Thursday 17 June 2010

Terence Koh



Terence Koh
is one of today's most controversial contemporary artist. Working across various media, Koh’s work often involves the theme of spirituality in contrast with the quirky provocative cultural satire. He also is well known for his ritualistic performance pieces, in which he adopt the role of a modern day shaman, exploring the value of existence and belief in the contemporary through its icons. An art star, fashion icon, and a living esoteric myth, Terence Koh is a truly example of an urban shaman, breaking down the modern society's rationalists idea - one art piece at a time.

Thursday 10 June 2010

Garl and Coo



Although receiving a lot of attentions via their "avant garde" fashion collection, the dou Garl and Coo offers more deeper content in their artistic work which spread through various media including films, exhibitions, art objects and print publication.
The duo, comprising fashion designer Jasmin Isabel Eckerle and artist Marcel Singer, drawn their inspiration from resurfacing the Black forest's myth and its natural essence. This results in tribal aesthetic, dark, grounded and mysterious nature within their pieces.

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Cameron Jamie




Cameron Jamie brings art and anthropology together in his explorations of various fringe rituals shown in his work. Along with his drawings and installation, Jamie's films stir up a lot of attention. The artist’s acclaimed film trilogy explore 3 different underground, uncanny culture. The first video was the 2003 "Spook House", a montage of amateur haunted house in LA. Second one was the 26 minute video “Kranky Klaus," that he travelled to an Austrian village of Bad Hofgastein to document local St. Nicholas feast day traditions. Lastly, his 'most violent film according to the artist', "JO"(2004) is an exploration of patriotic rituals, it combines footage of a Fourth of July hotdog eating contest in New York with French celebrations of Joan of Arc.

His current exhibition will be at Gladstone Gallery until the 12th of June. It includes various sculptures and drawings, which the artist created as he was inspired by the carving technique used in the creation of Perchten, ornate wooden masks from the Alpine tradition.

Björk's Earth Intruders



Music video by Björk performing "Earth Intruders", the lead single from her latest album "Volta".

AA Bronson school for young Shamans





AA Bronson's latest exhibition at the John Connelly presents, New York(January 10 - February 16, 2008) goes back to his collaborative roots, and, as always, did not fail to intrigue its audience.

As the only remaining member of the "General Idea" collective, Bronson continues to work with the group's main theme of pain and healing in his solo career. The exhibition was partly the retrospective of Bronson's 40 years work as an artist, showing the transformation of himself through his work and perspective development. The pieces shown in this part of the gallery include ‘Mirror Sequence’ series (1969–70), Evidence of Body Binding (1970) and various portraits. The suggestion is that Bronson’s ‘self’ is an amalgamation of the circumstance and people that surround him.

He continues to illustrate this notion of self in references to others surround him in the second part of the exhibition, showing his various collaborations with the emerging 'young shamans'. Displayed in this part were the shamanistic works such as Christophe Chemin's film The Gold Room (showing artist's attempt to levitation), J.X. Williams' assorted objects for driving the evil spirits, Michael Dudeck performance, Item Idem's Louis Vuitton shaman dress, tribute to Joseph Beuys, and the notorious 'Glory Hole' collaboration with Terrence Koh.

This exhibition, overall, captures the essence of Bronson's work which, as discribed by the curator Bill Arnheim, ‘interweaving of tantalizing pleasures and profound trauma’. It also highlight the shamanistic element presenting in today's contemporary gay art practice.

Saturday 5 June 2010

Michelle Knowles



Michelle Knowles is a Brisbane based artist who made sacred out of everyday mundane. In her objects and performances, Michelle references various esoteric occult beliefs, including shamanism. Her recent book "Shamania" documents of a body of work which explores the shamanic object in contemporary art in varius media from performances, art objects, sculptures, and digital stills. (via)

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