Taipei Dangdai 2019
Booth A15 | Solo Sector
17.01.19 – 20.01.19
Hong Kong – 7 December 2018 – To continue Puerta Roja’s eighth anniversary celebrations, the gallery is proud to participate in the ‘Solos’ sector of the inaugural Taipei Dangdai international art fair, presenting three large-scale and previously unseen works by Franco-Venezuelan artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez. Building upon the tremendous success of the first solo show in Asia of the Op and Kinetic Art master, hosted by Puerta Roja in 2017, the artist himself selected this collection of works from his seminal 1959 Physichromie series, which still holds unwavering universal relevance in today’s world.
Puerta Roja has been committed to the Taiwanese art market and audience since 2012 and is delighted to return to the Taipei, taking part in its newest fair. Taipei Dangdai, which translates as ‘the present moment,’ runs from 18 to 20 January 2019 and serves as the perfect platform for an artist for whom experience of the ‘present’ is at the heart of his discourse: “I propose autonomous colour, without anecdotes, deprived of symbolisms, colour seen as an ephemeral circumstance and in continuous mutation, creating realities at every instant.”
Cruz-Diez’ historical significance is validated by hundreds of international exhibitions, permanent large-scale public projects and ephemeral interventions. His work is in more than 60 museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Tate Modern, Kunstmuseum and the Centre Pompidou and has been appreciated throughout the Asia Pacific since 1988 when his mural-sized work Physichromie Double Face was installed in the South Korea Olympic Park. In 1989, the artist participated in the exhibition Aspects of Contemporary Painters in Paris at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts presenting one of his iconic Physichromies which would become part of the museum’s permanent collection. From 2013 to 2014 Circumstance and Ambiguity of Colour toured 11 museums in China to great acclaim. Recently the artists prominence continues to grow, Cruz-Diez was prominently featured at Art Basel, Switzerland 2018 with the entire UBS Art Basel VIP lounge dedicated to his architectural work from 1979, Environnement Chromatique, as well as exhibiting his large-scale installation work Translucent Chromointerferent Environment as part of the Unlimited sector of the fair. In bringing the artist’s work to Taipei, Puerta Roja will present to the discerning and vibrant attendees of Taipei Dangdai, an artist whose work is predicated on universalism and interaction.
Cruz-Diez describes his discourse as “Art of Real Movement and Space.” Through interaction, the viewer becomes an accomplice to the artist, an essential participant in the artwork itself. The works on display at the fair depict a flat surface of vertical bands rendered in a contrasting palette and arranged with mathematical regularity into multiple geometric planes. Each structure creates a “light trap” where colour frames transform when seen from different angles. As the viewer moves, colour dissolves and oscillates from one chromatic range to another, generating virtual colours not present in the support. It is not without reason that he is regarded as one of the 20th century’s preeminent thinkers in the realm of colour.
On exhibiting at Taipei Dangdai, Puerta Roja Founder and Director as well as the current Co-President of the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association (HKAGA), Adriana Alvarez-Nichol says, “Over the past eight years, Puerta Roja has continued its mission to expand the appreciation of Latin American and Spanish art across Asia Pacific as well as increase the awareness of the region’s rich contribution to the global art landscape. The gallery advocates carefully selected artists with a regional focus, to enable untold narratives and universal social perspectives to reach Asian audiences. In this regard, Puerta Roja and Taipei Dangdai could not be greater aligned, and it is exciting to see such a wealth of art world experience bring their dynamic influence to Taipei.”
In regard to the artist’s work, “Bringing the works of Carlos Cruz-Diez to Taipei Dangdai is a proud moment for Puerta Roja. To collaborate with such a significant artist, who, at 95, is still so vital today, really speaks for what the gallery represents: to provide an opportunity to view masterpieces previously unseen in Asia and open new routes to Op and Kinetic art for Taiwanese audiences. Carlos Cruz-Diez’ human-sized works will guarantee to be an inspiring and show-stopping experience for all.”
As part of this innovative and ground-breaking fair Taipei Dangdai, which has, as its subtitle, ‘Art and Ideas,’ Puerta Roja will also feature one piece by Spanish artist, Javier León Pérez in the fairs Salon sector where works are valued at under USD $8,000 in order to encourage new and first-time art collectors. Javier’s work, in line with the galleries mission to support artists who create a dialogue with Asian cultural practices, invokes the Neo-Confucian Chinese idea of Li (理), referring to the underlying reason and order of nature as reflected in its organic forms. Last year Javier was selected by Taiwanese collector Leslie Sun as one of her top picks during Art Taipei 2017: “There’s a juxtaposition between the artist’s obsession with detail and the freedom he gives material to take its form. But even with the obsessive details the piece is very soothing to look at.”
