CERTAIN EXCEPTIONAL ARTISTS IN EXCEPTIONABLE CIRCUMSTANCES BROKE FREE OF THE NORMS OF THE TRADITION AND PRODUCED WORK THAT WAS DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO ITS VALUES; YET THESE ARTISTS ARE PROCLAIMED AS THE TRADITION’S SUPREME REPRESENTATIVES. JOHN BERGER
THE WEST ATTACHES TO THE EAST, OR THE TAIL ATTACHES TO THE SOFA
SEPTEMBER 24 – NOVEMBER 12 2017
What attaches to what? Is Venus attached to the seashell, or the seashell to Venus? The East to the West, or the West to the East? The picture to the viewer, or the viewer to the picture?
One could spend hours mapping out the system of hierarchies governing the relationships between objects and other phenomena, but what would be the point? It’s more important to observe how all of these relationships interact, according to their own free-form logic, impervious to any guiding rationale. We do not ask the viewers to understand this exhibition. If anything, it actually might be better NOT to understand it, in keeping with the way of Taoists, who follow the wu wei.
In short, we ask not for understanding, but for love!