Reason/Emotion

How we wish we had the luxury of being bored of Corona. It has affected us each in different ways, from being an inconvenience, to seriously impacting our lives and our livelihoods in ways that we could never have imagined. It makes us consider the effect we have on one another, and the effect of our world on us.

It is timely that our next two solo exhibitions explore the digital world (Sam Leach) and the emotional world (Hiromi Tango). Artists, as ever, are conduits to the cultural pulse of the world and while both Sam Leach and Hiromi Tango have each spent years developing their visual languages – neither one is merely responding to current affairs – it seems pertinent that the importance of both mental health and our assimilation with technology is at a peak right now. Please enjoy these two very different, very unique artists and their stories.

A confirmed fan of both of these artists is the passionate collector and long-time friend, Michael Schwarz. He has often happily called us ‘evil temptresses’ and we can now see we are not the only ones! His essay about collecting in the time of COVID is a delight.

In our Singapore gallery, we were thrilled that Tan Siuli – the wonderful former Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Singapore Art Museum – accepted our invitation to curate an exhibition for us. An academic expert in Asian art and history, she explores the nature of violence and its seemingly permanent place in mankinds’ history and future. The exhibition includes a star-studded line up of artists including Eko Nugroho, Jakkai Sirributr, Lindy Lee, Adeela Suleman and FX Harsono

Warming up to upcoming exhibitions, we look at five works that represent major turning points in the career of Michael Zavros. His upcoming show will be, without a doubt, another major turning point. Additionally, we dig deeper into the studio life of Natalya Hughes ahead of her first solo show with us in September.

We’ve had some reasons to celebrate recently (yay!) including the acquisition of Angela Tiatia’s work Lick, by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; and also the wonderful news that Alex Seton was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2020 Sovereign Asian Art Prize – the first Australian ever to win.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

– Urs and Jo