Interview

Alyina Zaidi (b. 1995, New Delhi, India) holds an MA in painting from the Royal College Of Art, London and a BA from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY; Newchild Gallery, Antwerp, BE; Indigo + Madder Gallery, London, UK; Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK; and White Cube, London, UK, among others. Zaidi is a London-based artist from New Delhi and Srinagar. This is Zaidi’s first solo show with the gallery, following her inclusion in the gallery’s group show Katja Farin, Maria Farrar, Esme Hodsoll, Alyina Zaidi (March 1-April 5, 2023).

In Lost in the belly of a whale, Zaidi establishes stronger narrative threads with more action than her previous work. Here, nomadic white strawberries attempt to herd their goats and are at war with imperial frogs. In the top left register of Facts and hearsay—an encyclopaedia of various natural and less natural phenomena, these frogs steal the moon. Angels purchase Moons for sale and, in Dubious benediction, guard pickle jars of frogs and moons. On occasion, the unreliable nature of history emerges where portions of the composition are swallowed by dark orbs Zaidi calls “the cave of the unknown.” These nebulous scenes offer a mode of abstraction for the artist and indicate that there is more to learn about this universe.

Further embracing reality-warping unknowns, Zaidi’s paintings are filled with magic and mythology. As in previous work by the artist, cherry tomatoes and radishes become spirits, angels with opulent tentacled wings populate most paintings, chilis hang to ward off the evil eye, and rituals are performed around the moon for luck. New supernatural elements in this body of work include poltergeists who lurk in windows and sacred trees. In Zaidi’s painting Euphemia and the assassin, she alludes to a version of the story of Saint Euphemia’s martyrdom in which she was thrown into an arena with lions meant to kill her. In the Islamic tradition of indirect representation, rather than painting Euphemia as a person, Zaidi paints her as a bejeweled textile surrounded by lacy fabric. In a playful rendition of the tale, here, Euphemia is cradled in a hammock of lions’ tails.

Born in Venice, Italy, Monica Bonvicini currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. The artist studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA.

Since the 1990s, Monica Bonvicini has had numerous exhibitions and projects around the world. Upcoming, the artist will have a major solo exhibition at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2022). Other significant solo exhibitions include Hurricanes and other Catastrophes at Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2022), I Don’t Like You Very Much at Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2022), LOVER’S MATERIAL at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2020), I CANNOT HIDE MY ANGER at Belvedere 21 Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna (2019), As Walls Keep Shifting at OGR, Turin, Italy (2019), Monica Bonvicini at Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2017), her hand around the room at BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Newcastle (2016), BOTH ENDS at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2011), Desire Deseise Devise at Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012), Monica Bonvicini at Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2009), Monica Bonvicini / Tom Burr at Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2009), Focus: Monica Bonvicini–Light Me Black at Art Institute of Chicago (2009), NEVER MISSING A LINE at Sculpture Center, New York (2007), Monica Bonvicini at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002), among others.

Bonvicini has earned several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Biennale di Venezia (1999); the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (2005); the Rolandpreis für Kunst for Art in Public Space from the Foundation Bremen, Germany (2013); the Hans Platschek Prize for Art and Writing, Germany (2019); the Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Austria (2020).

Monica Bonvicini’s works can be found permanently installed in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London; on the waterfront at Bjørvika, before the Den Norske Opera & Ballett House, Oslo; the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (2003-2019); and the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, among others.

Morning Thoughts takes its title from a 1981 Gil Scott-Heron song by the same name. Throughout the song’s soft, spoken-word lyrics Scott-Heron meditates on the magical potential felt in the moment when night quietly turns to day—on the possibilities that radiate in the first light of morning, as the morning glory and daylily buds open. With his newest body of work, Holmes captures this moment of possibility alongside the inevitable moments of loss that follow as flowers wilt, as color seeps away—the dichotomy of morning and mourning. Underneath all of this,Morning Thoughts embodies the resilience of Holmes, of his community: morning glory and daylily flowers may wilt and die by dusk, but the plants and their roots remain. With Morning Thoughts, Holmes reminds us that hope and loss go hand-in-hand—but beauty remains for those willing to see it, that flowers bloom again in the morning.

Jammie Holmes’s first solo museum exhibition, Jammie Holmes: Make the Revolution Irresistible, was presented at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX in 2023.

His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including:Afro-Atlantic Histories, which traveled to the Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, CA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Dallas Museum of Art, TX. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at the New OrleansMuseum of Art, LA; the China Center of International Contemporary Art Vancouver, Canada;Columbus Museum of Art, OH; Dallas Contemporary, TX; and many more.