@ronanksm

Standing in front of @thomasjprice__ ‘Moments Contained’ I smiled because in this overwhelmingly white space, I saw that middle moment between childhood and adulthood when I masked fear and insecurity with a specific inner city type of dismissive confidence. There are so many people and memories I recognise within the work, and the audacity of its scale made me mirror the smug confidence of the figure as I stood in front of it, validating my own sense of belonging at the fair. After a particularly ignorant man assumed @julianknxx was the artist simply because he was present, then proceeded to tell us that Africa is the future, I explored Art Basel with headphones in, creating my own atmosphere from which to take in the fair. When I saw Deana Lawson’s ‘White Spider’, Needle Eye - Spice, was my soundtrack and it made me laugh. A white man passed by the work and grinned, I wondered what it evoked within him to make him smile. For me the piece is inexplicably bold, brave and honest, demanding attention within the space and celebrating a moment of freedom and joy. I stood observing for a while, but most people walked past without paying the work any mind, letting their eyes float away from it as quickly their gaze landed on it, and after a while, three women stood in front of it talking, completely ignoring the piece behind them. I connect to works instinctively; appreciating the structure, shape, texture, tonality, colour or what how they make me feel. I often prefer to see if I connect to the work before reading the context. @theastergates ’Hardware Store Painting’ made me re-consider the purpose of artworks in different contexts; the work invited me to think of art as a tool to examine the value of everyday spaces by bringing them in to a space which by just existing within them assumes their importance. In this context, could this work have the power to influence a more general appreciation or gratitude for the spaces we inhabit daily? In order: Deana Lawson, Frida Orupabo, Diedrick Brackens, Thomas J Price, Liu Wei, Theaster Gates, Qiu Shihua, Gregory Olympio, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. Thank you for having me @bmwgroupculture @bmw