white cube presents cerith wyn evans during art basel miami beach

during miami art week 2019, white cube presents an off-site project in the miami design district by welsh artist cerith wyn evans. the display features recent installation work and sculpture that coincide with the artist’s large-scale survey show at milan’s pirelli hangar bicocca — previously featured on designboom here. the centerpiece of the exhibition is ‘the illuminating gas… (after oculist witnesses)’, a neon sculpture that references marcel duchamp’s celebrated sculpture ‘the bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even (the large glass)’.

image courtesy of white cube

elsewhere, a sound installation features 12 suspended flutes that play a soundtrack composed by the artist. by using a pump that exchanges electricity for air, cerith wyn evans transforms energy into sound. as part of the artist’s ongoing ‘still life’ series, two local potted palm trees are placed on turntables that rotate at almost imperceptible speeds. the two ensembles appear to create a literal ‘motion picture’ that makes reference to marcel broodthaers ‘un jardin d’hiver’, where a selection of exotic plants marked a riposte to belgium’s dark colonial history.

image courtesy of white cube

the exhibit also includes a new version of one of the artist’s very first neon sculptures, ‘TIX3’ — a reversed form of the standardized ‘EXIT’ sign in which the text is written backwards in black, ‘negative’ letters. facing outwards to the street, this ‘non-sign’ creates a moment of confusion, a linguistic dislocation or gap that tangibly effects visitors’ perception of spatio-visual reality.

image © designboom

in ‘neon forms (after noh XI)’ wyn evans presents an example of his seminal neon forms series. developed from japanese kata diagrams — the choreographic notations of codified gestures in traditional noh theatre — this neon sculpture evokes movement and energy while also resembling the infinity sign — akin to a möbius strip — folding and curving into itself with no beginning or end. likewise, ‘shrine’, a three black obsidian circular mirrors play with the idea of the visible, exposing wyn evans’ focus on what lies beyond or reflects back, the tangible and intangible.

image © designboom

‘a work has to have a resonance so that it can move on different levels,’ wyn evans explains. ‘I’m drawn to evoking polyphony, superimposition, layers, levels, the occluded and the visibility of the mask.’

the exhibition, which was presented by white cube at the miami design district, comes ahead of the artist’s forthcoming exhibition at white cube bermondsey opening on february 7, 2020.

image courtesy of white cube