Past Residents
Past Resident2011: OCA - Office for Contemporary Art Norway
Fendry Ekel
Fendry Ekel’s paintings explore the dark side of human ambition. His monumental and layered works are often painted from photographs and depict portraits, architecture or other remnants of historic events. By isolating these images from our collective memory, Ekel critically investigates the use of art, architecture and figuration as propaganda for ideology and creates work ethic and aesthetic values meet. The specific moment when power becomes ignorance is the continuous subject of Ekel’s paintings. His work explores and attempts to fathom the motives underlying this perversion.
Fendry Ekel was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and raised in Europe. He studied at the Rietveld Art Academy and Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he lives and works.
Fendry Ekel, The Dutchman Willem Oltmans As George Washington, 2008, Gouache and acrylic on paper, 40 × 53 in. (101.6 × 134.62 cm).
Fendry Ekel, Currency #2, 2010, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 75 × 63 in. (190.5 × 160.02 cm).
Fendry Ekel, Man On The Moon (Bobby Fischer), 2009, Gouache and acrylic on paper, 52 × 51 in. (132.08 × 129.54 cm).
Fendry Ekel, Srebrenican Horse #2, 2010, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 45 × 80 in. (114.3 × 203.2 cm).
Fendry Ekel, Mambo Tango, 2010, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 67 × 47 in. (170.18 × 119.38 cm).
Residents from The Netherlands
Past Resident2011: Arts Council England
Michael Forbes
Michael Forbes’ practice includes painting, photography and sculptural installations. His work explores European and African history, and the Black Diaspora within a contemporary visual discourse. Within all his work Forbes actively pursues the notion of beauty, by attempting to understand the relationship between the brain, eyes and emotions. To this end he uses rich saturated colours, which appeals to the child within.
Michael Forbes is an artist, curator and a director of Nottingham Studios, an artist-led studio group. He has curated or had work included the following exhibitions: Because I Can in a “Pop Up” space in Nottingham, UK; The Inconsistency of Everything, New Art Exchange (NAE); Next We Change Earth, NAE; The Redemptive Beauty of Life After Death, The Bonington Gallery, Nottingham; When Men and Mountain Meet, Gallery One, Zagreb, Croatia; Mostyn Open, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, North Wales; Celebration of Death, Photo Club, Zagreb; Strength of Feeling, a Retrospective of Sokari Douglas Camp, NEA; Once Upon a Time in the West there was Lace, Yard Gallery, Nottingham, UK.
Michael Forbes, Memory Of Saints, 2011, Photograph and light box, 10 × 15 in. (25.4 × 38.1 cm).
Michael Forbes, Memory Of Saints, 2011, Photograph and light box, 10 × 15 in. (25.4 × 38.1 cm).
Michael Forbes, Memory Of Saints, 2011, Photograph and light box, 10 × 15 in. (25.4 × 38.1 cm).
Michael Forbes, Souls Of The Diaspora, 2011, Photograph and house paint, 40 × 60 in. (101.6 × 152.4 cm).
Michael Forbes, Souls Of The Diaspora, 2011, Photograph and house paint, 40 × 60 in. (101.6 × 152.4 cm).
Residents from United Kingdom
Past Resident2011: Kunststiftung des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt
Xenia Fink
Xenia Fink’s recent work consists of drawings layered in boxes resembling traditional dioramas of the 19th century. In addition, she creates installations and objects such as marquees, shower cubicles, and fabric wallpapers, with which she imbues inherent connotations of a product or artifact to juxtapose with her drawings. She draws and silkscreens prints with content ranging from strong narrative to more conceptual and ornamental material approaches.
Xenia Fink (born 1979 in Sao Paulo, Brazil) was raised in Brazil and Mexico before moving back to Germany to study Illustration at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. Recent exhibitions include group shows at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin; Galerie Schuster, Berlin and Miami; and solo shows at the Galerie Volkspark and Halle and Galerie Schuster, Berlin.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Xenia Fink and Louise Manifold
March 22, 2011
Xenia Fink, L’Education Sentimentale (Installation View), 2010, Drawings, ink on paper and cardboard, linen book cloth, MDF boxes, and glass, 24 x 17 x 8 in., 29 x 21 x 8 in. and 32 x 21 x 8 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Xenia Fink, Above All One Thing, My Child I, 2010, Drawing, cobalt oxide on time, 83 × 59 in. (210.82 × 149.86 cm).
Xenia Fink, Mirror, 2010, Drawing, ink on paper and cardboard, linen book cloth, MDF boxes, and glass, 24 × 16 × 8 in. (60.96 × 40.64 × 20.32 cm).
Xenia Fink, People Have Crises, 2010, Glaze on ceramic tiles, mounted on plywood or on wall, and faucet, 2 panels, 33 × 75 in. (83.82 × 190.5 cm).
Xenia Fink, Picnic, 2009, Ink on stretched canvas and MDF, 6 panels; silkscreen print on cotton, lined and quilted; and ceramics 11 pieces, Dimensions variable.
