Ole Ukena toys with his own childhood memories as a means to provoke meaningful examination of adult values and of the art world. As a conceptual artist, he interweaves a wide variety of media including text, video, photography, drawing, sculpture and documentary film. Ukena’s work in diverse media takes various forms, bound by common thread: an unfolding dance between challenging, artistic practice and innocent questioning of the “is-ness” of our world.
Ukena’s dance mesmerizes as the juvenile forms an unlikely, impactful partnership with the spiritually refined. With a wink and a nudge, youthful, playful enthusiasm confronts buttoned-up “maturity”. At times poetically narrative, while at other moments more purposefully reduced, Ukena frequently uses language as a tool to build riddles that await completion in the viewer’s mind. The choice of material often becomes a metaphor that challenges status quo. The play ever continues while the underlying message invites ongoing personal reflection.
As founder and conceptual mastermind of CRE8 Foundation, he engages professional artists and kids worldwide to create collaborative artworks. The workshops and exhibitions draw on collaborative creativity to verify the power and richness that lies in valuing diversity and authentic self-expression rather than conformity.
