HONG KONG.- Galerie du Monde announces Fields of Abstraction, a group exhibition curated by Justin Charles Hoover, which brings four American artists; Freddy Chandra, Paul Clipson, Jesse Gottesman and Meghann Riepenhoff, to Hong Kong for the first time. This exhibition signifies the first initiative in the GDM Projects series, which is a programme designed to identify, collaborate with and represent artists beyond China who are active in their region, alongside the gallery’s long term support of Chinese contemporary art. In curating the show Justin Charles Hoover has brought together 16 specially commissioned works by artists from San Francisco, California, to Seattle, Washington that span a variety of different mediums, including experimental photography, etching, filmmaking and sculptural wall installation, into a series that explores the abstraction of tone, pattern, chaos and texture.
As a time-based artist and curator, Hoover’s work often deals with his cultural inheritance passed down to him after his family's displacement from war, social strife, and tectonic governmental upheavals. As such, language failure, cultural disjuncture and other trans-location issues have become recurring motifs expressed through his performance, video, installation and curatorial work. In this show, Hoover uses the non metaphorical abstract artworks of these four artists to explore the creation of a harmony and balance between chaos and control, motion and stillness.
The disparate practices of Chandra, Clipson, Gottesman and Riepenhoff are unified by form, the influences they have responded to, and the utilization of chance operation in their work. They draw heavily on minimalism and abstract expressionism, but equally rely on a history of Asian brush painting and scroll-based artworks. Together the works employ a complex formal depth, unfolding in front of the eye slowly, releasing colors and temperatures from initially reserved yet sublime tones, balancing color, rhythm, texture and composition to create synergies of aesthetic serenity. Hoover has deliberately created a space with a meditative foundation for any viewing experience, demanding of visitors a slow immersion into the works.
In the exhibition six minimalistic hanging paper scrolls with alternating dark and brightly chromatic copper plate prints by Jesse Gottesman are contrasted by the equally fluid yet more visually chaotic cyanotype prints of Meghann Riepenhoff, that hang naturally, like banners or flags throughout the gallery. Offsetting these works, the rhythmic minimalistic sculpture paintings of Freddy Chandra present a powerful emotional depth, while also building on the history of minimalism, and the colors and compositions of abstract expressionism. And finally, providing a materialistic counterpoint to these works on paper and acrylic, but in keeping with their ethos and affect, is Paul Clipson’s explosive 16mm film collage MADE OF AIR.
Fred Scholle, Founder and Chairman of Galerie du Monde, stated that “The GDM Projects series really allows us to highlight the outstanding and innovative works of artists around the world whose work correlates with the conversation our programme of Chinese contemporary artists generates. I am delighted to be bringing the work of these American artists to Hong Kong for the first time and to be working with Justin Charles Hoover”.
