Kurzbeschreibung
The increasingly celebrated American artist Paul Chan has achieved international acclaim for his videos, drawings and installations that blend a novel drawing aesthetic with philosophical reflection on politics, religion, sex and life today. This publication presents for the first time an significant overview of his work starting with his most recent series entitled The 7 Lights (2005-2007): These are large-scale digital projections and drawings that ‘hallucinate’ the seven days of Creation from dawn to His earlier works (1999-2004), presented in the second part of the book, consist of animations projected onto panoramic screens that sample and reference a range of sources from art history to popular culture and focus more directly on critical political situations through an aesthetics of recycling and appropriation. Chan’s art, as critic Gioni puts it “is an art of controlled trauma that deals with the shock of death and violence but also with the possibility of its reparation and mourning”. ********************************************************* Der amerikanische Künstler Paul Chan hat mit seinen Videos, Zeichnungen und Installationen, in der sich eine narrative Ästhetik mit philosophischen Reflexionen zu Politik, Religion, Sex und dem heutigen Leben verbindet, internationale Berühmtheit erlangt. Der Katalog bietet den ersten Überblick über Chans Arbeiten. Dabei steht seine neueste Serie The 7 Lights (2005-2007) im Mittelpunkt, die in Videoprojektionen und Zeichnungen die sieben Tage der Schöpfung „halluziniert“ und als Mahnmal „ in motion“ u.a. Bilder des 11. Septembers verarbeitet. Der Katalog gibt weiter Einblick in Chans frühere Arbeiten, auf Panoramabildschirme projizierte digitale Animationen (1999-2004), deren Ästhetik der Appropriation sich aus vielseitigen Referenzen aus Kunstgeschichte, Pop-Kultur und politischer Wirklichkeit nährt.
Synopsis
The American artist Paul Chan has gained international acclaim for his videos, drawings and installations which blend a novel aesthetic of drawing with philosophical reflections on politics, religion, sex and life today. The publication presents a first significant overview of his work, starting with his most recent series entitled "The 7 Lights" (2005-2007). These are large-scale digital projections and drawings that 'hallucinate' the Seven Days of Creation. His earlier works (1999-2004) are assembled in the second part of the book. Also included is a discussion between Paul Chan, Adam Philips and Hans Ulrich Obrist. It is published to accompany the exhibition of the same name at the Serpentine Gallery, London, May - July 2007 and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, April - August 2008.