We are now a full century since the guns of August set in motion the carnage of the first World War, cleaving apart nations, introducing shocking new technologies, and spreading the aesthetic of Modernism as a reflection of the shattered continent.
KARLA BLACK
Often working at immense, room-filling scale, the British artist Karla Black undercuts the imposing size of her installations by making them as light and sweet as can be—all cotton-candy pastels, diaphanous drapery, and powders, strewn with cosmetics and other diminutive objects seemingly sourced from her medicine cabinet.
YTO BARRADA
Capturing the complex identities and representations of her hometown of Tangier, a broken down yet cosmopolitan city on the tip of African (mere miles from Europe), Yto Barrada has gained international acclaim for her socially aware prints, photographs, films, and sculptures.
TAMY BEN-TOR
The Jerusalem-born Tamy Ben-Tor is a shapeshifter of the highest order, adopting elaborate and finely observed cultural personae in her often-satirical films and performances to explore racial stereotypes—while simultaneously poking fun at the self-importance of fine art.
MIRCEA CANTOR
Awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2011—an award given to a “French-based artist considered to be at the vanguard of contemporary art practice”—Mircea Cantor often earns comparisons to that master of the readymade for his thought-provoking and absurdist work, such as the Landscape Is Changing, an orchestration of protestors holding up mirrors instead of political placards.
JIMMIE DURHAM
Sculptor, essayist, poet, performer, and American Indian Movement activist, Jimmie Durham has been exhibiting work internationally as a means of political activism since the 1960s, but the Cherokee artist has been enjoying a widening influence in recent decades.
LUISA LAMBRI
Describing her photographs of interior spaces as self-portraits, the Italian artist Luisa Lambri gives a unique sense of place—even personality—to the sites she photographs, predominantly Modernist architectural landmarks by the likes of Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Richard Neutra.
ZOE LEONARD
Through epic projects like Analogue (1998-2009)—a series of photographs documenting trends, style, and cultures across different continents—and her transformation of a window into a giant camera obscura for the recent Whitney Biennial (for which she won the Bucksbaum Award), Zoe Leonard continually challenges the way we perceive the world through forms of documentation.
LUCY MCKENZIE
Lucy McKenzie enjoys a massive international following for her wide range of work, which is all the more impressive considering that she first emerged in the art world as a young prodigy, being chosen by artists Peter Doig and Roy Arden as winner of EASTinternational's East Award in 1999 at the age of only 22.
AMALIA PICA
The multitalented Argentine artist Amalia Pica uses simple materials such as lightbulbs, projectors, drinking glasses, and cardboard to create aesthetically captivating work that is deeply concerned with the issues of communication and the importance of being heard.
GIANNI MOTTI
In his art, Gianni Motti critiques what be believes to be the absurdities and flaws of the contemporary news media—often in arresting ways. For one piece, he declared responsibility for the NASA Challenger explosion in 1986; for another, in 1997, he somehow managed to speak on behalf of an absent Indonesian delegate at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
by #Artspace
