Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Jannis Varelas and John Ziqiang Wu on their work, the future and the shift online
This year has not been an easy one for anyone, including artists and their galleries. In recognition of that, and of the obstacles to come, ArtReview is supporting the 2020 edition of June, a boutique art fair inaugurated last year in Basel by a select host of galleries. This year the fair is hosted online by Hauser & Wirth from 20–31 August and in the weeks leading up we will be speaking to some of the artists involved. (Click here to read our previous interviews with Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Till Megerle and Margaret Lee, discussing their work on show at June).
Paul Mpagi Sepuya is showing with Document, Chicago.
ArtReview: Can you tell us about the works that will be on show in June?
Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Document is showing collages (torn colour laser prints on paper) that I made during a residency at LightWork in Syracuse in the summer of 2018 using accumulated material printed for editing and sequencing the previous few years’ worth of photographs. Making the collages is a good way to process that material.
AR: This year June has moved to be an online fair, how has the fact that audiences’ engagement with art has become increasingly digital (even before the pandemic) influenced your practice or the way you view art?
PMS: Absolutely not, that’s not my concern.
AR: How do you think the artworld might change in the wake of this year’s events?
PMS: I hope every white artist has to rewrite their artist statement to address their relationship to whiteness and white supremacy. What does the work do? I don’t think that will happen.
AR: What else do you have coming up?
PMS: Some things postponed, some things cancelled, some things still on track. Everything is shifting and adapting and I’m not worrying about it. There’s no reason for me to stress because the only thing I can control is being accountable to myself and my own practice.
Jannis Varelas is showing with The Breeder, Athens
ArtReview: Can you tell us about the works that will be on show in June?
Jannis Varelas: The Maroons is my vision of a very personal time spent in the forced solitude of self-confinement. Inspired by the plasticity of the Laocoön composition [Laocoön is a Trojan priest in Greek mythology who was attacked, with his two sons, by giant serpents sent by the gods], in a series of paintings I depict three figures that seem to stand together but are in fact alone.The dense jungle-like background along with all its calamities suggests the mental projection of the three protagonists: the jungle appears to entangle them, but at the same time they are quietly numb to it – in the familiar ground of their own habitat. For ArtReview I’ve made a short animation of one these compositions.
AR: What else do you have coming up?
JV: A solo show with The Breeder in Athens this winter
John Ziqiang Wu is showing with Empty Gallery, Hong Kong
ArtReview: Can you tell us about the works that will be on show in June?
John Ziqiang Wu: The majority of the works were developed out of my one year journey as an artist in residence at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Although each artist gets to determine how they spend their time, I chose to become an unofficial ‘intern’ and spent time within each department at the museum. Shadowing people, setting up events, attending department meetings, mopping the floors, watching security monitors, going on field-trips to the bank, keeping a watchful eye on the books in the museum store, presenting my art in meetings, and also having some awkward moments not knowing what to do! The drawings reflect some of my memories of the people and the place itself, mundane but also beautiful moments that show the humanity of the institution. Along with this body of work, there are also a few other observational drawings in the presentation.
AR: This year June has moved to be an online fair, how has the fact that audiences’ engagement with art has become increasingly digital (even before the pandemic) influenced your practice or the way you view art?
JZW: I spend much more time viewing images of art on Instagram than in physical spaces these days. In fact, I have been posting my own artwork and episodes from my personal life on Instagram for a while now. A large part of my friendship circle and the larger art community are on social media. People post images of art, life, personal art practices, and other things. Even though I didn’t grow up with computers and the Internet, for me, this is all just life and it feels pretty natural to me.
AR: How do you think the artworld might change in the wake of this year’s events?
JZW: The ‘remote’ world right now is a big experiment on a global scale. I think people are getting a taste of how scary the future may look like but also this experiment is exciting. The pandemic will go away eventually but we are shaping the future. About the artworld, I feel it will shrink but there will be better art. There will be more art to reflect on our social change and change of values.
AR: What else do you have coming up?
JZW: I feel lucky that I have gathered alot of material to start a couple of projects before the pandemic. One relates to my artist residency at the Hammer Museum, which will take the form of an artist book (I often make various series of my work into artist books) titled One Day Intern. Another one relates to a recent trip I made to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan last year. This second series of works will somehow find their way into my first solo exhibition at Empty Gallery in the fall, but I’m not sure how yet. There are also a lot of new challenges and some experiments that have gained my interests. I hope to explore as a focal point family relationships and community, and to express some ideas through writing, drawings and paintings.
