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Viewing A new exhibition explores how artists are employing tech and machinery to enthralling effect

Above

Double Take

LVH Art
30 May – 22 June 2024

Technology and machinery have become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, but how have these contemporary tools impacted the way we see and experience the world? An ambitious group exhibition at LVH Art takes on the topical theme exploring perception and the ways artists over the last century have used visual tricks on the human eye to prompt questions about mechanical and technological intervention.

Artists included range from Andy Warhol, who preempted the possibilities of technology in his creative process, to artists like Nate Lowman, who mines mass produced images and transforms them to create paintings, sculptures and installations that have a strange familiarity (see a 2023 oil painting of stacks of boxes of Tic Tacs). Also included is WangShui, who employs AI “as a kind of oracle”, as critic Brian Droitcour put it, in videos and installations that seek consciousness-shifting.

Housed in a vast, brutalist warehouse on Curzon Street, Mayfair, Double Take is the latest ‘What’s Up’ exhibition curated by the suave, London-based independent art advisor and collector, Lawrence Van Hagen. Van Hagen’s surveys, which he has been organising since 2016, have become known for mixing up established, major names with emerging, rising stars in unusual and unexpected settings. Double Take promises to be just as worthy of a visit – just be sure to book, as viewings are by appointment only.

Viewing Kenturah Davis invokes trailblazing Black female creatives in drawings, carvings and essays

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, 'clouds XII', 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper, 50.8 x 50.8cm (20 x 20in) Framed: 54 x 54cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘clouds XII’, 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper, 50.8 x 50.8cm (20 x 20in) Framed: 54 x 54cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, ‘duration I (jada)’, 2024. Lenticular print , 48.9 x 68.3cm (19 1/4 x 26 7/8in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘duration I (jada)’, 2024. Lenticular print , 48.9 x 68.3cm (19 1/4 x 26 7/8in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, 'volume I (k)', 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper with ash vessels in a walnut frame. Two parts, each 75.6 x 75.6cm (29 3/4 x 29 3/4in) Framed 154.6 x 96.5cm (60 7/8 x 38in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘volume I (k)’, 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper with ash vessels in a walnut frame. Two parts, each 75.6 x 75.6cm (29 3/4 x 29 3/4in) Framed 154.6 x 96.5cm (60 7/8 x 38in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, 'clouds VIII', 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper, 50.8 x 50.8cm (20 x 20in) Framed: 54 x 54cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘clouds VIII’, 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper, 50.8 x 50.8cm (20 x 20in) Framed: 54 x 54cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, 'volume II (marjani)', 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper with a walnut and brass vessel in a walnut frame, 75.6 x 75.6cm (29 3/4 x 29 3/4in) Framed: 78.1 x 98.1cm (30 3/4 x 38 5/8in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘volume II (marjani)’, 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper with a walnut and brass vessel in a walnut frame, 75.6 x 75.6cm (29 3/4 x 29 3/4in) Framed: 78.1 x 98.1cm (30 3/4 x 38 5/8in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, 'planar vessel XXVII (jada)', 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper. Four parts, each 75.6 x 75.6cm (29 3/4 x 29 3/4in) Framed: 155.3 x 155.3cm (61 1/8 x 61 1/8in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘planar vessel XXVII (jada)’, 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper. Four parts, each 75.6 x 75.6cm (29 3/4 x 29 3/4in) Framed: 155.3 x 155.3cm (61 1/8 x 61 1/8in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

The Wick Culture - Kenturah Davis, 'clouds VI', 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper, 50.8 x 50.8cm (20 x 20in) Framed: 54 x 54cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Above Kenturah Davis, ‘clouds VI’, 2024. Carbon pencil rubbing and debossed text on igarashi kozo paper, 50.8 x 50.8cm (20 x 20in) Framed: 54 x 54cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4in). Copyright the artist. Courtesy the artist; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York, and Matthew Brown, Los Angeles and New York.

Kenturah Davis: clouds

Stephen Freidman Gallery
31 May – 20 July 2024

It’s London Gallery Weekend, and galleries across the city will play host to special exhibitions, talks and events, with many opening their summer blockbuster shows to coincide with the event. At the top of our list is Kenturah Davis’ UK debut solo show, clouds, coming to Stephen Friedman Gallery. New series of drawings and carvings designed by the artist come together with an essay penned by Davis, in which she invokes the spirits of trailblazing figures, such as the choreographer Katherine Dunham, composer Florence B. Price, theorist Saidiya Hartman, author Toni Morrison, and physicist Carlo Rovelli.

Two stunning new bodies of work are portraits, on paper, and carved by Davis’ partner to her designs from ebony and ash. To make them, Davis invited black women to visit her studio and improvise movement, and took long exposure photographs. These photographic studies are translated into drawings, and on closer inspection, parts of Davis’ writing emerges, in which she details the careers of Katherine Dunham – a choreographer who infused dance with anthropology, and Florence B Price, the first Black female musician to compose for a national symphony orchestra.

A further body of work is based on Davis’ photographs of clouds – a muse and metaphor for Davis, and an anchor for this exhibition, which is all about the possibility of metamorphosis and transformation. Davis will discuss the work with Dr. Zoé Whitley on Friday 31 May at a special opening event, and the gallery will extend its opening hours all weekend.

Viewing Light, colour and rainbows dazzle in Turner Contemporary’s landmark exhibition on Ed Clark

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark, Locomotion, 1963 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and
Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Thomas Barratt.

Above Ed Clark, Locomotion, 1963 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Thomas Barratt.

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark, Blacklash, 1964. © The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY.

Above Ed Clark, Blacklash, 1964. © The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY.

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark, Maple Red 1963. Detroit Institute of Arts. © The Estate of Ed Clark.
Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth.

Above Ed Clark, Maple Red 1963. Detroit Institute of Arts. © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth.

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark, Self Portrait, 1947-9 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and
Hauser & Wirth.

Above Ed Clark, Self Portrait, 1947-9 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth.

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark, Untitled. 1957. The Art Institute of Chicago. © The Art Institute of Chicago /
Art Resource, NY. Photo: Elyse Allen.

Above Ed Clark, Untitled. 1957. The Art Institute of Chicago. © The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Elyse Allen.

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark, Untitled c. 1976. © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth.

Above Ed Clark, Untitled c. 1976. © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth.

The Wick Culture - Ed Clark in his New York studio, 1975 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Photo: Dwight Carter.

Above Ed Clark in his New York studio, 1975 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Photo: Dwight Carter.

Above Ed Clark, Locomotion, 1963 © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Thomas Barratt.

Above Ed Clark, Blacklash, 1964. © The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY.

Above Ed Clark, Maple Red 1963. Detroit Institute of Arts. © The Estate of Ed Clark. Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth.

Above Ed Clark, Untitled. 1957. The Art Institute of Chicago. © The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Elyse Allen.

Ed Clark

Turner Contemporary, Rendezvous, Margate, Kent
25 May – 1 September 2024

Though Ed Clark is now acknowledged as a leading figure in the New York School of Abstraction in the 1950s, it wasn’t always the case. The contributions of the American artist, who was born in New Orleans and grew up in Chicago, were only recognised late in his career, and despite seven decades of work, this is also the first institutional exploration of the artist’s work to take place in Europe.

Clark trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then went to Paris, where he became influenced by the European modernists – the likes of Nicolas de Staël, Pierre Soulages, and Jean Riopelle. In Paris he also moved in a circle of prominent intellectuals and creatives, including Richard Wright and James Baldwin. When he returned to the US, settling in New York in 1957, he was embedded in the dynamic milieu of downtown, and over the next decade he became a generator of its liveliness, co-founding the co-op Brata Gallery on 10th Street in the East Village.

Clark’s innovations included being the first American artist to exhibit a shaped canvas, and adopting a push broom to apply pigment to his canvases – a technique that became known as a the ‘big sweep’ and allowed him to push paint with great force and astounding results. Some of these works, as well as Clark’s later experiments with new structures in compositions with sweeping rainbows, tubes, and waves of colour, will be included in this landmark exhibition at Turner Contemporary.