Sokyo Lisbon is delighted to present Yoon Heechang´s first ever solo presentation in Europe. Rivers is a two-part exhibition introducing the artist’s seminal sand river paintings.
Paying particular attention to the environment that surrounds us – both physical and metaphysical – Yoon´s ceramic powder paintings are deeply connected to landscape: “representing the land by the land itself”.
The exhibition Rivers introduces his work through a series of paintings made with sand collected along the Kamogawa River and the Seine. The seasonal and environmental variations play a key role in defining the tonality attained. Part I and Part II of the exhibition places this in evidence by showing recent and earlier work from the very same riverbanks.
Yoon Heechang operates a meticulous process. From cataloguing his findings to processing the sand through fire, he obtains a palette of colours that speak directly of the land. Coated in sand pigment and acrylic medium, the paintings...expand their physicality beyond the constrains of the surface and the intensity of the monochromatic hues spill onto the empty room inviting a quiet contemplation.
I have a reason for choosing these materials. It is so abundant and part of everyday life, yet it is a guide to greater world around us.
Yoon Heechang, 2018
The exhibition features the film Sand River Work – an eight-minute video accompanying the artist along Kamogawa´s riverbed environs Kyoto and at the studio at Tama Art University in Tokyo.
About the artist
Yoon Heechang was born in 1963 in Hyogo, Japan. He graduated in 1986 in Tokyo Zokei University and completed his masters at the Tama Art University, Tokyo, where he now lectures.
In his work the artist seeks to explore the connections between space, objects and the viewer. Yoon’s works are characterised by the use of sand. He gathers the natural materials and fires them in high temperatures to produce tiny shavings of ceramic material, making pigments for his paintings. By using these natural materials as art materials, the artist represents an abstracted landscape and reveals the virtues of the land itself, almost as he is seeking out the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Because of that, the sense of harmony, lightness, quietude and serenity are common feelings when appreciating his artworks.
Permanent collections include Terada Collection at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery and Tokoname City, Aichi, Japan.
About Sokyo Lisbon
Sokyo Lisbon is a contemporary art and ceramics gallery based in Portugal in partnership with Sokyo Gallery in Kyoto, Japan. Sokyo Lisbon’s aim is to present the highest quality of Japanese contemporary ceramics and works of art to an European audience including works by artists such as Machiko Hashimoto, Mishima Kimiyo, Osamu Kojima, Moriyasu Kimura, Toshio Matsui, Eiko Kishi, Toru Ishii, Heechang Yoon, Satoru Hoshino and Kazuhito Kawai, among others.
Atsumi Fujita is Sokyo Lisbon and Sokyo Gallery’s Director. Founded in 2013, Sokyo Gallery represents over sixty artists working in ceramics, lacquer, textiles, glass and metal. The gallery participates regularly in international art fairs such as Artissima, ART021, Collect London, Dangdai, Design Basel, TEFAF Maastricht. Sokyo Gallery works closely with prestigious museums and institutions worldwide.
Entrada actualizada el el 15 nov de 2021
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