Collecting the art of our time

Anne Collier is interested in mass media and pop culture imagery of the 1960s to 1980s, creating carefully staged photographs that draw on sources including advertisements, posters, art magazines and the covers of vinyl records. Created in 2019, ‘Woman Crying (Comic) #21’ is based on images from the covers of vintage graphic romance novels – each telling a cliché story of a female protagonist whose emotions are trivialized. Collier's dramatically cropped and pixelated images of women crying recall works by Roy Lichtenstein – an iconic artist who was also known for his use of appropriated images.

Quisqueya Henriquez creates multifaceted works that combine a sense of humor with a focus on themes including race, ethnicity and gender in Caribbean and Latin American cultures. ‘Current Obsession I’ (2019), is an assemblage created from perfume boxes that the artist collected from across the world over a twenty-year period. Each has been deconstructed and reassembled into geometric configurations and colored with automotive paint. The work follows Henriquez’s interest in melding aspects of high and low culture, using perfume boxes that would ordinarily be discarded and arranging them in a composition that evokes modern abstraction.

Tiffany Chung fled Vietnam as a child, escaping to the United States before returning years later to establish a studio. Drawing inspiration from her experience in Vietnam, Chung creates cartographic drawings, embroideries, sculptures, videos and performances that explore current and historical incidences of migration, as well as displacement and environmental change. ‘Guatemala, UFCo PBSUCCESS 06.1954’ (2019) is part of a body of work that traces the history of conflict in Central America and the resulting migrations of populations. This work highlights the US government’s involvement in Guatemala’s United Fruit Company, which dominated the tropical fruit trade.

Pae White has gained international renown for visually astounding works that transform everyday materials through intricate craftsmanship and inventive processes. Spanning monumental installations, tapestries, video projections, sculptures and works on paper, her varied output invites viewers to look again, offering unexpected twists and visual puzzles. Created in 2019, ‘Then’ resembles a tapestry or carved stucco, but is in fact made from Japanese paper clay (clay with pulp or fiber added to it), applied to a wooden panel. Detailed patterns were created using tools in White’s studio, pushed into the clay while it was still moist and malleable, before the application of colored dye.

Moshekwa Langa creates work that has been described as “visual anthropology”¹, reflecting on the experience of growing up in a small town in his native South Africa, as well as his later travels and his life in Europe. ‘Mamorkarane’, from 2017, resembles a colorful tapestry. It is an intimate map of his life: layers of lacquer, acrylic tape and other accumulated materials correspond to different periods in his personal history, traveling between homes and studios in Paris, Amsterdam and Johannesburg. As in many of his works, the title is derived from the names of places, events and people that have influenced the artist’s journey and development.

Ronny Quevedo’s drawings, sculptures and installations feature abstract matrixes of line and color, referencing athletic fields, gymnasiums, maps, architectural blueprints and constellations. Each typically address personal and political themes: “[my] artwork provides a space where I can symbolically represent the complex geopolitical movements of immigrant communities and communities of color,” ² explains Quevedo, who moved to the US from Ecuador. In ‘Homegrown (tahuantinsuyu in motion)’ (2019), the artist employs materials including gold leaf and dressmaker’s wax, that allude to his mother’s work as a seamstress and the role of gold in the history of his native South America.

Matti Braun is interested in cross-cultural phenomena and the effects of globalization, which he explores through textile works, photography and monumental installations. ‘Untitled’ (2019) consists of silk, stretched like canvas, onto which the artist has applied fabric dye, creating kaleidoscopic effects and passages of vivid color. The technique draws inspiration from Braun's research into the production of traditional textiles for religious or ritualistic ceremonies, while the choice of material references the ancient Silk Road – a conduit for goods and ideas that connected East and West from the 2nd century BCE to the 1800s.

Jenny Holzer began to paper lower Manhattan with posters bearing ‘truisms’ in the late 1970s³ , later turning to advertising billboards, projections on architectural structures and LED signs – her most frequently used medium. The subjects of her work are varied – from abuse of power, social engagement and feminism, to the concerns and uncertainties of everyday life. ‘36’ (2018) is from her ongoing ‘Redaction series’ of drawings, paintings and prints, which explore censorship and the concept of erasure. Holzer superimposes lines of color on page 36 of a redacted 2008 government report entitled ‘The United States Government-Wide Cyber Counter-intelligence Plan'.

On display in UBS offices around the world, works from the UBS Art Collection are also regularly loaned to international institutions and feature in a rotating program of curated exhibitions at the UBS Art Gallery in New York – brought to life through exclusive videos, stories and artist interviews on the UBS Art website and social media channels.

¹ https://www.1-54.com/marrakech/artists/langa-moshekwa/

² https://bombmagazine.org/articles/making-space-ronny-quevedo-interviewed/

³ https://www.thecut.com/2018/10/women-and-power-jenny-holzer.html