New Print Publication released!
CICA ART NOW 2020/21
catalogue with artist Solo Shows at CICA Museum 2020/21
More info: http://www.cicamuseum.com/cicapress/
Editor-in-chief/Art Director: Leejin Kim 김리진
Editor/ Designer: Gorbuleva Maria
Editor: Young Im Chae, Gain han
Publisher: CICA Press, Gimpo, South Korea
Language: English
Release Date: October 29, 2021
ISBN: 2672-0345 15
All rights reserved
Photographs and contents are copyrighted by the featured artists.
CICA Press, an online and print media issued by CICA Museum, is media for art and culture from the perspective of young culture makers in spirit. CICA Press supports “young” culture makers, who have passion, critical thought, and desire for creative and experimental expression, regardless of their age and background. We have believed that our inexhaustible passion for art and expression and a reckless rebelliousness can change the world.
CICA Press deals with visual art and culture from perspectives of local artists. To overcome uniform dissemination of contemporary art from the “center of Art,” we aim to introduce local artists and cultures from different regions to global audiences and connect them with each other. CICA Press provides online and offline spaces to create a global network among local artists, designers, audiences, and communities so they can make, appreciate, and live in art in their regions and cultures.
CICA Art Now 2021 features 33 artists/Artist teams from the CICA Contemporary Art Solo Show Series and CICA Young Korean Artists. Featured artists include AU Ho Lam Suzanne, BiHop, Kelly Boehmer, Natasha von Braun, Uisuk Byeon, Tyler Calkin, Eunice Choi, Jina Choung, Hyunhee Doh, Scott Groeniger, Han Jung Sun, Heidi Hogden, SUH HUI, Lily Hyon, IVAAIU City, Hunyoung Jang, Seoyoung Je, Gain Kim, MinJi Kim, Myeongsil Kim, Young Kim, Younghee Kim, Hyojin Kwon and Adam Sherman, Chae Lee, Jinyoung Lee, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Serafina Min Sungwon, mySERENA, Benjamin Nordsmark, Chad Serhal, Coco Vewenda, Anne Wölk, and Yoo Younbin.
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Review of Solo Exhibition
Title: “Questions for Heaven” Interstellar Displacement and the Entrancing Work of Anne Wölk
Subheading: Anne Wölk’s recent solo exhibition illuminates our earthly relationships through an exploration into the mysteries and speculative realities of the universe.
Enveloped in the rich blues of the vast universe and the outstretched arms of the galaxies, Berlin based artist Anne Wölk transports us through the nebulae to introduce us to an extraordinary foreign world that is eerily similar to our own. Her recent solo exhibition “Questions for Heaven”, on view in April 2021 at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in South Korea, subverts the assumed familiarity with the astronomical through striking fictional landscapes that challenge the relationships between human and nature.
When viewing “Questions for Heaven” you suddenly find yourself lost traversing the cosmos; a cohesive journey created through the precision, skill, and passion Wölk infuses into each individual work through her months of dedication. The exhibition, which consists of oil and acrylic pieces from three of Wölk’s most prominent series, explores the universe from its seemingly microscopic details to the vast regions that are beyond our mental grasp.
The viewer begins outstretched to the furthest expanses of the heavens. Works from her Nebulae series create textured, ethereal depictions of the gaseous cloudscapes. Wölk investigates these epicenters of cosmic creation with a gestural nature that transforms these formidable swirling masses into delicate whisps illuminated by the galaxies they embody. The viewer then ventures deeper as they are met with pieces from her Planet Spheres series. These three-dimensional works use acrylic paint on styrofoam spheres producing the sensation that the viewer has encountered this unknown world on their travels through space. The viewer journeys closer to this unfamiliar planet where they view the natural landscape collide against the cosmos. Lastly, the viewer finds themselves grounded in this mysterious world. Quiet mountain landscapes under endless starry skies are met with peculiar scientific architecture. These pieces from the Starscape series show life from the ground on these new planets. As we stare out into the darkness, Earth itself has become a microscopic element lost in the cosmic void.
Wölk brings these intergalactic scenes to life in an interdisciplinary manner that provides familiarity to the viewer. While an inherent painterly romanticism looms over each work it becomes clear that Wölk draws from astronomical photography, such as from the Hubble telescope, and imagery from science fiction that are prevalent throughout modern culture. She builds upon these elements by creating scenes that blur the line between fiction and reality to question the relationship between man and nature. The fictional settings she presents depict neon and LED lights that seem to illuminate the planet’s surface, as a community of space travelers colonizes the land. While immersed in the distant worlds of outer space a digital glow still hovers over the planet’s landscape confronting the viewer with the human need to conquer, develop, and brutalize new environments for their own pursuits highlighting the vulnerability of our home planet. While the viewer of the exhibition has seemingly traveled from the universe’s furthest limits, they are forced to question the interactions held here on Earth.
Labyrinthine networks of stars, effervescent bursts of light, and the otherworldly landscapes have viewers embark on an extraterrestrial journey. For those who visit Anne Wölk’s “Questions for Heaven”, the selection of her works transports us from the comfort of our home on Earth, through the cosmos, and touch down on planets unknown. Wölk’s ability to provide intricate detail in tandem with seemingly immersive fields of color consumes the viewer generating a revelatory experience about the way humans inhabit our world.