Spring Masters 2016 by Sundaram Tagore Gallery

S U N DA R A M TA G O R E G A L L E RY

SPRING MASTERS 2016

G A L L E R Y

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 activitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including poetry readings, book launches, music performances, and film screeningsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that further its mission of East-West exchange.

M I YA A N D O A descendant of Bizen sword makers, New York-based emerging artist Miya Ando was raised among Buddhist priests in a temple in Okayama, Japan. Ando is half Japanese and half RussianAmerican and grew up within two distinct cultures, spending her childhood between Japan and Northern California. She received a Bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended Yale University to study Buddhist iconography and imagery. After university, she apprenticed at the master metalsmith Hattori Studio in Japan and in 2009 did a residency at Northern California’s Public Art Academy. Combining traditional techniques of her ancestry with modern industrial technology, Ando skillfully transforms sheets of burnished steel and anodized aluminum into ephemeral, abstract paintings suffused with subtle gradations of color. The foundation of her practice is the transformation of surfaces. She produces light-reflecting gradients on her metal paintings by applying heat, sandpaper, grinders and acid, 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. For Ando, the paradoxical pairing of metal with spiritual subject matter is intentional. She says: “My work is an exploration into the duality of metal and its ability to convey strength and permanence, yet in the same instance absorb shifting color and capture the fleetingness of light. It reminds us of the transitory nature of all things in life.” Miya Ando is the recipient of many awards, including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2012. Her work has been exhibited extensively all over the world, including in a recent show curated by Nat Trotman of the Guggenheim Museum and in Frontiers Reimagined, a Collateral Event of the Venice Biennale curated and organized by Sundaram Tagore, in 2015. Ando has produced numerous public commissions, most notably a thirty-foot-tall commemorative sculpture in London built from World Trade Center steel to mark the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. Born in Los Angeles, 1978 | Lives and works in New York 6

Ai Iro, 2016, pigment, urethane, resin and dye on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm 7

Hamon 40.40.1, 2015, pigment, urethane on aluminum, 40 x 40 inches/101.6 x 101.6 cm 8

Gold Silver, 2016, pigment, urethane, resin on aluminum, 36 x 36 inches/91.5 x 91.5 cm 9

ALFRED O & ISABEL AQUILIZAN 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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;otherâ&#x20AC;? 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 50th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, 2003; 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, metal stand, 107.3 x 77.2 inches/275 x 198 cm 10

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 currently has a solo exhibition on view at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in Chelsea. Born in Bangkok, 1986 | Lives and works in Bangkok

Left Hand, 2013, c-type print and hand-cut paper, 24.4 x 37 inches/62 x 94 cm, edition 1 of 3 13

Head, 2013, c-type print and hand-cut paper, 22.4 x 40.5 inches/57 x 103 cm, edition 1 of 3 14

The State of Being, 2015, c-type print and hand-cut canvas, 46.25 x 40.75 inches/118 x 103 cm 15

Atta (self), 2015, c-type print and hand-cut canvas, 48.25 x 44 inches/124 x 112 cm

OL I V IA F R ASE R Born in London, brought up in the Highlands of Scotland, Olivia Fraser has lived and worked in India since 1989. She combines the techniques, vocabulary, mineral and plant pigments and handmade paper (wasli) of traditional Indian miniatures with forms and ideas inspired by modern Western art, including the archetypal shapes, colors and rhythms in the works of Kazimir Malevich and the Suprematists as well as in the Op Art of Bridget Riley and Sol LeWitt. The works in this presentation are rooted in her fascination with and practice of yoga and the ways in which yogic meditation involves visualization of the garden, particularly the thousandpetaled lotus, which serves as a visual aid in reaching enlightenment. Olivia Fraser graduated with a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree in Modern Language from the University of Oxford and spent a year at Wimbeldon Art College before settling in India. Since then she has studied traditional Indian miniature painting techniques under Jaipuri and Delhi masters. She follows in the footsteps of her ancestor, James Baillie Fraser, who painted India, its monuments and landscape in the early 1800s. The artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is included in public and private collections in Australia, France, India, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Museum of Sacred Art, Septon, Belgium. Her works has been shown in solo exhibitions in India, China and the United Kingdom. In spring 2015, her work was included in Forms of Devotion: The Spiritual in Indian Art at Lalit Kala Galleries, Rabindra Bhavan, in New Delhi, an exhibition organized by Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art) India and the Museum of Sacred Art, Belgium and Italy. Born in London, 1965 | Lives and works in New Delhi

Churning II, 2015, stone pigment and Arabic gum on handmade Sanganer paper, 36.25 x 36.5 inches/92 x 92.7 cm 19

Churning I, 2015, stone pigment and Arabic gum on handmade Sanganer paper, 36.25 x 36.5 inches/92 x 92.7 cm

ANISH KAPOOR British-based Indian artist Anish Kapoor is considered one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. He is best known for his monumental site-specific sculptural works that challenge the viewer’s notion of gravity, depth and the perception of space. Although his works range vastly in scale, medium and subject matter, they all have an uncanny ability to both permeate and transform a space by altering our perception of the physical world. Born in Bombay to parents of Punjabi and Iraqi-Jewish heritage, Kapoor moved to London in the mid-1970s to study art. He began to garner critical recognition in the early 1980s for his biomorphic installations made from natural materials such as granite, limestone and marble impregnated with vibrantly colored hues of raw, powdered pigment. In 1990, Kapoor was the first Indian-born artist to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale. His installation Void Field, a grouping of roughly hewn sandstone blocks, each with a black pigmentfilled hole atop the surface, explored the concept of negative space and alluded to dualities of a spiritual nature—earth and sky, light and darkness, matter and space. Kapoor continued to expand on the idea of the void throughout the 1990s with series of works constructed to appear as though they dissolved through floors or retreated into walls. By dramatically playing with depth perception, Kapoor summarily redefined the relationship between viewer and object. Anish Kapoor has exhibited extensively across the globe, including solo shows at the Tate in London; Kunsthalle Basel; the Haus der Kunst, Munich; and in 2015, a major survey of his work was presented at the Palace of Versailles. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Premio Duemila prize, which he received for his work in the 44th Venice Biennale, the Turner Prize (1991) and the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for sculpture (2011). Public collections include the Tate Gallery, London; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Born in Bombay, 1954 | Lives and works in London

Untitled, 1996, ink on paper, 21.7 x 26.4 inches/55.1 x 67.1 cm 23

Untitled (Circle), 1996, ink on paper, 21.7 x 26.4 inches/55.1 x 67.1 cm

JA N E L E E Jane Lee is best known for her inventive techniques and innovative use of materials. She explores the very nature of the way paintings are constructed by treating the components of a painting— stretcher, canvas, and the paint itself—in new ways. The surfaces of her paintings are highly tactile and sensuous, often dimensional enough to be considered sculptures. In some cases, Lee dispenses with canvas altogether extruding acrylic paint directly onto wooden stretchers, which results in a hollow, three-dimensional object, with the paint at the bottom seemingly giving in to gravity. Many of her works appear to move: they fall, unroll, hang or slide suggesting, in the process, everyday objects (a hose, a carpet, a window). Operating in a post-colonial Southeast Asian context, Lee re-examines the significance of Western painting practices while asserting her own culture. Pushing the boundaries of the medium, her work echoes the breakdown of cultural barriers in the era of globalization and affirms the universality of contemporary art. Jane Lee has won numerous awards, including a Celeste Prize for painting in 2011. She was a finalist for the 2007 Sovereign Asian Art Prize and was the first recipient of the Singapore Art Exhibition International Residency Prize in 2007. Her work was showcased at the Singapore Biennale 2008, Collectors’ Stage at the Singapore Art Museum in 2011 and in the Southeast Asia Platform, a curated exhibition of cutting-edge work organized by region, at Art Stage Singapore in 2014. In 2015, her work was selected for Prudential Singapore Eye, one of the largest surveys of Singapore’s contemporary art to date, held at the ArtScience Museum and Medium at Large, a year-long exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum. From January to March 2016, her work was on view in the solo exhibition Freely, Freely at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. Jane Lee has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a diploma in fashion from LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. She has participated in numerous exhibitions in museums and galleries in Asia and Europe, among them the Hong Kong Arts Centre and the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. Born in Singapore, 1963 | Lives and works in Singapore 26

Deep, 2016, acrylic paint on canvas, fiberglass, 39.4 x 37.8 x 3 inches/100 x 96 x 7.5 cm 27

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 is currently 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

Recalling 3, 2014, stainless steel, razor blades, 11 x 9.1 x 21.3 inches/28 x 23 x 54 cm 29

RICARDO MAZAL Ricardo Mazal explores themes of life, death, transformation and regeneration through a multidisciplinary approach to painting that includes photography and digital technology. In 2004, the artist embarked on a trilogy examining the sacred burial rituals of three cultures, continents, and time periods. He began at the Mayan tomb of the Red Queen in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, then traveled to the FriedWald forest cemetery in Odenwald, Germany. His final series was inspired by the sky burials and prayer flags of Mount Kailash, Tibet’s holiest summit. Mazal conveys his experience of these spiritual sites through an iterative process of abstraction, building up the painting from photographs gathered in situ and digital manipulation. Applying and scraping away oil paint with foam-rubber blades, he creates works layered with luminous passages of color. 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

Bhutan PF 27, 2016, oil on linen, 54 x 64 inches/137.2 x 162.6 cm 31

S O HA N QA D R I 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

Prana, 2004, ink and dye on paper, 39 x 55 inches/99 x 139.7 cm 33

Arti IV, 2008, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99 cm 34

Vijaya, 2010, ink and dye on paper, 55 x 39 inches/139.7 x 99 cm 35

SE BAST IÃO S A L G A D O 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 image 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 1998 Sebastião and Lélia Salgado founded the non-profit Instituto Terra, an organization focused on reforestation and environmental education. Since the 1990s, they have been restoring a portion of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Born in Aimorés, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1944 | Lives and works in Paris

Marine Iguana, Galรกpagos, Ecuador, 2004, gelatin silver print, 68 x 50 inches/172.7 x 127 cm 37

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 Beauty Project in 1996 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, London; 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 curated and organized by Sundaram Tagore, in 2015. 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 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; 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

Cliff #29, 2015, acrylic and natural pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 76.3 x 51.3 inches/194 x 130.5 cm 39

Waterfall, 2014, acrylic and fluorescent pigments on Japanese mulberry paper, 76.3 x 102 inches/194 x 259 cm

C H U N K WA N G Y O U N G Although Chun Kwang Young began his career as a painter, he started to experiment with paper sculpture in the mid-1990s and over time his work has evolved in complexity and scale. The development of his signature technique was sparked by a childhood memory of seeing medicinal herbs wrapped in mulberry paper tied into small packages. Chunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work subtly merges the techniques, materials, and traditional sentiment of his Korean heritage with the conceptual freedom he experienced during his Western education. Chun Kwang Young received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Hongik University, Seoul and a Master of Fine Arts from the Philadelphia College of Art, Pennsylvania. His work is in numerous public collections, including The Rockefeller Foundation and the United Nations, New York; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Society Building, Pennsylvania; the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, and the Seoul Museum of Art; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the National Museum of Fine Arts, Malta. He was named Artist of the Year by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, in 2001 and in 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Prize in the 41st Korean Culture and Art Prize by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Born 1944 in Hongchun, Korea | Lives in works in Seongnam, Korea

Aggregation 07 - 133, 2007, mixed media with Korean mulberry paper, 68.9 x 57.1 inches/175 x 145 cm 43

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President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Director, Hong Kong: Faina Derman Director, Singapore: Melanie Taylor Exhibition coordinator and registrar: Julia Occhiogrosso Designer: Russell Whitehead Contributing editors: Kieran Doherty and Payal Uttam

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