Art / Spike island
Olu Ogunnaike and Young In Hong feature in Spike Island’s spring exhibition programme
Spike Island has announced its spring exhibition programme, which will be headed up by two artists, running in tandem with one another.
Working across sculpture, performance, installation and printmaking, Olu Ogunnaike is a London-based artist concerned with life cycles of a range of materials, from wood and charcoal, to mud and metal.
Reappropriating salvaged materials from the Avon riverbed, and the historic boatyard at Underfall Yard that was recently damaged by fire – Ogunnaike has produced the large scale work: Fix Your Face.
is needed now More than ever
A site-specific commission for Spike Island’s gallery space, its title refers to the mud and charcoal utilised in the installation – both of which are often used in facial treatments to minimise or cover up imperfections.
“As Ogunnaike sees it,” organisers say, “this is similar to the surface-level treatments that are being applied by local and central governments to patch up the deep wounds of the UK’s deteriorating industrial traditions.”
Photograph by Olu Ogunnaike – photo: courtesy of the Artist
Alongside Ogunnaike’s work, the gallery is showing Five Acts, a new commission and exhibition by Bristol artist and Spike Island studio holder, Young In Hong.
Encompassing an eclectic range of non-linguistic genres, from tapestry to sculpture, video and performance, Hong’s work communicates the complex and enduring bond between humans and animals.
Central to the collection is a 40 metre-long embroidered tapestry, suspended from the ceiling in an elliptical frame.
The piece depicts Korean women workers and their campaign for fair and equitable pay and conditions under Japanese colonial rule in the mid-20th century.
Two newly commissioned works accompany the tapestry: the sculptural installation Ring of Animals (2023) which is accompanied by an intermittent soundtrack of field recordings and electronic sounds, and video The White Mask (2021), which features musicians improvising around the idea of ‘becoming animal’.
Young In Hong, Meta-hierarchical Exercise’ (2022). Performance, twenty-four scores, nine performers – photo: courtesy of Seoul Museum of Art and the artist
Olu Ogunnaike: Fix Your Face and Young In Hong: Five Acts are at Spike Island from February 3-May 5 2024, Wednesday-Sunday 12-5pm (closed Monday and Tuesday). More information on the programme is available from www.spikeisland.org.uk. Gallery entry is free and you do not need to book.
Main photo: Olu Ogunnaike
Read more: Spike Island hosts solo exhibition from the late Ofelia Rodríguez: ‘Talking in Dreams’
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