Hong Kong Perrotin – Julio Le parc – “Light – Mirror”

JULIO LE PARC
LIGHT – MIRROR
OPENING | Monday, March 25, 11 am – 8 pm
EXHIBITION WALK-THROUGH | Monday, March 25, 4 – 5 pm EXHIBITION | March 25 – May 3, 2019

Perrotin Hong Kong is pleased to present LIGHT – MIRROR, the first exhibition dedicated to the Paris-based Argentine artist Julio Le Parc in Asia, and his third with the gallery following his inaugural show in New York in 2016, and Bifurcations in Paris in 2017. The 90-year-old pioneer of op art and kinetic art has conceived two site-specific installations for this exhibition, which also comprises recent mobiles and paintings.

Born in 1928, Le Parc gained international recognition as one of the leading figures of the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV), which he co-founded in Paris in 1960 along with François Morellet, Francisco Sobrino, Yvaral, Horacio Garcia Rossi, and Joël Stein. The collective remained active until 1968, two years after Le Parc was awarded the International Grand Prize for Painting at the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966. Geometric abstraction, especially the canonic works of Piet Mondrian and Victor Vasarely, originally influenced his practice. Spanning through a wide range of mediums, it includes drawing, painting, monotyping, sculpture, installation, and virtual reality.

Whether static or kinetic, pictorial or sculptural, Le Parc’s works revolve around the repetition of basic geometric forms, whose organization according to rigorous sequential procedures allows for potentially infinite progressions. Yet, neither abstraction nor logics can sum up his overall oeuvre. Against market-friendly monothematicism, the artist has always been radically committed to experimentation and emancipation. Particularly known for his environments involving artificial light and mechanical movement, as well as his recurrent use of mirrors, he has developed a minimalist-adjacent aesthetics, which follows up on the GRAV’s primary interest in the public’s engagement with art. Direct participation was notably tested by the group’s collective conception of an interactive labyrinth at the 1963 Paris Biennale. Viewers have since remained the ultimate subjects of – if not the only possible disruptive elements in – Le Parc’s otherwise meticulous compositions. Like a demiurge, he essentially orchestrates ever-changing conditions for unique perceptual experiences.

Displayed in separate rooms, the immersive installations conceived for this exhibition both literally and figuratively pull the viewers in different directions, further triggering rather antagonistic reactions. Espace à pénétrer avec trame et miroir courbe (Variation du labyrinthe de 1963) (2019) is a substantial variation of Le Parc’s original contribution to the GRAV’s 1963 labyrinth. It consists of two large semi-cylindrical structures made of curved mirror walls, inside and outside which visitors can freely circulate. A dynamic pattern of black-and-white stripe completes the work:it covers the entire room from floor to ceiling, as well as four panels hanging at body level near the center, where they are subjected to the public’s erratic movement. Bringing to mind the traditional house of mirrors in funfairs, this maze-like installation prompts a resolutely playful experience among the audience.

Crucial to Le Parc’s aesthetics is the notion of visual instability, which is successfully achieved through the sleek vibrancy of the all-over striped pattern, as well as the deformed reflections of the public and its surroundings on the curved mirrors. While, at first, reflective plays tend to atomize the environment and the people inside, these optical effects eventually allow for a heightened sense of the individual in relation to others through mutual interaction. Contrastingly, the second installation calls for another kind of disruption and togetherness. Plunged into complete darkness, Continuel lumière cylindre au plafond (1962– 2019) offers a purely contemplative spectacle. Visitors are invited to lie down and gaze at the circular choreography of light beams on the ceiling. Although these mesmerizing luminous forms are produced by the motorized rotation of indented discs before a projector, the invisible apparatus makes the experience all the more ethereal.

These two installations resume and reinterpret multiple strategies that Le Parc has explored and altered throughout his life, sometimes in less interactive experiments. For instance, among the other works on display, two mobiles from the series Continuel Mobile (2018) also evoke celestial forms. They both consist of either mirror or translucent yellow slats, which the artist assembled together into delicate constellations hanging from the ceiling and overlooking the visitors upon entering the gallery.

Finally, four recent paintings from the decades-long series Alchimie (2017–18) suggest, perhaps, the most enlightening thought. While they each derive intricate rainbow-like clusters of dots from simple geometric motifs that Le Parc realized within his signature fourteen- color palette, their title points towards something beyond the strict execution of sequential procedures. Only experienced alchemists understand that the reason behind the quest for the philosopher’s stone is not to turn lead into gold, but rather to create light through matter and seek self-discovery in the process. Whether it relates to the viewers’ perception and motion, which activate the works, or Le Parc’s own journey through his practice’s constant rejuvenation, he has certainly kept for the past sixty years this unyielding sense of freedom that makes great artists in the long haul.

胡里奧• 勒• 帕克 光•鏡
開幕 | 3月25日(週一)上午11時至晚上8時 展覽導賞 | 3月25日(週一)下午4時至5時 展覽 | 2019年3月25日至5月3日

貝浩登(香港)很榮幸為阿根廷藝術家胡里奧•勒•帕克舉辦首次亞洲 個展《光•鏡》。此次個展是繼2016年紐約個展、2017年巴黎個展《分 岔》之後的第三次合作。年屆90歲的勒•帕克現居巴黎，是視幻藝術與 動力藝術的先驅。本次個展將展出兩件場域特定的裝置，以及近期的動 態雕塑與畫作。
勒 • 帕 克 生 於 1 9 2 8 年 ， 作 為 「 視 覺 藝 術 研 究 社 」( G R A V ) 的 領 軍 人 物 而 聞名國際。該社由其與弗朗索瓦•莫瑞雷、弗朗西斯科•索布理諾、依瓦 拉、奧拉西奧•加西亞•羅西、喬爾•斯坦因於1960年在巴黎一同創 立，活躍至1968年。在此期間，勒•帕克於1966年第33屆威尼斯雙年 展獲國際繪畫大獎。他的創作與幾何抽象息息相關，包括皮特•蒙德里 安、維克多•瓦沙雷的代表作中出現的圖案。作品涵蓋眾多媒材，包括紙 本、繪畫、單幅版畫、雕塑、裝置及虛擬現實(VR)藝術。

勒•帕克的作品不論靜態或動力、圖像或雕塑等不同形態，均以幾何規 律有序地設計圖像，探索無限累進，使觀感漸入佳境。勒•帕克的創作 不單是抽象和邏輯，不從市場主流，蘊含實驗性與解放式的色彩。他利 用人造光源、機械和鏡製造的裝置佈局令人驚嘆，有著準極簡主義的美 學精髓之餘，亦包含GRAV對公眾參與藝術的重視。自研究社於1963 年巴黎雙年展呈現的互動迷宮以來，勒•帕克之後的創作一直將觀眾設 為作品的中心和唯一變數。他猶如一位造物主，細緻地構築環境，協調 多變的現場元素，為觀者帶來獨特的感知體驗。
在畫廊左右兩側展廳的沉浸式裝置，賦予觀者截然不同又相得益彰的 感知體驗。《充滿緯線與曲鏡的空間(1963年迷宮的變奏)》(2019) 屬 勒•帕克1963年與GRAV共創的迷宮裝置的變奏，由兩個大型半圓柱 體的曲鏡面組成，觀者可內外自由穿梭;黑白條紋覆蓋整個空間，另有 四塊黑白條紋的面板圍繞展廳中心懸掛至與人等高的位置，隨觀者的 徘徊而旋轉擺動。觀者於迷宮般的空間遊走，猶如置身於傳統嘉年華的 鏡屋中嬉戲。
視覺變化是勒•帕克的創作要點——鋪天蓋地的鮮明條紋和曲鏡中解 構的映像，起初看似是對周遭環境與觀者的分解遊戲，最終這些流轉 的畫面使觀者在行走中與作品空間內的元素有了更緊密的聯結。相 反，勒•帕克的另一裝置《天花板的持續光柱》 (1962–2019) 呈現了 別樣的瓦解與聚合。作品沒於漆黑之中，營造靜默的冥想場景，神秘的 光影在天花浮動。儘管迷幻的光線是利用安置在投影機前的鋸齒狀光 碟機動旋轉投射而成，但裝置被藝術家巧妙地隱於無形，觀者仰臥欣賞 時，更能感受光舞的超凡美態。
本次展覽的兩件裝置重現了勒•帕克一生不斷探求和重塑的技策，而其 動態雕塑亦如是。展覽展陳的兩件動態雕塑，出自《不斷的移動》 ( 2 0 1 8 )系 列 ，指 涉 天 體 形 式 ，由 鏡 面 或 黃 色 半 透 明 的 板 條 組 成 ，仿 佛 纖妙的星群，懸掛在天花，俯瞰觀者。
以上之外，《煉金術》(2017–18)系列的四幅新近畫作也收入在本展 中，實為藝術家數載實踐的平面精粹。作品的幾何構圖由小點鋪成，使 用勒•帕克的經典十四色調，交織成彩虹集合。作品名旨在緊密邏輯的 弦外之音，就如練達的煉金術士尋求賢者之石的目的不在以鉛化金，而 是將實體化為光芒，從而探索自我。無論是探求作品之於觀者的感知與 動態，抑或自身創作的推陳致新，勒•帕克在過往60年的藝術生涯中始 終堅持不羈的實踐道路，流露大師不朽的自由意志。