798 District Blog

LONDON.- This exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s most celebrated series of etchings, The Vollard Suite, will be the first time a complete set has been shown in a British public institution. The Vollard Suite comprises 100 etchings produced by Picasso between 1930 and 1937, at a critical juncture in Picasso’s career. This exhibition celebrates the recent acquisition of these etchings, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Hamish Parker. It is the only complete Vollard Suite held by a public museum in the UK.

The prints were made when Picasso was involved in a passionate affair with his muse and model, Marie-Thérèse Walter, whose classical features are a recurrent presence in the series. They offer an ongoing process of change and metamorphosis that eludes any final resolution. Picasso gave no order to the plates nor did he assign any titles to them. Picasso kept the plates open-ended to allow connections to be freely made among them, yet certain thematic groupings can also be identified.

The predominant theme of the Vollard Suite is the Sculptor’s Studio (46 etchings), which deals with Picasso’s engagement with classical sculpture. At this point he was making sculpture at his new home and studio, the Château de Boisgeloup outside Paris. The etchings of his young model, Marie-Thérèse, represent a dialogue alternating between the artist and his creation and between the artist and his model. Various scenarios are played out between the sculptor, the model and the created work. Among them is the classical myth of Pygmalion in which the sculptor becomes so enamoured of his creation that it comes to life at the artist’s touch. Classical linearity and repose within the studio also alternate with darker, violent forces. The latter are represented by scenes of brutal passion and by the Minotaur (15 etchings), the half-man, half-animal of classical myth, which became central to Picasso’s personal mythology. Picasso in a spirit of competitiveness tips his cap to his great predecessors, Rembrandt and Goya. The series concludes with three portraits of Vollard himself, made in 1937.

For the first time the etchings will be displayed alongside examples of the type of classical sculpture and objects that Picasso was inspired by, something which the British Museum is in a unique position to do. As well as this, Rembrandt etchings, Goya prints and Ingres drawings from the Prints and Drawings collection will also be displayed as their influence can be seen in some of Picasso’s works.

The Vollard Suite takes its name from Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939), the greatest avant-garde Paris art dealer and print publisher of his day, who gave Picasso his first Paris exhibition in 1901. In exchange for some pictures, Picasso produced for Vollard a group of 100 etchings between 1930 and 1937. The mammoth task of printing some 310 sets, plus three further sets on vellum, was completed by the Paris printer Roger Lacourière in 1939. Vollard’s unexpected death in a car accident that year, followed by the outbreak of the Second World War, delayed the distribution of the Vollard Suite until the 1950s by the dealer Henri Petiet who had purchased most of the prints from the Vollard estate. The set acquired by the British Museum comes directly from the heirs of Henri Petiet and so has an impeccable provenance, having never been shown in public before, and is in pristine condition.

NEW YORK, NY.- Terracotta Warriors: Defenders of China’s First Emperor, a new immersive exhibition of one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in modern time, made its Northeast U.S. debut in New York City at Discovery Times Square (226 West 44th Street). The exhibition features artifacts dating back to 221 BCE, including the world premiere of a set of gates from an ancient Han burial chamber, the U.S. debut of more than 20 artifacts, and an up-close look at 10 of the authentic, life-sized clay soldiers and their armor.

Standing more than six feet tall and weighing 600 pounds each, the terracotta soldiers were created more than 2,000 years ago with unprecedented craftsmanship to protect China’s First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, in his afterlife. After founding the first united China, Qin Shihuangdi was responsible for building and unifying various sections of the Great Wall of China and a massive national road system that has continued to evolve over centuries.

Since its accidental discovery in 1974, the Terracotta Army continues its legacy as one of the most sought after collections of artifacts from ancient China. The exhibition created and produced by Discovery Times Square in partnership with China Institute provides a unique way of understanding China’s history.

“Since its founding in 1926, China Institute has advanced a deeper understanding of China through exhibitions and programs in education, culture and art. We are very pleased to partner in this groundbreaking exhibition, bringing the Terracotta Warriors and the history they represent to New York,” said Sara Judge McCalpin, President of China Institute.

James Sanna, CEO of Discovery Times Square, added: “It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to work with these legendary artifacts and craft a one-of-a-kind experience immersing visitors into a time that was so influential in shaping China’s history. We are proud to partner with New York’s China Institute, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, and the Shaanxi Provincial Museum Association to present these artifacts here in the heart of Times Square.”

The exhibit contains three chronological exhibition stages. Upon entry, visitors first learn the history of the Qin Dynasty and the First Emperor’s rise to power, followed by the significance of the Terracotta Warriors, and the peaceful life of the ensuing Han Dynasty, which established essential Chinese traditions still reflected in Chinese society today.

In addition to the Terracotta Warriors and burial chamber gates, more than 200 additional artifacts and treasures are displayed, including a bronze ritual vessel “He” (water or wine container), a “Lai” Ding (cooking utensil), and gold pendants and ornaments.

LONDON.- Leonardo da Vinci’s ground-breaking studies of the human body are to go on display in the largest-ever exhibition of his anatomical work. The exhibition, which takes place almost 500 years after his death, will feature 87 pages from Leonardo’s notebooks, including 24 sides of previously unexhibited material. Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist opens at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, on Friday, 4 May.

To coincide with the exhibition, a special iPad app which reverses and translates the thousands of notes made by the artist in his distinctive mirror writing, launches today, revealing his words to a mass audience for the first time. The app, Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy, brings to life all 268 of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings in the Royal Collection.

Although Leonardo is recognised as one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, he was also one of the most original and perceptive anatomists of all time. The exhibition tells the story of his greatest challenge as he embarked upon a campaign of dissection in hospitals and medical schools to investigate bones, muscles, vessels and organs. Had Leonardo’s studies been published, they would have formed the most influential work on the human body ever produced. Some of his findings were not to be repeated for hundreds of years.

On Leonardo’s death in 1519, his drawings remained unpublished and were effectively lost to the world until the 20th century. Instead, in 1543, the Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius published his treatise, De humani corporis fabrica (‘On the fabric of the human body’) which became the most important work on anatomy ever published – to this day anatomical history is divided into pre- and post-Vesalian periods.

Among the firsts that Leonardo achieved, is the first accurate depiction of the spine in history. This beautiful drawing, dating from c.1510-11, has never been surpassed. Two years earlier Leonardo had sat with a 100-year-old man hours from death in a hospital in Florence, before dissecting him to find the cause of ‘so sweet a death’. In his post-mortem examination notes, displayed for the first time, he gives the first descriptions of cirrhosis of the liver and narrowing of the arteries in the history of medicine. During this dissection, he also drew the appendix – in what is thought to be the first depiction or description of this structure in Western medicine.

From 1511, Leonardo began to focus his efforts on analysing the structure and workings of the heart. Dissecting the hearts of oxen, he produced a series of densely annotated sheets, some of which will go on display for the first time. He drew and described functions that were unknown to anyone else at this time, including what is now referred to as the ‘sinus of Vasalva’ (related to the closing of the aortic value) which bears the name of the next anatomist to describe the feature, 200 years after Leonardo. He came very close to discovering the circulation of the blood a century before William Harvey, but it is with the heart that his anatomical investigations came to an end.

Highlights also include a striking image of a skull sectioned and staring straight out of the page. Produced in 1489, the drawing shows the first human skull Leonardo was able to obtain – prompting him to begin the incredible notebook now in the Royal Collection, known as ‘Anatomical Manuscript B’.

The most iconic and beautiful of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings – a child in breech position in the womb, c.1511 – is also going on display. Leonardo almost never used colour in his anatomical drawings but made an exception here, using red chalk to suggest the potential of the living child. In fact Leonardo based the study on the dissection of a pregnant cow. One drawing, dating from 1509-10, on which Leonardo transcribed all of his discoveries on the inner workings of the body to that date, bears his inky thumbprint and the creases from being folded into quarters to fit into his notebook.

Exhibition curator Martin Clayton said, ‘Leonardo’s drawings are among the finest depictions of the human body ever created. Had he published this work, he would now be known as one of the greatest scientists in history. This exhibition will be the greatest opportunity since Leonardo’s death to marvel at his achievement.’

The pages from Leonardo’s anatomical notebooks were pasted into albums by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, and one of the albums, containing all of Leonardo’s surviving anatomical studies, arrived in England in the 17th century. The album, known as the ‘Leoni binding’, was probably acquired by Charles II and has been in the Royal Collection since at least 1690. It goes on display for the first time in the exhibition.

NEW YORK, NY.- To highlight the groundbreaking nature of Yves Klein’s monumental FC 1 (Fire Color 1) to be offered at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary sale on May 8, 2012, Christie’s has introduced an innovative tool to its marketing campaign. Christie’s has commissioned award-winning filmmaker Laurent Chanez to make an evocative three-minute video celebrating the creation of the masterpiece – in effect, an artwork in its own right. Chanez has taken historic footage of Klein creating the work in 1962, using pigment-covered nude models and a hose of blazing fire as his “brushes”, and interspersed it with his own elemental imagery and composer Christian Zanesi’s abstract soundtrack to draw viewers into Klein’s unforgettably dramatic process of realizing this singular painting. It is standard practice to exhibit artworks before a sale but a groundbreaking departure to spark the interest of collectors and art lovers by commissioning a video. Chanez’s video, made through the New York production house Identity, is now available for viewing Christie’s – Yves Klein FC1.

“I was immediately seduced and deeply affected by FC1. The work, which presents itself as a major masterpiece at first glance, awakened in me a staggering number of visions such as images-cave paintings, earthy elements, the ghostly nuclear shadows of Hiroshima- which guided me in the creation of this film. By interspersing this diverse imagery with the creation of the masterwork and flashes of the completed piece, i have attempted to make Klein’s piece come to life for the viewer.” analyzed Laurent Chanez, film director.

“Yves Klein’s FC 1 is his ultimate heroic work, fusing all of the elements that Klein mastered over his short and intense career,” stated Loic Gouzer, International Specialist, Post-War and Contemporary Art. “We thought we had to do something unique to pay tribute to Yves Klein, this uncanny alchemist who was not afraid in his art to manipulate fire, earth, air, water and the quintessence of human life itself. Commissioning Laurent Chanez was an outstanding way to release the dazzling power of FC 1 for today’s viewers, 50 years after the conception of this fantastic work.”

A native of France, Laurent Chanez studied at the ESAG Penninghen (Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Graphiques) in Paris and after graduation became an art director and graphic designer. He moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to work with The New York Times, MTV, Nike and Ford. In 1999, Laurent began directing short films, the first of which, Forme, was an official selection of the Buenos Aires Film Festival and the Pantin-Paris Film Festival, among others. A subsequent short film, GRM 14, was made for the Présences électronique festival at La Maison de la Radio in Paris.

Working for both the European and American markets, Chanez has won several awards for his commercials for Tommy Hilfiger Fragrances (featuring Beyoncé) and Kenzo. His latest work for the Benetton “Unhate” campaign was featured at this year’s TED conference.

LONDON.- David Starkey, guest-curator of this exceptional display at the National Maritime Museum, said: ‘This exhibition, which brings to life the extraordinary and varied history of the Thames as Britain’s royal river and London’s “grandest street”, is a feast for the eyes and all the senses. It evokes the sights, sounds and even the smells of half a millennium of royal river pageantry and popular celebration. But, most importantly and originally, Royal River also shows how the grandest royal river pageants have always been used to celebrate the coronation and inauguration of Tudor and Stuart Queens. What more appropriate way of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of The Queen, who will herself, at the climax of the celebrations, lead another grand royal river pageant?’

The oldest known copy of Handel’s Water Music, Bazalgette’s original contract drawings for the construction of the Thames embankment, Anne Boleyn’s personal music book, the magnificent stern carvings from the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert III, a remarkable collection of paintings by Canaletto, and a stuffed swan – just some of the hundreds of diverse objects brought together by the National Maritime Museum to illustrate the royal history of London’s great river in a major new exhibition.

The Thames is London’s ‘grandest street’. For hundreds of years it has been a unique site for royal, national and civic ceremony and celebration. Providing a larger stage than any street on land, the river has seen the pomp of spectacular coronations, the music and fireworks of extravagant processions, and the bustle of festive frost fairs, where rich and poor mingled on its frozen surface. Seen by today’s Londoners as a line that divides the city north from south, this great thoroughfare once connected royal palaces and pleasure gardens, and was itself a focus of entertainment and merrymaking. As the river shaped London, so London shaped the river: the Thames has been constantly changed and improved with the addition of new bridges, tunnels and embankments, a reflection of its life as a busy working river where tens of thousands made their living.

Royal River explores the many and varied uses of the Thames across 500 years of British history. A wealth of fascinating objects take visitors from Anne Boleyn’s coronation procession to Lord Nelson’s funeral, from the gilded magnificence of the Lord Mayor’s pageant to the noxious horror of the ‘Great Stink’, and from the great riverside seats of regal power to the floating palaces of the royal yachts. Among the paintings, manuscripts and beautiful artefacts chosen for the exhibition, highlights include the rarely seen uniforms, silver and barge decorations from the City’s many livery companies, an elaborate silver microscope made for George III and the 16th-century Pearl Sword, which to this day the monarch must touch upon entering the City of London.

The exhibition comprises nearly 400 objects, including 50 objects generously lent by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection and over 250 items on loan from museums, galleries and private collections across Europe and America, many of which have never been on public display before. It also draws on an array of objects from the National Maritime Museum’s own pre-eminent collections.

Royal River marks the 75th anniversary of the National Maritime Museum, which was opened by King George VI on 27 April 1937. The Museum’s opening was one of the new King’s first official public engagements. His speech from that day, in which he praised the ‘the qualities of Drake, Nelson and Franklin’ will be on display in the exhibition, alongside his Admiral of the Fleet uniform.

Marcus Agius, Chairman of Barclays said: ‘I am delighted Barclays is sponsoring Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames at the National Maritime Museum. The Museum has always exhibited with distinction on the topic of Britain and the sea, showing the contemporary significance of maritime events and the stories of this island nation. Royal River will attract visitors from London and across the world to remind them about London’s greatest “thoroughfare” – the River Thames. The river has played a crucial role for trade and finance in London, of which Barclays has been a part for over 300 years. ‘

Lord Sterling, Chairman of the National Maritime Museum said: ‘2012 will be a remarkable year. In addition to the momentous occasion of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Greenwich will become London’s new Royal Borough and a major venue for the 2012 Games. Royal River will be the first major exhibition in the Museum’s new Sammy Ofer Wing in 2012. It gives us great pleasure that this exhibition has been sponsored by a great British bank, Barclays. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of the National Maritime Museum. On 27 April 1937 the 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth attended the opening ceremony as a birthday treat, beginning an enduring royal association with the museum. This association has continued with His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh who over 63 years, first as a trustee and from 2000 as Patron, has given the Museum the great benefit of his constant and extraordinarily active support.’

New media and the stories shaped by online culture and social networks now have a place in the Newseum, a Washington museum devoted to the history of news.

On Friday, the Newseum planned to open its 2,500-square-foot HP New Media Gallery to show visitors that new media is all about participation. Visitors can post pictures or comments and build their own news home pages, choosing which news stories and photographs they think are most important.

Visiting the gallery is like walking into an Internet portal with video walls, touch screens, games and scrolling Twitter feeds on all sides.

One wall of touch screens has a storyboard of some of the biggest events of the past decade that have been reported by citizen journalists, as well as online hoaxes that were later debunked. It explores the web-based interaction that fueled revolution in Egypt and propelled Justin Bieber to YouTube stardom before his first record, as well as the ethical dilemmas over posting sensitive pictures and videos online.

Newseum Vice President for Broadcasting Paul Sparrow said it’s a chance to teach young visitors about digital literacy. In an age where news headlines appear at random on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere, users have to decide who and what to believe.

“We’re trying to be true to the new media experience,” he said. “You sort of become your own editor. Who is saying this? Why are they saying it? And can you believe them?”

Another section pulls live feeds from more than 30 news sites and asks visitors to design their own web pages, choosing which stories and photographs to give the most prominence. They can publish their pages in the gallery and on the Newseum’s website.

HP is the first technology company to become a founding partner of the Newseum, giving $5 million. The 10-year agreement also will bring some of the latest technology from HP Labs to keep the gallery current with the latest tools. HP’s touch screen walls and rear-projection screens in the gallery are the first public installations of the devices, Sparrow said.

This is the first new permanent gallery added since the museum opened in 2008 on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol.

BERLIN.- From April 27 to August 18, 2012 National Museum Gemaeldegalerie Berlin will feature the second part of the solo exhibition Botticelli | Grey by American artist Michael Joaquin Grey. As part of the Renaissance Faces show at the Bode-Museum Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum New York, the curator Stefan Weppelmann invited Michael Joaquin Grey to collaborate and he selected a single Renaissance painting. The artist chose Botticelli’s masterly Portrait of a Young Woman. The so-called “Simonetta Vespucci“ was the muse of muses, the ‘It Girl’ of the Renaissance and is today still an icon of idealized beauty. Her portrait is the basis for Grey’s generative work, which gradually alters the profile of Simonetta by means of his own algorithmic software which synchronizes to body signals and the moon cycle in real time. Grey’s generative portrait operates in the tension between likeness and ideal, authenticity and construction, being and becoming. It connects the Renaissance beauty to a larger cosmos and raises fundamental questions about the status of portraiture in the 21st century.

Michael Joaquin Grey’s generative portrait evolves from the artist’s investigation on states of time, transformation and self-organizing principles. Interested in the interface between form and syntax, Grey blurs the boundaries of art, science and pedagogy for over twenty years. He was born in Los Angeles, USA, in 1961 and lives in New York and San Francisco. Grey studied genetics and sculpture at the University of California at Berkeley and Yale University. He exhibits in museums and galleries worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art NY, PS1 NY, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, Serpentine Gallery London, National Museum Gemaeldegalerie Berlin, Barbara Gladstone Gallery NY, Lisson Gallery London and Galerie Sherin Najjar Berlin.

A catalogue has been published by the occasion of this exhibition series: Botticelli | Grey. Edited by Sherin Najjar and Stefan Weppelmann for the National Museum Gemaeldegalerie Berlin. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter Koenig, 2011.

ASTEN.- With the ringing of a bell, specially cast for her, Queen Beatrix officially opened Klok & Peel Museum Asten tuesday morning (April 24). Immediately after the opening, Astens Mayor P. Grem appointed museum chairman Harry van der Loo as Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau (Ridder in de Orde van Oranje Nassau).

With great interest of the public and press Queen Beatrix was welcomed at the museum by Queen’s Commissioner Van de Donk, Mayor Grem, museum chairman and museum Van der Loo and museum director Mrs. Botden-Lemmens. During the tour of the museum the Queen met employees and volunteers of the museum.

Beatrix bell

The opening ceremony took place in the new large exhibition hall in the middle of the museum. At the request of the museum, Royal Eijsbouts had cast a new bell for the occasion that bears the name Beatrix. In Latin it is written on the clock: “Beatrix gave me her name and made me sound for the first time on 24 April 2012. I sing for peace, unity and love.” With a loud knock on the bell the Queen opened the new Klok & Peel Museum Asten. Then followed a spectacular performance of carillonneur Rosemarie Seuntiëns.

Royal honor

Immediately after the royal visit museum chairman Van der Loo received a royal honor. Because of his many merits for the museum and various organizations in the municipality of Asten, he was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau.

The museum has undergone a total change. The existing museum building on the Ostaderstraat in Asten has been completely renovated and expanded with 1100 square meters. The former dark corridors have been replaced by an open, spacious interior with natural light and beautiful sight lines. The centerpiece is the large, new exhibition hall in the middle of the museum. The new entrance with a museum shop and digital information centre is spacious. Furthermore, the museum has a new movie theater with education space, a new museum cafe with outdoor terrace and a new office on the first floor with conference rooms. The renovated museum is a multi purpose building and has all the modern facilities for welcoming individuals and groups for a whole day. At the rear of Klok & Peel Museum Asten are the newly built museum gardens. In it lies the large new glass Oranjerie where workshops, educational projects, events and summer evening concerts are organized. The design of the new buildings is by Van Amersfoort Hoogevest Architects, the company that also worked on the renovation of the Dutch Rijksmuseum. The design of the museum’s redecoration is by Van Laarhoven Museums and Heritage from Berg en Dal.

Allure

With the renovation, expansion and renovation, the museum has received an above regional allure. There is plenty of space for exhibiting the two unique collections. Klok & Peel Museum Asten has the largest collection of bells and carillons (chimes) in the world. In a timeline the visitor follows all the themes who are related to bells and carillions. From the origin and the ringing of the bell up to bell casting, bell sounds and historical carillons. In the centre hall the “Bells of the World” are exhibited. The second collection of the museum covers the entire natural and cultural history of the Peel region on the border of the Dutch provences Brabant and Limburg. It begins with the “invisible nature”, including a fox underground fortress. Then also this collection follows a timeline. In ‘The Peel at sea” fossils and a life-size mammoth skeleton can be seen. The exhibition “From Peel Swamp to national park” shows the rich flora and fauna of the area. In “The inhabited Peel” the emphasis lies on culture and people, including the Golden Helmet which was found in The Peel. Once outside in the museum gardens, the two museum collections merge “From herb garden to sounds garden.”

More than museum

With the new name Klok & Peel Museum Asten and new contemporary logo, the museum wants to emphasize its unique identity: global center for bell and carillon and natural and cultural heritage center for The Peel. But the revamped museum is more than that. In the building, in collaboration with Regional Historic Centre Eindhoven, a Heritage point is located where all the cultural and historical information about The Peel is available. Furthermore, the museum is located at the new Museum Square, a tourist-recreational junction for anyone who wants to discover the Peel region. For fifteen people the museum offers a special work environment in the context of the Social Employment Act (Wsw). There are also ten reintegration places in partnership with the Atlant Group and the municipalities of Asten and Someren. There are over 150 active volunteers for the museum. In the field of ecology, the new museum has a challenging ambition. It has its own ground water project, green sedum roofs, thermal storage system and energy saving LED lighting. Soon the museum will produce its own electricity through solar panels. After that Klok & Peel Museum Asten will be the greenest museum in the Netherlands.

VENICE.- Through 8 July, the Venetian Institute of Science, Letters, and Art at Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti in Venice hosts “Picasso and Vollard. The genius and the merchant”, an exhibition designed and organized by Gamm Giunti in collaboration with the Institute and curated by Claudia Beltramo Ceppi.

For the first time in Venice, the relationship between Pablo Picasso and Ambrose Vollard, the pioneering art merchant who worked between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, is investigated through 150 works. Intuition and boldness allowed Vollard to become highly influential, as did his keen eye for misunderstood and little-known artists; the merchant is famous for having organized the first-ever monographic exhibition on Paul Cézanne in his gallery in November 1895, along with exhibitions on Les Nabis. Vollard earned his place in history thanks to his defence of artists such as Derain and Rouault, but most of all thanks to his fateful encounter with a very young Catalan artist by the name of Pablo Picasso way back in 1901, when the latter was trying to make a name for himself in the cutthroat art world.

This was the start of a complex, deeply-involved relationship that lasted almost forty years, until Vollard’s death in 1939. The merchant, who was the first to offer the Catalan painter the opportunity to stage an exhibition in his gallery, is known for having bought and sold Picasso’s paintings to the likes of Schukin, Morozov, Gertrude and Leo Stein, Barnes, Thannhauser, and Stieglitz.

The exhibition celebrates his multi-faceted personality with the “Harlequin” series featuring the renowned etching The Frugal Repast, his illustrations for Balzac’s Chef d’oeuvre inconnuand Buffon’s L’Historie naturelle, andthe extensive and extraordinary Vollard Suite, which Picasso worked on from 1927 to 1937, which remained overlooked for quite some time due to Vollard’s death and the onset of World War II.

LONDON.- For his inaugural exhibition with Blain|Southern, Exit from the House of Being, Michael Joo has created a series of new sculptural works which aim to challenge and reformulate our understanding of space. Bringing together three groups of works so that they exist in dialogue, each engages the viewer in an assessment of spatial territory, referring to social, natural and personal boundaries. The ways in which we might conventionally quantify, physically experience or theoretically categorise our surrounding environment are subverted, as the materiality of each object and the syntax of the gallery space itself become fluid and unfixed.

The artist’s practice endeavours to combine and foster links between seemingly contradictory states. Binary oppositions are dissolved as he brings them into balance; the physical and metaphysical, the organic and industrial, inclusion and exclusion, and movement and stasis are all explored as being intrinsically linked, one and part of the same thing. With this exhibition, Joo encourages us to consider the inherently unstable nature of space and identity.

His interest in the process of material metamorphosis informs his use of unorthodox materials and techniques. Constructed from mirrored borosilicate glass, the Expanded Access works are composed of groups of delicate rope and stanchion forms which seem to simultaneously emerge from and melt into the structure of the gallery. Joo plays with the idea of malleable architectural space; the stanchions, which would traditionally dictate the rules of entry to a particular place, appear on the floor, walls and ceiling of the gallery. Thus, the artist suggests a new spatial arrangement, which does away with accepted social constructs.

We and Us connotes an apparatus of socio-political unrest. Constructed using technology which is utilised to create optical telescopes, the aluminised glass produces a form reminiscent of police riot shields; the brightly mirrored surfaces both absorb and reflect their own surroundings, creating an ‘aggressive camouflage’. As with the Expanded Access series, the work embraces points of opposition: behind the concave surface of the riot shields lies a sheltered and protective space, which exists in opposition to the impenetrable and offensive convex exterior. The physical presence of the viewer is crucial for both works, as we are drawn into their reflective surfaces and are at once implicated, distorted and hybridized with the work and our surroundings.

The final element of the exhibition, Man-made Monstrous, comprises intricately detailed polyurethane resin castings of moulds of actual antlers, extending Joo’s long-lasting engagement with this form. For him, the antlers signify both an indoor and outdoor space; both display device and organic weapon. Much like the fluidity of the glass in the Expanded Access works and We and Us, the antlers appear frozen yet visceral, as their molten forms threaten to slip down the gallery walls, while hanging motionless.

The artist ultimately offers a phenomenological reading of the world, as we are encouraged to consider the space of the object in relation to the space of the self.

Michael Joo received his MFA from the Yale School of Art, Yale University, New Haven, in 1991, after graduating with a BFA from Washington University, St Louis, 1989. Selected solo exhibitions include: Galerie Marabini, Bologna, IT (2010); Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US (2009); Michael Joo, Rodin Gallery (Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art), Seoul, KR (2006); Michael Joo, Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art, Florida, US (2004); the South Korean Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale together with Do-Ho-Suh (2001). Recent group exhibitions include: Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art, works from the Rockefeller Collection of Asian Art, Asia Society Gallery, HK (2012); Glasstress 2011, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, IT (2011); Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun?, Haunch of Venison, Berlin (2010); and NeoHoodoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith, The Menil Collection, Houston, US (2009). In 2006, Joo was awarded both the grand prize of the 6th Gwangju Biennale, Seoul, for Bodhi Obfuscatus (Space Baby) and also a United States Artists Fellowship. Joo’s work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Samsung Foundation for Art and Culture, Seoul.