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Extended through May 18, 2018

Y.Z. Kami

Geometry of Light

March 16–May 18, 2018
rue de Ponthieu, Paris

Installation view Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view

Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view

Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view

Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Installation view

Artwork © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Zarko Vijatovic

Works Exhibited

Y.Z. Kami, Masque mortuaire de Pascal (Pascal’s death masque), 2017 Oil on linen, 75 × 51 inches (190.5 × 129.5 cm)© Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

Y.Z. Kami, Masque mortuaire de Pascal (Pascal’s death masque), 2017

Oil on linen, 75 × 51 inches (190.5 × 129.5 cm)
© Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

Y.Z. Kami, Daya's Hands II, 2015–16 Oil on linen, 90 × 54 inches (228.6 × 137.2 cm)© Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

Y.Z. Kami, Daya's Hands II, 2015–16

Oil on linen, 90 × 54 inches (228.6 × 137.2 cm)
© Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

Y.Z. Kami, White Dome I, 2014 Block ink and acrylic on linen, 90 × 99 inches (228.6 × 251.5 cm)© Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

Y.Z. Kami, White Dome I, 2014

Block ink and acrylic on linen, 90 × 99 inches (228.6 × 251.5 cm)
© Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

About

[It’s less of a blur] and more like a tremor, a tremor that conveys a sense of presence. A friend once asked me when I consider a painting to be finished. I replied, ‘When the image starts breathing.’
—Y.Z. Kami

Gagosian is pleased to present Geometry of Light, new and recent paintings by Y.Z. Kami. This is his first solo exhibition in Paris.

Y.Z. Kami’s large-scale portraits recreate the visceral experience of a face-to-face encounter. Through a matte, uniform haze, he depicts his subjects with eyes open or closed, gazing forward or looking down. Continuing the art historical quest to locate the unknown within material form, his portraits and abstractions serve as poignant evocations of the sublime.

In this exhibition, Kami aligns the questions of portraiture with the patterns and processes of geometry, considering various ways to seek and represent truth. In one gallery, he juxtaposes two Dome paintings, comprised of concentric circles of tessellated marks, with a looming depiction of the plaster death mask of Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth-century French mathematician, writer, and theologian. Pascal spent much of his life investigating the definition of “truth,” arguing that mathematic principles were as close to perfect as they could be, despite their inevitable reliance on approximation. In Kami’s painting, Pascal’s eyes are permanently closed, while the luminous White Domes expand and contract, asserting geometric approximations of their own.

In another gallery, three Dome paintings and two new portraits, of the artist and his partner Daniele, are presented with Daya’s Hands II (2015–16), which shows two hands with palms pressed together in prayer. Painting himself as an adult for the first time, Kami found that he blurred his own face even more than those in his other portraits. Peering through his glasses, he tempts the viewer to squint through the haze as well, as if the image might come into focus. As Kami’s portrait stares across at a White Dome, the portrait of Daniele also looks forward, meeting the tranquil peak of the prayerful hands. In all, the dilating centers of the Domes and the intersecting gazes of the portraits create an invisible triangulation through the space, a matrix that is felt but not seen. Upstairs, the dramaturgy continues: a series of smaller Gold Domes flicker and glow, while Black Dome (2017) absorbs the gaze into an aperture-like center—a geometric passage into light.

[Il s’agit moins d’un trouble] que d’un frisson, un frisson qui évoque le sentiment d’une présence. Une fois, un ami m’a demandé à partir de quel moment je considère une peinture comme achevée. Je lui ai répondu, «Quand l’image commence à respirer.»
—Y.Z. Kami

Gagosian est heureuse de présenter Geometry of Light, de nouvelles et récentes peintures de Y.Z. Kami. Il s’agit de sa première exposition personnelle à Paris.

Les portraits grand format de Y.Z. Kami recréent l’expérience viscérale d’une rencontre en face-à-face. A travers un brouillard mat et uniforme, il représente ses sujets les yeux ouverts ou fermés, regardant au loin ou baissant la tête. Perpétuant la quête historique artistique qui situe l’inconnu au sein de formes matérielles, ses portraits et abstractions constituent de poignantes évocations du sublime.

Dans cette exposition, Kami fait coïncider les questions relatives au portrait avec les motifs et processus de la géométrie, prenant en considération différentes manières de rechercher et de représenter la vérité. Dans une salle, il juxtapose deux peintures de Dome, composées de cercles concentriques en mosaïque, avec la représentation menaçante du masque mortuaire en plâtre de Blaise Pascal, le mathématicien, écrivain et théologien français du XVIIe siècle. Pascal a passé la majeure partie de son existence à questionner la définition de la «vérité», arguant que les principes mathématiques approchaient au plus près possible de la perfection, malgré leur dépendance inévitable à l’approximation. Dans la peinture de Kami, les yeux de Pascal sont clos en permanence, tandis que les lumineux White Domes s’étendent et se contractent, affirmant leurs propres approximations géométriques.

Dans une autre salle, trois peintures de Dome ainsi que deux nouveaux portraits, représentant l’artiste et son partenaire Daniele, sont présentés avec Daya’s Hands II (2015–16), deux mains, paume contre paume en prière. Se représentant en tant qu’adulte pour la première fois, Kami a constaté qu’il avait flouté son propre visage encore plus que celui de ses autres portraits. Observant le spectateur derrière ses lunettes, il incite celui-ci à plisser les yeux à travers cette brume, comme si l’image allait dès lors faire une mise au point. Alors que le portrait de Kami fixe un White Dome installé en face, le portrait de Daniele regarde également droit devant, croisant le sommet paisible des mains en prière. Dans l’ensemble, les centres dilatés des Domes et les regards qui s’entrecroisent créent une triangulation invisible à travers l’espace, une matrice que l’on ressent mais qui est invisible. A l’étage, la dramaturgie continue : une série de Gold Domes, plus petits, vacillent et rayonnent, alors que Black Dome (2017) absorbe le regard dans un centre qui semble être une ouverture—un passage géométrique vers la lumière.

Y.Z. Kami: Behind the Vanishing Point

Y.Z. Kami: Behind the Vanishing Point

Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth-century mathematician and philosopher, served as a crucial inspiration for Y.Z. Kami’s newest body of work. Angela Brown examines Pascal’s ideas and their relevance to these portraits and Dome paintings.

Y.Z. Kami, Night Painting I (for William Blake), 2017–18, oil on linen, 99 × 99 inches (251.5 × 251.5 cm) © Y.Z. Kami. Photo: Rob McKeever

In Conversation
Setsuko and Y.Z. Kami

The artists address their shared ardor for poetry, the surfaces of painting, and nature.

Y.Z. Kami and Steven Henry Madoff sit in front two of the artist's paintings

In Conversation
Y.Z. Kami and Steven Henry Madoff

Y.Z. Kami and curator Steven Henry Madoff sit down in Kami’s studio to discuss the artist’s exhibition at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain. Entitled Y.Z. Kami: De forma silenciosa/In a Silent Way, the survey features portraits; images of buildings, both sacred and ordinary; a sculptural installation of loose bricks inscribed with texts; and recent dreamlike abstractions.

A painting in dark blue and white. The image depicts a group of men in white linen encircling a platform on which a couple of them are standing. The standing figures are cut off from the waist up as the top half of the painting dissolves into solid midnight blue.

Y.Z. Kami: Dematerialized

In celebration of the release of the monograph Y.Z. Kami: Works 1985–2018, and in advance of an exhibition of new works by the artist at Gagosian, Rome, Ziba Ardalan and Elena Geuna sat down to discuss Y.Z. Kami’s work. The conversation was moderated by Gagosian’s Kay Pallister.

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Notre-Dame), 2019.

For Notre-Dame

An exhibition at Gagosian, Paris, is raising funds to aid in the reconstruction of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris following the devastating fire of April 2019. Gagosian directors Serena Cattaneo Adorno and Jean-Olivier Després spoke to Jennifer Knox White about the generous response of artists and others, and what the restoration of this iconic structure means across the world.

Y.Z. Kami, Gold Dome, 2017, gold leaf on linen, 63 × 70 inches (160 × 177.8 cm). Mr. and Mrs. David Su Collection.

Y.Z. Kami: Luminosities

Elena Geuna interviews the artist on the subjects of his childhood, his approach to portraiture, and the centrality of light in his practice.