Young Dreams Part III

Août Gallery’s group exhibition Young Dreams is live through April 15. You can visit us Monday to Friday 10 am to 6 pm, or schedule a private tour. Be sure to pass by for a small dream.

And now, let’s talk about the remaining artists and their artworks.

Andrew Maughan (born in the UK in 1987), graduated in 2009 from North Umbria Universitywith a BFA, with honors. Today, the artist is furthermore expanding his academic background, taking on a Master of Arts in the Royal Academy of Arts.

In Maughan’s paintings, the sinister is consistently undermined by the mundane. Portraits of a Zodiac-like figure named the Great Assassin, show him guilty of little more than doing nothing: smoking cigarettes and eating ice-cream. His passivity in the face of climate change addresses a specific, familiar brand of moral ambiguity: an awareness of being complicit in the problems of the world, but slow to sacrifice comfort for the cause. Calling on classic spy tropes and suspect photographs, the Great Assassin series seeks to address the role of the media in generating public fear and paranoia, and the political consequences therein.

Maughan is currently based in London.

Ralf Kokke (born in 1989 in Rotterdam Zuid) graduated in 2014 with a BFA in painting from the Royal Academy of Fine Art.

In his works, Kokke directly delves into the social condition of stevedores (inspired by his family of dockers), in their isolation as a community from other social circles.
The physical and psychological effects of hard labor are mirrored in the crookedness of his paintings. This imperfection perfectly depicts the laborers, in the form of cartoon-like figures, in their desire to emancipate themselves from their almost immutable fate, as if cemented in their condition.

By reflecting on the struggles of the working class in the capitalist cycles, Ralf immortalizes human oppression in the form of paintings.

The artist is currently based in Dordrecht.

Born in China, Su Wong moved to Greece in 2019, after a year filled with travel and painting.

Wong obtained both a BFA in Nanyang Academy of Fine arts (2012) and an MFA in Central Saint Martins (2015).

Bathed in encompassing Chinese Tradition, Wong’s artwork portrays the physical and the spiritual landscape of Greece, with a traditional twist, coalescing her experience into one.

As a landscape artist, she depicts the vast and the romantic, in an almost divine-like manner.

Her oeuvre intends to embark the viewers on a creative journey, and invite them to a personal and unique experience.

The artist currently lives in Greece.

Ghost Base with Flowers, 2020 Pablo Benzo

Pablo Benzo (born in Santiago, Chile in 1982) studied Graphic Design at the University of Chile.

In his work,the artist mostly depicts vases and interior objects. Albeit, he has recently started introducing human features in his compositions.

Benzo is currently based in Berlin.

JUNE162020_III, 2020 Toru Ishii

Toru Ishii (born in 1981 in Shizuoka) is a Japanese artist. He received his BA (2006), MA (2010), and Ph.D (2014) from Tokyo University of the Arts, as well as an MA (2008) from Chelsea College of Arts and Design.

In his work, the artists depicts news and images taken from the internet on specific dates, and proceeds to paint them from memory.

Ishii is currently based in London.

Untitled, 2019 Jeehyee Song — Untitled, 2019 Jeehye Song

Jeehye Song (born in Seoul, South Korea) majored in Print Making and graduated from Chugye University for the Arts (2010). Three years later she received her bachelor’s degree in Metal Art and Design at Seoul National University of Science & Technology.

The artist’s work is inspired by her daily life, that she transforms into unusual situations and scenarios, in order to create new perspectives.

Song lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.