What the Butler Saw

A Conversation with San Diego artist Bryan Ali Sanchez, by James Scarborough

Bryan Ali Sanchez, born in San Diego, California is a painter whose work examines the inequalities of class structure, cultural polarities and overlaps from personal experiences. He received an AA from San Diego City College in Visual and Performing Arts with a Two-Dimensional Art Emphasis. He received his BFA from California State University of Long Beach with a Concentration in Painting and Drawing. He has exhibited throughout San Diego and he recently exhibited at The... Read more →

A Conversation with Emily Hoerdemann on the Occasion of her Exhibition, “One Word Poems & Other Interesting Colors” at Garis & Hahn, by James Scarborough

Emily Hoerdemann is a Los Angeles-based artist working primarily in collage, incorporating painting, and photography. Her work melds text, paint, and process in colorful collages with select pop references, slang words and catch phrases, paired with fashion or fine art cut-outs. Her work draws on her obsession with organization and as a result, each work is a delicate placing of aesthetics and color. Below follows a conversation in conjunction with her exhibition, One Word Poems... Read more →

Sublime Spontaneity: The Watercolors of Marjorie Muns, by James Scarborough

Marjorie Muns’ motifs are simple ones. They are the pictorial equivalent of chamber music. Rocks, fruit, and muffins, Flowers, postcards (postcards showing works of art!) and vessels. Animals (ceramic and glass, giraffes and ducks) and Japanese screens. Nothing looks out of place. The renditions are humble and attentive. Objects don’t look posed; they glow in a moment of epiphany. In a space that is more narrow than shallow, the better to focus on the things... Read more →

The Poetically Intelligent Design of Andrew Wenrick, by James Scarborough

Removing the friction from a system is an aesthetic joy. Clive Thompson, “Efficiency is Beautiful,” Wired Magazine, April 2019 To paraphrase Mark Twain, everyone talks about the traffic. Andrew Wenrick does something with it. At least with its visual representation. He seizes the graphic potential of readymade maps. Like the venerable and once ubiquitous print version of the Thomas Brothers Guides. Because maps brim with visual elements and conceptual data, they beg to be used... Read more →

A Conversation with Nathalie Hartjes, director of MAMA, on the Occasion of her Participation in POPPOSITIONS, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

Nathalie Hartjes studied art history and Archeology (MA, 2004) at the Leiden University. Since 2015, she has been the director of MAMA, a platform for visual culture and young talent in Rotterdam. MAMA is one of the pioneering institutions in the area of talent development in the Netherlands, working in a participatory manner with a large group of budding professionals in their twenties (Team MAMA) both behind and in front of the scenes. In 2014,... Read more →

A Conversation with Andrew Wenrick on the Occasion of his Exhibition "Displacement of Zero" at the Claremont Museum of Art, Claremont, CA, by James Scarborough

Besides this CMOA exhibition, London-based Conceptual artist Andrew Wenrick has had solo exhibitions in London and Luzern, Switzerland. He has participated in group exhibitions in London, Bristol, Oxford, St. Andrews, Luzern, Vallauris (France), Boston, and Detroit. His work is in private collections in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, China, United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United States. Museum hours are Friday through Sunday, noon to 4PM. The exhibition runs from May 10... Read more →

A Conversation with Alice Sparkly Kat, on the Occasion of her participation in POPPOSITIONS, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

"Alice Sparkly Kat is a queer astrologer of color with four years of experience in individual consultation, lectures, workshops, and writing. They use astrology to speculate on the ways culture inhabits biology. To them, astrology is a process of imagining the cultural alien through the metaphor of outer space. This work has inhabited MoMA, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Hauser and Wirth. Their Astrology and Storytelling book (for sale on their website) is a workbook... Read more →

A Conversation with Freek Lome, Founding Director of Onomatopee Projects, on the Occasion of his participation in POPPOSITIONS, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

13 years ago, Freek Lome founded the public gallery/publishing firm Onomatopee Projects in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He has directed it ever since. Its mission is to inspire in-depth experiences and to provide critical nourishment. He is also a freelance curator, lecturer, moderator, and writer. Onomatopee Projects is participating in this year’s POPPOSITIONS. (Also interviewed were Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Artistic Director, Dries Segers, artist, and Alice Sparkly Kat, artist.) JS: It is written that Onomatopee Projects... Read more →

A Conversation with Dries Segers on the Occasion of his Participation in POPPOSITIONS, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

Dries Segers is an artist who lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. He is represented by DMW Artspace. He graduated from the Listahaskoli, Icelandic Academy for the Arts in Reykjavik (2011) and LUCA School of Arts, Sint Lukas Brussels (2013). His work has been shown in solo- and group shows like The Weekend Room (Seoul, South Korea), De Brakke Grond (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Musee and Galerie Botanique (Brussels, Belgium), Neue Galerie (Ausberg, Germany), Warte für Kunst... Read more →

A Conversation with Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Artistic Director, POPPOSITIONS Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

This 8th edition of the POPPOSITIONS art fair is entitled The Capital of Woke: On formulating resistance to capitalised ideologies. Comprised of work chosen by a 5-person selection committee, It will feature 25 participants from 12 countries. (See below). For the third time, Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk will be the artistic director. His co-director will be Rachelle Dufour. Mathias Prenen will design the space. A cross between an art fair and an exhibition, the production will... Read more →

A Conversation with Massinissa Selmani on the Occasion of his Participation in the 2019 Armory Show, by James Scarborough

Below is an interview with Algerian artist, Massinissa Selmani. Along with Tunisia artist Nidhal Chamekh, his work was shown at the recent Armory Show in New York. He's represented by the Selma Feriani Gallery JS: Growing up in Algiers, who or what were your early artistic influences? Are they the same as today? MS: My first influences come from Algerian painters such as M'hamed Issiakhem, Mohammed Temmam or Baya, but also cartoonists such as Ali... Read more →

A Conversation with Reena Lath, Co-Founder of Akar Prakar Gallery, Kolkata and New Delhi, India, on the Occasion of Their Gallery’s Participation in 2019 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Established in 2007, Art Dubai is the world’s leading platform for Contemporary and Modern art from the Middle East - North Africa - South Asia (MENASA) region, aka the Global South. This 13th iteration of the fair will feature 500 artists from around the world represented by 90 galleries in 40 countries. Its Artistic Director is Pablo del Val. Featuring Global Arts Forum, the Residents Program, and Campus Art Dubai, programming will include talks, tours,... Read more →

LA-Based Multimedia Artist Viviana Carlos’ Photographic Breadcrumbs: the Illusion of Arrival, by James Scarborough

Each piece a series of photographs. Visually, some photographs connect with one another. Others don’t. The ones that do. The base of a mountain in one lines up with the edge of a house’s roof in another. A road’s curve continues into the curve of another road. A billowing curtain bisects a window shade which sits next to a bathed-in-light chevron spaced nestled in the intersection of two ivy-covered concrete walls. If the body of... Read more →

A Conversation with Adeela Suleman, Bawwaba artist, 2019 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Established in 2007, Art Dubai is the world’s leading platform for Contemporary and Modern art from the Middle East - North Africa - South Asia (MENASA) region, aka the Global South. This 13th iteration of the fair will feature 500 artists from around the world represented by 90 galleries in 40 countries. Its Artistic Director is Pablo del Val. Featuring Global Arts Forum, the Residents Program, and Campus Art Dubai, programming will include talks, tours,... Read more →

A Conversation with Daniah Al Saleh, Winner of the 2nd Edition of the Ithra Art Prize, 2019 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Established in 2007, Art Dubai is the world’s leading platform for Contemporary and Modern art from the Middle East - North Africa - South Asia (MENASA) region, aka the Global South. This 13th iteration of the fair will feature 500 artists from around the world represented by 90 galleries in 40 countries. Its Artistic Director is Pablo del Val. Featuring Global Arts Forum, the Residents Program, and Campus Art Dubai, programming will include talks, tours,... Read more →

A Conversation with Fernanda Brenner, Co-Curator, Residents Programme, 2019 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Established in 2007, Art Dubai is the world’s leading platform for Contemporary and Modern art from the Middle East - North Africa - South Asia (MENASA) region, aka the Global South. This 13th iteration of the fair will feature 500 artists from around the world represented by 90 galleries in 40 countries. Its Artistic Director is Pablo del Val. Featuring Global Arts Forum, the Residents Program, and Campus Art Dubai, programming will include talks, tours,... Read more →

A Conversation with Fawz Kabra, Co-Director, Global Art Forum, 2019 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Established in 2007, Art Dubai is the world’s leading platform for Contemporary and Modern art from the Middle East - North Africa - South Asia (MENASA) region, aka the Global South. This 13th iteration of the fair will feature 500 artists from around the world represented by 90 galleries in 40 countries. Its Artistic Director is Pablo del Val. Featuring Global Arts Forum, the Residents Program, and Campus Art Dubai, programming will include talks, tours,... Read more →

Lisa Adams and the Art of More than Making Do, by James Scarborough

Things point to a void. Black holes that signify nothing. No hint of what’s inside. Or where they lead. A skewered dolphin, for instance, emerges from such an existential oval. A carnival ride? Nope. Something eco-sinister. Structures with doors and windows that reveal nothing within. No one’s home. Flowers emerge from manholes. Fertilized by what? Other mile markers on the road to dystopia. A catatonically optimistic coyote. A diagonal plank that heads nowhere apparent, like... Read more →

Here and Somewhere Else: Tim McMullen’s Anecdotal Modernism, South Pasadena Arts Council Gallery, by James Scarborough

Heraldic forms occupy center stage. They are playful if not exuberant in their monumentality. Accessible and uncomplicated, they are familiar and Modern. Their effect is hypnotic. They invite the viewer to slip into a jet stream of awareness and contemplation. Though their forms suggest the pure, timeless, and universal themes of Constantin Brancusi and Kazmir Malevich, they coexist without fanfare, as the artist writes, with wiggles and drips. These wiggles and drips anchor the otherwise... Read more →

A Conversation with Wyatt Kahn on the Occasion of his exhibition at Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

The exhibition runs until February 16. The Gallery is located at 6 rue St-Georges | St-Jorisstraat 1050 Brussels, Belgium. For more information on the exhibition, visit here. For more information on the artist, visit here and here. JS: How does your current work continue your ongoing dynamic between painting and sculpture? Similarities? Differences? WK: Each work in this exhibition continues a dialogue between the mediums. For example, Drifting is made of canvas — a traditional... Read more →

A Conversation with Lisa Adams on the Occasion of Her Exhibition "A Piebald Era" at Garis & Kahn Art Gallery, by James Scarborough

JS: How is ours a piebald era? LA: The phrase, “a piebald era,” came to me out of the blue and I had no idea what it meant or if it was even relevant. It was as if someone had whispered it in my ear and I set to work researching, what could that possibly mean? Piebald has an alternative meaning—something composed of incongruous parts. It seems like a fit for the era in which... Read more →

A Conversation with Armen Eloyan on the Occasion of His Exhibition "Natur und Kultur" at the Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium, by James Scarborough

Armen Eloyan was born in Armenia in 1966. He studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, graduating in 2005. He lives and works in Zurich. Recent exhibitions include Armen Eloyan, Timothy Taylor, New York, USA (2107), Armen Eloyan, Galerie Nicola Von Senger, Zürich, Switzerland (2017), Armen Eloyan: Garden, Timothy Taylor, London (2016); Armen Eloyan & Josef Scharl, curated by Harald Spengler, Kunstparterre, Munich (2014); The Pink Spy, M HKA, Antwerp (2014); Luc Tuymans: A Vision of... Read more →

A Conversation with Fida Touma, Deputy Director General of the A.M. Qattan Foundation, on the Occasion of the Fourth Qalandiya International, Palestine, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION The fourth Qalandiya International (QI) will take place from October 3rd - October 30th. Also known as the Palestine Biennial, it’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. This year's QI examines the theme of Solidarity. Exhibitions and programs will take place throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and several Palestinian villages. It will feature the work of dozens of Palestinian and international artists (See below). Solidarity-themed events will... Read more →

A Conversation with Robbie Conal on the Occasion of his Exhibition "Robbie Conal’s Cabinet of Horrors" at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Since the Reagan administration, Robbie Conal has made and distributed more than 100 street posters that lampoon more-than-deserving politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, and televangelists. His themes have included the environment, censorship, war, and the Supreme Court (but, alas, not the current Kavanaugh kerfuffle). He’s been called “America’s foremost street artist,” and with good reason. His bleak, zombie apocalypse Cabinet of Horrors features almost two dozen routine abusers of power, authority and trust: Donald Trump, his... Read more →

A Conversation with Farah Khelil on the Occasion of her Exhibition “Graines de pensée” at Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunis, Tunisia, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION Farah Khelil was born in Carthage, Tunisia. She graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis. She holds a PhD in Art and Art Sciences from Paris/Pantheon - Sorbonne. She lives and works in Paris. Graines de pensée is her first solo exhibition at the Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunis, Tunisia. Her work in the show includes installations made from documents, objects, refuse and plant elements. There is also a slide show, collages, and... Read more →

A Conversation with Reem Shadid and Yazan Khalili on the Occasion of their Exhibition "Debt" at the Fourth Qalandiya International, Palestine, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. The fourth Qalandiya International (QI) will take place from October 3rd - October 30th. Also known as the Palestine Biennial, it’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. This year's QI examines the theme of Solidarity. Exhibitions and programs will take place throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and several Palestinian villages. It will feature the work of dozens of Palestinian and international artists (See below). Solidarity-themed events will... Read more →

A Conversation with Eltiqa & Shababek on the Occasion of their Exhibition "Toward Hope" at the Fourth Qalandiya International, Palestine, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. The fourth Qalandiya International (QI) will take place from October 3rd - October 30th. Also known as the Palestine Biennial, it’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. This year's QI examines the theme of Solidarity. Exhibitions and programs will take place throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and several Palestinian villages. It will feature the work of dozens of Palestinian and international artists (See below). Solidarity-themed events will... Read more →

“Planet Topspin: Alexander Iskin at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. What the world needs now is an updated metaphor for the human condition. One that captures the anxiety, uncertainty, and glibness of a digitally-infused social media global culture that flickers furiously with zeroes and ones, signifying nothing. Enter Alexander Iskin (interview here). At times, you can barely recognize the Berlin-based artist’s figures. An arm or shin, an elbow or knee, a torso, aslant, askew, and asunder. At other times, fully-formed figures hurdle an obstacle... Read more →

A Conversation with Alexander Iskin on the Occasion of his Exhibition “Planet Topspin” at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION Alexander Iskin (review here) was born 1990 in Moscow. He lives and works in Berlin. His solo shows include: The Future is Neanderthal (2017) at DSC Gallery, Prague, CZ Apple Sauce in Paradise (2016) and Reality Express, (2015) at SEXAUER, Berlin His group shows include Salon der Gegenwart (2017) in Hamburg
 Below please find an interview with Mr. Iskin on the occasion of his exhibition “ALEXANDER ISKIN: PLANET TOPSPIN” at Track 16 Gallery. This... Read more →