Tag: Contemporary artists

Artcatto Gallery Revisited

I have just returned home from a twelve-day holiday in Spain and Portugal and once again when I was in the Algarve I visited the town of Loulé and went to one of my favourite small galleries, Artcatto, one which I featured in September 2022.  There was a new selection of outstanding contemporary art, and in this blog I will concentrate on work by three of  the artists.

Voka

Voka at work in his studio

Voka in his studio

“I’M EVER SEARCHING FOR THE PERFECT PAINTING. BUT ALWAYS HOPING NOT TO FIND IT – BECAUSE IT’S THE SEARCH THAT I REALLY LOVE SO MUCH.”

These are the words of the artist known as Voka.  Voka was born in Austria in 1965 and now lives and works in his studio in Puchberg am Schneeberg, a town in the south-eastern part of Lower Austria. 

Jimi by Voka (2020) Acrylic on wood.

He has described his artistic style as spontaneous realism.  For him, this style is a revival of the significance of contemporary art, which he looks upon as a valued tradition in a new era.  His paintings are distinguished by his use of bright colours which portray subjects of everyday life, portraits, and sports.

Frida by Voka

His paintings exploit texture and his dramatic mark making animate the subjects of his artwork. In his portraiture series simply called Heads, VOKA put his subjects in the centre of his work. His artistic style is easily recognisable, which evolves out of the vitality of a moment in time.   His portraits are not only of important personalities but also often depict unknown characters.  The aim of Voka’s portraiture is not only to capture the facial characteristics of his subjects but he endeavours to ascertain the “true being” behind the presence”.

Andy Warhol by Voka

Voka says that every one of his paintings is a huge challenge for him, but especially with the “heads” series.   He says that he exhaustively analyses every person he depicts. For him, every person is special and exceptional in their own way. The person I depict is unique. He believes that every person who he observes or meets or who hurries past him has their own story to tell. He also reckons that when he paints them, these stories become his. None of his portraits are a mirror image of the real person.  They are always a portrait of his point of view.

Vienna by Voka

Voka’s artwork is not just portraiture. He has completed many cityscapes such as Vienna……

Venezia by Voka

……..and Venice.

The city by Voka

NYC by Voka

Voka also liked to depict the chaotic life in the city such as his many paintings of the streets of New York. He described his love of these vibrant city depictions, saying:

“...I like to go to the busy parts of a city- the pedestrian zones, market halls, usual meeting places. Here, in a short space of time, new pictures are always being created before my eyes without me ever having to change location. Cities are often rigid and unmoving places in spite of their impressive architecture. It is the people who breathe life into them and this life couldn’t be more diverse: the movement of the people, their clothing, mentality and customs, their dealings with one another often differ notably depending on where you are. Every bit of this earth has its own rhythm and I try to capture it…”

Voka’s artwork can be found in collections and museums throughout Europe, Russia and America.

Thomas Bossard

Thomas Bossard

In the gallery there were also a number of paintings by the French artist, Thomas Brossard.

Le Bonhomme de Niege by Thomas Bossard

Thomas Brossard was born in the French town of Poitiers and studied Graphic Arts in Lille from 1987 to 1993 at the Institut Saint Luc à Tournai, Belgium.  His original plan was to go into advertising where his graphic art would be needed.  His future plans were put on hold when he became enamoured with the theatre.  He explains his change of heart:

“…It was at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, as a painter-decorator, that I was able to Begin to express my artistic palette in all its versatility: illustration, painting, scenography, frescoes, photography, decoration, etc. by creating numerous decorations for works of art (Die Meistersinger, Siegfried, Twilight of the Gods, The Magic Flute, The Auberge du Cheval Blanc, etc.). I then worked as a set designer for various directors’ stage, notably Pierre Debauche. I have also directed storyboards for short films and commercials, not to mention sets designed for a TV series produced by Vagabonds Movies. I also made drawings on porcelain for Yves Deshoulières’ factory. Finally, I have created posters for shows, festivals and feature films…”

Balade à Venise by Thomas Bossard

His depictions of the theatre reveal the humour and comical life behind the scenes and his large canvas’s show the insignificance of man.  Prior to becoming a professional artist, he worked with in the theatre, creating and putting together stage sets for plays and opera. 

Les Gagnants by Thomas Bossard

Looking at his work, it is easy to see that Bossard has a very deep understanding of human nature.

La Cuisine Gastronomique by Thomas Bossard

His work has been greatly influenced by artists such as Velasquez, Vermeer, and Rembrandt. Thomas works long hours in his studio with just his music as company; he has a great love of classical music. He exhibits his work in Paris, Toulouse, and throughout France, as well as in British galleries in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Falmouth.

La Petite Balcon by Thomas Bossard

There is a childlike simplicity about Bossard’s work and yet there is a certain something which captures our gaze.  The depictions are often mischievous and naïve and yet are pleasing to the eye.

Mr Brainwash

Mr Brainwash (Thierry Guetta)

My third offering is works of art from Thierry Guetta who uses the psuedonym Mr Brainwash. His contemporary art is best thought as a morphing between pop art and street art and came to the fore after a documentary film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, directed by Banksy. 

The film was Academy nominated and regales the evolutionary passage of the street art movement with Mr Brainwash, like Banksy, bringing art to the masses.

Banksy Thrower by Mr Brainwash

Guetta’s art style has been described as both innovative and fearless. It is a combination of pop art of the past and the raw components of his early street art work. There is such a similarity between the works of Mr Brainwash and Banksy that some believe they are one and the same person.

Not Guilty by Mr Brainwash

His exhibitions are breathtaking in size and his artwork can be seen in the film and TV world , such as Molly’s Game, Billions, Shameless and The Kardashians. 

Madonna’s “CELEBRATION” Album cover by Mr Brainwash

He has designed a number of album covers for the likes of Madonna who approached him to design fifteen different covers for the worldwide release, singles, DVDs and special edition vinyl of her Celebration album.

Pele by Mr Brainwash

Photo of Pele with Mr Brainwash

There is a childlike simplicity about Bossard’s work and yet there is a certain something which captures our gaze.  The depictions are often mischievous and naïve and yet are pleasing to the eye.

Work Well Together by Mr Brainwash

Thierry Guetta was born on January 31st, 1966 in Garges-lès-Gonesse, a commune in the Val-d’Oise department in northern France, He is best known by his moniker Mr. Brainwash, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Brother’s Advice by Mr Brainwash

Mr Brainwash has had his work shown at many exhibitions, both in America and Europe.

Shen Ming Cun

Although I said at the beginning I would be featuring three different artists who had works on show at Artcatto when I visited there a fortnight ago, I cannot end this blog with out mentioning my favourite paintings which still have a small room to themselves and are still on show.

Beautiful Headress by Shen Ming Cun

Shen Ming says that he draws his inspiration from the ancient traditions, crafts and culture of the tribes of the Miao, Yao and Dong of the remote GuangXi region of China. Time does not stop still and there are large changes in China which is causing a massive strain on the ancient way of life in these small village communities and as the young people leave the villages to seek work in the large cities one has to wonder how long these cultures can survive.

Looking at You by Shen Ming Cun

Each of the tribe has a quite unique tradition in dress and adornment from the other. The young girls sew everything entirely by hand and their jewellery is crafted in the village.  Shen’s artwork the inimitable customs, dress and heritage of these minority tribes of Southern China. His painting demonstrate his empathy and admiration of these tribal people as they possess a lyrical beauty, dignity and grace.

Silver Necklace by Shen Ming Cun

Shen’s artwork manages to capture the chromatic vibrancy of the costumes and ornate silver jewellery with a lightness and confidence that has undoubtedly led to his success. Their clothes and adornments are genuine symbols of the wealth, religion, ritual and national consciousness that shape their lives. Shen explains his inspirational art:

“…I have spent a long time researching the richly colourful cultural heritage of the Yao and Miao nationalities and the Dong minority of Southern China. Over the years I have lived amongst them and become friends with these beautiful people who radiate pure goodness and a simple love of life. Cultivating their ancestor’s achievements, they turn life into immortal art…”

Hun Kyu Kim.

and now for something different………………………………

Hun Kyu Kim at work

The artists I am looking at today is the South Korean painter, Hun Kyu Kim.  It is difficult to describe the artwork of today’s featured painter.  It is, to say the least, troubling and the more one concentrates on the figures, the more one becomes alarmed.  The individual figures look like something out of Japanese anime or going back further in the past, the figures one saw and was fascinated with in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch.

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch

Kim says his favourite artwork is Bosch’s work, The Garden of Earthly Delights. According an interview he gave to CNN Seoul, he also sees his art as a bridge between the past and the contemporary. 

Funeral on the Beach by Hun Kyu Kim (2020). Pigment painted on silk

However there is a thread of violence running through many of his works, whether it is threatened catfish, sword-wielding dogs or armoured vermin performing acts of violence, cruelty and damage.  Their expressions distorted by hate, their eyes bloodshot and jaundiced, and their contorted faces often partly decomposed add horror to the depiction. Kim tries to mix amusement with the grotesque, and his paintings put a modern spin on the historical painting styles that Kim spent almost a decade mastering. What I like about his work is the way I can lose myself in the compositions which are so full of details and so visually multifaceted. Kim has said that he hoped his work tangled peoples brains.  I am sure by the end of this blog you will see that he has managed that !

Kim in his studio.

Born in Seoul in 1986, when it came to enrolling at the city’s College of Fine Arts, Kim opted for the course on traditional Oriental painting and Aesthetics as his double major. During his studies he was taught the techniques behind restoring the great Buddhist paintings of the past and was set tasks to faithfully copy them.  Of these tasks Kim spoke about the enjoyment he gained from the various tasks:

“…It was just an instinct. Old paintings come from religious activity so they have an aura inside, and a great beauty. The process is comforting, and I liked the scent of the silk and black ink…”

It took him almost a decade to graduate because the required techniques took that much time to grasp and understand.

Readymade Flea Market by Hun Kyu Kim. Pigment painted on silk.

After graduating Kim became involved in political activism and he found it difficult to gain exhibition space for his work which had anti-authoritarian connotations.  He left South Korea and travelled to London where, in 2015, he enrolled on a postgraduate course at London’s Royal College of Art.  Through his activism days he learnt how to engineer a more subtle activism with his allegorical depictions which left the observer to decide what they were all about and he believed that those who have suffered or are suffering oppression will understand the paintings.

Too Cool for Shopping by Hun Kyu Kim. Pigment painted on silk

Although at one time he considered himself to be a political artist, he now believes that since leaving his homeland he feels more relaxed and less politicised.  In his work entitled Too Cool for Shopping we see anthropomorphic animals perform out endless and various storylines amidst a multicoloured, animated worlds.  Look carefully and we can make out harassed catfish, sword-wielding dogs and rodents dressed in armour which commit acts of violence, malevolence and rascally deeds.  Their contorted expressions are frightening.  Their eyes are bloodshot and yellow, and even their putrefied faces are sometimes partly decomposed.   As we look at the various figures we are partly amused and partly horrified.

Derby Lovers (Spring Day) by Hun Kyu Kim. Pigment painted on silk.

Kim would probably be looked upon as a workaholic.  He is in his studio painting ten hours a day and seven days a week. It is what he loves doing and he says to complete one of his larger works takes him at least a month.  The painting on silk is a complex process.  His modus operandi is to start the work at one corner and let details run out slowly and one must remember that any mistakes made are irreversible resulting in the painting being binned.  So how does Kim cope with that problem?  According to him it is the case of morning meditation before starting work!

Drowning by Hun Kyu Kim. Pigment painted on silk.

We are aware that Kim’s has taken an inordinate amount of time to complete his artworks.  It has consumed hours and hours of his time and in a way it demands we take our time to carefully peruse the depictions and take in every feature of it rather than just giving it the usual cursory five-second glance, the normal time we allow ourselves to gain some pleasure from what we see.

Ark for One by Hun Kyu Kim (2017). Pigment painted on silk.

Kim’s work is what I believe you either love or hate. There is simply no halfway house !

Eight Universes and The Machine by Hun Kyu Kim.

The four paintings above were part of Kim’s first solo exhibition in the UK entitled The Eight Universes and The Machine. The exhibition was held in November and December 2018 at The Approach Gallery, a contemporary art gallery situated above a public house of the same name in Bethnal Green, London.  The exhibition was entitled The Eight Universes and The Machine.  His exhibition weaved intricate stories about an imaginary world. However, Kim’s imagined world becomes an analogy for his understanding and thoughts with regards the very real recent political situation in South Korea and its disquieting change since a stamping out of a corrupt regime.

Pigdog by Hun Kyu Kim

Kim’s Eight Universes and The Machine, has scrupulously created eight parallel universes across his eight paintings, comprising four seasons, night and day. The depictions included numerous hybrid animals symbolising a social status such as scholar, artist and labourer. Kim’s created worlds are envisaged to be under the control of one huge machine, neoliberal capitalism, which is a reference to an ideology encouraging free-market capitalism and minimal government intervention which has been the dominant and increasingly pervasive economic system of the contemporary world since the late 1970s. 

Life will become more interesting by Hun Kyu Kim. Colouring on silk with oriental pigments and taxidermy.

These exhibited works were the first eight paintings from a much larger ongoing project that Kim is embarking upon, which he terms as The Big Picture. A huge endeavour, meticulously illustrating, in obsessive detail, a story combining Korean fairy tales, political history and folklore, as an original science fiction epic. Kim takes on the role of the storyteller.  Each story acts as an independent unit, but shares a common world full of imagination, informing a single overarching narrative.   The political message Kim puts over with these paintings exposes how neoliberalism perniciously operates in our society today, and how, we, its subjects, innocently take part in its operation to their own disadvantage.

Unwashed by Hun Kyu Kim. Colouring on silk with oriental pigment.

Hun Kyu Kim currently lives and works in London and in 2017 was the winner of the Chadwell Award.  This award was set up by Andrew Post and Mary Aylmer in 2010 in memory of Andrew’s mother.  The award is offered to students as a bridge between art school and practice as a professional artist by giving a recent Fine Art MA graduate a free studio in Bow, London for a year, together with a bursary of £1,000. In addition the Chadwell Award has a discretionary purchase grant of up to £4,000 to buy a work from the award holder at their end-of-award show.

So there you have it ! Love it or hate it – your decision.

My next blog will be all about colour but equally different from mainstream art.