Author: The Auction Collective
Published: 11 Mar 2024
Top 5 Artists | Huma Kabakcı
A spotlight on the top 5 next gen artists from those that know. This week's Top 5 comes from Turkish-British curator and art producer Huma Kabakcı.
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Huma Kabakcı (b. London, 1990) is a Turkish-British curator, art producer and former founding director of Open Space, living and working in London.
She graduated with her BA in Advertising and Marketing at the London College of Communication and completed her MA & MPhil degrees in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art, London.
Huma has worked at commercial galleries, biennials, museums and auction houses, both in the UK and Turkey, in many different capacities. Open Space has collaborated with institutions such as Block Universe Performance Festival, Delfina Foundation, Fiorucci Art Trust, Flat Time House and IKSV (Istanbul Biennial Foundation).
Her curatorial interest lies in creating immersive experiences and a wider dialogue in collaboration with multidisciplinary practitioners. Her key areas of interest and knowledge focus on diaspora, gender & identity politics, food as a medium and hospitality.
Whenever she finds time, Huma also manages NHK Collection, bequeathed by her late father Nahit Kabakci comprising over 900 works featuring contributions from over 200 artists representing diverse artists on a global scale. Thoughtfully collected since the 1980s, the intergenerational collection is one of the most important examples of consciously created and well-sustained collections in Turkey.
Photography Credit: Ben Peter Catchpole
Header Image: Artworks by Melania Toma
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Olha Prymakk
Image Credits (left to right):
At Land (2023), oil on linen, 40 x 50 cm
Can’t believe you are sharing this, this could save the world (2023), oil on linen, 140 x 200 cm
"Olha Pryymak is a Ukrainian-born artist based in London, who graduated in 2023 from Royal College of Art with an MA in Painting. Her most recent group show is “Bread” with OHSH projects. I came across her practice through Inês Neto dos Santos who I collaborated with for our Tender Touches exhibition back in 2019. I became friends first with Olha and love following what she does next. If the opportunity arises I would love to collaborate with her"
Olha Pryymak is a Ukrainian-born artist based in London, graduating in 2023 from Royal College of Art with an MA in Painting. Her most recent shows include: ‘Angel in the house’, Studio West gallery 2023, ‘Positions, part one’, Alma Pearl Gallery 2023, High Official at Scoop, Saatchi Gallery, London 2023, Friends and Family, Hong Kong Art Basel OVR, Pi Artworks 2022, Stand with Ukraine, fundraising show, Hales Gallery, London 2022, RAW at Soho Revue, London 2022 and the Festival of Intimacy, UCL, London, 2021.
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Fluid Table
Image Credits: Close Red by Fluid Table
Creation Date: 28/01/2023
Creation Location: London
Materials: Installation part: Aluminum; Cutlery; Red cotton yarn/ Food creation: Jam; Baguette; Cookies; Homemade candies; Flavoured bits.
"This is going to be an experimental recommendation and not so commercial, but I have always enjoyed the intersection between food and art. I have recently been in touch with Fluid Table - a food art practice group composed of Fo, CN, and Minxi, using food as the artistic medium. They explore dining activities and dynamic relationships primarily through ceramics, fabrics, installations, photography, sound, and performance art. I can’t wait to see what else they do next and how they expand their practice later on"
Fluid Table are a collective specialising in Installation, food, and performance. Their work explores the dynamic relationships that emerge during the dining experience. Food is used as an art material to reduce the distance between people and the work, conveying stories through the process of consuming and tasting.
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Didem Erbas
Image Credits:
Didem Erbas, Ceiling Bunker
Site-specific Installation, Led neon light, aluminum platform, pencil on paper, 2x2x2x2 m, 2020
"I wouldn’t call her quite emerging as she is currently realising her PhD in Foundation in Art & Design at Mimar Sinan University, but I thought I’d highlight her as she might not be known in London. I met Didem at Delfina Foundation during her residency not long ago and had a very engaging and pleasant critique session. Didem works with installation, site-specific installation/intervention, paintings, and video in her practice. In her works, she is interested in socio-political issues in her living geography – Turkey. She focuses on topics such as geography, housing, tracing, and transformation as well as architectural structures and changing perspectives."
Didem Erbas works with installation, site-specific installation/intervention, paintings, and video. She is particularly interested in socio-politic issues in her living geography – Turkey. Geography, housing, tracing, and transformation of the spaces are the topics she focuses on.
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Melania Toma
Image Credits: Melania Toma
“Melania is an artist that has been on my radar for a year now. She is an Italian multi-disciplinary artist living and working in London, exploring narrative subjectivity through webs of gender, power hierarchies, and ecological degradation. I love her use of vibrant colours and materiality in her paintings and large sculptures, enmeshed with fluffy fabric that are so tactile and inviting."
Melania Toma is an Italian multi-disciplinary artist living and working in London. She questions the palimpsest of colonial ideologies and narratives that are necessarily linked to them, through research that highlights the theme of collecting as a practice. Recent exhibitions include a group show at Pictorum Gallery, “Embodied Selfhood”.
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Can Sun
Image Credits:
Can Sun, Untitled (2020), 14.8 cm x 18.5 cm (without frame)
Photograph print, edition of 5
“In the Summer 2022 RCA Graduate show, I discovered the Chinese Contemporary Artist Can Sun who was in the Photography department. I loved how ephemeral and playful his work was and the two glasses touched me on a personal level.”
Can Sun's works mainly focus on the absurdity of the world and the relationship between people by taking daily objects that people tend to ignore as the subject of creation. Through a process of recontextualisation, Sun transforms daily objects into playful and self-mocking sculptures. This kind of humour is not only an acknowledgement of the absurdity of the world but also a revolt against it.
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