Check out where you can catch the best in art throughout this month
Latin Daze
On 15 September, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, the festival celebrating Latino and Latin American art, will commence. The four-month-long event is set to involve more than 70 museums and 65 galleries in Los Angeles and across Southern California. Shaun Caley Regen, founder of Los Angeles-based gallery Regen Projects says, “The participation of Southern California’s galleries in Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is a tremendous opportunity to learn more about Latin American and Latino art and design, and how they have impacted Los Angeles as a major art centre.” Visit the Pacific Standard Time website for the full programme of events.
East Meets West
Istanbul is a cosmopolitan city, home to a diverse range of cultures, and the Contemporary Istanbul fair celebrates the city’s cultural vibrancy with an event that brings together work from across the Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Europe, the UK and America. “Istanbul is an important global arts hub that has championed both regional and international art. Being the gateway from Asia and Europe to the Middle East, the city and the country have a unique and strong collector base,” says the fair’s director Kamiar Maleki. “In celebration of its 12th edition, CI will be welcoming several new leading galleries and representative countries to the fair alongside the region’s prominent young and established galleries.” Taking place between 14 to 17 September at the Istanbul Congress Centre (ICC) and Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Centre, this edition promises to be as exciting and intriguing as ever.
The Taste of Ink
Gallery Hyundai in Seoul is the longest-running contemporary art gallery in South Korea. For nearly half a century, it has helped to foster, grow and celebrate influential artists from across South East Asia. This month, the Gallery Hyundai presents a body of work from Minjung Kim. ‘Paper, Ink and Ash: After The Process’ is a collection of Kim’s new and recent works using Korean mulberry paper, known as Hanji, with ink and fire. The show is influenced by her early studies in Oriental Calligraphy. Running from 1 September until 8 October, Kim’s work is an excellent example of traditional craft used in a modern context.
Nothing But Words
Iranian-born, American-based artist Ramin Shirdel presents ‘I Am Transforming Into You’ this month at the Sophia Contemporary Gallery in London. Shirdel first studied as an architect, and in this series of sculptures at the Sophia Contemporary, you can plainly see elements of his previous training. Large-scale free-standing and wall-hanging sculptures are made up of several layers – a technique he first developed when designing buildings – that eventually form words in Farsi and English. The series is a study in language, iconography, the meaning words have in different cultures and our own emotional attachment to certain words. ‘I Am Transforming Into You’ ends this month on 22 September.
Modern Abstraction
This year’s Biennale de Lyon has been titled ‘Floating Worlds’ by guest curator Emma Lavigne, the director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz. The title was inspired by both the Japanese phrase ukiyô – a view that the world is continuously renewing itself – and by the presence of water in the city of Lyon itself. More than 50 artists are set to depict their interpretation of ‘Floating Worlds’ at venues Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon and La Sucrière. Accompanying the main event is an exhibition of 10 emerging artists at the Institut d'art Contemporain de Villeurbanne and performances held at various venues around the city. The Biennale de Lyon starts on 20 September and will continue to January 2018.
Highland Tales
This month, the Marlborough Fine Art gallery in London presents a retrospective of the late Scottish painter Steven Campbell. Campbell spent his early years working in the steelworks and engineering industry before enrolling at the Glasgow School of Art aged 25. Pioneering a renaissance in Scottish art during the ‘80s, Campbell is known for his figurative paintings that often depict recurring characters in dream-like sequences. It’s the first time the artist’s works have been on display in London since 2009; if you’re in the city, be sure to take up this unique opportunity. ‘The Art of Steven Campbell’ runs from 13 September until 28 October.
