NEW MODERN REALISM

IN JUST THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, WE HAVE EXPERIENCED A FULL-BLOWN NEW GLOBAL PANDEMIC, A WORLDWIDE LOCKDOWN, AND MOST RECENTLY A POWERFUL CALL OF THE #BLACKLIVESMATTER MOVEMENTS. HOW DOES FASHION FIND VOICE. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT. HOW AND WHEN WILL COLLECTIONS BE SHOWN. WILL THE TRENDS BE MAXIMALIST IN NATURE OR IN MINIMALIST DESIGN. QUESTIONS ABOUND. AT A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE AND IF HOPEFULLY CONSTRUCTIVE TRANSFORMATIONS, IT CAN SEEM LIKE A PERFECT MOMENT TO PAUSE AND REFLECT.

IT’S YOU THAT MATTERS. THE ESSENTIAL HAS RETURNED TO THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING. HOW SHOULD WE REACT TO THE CONTEMPORARY? WE SHOULD NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THE UNNECESSARY. BACK TO BASICS. WHERE EVERYTHING AND NOTHING MATTERS AT THE SAME TIME. THE ART OF ‘WABI-SABI.’ A WAY OF LIFE THAT APPRECIATES AND ACCEPTS COMPLEXITY, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, VALUES SIMPLICITY. THE EXTINCTION OF BEAUTY AND THE CELEBRATION OF THE IMPERFECT, IMPERMANENT, AND INCOMPLETE. FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIALS AND IGNORE THE UNNECESSARY. NOTHING LASTS, NOTHING IS FINISHED AND NOTHING IS PERFECT. THIS IS ‘ME’: PURE, HONEST AND VULNERABLE.

THE INTERCEPTION AND COLLISION OF CONTEMPORARY CREATIVITY.
BREAKING BARRIERS, CHANGING CONVENTIONS.

WHAT IS THE NEW FUTURE?

WE QUESTIONED THE WAY PRESENT IS CHANGING

AND DELVED INTO THE WAY FUTURE TIMES ARE TAKING SHAPE.

IT WAS SUMMER SOLSTICE, THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR, AND THE SUN WAS SHINING, WHEN JEFF KOONS: APOLLO EXHIBITION OPENED IN HYDRA. ON THAT DAY, KOONS EXCLUSIVELY GUIDED US THROUGH HIS NEW ARTWORKS SERIES ESPECIALLY CONCEIVED FOR DESTE FOUNDATION SLAUGHTERHOUSE SPACES. THE SHOW, OPEN TO PUBLIC UNTIL OCTOBER 31ST 2022, IS AN INSTALLATION PRESENTING NEW SCULPTURES BY KOONS ALONG WITH READYMADE OBJECTS SELECTED BY THE ARTIST TO ENGAGE THE VIEWER IN A METAPHYSICAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE CONTEMPORARY AND ANCIENT. THE EXHIBITION MARKS OVER TWENTY YEARS SINCE JEFF KOONS LAST SOLO SHOW IN GREECE.

NAVIGATING THE PRESENT MEANS TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN THE INNER AND THE OUTER WORLD. FOR THESE ARTISTS, ART IS AN EXISTENTIAL RESOLUTION WHICH ALLOWS  THE INTERIOR AND THE EXTERIOR TO BE RECONCILED. THROUGH THE SCOPE OF THEIR PRACTICE THEY STAY GROUNDED WHILE EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF CONSCIOUS IMAGINATION. SOMETIMES OPENNESS OF THOUGHTS HAPPENS WHEN SITTING STILL, FOSTERING A CREATIVE SPACE WHERE TO INVESTIGATE THE PAST AND ALTER THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COLLECTIVE NARRATIVES OF THE FUTURE. THESE ARTISTS SHOW US THAT ART IS TO SEE LIFE AND TO SEE LIFE YOU NEED TO KEEP WHAT’S REAL AND WHAT’S MAGICAL ALIVE.

CHANGE OF SPACE

MUSE celebrates the unique and personal vision of contemporary artists who reflect through their work the advance of the times.

For this February Issue, it was Carsten Höller who gave way to the creativity being photographed at Brutalisten, in Stockholm, and telling his huge approach and fantastic practice. Höller applies scientific curiosity to his work as an artist, exploring consciousness with unsettling humor. Interested in the experience of time, he describes emotions as somewhere between delight and madness.

The iconic visual language of Barbara Kruger is on view at Serpentine Galleries for her first solo institutional show in London; on that occasion MUSE explores the complex mechanisms of her artworks.