Blake Ward: Somewhere Within

Join the gallery for a closing reception on Tuesday, June 18, 5:30 - 8 pm

With special guest performance by violinist: CONSUELO LEPAUW

For those of you who missed the opening, this is your opportunity to meet the artists live on SKYPE directly from their home in Monaco.  

2019 is our year of introspection...

We will explore the various ways of seeing deep inside who we are and how we view the world.  From the lens of a camera, to the interior of a human sculpture, we will learn about ourselves through the eyes of the artist.

Hilton | Asmus Contemporary is proud to present SOMEWHERE WITHIN, a joint exhibition by Blake Ward and his long time partner and co-creator Boky Hackel-Ward.  Blake and Boky will be flying to Chicago from Monaco to attend their premiere exhibition together in North America.  

SOMEWHERE WITHIN will be the first time that Blake and Boky will collaborate on a dual exhibition in the United States.  Although Blake's name is well known throughout the art world, Boky Hackel was in the shadows as Blake's partner in creation.  In 2015, when Blake made an announcement that he and Boky were co-creators, his publicist relentlessly worked on convincing him that Boky's name be kept out of the press and public because "it would hurt Blake's career."

Blake and Boky had exhibited in Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum when the Monaco Matin ran a story featuring their work and love story. They wrote that theirs was an artistic collaboration made in heaven. On Valentine's Day 2015, at the Vernissage of Blake's exhibition at the Canadian Sculpture Society, Blake publicly announced that the new work presented was not his alone but a result of his collaboration with Boky.

Immediately, his publicist called an urgent meeting where he strongly discouraged Blake from telling anyone about his collaboration with Boky. There were many arguments while Blake's representative in Canada backed the publicist 100%. They relentlessly tried to dissuade Blake from following his instinct and ethics. Boky's contribution they said should be to continue ghost writing his blogs every three days, no mention or credit of her artistic collaboration with Blake should be given. 

In short time, Blake fired the publicist.  He gave Boky credit for her creative contributions with their art. And although, the damage to their artistic synergy was serious,  their love, respect and devotion to one another other ran deeper... 

 

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