech Republic (2018).
NICO KRIJNO
Deliberately nonsequitur in style, form, and aesthetic, Nico Krijno weaves between photography, sculpture, painting and performance: explorating not only these methods of creation, but the spaces in-between.
Nico Krijno (b. 1981, Somerset West, South Africa) lives and works in Wellington, South Africa. Solo shows include: The Fluid Right Edge, Beetles and Huxley, London, UK (2017); New Gestures: Fabricated to be Photographed, What if the world, Cape Town, South Africa (2015); and Under Construction, The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2015). Group exhibitions include: Unseen Amsterdam, The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2017); Throwing Shapes, Smith Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2017); and Contemporary African Art Fair, Pioneer Works, New York, USA (2017).
VICENTE MATTE
Working with distemper paint on canvas, the works of Vicente Matte are deceptively simplistic compositions of bright shapes. Often depicting playful (yet also somehow ominuous) characters in a variety of scenarios, this aesthetic further extends to his small concrete sculptures.
Vicente Matte (b. 1987, Santiago, Chile) lives and works in Santiago, Chile. He studied at Hochschule fur bildende Kunste, Hamburg, Germany. Solo exhibitions include: Giróvago, Galeria The Intuitive Machine, Santiago, Chile (2018). Group exhibitions include: II Encuentro de arte y cultura 13 Jardines, Fundo las Cabras, Requínoa, Chile (2018); Colección Abierta: La suma de los hechos concretos y sus artefactos, Fundación Cultural de Providencia, Santiago, Chile (2018); and XMAS’17: The Annual Winter Group Show, Gallerie Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen, Denmark (2017).
KIM NUIJEN
Kim Nuijen’s work concentrate on human behaviour in relation to digital mass media. With a background in advertising, her pieces are often photographic, and could broadly be said to tackle issues surrounding human identity in relation to images.
Kim Nuijen (b. 1984, The Netherlands) lives and works in The Netherlands. She graduated with a Master of Photography from AKV StJoost, Den Bosch, in 2018; and a Bachelor of Photography from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague, in 2011. Exhibitions include: False Variations, Unsettled Tensions, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2019); Original Copy, Currents #6, Good Intentions, Marres, Maastricht, Netherlands (2018); and Bad Girl, Night of Photography, Tbilisi Photofestival, Tbilisi, Georgia (2017).
PADMA RAJENDRAN
Having lived in a number of countries from a young age, Padma Rajendran has often seen cultures and their artefacts from the view of an outsider. Through painting, stitching, dyeing and drawing, she tackles issues surrounding femininity, domesticity, and ‘the home’.
Padma Rajendran (b. 1985, Klang, Malaysia) lives and works in New York, USA. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bryn Mawr College in 2007, and a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design in 2015. Selected shows include: No Place Like, Field Projects, New York, USA (2019); Big Link, Young Space at Standard Projects, Hortonville, USA (2018); Rhythm & Rush, Ground Floor Gallery, Nashville, USA (2018); Say Loss, Say Bounty, High Tide, Philadelphia, USA (2018); and I See An Omen, Galleria Benaco Arte, Sirmione, Italy (2018).
RUOHONG WU
Ruohong Wu is largely known for her sculptural works that reference the cultural gap between bespoke craftsmanship and Chinese mass production. Her twodimensional offerings are still somewhat objectbased: they are wall hangings, stitched from the silk and cotton discarded at the end of a massproduction cycle–explorations into how value can be reclaimed from the ‘valueless’.
Ruohong Wu (b. 1985, China) lives and works in China. She originally studied at the Architectural Association London, UK, in order to become an Architect. Recent exhibitions include: Somerset House, London, UK (2018); Milan Design Week, Milan, Italy (2015 and 2017); Antwerp Art Weekends, Antwerp, Belgium (2016 and 2017); and JustMad Art Fair, Madrid, Spain (2015).
