WHAT’S UP/TWENTY TWENTY: a digital art exhibit set within fictional architectural worlds

digital exhibition tour: from now through july 31, 2020, LVH art presents its first online exhibition and ninth iteration of the what’s up shows. curated by lawrence van hagen, WHAT’S UP / TWENTY TWENTY is a selling exhibition for our time, one that challenges the physical exhibition space as we know it and releases viewers from the confines of one gallery in one location. visitors and buyers alike are invited to journey through unique venues, viewing artworks and design pieces by both emerging and established artists. the exhibition embraces the digitalization of the art world and celebrates the narratives that define modern humanity as the vibrant and fervent force that it is today. 

divisions of the internal space x, 2019, by jose davila / bench QD02, 2019, by david lopez quincoces

van hagen opened his first what’s up exhibition in london in 2016. the concept for the show was built on the question of what’s up today — who are the artists to look out for in both public and private collections — and championed both rising talents and significant contemporary and post war artists. this concept still holds true today, and with nine successful exhibitions in five different locations to date (london, new york, hong kong and seoul), what’s up continues to rise.

dimensional labyrinth, 2006, by jeppe hein

spread across five digital galleries, this latest iteration brings together a spectacular selection of over 30 critically acclaimed artists and eight prominent global designers, each hailing from different backgrounds, cultural heritages and artistic influences. viewers of the virtual version of the what’s up series are transported into never seen before fictional spaces to experience these chosen artists in a new light.

taking inspiration from celebrated architectural movements and intellects such as luis barragán, david chipperfield or tadao ando, the galleries were created exclusively for the exhibition, and hope to enhance the cultural richness of the show. transporting visitors to places one can only dream of at the moment, each exhibition space is housed within striking, fictional corners of the world. 

(left) untitled, 2013, by harold ancart / untitled, 2012, by harold ancart
(right) phg.s.01, 2012, by thomas ruff / twister shell, 2019, by deidre dyson

in the first space, within an open-air gallery of concrete walls suggestive of japanese master tadao ando’s architecture, a subject sculpture by sir. antony gormley and a geometric painting by josé dávila meets an interactive mirror sculpture by jeppe hein, reflecting the surrounding mediterranean environment and furniture design by david lopez quincoces.

meanwhile, in the sophisticated backdrop of a parisian apartment influenced by the seascapes and sunset hues of southern california, a translucent sculpture by dewain valentine meets the black opacity of an iconic outrenoir by pierre soulages and a small-scale gem by the eminent post-war german artist gerhard richter. blurring the dichotomies between abstraction and figuration, a painting by emerging star aks misyuta, reminiscent of picasso’s large bathers, engages in an easy symbiosis with a painting by harold ancart, structured like a musical partition. the carefully curated collection in this room is completed with a large-scale abstract photograph by berlin-based artist thomas ruff and a rare 1980s historical painting by georg baselitz.  

nine ‘shadow paintings’ by andy warhol / palmyra bench, 2019, by roberto sironi

the third space — a mexican ‘casa’ inspired by the architecture of luis barragán — shows a compilation of nine shadow paintings by known-to-all pop-art artist andy warhol — one of the artist’s most sought after series — meets the relational aesthetics of a rirkrit tiravanija mirror, and a cult-of-celebrity flat by alex israel, placed alongside a painting by rising star richard kennedy, expressing his experience as a black queer man.

(left) dream of body intact, 2019, by katherina olschbaur / untitled (flat), 2012, by alex israel
(right) untitled (flat), 2012, by alex israel / future memories, 2019 by georges mohasseb

meanwhile, on view in a space evoking a venetian palazzo, a monumental target painting by ugo rondinone is placed in dialogue with flare, a painting by colour field founding father kenneth noland and designer gabriel chipperfield. next door, the hypnotic and spiritual temper of a large-scale painting by the young bolivian-american artist donna huanca ventures into conversation with the surrealist ambiance of swiss-born artist nicolas party’s painting birds. one can wonder in awe at a monumental neon sculpture by LA light and space master robert irwin.

flare, 1976, by kenneth noland / untitled, 2019, by gabriel chipperfield / the jazz-man by robert irwin

finally, in the middle of the utah desert, a vast, contemporary-looking museum resides, where a brent wadden hand-woven tapestry on canvas sits alongside the sophisticated design of a pierre paulin tapis siège, an alabaster painting by sterling ruby and a stone and a marble sculpture by alicja kwade.

the jazz-man (#27 x 6ft.), 2014, by robert irwin / metatl, 2019, by pedro reyes

in these times of restricted movement and social unrest, WHAT’S UP / TWENTY TWENTY hopes to provide an invigorating online experience that holds no confines of social or artistic movement, space or time and aims to celebrate cultural diversity. it is a digital reimaging of the traditional exhibition as we know it, and an innovative celebration of a global connectedness amongst the art world. 

untitled (mitsuwa), 2015, by gabriel kuri / déclive n°1, 1970, by pierre paulin