Visual Arts News - Call for entries, Exhibition Announcements, Press Releases
by Theo Wujcik
Tampa artist Theo Wujcik has recently launched his own website to showcase his work. Find him on the web at
http://www.theowujcik.com. The site will provide the viewer with a sample of his recent work as well as information on his numerous accomplishments.
GEISAI #11
GEISAI #11
The Artist-run Art Fair
Returns to Tokyo for its
Largest Edition to Date
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Tokyo Big Sight West Hall 1 & 2
http://www.geisai11.us
http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp
Kaikai Kiki announces GEISAI #11, the one-of-a-kind art fair conceived by Takashi Murakami, which will be held on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at Tokyo Big Sight ( http://www.bigsight.jp/english ), from 10 am to 6 pm. GEISAI differs from typical art fairs in that it allows artists to represent themselves and present their work directly to an audience of collectors, art professionals and art enthusiasts in a professional art fair setting. Booth registration for GEISAI #11 was available online on a first-come-first-serve basis to artists of all nationalities, with no restriction on medium.
GEISAI’s return to Tokyo this fall follows its American debut in Miami last December that coincided with Art Basel Miami Beach, where it received much critical acclaim, and GEISAI Museum 2, a twist on GEISAI where artists are assigned individual numerical ratings that took place in Tokyo in May. GEISAI #11 will be significantly larger than all previous editions, offering space for one thousand exhibitors in individual booths. On the day of the event, art works will be selected by a jury of international art professionals, who will then award medals to several participants.
This year GEISAI will be judged by one of its most prestigious juries to date, including Jack Bankowsky, Editor-at-Large, Artforum; Alison Gingeras, Chief Curator, the Pinault Collection; Carol Yinghua Lu, Independent curator and art writer; Philippe Segalot, Art Advisor, Giraud.Pissarro.Ségalot; and Marc-Olivier Wahler, Director, Palais de Tokyo, Site de Creation Contemporaine, Paris.
GEISAI #11 will also feature a special celebration of the unique subcultures that grew from Tokyo’s Akihabara district, which have proven influential in many of the exhibitor’s works, and are enjoyed throughout the world. As part of this celebration, GEISAI #11 will debut a special festival space featuring working shops inspired by those in Akihabara, and special surprise performances.
GEISAI #11 will be followed by the second edition of GEISAI Miami, which will once again be hosted by PULSE Contemporary Art Fair, and take place in the Wynwood Art District, December 2008, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach.
About GEISAI:
Since its inception in 2001 in Japan, GEISAI has traditionally been held twice a year in Tokyo, and made its debut in Miami in December 2007. By presenting a new art-collecting concept, allowing artists to exhibit their work directly, without a commercial gallery, to an audience of collectors, curators and art enthusiasts, GEISAI has established itself as an exceptional art fair platform. The name “GEISAI” is derived from the Japanese word for “art festival.” Such festivals would typically take place within a university or an art school.
About Kaikai Kiki:
The artist-led art enterprise Kaikai Kiki was founded by Takashi Murakami in 2001, and evolved from its predecessor, the Hiropon Factory. Its goals as an enterprise include the production and promotion of artwork, the management and support of select artists, general management of events and projects, and the production and promotion of merchandise. With bases in Japan’s Motoazabu, Tokyo (head office); Iruma, Saitama (studio); and in Long Island City, New York, Kaikai Kiki is a unique organization looking to the future to broaden the horizons and practices of contemporary art.
For more information on Kaikai Kiki, please visit http://english.kaikaikiki.co.jp/
For more information and updates on GEISAI#11, please visit http://www.geisai11.us
Media Contact
For further information, images and interviews please contact:
Andy Cushman or Elizabeth Reina
Blue Medium, Inc.
T: 212-675-1800
F: 212-675-1855
E: andy@bluemedium.com
The Aldrich
Contemporary Art Museum
Huma Bhabha, Untitled, 2008
Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94 and ATM Gallery, New York
Huma Bhabha: 2008
Emerging Artist Award Exhibition
September 14, 2008 - February 8, 2009
The Aldrich
Contemporary Art Museum
258 Main Street
Ridgefield, CT 06877
Huma Bhabha: 2008 Emerging Artist Award Exhibition
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is pleased to announce the selection of Huma Bhabha as the recipient of the Museum’s 2008 Emerging Artist Award.
Bhabha will debut an exhibition of new work at the Museum on Sunday, September 14, 2008, from 3 to 5 pm. The exhibition will run through February 8, 2009.
For this exhibition, Bhabha has created Bumps in the Road, a major figurative sculpture that measures 60 1/2 x 66 1/4 x 80 1/4 inches and is made of clay, wood, wire, Styrofoam, metal studs, acrylic paint, cast iron, burlap, newsprint, sand, and ash. The sculpture will be installed in the center of the gallery, offering visitors a holistic three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the piece. The exhibition will also include six works on paper.
Curator Merrill Falkenberg explains how Bhabha’s works are distinguished by their hybridity, “Using a disparate array of materials, she creates figurative objects that simultaneously reference Egyptian, Greek, and Indian sculpture, while recalling modern and contemporary works by Giacometti, Guston, and Kiefer. Obliquely political, her works bear witness to crises in the Middle East, yet her themes are far more universal. She transcends the particulars of religion to explore the suffering inherent in the human condition and the eternal hope for regeneration.”
According to Bhabha, “The recent work has begun to connect more and more with the history of sculpture, ranging from the ancient to the modern, from Eastern to Western art. The stories and themes I am interested in, such as war, colonialism, displacement and the subsequent memories of home, are eternal themes found in all cultures….I am making work out of humble, discarded materials, to create what I call landscapes of human debris.”
The Aldrich will host a reception to celebrate the exhibition on Sunday, September 14, 2008, from 3 to 5 pm. Refreshments will be served. Free round-trip transportation from New York City is available for members. For reservations please call 203.438.4519.
Aldrich exhibitions are supported, in part, by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Artist: Huma Bhabha, who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from Columbia University. She now lives and works in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is represented by Salon 94 and ATM Gallery, New York.
The Award: The Aldrich Emerging Artist Award is administered and the recipient selected by the curatorial staff of The Aldrich, which includes exhibitions director Richard Klein and director Harry Philbrick. Beneficiaries of the award, which has been presented by the Museum since 1997, receive a cash prize of 5,000 USD and the opportunity to exhibit at The Aldrich. Applications are not accepted for this award. Previous Emerging Artist Award recipients are Marti Cormand, 2007; Josh Azzarella, 2006; Todd Hebert, 2005; David Opdyke, 2004; Elizabeth Demaray, 2003; Yuken Teruya, 2002; Claire Corey, 2001; John F. Simon, Jr., 2000; Bonnie Collura, 1999; Paul Henry Ramirez, 1998; and Roxy Paine, 1997.
The Museum: The Aldrich is one of the few non-collecting contemporary art museums in the United States. Founded on Ridgefield’s historic Main Street in 1964, the Museum enjoys the curatorial independence of an alternative space while maintaining the registrarial and art-handling standards of a national institution. Exhibitions feature work by emerging and mid-career artists, and education programs help adults and children to connect to today’s world through contemporary art. The Museum is located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877. All exhibitions and programs are handicapped accessible. Regular Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm. For more information call 203.438.4519.
Kunsthallen Brandts
Die Bewohner by Tim Eitel
5 July through 31 August, 2008
Kunsthallen Brandts
Brandts Torv 1
DK-5000 Odense C
Tim Eitel’s medium is figurative painting, of which he is an exceptionally gifted master. His motifs include people in everyday situations, abandoned buildings and garbage containers in seemingly completely empty spaces. A common feature of these paintings is that they center on people and human activity, but Eitel achieves this so undramatically that the viewer merely has a sense of something intangible going on between the brushstrokes. A silent dynamism.
An Influence on Contemporary Danish Art
Tim Eitel was born in 1971 and has already made a name for himself on the international art scene. In 2001 he graduated from the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst which fostered a whole generation of painters, known today as the Leipziger school. This will be the first time Eitel presents a solo exhibition in Denmark, but in recent years he has had a significant influence on an entire generation of Danish painters.
Exhibition Opening
Die Bewohner opens on Friday, 4 July, at 5 p.m. The Chairman of the Art Council Representatives, Uffe Andreasen, will give the opening speech. The artist himself will be present. The exhibition will be open to the public from 5 July through 31 August, 2008.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Kunsthalle Tübingen and Kunsthalle zu Kiel. It is supported by Montana A/S, the Goethe Institute, Copenhagen, and the German Embassy, Copenhagen.