G A L L E RY M I S S I O N Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western cultures. With spaces in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York City (in Chelsea and on Madison Avenue), the gallery was the first to focus exclusively on the rise of globalization in contemporary art. The gallery represents painters, sculptors and photographers from around the world. They each work in different mediums and use diverse techniques, but share a passion for cross-cultural dialogue. The gallery is renowned for its support of cultural activities—including poetry readings, book launches, music performances, and film screenings—that further its mission of East-West exchange.
ART MIAMI 2016 We are pleased to bring to Art Miami a curated exhibition of paintings, photographs and installations by a global group artists, many of whom live and work between cultures, which gives their work a particularly dynamic perspective. The diversity of content, techniques and mediums is a testament to the gallery’s long-standing mission, which is to spark cross-cultural dialogue. The artists presented here include distinguished, established names alongside rising talents.
M I YA A N D O A descendant of Bizen sword makers, New York-based artist Miya Ando spent her childhood among Buddhist priests in a temple in Okayama, Japan, and later, in California. Best known for her sublime metal paintings, Ando combines the traditional techniques of her ancestry with modern industrial technology, skillfully transforming sheets of metal into ephemeral, abstract paintings suffused with color. The focus of Ando’s artistic practice is the intrinsic connection between the human sphere and the natural world. “My interest is in creating work that allows viewers to experience a relationship to nature and to be truly in the moment as they encounter the transitory qualities of light,” Ando says. “I want to draw people into a slowed-down environment with work that is experiential and employs the visual vocabulary of natural phenomena and transformation.” Transformation—both in the physical and the metaphysical sense—is the unifying element in all of Ando’s work. To produce the light-reflecting gradients on her metal paintings, Ando applies heat, sandpaper, grinders, acid and patinas to the metal canvases, irrevocably altering the material’s chemical properties. It’s by an almost meditative daily repetition of these techniques that Ando is able to subtract, reduce and distill her concept until it reaches its simplest form. The resulting works explore the duality of metal and its ability to convey strength and permanence, yet in the same instance, capture the fleetingness of light and the transitory nature of all things. Miya Ando has a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery. She apprenticed with the master metalsmith Hattori Studio in Japan, followed by a residency at Northern California’s Public Art Academy. Her work has been shown worldwide, including at the de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, California; in a show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum; and in an exhibition at the Queens Museum, New York. In 2015, a largescale installation, Emptiness the Sky (Shou-Sugi-Ban), was included in Frontiers Reimagined, a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale. Miya Ando has produced numerous public commissions, most notably a thirty-foot-tall sculpture in London built from World Trade Center steel to mark the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, for which she was recently nominated for a DARC Award in Best Light Art Installation. Awards include the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2012. Born in Los Angeles, 1978 | Lives and works in New York
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Hamon Polyptych, 2016, urethane on aluminum, 48 x 120 inches/122 x 305 cm 7
Red Diptych Kurenai Crimson, 2016, pigment, dye, urethane and resin on aluminum, 36 x 72 inches/91.4 x 182.9 cm 8
YĹŤgen Blue Green, 2016, pigment, urethane, dye, mineral dust and resin on aluminum, 48 x 48 inches/122 x 122 cm 9
YĹŤgen Blue Green Yellow, 2016, pigment, urethane, dye, mineral dust and resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.4 x 91.4 cm
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YĹŤgen Gold, 2016, pigment, urethane, dye and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm YĹŤgen Blue Green Gold Shift, 2016, pigment, urethane and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm 12
YĹŤgen Sea Green 1, 2016, pigment, urethane, dye and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm YĹŤgen Rose Gold Lavender, 2016, pigment, urethane and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm 13
Beni Iro (Crimson) Kimono, 2016, dye on anodized aluminum, steel rings, 68 x 48 inches/172.7 x 122 cm
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YĹŤgen Gold Yellow, 2016, pigment, urethane and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm 16
YĹŤgen Blue Green Flicker, 2016, pigment, urethane, dye, mineral dust and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm YĹŤgen Bronze Purple, 2016, pigment, urethane, and resin on aluminum, 24 x 24 inches/61 x 61 cm 17
ALFR E DO & I SAB E L AQU I LI ZAN The husband-and-wife team of Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan, who emigrated from the Philippines to Australia in 2006, addresses themes of displacement, change, memory and community. Their large-scale installations often reflect their own migratory experiences, while conveying points of exchange and communication that extend beyond borders. The duo focuses on both individual narratives, as well as on relationships with the “other� in a new environment. They often collaborate with young people and migrants. For the 2009 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, the Aquilizans produced an enormous suspended sculpture titled In-Flight (Project Another Country). The work comprised hundreds of tiny planes made by hand from found objects by children and adults during the course of the exhibition. The lyrical sculpture Wings III, made of used rubber slippers, echoes similar themes of journey and a bittersweet desire for a new life. The Aquilizans have shown their work at The Drawing Room, Manila; the Venice Biennale, 2003 and 2015; the 5th Gwangju Biennale, 2004; the 15th Biennale of Sydney, 2006; the Singapore Biennale 2008; the Liverpool Biennial 2010 held at Tate Liverpool; and the Sharjah Biennial 11, 2013. Alfredo Aquilizan, born in Cagayan Valley, Philippines, 1962 and Isabel Aquilizan, born in Manila, 1965 | Live and work in Brisbane
Wings III, 2009, used slippers and metal stand, 107.3 x 77.2 inches/275 x 198 cm 18
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Transformers IV (Bartolina), 2010, stainless steel, Jeep parts and LED lights, 52 x 64 x 15 inches/132.1 x 162.6 x 38.1 cm 20
Transformers I (Spakol-Bukol), 2010, stainless steel, Jeep parts and LED lights, 60 x 68 x 13 inches/152.4 x 172.7 x 33 cm 21
E D WA R D B U R T Y N S K Y Photographer Edward Burtynsky chronicles human impact on nature in his disarmingly beautiful images of industrial landscapes around the world. Burtynsky’s painterly, often abstract photographs, frequently shot from an aerial perspective, show the massive scale of environmental devastation. Burtynsky began photographing nature in the early 1980s. His early works were intimate explorations of Canada’s unspoiled landscapes. By the late 1980s, however, he turned away from the quickly disappearing natural terrain, realizing that this was the world we were losing not the one we were to inherit. Instead, he began to investigate industrial incursions into land with arresting results. His most recent series, Water, begun in 2007, is his largest and most ambitious project to date. It documents the scale and impact of manufacturing and human consumption on the world’s water supplies. In 2015, Colorado River Delta #2, one of the works from this series, was included in Frontiers Reimagined, a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale. Edward Burtynsky was recognized with a TED Prize in 2005. In 2006 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors. He holds six honorary doctorate degrees and his distinctions include the National Magazine Award, the MOCCA Award, the Outreach Award at the Rencontres d’Arles and the Applied Arts Magazine Complete Book Photography Award. In 2006, Edward Burtynsky was the subject of the award-winning documentary Manufactured Landscapes, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. His newest film, Watermark, debuted in 2013. Edward Burtynsky’s works are in the collections of more than fifty museums worldwide, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the AlbrightKnox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; The Photographer’s Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 1955 | Lives and works in Toronto
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Polders, Grootschermer, The Netherlands, 2011, chromogenic color print, 48 x 64 inches/122 x 162.5 cm 23
Dryland Farming #12, Monegros County, Aragon, Spain, 2010, chromogenic color print, 48 x 64 inches/122 x 162.5 cm 24
Rice Terrace #5, Western Yunnan Province, China, 2012, chromogenic color print, 48 x 64 inches/122 x 162.5 cm 25
K A M O L PA N C H O T V I C H A I Kamolpan Chotvichai addresses issues of identity and gender in her photo-based self-portraits. At the same time, she challenges the formal limitations of paper and canvas by meticulously handcutting her images, creating sinuous ribbons along various parts of her anatomy. Her goal is to dissolve her form, based on an understanding of the Buddhist teachings of the three characteristics of existence: anatta (the eternal substance that exists beyond the physical self); dukkha (sorrow and dissatisfaction); and anicca (impermanence). She obliterates her identity, eliminating her face and literally stripping away her physical form, in the process relinquishing attachment to her body. The artist received a Master of Fine Arts degree at Silpakorn University, Bangkok, and has since been awarded numerous scholarships and art prizes. Kamolpan Chotvichai was invited to participate in ON PAPER, a paper art workshop that was part of the ON PAPER—Paper & Nature exhibition at Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo. Group shows include Anthropos: Navigating Human Depth in Thai and Singapore Contemporary Art, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Singapore and New York, 2013; the 4th Young Artists Talent Art Exhibition 2013, Royal Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles; the 2012 International Women Arts Exhibition, Lights of Women, Gwangju Museum of Art Kum Namro Wing, Metro Gallery, Korea, 2012; and Frontiers Reimagined, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale, 2015. Chotvichai was a featured artist in Thailand Eye at the Saatchi Gallery, London, which closed in January 2016. She has just had two solo exhibition on view at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Chelsea and Singapore. Born in Bangkok, 1986 | Lives and works in Bangkok
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Rupa (Body), 2015, C-type print and hand-cut canvas, 27.2 x 37 inches/69 x 94 cm 27
Sense of Fear, 2015, C-type print and hand-cut canvas, 43.5 x 44.25 inches/111 x 112 cm 28
Blinded No.2, 2016, C-type print and hand-cut canvas, 32.7 x 46.5 inches/83 x 118 cm 29
KIM JOON Kim Joon creates digital prints focusing on themes of desire, memory and fragility. He uses the human body as his canvas, superimposing tattoos and brand logos on hyperrealistic flesh and porcelain fabricated using three-dimensional modeling and rendering software. The artist has long been preoccupied with tattoos, a social taboo in Korean society, which he uses as metaphors for unconscious desires. Kim’s elaborate tableaux consist of tableware, fragments of idealized nudes and icons of Western pop culture, including guitars, cars and guns. Juxtaposing old and new, traditional Asian motifs and new media, he raises questions about conflicting forces of identity in Korea’s increasingly Westernized culture. By using brand logos and luxury products, he also explores society’s materialism, commodification and a loss of individuality in the era of globalization. Kim Joon’s works have been exhibited extensively across the globe, including in Frontiers Reimagined, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale in 2015; the Saatchi Gallery, London, where his work was featured on the cover of Korean Eye: Contemporary Korean Art, the book that accompanied the exhibition of the same name; the Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea; and the National Taiwan Museum. Born in Seoul, 1966 | Lives and works in Seoul
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Blue Jean Blues-Easy Rider, 2012, digital print, 82.7 x 47.2 inches/210 x 120 cm 31
Bird Land-Lacoste, 2013, digital print, 47.2 x 82.7 inches/120 x 210 cm
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TAY E B A B E G U M L I P I Tayeba Begum Lipi creates paintings, prints, videos and installations articulating themes of female marginality and the female body. Her sculptural works re-creating everyday objects including beds, bathtubs, strollers, wheelchairs, dressing tables and women’s undergarments use unexpected materials, such as safety pins and razor blades. This purposeful and provocative choice of materials speaks to the violence facing women in Bangladesh, as well as referencing tools used in childbirth in the more underdeveloped parts of the country. In 2002 Lipi co-founded the Britto Arts Trust, Bangladesh’s first artist-run alternative arts platform dedicated to organizing exhibitions, encouraging intercultural dialogue and providing residencies for local artists. Tayeba Begum Lipi completed a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, in 1993. In 2000 she was an artist-in-residence at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. She was awarded a Grand Prize at the 11th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 2003, Dhaka; and was the commissioner for the Pavilion of Bangladesh at the 54th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, 2011; and one of the curators for the Kathmandu International Art Festival 2012. Lipi has exhibited at Alliance Française, Paris and the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Dhaka. She also participated in the 14th Jakarta Biennale 2011, the Colombo Art Biennale, 2012, Sri Lanka, and Dhaka Art Summit 2012. Her work was most recently on view in Artist as Activist: Tayeba Begum Lipi and Mahbubur Rahman at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. Born in Gaibandha, Bangladesh, 1969 | Lives and works in Dhaka
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Womanhood 2, 2015, stainless-steel razor blades, 17.7 x 13.7 x 15.7 inches/45 x 35 x 40 cm 35
My Little Privacy, 2016, brass safety pins covered with electroless nickel immersion gold, stainless steel and glass, 7 x 3 x 10 inches/17.75 x 7.6 x 25.4 cm
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Trapped - 8, 2013, stainless-steel razor blades and exposed drawing on mirror-polished stainless steel, 35.8 x 29.9 inches/91 x 76 cm 38
Trapped - 4, 2013, stainless-steel razor blades and exposed drawing on mirror-polished stainless steel, 29.9 x 29.9 inches/76 x 76 cm Trapped - 9, 2013, stainless-steel razor blades and exposed drawing on mirror-polished stainless steel, 35.8 x 29.9 inches/91 x 76 cm 39
ZHENG LU The gravity-defying sculptural works of Zheng Lu are deeply influenced by his study of traditional Chinese calligraphy, an art form he practiced growing up in a literary family. Zheng Lu uses language as a pictorial element, inscribing the surface of his stainless-steel sculptures with thousands of Chinese characters derived from texts and poems of historical significance. To create his metal sculptures, the artist begins with a plaster base. He then laser-cuts characters into metal, and in a fashion similar to linking chainmail, uses heat to connect the pictographs so that they can be shaped to the support. The resulting works are technically astonishing; their fluid, animated forms are charged with the energy (qi) of the universe, belying their steel composite. Zheng Lu graduated from Lu Xun Fine Art Academy, Shenyang, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture in 2003. In 2007, he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, while also attending an advanced study program at The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris. Zheng Lu has participated in numerous exhibitions in China and abroad, including at the Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem; The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow; Musée Océanographique, Monaco; Musée Maillol, Paris; the National Museum of China, Beijing; the Long Museum and the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai. In 2015, the artist had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, one of the leading institutions in the region. He currently has a large-scale solo exhibition titled Re-sist-ance on veiw at the Long Museum in Shanghai, which closes December 21, 2016. Born in Chi Feng, Inner Mongolia, 1978 | Lives and works in Beijing
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Water in Dripping - Leisurely, 2014, stainless steel, 76.4 x 57.1 x 43.3 inches/194 x 145 x 130 cm 41
Water in Dripping - Yuan, 2016, stainless steel, 34 x 29.1 x 21.3 inches/86 x 74 x 54 cm
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H A S S A N M A S S O U DY Classically trained calligrapher Hassan Massoudy inscribes oversized letters in vibrant colors on paper or canvas to create visually compelling works that bring traditional Arabic script into a contemporary context. Massoudy sources words from Eastern and Western authors, poets and philosophers. He selects a passage, which he writes at the bottom of a sheet of paper, then extracts a single word, enlarging it to monumental proportions over the entire surface of the paper. In accordance with tradition, Massoudy makes his own tools and inks, but breaks from the Arabic custom of using only black ink by incorporating a bold palette of blues, greens, yellows and reds. Although executed with the utmost control, his letters are gestural, fluid and charged with energy, as he skillfully transforms the written word into a pictorial element. Massoudy studied classical calligraphy in Baghdad. He moved to France in 1969, continuing his education at the L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He has shown his work at The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; the British Museum, London; Musée d’Avranches, France; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Abbaye de Trizay and the Palais des Congrès de Grasse, France. His work is in the collections of The British Museum, London; Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore; and Musée du Quai Branly, Paris. He has also shown at Sharjah Biennale 11, 2013 and in 2015, two of his works were included in Frontiers Reimagined, a collateral event of the 56th Venice Biennale. Born in Najaf, Iraq, 1944 | Lives and works in Paris
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Untitled, 2012, ink and pigment on paper, 29.5 x 21.7 inches/75 x 55 cm 45
Untitled, 2012, ink and pigment on paper, 29.5 x 21.7 inches/75 x 55 cm 46
Untitled, 2012, ink and pigment on paper, 29.5 x 21.7 inches/75 x 55 cm 47
Untitled, 2012, ink and pigment on paper, 29.5 x 21.7 inches/75 x 55 cm 48
Untitled, 2012, ink and pigment on paper, 29.5 x 21.7 inches/75 x 55 cm 49
R I CA R D O M A Z A L Ricardo Mazal explores themes of life, death, transformation and regeneration through a multidisciplinary approach to painting that often includes photography and digital technology. The artist’s most recent body of work, Violet (currently on view at Sundaram Tagore Chelsea), is a series of highly distilled color studies that amplify his longstanding process of reduction, focusing on a singular subject in what is his most refined—and personal—presentation to date. Mazal’s previous studies include a large body of multidisciplinary work inspired by investigations into sacred burial rituals. His next series was inspired by the colorful, billowing prayer flags of Bhutan. With each investigation, Mazal has honed his vision, reducing and distilling his concepts to their simplest form. Ricardo Mazal’s work is included in the collections of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez, Zacatecas, Mexico; Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France; and Deutsche Bank, New York and Germany. In 2006, a retrospective of his work was held at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City. In 2015, the artist’s work was included in Frontiers Reimagined, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale and he had his second solo show at Mexico City’s Centro Cultural Estación Indianilla. Born in Mexico City, 1950 | Lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico and New York
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Red and Violet Red 2, 2016, oil on linen, 71 x 82 inches/180.3 x 208.3 cm 51
Violet and Steel Grey, 2016, oil on linen, 71 x 82 inches/180.3 x 208.3 cm 52
Pink Violet and Violet 1, 2016, oil on linen, 23 x 24 inches/58.4 x 61 cm 53
Violet Blue and Black 2, 2016, oil on linen, 23 x 24 inches/58.4 x 61 cm 54
Violet and Black 1, 2016, oil on linen, 23 x 24 inches/58.4 x 61 cm 55
Violet Blue 2, 2016, oil on linen, 23 x 24 inches/58.4 x 61 cm 56
White Over Violet 4, 2016, oil on linen, 23 x 24 inches/58.4 x 61 cm 57
White Over Violet 3, 2016, oil on linen, 50 x 70 inches/127 x 177.8 cm
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SOHAN QADRI The late artist, poet and Tantric guru Sohan Qadri was one of the few modern painters of note deeply engaged with spirituality. He abandoned representation early on, incorporating Tantric symbolism and philosophy into his vibrantly colored minimalist works. He began his process by covering the surface of heavy paper with structural effects by soaking it in liquid and carving it in stages with sharp tools while applying inks and dyes. As a result, the paper was transformed from a flat surface into a three-dimensional medium. The repetition of careful incisions on the paper was an integral part of his meditation. Having lived and worked in more than a dozen countries, Qadri was one of India’s many post-Independence artists who form a sprawling diaspora. He once said, “I did not want to confine myself to one place, nation and community….My approach to life has been universal, and so is my art.” Qadri was initiated into yogic practice at age seven in India, his birthplace. In 1965, he left India and began a series of travels that took him to East Africa, North America and Europe. After settling in Copenhagen in the 1970s, Qadri participated in more than forty solo shows, in Mumbai, Vienna, Brussels, London, Oslo, Stockholm, Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles and New York. Sohan Qadri’s works are included in the British Museum, London; the Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts; the Rubin Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; as well as the private collections of Cirque du Soleil, Heinrich Böll and Dr. Robert Thurman. In 2011, Skira Editore published the monograph Sohan Qadri: The Seer. Born in Chachoki, Punjab, India, 1932; died 2011 | Lived and worked in Copenhagen and Toronto
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Agamas III, 2008, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 61
Atlaya III, 2008, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 62
Nadi IV, 2008, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 63
Amala VII, 2008, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 64
Arti IV, 2008, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 65
Adya IV, 2009, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 66
Griha, 2009, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99.1 cm 67
S E BASTIÃO SALGADO Sebastião Salgado has made it his life’s work to document the impact of globalization on humankind. His black-and-white prints lay bare some of the bleakest moments of modern history as well as some of the planet’s last remaining wonders. In the past three decades, Salgado has traveled to more than one hundred countries for his photographic projects and devotes years to each series in order to grasp the full scope of his topic. Breaking down barriers, he lives with his subjects for weeks, immersing himself in their environments. Salgado describes this approach as photographing from inside the circle. Each of his images is infused with empathy and respect for his subjects. The images on display comes from his most recent series, Genesis, which he began in 2004 as an antidote of sorts to the harrowing scenes encountered on previous projects. With the aim of reviving hope, Genesis pays homage to nature left unscathed by humankind. Salgado has had solo shows at the Barbican Art Gallery, London; the International Center of Photography, New York; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Photographers’ Gallery and the Natural History Museum, London; and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. Among his many honors, Salgado has been named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2015, his work was included in Frontiers Reimagined, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale curated and organized by Sundaram Tagore. In February 2017, the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand, in collaboration with Sundaram Tagore Gallery, will present a large solo exhibition of Salgado’s work at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Born in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1944 | Lives and works in Paris
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Sand Dunes Between Albrg and Tin Merzouga, Tadrart, South of Djanet, Algeria, 2009, gelatin silver print, 50 x 36 inches/127 x 91.5 cm 69
Southern Right Whale, ValdĂŠs Peninsula, Argentina, 2004, gelatin silver print, 36 x 50 inches/91.5 x 127 cm
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HIROSHI SENJU Japanese-born painter Hiroshi Senju is noted worldwide for his sublime waterfall and cliff images, which are often monumental in scale. He combines a minimalist visual language rooted in Abstract Expressionism with ancient painting techniques unique to Japan. Senju is widely recognized as one of the few contemporary masters of the thousand-yearold nihonga style of painting, using pigments made from minerals, ground stone, shell and corals suspended in animal-hide glue. Evoking a deep sense of calm, his waterfalls, which he creates with incredible delicacy by pouring paint onto mulberry paper on board, conjure not only the appearance of rushing water, but its sound, smell and feel. Hiroshi Senju was the first Asian artist to receive an Honorable Mention Award at the Venice Biennale (1995), and has participated in numerous exhibitions including The New Way of Tea, curated by Alexandra Munroe, at the Japan Society and the Asia Society in New York in 2002; Paintings on Fusuma at the Tokyo National Museum in 2003; and Frontiers Reimagined, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale in 2015. He was recently awarded the Foreign Minister’s Commendation from the Japanese government for his contributions to art. Public installations include seventy-seven murals at Jukoin, a sub-temple of Daitokuji, a Zen Buddhist temple in Japan, and a large waterfall at Haneda Airport International Passenger Terminal in Tokyo. The Benesse Art Site of Naoshima Island also houses two large-scale installations. Senju’s work is in the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan; the Yamatane Museum of Art, Tokyo; Tokyo University of the Arts; and the Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido, Japan. In 2009, Skira Editore published a monograph of his work titled Hiroshi Senju. The Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa, designed by Ryue Nishizawa, opened in 2011 in Japan. Born in Tokyo, 1958 | Lives and works in New York
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Waterfall, 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 102 x 76.3 inches/259 x 194 cm 73
Waterfall, 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 38.8 x 63.8 inches/99 x 162 cm
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S U N D A R A M TA G O R E G A L L E R I E S new york new york hong kong singapore
547 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 • tel 212 677 4520 • gallery@sundaramtagore.com 1100 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10028 • tel 212 288 2889 4/F, 57-59 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong • tel 852 2581 9678 • hongkong@sundaramtagore.com 5 Lock Road 01-05, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108933 • tel 65 6694 3378 • singapore@sundaramtagore.com
President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Director, Hong Kong: Faina Derman Sales director, Singapore: Melanie Taylor Registrar: Julia Occhiogrosso Designer: Russell Whitehead Contributing editor: Kieran Doherty
WWW.SUNDARAMTAGORE.COM Text © 2016 Sundaram Tagore Gallery Photographs © Sundaram Tagore Gallery All rights reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.