The Ambiguous Lightness of Being -A Homage to Milan Kundera Feb 13- March 31st 2016

Marya Kazoun

Habitat: Where he came from, 2009

Tissue paper, pen, glass, plastic, acrylic

78 11/16 x 66 7/8 x 244 1/16 in. (200x170x620cm)

Jaroslav Kysa

Brick, 2013

brick and magnets

9 4/5 x 3 1/2 x 5 9/10 in. (24.9x8.9x15cm)

ed: 5

Ronald Moran

Muros sin sombras, 2015, linen.

Ronald Moran

Muros sin sombras, 2015, linen.

From left to right: Loris Cecchini, Park Gye Hoon, Xawey Wolsky, Aparatus 22, Jaroslav Kysa

Loris Cecchini, Wallwave Vibrations (Asynchronous emotion), 2012, polyester resin, wall paint.

Park Gye Hoon, Weak standing, 2005, Korean paper, oil stick, cutout.

Xawery Wolsky, Cadenas, 2011, Painted Terracotta

Xawery Wolsky, Globos, 2010, copper wire.

Aparatus 22, Disco Punch IV, 2014, 3 concrete plaques, tinsel curtain, fan.

Jaroslav Kysa, Brick, 2013, brick and magnets.

From left to right: Beatrice Pediconi, Michele Chiosi, Xawery Wolsky, Angelo Musco

Beatrice Pediconi, Red 09, Red 10, Red 20, Red, Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle Barita Paper

Michele Chiosi, Carrara Arabesque, 2015, Carrara Marble, stainless steel, neon light.

Xawery Wolsky, Cadenas, 2011, painted terracota.

Angelo Musco, P3, P9, Digital Print on metallic paper.

From left to right: Michele Chiosi, Xawery Wolsky, Angelo Musco, Jonathan Callan, Marya Kazoun

Michele Chiosi, Carrara Arabesque, 2015, Carrara Marble, stainless steel, neon light.

Xawery Wolsky, Cadenas, 2011, painted terracota.

Angelo Musco, P3, P9, Digital Print on metallic paper.

Jonathan Callan, Tristan and Isolde, 2005, paper on board.

Marya Kazoun, Travallers from Ouppla, 2013, Murano glass.

From left to right: Marisabela Telleria, Marya Kazoun.

Marisabela Telleria, Untitled-Installation, 2015, mixed media.

Marya Kazoun, Habitat: Where he came from, 2009, Tissue paper, pen, glass, plastic, acrylic.

Loris Cecchini

Wallwave Vibrations (Asynchronous emotion), 2012

Polyester resin, wall paint

86 5/8 in. (220 cm)

Ed: 2/3

Jaroslav Kysa

Monument for fallen monuments, 2012

engine, iron dust, perspex,

7 13/16 in. (20 cm)

ed: 2/5

From right to left: Beatrice Pediconi, Michele Chiosi, Xawery Wolsky, Marya Kazoun

Beatrice Pediconi, Red 09, Red 10, Red 20, Red, Archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle Barita Paper

Michele Chiosi, Carrara Arabesque, 2015, Carrara Marble, stainless steel, neon light.

Xawery Wolsky, Cadenas, 2011, painted terracota.

Marya Kazoun, Travellers from Ouppla, 2013, Murano glass.

Pre-Installation

From right to left: Park Gye Hoon, Loris Cecchini, Xawery Wolsky.

Park Gye Hoon, Weak standing, 2005, Korean paper, oil stick, cutout.

Loris Cecchini, Wallwave Vibrations, 2012, polyester resin, wallpaint.

Xawery Wolsky, Cadenas, 2011, Painted Terracotta.

Xawery Wolsky

Globos, 2010

copper wire

Aparatus 22

Disco Punch IV, 2014

3 concrete plaques, tinsel curtain, oscillating standing fan

Ed: 3

The Ambiguous Lightness of Being - An Homage to Milan Kundera

The Diana Lowenstein Gallery is pleased to present The Ambiguous Lightness of Being - An Homage to Milan Kundera, a group exhibition curated by Ombretta Agró Andruff, Diana Lowenstein Gallery's curatorial advisor.

An opening reception will take place on Saturday February 13th, 7:00-9:30PM. The gallery will host a conversation with some of the participating artists and the curator prior to the opening reception, starting at 6:00PM The exhibition will be on view through March 31st, 2016.

“The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?”

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I first started thinking about an exhibition inspired by the Franco-Czech novelist's masterwork in 2002. While it never came to fruition at that time, its concept lingered for a long time to resurface only 14 years later, as the project presented today at Diana Lowenstein Gallery. The exhibition, as presented here, was triggered by a series of encounters with several artists that took place over the last couple of years while traveling throughout Eastern and Central Europe as well as Cuba.

The featured artworks encompass a wide variety of media and approaches, yet they are all somehow connected to the dichotomy of lightness and weight, either because of their ephemeral nature and real or apparent lightness, or weight, of the materials employed to create them, or because of their ability to address profoundly personal as well metaphysical issues and express them in subtle and poetic forms through their practices.

Kundera, in response to the question noted in the excerpt above, tells us that Parmenides, the Greek philosopher who lived in the sixth century BCE, came to the conclusion that lightness is positive and weight negative, however I find myself in agreement with the author when he claims that "the only certainty is: the lightness/weight opposition is the most mysterious, most ambiguous of all".

It is their ambiguous nature, in fact, the thin red line that connects the artists and artworks in the exhibition.

List of participating artists: Apparatus 22, Jonathan Callan, Loris Cecchini, Michele Chiossi, Gye Hoon Park, Marya Kazoun, Jaroslav Kysa, Ronald Morán, Angelo Musco, Beatrice Pediconi, Marisabela Telleria, Xawery Wolski.

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