Kayode Ojo

‘The art world is part of my medium,’ explains Kayode Ojo. A disciple of Marcel Duchamp, adopting his penchant for the appropriation of mundane, ‘readymade’ objects, and recognition of the gallery’s ability to vastly elevate the worth and discourse associate with the objects within its grasp, Ojo is interested in making layers of production and trade visible. He gathers fragments pertaining to a materialist, capitalist culture; relics of fast fashion like a H&M fringe dress, a grey ASOS suit, a hairpiece purchased from Amazon. Although Ojo problematises the objects’ conception, he also willingly elevates them, realising their aspirations for grandeur. He meticulously drapes synthetic fabric over metal armatures and pieces of Breuer-style furniture, fastening all of the items taut in a play of mutual culpability using key rings, carabiner hooks and steel handcuffs. ...

Balice Hertling was founded in 2007 by Daniele Balice and Alexander Hertling. Balice Hertling has hosted the debut solo shows of many artists like Camille Blatrix, Xinyi Cheng and Isabelle Cornaro—all of whom have gone on to earn widespread recognition. From 2012 to 2016, gallery founders Daniele Balice and Alexander Hertling operated a project space in Manhattan. Returning to France in 2017, they relocated the main gallery to Paris’ Marais district and transformed the former Belleville location into a space for curated projects and shows by younger artists. Indeed, many artists represented by the gallery exemplify unique subcommunities of the emergent art world. This breadth of representation also translates to a breadth of medium, as the gallery represents painters as well as artists working in mixed media such as film, performance and sculptural objects. The gallery also represents artists whose careers are more established : British conceptual artist Stephen Willats, Syrian-born painter and sculptor Simone Fattal, and Italian artist Enzo Cucchi. In its programming and practices, Balice Hertling constantly works toward creating a more diverse and equitable art landscape. In this spirit, the gallery is proud to represent the Estate of Behjat Sadr, who was the first woman artist to be recognized as a modern master in Iran. As a result of the pandemic, the gallery co-founded « Palai » in the summer of 2021, a yearly exhibition hosting a small group of galleries from around the world, in historic locations in Lecce, a city in Italy's Puglia region. Palai is neither a curated exhibition nor a fair, it is thought to be a version of a residency, a collegial collaboration, where artists, galleries, and friends of the art world come together. In 2021 Balice Hertling relocated and brought closer both spaces in the Marais with a new main space inaugurated by a Ser Serpas scultpure solo show, and a new showroom and project space on rue de Montmorency. ...