President Hyo Bin Kwon
Written by Jin Hwan Cho, artist and architect
“Less is more.” is a well-known Modernist statement to represent the aesthetics of Minimalism* written by Mies van der Rohe. But in 1966, “Less is a Bore.” or “More is more.”, Robert Venturi rebelled against the dominance of Minimalistic Modernism by this statement to open up the new era, Post-Modernism, then this quote became the statement of Maximalism**.
Interestingly Mid-1970’s in the United States, Pattern and Decoration art movement was prevailing as a Maximalism** expression to cross over genre between art and design to use and mimic multiple patterns of wallpapers, printed fabrics, or quilts to express the richness and the beauty of visual complexity. On the other hand, around the same period of time in Korea and Japan, Dansaekhwa was dominated by avant-garde Korean artists including Lee Ufan, Park Seobo, Kim Whan-ki with non-figurative and experimental paintings in neutral hues which is an important part of Minimalism* in Korean art history.
Dansaekhwan means literally “Monochromatic painting” in Korean.
Dan (single) + Saek (Color) + Hwa (Painting) = Dansaekhwa
Today increasingly we are witnessing the current design and visual culture with the joy of visual complexity in art, fashion,
interior, movies based upon Maximalism influence. As Korean American artists, we are trying to reexamine the coexistence of two different extreme movements on both Maximalism** and Dansaekhwa (Minimalism*) and to investigate true values of those trends as a part of the Post-Globalism era now which is originated from the rapid global interactions by internet and mass media to mingle and emerge the Beauty of Newness, -ism beyond the geographical location. We hope that the audience and artists will find some clues of both extreme trends and beauty throughout this exhibition.
Minimalism* ; A style that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity.
Maximalism** ; A opposite of minimalism that expresses complexity in multiple colors, patterns.
“Maximalism and Minimalism” KNYAA Group Exhibition | Nov 19-28, 2021
Event Location: One Art Space, 23 Warren Street, TriBeCa, NY 10007
Exhibition: Friday, November 19 – Sunday, November 28, 2021 | Exhibition Hours: Everyday from 1pm – 6pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 20, 2021 from 6pm-9pm
Exhibition closed on Thursday, November 25, 2021 – Thanksgiving Day
NOTICE: In accordance with New York City mandate, all visitors age 12 and older must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and must provide proof of vaccination of at least one dose against COVID-19 with another form of identification in order to enter into One Art Space. Mask must be worn inside the gallery at all times for all visitors over the age of two.
