For ArtBasel Miami’s galleries section, BANK is pleased to present a selection of artworks arranged around the theme “Sinister Pop.” While the Whitney Museum’s 2012 exhibition of the same name contained only one of our participants—Ching Ho Cheng—BANK’s rendition in Miami attempts to update the premise with a cross-generational, dynamic global roster of contemporary artists. The Pop movement purported to celebrate postwar consumer culture; however, here, we focus both on the embrace of this culture as well as the menacing, surreal side of what consumerism in the 21st century has spurned, from ecocide to gluttony.
Sun Yitian (b.1991), having just launched a global collaboration with Louis Vuitton, focuses on the superficial, outward attraction of materialism, most notably inflatable plastic toys. These objects, at once playful, hollow, and ostentatious, also possess an ominous side, one that her signature, hyper- realistic, intense drop shadow exaggerates and that our society’s increasing unsustainability corroborates.
Young artist Zhang Yibei (b.1992)'s sculpture, Helmet, is from her latest work series which was just unveiled in her solo exhibition at Longlati Art Center, Shanghai. She casts the hard shells of sea creatures in bronze and wax, and matches them with soft objects that can be found in daily life. Zhang scatters these objects in space based on her perception of defence levels, revealing the secret techniques of self-protection in nature and society. This year, Zhang was honored with Young Associates Choice Award of UCCA contemporary center of Art in China.
Michael Najjar (b.1966)’s constructed photo, CDF-X, is inspired by the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, which display an almost god-like perspective and are a construct of the seen, experienced, and dreamed world. In this work, at the border between sky and earth, stands "starship" of the American space company SpaceX, captured by the artist seconds before its launch on its very first test flight into space. This digital collage questions the idea of new heroic perspectives as our world is extended to views of the universe.
Bony Ramirez (b.1996)’s point of view is of a quickly erasing sense of folklore and native mysticism gained from his childhood experiences in rural Dominican Republic. His magical characters hail from fables and witchcraft that expose the underbelly of popular local culture. His first institutional solo exhibition is on view at the Newark Museum of Art in U.S.
Ching Ho Cheng (1946-1989), who passed prematurely of AIDS-related complications in 1989, is more relevant than ever with his penetrating take on psych-pop of the sixties and seventies. Here, his series of lit matches from the late 1970s express the energy that almost immediately will be consumed, signaling the impermanence of everything. As a representative figure of Asian-American artists, Cheng's works have been acquired by several international institutions and museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art、NYU Grey Art Gallery、Smithsonian American Art Museum、and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Another artist influenced by the AIDS crisis era of the last century, Oliver Herring (b.1964), for whom BANK presented a solo exhibition project in New York this September. Herring's performances, kinetic drawings, and weavings transcend gender associations in sensitive forms and have been acclaimed for their expression of the body, loss, absence, and asylum. His work has also been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Guggenheim Museum, New York, among other institutions.
Bai Yiyi (b.1992)'s work attempts to establish the logic of his own painting creations using the communication of industrialized aesthetics in an attempt to create an open-ended story line. The artist stacks figurative visual memories on top of each other, and uses pointillism to fit the visual language of electronic screen imaging, such as brush strokes to mimic the color dots of advertisement offset prints, video snowflakes, and zoomed-in featured footage.
Born in 2001, self-taught artist Wenjue is BANK's youngest artist ever. His work revolves around the experimentation with the medium of "oil paints”. Through the physical accumulation of oil paints, he makes three-dimensional rock-like and bas-relief sculptures collide with two-dimensional paintings, creating a new dialogue and giving a new definition to structure and image. As a young artist, his works are influenced by art history and classical painting, fashion, and Japanese manga, demonstrating the unique visual preferences and cultural observations of the post-00s generation.
Chico da Silva (1910-1985) was one of the first Brazilian indigenous artists to gain international fame. In the 1960s, he painted fantasy storybook creatures as protagonists, with bright colors and patterns intertwined with vivid scenes. His significance in art history has been rediscovered in recent years, and his work has been exhibited in the Brazilian Pavilion at the 1966 Venice Biennale and at the 1967 São Paulo Biennale.
