Nino Sarabutra: Now or Yesterday?
15-20 November 2022
4 Cromwell Place, Gallery 7, London SW7 2JE
Tuesday 15 Nov: VIP Preview 5-7pm.
Wednesday-Saturday: 10am – 6pm. Sunday 10am – 4pm
Now or Yesterday? further advances and reinvigorates Nino Sarabutra’s trademark theme of the exploration of human emotions. Encouraging the audience to contemplate love, life, and the very spirit of being alive, the Thai artist presents a new series that summons the viewer to consider the climate change crisis as a direct result of human behaviour, as well as the imperativeness of addressing it. Communicating how, as citizens, we must possess a higher purpose, love and respect, not just for ourselves and others, but for nature and the planet, she fills the gallery with ceramic and clay works that represent love in all its forms.
From a new series of hearts and monoprints, as well as a commissioned mobile, these works remind us of how tenuous life is and invite the spectator to contemplate who they aspire to be. Nino’s renowned skull installation WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND? will also be showcased in London for the very first time.
This exhibition is supported by Chang Beer (UK & Europe) and Monsoon Valley Wines.
About the artist
After graduating in ceramic art from Silpakorn University in Bangkok, Nino Sarabutra (b. 1970, Thailand) spent nearly 20 years working as an advertising creative in various agencies before becoming a full-time artist in 2008.
Nino’s work focuses on communication. Her work stimulates self-reflection so audiences consider their position in life, how it feels to be human, what factors drive their emotions, what motivates them. In 2009 Nino presented her first solo exhibition Exploring Love with walls of ceramic hearts framing images of all that we can love. Since then she has explored death, sensuality, spirituality, food, and human greed. Her exhibitions, and Nino herself, are defined by the genuine joy of living.
Nino’s most recognisable work WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND? was created in 2012 with 125,000 porcelain skulls filling a gallery to remind us of the precious nature of life. Since then, it has been developed through shows in Bangkok, Singapore, New York, Venice, Paris, and the Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. She has held regular solo and group exhibitions in Bangkok, New York, Manila, Singapore, Berlin, and Venice.
Image: Nino Sarabutra, Now or Yesterday? Installation view, ceramic hearts, 2022. Image courtesy of the artist.
Previous Projects
Rituals & Rebirths – 10-22 May, 2022 – 4 Cromwell Place, Gallery 1, London, UK
Part of London Gallery Weekend 13-15 May, 2022
Rituals and Rebirths was a group exhibition that examined the performances of three diasporic Southeast Asian multi-disciplinary artists, constructed around the rituals concerning the rebirths of their oeuvres and the marking of time. These three artists living between cultures, with transnational hybrid identities, were brought together for the first time alongside one another. This formidable trio – Anida Yoeu Ali (b.1974, Cambodia), Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen (b.1970, Philippines), and Quỳnh Lâm (b.1988, Vietnam) – brought to a new audience an opportunity to reflect upon their experiences of crisis, displacement, and otherness, through their rituals, renewals, responses and provocations.
Presented as an installation of videos, photographs, symbolic objects and artefacts, and two participatory performances by Rasmussen and Lam, the artists documented the passing of time in each of their ceremonies. Ali’s The Red Chador installation illustrates the death and rebirth of a provocative and politicized alter ego. Rasmussen’s 23.5° performance demonstrates the cyclical nature of life, while Lam’s Price of Humanity performance illuminates the tumultuous journey of a nomadic outcast. Rituals and Rebirths explored the intersections of the three artists’ responses to both their personal and geo-political narratives that have shaped their identities.
About the artists
Anida Yoeu Ali (b. 1973, Cambodia) is a multi-disciplinary artist living & working in the USA. Ali’s works include performance, installation, videos, images, public encounters, and political agitation. Ali’s works have been exhibited at the Haus der Kunst, Palais de Tokyo, Musée d’art Contemporain Lyon, Shangri-La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design and the Queensland Art Gallery. She is a recipient of the 2020 Art Matters Fellowship and the 2015 Sovereign Asian Art Prize. She graduated with an MFA from School of the Art Institute Chicago. Ali serves as a Senior Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington Bothell and travels between the Asia-Pacific region and the USA.
Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen (b.1970, Philippines) is a performance artist who is living & working in Denmark. Cuenca Rasmussen has exhibited and performed internationally including at KIASMA Art Museum, Helsinki, Brooklyn Museum, New York, Tate Modern, London, Performa, New York, Venice Biennale, Thessaloniki biennale, Busan Biennale, The Drawing Room Manila, Röda Sten, Gothenburg, AROS Art Museum, Aarhus, National Gallery, Singapore, in Copenhagen: SMK/National Gallery Denmark, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen Contemporary.
Quỳnh Lâm (b.1988, Vietnam) is an interdisciplinary artist who is living & working in the USA. Lâm works in performance, installation, video, and mixed media. She was the recipient of the 2019 Art Future Prize, Taiwan. She has exhibited work in Vietnam and abroad, including at The Factory Contemporary Arts Center in Ho Chi Minh City; Art Formosa in Taipei; The Vincom Center for Contemporary in Hanoi; Richard Koh Fine Art Gallery, Singapore; and Mana Contemporary in Chicago, New Jersey and Miami.
Images: installation shots of ‘Rituals & Rebirths,’ Anida Yoeu Ali ‘The Red Chador’ and Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen ‘Today is your’, 2022. Courtesy of the artists, A.I. Gallery and Peruke Projects.