Jack Whitten
American abstractist Jack Whitten's first solo exhibition in Asia. Whitten’s work is known for his innovative craftsmanship of painting the surface of the canvas and changing its material terrain. It builds a bridge between gesture abstraction and the rhythm of arts and crafts, resulting in a subtle painting language. Wandering between mechanical automation and strong personal expression.
The exhibition includes rare paintings, sculptures and works on paper, highlighting selected works from the 1960s to the 2010s. Multidimensional painting blurs the boundaries between sculpture and painting and between the artist's studio and the outside world. It combines geometric abstraction and discovered objects to unearth spiritual and metaphysical themes. The works on paper emphasize the artist's naughty and improvisational skills in finding his own special visual language, which proves his dedication to painting to express his thoughts and improve methods. In short, the works on display reveal an extraordinary sensitive artist who is able to blend modernist abstraction with the vibration of historical narrative and unify the spiritual and material realms.
The exhibition also includes an important sculpture entitled "The Apollonian Sword" (2014), which was exhibited at the Whitten Large Museum in Met Breuer in 2018 "Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963– Exhibited in 2017". Represents the beautiful and delicate god Apollo (Apollo). Cardinal refers to the wild and savage god Dionysus. Wheaton made this sculpture to balance these forces. Near the end of life, Wheaton created a series of masterpieces, characterized by thin blade-like smooth white marble fragments protruding from the base of the wood, some of which were charred black and poured into molten lead. For this work over six feet tall, he attacked a piece of black mulberry with a chain saw and drill bit, and then set it on fire. He polished the marble with his hands. After putting the marble into the wood and fixing it with metal pins, he poured the molten lead into the cavity so that it burned the wood and spilled on its bad surface.
・・・
#JackWhitten
@hauserwirth
The exhibition includes rare paintings, sculptures and works on paper, highlighting selected works from the 1960s to the 2010s. Multidimensional painting blurs the boundaries between sculpture and painting and between the artist's studio and the outside world. It combines geometric abstraction and discovered objects to unearth spiritual and metaphysical themes. The works on paper emphasize the artist's naughty and improvisational skills in finding his own special visual language, which proves his dedication to painting to express his thoughts and improve methods. In short, the works on display reveal an extraordinary sensitive artist who is able to blend modernist abstraction with the vibration of historical narrative and unify the spiritual and material realms.
The exhibition also includes an important sculpture entitled "The Apollonian Sword" (2014), which was exhibited at the Whitten Large Museum in Met Breuer in 2018 "Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture, 1963– Exhibited in 2017". Represents the beautiful and delicate god Apollo (Apollo). Cardinal refers to the wild and savage god Dionysus. Wheaton made this sculpture to balance these forces. Near the end of life, Wheaton created a series of masterpieces, characterized by thin blade-like smooth white marble fragments protruding from the base of the wood, some of which were charred black and poured into molten lead. For this work over six feet tall, he attacked a piece of black mulberry with a chain saw and drill bit, and then set it on fire. He polished the marble with his hands. After putting the marble into the wood and fixing it with metal pins, he poured the molten lead into the cavity so that it burned the wood and spilled on its bad surface.
・・・
#JackWhitten
@hauserwirth
