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間 (jiān)

November 25, 2016–January 7, 2017
Hong Kong

Installation view with Dan Flavin, the nominal three (to William of Ockham) (1963) Artwork © 2016 Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view with Dan Flavin, the nominal three (to William of Ockham) (1963)

Artwork © 2016 Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, © 2016 Estate of Walter De Maria

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, © 2016 Estate of Walter De Maria

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, © 2016 Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, © 2016 Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view with Donald Judd, Untitled (88-28 A/B) (1984) Artwork © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view with Donald Judd, Untitled (88-28 A/B) (1984)

Artwork © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view Artwork © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view

Artwork © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view Artwork © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Installation view

Artwork © 2016 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

About

Gagosian Hong Kong is pleased to present 間 (jiān), a group exhibition of Minimalist works selected in response to Dan Flavin’s the nominal three (to William of Ockham) (1963).

“間” is a composite of the Chinese characters for “sun” and “door,” evoking a sliver of light between two pillars. It can be translated as “interval,” “gap,” “space,” or “pause.” This image-moment taps into the phenomenological aims of Minimalism, which uses simplified forms to communicate the primacy of intellect and bodily awareness over artistic content.

Emerging from de Stijl, Constructivism, and Suprematism, as well as American mass production, Minimal art locates the content of an artwork in the viewer, rather than in the object. Artists such as Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, and Walter De Maria, all included in this exhibition, pursued a pure objecthood informed by existentialist philosophy and theories of being and nonbeing.

 In the early 1960s, Flavin’s interest in elementary forms and industrial materials led him to develop site-specific arrangements of commercial fluorescent lights. Circumventing the limits of the gallery, he used the standard lengths of the tube lights to set up nonhierarchical interrelationships, blurring distinctions between the aesthetics of art and industry. the nominal three (to William of Ockham) (1963) is made up of six identical lights, three subsets positioned in a numeric sequence across a single wall. Displayed as parallel vertical beacons, the lights can be read from left to right: one light, then two, then three, exemplifying Flavin’s calculated awareness of the empirical realities of rooms.

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香港高古軒畫廊欣然呈獻「間」聯展,展出一系列極簡主義作品,向丹‧弗萊文(Dan Flavin)的《公因數三(致奧卡姆的威廉)》(the nominal three (to William of Ockham),1963年)致敬。

「間」由「日」和「門」字組成,令人聯想到兩根柱子之間的一縷光線。「間」可解作間隔、間隙、空間或間歇,反映極簡主義的現象學目的,即利用簡化的形態來表達思維與身體感知比藝術內容更重要的觀點。極簡主義源於風格派、構成主義、至上主義及美國批量生產,藝術品的內容由觀賞者決定,而非物件本身。是次展覽將展出藝術家弗萊文、唐納德‧賈德(Donald Judd)和華特‧德‧瑪利亞(Walter De Maria)的作品,他們皆追求純粹的物性,並受存在主義哲學及「存在」與「虛無」的理論啟發。

於1960年代早期,弗萊文對基本形態和工業物料深感興趣,因而以商用熒光燈管創作專為特定場地而設的裝置。他巧妙克服畫廊的限制,利用標準長度的光管構建不分層次的相互關係,模糊藝術與工業美學之間的分野。《公因數三(致奧卡姆的威廉)》(1963年)由三組、共六支相同的光管組成,並由少至多設置在一面牆上。這些光管猶如垂直的導航燈,可從左至右詮釋:一支、兩支、三支,體現弗萊文對空間經驗現實的精確認知。

德‧瑪利亞則將地面(以及他在大地作品中使用的土地)視為計算對象,他的雕塑運用數理排列法,創造不斷重複的基本幾何元素。在《十四邊形》(14-Sided Open Polygon,1984年)中,他打造了一個不鏽鋼槽,放入鋼球,從高處望向這個閃亮的十四邊形,會發現鋼球似乎沿著多邊形的內角一直滾動,永不止息。

極簡主義經常探索繪畫與雕塑之間的領域,例如賈德於1950年代末希望打破繪畫的制約,不滿足於浮於表面的呈現,而渴望呈現物件本身。他致力擺脫一切,只剩下排序,務求展現所有形態之中自我定義的結構邏輯。《無題(88–28 A/B)》(Untitled (88–28 A/B),1984年)由兩個長方形單元組成,帶藍色樹脂玻璃板的鋁箱由牆壁伸出。賈德希望彰顯物件與觀賞者之間的物理關係,而非像弗萊文般,將焦點放在空間的定性現實之上。

極簡主義要求觀賞者站在鋼、樹脂玻璃及光線前直面自己的意識,聆聽弗萊文光管裝置的嗡嗡聲、在德‧瑪利亞的不鏽鋼裝置中觀看自己扭曲的倒影,又或感受賈德箱子的表面張力,藉此探討人生其中一個最難以捉摸的問題:我們的存在。

Anna Weyant’s Two Eileens (2022) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Winter 2022

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Winter 2022

The Winter 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Anna Weyant’s Two Eileens (2022) on its cover.

Black and white image of Walter De Maria, 1961. Photo: George Maciunas

Walter De Maria: The Object, the Action, the Aesthetic Feeling

The definitive monograph on the work of Walter De Maria was published earlier this fall. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Elizabeth Childress and Michael Childress of the Walter De Maria Archive talk to Gagosian senior director Kara Vander Weg about the origins of the publication and the revelations brought to light in its creation.

Jordan Wolfson’s House with Face (2017) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Fall 2022

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Fall 2022

The Fall 2022 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Jordan Wolfson’s House with Face (2017) on its cover.

Image of Donald Judd with Jeff Kopie, Architecture Office, Marfa, Texas, 1993

There is No Neutral Space: The Architecture of Donald Judd, Part 2

In this second installment of a two-part essay, Julian Rose continues his exploration of Donald Judd’s engagement with architecture. Here, he examines the artist’s proposals for projects in Bregenz, Austria, and in Basel, arguing that Judd’s approach to shaping space provides a model for contemporary architectural production.

First Library, La Mansana de Chinati/The Block, Judd Foundation, Marfa, Texas. Photo: Matthew Millman © Judd Foundation

Building a Legacy
Judd Foundation Archives

Richard Shiff speaks with Caitlin Murray, director of archives and programs at Judd Foundation, about the archive of Donald Judd, how to approach materials that occupy the gray area between document and art, and some of the considerations unique to stewarding an archive housed within and adjacent to spaces conceived by the artist.

Black and white image of Donald Judd inspecting the new roof on the south Artillery Shed, Marfa, Texas, c. 1984.

There Is No Neutral Space: The Architecture of Donald Judd, Part 1

Julian Rose explores the question: what does it mean for an artist to make architecture? Delving into the archives of Donald Judd, he examines three architectural projects by the artist. Here, in the first installment of a two-part essay, he begins with an invitation in Bregenz, Austria, in the early 1990s, before turning to an earlier project, in Marfa, Texas, begun in 1979.