Colombia has earned a privileged position in the global art scene during the last few years due to two important international art events - the annual ARBO international trade fair and the Medellin International Art Encounter (MDE), which is held every four years. MDE, which usually lasts for as long as 6 months, opened at [...]
Fernando Botero's fat ladies may be familiar to people around the world but they are certainly a novelty in China. For years, the famed Colombian artist has tried to show his work in China. He has had more than 50 exhibitions in major cities around the world but China was missing. There was always something; [...]
by C.C. You went to the world’s most important air fair, the Art Basel Miami, what did you see? The answer to that question has always been the same: everything. There is always too much to see, too much to learn, too much to think about, too many people to meet. The experience is that [...]
by B. Palacios It is not unusual to find a painter who can master the use of colors to express their unique perception of reality. But, to convey the reality of happiness is a different matter. At the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, we have found a painting exhibition doing just that. The Philadelphia [...]
The woman on the screen is in a completely empty auditorium. She is singing and her voice is shrill and long, like a wounded animal. In her voice there is also a yearning, a pleading, as if she were praying. At the same time an immense tenderness is felt, as if her song were a [...]
"Reflection alone can give us the idea of what perception is" We saw these words in pale white neon lights above the stairs leading to the basement gallery at New York's Sean Kelly art gallery. We paused and wondered who wrote these words, and who was the artist who noticed them and used them to [...]
Rafael San Juan-Primavera In the rhythm of the festive Salsa music, under a burning sun, the month-long12th Havana Art Biennial came to a close on June 21st. And with it, the incredible feeling that something of importance happened this time, something that might change the future of the Cuban art world. Poorly organized, [...]
Spouts Installation The world famous Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, who is not allowed to travel outside of China since 2010, opened a solo exhibition for the first time in his home country. I was lucky to arrive at the opening before it became too crowded. The exhibition took over two adjacent galleries and [...]
Egg Bed Crystal Shell, 2014Plywood, cotton fabric, polyamide textile, polyurethane foam, semiprecious stones, and pulley Life is for enjoyment and happiness. To Ernesto Neto, one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, this is not just a statement about the purpose of life. This is what he does with his art work, which provides [...]
From the Series of Essays Ritual Practices by Elaine Smollin In Mamma Andersson paintings, what is apparent is always the flip side of consciousness. The present may as well be the past, while the past with its heavy hand, can deftly reveal a sudden lightness of being. From where comes this painter’s dialectics? An Andersson [...]
