5 Shows Not to Miss in January

_{New Year, New List. We might have skipped December favorites, but I am covering some of them in this list. An overview of London and New York, including exhibitions that I'm sure we're all craving to see. Most importantly, Condo London, which we will cover thoroughly later this month.}

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12 JANUARY–11 FEBRUARY 2024

Deimantas Narkevičius: The Fifer

Maureen Paley, London

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Brought by Maureen Paley and presented for the first time in London, Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevičius introduces "The Fifer," an exhibition centered around the eponymous 2019 project.

"The Fifer" orchestrates a nuanced dialogue between authenticity and artifice, offering a thought-provoking exploration that challenges simplistic interpretations of an original sonic source.

Employing a blend of documentary footage, voice-overs, interviews, re-enactments, and discovered photographs, Narkevičius immerses historical events in narrative structures reminiscent of storytelling and cinema.

Infused with intense autobiographical essence and domestic references, Deimantas Narkevičius reflects on the significance of land and personal histories, exploring geopolitical hierarchies while treating history as both material and methodology.

Deimantas Narkevičius, a Lithuanian artist based in Vilnius, represented Lithuania at the 49th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. He stands out as one of the most consistent and widely recognized Lithuanian artists on the international art scene. Originally trained as a sculptor, Narkevičius has primarily worked with film and video. Since 1992, he has exhibited extensively in significant contemporary art venues and events worldwide, including Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid), Tate Modern (London), Museum of Modern Art (New York), and Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).

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Maureen Paley

60 Three Colts Lane
London, E2 6GQ
United Kingdom

www.maureenpaley.com
+44 207 729 4112

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17 November 2023 – 4 February2024

Natalie Ball: bilwi naats Ga’niipci

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

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It might still be ongoing since this past November, so if you find yourself in New York and haven't checked out the exhibition, please do so ASAP.

One of my personal favourites, Natalie Ball, an artist of Native American (both Modoc and Klamath) and African descent, serves as an elected official on the Klamath Tribes Tribal Council. She resides and works in her ancestral homelands in Southern Oregon/Northern California. A master of found object art, Ball fashions, vibrant wall hangings and clever sculptures using materials gathered in and around her home in Chiloquin, Oregon. Some of these items, like beads, quilts, various textiles, animal hides, and bones, carry significant ancestral importance.

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In her inaugural solo exhibition at a New York museum organised by Jennie Goldstein, Jennifer Rubio , she will unveil a collection of previously unseen sculptural assemblages that deepen and challenge perceptions of Indigenous life in the United States. The title, "bilwi naats Ga’niipci," translates to "we smell like the outside"—an adaptation of an expression Ball associates with her childhood and family in both Black and Indigenous spaces.

Natalie Ball's mixed-media sculptures and performances intricately navigate and expand our comprehension of Indigenous culture, identity, and representation. Grounded in her Afro-Indigenous roots within the Klamath Nation, Ball delves into materials and narratives that weave a connection to her forebears. Having an MFA from Yale University, she crafts, what she terms "Power Objects" to underscore the autonomy of her community and affirm the inherent right of Native Americans to shape their own stories. Her impactful body of work graces collections like the Rubell Family Collection and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Oregon.

This exhibition will be on view in the Museum’s Lobby gallery, which is accessible to the public free of charge, as part of the Whitney Museum’s enduring commitment to support and showcase the most recent work of emerging artists.

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Floor 1, Lobby Gallery

99 Gansevoort St, New York, 

NY 10014, United States

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20 January-17 February

CONDO LONDON

THROUGHOUT LONDON!!

Condo London returns after a four-year hiatus marked by the Covid pandemic, market reforms and whatnot…..

Initiated by Vanessa Carlos, director of Carlos/Ishikawa in London, and Derived from the term 'condominium,' Condo bills itself as a four-week Gallery Airbnb presenting a large-scale collaborative exhibition featuring international galleries. This year, galleries throughout London will play host to galleries from around the globe, engaging in co-curatorial efforts or dividing their spaces to accommodate diverse artistic presentations.

The initiative signifies a reassessment of the current gallery model, advocating for a collective approach where resources are pooled, and collaborative action is taken. The goal is to create an environment conducive to the international realization of experimental gallery exhibitions.

With 50 galleries showcasing their works across 23 London spaces, we are poised to follow the trail from the West End to East London, then to the South, and from there, to the entire world.

I absolutely love this formula, or let's call it 'mondus operati.' It works for many reasons; the timing of the London event is ideal for art-starved enthusiasts who, having experienced the packed autumn art fair season, are eager to kickstart the year by exploring something new and fresh. Something that will transport you back to your university years, wandering through gallery walks, searching for more experimental 'stuff.'

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KATE MACGARRY hosting BUREAU New York, CARLOS/ISHIKAWA hosting CHAPTER NY New York & GALERIE KANDLHOFER Vienna, THE SUNDAY PAINTER hosting THE BREEDER Athens & KENDALL KOPPE Glasgow and I cant stop drooling over that list!

PREVIEW WEEKEND SAT 20 & SUN 21 JAN 2024

12–6PM BOTH DAYS ALL LOCATIONS

EXHIBITION CONTINUES UNTIL 17 FEB 2024

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For more information please visit: http://www.condocomplex.org/london/

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24 Nov - 27 Jan 2024

Adam Boyd: Protubs

Comonage Projects

Always happy to see Adam Boyd’s shows. I have been following his work since he graduated from Slade School of art. Boyd is naturally drawn to content that embraces the fugitive, immaterial, or ethereal and he is often Utilising diverse craft-oriented channels seeking to give tangible form to these transient observations. In his show, Proteus, Boyd goes 3D  with buildings and streets shifting between existence, citizens of each city learn to unsee indications of the other place that shares its environment, so that they can remain in their current reality. 

Boys is referencing the architecture, the inhabitants, and any other visual and sensory aspects, including the effects of light and shadow, are all subject to this filtering. His research delves into pop culture and art history, revealing traces of broader philosophical and scientific debates. 

Adam Boyd (b. 1993, Newcastle-under-Lyme) lives and works in London, UK. Boyd has recently completed an MFA at The Slade School of Fine Art, London and holds a Bachelor’s from Glasgow School of Art (2016). During his studies he was selected for the Euan Uglow Scholarship and the George & Cordelia Oliver Scholarship. Boyd has generated three solo exhibitions for venues in Glasgow, Solaristics (2018), Synthespians (2019), and most recently, Causal Thread (2022). In 2021, Strand Systems, Boyd’s first solo showing outside of the UK, opened in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. The show represented the culmination of Boyd’s month-long residency at SÍM, Reykjavík in August 2021. Synchronisations, Boyd’s first solo exhibition in London, opened in September 2023. Individual works have been exhibited in several group exhibitions in the UK and abroad (Seoul, Tokyo, Hokkaido, New York, Reykjavik). Adam was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2022.

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Comonage Projects

53 Old Bethnal Green Rd

London E2 6QA

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4 January - 3 February 2024

WORLDS BEYOND, Unit London 

Group Exhibition

Unit London's latest exhibit, "Worlds Beyond," celebrates abstraction converging painting and textiles weaves together organic, mineral, and corporeal elements, as fluid shapes transcend canvas confines, evoking inner and outer worlds.

Opened its doors on the 9th of January, the exhibition features artists using materials to capture tangible and intangible facets of experience. Allison Reimus employs household items and textiles to explore motherhood and domesticity, while Amy Hui Li's abstract language delves into the body, portraying emotions and self-healing.

Ce Jian's futuristic colors blend human and technical worlds, Fu Site's play with light and shadow introduces mystery, and Alba Botines reflects on modern life's changeability through fluid forms.

"Worlds Beyond" visualizes both physical and mental aspects of human experience, exploring memory, identity, and relationships through abstract forms. The exhibition straddles our world and another, creating configurations that prompt reflection on the ever-changing movement around us.

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Unit London

3 Hanover Square, 

London W1S 1HD