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SOTHEBY'S SAM Silverlens Massimo de Carlo 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art David Zwirner RossiRossi Artspace
Apr 29 2014

A Perpetual Loop: The Work of Kazakh Artist Erbossyn Meldibekov

by Kitty Van Leeuwen
A Perpetual Loop: The Work of Kazakh Artist Erbossyn Meldibekov

Kazakh artist Erbossyn Meldibekov is in constant conflict with his identity. His exhibition “Mountains of Revolution,” now on view at Rossi & Rossi gallery in Hong Kong, demonstrates the struggle faced by an artist emanating from a region that is relatively unknown. In his performance at the 2005 Venice Biennale, Meldibekov introduced himself as being from the fictive nation of Pastan. When questioned on the gullibility of his viewers, the artist responded challengingly “few people care where Tajikistan or Turkmenistan is. To them, Central Asia might as well be a meteorite that exploded out of Venus.”

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Apr 28 2014

Blazing into History: An Interview with Wang Tiande

by Sylvia Tsai
Blazing into History: An Interview with Wang Tiande
Cigarettes, incense and ash are rather uncommon materials in the context of traditional Chinese painting. Yet, since the early 1990s, Shanghai-based artist Wang Tiande has experimented with ink painting, transgressing assumptions of tradition to recontexualize the genre with a contemporary visual vocabulary. 
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Apr 25 2014

Beneath the Wrecking Ball: Yuan Gong’s Resilient Practice

by Michael Young
Beneath the Wrecking Ball: Yuan Gong's Resilient Practice

In early September 2013, the local government attempted to demolish artist Yuan Gong’s eponymous studio compound in Shanghai’s Changning District. One hundred black-shirted men, protected by a phalanx of police, arrived unannounced at dawn and quickly razed the upper floors and balconies to a pile of smashed concrete, shards of glass and twisted metal before Yuan and friends managed to stop them amid much pushing and shoving.

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Apr 24 2014

Concrete Love

by Jen Kwok
Concrete Love
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Apr 23 2014

Macho Macho Woman: Interview with Eisa Jocson

by Marlyne Sahakian
Macho Macho Woman: Interview with Eisa Jocson

In an unlikely underground bar in the outskirts of Geneva, as part of the Antigel festival last February, contemporary dancer and artist Eisa Jocson delivered Macho Dancer (2013), a solo performance based on her study of male dancers in gay bars in Manila. Trained as a visual artist and with a background in ballet, Jocson investigates representations of the body. ArtAsiaPacific sits down with the artist to discuss her views on exposing gender biases, the politics of seduction and what constitutes Filipino identity.

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Apr 10 2014

Concrete Love

by Jen Kwok
Concrete Love
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Apr 09 2014

Taking Chances: Christian Boltanski at Carriageworks

by Michael Young
Taking Chances: Christian Boltanski at Carriageworks

Installations seem to grow ever more bloated in size in direct correlation to the thinness of a work’s conceptual framework. Paris-based artist Christian Boltanski’s Chance (2011), which was installed at Sydney’s Carriageworks up until last month as part of this year’s Sydney Festival, is no exception. Filling the length of the inner-city art space’s foyer, 16 tons of special scaffolding ran a continuous loop of 400 baby photographs, culled from the birth announcements of Polish newspapers, printed on reams of paper, reminiscent of a newspaper printing press. Occasionally a bell sounded and the whole process would grind to a temporary halt, only to start again with a second sounding of the bell.

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Apr 04 2014

Different Strokes for Different Folks: Whitney Biennial 2014

by Lilly Lampe
Different Strokes for Different Folks: Whitney Biennial 2014

The last Whitney Biennial to take place in the museum’s iconic modernist building on 75th street has met with some criticism due to the decision to divide the exhibition into floors—each curator given one each—rather than maintaining an overarching theme.  The result, however, benefits the viewer who is given the opportunity for comparison between the three curators—Stuart Comer, Anthony Elms and Michelle Grabner—who inevitably exhibit different styles and methodologies. This element of comparison, overall, enlivens the biennial, making the tripartite show stimulating in a multitude of ways. Below is a brief overview of the Whitney Biennial 2014’s diverse selection.

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