Two exhibitions
dal 8/9/2010 al 15/10/2010
Segnalato da
8/9/2010
Two exhibitions
Yvon Lambert, New York
Zilvinas Kempinas presents at the gallery Ballroom, a large installation that will run concurrently with an exhibition of work by Roman Opalka. Kempinas uses unorthodox materials to create installations that transform architectural space and light to determine optical effect. Opalka's 'Passages' features four large-scale paintings from artist's seminal series 'OPALKA 1965/1 - infinity', including the artist's most recent work, which is still in the process of being completed. Conceived by Opalka in 1965, the project dictates the future of his painting, as the artist is recording the succession of numbers from one to infinity.
Zilvinas Kempinas. Ballroom
Yvon Lambert New York is pleased to announce Zilvinas Kempinasʼ first solo exhibition at the gallery.
Following his acclaimed representation of Lithuania in 2009 at the 53rd Venice Biennale, Kempinas presents
BALLROOM, a large installation that will run concurrently at the gallery with an exhibition of work by Roman
Opalka. The exhibitions will open with a reception for the artists on September 9 from 6-8pm and will
be on view until October 16, 2010. BALLROOM was originally produced and exhibited by the Musée dʼArt
Moderne (MUDAM), Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg in summer 2010. Kempinas will also be featured in the
upcoming group exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century at the Museum of Modern Art,
New York from November 21, 2010-February 7, 2011.
Kempinas uses unorthodox materials to create installations that transform architectural space and light to
determine optical effect. Renowned for his work with unwound magnetic tape and fans, the artist uses basic
principles of physics to enliven materials for his dynamic sculptures. Throughout his body of work Kempinas
deftly balances between the peaceful and the kinetic while redefining the language of sculpture.
For this installation, Kempinas alters the white cube of the gallery into a continually shifting dramatic
landscape. As air currents and the hum of fans fill the space, vivid reflections of spinning lights multiply in
fluctuating panels of Mylar, generating a visually arresting parameter of bold color. Through utilizing the
walls, ceiling, floor, and entire volume of the room, the artist stimulates the viewersʼ awareness of their visual
and temporal experience within the space.
Zilvinas Kempinas was born in Plunge, Lithuania in 1969 and currently lives and works in New York. He
graduated with a BFA from Vilinus Art Academy in Lithuania in 1993, and earned his MFA from Hunter
College in 2002. Kempinas was awarded the prestigious Calder Prize in 2007, and subsequently was an
artist in residence at Atelier Calder in Saché, France in 2008. The artist represented Lithuania in 2009 at the
53 Venice Biennale where he presented TUBE, an installation he created while at Atelier Calder.
Kempinas
has been featured in solo exhibitions at institutions including: Kunsthalle Wien, Austria; Galeria Leme, São
Paulo, Brazil; Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center,
New York and BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays, UK. Selected group exhibitions
include: Transmediale 10 Festival, Berlin; MUDAM, Musee dʼArt Moderne, Grand-Duc Jean, Luxemborg;
Contemporary Art Museum Rochechouart, France; Lunds Konsthall, Sweden; Nam June Paik Art Center,
Yong-in City, Korea; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; MANIF DʼART 4: La Biennale en Art Actuel de
Québec, Canada; and MANIFESTA 7, Bolzano, Italy.
.....................
Roman Opalka. Passages
"I wanted to express time - the changes in its duration that divulge
nature- in a way very personal to man, a subject conscious of his own
presence defined by death. The emotion of life in an irreversible time."
-Roman Opalka
Yvon Lambert New York is pleased to announce Passages, Roman Opalkaʼs first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Passages features four large-scale paintings from Opalkaʼs seminal series “OPALKA 1965/1 - ∞ ”, including the artistʼs
most recent work, which is still in the process of being completed. The exhibition will open with a reception for the
artist on September 9 from 6 to 8pm, and will be on view until October 16, 2010. The exhibition in New York will
run concurrently with an exhibition of the same title at Yvon Lambert Paris from September 4 through October 9, 2010.
Conceived by Opalka in 1965, the “OPALKA 1965/1 - ∞ ” project dictates the future of his painting, as the artist is
recording the succession of numbers from one to infinity. The numbers progress from one canvas to the next, with the
artist beginning each new painting where he finished the last. Each canvas, referred to by Opalka as a “Detail”, is of
equal size. This project, on which the artist has worked exclusively for forty-five years, features 233 paintings to date.
This lifelong endeavor began when Opalka painted a small white numeral “one” on the upper left corner of a black
canvas. For the artist, the #0 brush dipped in white paint helps visually log numbers, numbers that he also says out
loud in Polish, his mother tongue, and records on tape. After each work session, Opalka photographs himself in a
white shirt with strong lighting in front of his painting. In 1972, Opalka began gradually introducing white into the black
background of each canvas. This progression will inevitably lead to the white monochrome, a fusion of form and
content depicted in the daily ritual of the artist.
According to Opalka, the consciousness of one's own passing can only be transcended in the physical rendering of
painting. The artist does not transcribe dates like On Kawara, rather Opalka attempts to translate time through a series
of numbers that preserve their graphic and symbolic qualities. If the start of this project is determined both in time and
in its numerical unit, the end is still open and will take place at the death of its creator.
Roman Opalka was born in 1931 in Hocquincourt, France of Polish origins. He has lived and worked in France since 1977. Opalka
won the celebrated Grand Prize of the 7th International Biennial of Arts and Graphics of Cracow in 1969; the C. K. Norwid Art
Critics Award in 1970; Franceʼs National Painting Prize in 1991; and Germanyʼs Kaiser Prize in 1993. Opalkaʼs work is included in
principal museum collections including: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York;
Los Angeles County Museum, CA; The National Gallery of Berlin; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Toyota Museum, Japan. His
work is also featured in important private collections including: the Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Sammlung Lenz Schönberg, Zöll,
Germany; le Fonds National dʼart Contemporain, Paris; Ludwig-Stiftung für Kunst und Wissenschaft, Vienna. In 1992, the Musée
dʼArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris mounted an important solo exhibition of his work titled OPALKA 1965 / 1 - ∞. Invited eight times
to participate in the Venice Biennale, Opalka represented Poland in 1995. In 2009, he received the title of « Commandeur des Arts
et des Lettres » from France, and the Gold Medal for Merit in the Arts from Poland.
Image: Zilvinas Kempinas, Ballroom
Please contact Geneva Jann-Lewis with any press inquiries at Geneva@yvon-lambert.com or 212-242-3611
Opening reception New York September 9, from 6–8pm
Yvon Lambert
550 West 21 Street, New York
Hours: Tue-Sta 10-18
free admission