Simeti to Yamato: The Rhythms of Abstraction

24 July - 7 September 2024
  • Andy Moses, Geodesy 1229, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Damien Hirst, Untitled Painting Spin Circle for Mark, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Ugo Rondinone, 5. September, 2007, 2007 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Katrin Fridriks, Indigenous Startraveller, 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Katrin Fridriks, Golden Startrek , 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Andy Moses, Geodesy 1229, 2022
  • Simeti to Yamato: The Rhythms of Abstraction brings together key artworks from both the ‘maestros’ and ‘tyros’ of abstract art spanning the past 50 years. Showcasing the well-known aesthetics of Turi Simeti, Peter Halley, Ugo Rondinone, Ed Moses and Damien Hirst, alongside paintings by younger artists from the gallery’s roster, Andy Moses, Katrin Fridriks, Luis Olaso, Santiago Parra and Mio Yamato, the exhibition seeks to capture the dynamism forged between varying languages of abstraction, where paintings exist not just as single entities but as an active experience of colour, shape, and rhythm.
     
    This exhibition not only presents a rare opportunity to explore the convergence of renowned and emerging voices in abstract art but also provides collectors with the chance to acquire works being publicly shown for the first time alongside pieces already featured in prestigious international exhibitions.
  • Turi Simeti, Quadrato su quadrato (Square on square)
    Turi Simeti, Quadrato su quadrato (Square on square), 1972, Acrylic on canvas 132.5 x 132.5 cm 52 1/8 x 52 1/8 in

    Turi Simeti, Quadrato su quadrato (Square on square)

    Turi Simeti (b. 1929) is a renowned Italian painter celebrated for his contributions to the minimalist art movement. Born in Alcamo, Sicily, Simeti moved to Rome in the early 1960s, where he began to develop his distinctive artistic style. Immersed in the vibrant Roman art scene, he drew inspiration from the avant-garde movements of the time, particularly spatial and optical art, which played a significant role in shaping his overall aesthetic.
  • The Scarlet Sea
    Mio Yamato, Repetition Red (dot) 48, 2018, Oil on canvas, 194 x 260 cm

    The Scarlet Sea

    Mio Yamato’s ‘Repetition Red’ portrays ripples of red hues scattered across a large-scale diptych. Each meticulously placed dot is sequenced together to form patterns analogous to a human fingerprint, showcasing individuality and the power of natural transformation. Capturing the essence of change and evolution, Yamato utilises her oeuvre to showcase a vibrant record of the ever-unfolding phenomenon of life.
  • The Hypnotic Ugo Rondinone
    Ugo Rondinone 5. September, 2007, 2007, Acrylic on canvas and Plexiglass plaque 220 x 220 cm

    The Hypnotic Ugo Rondinone

    Ugo Rondinone’s work is characterised by its vibrant and meditative qualities, often reflecting his exploration of visual and emotional dichotomies. Their chromatic brilliance and use of circles, create a hypnotic and ethereal visual experience. Crafted from coloured glass, their luminous and reflective properties, invite viewers to contemplate their form and colour in a manner that evokes both the celebratory and the melancholic.
  • Ed Moses
    Ed Moses, Samba, 2008, Acrylic on canvas, 182.9 x 152.4 cm

    Ed Moses

    Moses' work explores his fascination with the mutability of concepts, transitional spaces and processes. Referring to himself as a 'mutator', Moses took inspiration from various sources, such as Buddhism, the open spaces of his Venice, California studio as well as what he called, his daily 'habit' of painting. Innovative and experimental, Moses' work is instrumental in contemplating and pushing the possibilities of painterly abstraction.
  • Andy Moses
    Andy Moses, Morphology 1411, 2019, Acrylic on polycarbonate mounted on concave wood panel, 122 x 213 cm

    Andy Moses

    Andy Moses was born in Los Angeles in 1962. Influenced by California culture Andy seeks to investigate colour and form through dynamic abstract works. Attending California Institute of Art in 1979 he was exposed to a plethora of creative methods including performance, film and painting. After graduating from CalArts in 1981, Andy moved to New York City where he worked as an assistant to artist Pat Steir. During this time Andy began developing an approach to process painting incorporating both abstract and representational elements. Andy's oeuvre is marked by his investigation into the physical properties of paint. Exploring the material’s chemical reactions, viscosity interference, and gravity dispersion Andy creates elaborate compositions reminiscent of nature and its forces.

  • The exhibition juxtaposes pioneering styles from 20th and early 21st-century movements in abstraction such as ‘Light and Space’, ‘Zero’ (also known as the monochromatic movement), ‘Neo-Conceptualism’ (also known as Geometric art) with innovative approaches of today. Ed Moses’ iconic experimental mark-making, Halley's geometric precision, Simeti's minimalist elegance, Rondinone's multi-media depth and Hirst’s dynamic spin motifs set a masterful tone for the exhibition. These artists, whose works are prominently featured in world-class museums such as The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, underscore their global significance. Their pieces, sourced from artist estates and private collections, provide the starting point for a rich dialogue with newly created abstract paintings from the gallery roster.
     
    The transhistorical fusion at play in this exhibition demonstrates the exploratory thread of rhythm in abstraction in which visual and auditory patterns have been created through repeated shapes, textures, colours, and movements. The newest artworks made between 2018 and 2024, evoke movement or rhythm across their surface, as demonstrated through highly textured and enlivened surfaces of Santiago Parra’s work made by just a single brushstroke, or the repetitive ‘drip’ markings by Mio Yamato. Others suggest rhythmic potential through interlocking forms composed across different planes of light and colour, such as the swirling compositions of Andy Moses’ canvases or the kinetically painted work of Luis Olaso and Katrin Fridriks. Collectively, the artworks demonstrate how abstract artists can thoroughly engage with structural, spatial, and geometric principles, questioning categories of craft and art imposed by modern art history.
     
  • Monochromatic Energy
    Santiago Parra, Untitled, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 106.5 x 163 cm 

    Monochromatic Energy

    Parra is known for his large, abstract and highly expressive black and white paintings. His canvases capture the suspended flatness of the calligraphy-like imagery, harmonizing two seemingly incom- patible aesthetic moments, spontaneity and pondering, which are all shaped by movement, strength, gravity and skill of the Columbian artist’s creative process. He explores the expressive possibilities of the quintessential abstract form.
  • Still Life Abstraction - Luis Olaso
    Luis Olaso, 'Composition for a blue banana tree, 2023, Oil, acrylic, oil bar, oil pastel on canvas, 200 x 160 cm

    Still Life Abstraction - Luis Olaso

    ‘Composition for a Blue Banana Tree’ showcases Olaso’s still-life abstractions. Freeingly engaging with his artistic process, Olaso bridges the human environment, igniting a dialogue about the socio-political conditions embedded in the artist's background. Metaphors brought to life through diverse mediums and vibrant colours reveal the artist's intention of painting from an irrational, imaginative perspective, communicating a message of freedom created from a state of the unconscious mind.
  • Geometric Abstraction - Peter Halley
    Peter Halley, Untitled (Six Prisons), 2005, Acrylic, day-glow acrylic and roll-a-tex on canvas, 183 x 183 cm

    Geometric Abstraction - Peter Halley

    Peter Halley is a contemporary American artist who gained extensive praise for his vibrant neon-coloured geometric paintings, often featuring barred windows, prison cells, and grid-like structures as focal points. Influenced by philosophical thinkers Foucault and Baudrillard, Halley views geometry as a metaphor for society, saying that what once provided stability, order, and proportion has now transformed into a symbol of confinement, or what he calls the ‘geometricization of modern life’.

  • Abstract & Elemental
    Katrin Fridriks, Indigenous Startraveller, 2024,  Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

    Abstract & Elemental

    Katrin Fridriks was born in Iceland in 1974. She is an abstract expressionist painter who examines questions about new technologies and polemical scientific research of the contemporary age. The artist explores forces that mould our society and raises controversial and political themes through her pieces. Her artistic process looks at stimulating our memory and consciousness. Her Icelandic roots have aroused a curiosity primarily in the four elements – air, fire, earth and water.
  • Damien Hirst: Spin Painting
    Damien Hirst Untitled Painting Spin Circle for Mark, 2022 Acrylic on paper, 52 x 52 cm

    Damien Hirst: Spin Painting

    Damien Hirst has conducted explorations on the complex relationships between art, beauty, religion, science, life, and death. He curated ‘Freeze’ in 1988, showcasing himself and his peer’s work, marking the debut of the Young British Artists (YBAs) movement, most notable for their entrepreneurial and oppositional approaches. When assessing the ethos of Hirsts’ work, each, regardless of medium, challenge our contemporary belief systems and the overall human experience.

     

  • Jean-David Malat shares his enthusiasm:

    “By bringing together established masters and emerging talents, we created a new constructive dialogue. It’s extraordinary to witness the unfolding of the visual connection between the works of world-renowned masters and those of the JD Malat family. We believe that our artists, even in the earlier stages of their careers, possess the potential to rise to the same degree of recognition, showcasing similar traits of innovation and distinguished visual language.”
  • Mother Nature in Black and White
    Mio Yamato, Repetition Black (line) 8, 9 Diptych, 2019, Ink on canvas, 150 x 400 cm

    Mother Nature in Black and White

    Yamato showcases her ability to create and manipulate material form through the repetitive use of geometric lines. Her meticulous application process sees her generating images resembling natural forms. This composition imitates a range of mountains topographically embedded in the canvas, it also harnesses the energy of water, as her fine lines emulate the powerful energies of waves. Yamato carefully grows her compositions over time, organically visualising mother nature and her systems.  
  • Andy Moses, Morphology 1411, 2019 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Andy Moses, Geodesy 1229, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Ed Moses, Samba, 2008 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Ed Moses, Empty Womb, 2017 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Peter Halley, Untitled (Six Prisons), 2005 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Ugo Rondinone, 5. September, 2007, 2007 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Turi Simeti, Quadrato su quadrato (Square on square), 1972 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Luis Olaso, Composition for a bouquet of flowers, 2023 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Luis Olaso, Composition for a white ceramic vase with flowers, 2023 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Santiago Parra Untitled, 2023 Acrylic on canvas 59 7/8 x 59 in 152 x 150 cm (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Katrin Fridriks, Indigenous Startraveller, 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Katrin Fridriks, Golden Startrek , 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Mio Yamato, Repetition Red (dot) 48 Diptych , 2018 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Mio Yamato, Repetition Black (line) 8, 9 Diptych, 2019 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Damien Hirst, Untitled Painting Spin Circle for Mark, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Andy Moses, Morphology 1411, 2019
  • While varying transcultural exchanges led these artists to develop unique languages of abstraction, together, they unveil the enduring presence of rhythm in their respective artistic methods and offer a renewed appreciation for both the legacy and future of abstract and geometric art.