Desire Encapsulated: Make Room's Inaugural Group Show @ Their New Location In Los Angeles

Desire Encapsulated features a slate of more than fifteen artists working between painting, sculpture and installation to expand on the theme of desire—how it is perceived across different psychological spaces and artistic practices, and how it is "encapsulated" through different artistic practices across time, medium and space. The exhibition presents a group of artists' work that considers desire as part of the fundamental human experience, a shared experience and the driven power of humanity.

The artists participating include Andrew Sendor, Catalina Ouyang, Guimi You, Lior Modan, Bambou Gili, Miguel Angel Payano Jr., Joeun Kim Aatchim, Lita Albuquerque, Yuri Yuan, Sula Bermudez-Silverman, Yanyan Huang, Yifan Jiang, Yesiyu Zhao, Ruby Leyi Yang, Chris Oh, Hiba Schahbaz, and Claire Colette.

Desire Encapsulated is on view through July 31 @ Make Room Gallery 5119 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles

Ai Wei Wei at Galeria Continua

Ai Wei Wei at Galeria Continua Yanyan Huang

Roundish and shiny, black porcelain glops rest contentedly on the floor in a corner of Galeria Continua. Aptly titled "Oil Spils", these glops tie in the ancient Chinese porcelain craft with the realities of dependence on fossil fuels for globalization. Oil dependency seeps into every aspect of our life, from food and transportation to entertainment and culture. With its need to consume natural resources at almost all levels of production, art is no exception. Ai Wei Wei's exhibition was on view at Galeria Continua in San Gimignano and ended on February 16. Photograph by Galeria Continua, text by Yanyan Huang

Andrea Kvas CAMPO @ Museo Marino Marini

Thin, uniform slabs of painted wood lean against the corners of Museo Marino Marini's Sacello (underground Chapel). Splotches of vibrant and saturated colors betray the skill of a lackadaisical fence painter who couldn't be bothered to finish his work. Or maybe he decided to import his leftovers. Applications of paint have been built up in layers and each fragment stands on its own as a sliver of a painting, each hinting at their individual grand potential. At eye level, a section laid diagonally between two walls blocks passage and demands attention. The impressions of paint create an interchangeable visual rhythm. Though immobile, the slabs emanate stoicism in their collective involvement: "United we stand, divided we fall", they seem to say. In the adjacent altar room where thick polyurethane and wooden branches have been piled up on a windowsill, we're left no choice but to imagine a post-catastrophic world - one where vestiges of culture are kept on hand only for fuel and heating purposes. Unable to afford the luxury of optimism in our time of economic turmoil, where historic buildings have been sold off to banks and museums have shuttered their doors for the lack of resources, Kvas's sculptures map out a desolate landscape. At least we're given the choice to rid ourselves of the remnants or participate in regeneration. Andrea Kvas's Campo, curated by Barbara Casavecchia, will be on view until April 6, 2013 at Museo Marino Marini, Piazza di San Pancrazio, Florence, Italy. Text and photography by Yanyan Huang 

Quadri da una Collezione @ Sensus

A selection of work curated by Claudio Cosma and Pier Luigi Iazzi. Artists include Tracy Emin, Fabrizio Corneli, Alighiero Boetti, James Lee Byars, Han Bing, and others. Available by appointment or on Saturday evenings from 6-8. On view until Feb 28 2013 at Sensus, Viale Gramsci, 42. Florence, Italy. Text and photography by Yanyan Huang