Taka Ishii

Cerith Wyn Evans

09 Mar - 07 Apr 2007

© Cerith Wyn Evans
"Mobius Strip" 1997
Neon, 100 x 50 cm
Courtesy of White Cube and Taka Ishii Gallery
CERITH WYN EVANS
"Futa Omote (double face)"

Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to announce Futa Omote (double face) our solo exhibition with London based artist Cerith Wyn Evans. Wyn Evans was born in 1958 in Wales. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions internationally, including the Venice Biennale (1995 and 2003), 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005) and Documenta 11 (2002). Recent solo exhibitions include MIT List Visual Arts Centre, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2004), Frankfurter Kunstverein (2004), Kunsthaus Graz (2005), BAWAG Foundation, Vienna (2005), and Musee d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris (2006). Upcoming projects include exhibitions with both Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo as well as CCA, Kitakyushu.
Cerith Wyn Evan's conceptual practice incorporates a wide range of media, including installation works, sculptures, photography, film and text. Wyn Evans began his career as a video and filmmaker, initially assisting Derek Jarman, and then making short, experimental films during the 1980s. Since the 1990s, his work could be characterised by its focus on language and perception, as well as its precise, conceptual clarity that is often developed out of the context of the exhibition site or its history. For Wyn Evans, installations should work like a catalyst: a reservoir of possible meanings that can unravel many discursive journeys. Moreover, his work has a highly refined aesthetic that is often informed by the his deep interest in film history and literature. Often his works harness the potential of language to create moments of rupture and delight, where romantic longing, desire and reality conjoin. His 'Firework' pieces, for example, are wooden structures that spell out open-ended texts that burn over a designated period of time. His 'Chandelier' sculptures evoke notions of otherworldly communication by using sections of texts that have been translated into the flashing light signals of Morse Code. In his film and slide installations, such as The Curves of the Needle (2003), Wyn Evans manipulates sound to form a parallel 'text' to the visuals, where meaning is opened up by the unexpected slippage that occurs when the soundtrack is dislodged, changed or removed.
The present exhibition includes a selection of representative works including the neon sculpture, "Mobius Strip" as well as a new installation work.
 

Tags: Cerith Wyn Evans, Derek Jarman