My whirlwind week in London began on Monday morning with a visit to the White Cube gallery in Mason's Yard to view Raqib Shaw's "Paradise Lost", a new series of work by the London based artist. Shaw creates a visionary ode to his own childhood memories and imaginary paradise, inspired by Greek mythology. Do not miss the exquisitely painted bronze sculptures in the ground floor of the gallery.
Continuing on to White Cube's Hoxton Square gallery, Elad Lassry's first solo exhibition in London reveals a new departure in photography. The objects he chooses such as cats and vases are both banal and captivating. His work questions representation and object hood. Lassry was born in Tel Aviv in 1977 and lives and works in LA.
The next stop was the Gagosian gallery on Britannia Street to view Mike Kelley's large-scale installation "Exploded Fortress of Solitude". Kelley depicts Superman's Fortress of Solitude as a sort of bunker in ruins. The viewer is invited into the forbidden fortress, set within the cave's inner recesses, which is a glowing rose colored city in a bottle. The evocation of war and destruction and isolation creates a despairing dark ambience, from which one seeks a quick escape. Kelly was born in Detroit in 1954 and lives in LA.
On to Wharf Road to view Yang Fudong's "One half of August" at Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art. He is a renowned artist and filmmaker and one of the most important artists to emerge in contemporary China. "One half of August" is an eight-screen, black and white, HD installation for which the artist projects scenes from earlier works onto architectural elements, props, structures and objects built for the purpose. He also includes artifacts, uses light and inverts external space. This creates new realities that challenge one's vision and mind. One wonders if one is watching a film or a film in a film. Fudong was born in 1971 in Beijing and lives and works in Shanghai.
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