The Sea Wall: Haegue Yang with an Inclusion by Felix Gonzalez-Torres
July 16–September 4, 2011
Two-persons show, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Installation view of The Sea Wall: Haegue Yang with an Inclusion by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2011
Photo: Jamie Woodley
Press release
The Sea Wall facilitates a conversation between the work of Felix
Gonzalez-Torres and Haegue Yang. Their practices talk of human
relationships through the formation of abstract artworks, reflecting
on such notions as intimacy and activism, private and public,
as well as place and people. Together, the works of these artists
from different generations, balance poetics and politics; they
are emotionally charged, often made from domestic objects and
materials, provided with a new significance and personality, and
with a sense of fragility or vulnerability.
Gonzalez-Torres’ work “Untitled” (Water), 1995, an iridescent blue
beaded curtain, is presented throughout the exhibition spaces,
creating transitional spaces. The artist said he wanted to leave the
viewer with “something else, non-artistic yet beautifully simple.”
In dialogue with this will be an atypical selection of works by Yang
from the last ten years, including early formative works.
The exhibition has been titled after the novel The Sea Wall by
writer Marguerite Duras, which depicts her family life growing
up in colonial-era French Indochina during the 1930s. Yang has
long been interested in the life and work of Duras and has made
numerous works that take her as the subject. There is a season of
Marguerite Duras films to accompany the exhibition, opening with
Hiroshima Mon Amour on 23 July.
The exhibition is accompanied by a commissioned essay by
Liam Gillick.
Exhibited works
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled” (Water), 1995
Practicing Profession, Minus 2002 #1, #2, 2002
Thread Installation, ongoing since 2000
Chalk Drawing, ongoing since 2002
The Story of a Bear-Lady in a Sand Cave, 2010/2011