He says that if it wasn’t for the healing power of art and the support of his sister, he might be in a very dark place right now. However, he has channelled the pain of his formative years and the early memories of painting with his Mother, into a successful career as an artist.

He explains: “I was painting with my mum before she died, not figuratively, she used to paint a lot of abstract seascapes to express her sadness because she had lost a child, and you know this affected her a lot. But we used to paint a lot of seascapes in very grey, dark colours. Then, after she died, I didn’t really think about it (art) for a while, because I mean, it was hard enough to survive.”

The joyful vibe and colourful palette of Cosmin’s art now seems to be in part a reaction or revolt against the sadness of his formative years, and the bright pinks, reds, yellows and greens of his heart-motif portraits counteracts the dark tones of those seascapes he painted as a child with his Mother.

Cosmin’s ‘King of Hearts’ series is the latest step on an artistic mission to create a signature visual alphabet populated by anonymous portraits based on a heart motif. This aorta-shape is repeated throughout the new series of paintings, sculptures and screenprints, inverted and flipped, and repeated in a rainbow of different colour combinations. Perhaps the heart symbol at the core of Constantin’s visual language is a metaphor for the heartbreak of his childhood, but it could also be a symbol of hope for a world experiencing conflict and division.

Cosmin’s portraits are loosely based on friends of his, and there is an element of self-portraiture, but each portrait is stripped back to the essence of a person’s psyche, with simple lines representing eyes, mouth, eyebrows. The portraits merge elements of Pop Art with references to the digital world of emojis. Cosmin explains: “They all have different features or gazes…smiling or kissing.

They can even be like heart emojis. They’re not affiliated with anything that divides people, but they can be associated with the social media world that we live in. Instead of saying LMAO you can have one of these screenprints. I’m taking the emojis out of the digital world and exploring them through art.”

Cosmin cites several artists who inspire or inform his work, although he is wary of imitating the greats and focussed on cementing his own style: “I love Warhol, Picasso, Basquiat, Matisse, Van Gogh. I absolutely love Francis Bacon. But it’s more about their life that attracts me than their art. We all get inspired, and even those artists were inspired by other people. My ongoing mission is to create a signature style which is recognisable as my own.”

Like Warhol, who was a successful graphic designer and illustrator for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar before finding fame as a Pop Art Pioneer, Cosmin started out as a commercial artist. While he says he doesn’t create art now for monetary reasons, he found a niche for himself as a commercial artist when he arrived in the UK from Romania: “When I came from Romania at the age of 21, within a few months I was earning massive commissions as a commercial artist after doing things for free to begin with. I did a European campaign for Patagonia and the Lansbury hotel in a heritage building in Canary Wharf. I did all these commissions, but then after that I decided to do my own thing, instead of working with clients.”

So, what is Cosmin’s ambition as an artist, and what artistic legacy does he want to leave? His ambitions are as bold as his imagery: “I want to open studios all around the world and take on every artist who mass produced art.

I’m nearly there because I already set up the ecosystem for it by creating the heart-shaped portraits. I can paint them anyhow, anywhere I want, I can make them into sculpture or paintings or screenprints. I’ve created an alphabet that I can repeat in different variations or mediums.

I want the people outside the art world to recognise my art, not only the people inside it. And finally, I ask if he has any advice for young artists? “Be yourself and retain your childlike qualities, because when you’re a kid, you’re not yet moulded by society. It’s so easy to create when you’re a kid. You can be truly creative.”

©2024 Constantin Cosmin

A profusion of kaleidoscopic colours, hypnotic shapes, and an eye-catching message in bold capital letters: Lakwena’s work immediately grabs attention. With text as the central element of her visual, London-based Lakwena, who is from British and Ugandan heritage, signs the first typographic poster in the festival’s history. The work revolves around five words – ALL YOU SEE IS GLORY – a short, impactful message open to various interpretations.

This phrase is taken from the lyrics of the song “Stars,” composed by Janis Ian in 1974 and performed by Nina Simone at Montreux in 1976. During her research on the Festival, Lakwena was immediately captivated by Simone. This emotionally charged performance – where Simone famously ordered a woman to sit down – is one of the most iconic moments of her career, and also featured in the documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?

I was researching the Festival and I found out about Nina Simone’s 1976 performance. It’s so incredible, so moving, the intimacy, it felt really raw, very real.

Lakwena

“The word ‘GLORY’ reflects the legacy of the Festival, its legendary concerts, and the beauty of the lake and mountains. But this message can also be interpreted in different ways. There’s a certain melancholy too, as the song “Stars” is mainly about the fleeting nature of fame. I think it’s a really grounding concept and a nice contrast to our culture’s obsession with fame. Glory can be passing, fleeting and brief, but it is beautiful.”

Montreux Jazz Festival: A Tradition of Creative Freedom Since 1967

Since 1967, the Festival has given Swiss and international artists full creative freedom to design its official poster. In 1982, Jean Tinguely left an indelible mark that became the Festival’s recognizable logo. Keith Haring designed three versions in 1983, then collaborated with Andy Warhol in 1986. David Bowie took part in 1995, followed more recently by Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid), Malika Favre, Christian Marclay, Tomi Ungerer, JR, and Rylsee.

About Lakwena

A London-based artist of British and Ugandan descent, Lakwena is known for her use of vibrant colors and powerful texts, creating a world that is both optimistic and subtly subversive. Her paintings, installations, and murals draw inspiration from shared daily experiences and popular culture, including music, fashion, and basketball.

With messages of hope, Lakwena explores a utopian vision imbued with freedom, through a self-taught and instinctive approach. Her works have been exhibited worldwide in cities such as London, Paris and New York, aswell as in prestigious institutions like the Tate Modern, Southbank Centre in London, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and she has collaborated with The BRITs, Fiorucci and MINI.

©2024 Montreux Jazz Festival

For his first solo presentation with Hauser & Wirth in New York City, Gary Simmons will introduce a new body of work advancing his decades-long exploration into issues that haunt our national psyche––race, representation and collective identity. ‘Thin Ice’ debuts sculpture, paintings and drawings––including a sequence of canvases that isolate and re-purpose archetypal racialized imagery from cartoons of the 1920s and early 1930s, and a site-specific wall drawing referencing one of the most iconic films of the 1960s––to capture the instability and disorientation of the current American moment.

Simmons’ art skates deftly between abstraction and representation via his signature technique of erasure. This formal conceit upends the viewer’s sense of certainty; by degrading familiar icons, he exposes latent meanings and ugly truths lurking just behind the surface of popular imagery. For example, Simmons has consistently used Bosko and Honey, a pair of racist cartoon characters first created in 1928, as avatars of institutionalized racism.

Bosko reappears in ‘Thin Ice’ but with a new and unmistakable urgency. The exhibition opens with a painting that depicts him as a fiddle player frenetically sawing away at his strings. This work signals the start of a performance that will unfold across several successive canvases in which Bosko glides on ice skates to execute a single disjointed pirouette. Together the works achieve the effect of a stop motion film or comic strip. Simmons has blurred the contour lines of Bosko’s whirling figure, an expressive tactic that induces a vicarious sense of dizziness in the viewer.

‘Somewhere, My Love,’ Simmons’ new monumental wall drawing, is his first major site-specific work in New York since his commission for The Drawing Center in 2018. Conceived specifically for this exhibition, it alludes to the unique material history of David Lean’s Academy Award-winning epic ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1965). Essentially an historical romance, Lean’s classic film recounts the vertiginous mix of idealism, duplicity and dislocation created by the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war. Simmons’ site-specific work adopts one of the film’s most memorable visuals––a lavishly ice-encrusted palace.

Though its narrative is set in pale, frozen locales during World War I, ‘Doctor Zhivago’ was, in fact, filmed primarily during a winter heat wave in a staged Potemkin village erected near Madrid, Spain, where beeswax and dust from a local marble quarry were repurposed as imitation snow and ice. For Simmons, that feint becomes a stand-in for the artifice and seductive deceit coursing through popular culture and media––and, sometimes, by design, in art itself.

‘Thin Ice’ will also unveil a set of studies that offer glimpses into Simmons’ associative gestural processes, and a new sculpture replete with its own unique set of conceptual and physical paradoxes. Constructed from steel, foam and polyurethane, and finished with automotive paint, ‘Black Frosty’ (2024) resembles a snowman cast in obsidian or coal, his neck ensnared by a 20-foot-long, noose-like, hand-knit scarf made of white wool, suggesting an underlying violence often masked by civility.

An adjacent large-scale painting depicts a constellation of black stars streaming across a hazy blue and white sky, mirroring the inverted color palette of Simmons’ snowman. Here, the heavens are punctuated by points projecting the absence of light and ‘Black Frosty’ remains frozen in time, forever on the verge of dissolution.

Gary Simmons: Thin Ice opens on the 2nd of November, 2024 until the 11th of January, 2025 at Hauser & Wirth New York

©2024 Gary Simmons, Hauser & Wirth

The new immersive show navigates the interplay between imagination and reality, from ancient worlds to modern times, unravelling how storytelling and wonder can help make sense of inner narratives – from joy and sorrow to greed and hope – in order to better understand the world around us.

Artists Riya Mahajan and Ruby Bell’s Moody Monsters artwork began as a workshop with 12-14 year-olds from Kensington Aldridge Academy, where young people crafted clay monsters to reflect different emotions. From the joy of first friendships to their initial encounters with anxiety, by harnessing digital technology, they are brought to life in an immersive playground of imagination.

The new 3-month residency, starting on 25^th October at 1pm, comes as part of an ongoing partnership between FRAMELESS and the Royal College of Art’s Digital Direction MA programme, with the shared goal of platforming emerging talent in the world of digital and immersive art.

Riya Mahajan said, “By personifying feelings and bringing them to life through art, we can help young people nurture positive relationships with their friends, families, and even their own thoughts. Bringing emotions to life encourages children to connect with their feelings, highlighting the importance of making art appealing to kids by offering them an engaging connection to imagined worlds, all while helping them confront their own realities.”

Vivian Li’s chapter, ‘From the Ground / Lost in Synthetic’, takes visitors on a journey through a mythological world, blending traditional narratives with hyper modern content. The re-imagining of the ‘Legend of the White Snake’: a Chinese myth of a white snake looking for the magic reishi mushroom (the mushroom of immortality), invites audiences to embark on a magical journey through the shared challenges that can be observed throughout history and mythology that remain relevant to the modern-day human experience.

Imagined Realities builds on the success of FRAMELESS’ Let’s Talk About Art campaign, inviting children to critically engage with the artworks featured within the galleries. During half term visitors will be able to review the artworks in the galleries to be in with a chance to win a seat at the FRAMELESS Creative Table, as well as a lifetime membership to FRAMELESS.

Access to Imagined Realities will be part of any standard ticket to FRAMELESS, meaning visitors to the show will also have access to the full FRAMELESS experience, embarking on an emotionally charged journey, experiencing 42 immersive artworks from some of the world’s most revered artists including Hokusai and Van Gogh, which have been reimagined in collaboration with BAFTA award-winning VFX studio and FRAMELESS’ Official Production Partner Cinesite, whose previous work includes the Harry Potter and James Bond films.

‘Imagined Realities’ at FRAMELESS is open from:

• Monday to Friday: 11:00 am – 5:30 pm
• Saturday to Sunday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
  (last entry at 4:00 pm)
• Frameless Lates (18+ only) is open from:
• Friday to Saturday: 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

©2024 FRAMELESS

For the 2024 edition of Paris Photo, Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach is delighted to participate in two sectors. In the main sector, in Booth B29, the gallery presents a group exhibition featuring artists working with expanded photography, collage and process-intensive interventions: Gordon Matta-Clark, Carmen Winant, Lebohang Kganye, Lita Albuquerque, Stephen Gill and Rafael Y. Herman. Simultaneously, the gallery highlights Lebohang Kganye’s work in the Voices Sector as part of
Liberated Bodies, an exhibition curated by Azu Nwagbogu.

Curated by Julien Frydman, Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach’s booth at Paris Photo highlights three artists with innovative practices using collage. Gordon Matta-Clark (USA, 1943-1978), a seminal figure in the 1970s New York art scene, is renowned for his radical building cuts, interventions that transformed architectural spaces into sites of creative disruption. Matta-Clark’s works on view, including collages from his landmark series Splitting (1974) and Conical Intersect (1975), translate his architectural cuts into meticulous, layered photographic compositions, embodying his concept of “anarchitecture.”

His photo-collages encapsulate his vision of exposing hidden layers within neglected urban environments, creating haunting, multidimensional perspectives that echo through contemporary art. The presentation at Paris Photo is concurrent with the major exhibition Gordon Matta-Clark on view through December 21, 2024 at the gallery in Brussels. Matta-Clark has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Whitney Museum, New York, Jeu de Paume, Paris and the subject of countless other major exhibitions.

Matta-Clark’s work is represented in prominent public collections, including The Metropolitan Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, MoMA, and many others.

Alongside Matta-Clark is Lebohang Kganye (South Africa, b. 1990) whose work with cut-outs and sculptural photography infuses her pieces with theatrical dimensionality. Kganye’s practice challenges and reclaims historically oppressive narratives, transforming memory through her unique use of collage and performance. Her layered compositions in Two Stories of (Hi)Stories (2023) draw viewers into complex histories, where Kganye herself steps into the roles of various historical figures, weaving new memories within a contested past.

Through her art, Kganye reimagines postcolonial histories, bringing light, both metaphorically and literally, to the untold stories of her culture. Kganye will hold a major solo exhibition at the gallery in Brussels in 2025. She is featured in the upcoming New Photography exhibition at MoMA, (2025) and was recently awarded the Deutsche Börse Foundation Prize (2024).

The artist has recently exhibited at TATE, The Barnes Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, The South African Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale, and others. Kganye’s work is held in institutional collections including the Smithsonian, the Art Institute of Chicago, Getty Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Victoria and Albert Museum, Verbund Collection, Walther Collection, and Carnegie Art Museum, among others.

Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach at Paris Photo Booth B29 and Voices Sector is on view the 7th of November, 2024 until the 10th of November, 2024 at PARIS PHOTO 2024

©2024 Galerie La Patinoire Royale Bach

GR gallery is pleased to present “Enigmatic Glance,” a group exhibition featuring artists Tania Marmolejo, Tatsuhito Horikoshi, Masumi Yamamoto, and TRNZ. This event will showcase 16 paintings, executed with the artists‘ signature techniques with a specific focus on the characters’ facial expressions and gaze. Through ambiguous countenances, the exhibition attempts to convey the magic of a reinterpreted everyday life.

“Enigmatic Glance“ delves into the neutral expression, reinterpreting it as a subtle form of emotional communication. The expressionless face, often the most natural and frequent in everyday life, is presented in this exhibition as a canvas capable of conveying a wide range of meanings. From this perspective, neutrality is not emptiness but a state rich with potential interpretation.

The artists highlight the inherent beauty of stillness and invite curiosity about the emotions or stories that might lie beneath. Through their works, the exhibition reveals the delicate boundary between emotion and calm, offering a glimpse into the hidden rhythms and mysteries of facial expressions.

Tania Marmolejo captures ambiguous female facial expressions characterized by large eyes, aiming to evoke emotional empathy in viewers. Her work invites audiences to connect deeply with the feelings conveyed.

Masumi Yamamoto draws children adorned in ethnic clothing, infusing her illustrations with a mystifying beauty that explores the originality found across diverse cultures. Through her art, she navigates the enigmatic space between the world and her own experiences.

TRNZ seeks to blur the boundaries between two realms by presenting familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts. His work transforms everyday situations through unique gestures, highlighting the distinctiveness of ordinary items.

Tatsuhito Horikoshi focuses on melancholic expressions drawn from memory and imagination, creating poignant portraits of boys and girls that resonate with feelings of nostalgia and reflection. His work, influenced by manga storytelling techniques, captures the subtle nuances of emotional experiences within the context of societal expectations.

Enigmatic Glance: Tania Marmolejo, Masumi Yamamoto, TRNZ, Tatsuhito Horikoshi opens on the 21st of November, 2024 until the 28th of December, 2024 at GR gallery

©2024 GR gallery

The 2024 Art for Change Prize challenged emerging artists worldwide to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues through the theme ‘Tomorrow’ing: Visions of a Better Future.’ With a grand prize of £10,000, the competition offers a platform for artists to envision solutions for a brighter tomorrow and showcase their work at Saatchi Gallery.

This year saw a 56% increase in entries, with 4,667 submissions from 140 countries, and over 53% coming from developing nations across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The six selected winners, representing Mexico, Hong Kong, Australia, Spain, Morocco, and the UK, will present works that explore critical issues such as humanity’s relationship with the Earth, the impact of industry on sustainability, and the hopes and fears for future generations.

The winning artworks span a variety of media including painting, photography, video, and mixed-media installations. Through their art, the winners highlight urgent global issues, offering creative solutions and raising awareness about the challenges of our times.

2024 Art for Change Prize Regional Winners:

• Americas: Paola Boyance (Mexico)
• Asia: Wincy Kung (Hong Kong)
• Australia & New Zealand: Jo Mellor (Australia)
• Europe: Ana Monsó (Spain)
• Middle East & Africa: Hiba Baddou (Morocco)
• UK: Lulu Harrison (UK)

Each winner will receive £2,000, and one overall winner—set to be announced at the exhibition launch on 28 November—will take home an additional £8,000.

Paul Foster, Saatchi Gallery Director, adds: “Congratulations to the regional winners. They’ve shown us again, how artists can rise to the challenge of addressing contemporary events and issues in a creative way. We’re looking forward to an exhibition of diverse winning works later this year that should prove inspirational for all visitors.”

The winners were selected by a distinguished panel of business and creative leaders from M&C Saatchi Group, along with esteemed guest judges from the arts and creative sectors.

The winners’ work will be exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery from 29 November 2024.

©2024 M&C Saatchi Group, Saatchi Gallery

Mica Bowman and Bowman Sculpture Head of Sales Daniel Pereira visited the graduate shows at London’s leading art institutions including Central St Martins, City and Guilds, Royal College of Art and SLADE, and selected 13 young artists for the graduate exhibition. 

The featured artists represent a diverse range of cultures, genres and sculptural techniques, originating from as far afield as Bahrain, China, Iran and the USA. The Graduate Show at Bowman Sculpture spotlights some of the most promising talent in the world of sculpture and features artists who are pushing the boundaries of sculpture and working in a variety of mediums, as well as those who are reimagining or reinventing traditional methods of sculpture.

Mica Bowman, Director, Bowman Sculpture Gallery explains: “I believe it’s essential to shine a spotlight on artists who have consistently showcased their work and made significant strides in the art world over the past few years. Their perseverance and success speak to the strength of their talent and vision. The more we invest in these rising stars by providing opportunities for exposure and recognition, the more we contribute to a richer, more diverse cultural landscape for both artists and audiences alike.” 

As the Graduate Show opens at Bowman Sculpture in Mayfair, I spoke with artists Lydia Smith, Rufus Martin, Cami Brownhill, Caroline Williams, YeYe, Harrison Lambert, Alex Ford, Naroul, Harmony-Cree Morgan, Isis Bird and Zayn Qahntani about their process and inspirations.

The Graduate Show is at Bowman Sculpture until 22nd November, 2024.

Lydia Smith 

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Lydia Smith: I see my sculpture practice as a conversation between dimensions. While I begin by shaping clay in three dimensions, each piece undergoes a transformation through digital scanning, revealing its unique DNA blueprint. These pixelated scans act as a digital ‘still life,’ preserving the essence of each sculpture in a new form. Each digital blueprint then inspires another physical artwork, establishing a lineage where every piece is a part of an ongoing ancestry, connected through a shared creative bloodline.

Lee Sharrock: Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Lydia Smith: The inspiration behind my work centres on people and human connection. Through a research-based practice, I delve into subjects like technology, science, spirituality, and ancient history, allowing these themes to infuse my creative process. Sculpting in clay becomes a meditative act; as I enter a flow state, the research I’ve absorbed intuitively channels into the form. I let go of any preconceived design, allowing the piece to emerge naturally, guided by the resonance of my studies and the energy of the moment.

Rufus Martin 

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Rufus Martin: Traditional sculpture has been an enormous influence for me; we are after all standing on the shoulders of giants. Rodin, Rosso, Claudel, Michelangelo are titanic figures of emotive, excellently composed, beautiful figurative sculpture, and provide an incredible foundation to learn from and build. 

Like them, I work figuratively but I prioritise the expressive mark in and of its own right. They are vital for the final feeling of the work; the sum of the marks working together to describe something greater. Within the boundaries of the marks in clay, or stone, or wax lies the emotive power of both the artist and their creation, allowing for a dynamic dialogue that connects past traditions with present expression.

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Rufus Martin: I draw inspiration from monumental cultural works, such as Milton’s Paradise Lost, on which my bust of Lucifer was based, as well as the natural beauty of contemporary individuals. My creative process is quick and raw, allowing me to capture the unique character of each subject through expressive marks. Typically, I complete the initial clay work in 4 to 12 hours, before casting it into bronze.

Cami Brownhill 

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Cami Brownhill: I am trying to push the boundary of the abstract figure within sculpture to create unique portrayals of emotions and memories in ceramic form through creating intensely personal designs. I would say that my take on automatism to create works that present my life in this current climate means I am naturally creating sculptures that evolve with me.  My art intentionally shows horror and the potential grotesque which allows my work to be unrestricted by conventions. I feel that my style of sculptural heads is forcing an acknowledgement of distress that viewers try to avoid and at the same time challenging the idea of the beauty behind craftsmanship.

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Cami Brownhill: My work is autobiographical that presents my continuing journey of being trans and the current social climate. Taking influence from artists I admire such as Berlinde de Bruyckere and Otto Dix and with modern writing by James Tynion IV and the horror genre I aim to create impactful works.  My new sculptures are adapted from unintentional drawings which reflect a memory or current emotional stage.   The drawings are then distorted to create a sculptural form with no pre-determined visual end point.  I work in ceramics and other physical forms as I find the taking up of space demands attention from the viewer.

Caroline Williams

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Caroline Williams: As a self-taught stone sculptor, in an era where everything can be done by machine, I am pushing the boundaries of contemporary art by returning to the source of what constitutes, for me, the essence of art. Working with stone and bronze has given me the opportunity to discover the processes and techniques that have made it possible to create masterpieces since the dawn of time. I appreciate this relationship with time and the permanence of these materials to link contemporary art to traditional sculpture.

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Caroline Williams: My work expresses the movement of a fabric created by an invisible air current. Starting with a fabric model dipped in a mixture of PVA and water, I recreate what I call a “static movement”, a movement frozen in permanence. Inspired by the work of artists such as Bernini, Titian, Iris Van Herpen or Alexander Mc Queen, through time consuming craftsmanship, I capture and express the flickering instant where the fluidity and softness of the wind transforms an inert fabric into a living thing.

Alex Ford

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Alex Ford: I’m always trying to question the necessity of material truth in my art, disrupting the boundaries between the physical and digital. We seem to think of sculpture as a physical end product, so I incorporate digital processes as much as I can into the creation of each art-object. What’s the difference if someone sculpts physically with clay, or digitally on a laptop? 

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Alex Ford: My work has been described as ‘Looney Tunes meets Hieronymus Bosch!’ I’m drawn to immediacy, and so tend to utilise recognisable symbols or materials that are preloaded with meaning, combining these features with more corporeal forms to recontextualise the way we encounter ourselves, the world around us and art itself.

Yeye

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Yeye: My sculptures push beyond the idea of sculptures being a single object. They repeat themselves in large quantities, and they are never about a single object, but rather a group entity. Every piece is a representation or an image of a conceptual abstract entity, and this connection does not go away even when one of the pieces is singled out. Just like how people imagine a common daily object, for instance, a piece of tissue paper, they are much less likely to remember a particular piece of tissue paper they saw, but rather an imagined abstract image of a piece of tissue paper.

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Yeye: My metal sculptures are inspired by my imagination of a stereotypical public abstract metal sculpture. I see them everywhere and I can never remember any of them in details, instead they altogether left a vague impression in my head. This ongoing impression can be deconstructed into a reproducible visual language to create individual small pieces of metal that are free to be reconstructed into any new forms. They are always perceived as undergoing the process of formation, there is no end nor beginning of the forms, thus the formless forms.

Harisson Lambert

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Harrison Lambert: My recent wood sculptures are crafted from recycled timber which is planed and laminated to form one solid piece of wood, which is then carved by hand. As an artist making work in our current time of ecological crisis, using salvaged materials makes sense both on an aesthetic and moral level. Our natural ecosystems are slowly but surely breaking down, and using scraps of wood found in a skip seems like a good way of talking about that ecological anxiety without contributing to the problem.

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Harrison Lambert: My work shapes iconic symbols of nature, filtered through history and cultural contexts, into new remixed sculptural objects. My practice is largely informed by the materials- both stone and wood require a time intensive and tactile process. In its slowness, my process is reminiscent of an archaic style of art production, where craftsmanship and skill chase after an aspirational sense of mastery. 

Neal Camilleri

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Neal Camilleri: As a sculptor, I constantly seek new methods and materials to enhance my creativity. By stepping outside my typical routines and embracing new challenges, I can uncover a realm of exciting and innovative ideas that will elevate my creative journey to new heights and expand my imaginative capabilities.

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Neal Camilleri: My work revolves around exploring my past, present, and future, and transforming those experiences into reflective art pieces that resonate with viewers, evoking joy through sculpture. I incorporate colour and form to infuse happiness into the space. 

Naroul

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Naroul: As sociologists like Zygmunt Bauman have noted, the core of modern life has shifted from a solid to a liquid state. Over the past century, the gradual erosion of public space has rendered the traditional concept of the “monument” somewhat awkward within artistic discourse. Modern sculptors, such as Shalev-Gerz and Jochen Gerz, have successfully reimagined the narrative of public spaces through counter-monuments. However, I believe that the shift from public to personal space has become nearly irreversible. In response, our era requires a new discourse from a fresh perspective to reconnect increasingly fragmented communities. Therefore, a hidden thread in my work is the construction of monuments within “non-public spaces.” By strengthening the narrative and personal attributes of my pieces, I aim to offer new possibilities for the concept of the “monument.”

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Naroul: The two works in this exhibition aim to explore how the identity of the “witch” has been constructed for political purposes. My interest in this topic began with Silvia Federici’s discussions on the relationship between witches and social reproduction. In my creative process, interdisciplinary literature and research methods play a significant role. For instance, in these two projects, I adopted an anthropological approach to writing and organization, integrating visual concepts with research. This approach has helped me utilize symbolic imagery within a specific framework. 

Harmony-Cree Morgan

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Harmony-Cree Morgan: In my first year of art school and exploration with this body of work I was often told that I was not attending a design school but an art school. Alluding to furniture in my work which, is inherently anthropomorphic to me, walks a thin and fun line between object and sculpture. I like to challenge the functionality aspect of traditional sculpture that allows the viewer to interact with the pieces as they see fit. A challenge / invitation that is hinted at in some of the titles of the works. 

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Harmony-Cree Morgan: I am inspired by our daily interactions with everyday household objects that go unnoticed. Through touch and ownership, our associated memories of the chair that lived through decades of Christmas dinners or through the sleepless nights of essay writing become imbued with a sense of identity. These objects combined with live casts of my body impart with the viewer the duality of beauty and pain in gestures that I am interested in. To kneel, is not only an act of love but also is one of protest or one of punishment. I subject my own body to these gestural acts in an attempt to embody the life of an object, and so my works are born. 

Zayn Qahtani

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Zayn Qahntani: I am in constant fascination with taking traditional methods of craft and innovating new ways of thinking about them – my sculptures often include cultural elements that link back to the island I grew up on – papers made from Bahraini date palm trees, hammered shell nacre, odes to traditional shapes in architecture and world-building.

I also think that sculpture is traditionally an exploration of the 3d object in space – a lot of my work includes elements of drawing, or sculpting on paper, or wall-based work. In these peripheries of the ‘in-between’ is where I find the most exciting opportunities to express myself with sculpture. 

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Zayn Qahntani: I am inspired by the life that I am living, and the stories I’m narrating could be my own or of the people around me. I find a lot of potency in expressing the more ‘twilight zone’ emotions – ones that we all have but keep to ourselves – such as grief, mourning, yearning, our deepest wishes and wants. I like being able to place these feelings on an altar-piece of sorts, a venerative space, so that they may be viewed in a different light or perhaps with more forgiveness. 

I write a lot of poetry which is usually where my process begins – either with a few words that have been floating in the back of my mind or through something which someone has said – and will go from there. My process also includes equal amounts of pre-planning and intuition – I usually have a loose form indicative of where to start the piece, but more often that not it will take on a life of its own halfway through. 

Isis Bird

Lee Sharrock: As a next-generation sculptor how would you say you are pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture?

Isis Bird: My work comes from an immaterial space through my dreams, thoughts and poems. I think it’s amazing to see these works exist within the Bowman Sculptue space, a space embedded with so many traditional representations of sculpture. 

Can you summarise in a few sentences the inspiration behind your work and the process of creating it?

Isis Bird: My recent work ‘The heart of the fool’ explores the immediacy of found objects. I was inspired by the historical and personal context that furniture holds. I have an interest in reverse-engineering neglected things: paper, chairs, objects from the street. Inspired by their previous context, I disassembled these furniture pieces, cutting, sanding and filing them to reveal the blueprints of new forms. This led to a reconfiguration process of assembling narratives.

The interplay of each connecting part and joint allows for an evolutionary lens, where both myself and the sculpture are defining our roles within the studio. Play is a key part of my process and has become intuitive. Each wooden component acts as a piece of the puzzle, guiding me towards the final sculpture which resembles an anthropomorphic object, insect-like and alive.  

I’m interested in metal as a material and it appears a lot in my practice. Metal has a memory as each mark made by the artist is recorded in the material and it naturally patinas and ages over time, this reminds me of nature’s state of flux. My work ‘Orchidaceae’ is a magnified view of an orchid, a flower symbolic of sex and female genitalia. Flowers are a recurring motif in my work as a reminder of rebirth and reproduction.

An orchid plant which is found now in nearly every office space and supermarket in London but has a history of manic wealthy Victorians sending explorers to collect and discover new rare breeds of the flower. I was intrigued by this as well as the feminine form –  An orchid represents perceived ideas of women’s sexuality as an equally dangerous and alluring creature. 

I used reclaimed metal pieces to make this piece, using a hydro-forming technique to inflate the stem of the sculpture with high pressured water. Merging both manufactured and found pieces of metal gives this work a quality which feels both assembled and ready-made.  

©2024 Bowman Sculpture Gallery

Our November exhibition rundown features legendary masters alongside emerging figures reshaping the art world. First up is George Rouy’s Bleed, Part I at Hauser & Wirth London. Rouy presents a new body of work that continues his exploration into collective mass, multiplicity, and movement. The exhibition reflects the emotional extremities of our time, inviting us to contemplate identity and embodiment in our globalised, technologically-driven era.

Next on our list of Five Exhibitions To See In London In November 2024 is David Hockney: Living in Colour at Halycon, showcasing one of the world’s largest collections of Hockney’s graphic works, featuring more than 150 pieces spanning six decades of Hockney’s career, dating from 1961 to 2018, this promises to be a feast for Hockney lovers.

Then, head over to bustling Brixton for one of Britain’s foremost contemporary artists, Frank Bowling‘s Selected Prints at Brixton Library. The exhibition showcases sixteen special edition prints by Bowling in collaboration with DACS and the Sussex-based art publisher King & McGaw. These sixteen giclée prints of Bowling’s masterful abstract paintings, ranging from 1968 to 2020, include his ‘map paintings’ that trace and layer stencils of countries and continents and ‘poured paintings’ where acrylic paint is poured directly onto the canvas.

Next stop on our Five Exhibitions To See In London In November 2024 is American photographer Gregory Halpern’s King, Queen, Knave at HUXLEY-PARLOUR. King, Queen, Knave presents fourteen photographs from Halpern’s latest body of work, photographed over the last two decades, mostly in and around his hometown of Buffalo, New York. The series extends beyond a portrait of place, celebrating the poetic idiosyncrasies of everyday life.

The last stop on our Five Exhibitions To See In London In November 2024 is A Journey through Ancient Inspiration in Modern & Contemporary Art at Mazzoleni, London with Mythology Reinterpreted. The exhibition strives to reinterpret the ancient through the lens of Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico, Salvo, and Giulio Paolini, and Mexican artist Jorge Méndez Blake. Guiding this revaluation of the ancient and drawing us back to the point of inspiration, a series of Roman artefacts will invite us to embark on a journey through the annals of art history while simultaneously demonstrating their continual relevance in contemporary visual culture.

Five Exhibitions To See In London In November 2024

George Rouy: The Bleed, Part I

George Rouy: The Bleed, Part I
​7th October, 2024 – 21st December, 2024
Hauser & Wirth London
​23 Savile Row
​London W1S 2ET

Emerging as a leading figure of the new generation of painters, George Rouy’s debut solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth London, ‘The Bleed, Part I,’ will present a new body of work continuing his inquiry into collective mass, multiplicity and movement. The second chapter, ‘The Bleed, Part II,’ will follow at Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles in February 2025. Rouy’s dynamic and signature use of the human figure, vexed with desire, alienation and crisis, speaks to the emotional extremities of our time, resulting in explorations of identity and embodiment in a globalised, technologically-driven 21st Century

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David Hockney: Living in Colour

Halcyon is proud to present one of the world’s largest collections of graphics by David Hockney at 148 New Bond Street. “Living in Colour,” which consists of more than 150 works, is also open at its gallery in Harrods. Spanning six decades of his illustrious career, the works date from 1961 to 2018 and include his iconic pool images, self-portraits, portraits of friends, still lifes, and landscapes.

Hockney’s power lies in his virtuosity as a draftsman and colorist, and his appreciation for the everyday. He paints the world around him with bright, bold colors and a restless desire to experiment, epitomizing American modernist Philip Guston’s definition of art as “serious play.”

As an artist, Hockney has always embraced the latest technological innovations. In the 1980s, he harnessed photocopy machines as part of his practice, and more recently, the iPad, which he uses to capture the world as he sees it — through the technicolor guise of the digital age. Visitors will discover various iPad drawings, providing rich insight into his unique exploration of this new medium.

“Living in Colour” also showcases Hockney’s work in the medium of photographic collage, an area of his oeuvre that is sometimes overlooked but in which he was pioneering. In these works, he experimented with unique perspectives and compositions. The exhibition offers a window into Hockney’s personal life: views of his studios, household objects, portraits of friends, family, and his beloved dachshunds — documenting his life and travels from Yorkshire to California.

David Hockney: Living in Colour
Halcyon
10th October, 2024 – 31st December, 2024
148 New Bond Street
London
W1S 2TR

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Frank Bowling OBE RA: Selected Prints

King & McGaw, the Sussex-based leading art publisher and destination for fine art prints, has partnered with Brixton Library on an exhibition of sixteen special edition prints by Frank Bowling OBE RA, one of Britain’s foremost contemporary artists.

Frank Bowling and DACS – the Design and Artists Copyright Society – began their collaboration with art publishers King & McGaw in 2021. The result is a collection of sixteen giclée prints of Bowling’s masterful paintings ranging from 1968 to 2020.

The collection includes Bowling’s ‘map paintings’ that trace and layer stencils of countries and continents, and ‘poured paintings’ where acrylic paint is poured directly onto the canvas.

Frank Bowling OBE RA: Selected Prints
6th November, 2024 – 31st December, 2024
Brixton Library
Brixton
Oval
London SW2 1JQ

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Gregory Halpern: King, Queen, Knave

Huxley-Parlour are delighted to present King, Queen, Knave, a new solo exhibition of works by American photographer Gregory Halpern, now open at our Swallow Street gallery. The exhibition will present fourteen photographs from Halpern’s latest body of work, photographed over the last two decades mostly in and around his hometown of Buffalo, New York. The series extends beyond a portrait of place, celebrating the poetic idiosyncrasies of everyday life.

Buffalo acts as a vast stage in Halpern’s series, hosting a cast of people, animals and buildings that pass before the photographer’s lens. At times the city feels outsized for its inhabitants: open spaces appear unvisited; a large factory looms over a solitary figure picking flowers in a meadow; snow- covered streets are left unwalked.

In his photographs, Halpern reimagines the city’s abandoned sites and urban landscape. Once a centre of industry, which has since migrated elsewhere, along with half its population, Buffalo has witnessed significant loss, although a quiet resilience and strange sense of beauty remain.

Gregory Halpern: King, Queen, Knave
31st October, 2024 – 30th November 2024
HUXLEY-PARLOUR
3–5 Swallow Street
London
W1B 4DE

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Mythology Reinterpreted: A Journey through Ancient Inspiration in Modern & Contemporary Art

Mazzoleni, London is pleased to present the exhibition Mythology Reinterpreted: A Journey through Ancient Inspiration in Modern & Contemporary Art. Opening on 8 October until 6 December, the exhibition strives to reinterpret the ancient through the lens of Italian artists Giorgio de Chirico, Salvo and Giulio Paolini and Mexican artist Jorge Méndez Blake. Guiding this revaluation of the ancient and drawing us back to the point of inspiration, a series of Roman artefacts will invite viewers to embark on a journey through the annals of art history, while simultaneously demonstrating their continual relevance in contemporary visual culture.

Mythology Reinterpreted: A Journey through Ancient Inspiration in Modern & Contemporary Art
8th October, 2024 – 6th December, 2024
Mazzoleni
15 Old Bond Street
London
W1S 4AX

Learn more

Huxley-Parlour are delighted to present King, Queen, Knave, a new solo exhibition of works by American photographer Gregory Halpern, now open at our Swallow Street gallery. The exhibition will present fourteen photographs from Halpern’s latest body of work, photographed over the last two decades mostly in and around his hometown of Buffalo, New York. The series extends beyond a portrait of place, celebrating the poetic idiosyncrasies of everyday life.

Buffalo acts as a vast stage in Halpern’s series, hosting a cast of people, animals and buildings that pass before the photographer’s lens. At times the city feels outsized for its inhabitants: open spaces appear unvisited; a large factory looms over a solitary figure picking flowers in a meadow; snow- covered streets are left unwalked. In his photographs, Halpern reimagines the city’s abandoned sites and urban landscape. Once a centre of industry, which has since migrated elsewhere, along with half its population, Buffalo has witnessed significant loss, although a quiet resilience and strange sense of beauty remain.

Eschewing the straightforward approach of traditional documentary photography, Halpern seeks to encapsulate the contradictions and nuances that coalesce in the quotidian. In his compositions, the ‘ugly’ and the ‘beautiful’ coincide: a gable-roofed house is mirrored by its abandoned counterpart that leans precariously towards it; nature reclaims the hollowed out shells of disused spaces and the mundane is transformed into the otherworldly.

Time moves cyclically through the work, slowly unfolding across seasons as palettes of white and grey subside to warmer tones. Stretching time in this way, Halpern’s photographs probe the slippages between entropy and renewal, discerning an inherent hopefulness in our ability for regeneration.

Gregory Halpern: King, Queen, Knave open on the of 31st October, 2024 until 30th November, 2024 at HUXLEY-PARLOUR

©2024 HUXLEY-PARLOUR