Culture360, the webmagazine of the Asia-Europe Foundation has just published my interview to Ilaria Benini, editor of the Asia series of Turin’s publishing house ADD Editore. In the interview we discuss how ADD Editore is bridging Italy and Asia via literature.
Here is the link to the interview
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The Hong-Kong based magazine Cobo has just published my interview with artist Fendry Ekel. Ekel moved from Indonesia to the Netherlands in the ’80s, where he studied art mentored by top-notch artists such as Luc Tuymans and Michelangelo Pistoletto.
Growing up in a family with a military background, for Ekel being an artist was an intentional choice. Painting is his medium of selection, and he is aware that the visual and conceptual aspects of an artwork go hand in hand. In his recent solo show “1987” at Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Fendry Ekel recreated a mental journey of the mankind through a series of monumental paintings.
Here’s the link to the interview
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During my last visit to Singapore I had the chance to visit the studio of Shubigi Rao, an incredible artist who reminded me of a modern-day Hypatia. With interests ranging from archaeology, to philosophy, to neuroscience (the list goes on and on) her work breaks barriers and definitions, and is injected by a good amount of irony.
For more than ten years she had operated under the name of S.Raoul, her scientist, theorist and archaeologist alter-ego, a lover for everything obscure and academic.
In my interview with Shubigi we talked about her background and her move to the Lion City. She introduced me to her body of work and her method of research. I’m in the process of elaborating the interview for my Singapore book – in the meantime enjoy these pictures taken at her studio.
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I have been following Azerbaijan’s exploits in the contemporary art world for quite a while now, and it has been interesting to look at the backstory behind their success. The opportunity for doing so was given to me by this great and dramatic show by Azerbaijan artist Faig Ahmed at MACRO, Rome.
The show was food for thought itself – confronted with this melting traditional carpets it was impossible to leave Zygmunt Bauman and Aldous Huxley out of the equation. I have written the story for Escape, the Sunday edition of the Times of Malta.
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Carving out time to work on creative projects doesn’t require an artist’s residency. A staycation is cheaper, simpler and focuses attention where you need it. My new piece “Take a creative staycation” looks at this fascinating trend and has just been published Australian/Uk webmagazine ArtsHub.
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Lovers, friends and family have always been the favourite source of inspiration for artists since the beginning of times. Of course, these involuntary muses are not always happy of being turned into characters of a story, or having their portrait on a gallery wall. This especially if the art deals with intimate, personal and potentially embarrassing themes.
Back in the day the artist could hope the subject matter was unaware of being included in the work. Today though it’s virtually impossible. An image or a review can be infinitely shared on social media. At the same time gallery access is not just for the elites anymore.
I this piece, which has just been published on ArtsHub, I discuss the ethics of including other people’s life in art with artist Geraldine Kang and writer Michele Lee.
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My second piece for the Hong Kong based webmagazine CoBo is an interview with Indonesian artist Aditya Novali, one of the most curious and intelligent people I had the pleasure to talk with. Aditya is the paradigm of the versatile artist and has explored many ways of making work. He was also recently nominated for Best Emerging Artist Using Installation at the Prudential Eye Awards in Singapore.
Here’s the link to the interview
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Yesterday was the opening night of the show “Attualità Indonesiane” at Il Ramo D’Oro in Naples, Italy, featuring artists Balinese artists Made Bayak, Gede Suanda and Naples-based Setyo Mardiyantoro. It was a successful and interesting night where people from many different background come together to learn about art making in Indonesia and the value of art in helping to grow awareness. The interesting thing about il Ramo D’Oro is its non-elitist approach. Gallerist Vincenzo Montella doesn’t want his space to be accessible only by vernissage hoppers, but rather to people from every walk of life.
Welcome to another installment of my series on artist studio visits. This time we are peeking into the working space of Singapore artist Robert Zhao Renhui at Goodman Arts Centre. In the course of my reportage in Singapore I became familiar with this studio cluster, as many of the most prominent local artists are operating from here.
I find Robert’s studio pretty amazing. It is filled with the most strange objects and books related to science, biology and animals – included cushions shaped like kittens. If you are familiar with Robert Zhao artist practice, you will know he operates under the name of the fictional The Institute of Critical Zoologist. His work is all about developing a critical approach to the zoological gaze. This involves playing around with the believes of the viewer and acceptance of truths. Robert’s recent projects consider the increasingly ill-defined boundaries between the natural and the man-made.
Robert’s studio shows that zoology for the artist is not merely the subject of his work, but a real obsession. He demonstrates the theory of my friend curator Donato: “At the end of the day artist are people with single-minded obsession.”
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My series on studio visits is finally back! During my reportage in Singapore I had the chance to snoop around the working and sometimes also living space of local artists. First up is a wonderful Italian artist who now calls the Lion City home: Giada Tagliamonte aka Zada Tagli. Her work is delicate and poetic, and although she’s inspired by eminent figures of Italian culture, such as Giotto and Umberto Eco, the imaginary she evokes is really universal. You will soon read my interview to her, which I realized in November – but for now I’ll let the images speak for themselves.
This is a public service announcement (with guitar! As the Clash would say); I’m working on a new book. It will revolve around my research on contemporary art in Singapore and will explore some concepts I started looking at in my previous book, Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia, un’introduzione.
Of course, having a second “baby” might look easier if you already had that kind of experience. But a second book comes with its new challenges. On top of that, I also had an aborted book which still is very much a looming presence. (Should we stop once and for all with these stupid baby metaphors when talking about book projects?)
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Twenty-fifteen has been an intense year full of cheerfulness, discovery and adventure – I feel I learned so much! For starters I reconquered Rome, which I re-elected as my base (I keep on saying “for the time being”, but truth is, I’m in love with this city). Since I installed in my bedroom in San Lorenzo – the left-leaning, working-class neighborhood of Rome – I felt a new chapter of my life had started.
Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
