Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Ashley Bickerton the 54 year old Barbados contemporary mixed media artist living in Bali who combines both photographic and painterly elements with industrial and found object assemblages, associated with the Neo-Geo movement of the 1980s has been featured by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop in an article published on Blouin Artinfo titled ‘20 Questions for Bali-based Artist Ashley Bickerton’. Bickerton states “Basically, I had been creating models for the paintings that I was making only to be photographed then left to rot. In irony, half the people who have seen those models have liked them better than the paintings, and have pushed me to realize them as distinct objects. Many estimable folks, including Melissa Chiu and a group visiting from the Asia Society in New York, insisted I needed to realize them as artworks in and of themselves, and not just a prop in the construction of the paintings. I readily agreed, but felt they would be next to impossible to build as they were so detailed with many perishable objects attached including flowers, fruit, cigarettes, insects, and any number of unstable, rusting metals. It was not until Jasdeep Sandhu of Gajah Gallery stopped by and said “I can build these” that the dream became a real possibility. …Jasdeep told me he had recently set up the Yogya Art Lab under the helm of the legendary Richard Hungerford, and with the aid of a deeply talented team of Yogyakarta artists. I knew it would be extremely difficult, but if it was going to be done anywhere on the planet, Yogya was the place. I have to give Jasdeep the credit for great vision and certainly no shortage of guts, he saw it right away and did not hesitate. These new sculptures are quite complex materially. They are primarily in aluminum, with added hair, resin, oil paint, cement, and several other materials. With all their elaborate detailing, they are proving to be exceptionally difficult works, but hopefully with some measure of good luck…”

Inspired by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, Blouin Artinfo ow.ly/laTGN Image source Facebook ow.ly/laTbG

Ronald Ventura the 39 year old Filipino contemporary artist noted for paintings featuring complex layering, combining images and styles ranging from hyperrealism to cartoons and graffiti has been profiled by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop in an article published on Blouin Artinfo titled ‘Filipino Artist Ronald Ventura Is Making Connections Across Cultures’, in which she states “Like many emerging artists, early in his career Ronald Ventura tended to sell everything he produced. Now that his reputation is firmly established and he is dreaming of one day setting up a contemporary art museum in Manila …has found himself in the unenviable position of going back to collectors to buy back key pieces. …says he was stunned to find out how much some of his older works had appreciated. “A couple of years ago, I was looking for a good drawing that I had done. Most of my drawings are usually covered in paint, but I was looking for a drawing that wasn’t. When I found out the price I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. It was 10 times more than the original gallery price,” he said, his laugh underscoring his mixed emotions at the steep price increase. …The artist has learned his lesson. He says he now keeps one artwork from every solo exhibition. At the rate his pieces are selling, he should. In his latest show, “recyclables,” held at the Singapore Tyler Print institute, 70 percent of the works were sold by the morning of the opening. …Ventura loves nothing more than to subvert familiar cartoon figures, such as Mickey Mouse or a dwarf from Snow White, giving them a “new reality” with the help of a skull or a gas mask. The artist has risen to prominence on the Asian contemporary art scene with complex, layered works that juxtapose unexpected images, often rather dark — internal organs with flowers and butterflies, or a clown and a gas mask — always rendered with exquisite draughtsmanship. He is known for mixing different styles, such as hyperrealism and Surrealism, cartoons and graffiti.”

Inspired by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, Blouin Artinfo ow.ly/j4IEo Image source ManilaArtBlogger ow.ly/j4Izv