Zak Ové, DP71, 2023

Zak Ové (b. 1966, London, UK, lives and works in Gran Canaria) is a British/Caribbean artist with a multi-disciplinary practice across sculpture, film and photography. His work is informed in part through the history and lore carried through the African diaspora to the Caribbean, Britain and beyond with particular focus on traditions of masking and masquerade. Ové’s artworks explore the interplay between old world mythology and what he posits as ‘potential futures’, a space where he reinterprets existence into the fantastical. Ové uses modern materials, a sound clash of Caribbean and African colour and the reinvention and appropriation of everyday objects to bring his characters and scenarios to life. His work is a celebration of the power of play, the spirit of imagination in the blurring of edges between reality and possibility, flesh and spirit. In this way, Ové seeks to re-write a history for the future through heralding the past in a new light. Ové’s works feature in a number of museum collections throughout the world, as well as in private foundations and collections such as (Where it is the first work acquired by a Caribbean artist); Newark Museum, New Jersey, USA; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, USA; Modern Forms, London, UK; David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK; Jameel Collection, Saudi Arabia; Facebook Corporate Collection, London, UK; 21 C Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Beth De Woody Collection, New York, USA; Walid Kamhawi Collection, Dubai, UAE; Frédéric de Goldschmidt, Brussels, Belgium; Levett Collection, London, UK; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio, Salsali Private Museum, Dubai, UAE.

In 2019 his work was acquired by The International Slavery Museum, Liverpool, UK and Royal Ontario Museum, Canada.
He curated GET UP STAND UP NOW: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers at Somerset House, London in 2019. The exhibition was featured in The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, ID Magazine, Vice and The Evening Standard, amongst others.

Curated by June Sarpong | Brussels: Filling in the Pieces in Black

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Zak Ové

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