Cerith Wyn Evans: no realm of thought…
CERITH WYN EVANS: no realm of thought…
Galerie Marian Goodman | 14 January - 4 March 2023
* ...the plane of immanence is not a concept that is or can be thought but rather the image that thought gives itself, of what it means to think, to pause for thought, to find one’s bearing in thought. – Gilles Deleuze
Marian Goodman Gallery is pleased to present two parallel solo exhibitions of Cerith Wyn Evans in Paris and New York featuring new sculptures and installations. Internationally acclaimed for magnifying the use of light, Evans has developed a unique sculptural oeuvre over the past four decades. Either transposing movements, texts or sounds into luminous works or exploring the limits of visibility, Evans aims to engage the viewers along discursive paths, by questioning perception in relation to space, light, sound, language, and object. Interrogating “the realm of thought” and “the field of vision,” his multi-referential works play with spatial environments and promote multiple interpretations.
“The Neon after Stella series stages a distancing from Frank Stella’s Black Paintings to encourage a critical reflection on the notion of the ‘void’ and the ‘voiding of narrative,’ which these works brought about as one event in the death of painting at that time. Just as Samuel Beckett had spoken of having ‘nothing to paint, and nothing to paint with’ in his ‘Three Dialogues’ 1949, Stella’s Black Paintings occasion a bridge to nothingness,” writes Evans.
Suspended from the ceiling, the abstract neon works resemble veils, the empty space between lines of neon providing a partial glimpse through to the view behind. Viewed together, they evoke a palimpsest, with a hallucinogenic moiré effect achieved via the overlaying of the lines of light in the room.
Height: 728 3/8 in. (1850 cm)
Diameter: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm)
Alongside the fissured glass panels stands StarStarStar/Steer (Transphoton VI) (2019), previously exhibited in the artist’s solo show at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan. The LED columns light up according to a complex sequential lighting system, passing from a state of translucency to a penetrating brightness. When the light slowly decreases, the pieces change in appearance, allowing viewers to see through them but also to glimpse their component materials. Whereas their lines and verticality evoke Doric columns, the work contradicts the very idea of a column as it does not rest on the floor but is suspended from the ceiling.
“If there appears to be a dwelling on, in, and through flat planes, it feels somehow involved with interrogating the screen...the planes of immanence. In my imagination I find myself yearning, striving for the dissolution of distinctions between dimensional registers and prefer to evoke the possibility of engaging on multiple planes and dimensions, summoning the projection as far as the eye allows,” explains Evans.
At the invitation of Cerith Wyn Evans, composer Pascale Criton will present the piece Wander Steps (2018) by the duo XAMP (Fanny Vicens & Jean-Etienne Sotty) on Wednesday, 15 February, at 7 pm at the Paris gallery. Admission is free - reservation is required, subject to availability.
Born in 1958 in Llanelli, Wales, Cerith Wyn Evans lives and works in London and Norfolk, England. A graduate of Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, he began his career as an experimental filmmaker, gaining a reputation for conceptual art in the 1990s. In 2018 he was awarded the Hepworth Prize for Sculpture.
In 2023, Evans will present his second solo exhibition at the Sogetsu Kaikan in Tokyo, from 31 March to 29 April. Over the last few decades numerous international museums have devoted monographic exhibitions to Evans’ work, including Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales (on view through 4 February 2023); Aspen Museum of Art, Colorado (2021); Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2019); National Museum Wales, Cardiff (2018); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2018); Tate Britain, London (2017); Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich (2017); Museion Bolzano (2015); Serpentine Gallery, London (2014); MUSAC, Léon, Spain (2008); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2006); The Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2006); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2004). Evans also participated in the 57th Venice Biennale (2017); Skulptur Projekte in Münster, Germany (2017); the 4th Moscow Biennale (2011); Yokohama Triennial (2008); Documenta 11, Kassel (2002). He was the first artist to represent Wales at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003.
For further information, please visit our website mariangoodman.com, or please contact Marian Goodman Gallery New York at: 212 977 7160, and Galerie Marian Goodman at +33 1 48 04 70 52.