The Dennos Museum Center is pleased to announce the acquisition of two important contemporary Asian art works for the collection.
The first is the digital video work by Korean artist Lee-nam Lee entitled The Conversation between Monet and Sochi. The work, originally shown as part of the artist’s first solo exhibition in the United States at the Dennos Museum Center in January 2011, was gifted by the artist to the Museum following a tour of his work to several museums in Michigan organized by the Dennos.
The work features two 19th-century paintings: an Asian landscape painting by Korean artist Sochi (whose real name is Huh Ryun) and an impressionist landscape by Claude Monet. The original images of the two works are digitized and presented on two video screen that are placed together side by side, highlighting the differences between the two styles of art. As the video progresses the paintings begin to interact, seasons change and day turns into night. The foreground comes alive with the movement of the painting’s original characters while a cityscape emerges in the background.
This is one of Lee-nam Lee’s signature works. The Dennos Museum Center joins the Yale University Art Gallery as the second US museum to hold his work in their collections.
The Conversation between Monet and Sochi, Lee-nam Lee, (Korean b. 1969) Digital Video 2009 edition 4/6 10m30sec (Still video images from the work)
The second is a ceramic work by the Chinese artist Wan Liya. Entitled Thousands of Kilometers Landscape, it was the Silver Prize winner at the 2011 Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale, in Incheon, S. Korea.
This work was inspired by a Chinese hand scroll of ink and color on silk (39 feet long) entitled One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains; the work of an 18 year old Northern Song Dynasty painter, Wang Ximeng (1096 -1119). Wan Liya draws upon the theme of this historic work in the creation of his Thousands of Kilometers Landscape. Instead of the traditional scroll silk, he used white porcelain with blue imagery in the shapes of the bottles and containers for beverages, cosmetics and cleaners; household items that are now part of daily life in China. In doing so, he reflects upon the tension between tradition and the modernization of China.
The work was acquired in Qingdao, China from the artist in May of 2013 and gifted to the museum by Christine Dennos of Traverse City.
Wan Liya (Chinese b. 1963) Thousands of Kilometers Landscape, White Porcelain with Blue Underglaze Paint, 2011
Both works are on exhibition at the Dennos through December 1, 2013.
The Dennos Museum Center is open daily 10 AM to 5 PM, Thursday’s until 8 PM and Sundays 1-5 PM. Admission is $6.00 adults, $4.00 for children and free to museum members. For more information on the Museum and its programs, go to www.dennosmuseum.org or call 231-995-1055. The Dennos Museum Center is located at 1410 College Dr., Traverse City, MI 49686, at the entrance to the campus of Northwestern Michigan College.