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Japan and the West. The Filled Void and Modern Minimalism
Along with the renunciation of exclusively figurative representations (abstraction), the phenomenon of reduction and Minimalism forms the main feature of the avantgarde and Western Modernism. In Japanese culture, emptiness and simplicity have for many centuries been the central principles of design in association with the spiritually based philosophy of Zen.
This aesthetic analogy makes a confrontation between Western Minimalism and Eastern emptiness particularly fascinating. It asks about the differences and similarities, the conceptual backgrounds and the forms of perception.
Examples of traditional Japanese craftsmanship and utensils used in the tea ceremony will be confronted with selected Minimalist artworks from the West: Barnett Newman's"Gate"dating from 1954 encounters a Japanese scroll painting from the eighteenth century and Giacometti's sculpture"Eli Lothar"is contrasted with a statue of the Buddha from the seventeenth century.
This book is to be counted among those standard works that pose fundamental questions about artistic production and reception twentieth century art, thereby pointing out crucial international influences.
A selection from the list of artists: Carl Andre, Julius Bissier, John Cage, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Giacometti, Roni Horn, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Paul Klee, Agnes Martin, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Robert Ryman, Yoshihoro Suda, Cy Twombly
Exhibition:"Japan und der Westen. Die erfüllte Leere", from 21 September 2007 through 13 January 2008 in the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
