Until 18 December, you can see the group exhibition OFF ROAD II at Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp, a continuation of a series that had its first edition in 2017. In the OFF ROAD series, Zeno X Gallery exhibits work by nine international artists who were not previously associated with the gallery.
This second edition presents work by Mounira Al Solh, Troy Michie, Hana Miletić, Kresiah Mukwazhi, Dona Nelson, Lisa Oppenheim, Sara Ouhaddou, Diane Simpson and Zhang Yunyao. This results in an exciting combination of works, with artists from different generations and backgrounds who have all mastered a unique medium — or combination thereof. That is why you will find a multitude of media in this exhibition: paintings, sculpture, drawings, photography, textile installations and even stained glass windows.
Troy Michie
American artist Troy Michie is known for his paintings, collages and multidisciplinary installations. In his work, he explores themes such as race, gender, sexuality and other fields where identity and power come together. The artist currently lives in New York, but grew up in the Texas border town of El Paso. His work reflects the complexity of growing up in the American South with a bicultural background. He considers his collages to be a fusion of cultures as well. Many of his works show how Michie cut out anonymous faces from contemporary photographs, in order to draw attention to the histories of people of colour. He focuses on black and brown male bodies, often vintage nude models that he re-clothes. Michie often refers to the zoot suit, a flamboyant suit — usually striped and two-piece — that was very popular among Black and Latino men in the US in the 1940s. These suits became the symbol of the Zoot Suit Riots, a wave of racial violence in Los Angeles in 1943. In his work, Michie uses stitching as a poetic and healing symbolic act. In 2019, his work was included in the Whitney Biennial.
Mounira Al Solh
Last year, the work of the Lebanese-Dutch artist Mounira al Solh was on display in an exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. Al Solh has lived in the Netherlands since 2003, where, after studying painting at the University of Beirut, she completed an education at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and a prestigious residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. The artist makes paintings, drawings, embroidery, performances, (video) installations and magazines. Her conceptual, humorous and surrealistic works are a reflection of her interest in feminist topics, micro-histories, migration, identity, her own place in the western art world, politics and language. Al Solh took part in dOCUMENTA 14, and her work was shown at the Venice Biennale several times — including at the Lebanese pavilion in 2007—, The Art Institute of Chicago and the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin.
Hana Miletic
The Croatian artist Hana Miletić divides her time between Brussels and Zagreb. In her work, she explores themes such as migration, representation, the consequences of political upheaval and social reproduction: the ways in which inequality is passed on from generation to generation. Miletić is known for her woven works that she bases on photographs. Sometimes she offers repairs in a semi-literal sense: by reproducing photos of broken windows or car mirrors and ‘repairing’ them by hand. That slow process, which requires a lot of dedication, functions as a metaphorical resistance to the deteriorating working conditions of many people, in workplaces that are increasingly focused on efficiency, standardisation and overall acceleration.
Kresiah Mukwazhic
The Zimbabwean artist Kresiah Mukwazhi creates large-scale textile works in which she draws attention to the appalling conditions of female sex workers in Zimbabwe and South Africa — and the vulnerable situation of women in general. She sees this world as a barometer of the toxicity of the system as a whole. Recurring themes in her work are gender-based violence, objectification of women, patriarchy, lack of security, economic vulnerability, exploitation, homelessness and abuse. Her textile works consist of a multitude of brightly coloured materials, including bra straps, the often cheap and translucent fabrics that her subjects wear, Zimbabwean money, sequins, acrylic and textile paint. In some cases Mukwazhi actually uses fabrics that were previously worn by sex workers. The works function as protective material; as a blanket, or in some cases as a cocoon. They offer the protection that women fail to receive from society. In her work, Mukwazhi also focuses on positive movements that are committed to change, including the Mukando in Zimbabwe: a group of sex workers who save money together to provide economic and physical safety as a group.
Dona Nelson
The American painter Dona Nelson is known for her unconventional, life-size, free-standing and double-sided paintings. Materials such as cheesecloth, dyed rope, stitching and acrylic paint offer depth, texture and materiality. The famous art critic Roberta Smith described her work in the New York Times as "an adventuresome emphasis on materials”. Nelson was the recipient of a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and her work has featured in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, 20 solo exhibitions, as well as group exhibitions at the Guggenheim, MoMA PS1 and Contemporary Art Museum Houston, among others. Her work has also been included in the collections of museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim.
Lisa Oppenheim
American artist and filmmaker Lisa Oppenheim makes experimental films and photograms — photos taken without the interjection of a camera. Oppenheim uses her work to explore themes such as memory and loss. She regularly uses found footage, for example from museums, libraries or online photo sharing websites such as Flickr. For example, for the work “Stilleben 1 (Version 1) (1942/2021)” (2021) in this exhibition, she chose a photo that she found in a German archive. The photo shows a still life that was probably stolen from a Jewish family in 1942 and destroyed in a bombing raid a year later. Using a smoking technique, Oppenheim exposed the negative to the light of a flame, after which she solarised the negative in her darkroom. This way, a new image is created in which light and dark colours are reversed. Like Al Solh, Oppenheim completed a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Her work is part of the collections of, among others, the Getty Museum, the MoMA and the Guggenheim.
Sara Ouhaddou
The French-Moroccan artist Sara Ouhaddou grew up in a traditional Moroccan family, and growing up between two cultures is central to her work. Ouhaddou started her career as a fashion designer, but has gradually become more committed to socially engaged work, including on the role of design in artisan communities in Morocco. In 2017, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs selected Ouhaddou from a series of submissions to create a public artwork in a new park in the historic district of ‘Little Syria’.
Diane Simpson
American artist Diane Simpson creates sculptures from a multitude of everyday materials, including fiberboard, aluminum, plywood, wool, polyester, poplar, faux fur, fleece, mahogany, brass, copper and steel. She often derives the shapes from unobtrusive architectural details, utensils, clothing — and the people in them. Through her work, she plays with notions of perception and representation. In principle, the sale of each sculpture is accompanied by the original drawing. Her work has been shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, among others.
Zhang Yunyao
The Chinese artist Zhang Yunyao is inspired by mythological, biblical and classical scenes, which he captures with material combinations that have an unpredictable result, such as graphite and pastel on felt. In January 2020, the artist traveled to Paris in order to stay a few months. That stay that was extended, due to the pandemic. His latest works are dedicated to his father, who died during this period. Yunyao's work has been shown at the Watou Art Festival, in an exhibition at Musée Fenaille that was co-organised by the Louvre and in Perrotin Hong Kong.
The group exhibition OFF ROAD II will be on show at Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp until 18 December.