Kristian Ulrich Larsen + Olafur Haraldsson: ‘Passing Through’

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“Like a wave in the physical world, in the infinite ocean of the medium which pervades all, so in the world of organisms, in life, an impulse started proceeds onward, at times, may be, with the speed of light, at times, again, so slowly that for ages and ages it seems to stay, passing through processes of a complexity inconceivable to men, but in all its forms, in all its stages, its energy ever and ever integrally present. A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes in Nature. In no way can we get such an overwhelming idea of the grandeur of Nature than when we consider, that in accordance with the law of the conservation of energy, throughout the Infinite, the forces are in a perfect balance, and hence the energy of a single thought may determine the motion of a universe…” ~ Nikola Tesla – “The Electrical Review, 1893”

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The text used for the narration of “Passing Through” is part of a speech Serbian scientist and inventor Nicola Tesla delivered in 1893 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Though today less known than figures like Edison and Einstein, Tesla was more or less the father of much of our modern technology, since he among other things developed the foundations of the European electrical system based on alternating currents and the principles of wireless radio communication. At the time he was deeply influenced by the Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, believing that the world should be conceived as a whole where everything is interconnected influencing each other. And that energy is a force that runs through everything be it inorganic matter, organisms or human consciousness. According to this line of thought every single action has universal consequences, not unlike what the father of modern chaos theory Edward Lorenz in the 1960’s termed ‘the butterfly effect’. Extract: Vimeo

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Hyunmee Lee : Paintings

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Life is about discovering our own identity. – Hyunmee Lee

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“My art practice crosses three continents over two decades. The works consider the images and ideas that mark my journey into the spiritual and cultural dimensions of painting as a creative activity. During a period when I have carried adventurous journeys across several different social and geographic divides, I began to search deeper for an understanding of who I am, and where I am. My paintings started to explore the idea of self as the most fundamental element of human nature; I tried to seek my identity as I examined human nature.

In the 80s by moving outside my Korean heritage, I became more aware of the traditions of thought that formed the basis of my life and work. I reflected on Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism: these are the principles of natural energy in my painting. In Taoism, the main concept is being in the middle, not being judgmental, and bringing forth spontaneously. It reflects my art process of meditation as an “abstract gaze”, which is a certain way of looking and thinking that prioritizes states of formlessness and energy (ch’i). For me, ch’i is the life force that animates and connects things. The resulting energy, or ch’I, helped to explore the idea of self.

The repetition of seeking a harmony between the conscious and unconscious mind is how I destruct the existing order to make formless space, I try to keep the rhythm continuous. This is where I find my creative mind; “In the immediacy of gesture,” especially the “moment when the gesture finds its own power.” As I have always been more interested in the substance of the brush stroke than its symbolism; I am concentrating on spontaneous gestures. At this time in my life, while I am not connected to the outside world, I have chosen to create a world of my own, where I can find the inspiration I am looking for. I find these moments of ‘making-earth’ at the time when the gesture finds its own power…” Hyunmee Lee

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Hyunmee Lee : Website

Hyunmee Lee : Cheryl Hazan Gallery

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Nasreen Mohamedi : “The Grid, Unplugged” (Drawings)

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‘The Grid, Unplugged’ (Important Drawings from the 1970’s) was an exhibition of a group of drawings by one of the essential twentieth century artists from India, Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990). The works at the Talwar Gallery represented a significant body of the artists’ oeuvre from the 1970s

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Untitled
18 3/4″ x 18 3/4″
Graphite and Ink on Paper
ca. 1970s

Untitled
7 1/2″ x 7 1/2″
Graphite and Ink on Paper
ca. 1970s

Untitled
7 1/2″ x 7 1/2″
Graphite and Ink on Paper
ca. 1970s

Untitled
7 1/2″ x 7 1/2″
Graphite and Ink on Paper
ca. 1970s

Untitled
18 3/4″ x 18 3/4″
Graphite and Ink on Paper
ca. 1970s

Untitled
18 3/4″ x 18 3/4″
Graphite and Ink on Paper
ca. 1970s

Mohamedi, employing pen and pencil, transformed the nineteen and seven inch squares of paper into a tour de force. Remarkably executed over three decades ago in an environment where narrative and figurative art was the rule, Mohamedi’s clarity of pursuit and resolve is matched only by the taut tensile energy resonating through the lines. Dismantling the rigidity of the grid, she infuses them with a dynamic rhythm that at times soars, dives, expands, and collapses. Like the footsteps of sunlight through a courtyard or wind sweeping over water, they are abstract in form but not in experience. Her drawings suggest the magnanimous yet simple phenomenon so truly that they infuse an awe-inspiring chill as to the immensity of our experience and the poverty of means used to elicit it.

On returning to India in the early sixties after studying in London and Paris, Nasreen broke away from the milieu of representational art pervasive in post independence India and carved out a unique space for herself at the crest of Indian modernism. Distilling her perceptions to their essence, her means to the essential, un-tethered she floated, above and away from any categorization. Extracting the structure within nature and unleashing the poetry residing within structure, Mohamedi strove to create a unity through form between the outside and the inside. The waves in the sea, the sand under the waves, the sun over the sea, in Mohamedi’s drawings they are all on a single plane, interconnected, and susceptible to the gentle variance of the viewer’s perception. [Nasreen Mohamedi : Talwar Gallery]

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Nasreen Mohamedi : The Drawing Center

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