"Minimalism: Space. Light. Object.", the first exhibition of the most important Minimalism in Asia, presented by the National Gallery and ArtScience Museum Singapore. It explores the development of Minimal art from the 1950s to the present day, in some multiple perspectives, from New York, to Europe and the Asia Pacific region, and delves into Asian philosophy and meditate on notions of the Void and ‘nothingness’ exploring the impact these ideas had on Minamalism, contemporary artists across the world now. Tracing its shift from painting to photography, sculpture, to installations, immersive environments, Music, Video and multimedia, by more than 80 artists, 150 pieces of works, which features work by some of the most significant artists of the past 70 years, including Mark Rothko (USA, 1903-1970), Donald Judd (USA, 1928-1994); Anish Kapoor (India, 1954); Tatsuo Miyajima (Japan, 1957 ); Lee Ufan (Korea/Japan, 1936); Olafur Eliasson (Denmark/Iceland, 1967); Mona Hatoum (Arabic, 1952). TAN Ping (China, 1960), ZHANG Yu (China, 1959) and WANG Jian (China, 1972) from PIFO Gallery in China are invited to the exhibition with other Chinese artists: Ai Weiwei (China, 1957), Song Dong (China, 1966), etc.  

Minimalism: Space. Light. Object., ArtScience Museum Singapore, installation view

Artist - ZHANG Yu

Zhang Yu

Ink Feeding 20150506，2015

Plexiglas, Xuan paper, ink and water

80 x 80 x 50 cm

Zhang Yu has brought performance installation work "Ink Feeding", which is also the only implement action device at the scene of the exhibition. In this work, he stacks thousands of sheets of rice paper in a clear acrylic box, then in a performative action, slowly pours in ink from a large kettle. The ink is slowly absorbed by the paper, and the process is repeated until eventually the work is transformed into a black cube – one of the most iconic symbols of the Western minimalist aesthetic.

The trajectories of Western art and traditional Chinese ink painting converge in the work of Zhang Yu. Using both traditional and everyday materials, Zhang’s experimental ink paintings and sculptures often evolve over time. His sculpture displayed here is a point of confluence between Western Minimalism and Chinese Maximalism, a more Eastern approach to art-making that emerges from Zen and Taoist culture.

Zhang Yu performed the installation of the Ink Feeding on the opening day

Minimalism: Space. Light. Object., ArtScience Museum Singapore, installation view

ZHANG Yu 

Zhang Yu was born in Tianjin, China in 1959 and graduated from the Tianjin Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1988.

As Zhang Yu has served as one of the pioneers in experimental ink wash painting since the 1990s in China, his artistic practice manifested the development of the modernity of ink wash painting in reference to visual form and inner spirit. The thirty years of continued investigation into the practice of ink wash painting since the late 1980s, in a sense, manifestly revealed his inner needs and outward manifestation of the intrinsiceternity of life and art. Zhang Yu pointed out in 2008 that ink wash was no longer equal to ink wash painting, he asserted that ink and wash should go back to the basics in the domain of natural world. The recently created series including the Shang Shui(Filling Water, Shang Mo (Filling Ink), and Shang Cha (Filling Tea) demonstrated the end of his concern about issues of ink wash. Dissociating from ink wash, the artist showcased his thoughts and awareness beyond the everyday viewpoints through an installation-based performance that’s naturally conceptual yet not directly conveying any messages. All of it was to present a sort of metaphysical relation re-recognized and to look into its multiplied relationships and possibilities in the naturally cultural context in addition to the artist’s reflections on the contemporary art under the circumstances of the new era.

Zhang Yu has had a great deal of solo exhibitions in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the USA, the UK, Russia, Belgium, and has been invited to a great number of notable international collective exhibitions as the pioneer of China’s experimental ink wash painting. His works have been widely collected by art institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Art Museum of China, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Shanghai Art Museum, Guangdong Museum of Art, Belyaevo Modern Art Museum, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (Belgium), Gwangju Museum of Art (Korea) in addition to other institutions and private collectors from the UK, Switzerland, Demark and so on. 

(courtesy of the  ArtScience Museum Singapore in part of photos and texts )

Exhibition Date: 2018.11.16 - 2019.04.14

Venue: ArtScience Museum, The National Gallery, Singapore

More information info: 

https://zh.marinabaysands.com/museum/minimalism.html

Related link: 

NEWS | Tan Ping,Zhang Yu,Wang Jian at Singapore Minimalism Show

Upcoming Exhibition

关于画廊   About Gallery

偏锋新艺术空间成立于2006年，是中国专注于抽象艺术研究与发展的主要画廊。坚持对中国当代艺术进程的洞察以及对欧洲战后艺术大师的探索，并在两者的对话与碰撞中寻找各种可能的艺术力量。偏锋深信艺术的体验产生于一个又一个的变革中创造的新世界。艺术家的作品，正是探索世界的第三只眼睛。对于收藏家，我们为其提供专业知识，鼓励他们发掘个人独特的视角，只因两者的充分结合，才能构建卓越的收藏。我们希望更多的藏家可以秉持鉴赏家的心态，更深入的理解亚洲与西方的抽象艺术，以及欣赏画廊发掘、重塑并坚信的艺术家。

PIFO Gallery was founded in 2006. Which is China's premier gallery to present abstract art. PIFO brings together the works of contemporary Chinese artists with European post-war masters. At PIFO we believe that the experience of art is profoundly transformative. Seeing the world differently through the works of artists is an inspiration. We encourage our collectors to develop their individual vision and share our expertise in art to help them build excellent collections. The goal is to spread connoisseurship for Asian and Western abstraction in art and deepen the understanding and appreciation for the artists that we (re-)discovered and believe in. 

媒体/图片垂询 Press enquiries/images

郭萌萌 Mengmeng guomengmeng@pifo.cn

T: +86 10 59789562-8005

其他垂询 All other enquiries

王彧涵 Sophia Wang sophia.wang@pifo.cn

M: +86 18210011135

作者：偏锋新艺术空间