Arnhem Museum | Sawangwongse Yawnghwe

Sawangwongse Yawnghwe, Somniferum II, 2022, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown. Photo: Sawangwongse Yawnghe.

Work by Sawangwongse Yawnghwe is included in the group exhibition Between Borders: Migration, Power, and Boundless Imagination currently on view at the Arnhem Museum in the Netherlands.

From the press release and catalogue:

All over the world, people move across borders for all kinds of reasons. In the 21st century, more people than ever migrate for all kinds of political, economic and environmental reasons. At the same time, travelling is increasingly difficult for a great many people. How difficult, or easy, it is, is often determined by your passport. Which countries welcome you and which do not? And when you are in another country, when do you feel at home?

The opium that is widely grown and from which heroin is made, is brought across the border every day. It is mainly transported to Western countries. Sawangwongse painted the opium plants as luscious still lifes. It’s a reference to painting in previous centuries when colonial governments engaged in a large-scale opium trade in their former colonies.

Learn more here.

Between Borders is open through October 22, 2023.

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo | Teppei Kaneuji

Teppei Kaneuji, White Discharge (Built-up objects) #4, 2009. Plastic, wood, metal and rubber found objects, resin, 79 x 35 x 35 in. Photo: Eiji Ina.

Gallery artist Teppei Kaneuji is included in the group exhibition MOT Collection: Membrane of the Time at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo houses approximately 5,700 artworks in its extensive collection, which spans the modern and contemporary periods with a focus on art of the postwar years. Each installment of the “MOT Collection” exhibition introduces artworks in the collection from various themes and angles in its effort to convey the diverse appeal of contemporary art.

The show is up through November 5, 2023.

Read more here.

Financial Times | Michael Rakowitz

Gallery artist Michael Rakowitz mentioned in the Financial Times for work included in the group exhibition Artists in a Time of War, currently up at Castello di Rivoli in Turin, Italy.

“Michael Rakowitz’s stop-motion animation The Ballad of Special Ops Cody, 2017, stars a toy model of an American soldier who climbs a vitrine in a museum to reach the Mesopotamian votive statues within it, and offers them an apology for the US’s involvement in Iraq.”

- Jackie Wullschläger, “Virtuoso visions of war,” Financial Times.

Read the online version here.

Denver Art Museum | Margarita Cabrera

Margarita Cabera, Agua que no has de beber dejala correr (Water That You Should Not Drink, Let It Run), 2006-2003. Vinyl and thread with model parts; overall: 180 x 120 in., each: 4.5 x 10 x 6 in.

Margarita Cabrera has an incredible installation currently on view at the Denver Art Museum as part of the group exhibition Desert Rider: Dreaming in Motion.

Desert Rider: Dreaming in Motion explores the connections between transportation, landscape, and identity in our nation’s Southwest desert region.

The west is a landscape of constant motion—a place of unbroken horizons, staggering views, and changing borders. Certain modes of transportation have become linked to this region. Images of horses roaring across the land, cars cruising on busy streets and forgotten roads, and skaters gliding on pavement elicit feelings of freedom, power, and rebellion. Desert Rider: Dreaming in Motion focuses on self-identified Latinx and Indigenous artists who express identity, pride, and a sense of community by transforming vehicles associated with the Southwest. These transformations both challenge stereotypes and embody hope.

Margarita Cabrera’s cascading Hummers loosely re-create the US/Mexico border. From 2005 to 2010, General Motors manufactured components of their H3 Hummer in Mexican maquiladoras (factories), places that employ a mostly single, female workforce that’s underpaid and exposed to toxic materials. Although production has stopped, labor conditions and toxic byproducts continue to adversely affect local communities.

The exhibition is on through September 24, 2023. 

Learn more here.

Harewood House | Studio Orta

Studio Orta, 70 x 7 The Meal Act XXXIV, 2013. Photo courtesy of the Artists.

As part of Leeds 2023: Year of Culture, a solo presentation of Studio Orta’s project 70 x 7 The Meal, Act XLV, is to take place at Harewood House, Leeds, UK, on Saturday, July 8, 2023.

According to the artists:

‘70 x 7 The Meal’ is one of our most celebrated projects. From biodiversity and environmental themes to the security of food supply chains, the Meal brings these conversations to enact change. Each Meal is actively shaped by community workshops to discuss the importance of food and the rituals which surround it.

The 45th iteration is derived from our Seed Manifesto, drawing from the metaphor of cultivation, growth and life cycles. Seed dispersal is the key motif of the newly commissioned Royal Limoges porcelain plates and the table runner is printed with images and text collected from the community engagement sessions. Inspired by the manifesto, art students from the University of Leeds designed the napkins, and the menu prepared by students at Leeds City College as part of the workshops.”

Seeds, an accompanying solo exhibition by Studio Orta will be on view downstairs in the Old Kitchen and Pastry Room through October 22, 2023.

Learn more here.