Ole Ukena is a German artist from Berlin who spent 2012 in the newly-established Thaillywood Contemporary Artist Residency in Thailand. Having recently participated in an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Ole Ukena debuts his work here at Serindia Gallery, an exhibiting gallery partner with Thaillywood Contemporary Artist Residency. Both Thaillywood and Serindia Gallery are committed to providing a new residency and exhibition platform for Thai as well as non-Thai artists, to collaborate in artistic practices and fosters intercultural exchange.

“Giving Up is Not an Option” is a resulting works of Ukena’s residency throughout 2012 at Thaillywood. His conceptually-driven practice includes en eclectic mix of media ranging from sculpture, text, photography, drawing, collage, and film. The exhibition is a journey of his artistic process over the past year, circling around the subject of interrelating opposites. Humor is a strong binding element in Ukena’s work. Bricks, matches, rubber ducks, toy soldiers, feathers and barb wire find its way into Ukena’s recent body of work, creating a bewildering mixture of attraction and repulsion to the objects. Each material is precisely chosen because of its inherent implications and preexisting set of emotional values that come with it. The viewer is left at a good starting point to explore deeper layers of interpretation pertaining to subjects such as social criticism, personal success and failure, collective psychological imprints, and the absurdities of the world we live in.

Image: © Ole Ukena, Serindia Gallery