Big Hug Studio

24.9.23

The Armory Show 2023 Continued

This is my second installment of The Armory Show 2023. Here I picked some of my favourites from a long list of artists. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. The first artwork is a photograph by Carlos Idun Tawiah who is a Ghanaian photographer. In Flower Boy, Accra he celebrates the youthful beauty that is before us. The flower, an ephemeral symbol of life, contrasts with the beauty of the young man who stands directly looking at the viewer. In Nigerian artist Johnson Eziefula's, Forever in Me, we see a young black couple celebrating the joys of every day life. They are happy and their skin just glistens with the light. Meanwhile, Hoda Kashiha's painting evokes the spirit of Joan Miro. The giant eye watches with a teardrop and we see the abstracted figure of a body. It is an interesting work from the Iranian artist and one that captures the imagination. Cuban artist Enrique Martinez Celaya shows us a discontent in the waters of an unknown land. The Same Places, 2023, displays a sunflower against the backdrop of a giant wave that reminds one of the dangers of our environment and of potential displacement.

1 Carlos Idun Tawiah, Flower Boy, Accra, 2023, Ghanaian

2 Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 2002, Japanese

3 Jade van der Mark, Backstage by Virgil Abloh ss20, 2023, Dutch

4 Hiroya Kurata, Honey My Point is...., 2023, American Japanese

5 Jeffrey Gibson, Flight Pattern, 2013, Native American

6 Johnson Eziefula, Forever in Me, 2023, Nigerian

7 Zizipho Poswa,Mam uNoSayini, 2023, South African

8 Narsiso C Martinez, Essential Since 2004, 2023, Native Mexican

9 Jaclyn Conley, After Haymaking, 2023, Canadian

10 Hoda Kashiha, Untitled, 2023, Iranian

11 Hannah Brown, Day for Dusk 1, 2023, British

12 Enrique Martinez Celaya, The Same Places, 2023, Cuban

13 Hiba Kalache, in the water of certain rivers there is a wild happiness, 2022, Lebanese

13 Keith Boadwee, Sunflower, 2023, American

14 Kwesi Botchway, Flower Boy I, 2023, Ghanaian

15 Raffi Kalenderian, Leslie and Sharkey, 2023, American

16 Marc Padeu, La bague de Roxane, 2023, Cameroonian

17 Koak, Facade, 2022,

18 Jason Martin, Storm coming, 2023, British

19 Arthur Timothy, Halcyon Days, 2023, Ghanaian

20 Chase Hall, Sunday to Sunday, 2022, African American

21 Anthony Goicolea, Raft, 2023, Cuban American

22 Nicky Nodjoumi With the Cold Hand, 2023

23 Vik Muniz, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, after Pablo Picasso (Gordian Puzzles), 2009, Brazilian

24 Modupeola Fadugba, Bronze Reflections Beside Unstill Waters, 2023, Nigerian

25 Gisela McDaniel, Living More, 2023, Native American

26 Abdul Abdullah, Milieu, 2023

22.9.23

The Armory Show Art Fair 2023

The Armory Show is a not to be missed art fair in New York City. It's a grand affair that showcases leading talent from all over the world. This year it featured close to 2,000 works of art. Our first piece is by Native American artist Jeffrey Gibson. It is a geometrical masterpiece that weaves together many layers of paint into different shapes and colours. Mr. Gibson is the first solo indigenous artist to do be selected to represent the US at the Venice Biennale for 2024. I interviewed him many years ago and even then knew he was a remarkable talent. It's going to be wonderful to see what artwork he comes up with for the pavilion. Meanwhile, in Vickie Vainionpaa's Jupiter and Antiope, the Canadian artist creates tubular forms that bring to mind a sensual body and fluid forms. These are computer generated shapes that Ms. Vainionpaa then paints using oil in her unique technique. Another artist who I am fond of is Elliott Puckette. She is an American artist who has a truly unique way of painting. She first inks the wooden boards that have been prepared with layers of gesso with a preferred hue and then makes incisions to create the sinuous lines we see before us. They are brilliantly rendered with a perfect balance of forms. Mickalene Thomas is an African American artist whose paintings of naked bodies teaches us about the female form. She most often renders a nude black female and exposes her sexuality in a bold manner. Her subjects are confident females and they express themselves with a extraordinary individuality. Please stay tuned for another feature of the Amory Show as I have much more to show you.

1 Jeffrey Gibson, Mirror in the Sky, 2023, Native American