Dada Khanyisa (South African) 1991, Gallery: Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK, Tel: +44 207 493 8611
Dada Khanyisa was born in Umzimkhulu in 1991 and currently lives in Cape Town, where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. Through his paintings and collages, he explores and provides insight into contemporary South African youth culture by capturing everyday moments that reflect life’s social, economic, and cultural structures across the country. His artwork features various carved wooden blocks, creating a dynamic effect that brings the paintings to life. The characters in his pieces seem to leap into view, reminiscent of the works of John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres in New York from the 1970s to the present day. In this way, Khanyisa nearly sculpts the history of the people around him.
Chiharu Shiota (Japanese) 1972, Gallery: Templon, Paris, France, Tel: +33 (0)1 4272 1410
Chiharu Shiota was born in Osaka in 1972 and currently lives and works in Berlin. Her work explores the meaning of existence through large-scale installations incorporating everyday objects and various relics imbued with symbolic value. In addition to installations, she also expresses her artistic vision through drawings, sculptures, photographs, and videos.
In 2015, Shiota represented Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale. Over the years, she has created and exhibited her works in several prestigious international museums, including MoMA PS1 in New York, La Maison Rouge in Paris, The Museum of Art in Kōchi, the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art in Washington, D.C., the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, and K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf. Her work has also been featured at the Biennale of Sydney, the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea, the Setouchi International Art Festival, and the Yokohama Triennale in Japan.
Hans Op De Beeck (Belgium) 1969, Gallery: Templon, Paris, France, Tel: +33 (0)1 4272 1410
Hans Op de Beeck was born in Turnhout in 1969 and currently lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. He has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions around the world.
Op de Beeck creates large-scale installations, sculptures, films, drawings, paintings, photographs, and texts. His art reflects on our complex society and explores universal questions that have persisted throughout history. He views humanity as a being that stages the world around them in a tragicomic way. He aims to stimulate spectators’ senses and invite them to engage deeply with the images. Through his work, he seeks to craft a visual narrative that provides moments of wonder and silence.
Jenny Holzer (American) 1950, Gallery: Kukje, Seoul, South Korea, Tel: +82 2 735 8449
Jenny Holzer was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, U.S.A., on July 29, 1950. She is a neo-conceptual artist currently living in Hoosick Falls, New York. A key focus of her work is the distribution of words and ideas in public spaces. Holzer is associated with the feminist movement of artists that emerged in the 1980s.
In 1972, she graduated from Ohio University with a degree in painting and printmaking. In 1975, she began a master’s program at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, where she started incorporating words and language into her art. After completing her master’s degree in 1977, she moved to New York, where she participated in a study program offered by the Whitney Museum. Holzer’s works have been exhibited worldwide, including notable venues such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (1989), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1996), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1997), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1999), the Oslo Museum of Contemporary Art (2000), and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2001). In 1990, she represented the United States at the Venice Biennale and was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Pavilion. In 1996, she received the Crystal Prize from the World Economic Forum, and in 2000, she was awarded the Berlin Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Berlin. Holzer continues to live and work in Hoosick Falls, New York.
Tunga (Brazilian) 1952-2016, Gallery: Lisson, London, UK, Tel: +44 20 7724 2739
Born in Palmares, Brazil, in 1952, Tunga (Antonio José de Barros Carvalho e Mello Mourão) is one of the most influential artists of his generation. He has lived and worked in both Rio de Janeiro and Paris. His work has introduced a new way of perceiving art, moving beyond the traditional canvas and easel to incorporate various objects connected solely by the context they occupy within a space.
Tunga’s complex and imaginative language has established him as one of Brazil’s most internationally recognised artists, with exhibitions in countries such as Italy, Japan, France, Germany, England, Portugal, the United States, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Cuba. After studying architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Santa Úrsula in Rio de Janeiro, he explored multiple art forms, including sculpture, drawing, performance, video, and poetry.
In 1998, he received the Best Brazilian Sculptor Award from the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte. Tunga often draws upon myth, fiction, and ‘alchemical’ processes to create plural works imbued with a sense of ‘disturbing strangeness.’ His creations feature various materials and everyday objects, including blown glass, crystal marbles, billiard balls, sponges, brushes, ropes, and minerals.
Tony Cragg (Anglo-German) 1949, Gallery: Lisson, London, UK, Tel: +44 20 7724 2739
Anthony Cragg was born in Liverpool on April 9, 1949. From 1969 to 1977, he studied at Gloucestershire College of Art in Cheltenham, Wimbledon School of Art, and the Royal College of Art in London. In 1977, he moved to Germany and began teaching at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. The following year, he held his first solo exhibitions at the Lisson Gallery in London, the Lutzowstrasse in Berlin, and the Künstlerhaus Weidenallee in Hamburg.
Cragg continually reinvents the language of sculpture by creating complex relationships between materials and forms. His scientific training allows him to explore the essence of each material, and through his shaping processes, he often reveals a new molecular structure within them. He stretches the boundaries of sculpture, as did artists like Carl Andre, Richard Long, and Bruce Nauman, by introducing new materials and techniques.
Cragg distinguishes between two approaches to art: one based on a certain idealism, as seen in the works of Constantin Brancusi, Alberto Giacometti, and Andy Warhol, and the other rooted in instinct and its relationship with the world, as exemplified by Edgar Degas, Medardo Rosso, and Joseph Beuys.
In the 1980s, Cragg was influenced by various scientists and philosophers, including Isaac Newton and Alain Prochiantz. He began creating wooden sculptures that evoke the typical architecture of the Norwegian fjord region and enlarged laboratory instruments. He participated in Documenta in Kassel in 1982 and 1987, represented Great Britain at the 1988 Venice Biennale, and received the Turner Prize in the same year. In 1994, he was admitted to the Royal Academy. Cragg currently lives and works in Wuppertal, Germany.
Avery Singer (American) 1987, Gallery: Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland, Tel: +41 43 547 1899
Avery Singer was born in 1987 and grew up in New York City. She is the daughter of artists Janet Kusmierski and Greg Singer. Growing up in a creative community, Avery first experimented with photography, film, and drawing. In 2008, she studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, and in 2010, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the Cooper Union in New York.
During her studies, she focused on performance art, video art, and sculpture, utilising techniques such as joinery, metal casting, and welding. She began to incorporate the binary language of computer programming and industrial materials into her work to minimise the artist’s handprint, bridging contemporary practices with the traditions of painting and modernism.
This innovative approach led to high-profile institutional exhibitions, including solo shows at the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She was also featured in the 2015 New Museum Triennial, the 13th Lyon Biennale, and the 2019 Venice Biennale. In 2016, Singer joined the Gavin Brown Gallery.
In November 2018, her painting “Fellow Travelers, Flaming Creatures” (2013) sold at Sotheby’s for $735,000, more than six times its highest estimate, marking a new phase in the artist’s market presence. Avery Singer continues to live and work in New York City.
Louise Bourgeois (French) 1911-2010, Gallery: Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland, Tel: +41 43 547 1899
Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris on December 24, 1911, to parents who owned a gallery of antique tapestries. She completed designs for the tapestries that were displayed in the gallery. In 1930, she enrolled at the Sorbonne, where she studied mathematics and geometry—a rare pursuit for women then. She eventually left to pursue art studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris before moving to New York in 1938. Bourgeois became a U.S. citizen in 1951 and participated in various artistic movements, initially influenced by Surrealism. From the 1960s onward, she focused on metalwork and creating installations.
She participated in the Documenta exhibition 1992 and the Venice Biennale in 1993, where she won the Golden Lion. Bourgeois extensively explored themes such as sexuality, family, and loneliness in her work, often depicting transformed images of the male form in her installations. She celebrated motherhood through enormous filigree sculptures shaped like spiders; these dreamlike works are frequently replicated and displayed in different cities, reaching around ten meters.
In 2007, the Tate Modern in London dedicated an extensive retrospective to her, which travelled to several prestigious venues, including the Centre Pompidou, the ground floor of the Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills district of Tokyo, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Fondazione Emilio Vedova in Venice, curated by Germano Celant. This exhibition showcased her lesser-known fabric works.
Louise Bourgeois passed away in 2010. She is fondly remembered as the woman portrayed by Robert Mapplethorpe—a figure characterised by a face marked with wrinkles, a witty smile, sharp and vivid eyes, clothed in fur, and holding a large latex phallus, one of her sculptures. Her art remains a groundbreaking novelty.
Yayoi Kusama (Japan) 1929, Gallery: Victoria Miro, Venice, Italy, Tel: +39 041 523 3799
Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, to an upper-class family. As a child, she began experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations. In 1935, she attended primary school in Kamata, and in 1941, she enrolled in a girls’ school in Matsumoto.
In 1948, three years after the end of the Pacific War, Kusama began a four-year course at the Kyoto Municipal Art Institute (Dōda Art Institute), specialising in nihonga (Japanese-style painting). In 1950, her nihonga work, “Neko” (Cat), was selected for the first edition of the Nagano Prefecture Art Exhibition. By 1952, at the age of twenty-three, she held her first solo exhibition at the Participation Hall of the Matsumoto Municipality, showcasing approximately 270 works, including “Death of Moths,” “Eternal Land,” “Debris of Plants,” and “Spirit of Trees.”
1953, she was admitted to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. However, she chose to forgo her studies there in favour of a solo exhibition in Tokyo. In January 1955, she had her first exhibition at the Bridgestone Museum, followed by another at the Takemiya Gallery, organised by artist and art critic Shūzō Takiguchi. During this time, she began a correspondence with painter Georgia O’Keeffe.
In 1957, with the assistance of painter Kenneth Callahan and professor George Tsutakama, Kusama held her first solo exhibition in America at the Zoë Dusanne Gallery in Seattle. In October 1959, she opened her first solo exhibition in New York at the Brata Gallery on 10th Street, “Obsessional Monochrome.” This exhibition received praise from several art magazines, including Arts Magazine, Art News, and The New York Times.
Four months later, she exhibited at the Gres Gallery in Washington, D.C., showcasing “Infinity Nets,” which was also a tremendous success. This solo exhibition led to her participation in the critical international exhibition “Monochrome Malerei” at the Leverkusen Museum in Germany, conceptualised by architectural theorist and art critic Udo Kultermann. The event included notable artists such as Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni, and Mark Rothko.
In October 1962, at the Green Gallery in New York, Kusama displayed her first installation, an eight-legged armchair painted white and covered with phallic protuberances. She referred to these phalluses as “soft sculptures”. They are part of her artistic theory known as psychosomatic art. This concept allowed her work to gain a three-dimensional and spatial quality, leading to the creation of the first “Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field,” held at the Castellane Gallery in 1965. By placing mirrors throughout the room and covering the floor with polka-dotted phalluses, she created an infinite space filled with erotic symbols.
Since 1977, Kusama has been a permanent resident at Seiwa Hospital in Tokyo, but this has not prevented her from renting a studio across the street, where she paints daily. Throughout these years, she has continued to write and work, collaborating with well-known fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Lancôme, fully dedicating herself to her research and artistic pursuits. On Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Christie’s auction house sold a sculpture by Jeff Koons for the highest amount ever paid for a work by a living artist. The sculpture, “Stainless Steel Rabbit,” was purchased by gallery owner Robert E. Mnuchin, the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He bought the piece in 1986 for $1,075,000, using money from one of his clients. This sale reinforces Jeff Koons’ status as a favourite among wealthy collectors, as he set a record in November 2013 when his 1990s piece, “Balloon Dog (Orange),” was auctioned for $58.4 million.
Jeff Koons (American) 1955, Gallery: Lévy Gorvy Dayan, New York, USA, Tel: +1 212 772 2004
Jeff Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania, on January 21, 1955. He began his artistic journey at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and later graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1976. In 1977, he moved to New York City, where he worked at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). During this time, he became known for his extravagant clothing and hairstyle and exceptional ability to market and sell art. He even sold MoMA membership cards while investing in mutual funds on Wall Street.
Around this period, Koons began creating inflatable flowers and rabbits, using a mix of plastic, Plexiglas, and mirrors to make striking sculptures. In 1980, he released “The New Series,” which featured hoovers and polishers displayed in transparent Plexiglas showcases. This was followed five years later by the “Equilibrium” series, which included sculptures of balloons floating in pools of water. These initial works marked Koons’ exploration of consumer culture, a theme he would further develop in his later pieces.
In 1986, he exhibited his “Steel Rabbit” at a group show in the Sonnabend Gallery in New York alongside artists such as Peter Halley, Ashley Bickerton, and Meyer Vaisman. This exhibition captured the attention of prominent critics of the time. That same year, Koons continued his exploration of consumerism with the “Luxury and Degradation” series, which featured images based on liquor advertisements and sculptural representations of travel bars (portable cases containing liquor bottles and glasses). He followed this with the “Banality” series in 1988, which included sculptures like “Michael Jackson and Bubbles,” depicting the famous pop star and his pet chimpanzee.
Koons’ first significant foray into advertising themes occurred in the “Made in Heaven” series (1990-91), which debuted at the 1990 Venice Biennale. This controversial series of pornographic sculptures featured the artist and his wife, Ilona Staller, known in the art world as Cicciolina. In 1992, he presented “Puppy,” an impressive 12-meter-high sculpture of a West Highland terrier made from earth and flowers in Kassel, Germany, and later exhibited in other cities.
In recent years, Koons returned to the international scene with his colourful sculpture “Bouquet of Tulips,” installed in Paris in 2016. The Statue of Liberty inspired this piece and serves as a memorial to the victims of terrorist attacks in France.
Marlene Dumas (South Africa) 1953, Gallery: David Zwirner, New York, USA, Tel: +1 212 727 2070
Marlene Dumas was born in Cape Town in 1953. She studied fine arts at university from 1972 to 1975, during the violent Apartheid period. In 1976, at 23, Dumas moved to Europe to continue her studies. 1983, she held her first solo exhibition in Amsterdam at the Paul Andriesse Gallery. From the early 1980s onward, she began to exhibit her work in numerous European galleries and public spaces.
Dumas participated in Documenta IX (1992), the Johannesburg Biennale (1995), and the Venice Biennale. She held solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia (1992), the Tate Gallery in London (1996), the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2001), the Art Institute of Chicago (2003), as well as at MOCA in Los Angeles and MoMA in New York (2008). Her works have been displayed in some of the world’s most prestigious museums and are part of significant public and private collections.
In the first part of her career, she primarily worked with collages and texts, while in the latter part, she focused mainly on oil on canvas and ink on paper. Her works depict human figures expressing various emotions—laughing, crying, shouting, thinking, and shaking. Her portfolio includes numerous portraits, especially of children, and depictions of well-known figures such as Pasolini, Oscar Wilde, and Marilyn Monroe, alongside characters from contemporary popular culture.
