Deep S.E.A.

Primo Marella Gallery is proud to present “Deep S.E.A. Contemporary Art from South East Asia”, the brand-new collective exhibition featuring a curatorial selection of deeply expressive living artists from the South East region of Asia, one of the most exciting fields of inquiry today.

The show explores a plenty of artistic practises and approaches, generated and conceived in an ever-evolving vibrant region, where the Western categories of “modern” and “contemporary” still sound unfamiliar and ineligible, as well as “space” and “time” hardly find room in such a young geopolitical area of the world (Southeast Asia entered the field of study in the aftermath of the Second World War, in the early Fifties).

Far from being a simple juxtaposition of names and labels, this coherent collection of ideas, perspectives and sights first seeks to set the work of Southeast Asian artists within its own framework, claiming its independence from any cultural obligation to major neighbour states.    

Through comparison, “Deep S.E.A.”, transcends national boundaries and offer the viewers an unexpected chance to build visual and mental bridges upon the different facets of regional art, covering a range of almost forty years of art making.       

The group show is further illuminated with the release of a catalogue that aims to result into a key tool for in-depth analysis of the selected artists.

Artists: Aung Ko (Myanmar), Donna Ong (Singapore), Sopheap Pich (Cambodia), Natee Utarit (Thailand), Nithakhong Somsanith (Laos), Khvay Samnang (Cambodia), Aditya Novali (Indonesia), La Huy (Vietnam), Ruben Pang (Singapore), Nguy?n Thái Tu?n (Vietnam), Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan (Philippines). 

Contributors: Jim Amberson (Singapore), Zoe Butt (Vietnam), Catherine Choron-Baix (France), Patrick D. Flores (Philippines), Erin Gleeson (Cambodia), Tony Godfrey (Singapore), June Yap (Singapore), Iola Lenzi (Myanmar) and Jim Supangkat (Indonesia).