As we approach the end of 2023, Lumen Travo Gallery is delighted to present the new group exhibition "What to Expect: Our Glimpse into 2024".
This show features the works of four artists of the gallery: Matea Bakula, Thierry Oussou, Daniel de Paula, and Judith Westerveld. Although they come from different backgrounds, practices, and media, their works resonate with each other in unexpected ways, stretching the boundaries of what is considered contemporary art and offering a sneak peek into what you can expect from the 2024 gallery season, which is about to unfold.
Matea Bakula presents a series of small sculptures titled "To Gather" (2023), which results from the artist's fascination with fungi and their behavior in their natural habitat. Made out of plaster, these works deceive the eye, suggesting the use of other materials such as cardboard. It is precisely this transformation that intrigues the artist.
In her creative process, Bakula looks beyond the aesthetics of the materials she is using. She works almost like a chemist, attempting to uncover the secrets behind the materials, while also emphasizing her desire to explore the recycle process which she calls “material reincarnation”.
Matea Bakula (1990, Sarajevo) graduated from HKU Utrecht in 2013 and currently lives and works in Utrecht. Recent shows include: solo exhibition at Buitenplaats Doornburgh, Maarssen (upcoming, 2024), “Eartheaters”, Lustwarande (2023); “A Wheel A Rope A Stone A Wing’”at Park, Tilburg (2023).
The juxtaposition of different artifacts that, together, could shed light on hidden aspects of their materialities, precedence and socio-political use has been Daniel de Paula’s modus operandi throughout his whole career. Works developed within the power-flow series set together fragments of infrastructural subterranean or submarine data cables – responsible for the fast circulation of information that control our economical system and media communication – and fulgurites, natural masses of vitrified or fused soil that result from the discharge of electrical lightings over sand, evidence of the natural flow of time inside geological formations.
Daniel de Paula (1987, Boston) currently lives and works betweenAmsterdam and São Paulo. Recent exhibitions include: “infraestutura, instituição, indivíduo”, at Jaqueline Martins Gallery, São Paulo (2023); “inalienable, imprescriptible and unseizable” at LABOR, Mexico City (2023);
Thierry Oussou paints exclusively on black paper and favours large-scale formats. The work installed here showcases his distinctively gestural style with drips, scratches, splatters and calligraphic marks. Distorted figures, faces, objects and symbols float freely against the dark background of the paper. For his ongoing project ‘Equilibrium Wind’, Oussou has been developing a multi-layered visual investigation, which addresses cotton as the white gold of today’s global economy.
Thierry Oussou (1988, Allada) lives and works between Amsterdam and Benin. In 2015-16 he attended the Rijksakademie van beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Recent shows include: Riga Biennal (2023); Biennale di Architettura Venice, Italy (2023); British Textile Biennial, Pennine Lancashire, UK (2023); Centraal Musuem, Utrecht (2023); Aichi Triennale, Japan (2022). Oussou is the recipient of the Royal Award for Modern Painting (2023).
Artist Judith Westerveld presents the video installation “Message from Mukalap”, made in collaboration with composer, phonographer and researcher Aleks Kolkowski. At the core of this work lies a unique sound recording that captures a spoken message from a man named Mukalap, recorded around 1936 in South Africa. Mukalap speaks in !ora, a Khoe language that is now no longer spoken. His message is not only an urgent appeal for recognition, he also asks the audience to respond and send a message in return. Westerveld’s film is a response to his request.
Judith Westerveld (1985, Den Haag) lives and works in Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions include: CAPE X UTRECHT, AG Utrecht (2023), Tussen Grenzen, Museum Arnhem (2023).