Form and Shape

To celebrate Wangsim’s five-year anniversary, a list of long-term collaborating artists is featured alongside a selection of important collections.
Among the selections is Takesada Matsutani’s monumental work Right Angle (1991), created by the Gutai artist by heating vinyl glue with a hair dryer and injecting air with a straw. In the geometric abstract piece, Matsutani’s usual bulbous and sensuous form was reconstructed and reduced to—as the title indicates—a right angle, demonstrating the essential characters of the materials, and the artist’s aesthetic language, which is both controlled and organic.
Characterized by a haptic use of color, geometric vocabulary of forms and material simplicity, the works on paper, both Untitled (1976) by Imi Knoebel are a good example of the artist’s experimental approach. Drawing on the high modernism of Kazimir Malevich or Piet Mondrian, the piece is dominated by modular shapes and commanding color relationships, devoid of metaphor and allusion.
Merijn Kavelaars, who’s also been following in—perhaps playfully—the footsteps of Piet Mondrian, has developed SOMS (Sometimes) series over the past four years. Remaining true to the tradition of non-representational art, and with vivid color background outlined by glossy enamel paint, Soms Een Beetje Mondrian (2023) connects its visual rhythms with the artist’s internal investigation of one of the fundamental issues of existence: the built-in paradox in our personalities.
Shiau-Peng Chen’s Element Map (2015-2016) extends the artist’s long-term study of form and composition. While mapping the “elements” meticulously on gridded paper, Chen demonstrates an artistic approach suggesting meditative powers and the search of “inner spirits”. Attentive to the physicality of his work, Anton Poon forms intricate geometric shapes using painted stainless steel. In Stauros (2023), Poon’s interconnected metal modules map out—with poetic sensibilities—the intimate space for modern relationships.
Works by Sam Francis, Walter Leblanc, and Jiro Yoshihara are also included in the presentation.