Kavi Gupta, Art Collaboration Kyoto 2021

Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) presents a new model of fair encouraging international cooperation. Newly launched under the theme of “contemporary art and collaboration,” Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) is one of the largest art fairs in Japan dedicated to contemporary art. ACK is chiefly organized around a series of booths featuring two galleries, one host and one guest, working together to present a cohesive exhibition. For ACK 2021, Kavi Gupta is pleased to collaborate with THE CLUB, based in Tokyo, to present a two-person booth of Kour Pour and Inka Essenhigh.

Pour and Essenhigh both are non-literal, non-linear observers of culture, each piece containing a multitude of influences from past and present while simultaneously looking towards the future. There is an optimism in both of their works, seeking to unite forms which feel distant. In Pour's case, he unites the ancient, classical, and modern into a common harmony that feels like all of them and none of them at once. This timelessness is shared in Essenhigh's practice, which at once feels like past, present, and future united. Both artists operate through synthesis, creating imagery not only outside of time, but also outside of place, cross pollinating cultural influences so as to feel both global and local, East and West, highbrow and lowbrow, pop culture and esoteric mystery.