Zsófia Keresztes Interview

“I am intuitively attracted to organic forms, maybe because they give the illusion of spontaneity, while carrying an essentially encoded system inside. I often have a feeling that these prolific bodies grow by themselves, as if the materials would have some preordained forms secretly coded within, and I was just conforming to their attitudes. For me the excavation of these forms is like a kind of autopsy - the shapes bubble over as the insides of mankind.” Zsófia Keresztes interviewed by Sonja Teszler

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Bortolami, 39 Walker St, New York, NY 10013, United States

Rebecca Morris

Every few years or so, the death knell of painting is sounded. Critics, artists and gallerists proclaim that the time of painting, is over. But for Rebecca Morris, the Los-Angeles based artist known for her ambitious abstractions, painting continues to surprise. “Abstraction never left, motherfuckers,” Morris proclaimed in her manifesto, written in 2006: “Don’t pretend you don’t work hard… Be out for blood….” Review by Claire Phillips

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Danielle Arnaud Gallery, 123 Kennington Rd, Prince's, London SE11 6SF

David Cotterrell | Mirror III: Horizon

‘Mirror III: Horizon’ is part of a broader’ project series’ created by London-based artist David Cotterrell in collaboration with Ruwanthie de Chikera. ‘Mirror III: Horizon’ is part of the six-week online programme curated by Tess Charnley of Danielle Arnaud Gallery, titled ‘Mis(sing) Communication. ‘Mirror III: Horizon’ is profoundly complex, evident in both the making of the project and also throughout the thematic intersections the work addresses. These intersections relate to anxiety and empathy, feelings brought forth by the inherent fear of isolation, risk and the unknown. All this is set against the context of the ongoing global refugee crisis. Review by Sheena Carrington

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Kunsthalle Lissabon, R. José Sobral Cid 9E, 1900-312 Lisboa, Portugal

Laure Prouvost: Melting into one another ho hot chaud it heating dip

To go in is to deep-dive, to move down, to curve the body and bow the head; you have been made permeable by a dark, whispering underworld that slackens and contracts around you. That I am experiencing Laure Prouvost’s immersive ‘Melting into one another ho hot chaud it heating dip’ at Kunsthalle Lissabon from behind my laptop screen is an irony not lost. Review by Inês Geraldes Cardoso

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De La Warr Pavilion, Marina, Bexhill On Sea, East Sussex TN40 1DP

Zadie Xa: Child of Magohalmi and the Echoes of Creation

By exploring aspects of a mythologised Korean entity - represented by the shamanic Magohalmi grandmother figure - Zadie Xa’s practice poses timely questions of the position of the diasporic artist identity and theories of hybridity during a period of debates on national allegiance and community identification. The coastal natural light and gleaming streamline modern architecture of the De la Warr Pavilion show this sumptuous installation of Zadie Xa’s costumes and paintings to their best. Review by Piers Masterson

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Castor Projects, Enclave 1, 50 Resolution Way, London SE8 4AL

Rafal Zajko: Resuscitation

Breathing and the nature of our bodies as something that air passes through have never been considered so urgently as in this show. Rafal Zajko, a London-based, Polish artist, has been making wall-based works that look like vents for a year - a fact I discovered during a remote conversation with Zajko to discuss his exhibition, Resuscitation, at Castor Projects in London, which was open for just one day before its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Review by Laura O’Leary

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Keelin Montzingo: The Isolated Cut Out

Today as the boundaries between the personal and public are so murky, sousveillance is both a form of protection and an act of surrendering personal identity to corporate data banks. The act itself caught between an effort to control and shape one’s image and a helpless compulsion to either hand over aspects of private life or deliver an expected idea of self to an imagined audience. Keelin Montzingo’s paintings reflect on this grey area, neither criticising nor celebrating but rather trying to decode the way we have turned the camera on ourselves and use digital space to reclaim ownership of the female form and redefine the gaze. Referencing 20th Century male painters, Montzingo uses the image of the cutout female nude, weaving compositions of layered bodies which appear in nondescript digital spaces. Figures float over pixelated backgrounds, washes of colour and digital glitch in a non-physical realm of disruption and static. Text by Gabriella Sonabend

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(Re)Placing Chernobyl, interview with Vitalij Strigunkov

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Glasgow International 2020: Digital Programme

The COVID-19 pandemic has cleared the cultural calendar for the foreseeable future and Glasgow International, Scotland’s largest festival of contemporary art, has been postponed until 2021. Indeed, the cancellation of a festival which was planned to span 60 exhibitions and 120 artists will be a disappointment to artists and the public alike. The digital programme is the unintended consequence of this unforeseen event. Review by Hailey Maxwell

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Stephen Friedman Gallery, 25-28 Old Burlington St, Mayfair, London W1S 3AN

Andreas Eriksson: Mapping Memories, Tracing Time

Throughout his career, Andreas Eriksson has made subtle study of landscape and time. In his new exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery, the first half of the show focuses on a series of large-scale tapestries. Made in collaboration with a team of weavers trained at the noted Handarbetets Vänner textile school in Stockholm, the pieces were executed in his Berlin studio but, like much of his work, speak to the natural landscape of his Swedish home. Review by Kaitlyn Kane

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Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

Among the Trees

Historically in western art, trees have generally been depicted as ornamental afterthoughts, their upright forms used to frame a scene or add definition to a landscape. ‘Among the Trees’ at Hayward Gallery, however, puts trees centre-stage, emphasising images where branches and leaves fill the frame, confusing the eye and defying the human scale of the viewfinder or canvas. Review by Anna Souter

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Keep Showing Club, Neopangea, Budapest, Hungary

Neopangean Nest

It’s the year 3000 in the great southern forest of Neopangea, where animal-machine-human hybrids form a graceful community. The earth’s population is now at approx. 1 billion, due to multiple waves of pandemics starting in the 2020s. Sonja Teszler responds to an innovative virtual exhibition that takes place in a forest setting in Budapest.

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Villa Romana, Via Senese, 68 50124 Florence, Italy

Lerato Shadi: MOSI KE O NE …

The artist, Lerato Shadi, is a South African, Berlin-based artist. ‘MOSI KE O NE’ begins with Shadi walking through a labyrinth of trees in the Italian countryside. Shadi is poised, dressed in all white, and the camera never reveals her face. She moves effortlessly, and her calm demeanour invites the viewer to follow her—the landscape of Shadi's work functions as a compelling narrative. ‘MOSI KE O NE’ is filmed outside of the traditional white-cube gallery setting. The landscape demonstrates how our bodies intrinsically connect to the earth. Review by Sheena Carrington

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Kadist, Paris, 19bis/21 rue des Trois Frères, 75018, France and Kadist, 3295 20th Street CA 94110, San Francisco, USA

AP: Assembled Personalities

The computer screen: the only gallery left open during lockdown. We’re glued to laptops and their infinite possibilities – but they also have a few obvious limitations. So how do galleries render art that is both authentic and innovative in this paradox? Showing films are at the front of the queue – we can choose to pause, re-watch, fast-forward at our own pace, which we can’t do in a gallery. ‘AP: Assembled Personalities’ for gallery Kadist, is an online exhibition of film that, as the title suggests, addresses the identities of five artists: Guy Ben-Ner, Keren Cytter, Alex Da Corte, Mark Leckey, and Li Ran. Review by Ted Targett

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