Pavel Kraus, Zheng Lianjie and David Chang “Offerings”
Green Door Gallery
This event has ended.
According to an ancient tradition — documented as early as the first century in the Gospel of St Matthew — three « kings », or « magis », made their way from somewhere in the East to the village of Bethlehem, in Judea, bringing offerings for the long-expected « Messiah ». Who exactly they were, and how far East they came from (present day Syria, Iran, or even further ?) is unknown, although tradition remembers their names — Melkior, Gaspard and Balthazar — and Matthew the nature of their offerings: gold, incense and myrrh.
Every year on January 6 the Catholic Church commemorates this unlikely visitation on the feast known as « Epiphany », a greek word meaning « revelation ». The three mysterious visitors were seen as the premisses of Jesus’ revelation, not just to Israel but to « the nations », that is, to the entire world. Their three offerings articulate symbolically the three dimensions of Christian faith, where Jesus is acknowledge as king (hence the offering of gold), as God (the offering of incense) as the man who offered his life on the cross (hence the funeral offering of myrrh).
In light of this beloved and meaningful tradition, the exhibition « Offerings » at the Green Door Gallery brings together three artists hailing from distant countries: Pavel Kraus (originally from Czech republic), Zheng Lianjie (from China) and David Chang (originally from Korea). Despite
their diverse backgrounds, all three of them wound up on the same journey, faithfully following the star of Beauty, despite the darkness surrounding it on all sides. Their artworks are gifts, offerings, calling for the reciprocal gift of our time, attentive gaze, and open hearts.
Pavel Kraus’ work mines the many layers of ancient history, excavating its mythological texts and sacred artifacts. His passion for archeology makes his work both anachronistic and unexpectedly contemporary. In a time — ours — that is obsessed with transparency and immediacy, Kraus’ unapologetically material, densely-packed « offerings » are sealed off, resistant. They reveal their inner substance only to the patient explorer, ready to undertake a journey towards the origin: the sense of Mystery inscribed at the core of our nature and civilization. His bees-wax books, also in the exhibition, were originally created in order to document the making of the offerings. However, far from « explaining » them, they add new layers to their elusive and mysterious silence.
Zheng Lianjie is one of the most important proponents of Chinese contemporary ink art. His work is at the confluence of traditional calligraphy and performance art. « Huge Explosion: Binding the Lost Souls », documents a large scale, outdoor performance and installation piece, whose realization mobilized more than 100 people — including peasants from nearby villages and college students — who helped wrap thousands of bricks from the Great Wall, tracing red crosses over this symbol of China’s ancient history and contemporary trauma. This work (which has had a lasting impact on the Chinese art world since the 1990s and has been subjected to numerous critical studies) is showcased in « Offerings » along with two ink rubbings of the Great Wall made by the artist in 1989 to celebrate the fall of its Berlin counterpart and call for a similar liberation for the people of China.
David Chang uses the medium of calligraphy to dig into the sacred text of the Bible. His work is about « incarnation » and « epiphany » inasmuch as the word of the Scripture is taken out of context, and away from a reductively conceptual or moralistic interpretation, in order to reveal its inner life: it bleeds, moves and frees itself before our very eyes, acquiring a vitality of its own. No words can better describe the trajectory of David Chang’s art than the words of Saint John, « the word became flesh. » (Jn 1:14) Altogether love letters, prayers and cries, David Chang’s calligraphic works burst out of his very heart, offering to the viewer a living, incarnate expression of God’s Word, and offering to God a moving expression of our deepest longings and human condition.
Media
Schedule
from January 10, 2020 to February 02, 2020
Opening Reception on 2020-01-10 from 18:00 to 20:00