Timed to coincide with Asia Week 2013 which takes place from March 15 - 23, Friedman & Vallois present exclusively and for the first time an exhibition, “Legends of South Pacific” by Taiwanese Paris & Taipei based artist A-Sun Wu. Running through April 20, the exhibition proposes to introduce the work of this renowned artist through his paintings, sculptures and ceramics.
On the occasion of his first childhood trip alongside his father in the heart of the Taiwanese forest, A-Sun Wu invented a very personal vernacular of myths and legends. This “world artist” who has experienced the Amazon Basin, Africa and the Pacific Islands as well as Asia has synthesized their civilizations and cultural traditions while processing the legacies of western cultural legacies. Indeed, Goya, de Kooning, Picasso and Duchamp clearly influence his oeuvre.
Wu’s forms and aesthetic evoke Outsider Art as well as Tribal Arts and Shamanism. In search of an earlier more gentle and innocent time, one of a happy childhood, his use of natural unprocessed materials (wood, bark, earth...) are rooted in a world where the organic reigns.
His painting whose brutal gestures join Expressionism recalls the celebration of primitive societies. A-Sun Wu’s ceramics remain inscribed in the memories of growing up in the Taiwanese countryside where terracotta pots kept a lush and generous harvest. His art of fire is carrier of the duality of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic characters. Humanist and universalist messenger, since 1995 Wu signs his works with a sun.
LEGENDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC
Opening night: March 14th, 4 pm – 8pm
15th March – 20th April 2013
FRIEDMAN & VALLOIS Gallery
27 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065 t : +1 212 517 3820, f: +1 212 517 4349
Tuesday to Friday, 10am - 6 pm Saturdays, 10 am - 5 pm