For the first of a regular series of exhibitions at London’s new arts hub Cromwell Place, we are pleased to present painting, sculpture, installations and photography by a global group of artists representing more than two decades of gallery history.
When we opened our doors in New York City in 2000, it was with a mission to show that some of the best, most meaningful art was being created by artists with a global outlook who were deeply engaged in cross-cultural explorations. The inter-mingling of cultures became, and remains, the premise of our programming.
THE 20+ ARTISTS
Miya Ando, Osi Audu, Edward Burtynsky, Golnaz Fathi, Kim Jae-Il, Karen Knorr, Jane Lee, Tayeba Lipi, Zheng Lu, Ricardo Mazal, Steve McCurry, Judith Murray, Robert Polidori, Sohan Qadri, Sebastião Salgado, Hiroshi Senju, Susan Weil, Robert Yasuda, Chun Kwang Young
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
The gallery has a long history of championing women artists, particularly underrepresented and underappreciated women who came of age in the post-war years. 20+ includes work by Susan Weil, a key female figure who pushed the boundaries of Abstract Expressionism, whose work is currently on view at Malmö Konstmuseum in Sweden. Judith Murray, who exhibited early in her career at the historic Betty Parsons Gallery and the Clocktower Gallery, New York, part of PS 1/MoMA, presents a recent oil on canvas in her signature palette of red, white, yellow and black that she masterfully coaxes into a wide spectrum of hues.
Among the next generations of women, Tehran-based painter Golnaz Fathi presents a new abstract canvas incorporating her long practice of reinterpreting Persian calligraphy. From Tayeba Lipi, whose work is in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, we present an arresting sculpture made from razor blades referring to the violence facing women in her native Bangladesh. From American artist Miya Ando, who works across multiple mediums including glass, wood, fabric and paper, we present an atmospheric work on metal. Ando’s glass sculpture was recently on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.
Another pillar of the gallery’s programming is work by artists who cross cultural and national boundaries, synthesizing Western visual language with forms, techniques and philosophies from Asia, the Subcontinent and the Middle East. Although these artists work in a multitude of mediums, they share a reverence for history, literature and spiritual themes.
Japanese-born New York-based painter Hiroshi Senju, who combines a minimalist visual language rooted in Abstract Expressionism, graffiti and drip painting with elements of traditional Japanese painting, presents sublime Waterfall paintings. From the oeuvre of Korean artist Chun Kwang Young, whose work is the subject of a major solo exhibition at the 59th Venice Biennale through November 27, we include abstract assemblages made from thousands of triangular forms wrapped in antique mulberry paper. Nigerian-American artist Osi Audu, who focuses on the dualism of the tangible and intangible, presents mixed-media paintings from a body of work that is part of an ongoing exhibition at the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey. Beijing artist Zheng Lu, known for his gravity-defying sculptures evoking splashes of water suspended in mid-air, which are in public spaces throughout China, shows a gleaming stainless steel sculpture evoking water’s fluid, animated form.
In recent years, the gallery developed a robust photography program representing artists whose deeply held values we share. This exhibition includes works by Magnum photographer Steve McCurry who has travelled the globe chronicling humanity in loving detail; Sebastião Salgado, who has just completed a six-year odyssey documenting the unparalleled beauty of the Amazon and its people; Karen Knorr, whose sumptuous imagery of animals digitally fused into opulent architectural settings considers issues of power and hierarchy rooted in cultural heritage; and Edward Burtynsky, noted worldwide for his images documenting the impact of human industry on the planet, whose major multimedia project In the Wake of Progress premieres June 11 in Toronto.