Welcome to Melting Pot; an artist-led project; 4 women exploring a range of issues through painting: including identity, ideas of home, belonging and inter-cultural dynamics.
The project is organised by Barbara Ash, and Katarina Rasic.
Melting Pot billboard at UB City, Bangalore, South India May 2016.
Venues on the Melting Pot tour so far are :
KASHI ART GALLERY, Kerala, India, April, 2016
The project is organised by Barbara Ash, and Katarina Rasic.
Venues on the Melting Pot tour so far are :
SUBLIME GALLERIA, Bangalore, India, May 2016
KOMBANK ART HALL, Belgrade, Serbia, June 2016
THE SERBIAN EMBASSY, London, U.K, 2016
THE NEHRU CENTRE, (Cultural wing of Indian High Commission) London, U.K, July 2016
GALLERY BEYOND, Mumbai, India, January 2017
KOMBANK ART HALL, Belgrade, Serbia, June 2016
THE SERBIAN EMBASSY, London, U.K, 2016
THE NEHRU CENTRE, (Cultural wing of Indian High Commission) London, U.K, July 2016
GALLERY BEYOND, Mumbai, India, January 2017
Next show
MELTING POT ARTISTS
Barbara Ash
"The Melting Pot project provided scope for me to explore the position of living outside my home culture, living a kind of "double life"; navigating the complex issues of being a foreigner working in India (and in addition being English) giving the opportunity to, albeit tentatively, touch on colonial history and juxtapose the intimacy of the personal dimension
- my family history, background and early years, against the backdrop of a wider historical-political dynamic."
"Exotic
playground". Watercolour, acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2016.
I put this moment here. Acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2016.
Here & there. Watercolour, acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2015 - 16
Elephant in the room, Watercolour, acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2015 - 16
Foreigners (after
Marlene Dumas) Watercolour, acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2016.
Self-portrait on the
border (after Frida Kahlo). Watercolour, acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2015 - 16.
Skeletons in the
closet. Watercolour, acrylic, canvas, 32" x 40", 2016.
"In a single frame, Barbara Ash juxtaposes objects,
figures, patterns and landscapes distanced in time and space, producing new
meanings and creating personalised simultaneous narratives. There is a sense of
fragmentation and loss, offset by feelings of irony and humour induced by the
sometimes incongruous visual pairings. These pairings are contextualised under
the larger purview of her status as an outsider resident in India, and the
consciousness of a colonial identity. The repetitive portrayal of childhood and
extreme youth seemingly presents a device to consign memory to a safe and
dreamlike zone in the past of the artist’s life, where complex realities may be
easily explained."
Lina
Vincent, Curator & Art Historian, 2016
"Hailing form a country with a turbulent history, I can say that my cultural identity was formed as a blend of many different influences. In my Art I am using symbols to tell my story, my feelings, my memories; trying to mingle all these elements together in the complex configuration of my identity; assembled from bits and pieces of my memories traced on my skin. Fragments of these figures all unite in one complex, iconic image of a child endeavouring to consume the "Lollipop" - the World - showing the hunger for the new and for unknown explorations."
World explorations 1, Acrylic,
oil and gold leaf on canvas, 42”
x 36”, 2016.
"A cultural connection colours the
mind and heart. For Katarina Rasic the essences of her domicile, Serbia,
and influences of her temporary home, India, come together as she portrays her
transforming self as a symbol of flux and change. Her body, her skin becomes
the site to map her journey between cultures. Rasic exploits the language of
repetition, providing straightforward and partially abstracted templates upon
which to build complexity. There are oblique references to desire, domination,
femininity and innocence interspersed in the imagery; the use of gold leaf
brings in alternation, a projection of high sophistication and popular culture.
The child form emerges as a metaphor for possession and loss."
Lina Vincent, Curator & Art Historian, 2016
Pritam Bhatty
"As part of addressing the theme of identity and belonging, I decided to play around with the visual heritage that some of my family belonged to, for example, my grandmothers, one was Sinhalese and the other was Dutch. As an artist, I consider this enriching and intrinsic to who I am... Grandma and Nani both mean the same thing. Ruhani - spiritual, pertaining to the soul and Jalsa is celebration or festival, and so of course the presence of so many religious cultures in my life has been a joyful thing, even if I have ended up as an atheist."
Grandma, Watercolour, gouache, canvas, 20" x 24"
Nana, Watercolour, gouache, canvas, 20" x 24"
Doolie. Watercolour, gouache, canvas. 24" x 30", 2016.
Knit One. Watercolour, gouache, canvas. 20"x 24", 2016.
Accident, Watercolour, gouache, canvas. 20" x 24", 2016.
"Pritam Bhatty works in finely layered
washes of watercolour, playing with devices of concealment and revelation that
situate her exploration of a personal history. Her visuals are often
constructed around portraiture, and she sometimes combines the use of text and
image. Pattern-work of foliage becomes part of several works; for example the
designs that surround the portraits of her maternal and paternal grandmothers carry
forward their respective cultural design-legacies, one being Sinhalese and the
other Dutch. Bhatty captures a sense of solitude within her work, the figures,
sometimes herself, emerge from a surreal background, disconnected from it and
yet deriving form from its presence."
Priti Vadakkath
30 x 20 inches, Watercolour on 640gsm Arches paper,
20 x 19 inches,Watercolour on 640 gsm Arches paper.
30 x 15 inches, Charcoal on 300 gsm Arches paper
30 x 15 inches, Charcoal on 300 gsm Arches paper
30 x 15 inches, Charcoal on 300 gsm Arches paper
30 x 15 inches, Charcoal on 300 gsm Arches paper
39 and 1/2 x 18 inches, Watercolour on 300gsm paper
Priti Vadakkath’s use of watercolour juxtaposes tautness and lucidity
within a palette of earth shades, greens, and blue- greys, with intermittent oases of intense colour.
About her creative source, Priti says “There is so much going on in the world
around us, but at a fundamental level our inner self defines who we are, that
is the boundary I am exploring, and trying to push. This inward journey doesn’t
necessarily take one to the centre, but in fact illuminates the margins of our
existence. In those margins lies the truth about us all. My work, dwell on the
delicate internal negotiations between freedom and order, without it
disintegrating into a hyperbole of a terminal, fatal struggle.”
The images are mostly sourced from her own family albums but in using them
there is a deliberate surrender of fidelity, and an abstraction that lies in
bleaching out all characteristics of the original and juxtaposition of images
to convey the central idea behind the creation of the image.
"The ‘Melting pot’ conjures up an image of diverse elements poetically mingling and merging together, with bits and pieces of resistance preventing complete homogenisation of the mixture. The compilation of work symbolically carries forward the theme; individually, and jointly, the four artists’ paintings represent notions of absorbing, adopting and alternately rejecting cultural influences that have framed their respective life experiences.
The exhibition marks similarities and differences in their perspectives, while highlighting the hybrid nature of their practices. The imagery is visibly transnational, tracing lineages, exploring roots, and morphing disparate histories through visual narrative. References to stereotypes, and significant engagement with the self and the other in varied environments, feature as central motifs, as do nuanced allusions to India as a nation. Barbara Ash, Pritam Bhatty, Katarina Rasic and Gayatri Gamuz navigate physical and conceptual boundaries, attempting to embrace the past while building bridges into the contemporary."
Lina Vincent, Art-Historian, Curator, 2016.
Gayatri Gamuz, previously showed with the first phase of the project in 2016.
“The Whole”
(el todo)
This
collection of works is of India where I live and of Spain where I come
from. My two worlds are separated by
thousands of kilometres and still so close to each other. Nations, races and religions divide the
world; however, in essence everything connects in a parallel mystery. Inside
these landscapes and people, I collect the inner side of things, details within
details in a collage of relations.
“.....That is
where the bliss comes from, because what is bliss but when we are feeling a
continuity with the whole?” (Amit Goswami on Quantum Physics)
1a
‘street in Thiruvannamalai in the year 2012’, oil on canvas, 8 x 6 inches 2016
1b
‘my sister’s daughter with her dog in the year 2013, digital print on canvas,
7 x 5 inches 2016
3a
‘girls posing for a painting in my studio in 2015’, oil on canvas, 8" x 6",
2016
3b ‘my family posing for a family portrait for
my brother’s wedding in 2011’, digital print on canvas, 8" x 6", 2016
Diptych
no 5
5a ‘beach in South India in the year 2014’,
oil on canvas, 8" x 6", 2016
5b
‘family reunion in my sister’s house in the year 2015’, digital print on
canvas, 8" x 6", 2016
"A sense of expectancy pervades
Gayatri Gamuz’s works; the scenes she presents appear as moments frozen in time, from
where the possible directions of thought and action are multiple. Rhythmic comparisons
of then and now, there and here, distance and proximity are visually
constructed through parallel placement of painting and photograph. The artist
brings different worlds together, drawing on her memories and emotional
experiences connected to each; the viewer becomes a spectator to these records
of unknown people and places which exude both a sense of alienation and
familiarity. Her work is located between the two nations she identifies with
physically (and culturally) – India and Spain."
PRIVATE VIEW OF THE LAUNCH OF THE MELTING POT TOUR
http://www.kashiartgallery.com/project/melting-pot/
Opening night at
Kashi Art gallery, Kerala, South India, April 2016
PRESS CLIPPINGS
New Indian Express preview feature
An article in The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/four-artists-in-the-melting-pot/article8426421.ece
On common ground
TOPICS
Four artists negotiate their different worlds in The Melting Pot
"The Melting Pot, a travelling show that opened at Kashi Art Gallery, Fort Kochi, recently, brings together four women artists. Their expressions find common ground in negotiating their different worlds, in their cases either two or more. Barbara Ash from England who shuttles between India and her mother land explores colonial history, the period of the English in India is not taught in schools in England. Her approach ergo moves between the personal and the political. In her five acrylic-on-canvas works, she touches on themes of the Raj, her perception of India and the discourse on national identities. Her self portrait, inspired by Frida Kahlo’s works, is placed between her childhood memories and the current world. ‘Elephant in the Room’ is a snatch of the Raj where shikar was common and the hunted displayed with imperious pride on walls of colonial buildings. ‘Exotic Playground’ is inspired by the stereotype images that a foreigner on a visit to India is familiar with. The brown girl in a flower bazaar in Bangalore and the modern UB city is a contrast that breaks the established idea of India. A re-creation of her father, clicking a photograph, and of herself on a toy elephant are images harking back to the artist’s personal world.
Serbian artist Katarina Rasic considers her stay in Bangalore transitory but home nevertheless. Trained in visual arts, Katrina works in different mediums including performance. In ‘World Explorations’ she uses patterns and motifs she grew up with and imprints them as backdrop to a personal unfolding story. She delineates the narrative inside a personal silhouette, of her adjusting to changing cultural dynamics. Use of gold paint, crochet lace and the grasshopper and varied interpretations of the images enrich her storytelling. Uttarakhand artist Pritam Bhatty celebrates her mixed ancestry that draws strength from cultures as far and diverse as Dutch, Sinhalese and Indian.
“We are all exploring childhood, womanhood, beginnings, belonging issues,” says Barbara on the theme of the show. Gayatri Gamuz has addressed this subject in most of her works and has expressed evocatively on her adjustment between her different worlds. Her Spanish origin and her life in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have thrown up interesting situations that she celebrates. Nostalgia is seen in sepia works—scenes at her brother’s wedding in Spain and family get-togethers therein. The past is done digitally in black and white while the present is celebrated in colours. Hence charming landscapes—the seaside, countryside—are recreated. Gayatri’s work stands out by the sheer drop in canvas size in comparison to others works in the show. Slightly bigger than post cards, their smallness imparts a fresh intensity to her narrative. A video show along with the works adds to the telling.
The Melting Pot is not a conceptually new story but each individual exploration is fresh and delightful, each story line different and every fusion creating new frontiers. The show is charming for these fresh new stories, new plots and new tellings."
The show concludes on April 18 and is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/four-artists-in-the-melting-pot/article8426421.eceTimes of India feature
Join our facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/melting.pot2016/
EARLIER WORKS & BIO'S
The paintings below are recent selections of earlier works (not works created for the show) and artist biographies.
BARBARA ASH
Barbara Ash graduated with a Masters Degree in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London, and was awarded the prestigious Henry Moore Fellowship, based for one year at Canterbury College of Art. She has received several awards; two Artists Grants from the Arts Council of Great Britain, a recipient for the Year of the Artist Award, and most recently a “Judges Favourite” (Mary Allen, former Secretary-General Arts council England) in the British Women Artists Annual 2015. She has shown across England and abroad, her work has been presented in solo and curated group exhibitions in U.K, U.S, Europe and Asia.
" I'm a visual artist that creates installations, sculptures, drawings and paintings exploring childhood, and female experience and representation; using historic references from photographic archives, contemporary media shots, autobiographical elements and toy and doll imagery.”
Hole in the heart series. 1 (A series of 10). Canvas, acrylic/watercolour paint. 3 ft x 2ft. 2014
Hole in the heart series 5. (A series of 10) . Canvas, acrylic/watercolour paint. 3 1/2 ft x 2ft, 2014.
Hole in the heart series 6. (A series of 10). Canvas, acrylic/watercolour paint. 3 1/2 ft x 2ft
Hole in the heart series 7. (A series of 10). Canvas, acrylic/watercolour paint. 3ft x 2ft, 2015.
Vitality-Mortality Series 1. (A series of 1 – 11). Canvas, acrylic
paint. 2ft x 2ft, 2014.
KATARINA RASIC
Katarina Rasic is an artist from Belgrade, Serbia, working and living in Belgrade and Bangalore. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, and was awarded the “Young Talents of Republic of Serbia”. Katarina is a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia. Through travelling and experiencing new places, her art is constantly changing and developing new levels, exploring different ways of expression, through painting and performance work.
She has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions in Serbia and abroad. Her latest project, in collaboration with Jeetin Rangher and Bhuvanesh Kumar, is “Art Adda; an intervention in broken spaces” in Bangalore, a project supported by the Indian Foundation for Art.
Reflections,
acrylic on canvas, 165 x 120 cm, 2015.
Reflections,
acrylic on canvas, 165 x 120 cm, 2015
Reflections,
acrylic on canvas, 180 x 150 cm, 2015
Reflections,
acrylic on cardboard, 100 x 70 cm, 2015
Reflections, acrylic on cardboard, 100 x 70 cm, 2015
You can see a more detailed biography and artworks: http://www.katarinarasic.rs/
GAYATRI GAMUZ
Gayatri Gamuz was born in Spain and has been living in South India for most of her adult life, she started her art practice in Kochi in the nineties, a period when the contemporary visual art movement was burgeoning in Kerala. She has been living in India since 1992 together with her husband, Kerala born poet and writer Ananda Surya, and their two children.
In 2010 Gayatri was selected to participate in the prestigious course “Maestros de la Figuración” (Figurative Masters) directed by the Maestro Painter Antonio López Garcia in the University of Navarra, Pamplona. In 2013 she had a solo retrospective in Contemporary Museum Fundación Antonio Perez in Cuenca, Spain.
In search
of somewhere else, oil on canvas, 287 x 145 cm
Chinese
doll in South India, oil on canvas, 145 x 145 cm
In search
of something else, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
www.gayatrigamuz.com
Bloodlines 20, 6"x 6“, digital print on canvas with embroidery, 2012-14
Time passages 6, 6.8"x 9" digital print on canvas with
embroidery, 2012 - 2014
Time passages 43, 12"x 16" digital print on canvas
with embroidery, 2012 - 2014
Bloodlines 20, 6"x 6“, digital print on canvas with embroidery, 2012-14
Related stuff
Interesting article on artists movements around the world from : http://www.kunstkritikk.com/kommentar/all-good-artists-are-migrants/?do_not_cache=1
PRITAM BHATTY
Pritam Bhatty is an Indian artist living and working in Pune, she studied painting from Sir. J. J. School of Art, Mumbai,India, and has worked mainly in oils and water colours. She has participated in several shows in India and abroad. In her last show at Gallery Beyond in Mumbai, India; “Time Passages”, she used photographs from old family albums with embroidery and paint. She explored perceptions of memory as stored in a family album, how we relate to experiences-memories individually, the layering of meaning and the significance in time.
“Time Passages was inspired by photographs, yellowed pages and notes from her great grandfathers diary dating back to 1897, which charts his story of coming to India and settling in the, then remote district, of Pithoragarh in north India. “The diary had our photographs, steeped in family history and point of view, which made for very visually attractive documentation,” she says. “I took photographs of the pages and worked on the digital prints to create this collection.” She decided to use embroidery as “it gives a familiar feel, from the floral Victorian prints on upholstery and clothes that I have a clear memory of as a child,” she adds. "The embroidery creates a unique feel and works to keep memories, emotional connections and layering of time as a needle piercing the surface and holding all the elements together."
Time passages 30 ,
31"x 22“, digital print on canvas
with embroidery, 2012-2014
Related stuff
Interesting article on artists movements around the world from : http://www.kunstkritikk.com/kommentar/all-good-artists-are-migrants/?do_not_cache=1
All Good Artists are Migrants
Marcel Duchamp, Constantin Brancusi, Tristan Tzara and Man Ray. Paris, 1921.
When people move, the world moves too. These movements are clearly apparent in the realm of art. The vast majority of the artists who left a significant impact on twentieth-century art history crossed national boundaries one or more times during the course of their career.
Some fled from wars. Others were persecuted because of their religion or ethnicity. Some crossed the Atlantic because of the marriages they made. Some crossed borders to enter other countries because they were attracted to a particularly stimulating art scene. Some did not cross any national borders at all, but were exiles in their own country, settling in remote artist colonies outside the major cities while their country was occupied by enemy forces. Yet others travelled abroad to enroll at a particular art academy. Some were economic migrants.
The art history of the twentieth century is also the history of migration.
*
Wassily Kandinsky, born 1866, Russia. Moved to Munich in 1896 to enroll at the art academy. Remained in Germany until 1914; following the outbreak of World War I he returned to Russia, where he stayed for the duration of the war. In 1921 Kandinsky was invited to join Bauhaus by Walter Gropius and travelled to Weimar. Here he remained until 1933, at which point the Nazi party seized power and shut down the Bauhaus school, where Kandinsky was a teacher. Kandinsky then settled in France, where he remained until his death in 1944.
Sonia Delaunay in her own design.
Constantin Brancusi, born 1876, Rumania. Having completed his art education in his native country, Brancusi set out for Paris in 1903 in order to develop his artistic work. He remained in France until his death in 1957.
Paul Klee, born 1879, Switzerland. In 1898 Klee travelled to Munich to study at the art academy there. He was drafted to serve in the Prussian army in 1916–18. When the Nazis seized power in 1933 he held a position as professor at the Düsseldorf art academy. The Gestapo ransacked his home, prompting him to flee to Switzerland. Died in Muralto in Switzerland in 1940.
Sonia Delaunay, born 1885 in Russia in the present-day Ukraine. In 1903 the 18-year old Delauney set out for Karlsruhe to study at the art academy there. In 1905 she settled in Paris. At the outbreak of World War I Delaunay was travelling in Spain. She did not return to Paris, but spent the war years in Portugal. In 1920 she finally returned to Paris, where she stayed for the rest of her life. She died in 1979.
Marcel Duchamp, born 1887 in France. In 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, Duchamp goes to the USA where he remained throughout the war years. He lived in Argentina 1918–19, in France 1919–20, in the USA 1920–23, and in France again from 1923–42. From 1942 to1966 he lived in the USA. He spent the final two years of his life in France, where he died in 1968.
Kurt Schwitters. Foto: El Lissitzky.
Kurt Schwitters, born 1887 in Germany. By the time the Nazi regime comes into power, Schwitters was an experienced artist with international exhibitions to his name. Schwitter’s art was included in the exhibition of Entartete Kunst, and some of his works in German museums were impounded. By 1937 Schwitters was wanted by the Gestapo; he escapes to Norway, where he stayed until Norway was occupied by German forces in 1940. He then fled to Scotland, where his status as an “enemy alien” caused him to be interned in various internment camps in Scotland and England. In 1941 he was released from internment. Schwitters settled in London. Died in 1948.
Hans Richter, born 1888 in Germany. In 1916 Richter was wounded while in active service during World War I. He was sent down and moved to Zürich, where he became part of the Dada movement. He remained in Switzerland until 1940, at which point he travelled to the USA and became an American citizen. Richter stayed in the USA, teaching at the Film Institute of City College in New York. He retired in 1962 and returned to Switzerland. Died in Locarno in 1976.
Joseph Albers, born 1888 in Germany. Albers was a professor at the Bauhaus school in 1933, when the school was shut down by the Nazis. He emigrated to the USA, where he remained until his death in New Haven in 1976.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp, self-portrait with Dada-Kopf, 1920.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp, born 1889 in Switzerland. In 1911 Tauber-Arp travelled to Munich to study. She returned to Zurich in 1916 to study modern dance and choreography with Rudolf von Laban. In 1926 Tauber-Arp moved to Paris, where she became a French citizen. In 1940 she fled Paris, which had become occupied by German forces, and settled in an artist colony in Grass in the south of France together with other artists such as Jean Arp and Sonia Delaunay. She died in 1943 while travelling in Switzerland.
Man Ray, born 1890 in the USA; original name Emmanuel Radnitzky. Man Ray was the eldest child of Jewish-Russian immigrants who had changed their surname as a response to the dominant anti-Semitism of the age. Settled in Paris in 1921–41 and returned to the USA after the breakout of World War II. In 1951 Ray returned to Paris, where he died in 1976.
Naum Gabo, born 1890 in Russia to Jewish parents. In 1910 Gabo moved to Munich to study. He stayed in Germany until 1913. He then spent a year in Paris until the breakout of World War I. He fled to Denmark first and then to Norway, where he stayed until 1917. After the end of the war he returned to Russia, staying there until 1922, at which point he returned to Germany. In 1933 the Nazis seized power in Germany, prompting Gabo to flee to Paris, where he stayed until 1935. He relocated to England in 1936. He spent World War II in an artists’ colony in St. Ives in Cornwall alongside fellow artists such as Barbara Hepworth. In 1946 he moved to the USA. He died in Connecticut in 1977.
Meret Oppenheim, self portrait, x-ray, 1964.
Max Ernst, born 1891, Germany. During World War I Ernst was drafted as a soldier for the Eastern and Western Fronts alike. In 1922 he settled in Paris as an illegal immigrant. In 1939 he was held in an internment camp in Southern France due to his status as an enemy alien. He was eventually released, but arrested by the Gestapo shortly afterwards. Ernst fled to the USA, where he stayed for a decade. In 1950 he once again settled in Paris, where he stayed until his death in 1976.
László Moholy-Nagy, born 1895, Hungary. During World War I, Moholy-Nagy serves in the Austro-Hungarian army, where he was seriously wounded. In 1920 he moves to Germany. In 1933 the Nazis seize power; as a foreign citizen he was no longer allowed to work in the country. He emigrated to the Netherlands in 1934 and onwards to England from 1935 to 1937. In 1937 he moved to the USA, where he remained until his death in 1946.
Alexander Calder, born 1898, USA. Travelled to Paris in 1926 to study art and stayed in France until 1933. Subsequently spent 1933–63 in the USA and 1963–76 in France.
Louise Bourgeois, born 1911, France. Emigrated to the USA in 1938 upon marrying the American art historian Robert Goldwater. Lived in the USA until her death in 2010.
Meret Oppenheim, born 1913 in Germany. In 1914, when Oppenheim was just one year old, her father was conscripted for military service and her mother moved with her to Switzerland. In 1932 she moved to France to study. She returned to Switzerland in 1937, where she remained until her death in 1985.
Maya Deren, born 1917 in Ukraine as Eleanora Derenkowskaia. In 1922 the Derenkowskaia family flees the general persecution of Jews to travel to the USA, where Deren becomes an American citizen in 1928. Died in New York in 1961.
Lygia Clark, born 1920 in Brazil. Sets out for Paris in 1950 to study under artists such as Fernand Léger. She remained in France for 26 years before returning to Brazil in 1977. She died in Rio de Janeiro in 1988.
Nam June Paik, 1976.
Félix González-Torres.
Öyvind Fahlström, born 1928 in Brazil. In 1939 the ten-year-old Fahlström was sent to Stockholm to visit relatives. Shortly afterwards Poland was invaded by Germany, and he was left stranded in Sweden. In 1956 he moved to France, moving on to the USA in 1960, where he lived until 1976. Fahlström died in Sweden in 1976.
Niki de Saint Phalle, born 1930 in France. Saint Phalle was born into an affluent French family that lost its wealth during the Depression in the thirties. As a result, the family emigrated to the USA in 1933, where her father got a job in the American subsidiary of the family firm. Saint Phalle lived in Spain in 1953–55, in France from 1956 to 1993, and in the USA from 1994 to 2002.
On Kawara, born 1932 in Japan. In 1959 Kawara travelled to Mexico to visit his father, who worked as an engineer there. He stayed in Mexico for three years. He then lived in France in 1962–64 before finally settling in the USA. Kawara spent most of his adult life in New York, where he died in 2014.
Nam June Paik, born 1932 in Korea. At the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 the family flees first to Hong Kong and then onwards to Japan. In 1956 Paik moved to Munich to study music history. He stayed in Germany until 1964, at which points he settled in the USA until his death in 2006.
Eva Hesse, born 1936 in Germany to Jewish parents. In 1938 the two-year-old Eva Hesse and her slightly older sister were sent out of Germany as part of the Kindertransport rescue effort, first to the Netherlands, then to Great Britain and in 1939 onwards to the USA, where Hesse remained until her death in 1970.
Hannah Wilke, born 1940 in USA. Second-generation daughter of Jewish Eastern European immigrants. Lived in the USA until her death in 1993.
Sigmar Polke, born 1941 in Prussia (in the present-day Poland). In the wake of World War II German citizens were expelled from Poland, and the Polke family moved to Thuringen in East Germany. In 1953 the family flees East Germany to enter West Germany. Polke died in Cologne in 2010.
Ana Mendieta, born 1948 in Cuba. In 1961 the 13-year-old Mendieta and her sister were sent out of Fidel Castro’s Cuba during the so-called Operation Pedro Pan – a secret operation that sent around 14,000 children to the USA. Mendieta stayed in the USA up until his death in 1985.
Félix González-Torres, born in 1957 in Cuba. In 1971 the 14-year-old Gonzales-Torres and his sister were sent out of Cuba to Spain. They spent three months in an orphanage before being reunited with family members in Puerto Rico. González-Torres lived in Puerto Rico up until 1979, at which point he returned to Cuba, where he saw his parents for the first time in eight years. In 1981 his parents and two younger siblings flee Cuba. González-Torres settled in the USA, where he lived from 1979 to 1996.
This overview focuses on dead artists who have been prominent figures within twentieth-century art history. All information about the individual artists’ lives and movements – including on the causes that prompted them to cross one or more national boundaries – comes from Wikipedia and is provided without liability for any inaccuracies in the places and times stated. Many other artists could be included in this list; the number of potential examples is countless.
Maya Deren.
