Roger Ballen & Andrew Luk: ZODIAC

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Chinese ZODIAC is represented by twelve animals. In order, they are: the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig…

This exhibition showcases twelve of Roger Ballen’s photographs. In black & white or colour, each animal is represented – some of these iconic images have already been collected by many important museums.

For the first time, the photographic work of Roger Ballen is seen together with the sculptures and installations of Andrew Luk. Serendipitously, both were born in the USA, although nearly forty years apart.

Hong Kong-based artist Andrew Luk joins us under this theme with his new installation ‘Refrigerator of Curious Cosmologies’ and, in ‘Forbidden’, incorporating a series of six previously unseen sculptures of durian fruits.

It has been a joy to have played a part in the birth of these creations, watching a young talent react to the inspirational dialogue with a legendary artist. We hope you will spare the necessary time to enjoy each work; they will live with you afterwards…

By appointment only: info@bewephoto.com

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Born in the USA but living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa, Roger Ballen is one of the most important photographers of his generation. He has published over 25 books/albums, the most recent being Roger the Rat (published by Hatje Cantz, 2020) Ballenesque, (Thames and Hudson, 2017), a major retrospective of his collected works, will be republished this year in paperback. His works are in the collections of many leading international art museums.

In his artistic practice Ballen has increasingly been won over by the possibilities of integrating photography with video, installations and drawing, thereby extending his repertoire and visual language. This has enabled him to intensify an already powerful commentary about the human condition and its creative potential.

Several short films dovetail with his series of photographs. The collaborative film I Fink You Freeky, created for the cult band Die Antwoord in 2012, has garnered over 125-million hits on YouTube; since 2016, he has started producing sculptures and installations that relate to and stand alongside his photographs.

Roger Ballen is one of the artists representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale Arte 2022 in April this year.

Andrew Luk is a Hong Kong-based artist who works across a range of media to examine the intricacies of individual human experience in the context of the common myths and histories upon which civilisations are based. Excavating the binary folds between culture and nature, the human and non-human, the personal and collaborative, Luk's sculptures and installations explore utopian desires of perfection as well as their dystopian opposites. Although his works seem diverse, his practice is united by an exploration of the superstructures and iconographies of ideology. He delicately traces the connections between them and speculates about their potential futures in order to reveal their different expressions of beauty, self-preservation and entropy.

Luk’s solo exhibitions include Appropriate Responses for Featherless Bipeds with Broad Flat Nails (chi K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, 2018). His works have also been shown in various group exhibitions such as Next Act (Asia Society, Hong Kong, 2019); Very Natural Actions (Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong, 2019); Serious Games (HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, 2019) and A Tree Fell in the Forest and No One’s There (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2018). Luk’s works are in the collections of the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, USA and the K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong.