Category: visionart

27
Lug

HYPERMAREMMA: Massimo Uberti – Spazio Amato

Spazio Amato, installazione permanente di Massimo Uberti apre la seconda edizione di Hypermaremma, la nuova galassia di arte contemporanea concepita per attivare il territorio della Maremma, nel sud della Toscana, attraverso mostre, dibattiti, esperienze sonore e interventi site specific elaborati da artisti invitati a relazionarsi con la storia dei luoghi.

L’edizione 2020 ha subìto una completa trasformazione per assecondare le linee guida della “nuova realtà”.  Per sostenere il territorio abbiamo lavorato per presentare un solo intervento site-specific in grado di entrare in pieno dialogo con il paesaggio della Maremma. Il progetto sarà visibile in uno spazio aperto accessibile dalla strada litoranea che costeggia il Lago di Burano dal 26 Luglio fino al 15 Settembre, tutti i giorni dalle 18 a mezzanotte passando in bicicletta, a piedi o in treno e in macchina per i più pigri. Cliccando a queste coordinate potrete individuare il punto esatto dove osservare l’installazione.

Il progetto è stato possibile grazie alla collaborazione con Terre di Sacra, oltre a Oasi WWF Lago di Burano, Regione Toscana e con il patrocinio del Comune di Capalbio. Un ringraziamento speciale allo sponsor tecnico RRUNA.

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06
Lug

Marina Apollonio – Dinamiche Virtuali

Online una mostra retrospettiva dedicata a Marina Apollonio, figura di rilievo internazionale tra le più rappresentative dell’arte Ottico-Cinetica Italiana. Le opere in mostra ricostruiscono il percorso artistico dell’Apollonio, raccogliendo diversi cicli di lavori significativi da lei sviluppati dal 1964 ad oggi; le opere in alluminio, le Gradazioni su tela, le Dinamiche Circolari, i Rilievi a Diffusione Cromatica e le recenti Dinamiche Ellittiche e Fusioni Circolari. La poliedrica ricerca dell’artista sintetizza in modo semplice uno studio complesso, in bilico tra arte e scienza,rendendo lo spettatore protagonista di una visione spazio–temporale da lei minuziosamente programmata. Il segno deciso e l’equilibrio tra gli opposti, soprattutto tra il bianco e nero, determinano un’iconicità tale da delineare il tratto distintivo dei suoi lavori e la loro assoluta riconoscibilità.

In mostra sarà esposta anche l’installazione a pavimento che Marina Apollonio presentò in The Illusive Eye presso El Museo Del Barrio di New York nel 2016.

Online a retrospective exhibition dedicated to Marina Apollonio, a figure of international importance, among the most representative ones of the Italian Optical-Kinetic art. The works in the exhibition reconstructs the artistic path of Marina Apollonio, collecting several cycles of significant works she has developed since 1964; works in aluminum, the Gradazioni on canvas, the Dinamiche Circolari, the Rilievi a Diffusione Cromatica and the recent Dinamiche Ellittiche and the Fusioni Circolari. The multifaceted research of this artist summarizes a complex study in a simple way, in a balance between art and science, making the viewer protagonist of a space-time vision she has meticulously planned. The strong mark and the balance between opposites, especially between white and black, determine an iconicity that delineates the hallmark of her worksand their absolute recognizability. Included in the online exhibition, the pavement installation Marina Apollonio presented during the exhibition The Illusive Eye, at El Museo Del Barrio, New York in 2016.

10 A.M. ART
Marina Apollonio. Dinamiche Virtuali
visitabile sul sito della Galleria fino al 30 luglio 2020

Immagine in evidenza: Marina Apollonio, Dinamica Circolare 6S+S II, 1966, tecnica mista su tavola, meccanismo rotante motorizzato, Ø 102 cm

23
Mag

Ren Hang – Prima mostra italiana al Centro Pecci di Prato

A partire dal 4 giugno, inoltre, fino al 23 agosto 2020 l’offerta espositiva del Centro Pecci sarà arricchita dalla prima mostra italiana dedicata all’ acclamato fotografo e poeta cinese Ren Hang (Changchun 1987- Pechino 2017), tragicamente scomparso a neppure trent’anni. L’artista, che non ha mai voluto essere considerato un artista politico – nonostante le sue fotografie fossero ritenute in Cina pornografiche e sovversive – è noto soprattutto per la sua ricerca su corpo, identità, sessualità e rapporto uomo-natura, che ha per protagonista una gioventù cinese nuova, libera e ribelle. Nella mostra al Centro Pecci verrà esposta una selezione di scatti provenienti da collezioni internazionali, capace di restituire tutta l’intensità della sua poetica.

Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci
Viale della Repubblica, 277, Prato

REN HANG
a cura di Cristiana Perrella
4 giugno—30 agosto 2020

02
Mar

ZERO IS INFINITY

Yayoi Kusama Museum is delighted to announce its first major group exhibition, ZERO IS INFINITY, ZERO and Yayoi Kusama, featuring Kusama’s activity in Europe during the 1960s, introducing ZERO’s art practices and also exploring their relationship with Kusama.

“ZERO” indicated in a narrow sense the name of the group formed by Mack and Piene in 1958 in Düsseldorf, Germany, with Günther Uecker later joining in 1961. However, by publishing the magazine ZERO and holding many exhibitions, ZERO’s activity began to involve many active artists, groups and movements from various places in Europe: Yves Klein from France, Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani from Italy, and Henk Peeters and Jan Schoonhoven, founding members of Dutch avant-garde group Nul from the Netherlands. Like the resetting of the European continent separated under World War II, ZERO has been a powerful motivation for transnational collaboration between avant-garde artists.

At the time, Yayoi Kusama was based in New York and participated in many exhibitions along with other leading artists of Pop art and Minimalism. While she received high acclaim from the New York art world, she regularly presented her art across Europe, in particular at exhibitions led by ZERO, attracting attention in the European art scene in the 1960s. Kusama’s first invitation to the European exhibitions was for Monochrome Painting (Monochrome Malerei), curated by Udo Kultermann, and held at Morsbroich Museum, Leverkusen in 1960. After participating in this international exhibition, Kusama started correspondence with ZERO artists such as Peeters. Kusama’s pursuit of “Infinity” through her art finds various similarities with artistic expressions in the works of ZERO artists: in their experiments with new materials such as mirror, repetitions of single motifs, pursuit of monochrome and their orientations towards environment art and performance.

In this context, ZERO IS INFINITY explores the transnational developments in Kusama’s and ZERO’s activities during the 1960s, by showcasing their works and documentation materials. The group show displays a work from Infinity Nets, Kusama’s monochrome painting series, a series shown in Europe for the first time at the above-mentioned exhibition in 1960. The newest work in her Infinity Mirror Rooms series, Longing for Infinite Heaven, as well as a reproduction of Christian Megert’s Mirror Wall (Spiegelwand) installation are also presented. Other highlights of the exhibition include another Kusama installation, Narcissus Garden,which was first presented in the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966 with financial support from Lucio Fontana, who also exhibits an artwork from his signature series Spatial Concept (Concetto Spaziale) at this show.Continue Reading..

03
Feb

James Turrell – Passages of Light

My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity—that physical feeling and power that space can give. James Turrell

From November 22, 2019 to March 29, 2020,Museo Jumex presents a survey of the internationally acclaimed arti James Turrell (USA, b.1943). The exhibition features new works from Turrell’s most important series, spanning two floors of Museo Jumex’s galleries. Each installation is a carefully controlled environment in which light is formed and experienced.

Using light as his medium, saturated elds of color take on a physical presence. Through a scientific understanding of light’s affects and a singular artistic vision, Turrell creates wordless meditations on time and space that are as relevant today as they have been throughout human history. Extending beyond the physical spaces of a gallery or museum, the artist has created monumental structures that makes the skies and heavenly bodies seem tangible to the viewer.

Each body of work in the exhibition has been juxtaposed by a quotation from diverse sources that offer a poetic understanding of Turrell’s influences.

The first floor gallery presents Amesha Spentas one of James Turrell’s Ganzfeld installations that subsume the visitor in a field of color. As light modulates through a sequence of changing colors and effects, space transforms and dissolves around the viewer, the installation is designed to eliminate the viewer’s depth perception and provoke different ways of seeing.

On the second floor the exhibition continues with a selection of installations, prints, photographs, models and holograms that survey Turrell’s broad-ranging practice.

The exhibition is introduced by the First Light prints that capture the various forms made from light from Turrell’s Projection Pieces. A projection piece installation follows, marking one of the artists’ earliest experiments with using pure light as a medium to transform space. The Double Shallow Space (Atman) and Wedgework (Spenta Mainyu)installations date from the same period.

The exhibition continues with a selection of photographs and models that document Turrell’s Roden Crater project. Aerial views of the crater portray Turrell’s view of the crater from his percpective as an experienced pilot, an important influence on his understanding of light. The models allow visitors to envisage the point of view of looking out from Roden Crater’s chambers towards the sky. Further works include Turrell’s use of recent technology, including holograms, a natural medium for the artist to explore as light seems to take on a presence in space. The Curved Elliptical Glass(Gathas) installation is among Turrell’s most recent body of works, and its slow transformation of color has been likened by the artist to musical scores.

James Turrell: Passages of Light is organized by Kit Hammonds, Chief Curator, and Adriana Kuri Alamillo, Curatorial Assistant, Museo Jumex.

In order to preserve the intimate, meditative nature of James Turrell’s work, museum capacity will be limited during this exhibition. Please be aware that there may be delays for entry. Photography and video are not permitted within the exhibition.

JAMES TURRELL
James Turrell, considered one of the most important artist of the Southern California Light and Space movement, was born in Los Angeles in 1943 and attended Pomona College, where he studied art, art history, mathematics, perceptual psychology and astronomy. Turrell’s work has been widely acclaimed and exhibited since his first showing at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1967. His work has since been presented at major venues including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1976); the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1980); the Israel Museum (1982); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1984); MAK, Vienna (1998–99); the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh (2002–03); and the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2009– 10); the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2013) and was included in the54th Venice Biennale (2011).

MUSEO JUMEX
Museo Jumex is the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo’s main platform. It opened its doors to the public in November 2013 as an institution devoted to contemporary art, whose aim was not only to serve a broad and diverse public, but also to become a laboratory for experimentation and innovation in the arts. Through its exhibitions and public programs, Museo Jumex aspires to become a relevant in institution in the field of art by producing and coproducing original exhibitions and research, and familiarizing audiences with the concepts and contexts that inform current art practice. Through the use of critical and pedagogical tools, the museum’s educational programs further the institution’s commitment to build links between contemporary art and the public.

ADMISSION
General admission / $50 MXN
Mexican citizens / $30 MXN
Free for: Children under 15 / Students* / Senior citizens* /Teachers**with valid ID
Sundays free

HOURS
Tuesday–Sunday / 10 AM–8 PM Monday / Closed

PRESS CONTACTS
Ruth Ovseyevitzruth@fundacionjumex.org +52 (55) 5395 2618–107
Maricruz Garrido maricruz@fundacionjumex.org +52 (55) 5395 2615–103

JAMES TURRELL: PASSAGES OF LIGHT
GALLERIES 1 & 2
NOV.22.2019–MAR.29.2020

MUSEO JUMEX
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA 303,
COLONIA GRANADA, 11520, MEXICO CITY

T.(55) 5395 2615 (55) 5395 2618
FUNDACIONJUMEX.ORG
Image: Gathas from series Curved Elliptical Glass, 2019. Museo Jumex, 2019. © James Turrell. Foto- Florian Holzherr
30
Gen

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu – If I Died

The St. Regis Rome e Galleria Continua rinnovano la loro proficua collaborazione con l’inaugurazione della terza esposizione, nel segno della ricerca artistica e del dialogo tra l’arte contemporanea e gli ospiti dell’albergo romano.

The St. Regis Rome e Galleria Continua sono lieti di annunciare che sarà il duo di artisti cinesi Sun Yuan & Peng Yu ad esporre nell’hotel della Capitale, presentando una selezione di opere collocate nella maestosa lobby per permettere un’interazione tra queste e gli ospiti. L’albergo romano si propone così ancora una volta come sede ideale per l’esposizione delle migliori testimonianze artistiche del panorama dell’arte contemporanea internazionale, ospitando i due artisti che lo scorso anno sono stati invitati dal curatore Ralph Rugoff a prendere parte alla 58° Biennale d’Arte a Venezia.

The St. Regis Rome è entrato nella sua “nuova era” riaprendo le porte nel novembre del 2018 dopo un meticoloso restauro. Con il progetto condotto in collaborazione con Galleria Continua, The St Regis Rome si fa portavoce del sostegno al partimonio artistico e culturale e ha dato vita a un ricco programma che consente al pubblico italiano ed internazionale di avvicinarsi ai capolavori dei migliori esponenti della scena artistica contemporanea.

Galleria Continua nasce nel 1990 a San Gimignano per iniziativa di Mario Cristiani, Lorenzo Fiaschi e Maurizio Rigillo e trova sede negli spazi di un ex cinema, lontano dalle grandi città e dalle metropoli moderne, nel borgo senza tempo di San Gimignano, immerso nella storia.

Conosciuti internazionalmente per il carattere spesso destabilizzante e provocatorio delle loro opere e per l’uso di materiali singolari, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu hanno iniziato a collaborare in coppia dalla fine degli anni ’90. Il loro lavoro è incentrato sulla costante conferma del paradosso, sulla ricerca perpetua della dualità tra il bianco e il nero, tra realtà e menzogna, tra manifesto e celato. Le loro opere sono la dimostrazione di una costante analisi della vita attraverso l’esperienza a cui spesso anche il pubblico è invitato a partecipare nella volontà di trovare l’essenza e la sostanza che si nasconde dietro l’apparenza.

Le opere selezionate per l’esposizione al The St. Regis Rome sono tre: Teenager Teenager (2011); I didn’t notice what I am doing (2012) e If I Died (2013). Ad accogliere gli ospiti all’ingresso dell’hotel, I didn’t notice what I am doing, dove un rinoceronte e un triceratopo in vetroresina sono messi a confronto: lo spettatore stabilisce automaticamente connessioni e somiglianze tra i due animali che invece non hanno nessuna attinenza con la realtà né alcuna pertinenza scientifica. Al centro della lobby troneggia la scenografica If I Died, una figura umana – che ritrae la madre di Peng Yu – che, con gli occhi socchiusi e aria sognante, fluttua insieme a decine di animali a rappresentare come la donna immagini se stessa in una vita dopo la morte. Muovendosi verso gli spazi del LUMEN Cocktails & Cuisine, il visitatore è invitato a una riflessione sui limiti della comunicazione, sui conflitti generazionali ma anche sulla possibilità di cambiare e di proteggere ciò che abbiamo: in Teenager, Teenager si trovano, adagiati su divani in pelle, una serie di figure ben vestite con un ingombrante masso sulla testa che impedisce loro ogni tipo di visione.

Le opere, che rimarranno esposte fino al 26 aprile prossimo, sono un vero e proprio invito all’interazione con l’arte per gli ospiti, i viaggiatori globali e i cittadini romani: The St. Regis Rome si    riconferma così promotore di un rapporto di apertura verso il mondo dell’arte contemporanea, con la volontà di creare una sinergia tra amanti del bello, ispirare i visitatori e stimolare il dialogo con l’hotel.

Per maggiori informazioni su The St. Regis Rome potete visitare www.stregisrome.com Per maggiori informazioni su Galleria Continua potete visitare www.galleriacontinua.com

***

Sun Yuan & Peng Yu
Sun Yuan nasce nel 1972 a Pechino. Peng Yu nasce nel 1974 a Heilongjiang, in Cina. Si formano negli stessi anni presso la Central Academy of Fine Arts di Pechino, città dove tuttora vivono e lavorano. Numerose le istituzioni pubbliche e private dove hanno esposto: 5° Biennale di Lione (2000); Triennale di Yokohama (2001); 1° Triennale di Guangzhou (2002); Today Art Museum, Pechino (2003); MAC Museo d’arte contemporanea, Lione (2004); Biennale di Kwangju (2004); MuHKA: Museo d’arte contemporanea, Anversa (2004); Kunstmuseum di Berna (2005); 51° Biennale di Venezia (2005); Biennale Liverpool (2006); 2° Biennale di Mosca (2007); Kunsthaus di Graz (2007); Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana (2008, 2009, 2011); The Saatchi Gallery, Londra (2008); The National Art Center, Tokyo (2008); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art – UCCA, Pechino (2009); 2° Biennale di Mosca (2009); Triennale di Aichi, Nagoya (2010); Biennale di Sydney (2010); Para\Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2011); The Pace Gallery, Pechino (2011); dOCUMENTA(13), Kassel (2012); Contemporary Art Center di Taipei (2012); Hayward Gallery, Londra (2012); PinchukArtCentre, Kiev (2013); Uferhallen, Berlino (2014); Qatar Museums (QMA), Doha (2016); Guggenheim Museum, New York (2016); 11° Biennale di Shanghai (2016); DMA- Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon (2017); Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2018); May You Live in Interesting Times, 58° Edition of Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2019).

Informazioni su St. Regis Hotels & Resorts
Con un blend tra classica raffinatezza e lusso contemporaneo, il brand St.Regis parte di Marriott International, Inc. rimane fedele al proprio impegno nel far vivere esperienze eccezionali presso 40 hotel e resort situati nei luoghi più esclusivi al mondo. Creato da John Jacob Astor IV, con l’apertura del primo St.Regis Hotel a New York oltre un secolo fa, il Brand di Hotellerie St.Regis è noto nel mondo per la propria cifra stilistica legata al lusso esclusivo, alla raffinata eleganza e al servizio altamente personalizzato, grazie all’impeccabile St Regis Butler. Per maggiori informazioni e nuove aperture, visitare stregis.com o seguire Twitter, Instagram e Facebook.

Informazioni su Marriott International, Inc.
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) è una società con sede a Bethesda (Maryland, Stati Uniti d’America) e conta circa 7200 proprietà e 30 brands in oltre 132 paesi. Marriott è una società di gestione e franchising di alberghi, oltre ad essere licenziataria di resort in multiproprietà. La società offre un travel program Marriott Bonvoy TM che sostituisce Marriott Rewards®, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®, and Starwood Preferred Guest®(SPG). Per ulteriori informazioni si prega di visitare il sito web all’indirizzo www.marriott.com e per le ultime notizie visitate www.marriottnewscenter.com e @MarriottIntl su

Informazioni su Galleria Continua
Galleria Continua ha aperto a San Gimignano nel 1990, su iniziativa di tre amici: Mario Cristiani, Lorenzo Fiaschi e Maurizio Rigillo. Trovando sede negli spazi di un ex cinema, Galleria Continua si è affermata e ha prosperato in una posizione del tutto inaspettata, lontano dalle grandi città e dai centri urbani ultramoderni, in un borgo – San Gimignano – ricco di storia, senza tempo. Questa scelta del luogo ha permesso di sviluppare nuove forme di dialogo e simbiosi tra geografie inaspettate: rurali e industriali, locali e globali, arte del passato e arte di oggi, artisti famosi e emergenti. Rimanendo fedele a uno spirito di evoluzione perpetua e impegnato a interessare il più vasto pubblico possibile nell’arte contemporanea, nel corso di quasi un trentennio Galleria Continua ha costruito una forte identità attraverso i suoi legami e le sue esperienze. Questa identità è fondata su due valori: generosità e altruismo, che si trovano al centro di tutti i rapporti con gli artisti, il pubblico in generale e il suo sviluppo nel suo complesso. Galleria Continua è stata la prima galleria straniera con un programma internazionale ad aprire in Cina nel 2004 e tre anni dopo, nel 2007, ha inaugurato un nuovo sito particolare per le creazioni di grandi dimensioni – Les Moulins – nella campagna parigina. Nel 2015 la galleria ha intrapreso nuovi percorsi, aprendo uno spazio a L’Avana, a Cuba, dedicato a progetti culturali volti a superare ogni frontiera. Galleria Continua è un desiderio di continuità tra i secoli, l’aspirazione ad avere una parte nella scrittura della storia del presente, una storia sensibile alle pratiche creative contemporanee e che custodisce il legame tra passato e futuro, e tra individui e geografie diverse e inusuali.

Contatti stampa:
Per The St. Regis Rome
Sara Migliore, Director of Communications Italy, Marriott International
Sara.Migliore@marriott.com
+39 335 775 6847

Per Galleria Continua
Silvia Pichini, Communications Director
press@galleriacontinua.com
+39 347 453 6136

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13
Gen

Dalí & Magritte. Two surrealist icons in dialogue

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium dedicate an exceptional exhibition to Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. For the first time ever, the connection and influences between the two greatest icons of the surrealist movement are highlighted.

Dalí and Magritte both aim to challenge reality, question our gaze and shake up our certainties. The Catalan and the Belgian show a fascinating proximity, despite their very different creations and personalities, which would eventually lead them to drift apart.In the spring of 1929, Salvador Dalí and René Magritte meet in Paris, surrounded by the great names of the artistic avant-garde. In August of the same year, at Dalí’s invitation, Magritte travels to Cadaqués, the Spanish painter’s home base. This surrealist summer – which also includes visits by Éluard, Miró and Buñuel – will prove decisive.

The exhibition reveals the personal, philosophical and aesthetic links between these two iconic artists through more than 100 paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, films and archival objects.

The “Dalí & Magritte” exhibition is held under the High Patronage of their Majesties the King and Queen and is organized by the RMFAB in collaboration with the Dalí Museum (St. Petersburg, Florida), the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation and the Magritte Foundation. More than 40 international museums and private collections have lent their masterpieces for this unique exhibition, which ties in with the festivities organised around the Magritte Museum’s 10th anniversary.
Exhibition curator: Michel Draguet, Director General of the RMFAB.

VIDEO Behind The Scenes at the exhibition DALÍ & MAGRITTE

Dalí & Magritte Two surrealist icons in dialogue

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Rue de la Régence/Regentschapsstraat 3
1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 508 32 11
info@fine-arts-museum.be

Image: Magritte, The Blood of the World, 1925

03
Gen

Tomás Saraceno – Aria

Le opere di Tomás Saraceno (Argentina, 1973) possono essere interpretate come una ricerca continua tra arte, architettura, biologia, astrofisica e ingegneria. Le sue sculture sospese, i suoi progetti collettivi e le sue installazioni interattive propongono ed esplorano nuove forme sostenibili di vivere ed esperire la realtà che ci circonda. La sua arte coinvolge il pubblico in esperienze immaginative e partecipative per ripensare collettivamente il modo in cui abitiamo il mondo, al di là di una prospettiva solo umana.

In quello che costituisce il suo più grande progetto mai realizzato in Italia, l’artista trasformerà Palazzo Strozzi in un nuovo spazio unitario mettendo insieme sue celebri opere e una nuova grande produzione site specific. Affiancata da un ricco programma di attività interdisciplinari, la mostra creerà una sorta di organismo vivente tra l’umano e il non umano, il visibile e l’invisibile, in cui tutti gli esseri entrano in connessione contribuendo alla creazione di una nuova realtà condivisa.

Firenze – Palazzo Strozzi
Tomás Saraceno – Aria
a cura di Arturo Galansino
Dal 22 Febbraio 2020 al 19 Luglio 2020

Tutti i giorni inclusi i festivi 10.00-20.00; Giovedì 10.00-23.00

Enti promotori: Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi e Studio Tomás Saraceno

info: +39 055 2645155

info@palazzostrozzi.org

Immagine: Tomás Saraceno, A Thermodynamic Imaginary, 2018. Photography © Studio Tomás Saraceno, 2018

20
Dic

Shiota Chiharu : The Soul Trembles

Shiota Chiharu: The Soul Trembles is the first grand-scale exhibition in Korea containing works from Shiota Chiharu’s early career in the 1990s through to the present, illustrating the artist’s growing international reputation. It is co-organized by the Busan Museum of Art and Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan, curated by Mami Kataoka, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of Mori Art Museum where it elicited a great response from visitors after opening at Mori Art Museum in June, 2019. Following upon that exhibition at Mori Art Museum, her solo exhibition in Busan centers around four large-scale installation pieces, but features approximately 110 works that allow a comprehensive look at the artist’s activities over the past 25 years.

She is continuing to work with various genres, ranging from large-scale immersive installations incorporating thread and common objects, to sculptural works, photographs, drawings, video, and performance.Through works that visualize questions of the soul, immeasurable anxiety and fear, and her inexplicable existence, the artist expresses an inner state of confronting uncertainty and seeks the meaning of ‘existence’. Utilizing common objects such as thread, dresses, chairs, beds, shoes and bags, the artist creates vast spaces where the memories and relationships embedded in objects are explored. For the artist, the theme of “death” has been a longstanding concern, together with existence and the realm of the unconscious. Her works embody the fear of death she felt at family graves as a child, and the feelings of sorrow and trauma experienced on the border between life and death through two battles with cancer. By capturing these through her works, Shiota approaches death as the beginning of a new life.

Most of her works arise from her personal experiences. However, her works act as the same psychological mechanism for audiences as well to recall life, death and forgotten memories. Going into the 2000s, the artist produced large site-specific installations employing black thread and materials such as window frames, constructing a distinctive formative world of her own. In particular, she is known foremost for her series of immersive installations in which entire spaces are strung with red or black thread, unfolding like human blood vessels or spider webs. The subtitle “The Soul Trembles” references Shiota’s earnest wish to convey to others soul-trembling experiences derived from nameless emotions. In works that elicit ontological thought, she provokes soul-searching of an emotional and primal nature, and her artworks continually raise other questions. These may stem from this time of uncertainty we live in today, when it is increasingly difficult to predict where the many invisible connections in the lives of every individual are leading. Some things that are invisible to humans (the soul, fate, death), along with that uncertainty, may represent fears that are hard to face, and yet they are questions that are ultimately inevitable. Shiota Chiharu: The Soul Trembles is an exhibition that promises to offer an opportunity to reflect on the existence of the individual and to produce new relationships.

Shiota Chiharu (b. 1972) was born in Osaka, Japan, graduated from Kyoto Seika University, and moved to Germany in 1996. She subsequently studied at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK), the Braunschweig University of Art (HBK), and the Berlin University of the Arts. Currently based in Berlin, she continues to work internationally. Since her first solo exhibition in 1993, the artist has shown her works in over 300 solo and group exhibitions. She has also participated in numerous international events, including the Sydney Biennale (2016), Busan Biennale (2014), Kiev First International Biennale (2012), and Yokohama Triennale (2001). In 2015, she represented Japan at the 56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, where her work was praised by audiences and art officials.

Shiota Chiharu : The Soul Trembles
Busan Museum of ART
December 17, 2019 – April 19, 2020

Image: Me Somewhere Else,  2018. Blain Southern London. Photo by Peter Mallet

20
Nov

Urs Fischer. Leo

An artwork is not about the now.
—Urs Fischer

Gagosian is pleased to present Leo, an exhibition of new work by Urs Fischer.
Across his protean oeuvre, Fischer frequently evokes art historical genres and motifs with wry self-awareness and humor. In Fischer’s work, the processes of material creation and destruction are often explored through the use of impermanent materials, as in Bread House (2004–05), a life-size cabin constructed from loaves of sourdough bread. Embracing transformation and decay while resounding with poetic contradictions, Fischer’s art excavates the potential of its materials and media, producing joyful disorientation and sinister bewilderment.

Fischer’s candle sculptures exemplify the relationship between permanence and impermanence. He began to make them in the early 2000s with a series of crudely rendered female nudes, standing upright or lounging in groups. A series of realistic figurative candle portraits followed, including a full-size replica of Giambologna’s sixteenth-century sculpture The Rape of the Sabine Women, and Marsupiale (Fabrizio) (2017), which amalgamates a portrait of the Florentine antique dealer Fabrizio Moretti with an oversize bust of Saint Leonard, the patron saint of prisoners. In 2018, Fischer created a candle replica of the art patron and collector Dasha Zhukova, which burned for weeks in the shopfront gallery at Gagosian Davies Street in London.

Fischer’s newest candle portrait, Leo (George & Irmelin) (2019), depicts Leonardo DiCaprio with his parents, George DiCaprio and Irmelin Indenbirken. Cast entirely in wax, the family is posed in mid-action: George gestures while conversing with Leo, as Irmelin holds Leo in her loving embrace.

As with all of Fischer’s candle sculptures, Leo (George & Irmelin) will melt slowly over the course of the exhibition, its original composition transmuted into a form dictated by the wayward laws of physics. Captivating in their materiality and haunting in their implications, Fischer’s candles serve as both portraits of—and meditations on—the passing of time. Elaborating on traditions of memento mori, they remind viewers of the transience of life, beauty, and even art itself.

Leo is presented in the ground floor gallery of Gagosian Paris. On view upstairs in the Project Space is Smalls, an exhibition of new works by Spencer Sweeney.

Urs Fischer. Leo
October 14–December 20, 2019

Gagosian
4 rue de Ponthieu
75008 Paris

+33 1 75 00 05 92
paris@gagosian.com

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Image: Urs Fischer Gentle Moon, 2019 Aluminum composite panel, aluminum honeycomb, two-component adhesive, primer, gesso, solvent-based screen printing ink 96 x 72 in 243.8 x 182.9 cm © Urs Fischer. Photo- Ulrich Ghezzi. Courtesy Gagosian