Ashley Bickerton

Ashley Bickerton is a contemporary artist known for his mixed media sculptures and installations that explore themes of consumerism, ecology and cultural identity. Born in Barbados and raised in Indonesia, Bickerton's diverse cultural background has had a significant influence on his art. In the 1980s, he was associated with the "Neo-Geo" movement, which sought to critique the commodification of art through the use of industrial materials, imitating a slick, corporate aesthetic. In his multimedia installations, Bickerton incorporates photographic and painterly elements alongside found objects and mass-produced items, such as car parts and consumer electronics, to comment on the excesses of modern society. References to photorealism and surrealism surface in his paintings and drawings as he examines the ways in which contemporary society has disrupted natural environments whilst simultaneously harming our relationship with the natural world. ...

Various Small Fires (Los Angeles /Dallas /Seoul) began as a series of conversations with artists and curators in Esther Kim Varet’s Venice Beach kitchen while working on her doctoral dissertation. VSF debuted in Hollywood as an official gallery in 2015 with a roster of artists and its current Johnston MarkLee Architects-designed building. The Hollywood gallery contains three exhibition spaces, a unique sound corridor, and an outdoor gallery. VSF’s exhibition program explores several curatorial lines: climate, equality, and an international conversation. The gallery is known for offering artists debut shows, creating intergenerational conversations among the artists on its roster, and solidifying artists’ legacies within art history. In 2019, VSF opened a second location in the Hannam neighbourhood of Seoul, South Korea, followed recently this Spring by VSFs third outpost in Dallas, Texas. While Varet has very personal connections to both locations, they are also superlative art communities. These expansions emphasise the gallery’s commitment to innovation and global dialogue in the twenty-first century. In 2021, VSF became a member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). ...